Lovesick Witches

Another Day Stuck Inside

Four days had passed since the mists of time first appeared outside the school and unfortunately, they were still there. They hadn't even began to clear up. I sulked when I woke up to see the sky just as foggy as the previous few days. But despite feeling a bit disappointed that the school was still in lockdown, I got ready, did my teeth and went down to breakfast. 

As usual, I sat with Mildred, Maud and Enid and we talked whilst eating the normal, watery porridge. I had sort of gotten used to it after eating it for about a week, so I didn't really mind too much anymore about it not being the most... tasty thing in the world. 

After breakfast, I went to spell science with my friends. Mr Rowan-Webb was teaching us about the physics of flying. I found it very interesting actually, I had always wondered how flying worked. But Enid said it was a boring lesson as she wasn't keen on science in general. 

Spell science finished and Mildred, Maud, Enid and I went to the Great Hall for lunch. Lunches at Cackle's weren't quite as bad as breakfasts. At least they were varied. Sometimes it was soup, sometimes stew and sometimes salad. Maud said they occasionally got pasta for lunch, but I was yet to experience that. We had soup that day. It was supposedly chicken and sweetcorn soup, although it was pretty tasteless. 

"The fourth years have the head girl competition later this year," said Mildred as she swirled her soup around with her spoon, "and Clarice and Beatrice asked me to help them prepare. I mean, I won my head girl competition against Ethel, so maybe I can help them with theirs." 

"I'll help too," said Enid. 

"Is Sybil not going for head girl?" asked Maud. 

"Nope," Mildred said, "she told me she was too scared to apply and didn't really want to be head girl anyway. Ethel loosing against me last year probably put her off trying." 

"This sounds like a great story and everything," I said, "but who exactly are these people?" 

"Sybil is Ethel's younger sister," Maud said. 

"She's a Hallow?" 

"Yup. But she is very different to Ethel," said Mildred. "She's a lot kinder." 

"And a lot less bitchy," added Enid. 

"Clarice and Beatrice are Sybil's best friends. They've become pretty good friends to us over the past few years," Mildred said. "We have chanting next lesson. Miss Bat is sure to fall asleep. We could sneak out then to go and help the fourth years, Enid?" 

Enid agreed to this. 

The four of us went to chanting class and just as Mildred had predicted, Miss Bat fell asleep about ten minutes into the lesson. Mildred and Enid quietly got up out of their seats and walked to the door. 

"Maud, Ana, you coming?" whispered Enid. 

"No, sorry," said Maud, "I don't want to get told off this year. I can't afford to get into any trouble before my final exams." 

"Ana?" said Mildred. 

I considered this for a minute. I did want to go with them. I wanted to meet the fourth years and the work we were doing in chanting was pretty boring. But, I promised HB that I would work really hard this year and take my studies seriously. It was so kind of Miss Hardbroom to agree to helping me with my magic, so I couldn't let her down. 

"I think I'll stay here with Maud," I said, quietly. Mildred shrugged and her and Enid left the room, careful not to wake Miss Bat. Ethel watched them leave from the other side of the classroom, but didn't say anything. Instead, she just rolled her eyes. 

On our lesson timetable, we would have usually had flying straight after chanting. But due to being under lockdown as a result of the mists, we were allowed a free period. I had been struggling with my transfer spells, since they worked differently here to how they worked at Pentangle's. And since Miss Hardbroom was brilliant at transfer spells, I decided to and ask her for help. So, after chanting finished, I grabbed my things and walked over to the potions lab. 

I knocked on the door and after a few seconds, it swung open. I stepped in the doorway and saw Miss Hardbroom standing at one of the desks at the back of the classroom, cleaning cauldrons with her magic. 

"Hello Miss Hardbroom," I said. "I was wondering if you could help me with my transfer spells. I've been struggling with them and you're amazing at transfer spells. If you're busy I completely understand." 

"No, I am not busy," she said, turning to face me. "Come in. I'd be happy to help." Miss Hardbroom used her magic to close the door behind me, and I wandered over to a seat and put my things down. 

"With transfer spells," Miss Hardbroom said as she walked over to me, "it is important that you understand the science behind it. Otherwise, you will find it hard to connect with your energies and the energies around you, making it impossible to transfer through space. To understand it better, write it out. Write down all the stages you think you need to complete a successful transfer spell." She then reached out her arm towards a pile of paper on a shelf at the front of the classroom, and made one of the sheets fly and land on my desk in front of me. 

I grabbed a pen from my bag and began to write. But as my pen touched the paper, a sharp burst of pain ran through my arm, causing me to wince. My arm still hadn't healed from spraining it a few days before, when Ethel made me fall off my broomstick. It was still wrapped in a bandage, but I sometimes forgot it was injured and hurt it, trying to write. 

Miss Hardbroom looked at me and then realised that my arm hurt when I wrote. 

"Here," she said. "I'll write it for you." She picked up a piece of paper from her desk and began to write. 

"Thank you Miss Hardbroom," I said. "My arm is still healing from when I sprained it." 

"You mean from when Ethel sprained it. I gave her multiple detentions for that," said Miss Hardbroom. I smiled weakly but didn't reply. 

"Ana," she said as she wrote down the science for the transfer spell, "what I said to you the other day, about changing your mentality. Did you consider my advise?" 

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom. I thought about what you said to me and realised how right you were. So these past few days, I've been kinder to myself and have started to believe in myself more. Mildred, Maud and Enid are friends with me after all. So I suppose I can't be that boring if they like to hang around with me. Thank you. For the advise. It was really helpful and it made me start to feel a bit happier about myself." 

"I'm glad I was able to help," said Miss Hardbroom with a smile.