A/N: Transporting is an very rare thing in the original 90's series with us viewers only seeing Constance Hardbroom and Heckety Broomhead with this ability. I was re-watching Weridsister College and thought it was strange how in the seventh episode 'Dr Foster, I presume' Mildred seemed to have no abllity to transport and then by the next episode 'The Seventh Sense' she all of an sudden can do it perfectly fine and we also see her do this at the start of 'The New Worst Witch'. I always wondered where she learned it because no-one at the college could have taught her and this is how this one-shot was thought of. Enjoy and review thank you.
The Last Lesson
Mildred Hubble was halfway through her first year at Weirdsister college and had really started to see her magical ability. Mildred had been practising her abilities with Andy Starfinder an American teacher who had only started working at the college himself that year. Now that Mildred was learning to control her powers there was something she wanted to try.
Mildred had been researching for an week and finally felt ready to test herself. She was currently alone in her flat as both Cas Crowfeather and Ethel Hallow, her two flatmates were out as she knew they would not be happy and try to convince her not to do what she was about to do.
Mildred closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind of everything but of the other side of the room she felt her mind empty and then an strange feeling like she was being pulled occurred and she disappeared from where she had been standing.
Mildred immediately suspected she had done this wrong as she seemed to be travelling for an long time when she only wanted to go to the other side of the room. After an while she was just about to panic she would never land when she flew forward and fell face first onto an cold hard wooden floor.
Mildred was just about to stand up to see where she was when she heard an oddly familiar voice.
"Who is there?" someone said as they turned around from the chair they were sitting in that happened to be in front of Mildred.
"Mildred Hubble" Constance Hardbroom deputy head and potions teacher of Cackles Academy, said. It might be true her ex-pupil looked different but Constance knew it was Mildred, she would recognise her face anywhere no matter how she looked.
"M...Miss Hardbroom" Mildred stammered as she stood up and looked around realising she had somehow landed in the staffroom of her old school. "I was just..." Mildred said.
"I know exactly what you were doing girl, there is only one way you could have got here from Cambridge and that is by magic isn't it?" Constance asked.
"Yes, I was trying to transport I obviously ended up in the wrong place" Mildred replied.
Constance looked at the girl like she was crazy. Mildred had done some stupid things in her time but did she not know the danger she had put herself in?
"Mildred Hubble do you have any idea how dangerous it is to transport with no training?" Constance asked.
"Yes but I have been reading about it, no-one at Weirdsister has the ability so I had to transport by myself" Mildred said.
Constance sighed. She could send the girl away and pretend this had never happened but despite what people thought she did care about her pupils well-being and she didn't want Mildred injuring herself until she learned to do it properly. This is what made Constance make up her mind.
"Take my arm" Constance said. For an moment Mildred looked at her but then obeyed and Constance transported them out to an local park near the school.
"Why are we here?" Mildred asked.
Constance did not answer. Instead, she walked to the edge of the grass and send sparks into the sky. She had produced an protective shield stopping anyone from entering this area.
"Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred said confused. Constance lowered her hand and turned to face her ex-pupil.
"Mildred Hubble, I know you think I hate you and don't care what happens to you but that is false, if you are going to transport I must as well teach you how to do it safely" Constance replied.
"You are going to teach me to transport really?" Mildred asked amazed.
"On one condition" Constance said.
"Oh no what?" Mildred said
"You keep it an secret that you learned it from me, if people find out I will be having everyone wanting me to teach them how to do it too" Constance stated.
"Fair enough, I promise" Mildred said.
Constance nodded and flicked her fingers making an hula hoop appear. She put it on the grass and then turned to face Mildred. Constance had basically being tortured into learning to transport from Broomhead so she would try to not be as harsh.
"Right Mildred the first thing you need to learn is how to get in the right frame of mind to transport, it is very important to clear your mind, we will start easily please close your eyes" Constance said.
Mildred obeyed and closed her eyes as she was told to.
"Now you need to empty your mind, this can be difficult but try not to think about anything, let all your thoughts vanish" Constance told her.
Mildred tried to empty her mind of all thoughts this was difficult though.
"Okay once you feel ready start to think of your destination, in this case inside the hula hoop, focus on that and nothing else" Constance told her.
Mildred started to think of the hoop trying her best to focus on nothing else. She felt herself disappearing and opened her eyes falling forward on the grass. She had landed on the wrong side of the hoop.
"Not bad for an first attempt, at least you moved, don't worry I have put up an spell to make it impossible for you to leave this field" Constance told her.
Mildred nodded and walked back to the spot she had started in.
Transporting was the most difficult thing witches could learn, there was less then ten witches in the country alone who had this ability. It took concentration and immense power. But it had an lot of technicality as well, you had to clear your mind, focus only on your destination, open your eyes at the right time when you landed though this was only for now eventually she would have to learn to do the whole thing with her eyes open, keep yourself standing whilst making sure you were prepared to transport at that time so you didn't end up in danger. She also had to do it fast so she appeared smoothly.
