A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch (2 page)

‘I don’t know why they bother to
have
gates at this school,’ remarked Mildred, as another three pupils soared over the wall on their brooms.

‘Perhaps it’s in case we have some ordinary visitors,’ said Maud. ‘You know, people who don’t have brooms. Miss Cackle couldn’t expect ordinary guests to bring ladders with them, could she? Who else has arrived, by the way? Anyone
we
know?’

‘Only Ethel,’ replied Mildred. ‘She pretended not to see me though, not that I
care
of course.’

Ethel Hallow was the form sneak and goody-goody, and it was hardly surprising that Mildred felt unfriendly towards her after all the mean tricks Ethel had played during their first two terms, including almost getting Mildred expelled on two occasions.

‘Oh look Maud!’ said Mildred, indicating two small girls in brand-new hats and huge cloaks which nearly touched their brand-new shining boots. ‘They must be first-years, look at them. Don’t they look
little
?’

‘To think
we
were like that,’ said Maud in a motherly way. ‘It makes me feel quite old.’

The two first-years were standing close together, looking lost and shy. One of them was glancing nervously around, and the other was trying unsuccessfully to stop crying. They were a sorry-looking pair. Both were thin; the weeping one had a pinched, pale face and wispy mouse-coloured hair, and the other one had brilliant orange frizzy bunches. For some reason, the weeping one reminded Mildred very strongly of someone else, though she couldn’t think who it was.

‘Let’s go and cheer them up, shall we?’ suggested Mildred. ‘They can’t help being new, poor things. Remember how awful
we
felt?’

Feeling very grown-up and wise, Maud and Mildred sauntered casually over to the two pathetic little girls.

‘Hello,’ said Mildred, ‘you must be new.’

‘Yes,’ chorused the girls.

Mildred patted the snivelling one awkwardly on the shoulder. ‘Don’t cry,’ she said stiffly. ‘It isn’t
that
bad you know.’ Unfortunately, Mildred’s kindly gesture only served to make matters worse, instead of better, for the girl burst into deafening sobs and flung her arms round Mildred’s waist.

Mildred was appalled. Everyone in the playground was staring at her, and any minute now Miss Hardbroom (Mildred’s terrifying form-mistress from the previous year) was bound to appear and accuse her of upsetting a poor new girl.

Maud detached the girl rather roughly and gave her a shake. ‘Stop that silly noise at once!’ she said crossly. ‘You’ll get Mildred into trouble before the first bell’s even rung.’

Mildred smoothed her cloak. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Sybil,’ snuffled the girl.

‘Mine’s Clarice,’ volunteered the other one.

‘Are the teachers strict here?’ asked Sybil, wiping her eyes with a corner of her voluminous cloak.

‘Not really,’ replied Maud.

‘Well, Miss Hardbroom is,’ said Mildred. ‘In fact she’s the worst of the lot, and she’ll be
your
form-mistress. We’re lucky this year because we’ll get Miss Gimlett, and she’s quite nice. But Miss
Hardbroom
’s horrendous. She just
appears
out of thin air –’ At this point Mildred broke off and looked around in case she had done just that, but she hadn’t.

‘–
And
she says dreadful things to you in front of the whole class and makes you feel really stupid,’ continued Maud.

‘That’s right,’ said Mildred, ‘and
I
heard tell that she changed
one
girl into a frog because she was two seconds late for a lesson. I don’t know if it’s true, but there
is
a frog sometimes seen near the pond in the backyard, and I’ve heard that it’s
really
a poor first-year who –’

‘I’ve never heard that before!’ gasped Maud. ‘
Is
it true?’

‘I
think
so,’ answered Mildred, though in fact she had made up the tale on the spur of the moment and it had somehow got rather out of hand. To be honest, Mildred’s stories often got rather out of hand, when she would find, to her dismay, that the whole class was listening and believing every word. She just
couldn’t
say then that she’d made it all up.

Poor Sybil believed every word of Mildred’s story about the frog and she burst into renewed and even noisier sobs, so deafening that Maud and Mildred thought it best to scurry away, leaving Clarice to offer comfort.

‘Mildred! Maudie! Yoo hoo! It’s
me
!’

Enid Nightshade, the new girl who arrived last term and was now their friend, came zooming over the treetops and screeched to a halt so forcefully that her cat and suitcase shot off the back, and

Maud and Mildred had to leap out of the way to avoid being run over.

At that moment the bell rang and the three witches picked up all their belongings and struggled inside with them.

‘Thank goodness we haven’t got H.B. any more,’ whispered Enid. (H.B. was their nickname for Miss Hardbroom.)

‘Yes,’ agreed Mildred, ‘this year should be as easy as pie without
her
breathing down our necks.’

he first announcement made by Miss Cackle at assembly was the ghastly news that Miss Hardbroom had changed places with Miss Gimlett, and would now be accompanying her old form into their second year. An audible groan rippled through the new Form Two, quelled at once by one of Miss Hardbroom’s piercing glances which always made each pupil feel that they had been noticed personally.