Chapter 8
My Detection Spell alerted me to someone trying to break into my room so I immediately transferred to outside my bedroom. Miss Cackle and HB transferred at the same time. "Ethel Hallow," HB said. "What are you doing?"
"I just knocked on the door to see if Cassie was in there. I wanted to ask her if she knows where Esme is. I can't find her."
"Liar. The Detection Spell doesn't alert me when someone knocks on the door only when someone tries to enter without permission using Magic or non-magical means."
"Tell the truth, Ethel," Miss Cackle said.
"Here," Bea said as she walked past. "Have a cookie. You skipped lunch."
"Thanks," Ethel said and bit into the cookie before putting the rest into her pocket.
"What were you doing trying to break into Miss Black's room, Ethel?" Miss Cackle asked.
"I was trying to steal her Wishing Star because I manipulated Clarice into doing it so if anyone got caught, I wouldn't get into trouble and could lie and say Clarice was lying if she said I put her up to it but she refuses to do it so I had to but Cassie's upgraded her protections," Ethel said before covering her mouth in disbelief. She moved her hand away. "I mean... That was the truth and now I'm trying to lie to get out of it like I always do unless I get caught but I can't seem to lie." She covered her mouth again and HB looked pissed.
"You can't steal the Wishing Star," Miss Cackle said.
"It's under too many protections," I said. Miss Cackle seemed to understand Ethel wasn't the thief so I didn't want the real thief alerted that we know it is missing or that we are looking for them.
...
I can't believe we still haven't caught the person who stole my Wishing Star. I am glad Sybil broke Ethel's Translation Potion record. No one's beaten mine, though. Ethel got 24 languages. Sybil got 25 languages and I got 32 languages. It was funny seeing Ethel as a Swamp Troll and Mildred as a doll. I wasn't happy about finding out that Miss Hubble had insulted HB's clothing options for the Annual Chanting Contest. HB is incredible and I hate anyone that dares insult her. She's perfect.
...
"Up next, Cassiopeia Black!"
"Great, if she's in this contest, no one else stands a chance," Felicity said. I smirked at her. Good to know everyone knows who's best around here.
"Where there's light, Make it change, Feel my might, My power's range." Rainbows appeared in the air above everyone. "See their favourite, Savor it, Feel their desire, Then acquire." Their clothes turned into different shades of their favourite colours (naturally, HB and Miss Cackle's clothes didn't change). "What they feel, Let it known, Make it real, Feel at home." Each person had a word appear above their head under their rainbow. Each word was what they were feeling. Most had awe or admiration written above their heads. Miss Cackle had pride and HB had satisfaction. "Give them a way to remember now, This is what I allow, Give them the animal they desire most, With happiness they are dosed." As my chant came to an end, everyone had a realistic-looking, made-of-stone, small version of their favourite animal appear on their laps. I noticed HB had a raven, Miss Cackle had a cat and a small, realistic-looking, made-of-stone version of Starfire appeared in front of me. The words above everyone's heads and the rainbows faded into nothing but the clothes stayed the same and the animals stayed too. Everyone started clapping and admiring their stone animals.
...
"Oh, hey, Ivy."
"You know that girl?" Mildred asked as Enid went back to playing her game.
"Why do you play that game? It's rubbish. Yes, I know her. She's in Sybil's year. She's really smart but doesn't really have any friends. Everyone kinda treats her like she's invisible. Ivy?"
"Yeah?"
"If you want someone to hang out with in the library, come find me in there sometime."
"Really? Okay, cool."
...
"Hey, Sybil. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday."
"You remembered?"
"Of course, I did. Esme did too. She'll be down with your present soon she's just a little busy right now." I walked over to the broomstick-hurling tryouts for my turn. Unsurprisingly, I was the best. Ethel and some other girls couldn't even use their Magic properly and almost got us all killed with their brooms. Idiots.
...
"Here you go, Miss Black," Miss Cackle said as she passed me my Wishing Star.
"The Wishing Star! How did you--"
"Mildred Hubble stole it to give her mother Magic. Miss Hubble then put many members of staff and many students in that clay sculpture of the school she made. When Mildred stopped her mother from turning to stone, the Potion freed us from the sculpture. She then relinquished her Magical powers and the Wishing Star reappeared. It was as if it had never been used since Miss Hubble is, once again, non-magical," Miss Cackle explained.
"So Mildred Hubble is the one who stole from me?" I asked.
"Yes. Miss Hubble has been fired and Mildred has been given detention for the rest of the term," HB said.
...
"I could outfly you any day," Indigo Moon said to Ethel.
"What? You're challenging a Hallow?"
"If that means you... Then yeah."
"So, you'll have no problem facing me in the Cackle Run." Ethel looked smug.
"No problem at all." Ethel's face fell and I snickered.
"Wait, I don't think Indigo knows that--" Maud tried to warn Indigo about how dangerous the Cackle Run is but Ethel interrupted her.
"Alright. One hour from now. Don't forget your broomstick. And your bandages." The other girls laughed.
