A/N: This has originally started out as something very different. But the characters wouldn't have it, and I have, after long struggles, given in to their threats ... erh ... suggestions. So you see, nothing is mine. Not the characters, not the settings. Even the plot has been ripped out of my hands.

oxo

There were exactly two outings in the whole school year that Constance Hardbroom approved of.
The first were the Hallowe'en celebrations, and while under ordinary circumstances, Miss Hardbroom did not care for unproductive frolicking of any kind, the thing that got Hallowe'en off the hook was the fact that it was, well, traditional. And Miss Hardbroom did care for tradition.

The second was the annual outing she undertook with the third year girls to gather potions ingredients. While the school's usual inventory of herbs was purchased at Hag's & Horrock's – it simply was not doable to satisfy the enormous demand of the school with hand-picked plants – Miss Hardbroom took great care to make sure the girls were reasonably well-versed in the task. She did care for tradition.

She would drag them out of their warm beds before dawn and chase them out into the surrounding fields just in time to watch the sunrise. She would be her usual, stern self, barking instructions and information at the half-awake girls, and yet Miss Cackle had yet to see a class in which not one of them would see their potions mistress in a new light after their day-long lecture.

This year, however, might turn out to be different. This year's third years were always different. They had Mildred Hubble.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to come along, Constance? Surely a second pair of experienced eyes will do no harm when you are letting Mildred Hubble and Enid Nightshade in the closer vicinity of poisonous plants."

Miss Cackle felt compelled to make the offer. Granted, she made it every year, and every year it was politely refused. But she had a hunch that this year, her Deputy Headmistress might just accept. Goodness knew that it would be necessary to watch the girls' every step. Besides, it wasn't as though all of them were sweet little angels. Miss Cackle thought briefly of Ethel Hallow, but decided that it was better not to voice these concerns to Miss Hardbroom. She could do without The Look.

"It is very kind of you to make the offer, Headmistress, but the excursion was thoroughly prepared. I have every confidence that the girls will behave with the discipline and dignity becoming of their advancements in the Craft." The thin smile on Miss Hardbroom's lips became ever so much thinner. "I am afraid that otherwise, they might not like the consequences."

She then returned her attention to the cup of tea in her hands, better to pretend that she had not noticed her superior's relieved grimace. They went through the same spiel every single year, and every single year it was on the tip of her tongue to tell her to just shove it if she did not want to go. But she let her make the offer anyway, and then proceeded to graciously refuse. She did have a soft spot for tradition.

With a glance towards the eleven o'clock that the old grandfather clock pompously proclaimed, she set the cup down and announced that she was retreating to her quarters.

Traditionally, the night before the potions outing was the only night that she thought merited a full night's sleep. After all, it would not do to indulge in four to five hours of inactivity on a regular basis.

oxo