"How is it you guys weren't interested in the Cauldron Club?" Mildred couldn't help but ask Maud, Enid, Jadu and Ruby after they met with Miss Cackle in the office. "Not that I'm not pleased you joined DOBS, but why?"
The last few days had shown just how unfair this year was going to be. Mildred had considered herself lucky that she was even going to be staying in Cackles for another year, especially after seeing how much of a disaster her second year had turned out, especially when Ethel continually hounded her, but Mildred was worried this new year was going to cause more grief.
She and her friends had been enjoying themselves dancing in a classroom, only for HB to come and punish them. Salvation came from the strangest source; Miss Cackle had come up with the brilliant solution of inducting them into the Cauldron Club. Mildred might have been from a non-witching family, but she had been in Cackles long enough to pick up on a few things, and the Cauldron Club was one of them.
She had never really had time for clubs where people did the opposite of fun; in her mind, a club should be where you meet up, make new friends and generally have a good time. The Cauldron Club - surprise, surprise - appeared to be the opposite of that.
Even worse, the Chief Cauldronite at Cackles was Ethel Hallow, Mildred's arch-enemy. The moment Mildred had learnt Ethel was not only the head of the Cauldron Club's branch at Cackles, but she had also known she was never going to get in. And her friends knew it. Ethel disliked them all but she harboured an extreme hate for Mildred, whereas Mildred would have been happier if Ethel just left her be.
"It wasn't for us," Ruby answered simply.
"Yeah," Enid agreed. "I've heard a lot about the Cauldron Club over the years, and everything I've heard told me to avoid it. I only went along with Cackles' idea because I wanted to see if it was as bad as I'd heard. I also thought of making a few jokes, but I thought it wasn't worth it. You know how stuffy Ethel can be; she could have done with being an even bigger target, although she would have likely cottoned on to it being me."
Everyone rolled their eyes. That was Enid alright.
"If there was a club working with computers, I'd jump for it, but the Cauldron Club sounds more like an exclusive school; not exactly fun sounding, is it?" Ruby said.
"Mm, I could see the attraction for it. But I was never really interested in the Cauldron Club, but it was obvious that Ethel and Drusilla had rigged the whole set-up," Jadu said.
"How do you know that?"
"Well, you had a good grip on the pebble, Millie," Ruby replied.
"That's Ethel alright," Mildred sighed after thinking it through. No matter how long she had been at Cackles, Ethel was so petty-minded it was pathetic. "When I was with Fenny and Gris, they told me they'd seen Ethel and Drusilla had spoken to HB; you know what HB's like, she wouldn't like anyone like us in something like that, regardless of what Cackle might think."
"My parents would have loved for me to get into the Cauldron Club, but they would never have forced me to join, and besides after the way Ethel and Drusilla treated us, I wanted nothing to do with it. No, the club we've set up with Fenny and Gris is just right for us," Maud grinned. "At least we can have fun or study whenever we want, without having to do extra work, especially with someone like Ethel plotting world domination."
Mildred cringed at the thought of spending even an hour in Ethel's company when she was the leader of a club. It was enough to make her physically sick; it was bad enough that the girl went out of her way to torment her, but in a club, she would be unbearable.
"Do you think anybody would join the club here at Cackles?" Jadu asked.
"Well Ethel hasn't exactly gotten many recruits, and anybody could join," Enid pointed out. "They probably just want to avoid it because of Ethel; she's bossy and not exactly charismatic."
"Yeah," Ruby sighed.
"So what do you guys think is down in that storeroom beneath the library anyway?" Maud asked.
"It looked more like a junk shop, but it could have been just to store things over the years," Enid pointed out.
"Hold on, do you guys remember when we began the Midnight feasts?" Mildred grinned at their tradition of sneaking out of bed and taking food from the kitchens. They'd started it in their first year at Cackles when they found the food….unpalatable, and while they still occasionally raided the kitchens, it was done carefully due to their greater experience with HB.
Cackle had compromised with the students by making sure pizza night happened on Saturdays even if it wasn't exactly balanced out with the cold muck they had to eat for the whole week.
"Yeah," Maud grinned back.
"Definitely."
"When are we doing it again?"
"We'll talk about that later," Mildred cast a quick, nervous glance about the room; the last thing she wanted was HB coming down on them. "Anyway, I was thinking we could explore the storeroom DOBS is kept in, and we begin exploring the castle and see what else is down there. I mean, we have explored the castle before, and we know there's a great deal hidden."
"Hmm, that sounds like a great idea; and there might be other places like the DOBS room in other parts of the castle," Ruby agreed.
"I wonder how Fenny and Gris found out about the place, and how much for the castle they've explored already," Jadu wondered. "And if they'd be willing to tell us?"
Mildred bit her lip in thought. Fenny and Gris were great friends, but they sometimes didn't tell them about the things they'd done. "Why don't we ask? And if they don't tell us anything, we can find out for ourselves."
"Mildred, where did you and Miss Drill talk?"
"Just outside the gates," Mildred wasn't sure if she should tell her friends about what Miss Drill had told her. "I was just so frustrated by Ethel, Drusilla and HB, and Miss Cackle going on about the Cauldron Club, but I'm glad we've got someone reasonable to supervise DOBS."
The girls agreed. Miss Drill was one of the more popular teachers, despite her P.E. obsession. But she was fair-minded when she wanted to be.
"So, when's the first meeting at DOBS?" Enid asked.
"How about tomorrow?"