Chapter 7 – Show Me Who You Really Are

The day after Miss Darkside's firing, Pippa Mirrored Zira Stormweather, the headmistress of Weatherley's Academy. She was rather hopeful that she could help Mildred as Zira had helped a few of her current students.

Zira answered the call, she was tall and rather thin with long jet-black hair she had anticipated a call from Pippa. "Good morning, Pippa, hope everything is OK". She stated as she wasn't sure if this was about Mildred or Miss Starling, she hoped it wasn't the latter.

"Good morning, Zira, you can breathe, this has nothing to do with Miss Starling". Pippa laughed.

Zira half smiled. "Is this about a certain student from a dormant line?"

"It is, can I still take you up on that offer?" Pippa asked with hesitation.

Zira looked at the hesitation on Pippa's face and laughed at how serious she looked. Pippa couldn't work out what was funny. Once Zira had regained composure, she looked at Pippa and she noticed how tired the woman looked, yet she was still smiling. There was almost a desperation on her face.

"The offer still stands Pippa, it would be a pleasure to help another one of your students out, what was you thinking, weekly, monthly lessons?"

"Ideally weekly if possible and a weekend day." Pippa replied.

Zira pulled out a diary and she flicked through the pages whilst Pippa watched her, waiting for the dates to then go through the plans that Zira had. "I can do weekends but I can't guarantee it will be every Saturday or Sunday. I can do some Saturdays and some Sundays, but I can guarantee a weekend every week. If anything changes I will let you know. Shall we start this Sunday?".

Pippa breathed and smiled. "Sounds great, I really appreciate it".

"Some things never change, do they Pippa? you haven't changed since I taught you at Cackle's Academy. I have heard you and Joy have started talking again". Zira's smile had a warmth to it. She was Pippa's favourite teacher when she was a student.

"She goes by Hecate now, and yes we are".

"Who might I ask is the very lucky young man that you adopted? I heard he was in the trials last year"

Pippa and Zira spoke for a further hour, Zira had taken Pippa in to keep her safe for Pippa's last few years at Cackle's, she wanted to hear all about the boy that Aiden had saved and Pippa had taken in without hesitation.

Mildred was sat in the massive Library at the Academy. She was studying and as she scanned the book that she was reading she made many notes in her notebook. She then rose from her seat and headed to the Spell Science section when something caught her eye. She looked to her right and noticed an older student smiling and waving at her. She was stood next to a bookshelf marked Specialist Magic. This girl had short pixie cut black hair, she had thin features and a very pale complexion. Mildred headed over with a look of confusion on her face.

"Hi, we haven't officially met, I'm Audrey. I'm one of Martha's friends. I didn't realise there was another dormant student in the school."

"What do you mean another?"

"Barbie called me to her office yesterday and told me there was another dormant student, of which I asked if she meant you. She explained your situation and asked if I could talk to you, and here we are." Audrey explained.

"So, you're talking to me because you were told to". Mildred looked very confused.

"You're from a dormant line, it's a very respected thing in our school, the rest of us would like you to meet us in here this afternoon at three. In the meantime, do take a look at some of these books, especially this one". She said as she picked up a thick, heavy, black leather-bound book with red swirly writing with the words, The Advanced Guide to Dormant witching and Wizardry Lines.

Mildred took the book and as she flicked to the first page Audrey walked away. The first page had the usual notice that it was the property of Pentangle's Academy though as she looked at the page, she noticed the words, Dormant use only. She took this book to the librarian to sign out and she was told that this book had nothing to do with the library and would need to be handed into Audrey. Mildred took it to her room and flicked through it, she was surprised as she wasn't expecting to find out much, yet this book went through all the things that dormant lines could do and exercises to help calm out of control magic down.

That afternoon Mildred went to see group that Audrey had told her about, and she wasn't surprised to find there was only four of them. She sat down with the book in her hand.

"Hi Mildred, I'm Genevive." A pretty blonde fourth year girl smiled at her.

"I'm Richard." A blonde sixth year boy told her.

"I'm Claire." A brunette third year girl told her.

"We have already met", Audrey told the other three. "Now, are you having any lessons with Miss Stormweather?" she asked Mildred.

"Not currently, it was mentioned last year when she approached me after the trials." Mildred wasn't sure what to make of this group.

"She taught all of us in our first year and she is amazing. She always finds time for us, any issues and we can go to her, you can tell she used to teach Barbie, they are very similar." Claire informed her.

"I was terrified of my magic." Richard told her. "I was ashamed of it, Barbie tried to calm me down regularly but even she had no idea. Zira spent a few weeks getting me to accept my magic and to not be afraid of it. She gave Barbie that book your holding ten years ago and it has been in dormant hands since. You see, Zira is also from a dormant line, and she knows how hard it is for us and knows just what to say when we need her."

"So how rare are dormant lines?" Mildred asked.

"Very, very rare. Theres us five and a few in other schools. Considering the number of students in this school, five is nothing." Genevive told her.