"Oh, please, Ethel. You're not that talented a flier. If anyone in this school had a chance at completing the Cackle Run it would be me, not you. You'll need bandages too."
"Prove it. You can join in too."
"Fine. I can beat you on a broom with my eyes closed and standing on it with one leg in the air. This will be easy."
...
"Well done, Miss Black. The first and only person to complete the Cackle Run without having help or trying to cheat," HB said. "Ethel Hallow. Detention for trying to cheat. Enid Nightshade, you also have detention for trying to cheat. It seems Miss Black is the only one to actually complete a successful Protection Potion and, therefore, the only one who gets a Certificate of Merit." I smirked at Ethel and she looked pissed.
...
I can't believe Mildred pretended to be someone she's not and didn't even get detention. On the plus side, she had to clean all of HB's Potions Lab when she got it covered in pink dust in a failed attempt at a Re-Animation Spell and I got 100% on my Basic Witching Proficiency Exam and no one else did.
...
I can't believe that registrar called HB a 'bristle-brain'. If I ever see him again, I'll turn him into a snail and step on him. No one insults my HB and gets away with it... It was kinda funny to see HB as a bridesmaid, though.
...
"My Potions. Where are all my Potions?" HB asked.
"Oh, fuck this." I ran out and grabbed my bag from my room. Luckily, I hadn't taken my stuff out yet. I looked through my bag. No one's touched my Potions. They wouldn't've been able to get into my room anyway. I made my way to the Potions Lab but was stopped by everyone celebrating Ethel downstairs. Mildred told everyone about how Ethel had used Miss Bat's Wishing Star so she could save the school. The fake Indigo came back but no one could stop her. I ran to Miss Cackle's office to wait for the others knowing that's where they'd come to discuss this. Ethel, Maud, Enid, Miss Cackle, Mildred and HB came in. Ethel tried to convince the others to give up HB.
"No way!"
"Miss Black--"
"We're not doing that. Besides, my Potions are all fine." I emptied my bag of all my Potions. 237 Potions, including my Wishing Star, came out of the bag.
"That's a lot of Potions," Enid said.
"Obviously, I don't go anywhere without a decent amount of Potions. This is two hundred and thirty-seven Potions in total. There's got to be something in here to help." Ethel tried to take the Wishing Star and was shot backwards with Magic the moment she touched it. "Don't take what isn't yours, Ethel. Your lucky that was your first attempt. If you try it again with any of my Potions without my permission, it'll give you a nasty electric shock." I used my Magic to sort through my Potions and make two piles. One pile was Potions I thought could be useful and the other was a pile of Potions that wouldn't be useful. One pile had the word 'useful' above it and the other pile had the words 'not useful' above it. I used a spell on the useful pile and it listed all the Potions, and how many of each, that were in that pile.
"What does that mean?" Maud asked.
"Okay, so the Potions in the useful pile are twelve Protection Potions, seven Magic Enhancement Potions, nineteen Teleport Potions, five Trapping Potions and three Magical Transfer Potions."
"What are Trapping Potions and Magical Transfer Potions?" Ethel asked.
"Trapping Potions are Potions that trap Magical objects, people or creatures in the closest container and Magical Transfer Potions are my secret project from this year. I perfected the Potion a month ago. They transfer the Magic from whatever it touches to the one who made it. I didn't even plan on ever needing to use them. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could create something like that."
"You made Potions to transfer Magic out of things and into yourself?" Ethel asked in disbelief.
"I was never going to use them. I just thought they might be useful to have on hand. We could use one of them to get the Wishing Star to stop acting like this and then--"
"Then, you'd have the power of a Wishing Star inside you," Ethel said.
"If you'd let me finish. Then, we could use a Trapping Potion to take the Wishing Star out of me and back into a bottle. But, when using Trapping Potions, you have to be very precise on what you want to trap, like with Vanishing Potions. Miss Cackle, Miss Hardbroom and I could take my Protection Potions and use a Magical Transfer Potion and Trapping Potion."
...
I can't believe HB got Indigo back after Star arrived with a message from Miss Hubble saying Indigo was at hers. She should've just left her there to lose her memories of Magic and HB. NO! Stop it, Cassie! That's just your jealousy over Indigo knowing more about HB than you do. It would be tragic for anyone who has control over their Magic to lose it, even if they weren't born with it... I'm still not happy about Mildred convincing Miss Cackle to allow those from non-magical backgrounds at the school, though... At least next year is my fourth year at Cackle's Academy so I can put my name down for Head Girl for our fifth year.
Once I become Head Girl, I'm guaranteed to be a Prefect in my sixth and seventh years. Head Girl is the most important part but Prefects are important too. There are four Prefects per year. One Prefect from each colour sash. Esme was Head Girl this year and Ethel was not pleased. Hopefully, Sybil, Clarice, Ivy or Bea can be Head Girl the year after me. Then, we could be Prefects together. If I'm Head Girl and then Sybil is, Ethel would be pissed that both of her sisters were Head Girl and she wasn't. I chuckled at that.
...