Chapter 7
The front door was covered in ice. I threw the Magical Ice Melting Potion on the door and it was freed of the ice. We made it out of the castle and moved away from the door. "Okay, now all I have to do is--"
"Nothing. This is not your responsibility, Miss Black," HB said.
"But I'm the only one who can fix this! Because of Bea's cat allergy, she was sneezing herself all over the castle and she transferred herself every time she sneezed. One time she took Sybil with her by accident and she ended up grabbing the Founding Stone by accident and taking it with them. I bumped into the two of them and Clarice when all you teachers were talking about it going missing. I figured it was Karma for trying to nick some of your Potions ingredients. I'm the one who put it back the first time it went missing. My secret project from last year was a Trace-Hiding Potion. I used it on the note and the Founding Stone but it only hides the traces of my Magic and any non-Magical traces I'd left. They're still there. This year, my secret project was a Trace-Revealing Potion. It reveals all traces, Magical and non-magical, that have been hidden. It can bring out the traces of my Magic hidden in the Founding Stone that and these Magic Enhancement Potions will, hopefully, allow me to reignite the Founding Stone... But..."
"But, what, Miss Black?" Miss Cackle asked as I sat down on the ground, took a flask out of my bag and poured the four Magic Enhancement Potions into the flask.
"You have admitted to some very serious--" HB started before I cut her off.
"It's dangerous to take more than one Magic Enhancement Potion at once. Or more than two in an hour... With me taking four in one go... There's a 93.5% chance I could permanently damage my Magical Core, a 76.9% of causing Magical Burnout, a 54.3% chance of losing my Magic completely, a 99% chance of passing out and a 12.1% chance of death. However, there is a 92.7% chance of this working in reigniting the Founding Stone. It will work. I have to do it. Bringing the traces of Magic I left behind out will be fine but I need to enhance those traces enough to reignite the Founding Stone with my Magic."
"Then, you will not do it, Miss Black!" HB said.
"You can't, little one. Please. You're the only family I have other than your mother. You are a bright, intelligent and powerful Witch. You're very brave to want to do this but you can't," Miss Cackle pleaded but this was the only way to save the school.
"I'm sorry, auntie," I said before drinking every drop in the flask.
"NO!" Miss Cackle and HB yelled. I saw myself glowing gold and flew (without a broom!) up to where the ice had started. I flew in through the window and, unsurprisingly, Miss Mould wasn't there. The coward must've already fled. I kneeled next to the Founding Stone. I poured the Trace-Revealing Potion on the Founding Stone. It glowed purple and I felt my Magic inside and pushed it towards my Magic inside the Founding Stone.
"Feel my Magic near, Connect with the Magic I have inside, Feel my Magic here, Connect with the Magic side by side." The Founding Stone started to glow orange again. "What was once here, It never coming back is my fear." Two beams of my Magic went from my hands into the Founding Stone, connecting the Founding Stone to me. "Return my Magic, Make it whole, Change from tragic, Heal my soul." The Founding Stone started to glow brightly and I felt myself getting a lot weaker. This is harder than I thought. "Use my Magic now, as I allow, Return this Stone, Let it be shown!" The Founding Stone glowed orange and all I saw was black.
...
I groaned a little before opening my eyes. "Cassie!"
"Esme?"
"Oh, you're okay," Esme sighed as I sat up and looked at her.
"What happened?"
"You fixed the Founding Stone. The ice disappeared and the Stone is glowing a bright orange once more... We still haven't been able to find Miss Mould. Miss Cackle, HB, Sybil, Bea, Clarice and I were really worried. Everyone was, really. You've been out for two days."
...
"What have you done, Cassiopeia Black!? Was it not enough you have a plaque celebrating your saving the school and having my older sister worshipping you? You had to turn my little sister into a mini you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ethel, and I really don't care. Move out of the way. I have a flying contest to train for and a Wishing Star to win."
...
"That was disgraceful! A mockery of this flying competition! What caused you to behave like this?" The Great Wizard asked.
"Ethel, please. I need this," I heard Mildred say and Maud and Enid started using the Changing Places Spell on Tabby and whatever was moving in Mildred's backpack.
"Oh, no, you don't!" I took the Potion off of them and put it in my pocket.
"Hey!" Enid complained.
"I'm confiscating this as Head of Year." Ethel showed everyone there was a dog in Mildred's backpack.
"Mildred was going to cheat in the competition and wouldn't show me what was in her backpack after she said it was her cat, Tabby, but he was a few meters away with some flowers. I tried to take the backpack off her so I could see what it was but she ran away so I chased after her to make sure she couldn't cheat in the competition--"
"I understand what's going on here," the Great Wizard cut Ethel off and she looked smug. "Mildred Hubble, you are disqualified for cheating and Ethel Hallow, you are disqualified for making a mockery of this event." Ethel went to protest but the Great Wizard wasn't having any of it. I smirked at Ethel. "If you were so concerned about Mildred trying to cheat, you should've brought it to me, Miss Cackle or Miss Hardbroom. You didn't. Now, who's up next?"