"Dormant lines don't just come back. It's an anomaly which means we are here for a reason. Our magic works differently to the others. I have a sash here for you, this alerts everyone that you are dormant. Dormant is very well respected in most schools. Some schools will flaunt that they have them, even Zira does. I know Barbie is different and she doesn't. Though come to think of it, everything she does, is different to everyone else." Audrey took the sash from the table and loosely tied it around Mildred's right shoulder and left waist. Mildred looked at the gold sash with the word dormant in block capital letters in white swirly writing.

Mildred listened to the groups stories on being dormant and she was fascinated, she finally felt like she really belonged. They all headed to the meal hall and split up to sit with their friends.

Mildred sat down between Enid and a first year, Maud was sat opposite Enid and Zack was opposite Mildred. It wasn't long before the rest of their classmates joined them.

There was a massive cheer and a deafening drum roll coming from Martha's table across the hall. All the students and staff turned to look at the table in confusion. A strawberry blonde seventh year stood on the edge of the very long table, he ran a couple of strides before sliding onto his knees whilst throwing his arms in the air and shouting. "NO MORE DARKSIDE, WHOOP WHOOP".

The entire school including the staff looked at Miss Pentangle, all hoping it wasn't a lie. She stood up and addressed everyone. "Thank you, Tristan, for that spectacle. Now would you kindly compose yourself? Just to let everyone know Miss Darkside is no longer with us on school swop." She could only cover her ears as the school erupted with cheers, whooping and shouting. She knew they would all be thrilled to be rid of her.

A couple of hours later and there was a knock on the school's front door. Mr Ridgeway opened the door to find Zira stood in front of him.

"Ah, good evening Logan. How nice to see you again and well met." Zira stated with a big smile on her face. She bowed down with her right hand against her forehead.

Logan also bowed with his right hand against his forehead. "Well met. A pleasure to see you again. Are you here to see Pippa by any chance?".

"I am, as well as a Mildred Hubble". Zira replied.

"In that case, come on in".

Zira followed Logan through the school until they stopped outside of Pippa's office. For once Zira wasn't hesitant about meeting a Dormant, she had done her homework, and she was more than thrilled to get the chance to meet a Hubble.

Logan knocked on the door to the office and walked in, he had temporarily taken up deputy head whilst Aiden was on school swop. Zira followed behind and Pippa jumped out of her skin as she hadn't expected anyone to walk in. This made Logan laugh.

"Ah, Zira, I wasn't expecting you until Sunday." Pippa stated.

"Well, you see, I did my homework, and I am very intrigued and I would like to do an assessment with Mildred before Sunday." Zira explained. She was calm on the outside yet excited within.

"Very well." Pippa stated as she turned towards her mirror. "Mildred Hubble". Pippa practically sang the girl's name.

Mildred answered the call. "eeer hi." She said rather awkwardly for the headmistress hadn't mirrored her for quite some time.

"Please could you come to my office, it's nothing to worry about". Pippa warmly smiled to her. Mildred nodded and left her room and headed to the office.

"Would you like a drink at all Zira? We don't have alcohol in the school". Pippa offered.

"Any fizzy water at all?"

"We have Lemon and Lime, Strawberry and Raspberry and Cherry and Banana".

"I'll try the Cherry one, if possible".

Within seconds Pippa had transferred the woman's water and by that time there was a knock on the door. "Come in". Pippa called.

Mildred popped her head round and walked in, she remembered Miss Stormweather and she was hopping her training would start soon.

"Mildred, Zira here has come to do an assessment with you". Pippa informed her.

"What kind of assessment?" Mildred asked with a rather shaky voice.

"The assessment is just to see where your magic is at and how best to help you blossom." Zira told her, she turned to Pippa. "Where would the best place be for this assessment?"

"Probably a courtyard". Pippa answered and then she transferred the three of them to a secluded courtyard. "This particular courtyard can't be seen on the outside".

Zira soon put Mildred through her paces, Zira found that the girl could do her incantations rather well, though she noticed the difficulty she was having at the same time.

"I can see your dormant magic is making it difficult for you, though your incantations aren't bad at all. Well done. Now, I want you to show me who you really are". Zira called across the courtyard.

Mildred had no idea what she meant, though she noticed the woman said no more. She was flustered, she wasn't sure what to do. She then thought about what she had been told last year. "Any chance of some chalk?" she called out. She looked down and she noticed about thirty different coloured chalks on the floor. Mildreds body kneeled down without permission and she found herself pick up a black chalk and start drawing the school, it was roughly two hours later that she finished and she looked up and found she had control of her body again.

Pippa and Zira stood next to each other the whole time and not one had spoken whilst Mildred chalked the cobblestones. They had both noticed her magic take over her body.

Zira smiled and stood tall. "A Hubble through and through".

"Zira?" Pippa asked as she didn't understand.

"Mildred comes from a line of the best artists they used their art to disguise in, it's almost foolproof." She looked at Pippa and then called Mildred over. Mildred walked over and she realised she was covered in chalk. "Now the Hubble's were well known to have very strong magic, it was very rare to find a bad egg from that family. They would hide inside their paintings. It was also well known for them to hide other people and animals inside them. They can also pull anything out of any picture and bring it to life. This kind of magic only exists within the Hubble line."

Mildred looked at her chalk picture and didn't believe her magic could ever be that strong and Zira had no idea just how fragile Mildred's confidence was.