Transporting was dangerous without training it even held an risk for an trained professional. People had ended up in front of cars, on roofs or in trees. People got lost an lot they ended up somewhere they had never being, Mildred remembered reading an story once about one woman who had somehow ended up transporting to China.
"Mildred you are standing wrong, fold your arms it helps your balance" Constance said.
"And all this time I thought it was an way to appear cool" Mildred said with an laugh. Though she was being trruthful she had always thought there was more behind her teacher folding her arms than just balance.
Mildred tried again. She soon realised taking off was really easy, clearing her mind wasn't to difficult, the hard bit was landing on her feet in the correct spot.
"Concentrate Mildred" Constance said after she kept failing on this aspect.
"Sorry Miss Hardbroom I will" Mildred said as she had landed well away from her target this time as she had grown tired.
The teenager knew it would take longer than one afternoon to master the art of transporting so the next weekend she went to practise again, she was not really showing any progress the first few weeks and was starting to think maybe she just didn't have the talent to transport though Constance admitted even she had taken an long time to learn to transport. This amazed Mildred she had always thought her teacher found everything easy.
It was only one month after she had started to see Constance she finally managed to land in the precise spot she was supposed to land it.
"I did it I can't believe it!" the teen said amazed.
"Well done Mildred, now we have to work on you being able to do it everytime" Constance replied.
Mildred continued to practise over the next two weeks. After she could land perfectly in the hoop, Constance made the target smaller and after she could land in that target Constance removed the target completely and just told her where she wanted her to land.
Finally after an month and two weeks, Mildred could now land where she was told to land perfectly each time but she had been safe in the shield Constance had provided but now she wouldn't be.
"Right Mildred, I want you to transport to the library in the village" Constance said as she waved her hand making the charm that had made Mildred feel safe disappear.
"But...what if I end up somewhere else?" Mildred asked panicking.
"That is an risk you have to take, it's like riding an bike if you are not allowed to have an go alone without stabilisers you will never know if you can do it, I will meet you outside the library" Constance said as she folded her own arms and transported away.
Mildred knew she couldn't panic. She had been practising and she knew she could do it. Miss Hardbroom would not let her try if she thought she was in danger. Therefore Mildred folded her arms and cleared her mind thinking of the library and nothing else. She felt herself disappear.
Mildred felt her feet land on the cobbled street and she landed in front of the library where Miss Hardbroom was stood waiting for her.
"Well done Mildred, now come back to the park" Constance said as she transported away and Mildred joined her an few seconds later.
"There is nothing more I can teach you, you are safely able to transport" Constance told her.
Mildred smiled. Since she had first started at Cackle's she had found her potions teachers trick amazing and she dreamt of the day she would be able to do it. She then realised not everyone was capable of such an power so she was in shock she had succeeded.
"Thank you Miss Hardbroom" Mildred replied.
"You put the work in I really did not do anything" Constance replied.
"Yes you did, you never had to teach me in the first place" Mildred replied.
"You know Mildred it is hard to believe you are the same clumsy girl who I had to tell to tie her bootlaces more than I did anything else" Constance said.
"I grew out of it and it is thanks to you for pushing me, I never would have gotten into Weridsister if it wasn't for you" Mildred replied.
Constance rarely smiled, Mildred had seen her smile only about twice in the time she had known her but she smiled now.
"I am proud of you Mildred you have come far, goodbye Mildred...don't be an stranger Miss Cackle will like to see you" Constance said.
Mildred rolled her eyes and smiled back. Trust Constance to say Miss Cackle would like to see her because she had to much pride to admit she herself wants to.
"Goodbye ….HB" Mildred said. Her ex teacher laughed and then transported away and for an minute Mildred stood looking at the castle down the hill and wishing she could return again.
Mildred kept her promise. She went back to college being able to transport and of course all her friends had questions but she never told them the truth. She told them she learned it herself, she could tell they didn't believe her after all Mildred was an bad liar but they stopped asking her when they realised she was not going to tell them the truth. Mildred knew for an fact Ethel knew what had happened after all Ethel knew Constance and she wasn't stupid she realised she transported exactly the same way Constance did right down to folding her arms but Mildred still kept her mouth shut.
Constance never told anyone either not even Amelia. She didn't know why after all she told the woman everything but it was something she wanted to keep an secret. Maybe she liked the idea of no-one but her ex-pupil knowing or maybe it was pride.
Over the years Mildred and Constance did get to see each other again quite an few times it was currently years later and Mildred was at an open day with her eleven year old daughter Cassidy and her husband Ben. Constance knew Mildred had two other young children and smiled at her ex-pupil which she returned. Mildred was pulled out of her thoughts by her daughter tugging on her robe.
"Come on mum do your trick please" the little girl said as Mildred shook her head with an laugh and transported along with her daughter who laughed as they landed. It was clear to Constance it was an game for the child and she loved it. Like her mother before her the child idolised the trick and could not wait to do it herself.
Watching Mildred and her own little girl Constance smiled at her private memories of the last lesson she ever gave her worst pupil.