Putting the Little in Little Witch Academia

Chapter 5: A Forest of Delicious Misschief

You grunted as you viewed the outside through the window of the class, trying to find any kind of clue to where Sucy headed off to when a tug on your clothes made you look down. "Cookie?" Jasminka offered. "N-No thanks Jasminka, I need to find out where Sucy went." You said with a difficult look on your face, quickly looking back through the glass.

"Oh! That would be the forest." Jasminka casually mentions before eating the offered cookie, you looked at her in surprise. "How do you know that?" You asked, the little girl just kept on eating as she answered. "I saw her walk into it, and I also noticed a few birds flew off-"
"In the way she went!" You completed, looking back at the less daunting forest.

"I guess you're better with tracking down Sucy's path if you're right in the forest huh?" You questioned less excitingly, receiving a nod from Jasminka. "It would help us both a lot!" Looking back at the class you wondered if you could let them be on their own, because there was no way you were going to inform the faculty and risk getting into trouble because you just lost on of the children you were supposed to take care of.

...knowing the teachers threw you with this job made you doubt they would show any leniency.

And while you didn't like the thought of letting the children alone, one of those children was Diana Cavendish.

"You want me to take care of the class?" Diana responded a bit nervously, looking up from her thick school book. "Just for a little while, I'm sure we will be back with Sucy in tow in no time!" You reassured her, she pondered for a bit. "Hm, well I suppose someone needs to step up so you can get that troublemaker back, I promise I will not disappoint." Said Diana as she stood up, you gave her a thumbs up before taking Jasminka's hand, the two of you climbing out of the window just as Diana announced her interim-rule over the rest of the class.

~

"This sucks." You muttered, glaring at a blue frog that had started to follow you since the forest was entered, Jasminka was leading the way a little further. "Don't worry teacher, I have a feeling we are getting close!" Encouraged Jasminka, stopping in her path to let you catch up so she could offer you a chip you took and quickly ate. "I hope so, the sun is already going down..." You said, looking at the big flaming ball when a rumble echoed through you,

Coming from your stomach.

"Oh-Uh..." You began, an awkward look on your face as you looked at Jasminka. "Hope you're doing better than me!" You joked, actually causing Jasminka to smile. "I am! And I also know how to make you feel better." Suddenly Jasminka ran off, before you could yell for her to come back she already was, using a piece of wood as a makeshift plate for a bunch of berries.

"Look Jasminka, I appreciate the gesture but are you sure those berries are safe to eat?" You asked as Jasminka's smile dropped, the girl looking back and forth between the berries and the other stuff like herbs she brought along. "Well...you see...hum..." She continued to ponder much to your chagrin, yet a small smile began to spread over your face at her attempt to help you. Especially as you figured out what she wanted to do.

"Mint."
"Huh?" Jasminka exclaimed while you repeated yourself. "Mint, it's the herb you use alongside magic to figure out if something is dangerous or not." Jasminka's smile returned in full force as she began to bounce. "Yes! Yes! Just like Mama does!"

You pulled out your wand, taking the mint from Jasminka and combining it with the right food spell, a green air floating around the berries that eventually turned grey. "Yay!" Shouted Jasminka. "They're safe!"
"They sure are." You added, looking over to some of your preferred herbs when it came to food while Jasminka already began to use her own set on the food.

"Just wait teacher! Soon we will have berries to keep you sated for a day." She said, continuing to prepare the food like you've never seen a child do before. "Sure, though I would like to add some of my own spice, if you don't mind." You commented, receiving no complaint as you started to help Jasminka with adding the herbs and already starting to use magic to actually combine the berries and turn it into something delicious then just plain old fruit.

Before you knew it the wooden plank presented a delicious smelling pack of berries. "Ta-da!" Jasminka showed as she waved her hands around ceremoniously, a chuckle slipping out of your lips. You took one berry, taking a bite and letting out a pleased moan as the right tastes just cased down your throat.

"And?" The aforementioned little cook asked with a smile. "Try one! You should taste yourself how great these are." You told her before eating another mouth-watering berry, Jasminka stopped smiling. "Oh...I don't know if..."
"Come on Jasminka, you always offer food to people. Let it be your chance for once, it won't be the end of the world." You said casually.

Jasminka's smile returned, carefully taking a berry and taking it into her mouth before she let out her own approving sounds. "It's delish-!" She beamed as the two of you happily began to enjoy the small yet filling treats.

Once the plank was almost empty a shuffling near the bushes made the two of you stop you're eating. "Jasminka, get behind me." You commanded, not liking how eerie the bushes felt to you, a sentiment Jasminka agreed to as she dropped her berry in her attempt to hide behind you as fast as possible.

