Fabulous Spec-Fic Smackdown

The Witch and the Toad

Round 1 Part 2. Prompt:
At the age of 7, Lily was looking forward to witches school. But now, at 21, she has to find her place in the world, and that's a challenge no one prepared her for.

The door closed behind her with a decisive thud. Lily hitched her backpack higher over one shoulder and turned to look one last time at the place that had been her home for the last 14 years, the Arcane Academy.

Her mind flicked back to the night she'd first entered those hallowed doors.

Seven years old and full of dreams, so excited to be starting her journey to become a proper witch. Until that moment, she'd dabbled in the small things, helping a struggling plant to grow, attempting to set a protective circle around the hen house, trying but failing to cloak herself in invisibility, though she thought she had been close to achieving that one. But now she would learn all the tricks and skills to become a proper witch. She could hardly wait to earn her first wand, or bind the first familiar to her side.

And there had come the first setback.

Standing in the courtyard with her eight classmates, Lily had cast her eyes eagerly over the collection of small creatures before her. As well as three imperious black cats, there were a couple of brown dogs, a crow, a hare, a white rat and a green spotted toad. Certain she was going to get one of the cats, she had been trying to decide between one that was pure black and another with a white star on its chest when she failed to notice the toad hopping in her direction.

A small voice at her foot broke cheerily into her musings.

"Looks like it's you and me, girl! My full name is Bufotesviridis, but you can call me Buffo."

"Uh-what?" Lily winced now, remembering how rude she had been, but she'd still been expecting a cat.

"Buffo. What's your name? What do I call you?"

"Uh, Lily. So, wait, you're my familiar?"

"Yes, indeedy! And I can just tell we're going to get along like spawn in a pond."

"Er... right."

After an initial bumpy couple of weeks, Lily had discovered that she and Buffo made a good team, despite her misgivings.

The next major obstacle to her plans had come on her 18th birthday. Graduating amongst the top of her class, she'd been ready to step out into the world and seek the adventures she knew would be waiting for her. But then Madame Zelda had called her into the office.

"Congratulations, Lily! As you know, enrolment at the Arcane Academy doesn't come cheap. In fact, most of you graduate with quite a substantial Hex debt, amounting to several thousand silvers. The good news in your case, is that we are prepared to take you on as a tutor for the next three years. That will redeem the debt in full!" Madame Zelda had beamed at Lily, as if she was bestowing a great honour, instead of a massive block in her path.

And three years later, here she was, aged 21, a fully qualified witch, free from debt and the Academy. Much as she had enjoyed school—the teaching not so much—she felt as if she'd finally escaped. She lifted her face to the sky and breathed deeply.

"So where next?" asked Buffo, clinging to his perch on top of her head. "What's the plan?"

"Adventure!"

Lily strode down the path away from the Academy, until she reached a fork in the road. There, she was presented with two doors, one on the left and one on the right. Standing upright, apparently without support, they were invisible to all but fully qualified witches. The left door led simply back to the arcane world, the world in which Lily had lived her entire life. The door on the right, however, led to the mundane world, a place where she would have to find her way among ordinary mortals.