"I am, Your Greatness," I said.
"Ah, Miss Black. Go ahead." Starfire, who had a tennis ball in her mouth, and I got on my broomstick and stood up on it. I did a whole obstacle course in the air while standing on my broom. Then, I did a handstand on my broom. Starfire climbed onto my feet with the tennis ball still in her mouth. The broom started flying laps around the course with Starfire bouncing the tennis ball on her head for a minute. Starfire took the tennis ball back in her mouth as I stuck one hand out as the broom continued to fly laps. Starfire climbed down onto my hand, stood on her two back legs and started to juggle the tennis ball and two other tennis balls Felicity sent to her (luckily, I'd bribed Felicity into doing that earlier with an interview about what I did with the Founding Stone).
After a minute of juggling, Starfire caught one tennis ball in her mouth and the other two in her paws. Felicity summoned the two tennis balls back and Starfire climbed down and sat back on the end of the broom. I put both hands back on the broom and did a backflip so I was standing on the broom. I took the tennis ball out of Starfire's mouth and Felicity sent the other two tennis balls back to me with an extra two tennis balls. I juggled the five balls as Starfire did flips on the back of the broom while the broom continued to fly around the course. After two minutes, the broom flew back to the start and Felicity summoned all five balls to her. Starfire and I backflipped off of the broom onto the ground. I sent the broom back to its resting place and everyone clapped and cheered. Ethel did not look pleased. I noticed her look at Sybil who was dressed like me and had a yellow sign with 'Cassie' written on it in red. Oh, that's what Ethel had meant earlier.
...
I can't believe I now have a Wishing Star. What should I do with it? ... I can't think of a use for it so I'll just keep it safe for now in my bag. No one can get anything out of that bag but me after the Protection Spell I put on it (naturally, the Protection Spell was of my own making). Maybe, in a year or two I can use that Wishing Star to figure out how to make them myself.
...
Mildred messes up in front of the Great Wizard and her mom gets to become our new Art teacher? That's stupid... Even if she is a good teacher and she complimented the fact that my Venus Flytrap painting looked exactly like it and gave me the perfect way to get Venus Flytrap clippings for some of my Potions. It was funny when Ethel pranked her multiple times in class, though. And I loved it when Ethel got into trouble for bringing all of the paintings done in Miss Hubble's class to life. I wasn't pleased about Miss Hubble getting HB into trouble with Miss Cackle for lying to her about her being put through a probationary period.
...
Oh, no. What happened? My Potion bottles are everywhere, the experiments I was working on are ruined and the room looks like a storm blew in. I looked at the cupboard I have next to my desk. Someone's clearly been in it. I opened the cupboard and all my Potions were still there but the Wishing Star... Is gone! Someone stole my Wishing Star! I was only gone for five minutes! I need to start putting Protection Potions on my door and my stuff as well as Detection Potions in case someone tries to get in without permission. I used my Inventory Spell to check if anything else was missing but only the Wishing Star came up missing. I used the Detection Potions and Protection Potions to ensure only Miss Cackle, HB and myself can gain access. They're the only two teachers I could trust with my sensitive research. I transferred myself to Miss Cackle's office and HB was there too. "Miss Black, what are you doing here?" Miss Cackle asked.
"I was only out of my room for five minutes but someone broke in... They stole the Wishing Star, Miss Cackle." HB and Miss Cackle gasped at my words. "I have a lot of sensitive research and Potions and Spells and groundbreaking Magical discoveries in my room but, as I said, I was only gone for five minutes. My Inventory Spell told me only the Wishing Star was taken. Someone planned to steal it. It was the only thing there they were interested in."
"But who would do this? To steal from another Witch, especially something so valuable is..." HB trailed off.
"I should've had Protection Potions and Detection Potions on my stuff. I have them now so only the three of us can even get into my room but... I have no way of knowing who took it. The only people I can think of, now that Miss Mould was apprehended over the summer holidays by the Great Wizard, are Mildred and Ethel. They both wanted it badly but I can't prove anything so... I don't know what to do. I'm sorry I wasn't more careful."
"The only person who will be sorry is the one who stole the Wishing Star, Miss Black," Miss Cackle said. "They shouldn't've taken what doesn't belong to them and they shouldn't've been in your room. Don't tell anyone about this. We'll get to the bottom of it. I promise."
...
Okay, Ethel's nose growing like Pinocchio's is super funny.
...