Wielding your wand you waited for the danger to retreat or attack, steeling yourself as out of the greenery came...

...A familiar little grey witch.

You and Jasminka sighed out of relief. "So that's where those annoying sounds came from..." Sucy muttered as she approached your leftover herbs, inspecting and taking some before she started to leave the area. "H-Hey Sucy! Come back!" You shouted just as you recovered from your shock, trailing after the little purple witch.

"Do you know how worried you made us? You can't just leave without saying anything." You scolded, yet Sucy just ignored you. "Oh don't be difficult-" Before you could finish your sentence Sucy threw a strange mushy blue ball into your hands, you looked at the strangely familiar object when a sudden beeping made you widen your eyes.

"Susomore Tora...A combined ball of Frog Saliva...if not handled properly able to explode-." You said defeated just as the ball exploded and covered you in muck. You glanced over towards a concerned Jasminka. "Don't worry, this doesn't burn your skin or anything."

Soon after cleaning yourself you and Jasminka found Sucy again alongside her makeshift lab of sorts, filled with all sorts of things you could find in a forest. But even with the impressive collection Sucy seemed to struggle with making some kind of potion. "You know, the school has way better equipment then some forest." You commented, receiving a huff from Sucy.

"Aren't you stubborn? ...the school is not the place where you can find a frog special to these woods." Sucy muttered as her potion made a little explosion. "Something I have yet to find..." On cue your blueish companion croaked, jumping on top of your head to lick away at some left over saliva. Sucy's eyes widened as she spotted the frog, dashing over to you.

"The frog, give it to me." She demanded, earning a small smirk from you. "Oh? And what do I get in return? Perhaps an agreement that you will come ba-" Sucy kicked you hard enough for the frog to jump away, landing in her grubby little hands as she cackled her way back to the potion set.

"Should've seen that coming..." You groaned. "Maybe she will listen if you help her!" Said Jasminka, receiving a hum of curiosity from you. "She doesn't seem like the kind of person to respect anyone just because, you have to give her a reason to trust you." She argued, you sighed. "Why do I have a feeling that's harder done then said?"

After a moment you groaned. "Nothing better to do." Jasminka send you a thumbs up as you began to approach the little alchemist, noting how she was struggling. "You forgot to add water." You thought out loud, making both you and Sucy look at each other in surprise. "What?" She said. "Water, a...friend of mine says it's important for almost every potion." You continued, you had your own fair knowledge of potion brewing, not to forget the information an older Sucy would occasionally drop.

After Sucy threw in some water from a nearby pond she looked at you expectantly. "What now." She demanded to know as you rubbed the back of your head. "Hey I don't know what you're making, I guess you can continue with what you were doing already?" You said unsure, luckily Sucy seemed to work well again without any explosions. "Hey, don't put that in!" You yelled, landing on your knees just as Sucy was about to insert a chestnut.

"Don't you know those things are only useful if you're trying to make yourself explode?" You said as you took the chestnut from her hands. "No...thanks." Sucy quietly said, a small smile appearing on your face as you looked back at her. "No wonder it kept exploding huh?" She didn't respond as she turned back to the station, starting to do well and even better then before as you provided her the little totally-not-needed help, whether it was handing her an ingredient she couldn't find or making sure nothing dangerous got put in.

Sucy grabbed the blue frog she had trapped into a glass bowl, making it vomit inside the potion. Followed by her rapidly stirring the potion but being forced to stop as you put a hand over hers. "Calm down, you're going to make the potion angry and throw up in your face." You said, remembering a similar event from a few weeks ago involving a potion assignment between you and a certain brunette.

Sucy didn't complain and followed your lead as together you stirred the potion back and forth, not too calm but not too aggressive either until the potion changed it's color into a light pink, a smile appearing on Sucy's face as she let go of the spoon and carefully grabbed the potion, putting a lid on it.

"It's complete." She announced with an almost childlike joy in her voice. "Thanks for the help." She quickly said before turning back to admiring her potion. "You're welcome...so will you now come back to the school?" You asked, stretching your fingers nervously as Sucy gave you a hard-to-read expression.

"Sure." She said, already taking the path back.

You and Jasminka shared happy smiles before following the potion carrying witch, a question immediately flowing out of your mouth. "So Sucy, what does that potion actually do?" The girl gave you a creepy smirk that immediately made you regret asking.

"Now why would I spoil the surprise?"

Maybe you shouldn't have helped her...