Disclaimer - I don't own the Worst Witch. I just wanted to do something different. Enjoy.

Crime & Punishment.

The main courtyard of Pentangles magical Academy had never accommodated such a large number of people, each of them held in place by manacles that chained them all so they couldn't move. There were teenagers, young preteens and adults, some who were dressed in the traditional clothes of witches and wizards. The strange thing was there were more students at the school than there would have been normally. One group of young witches and wizards belonged to Pentangles. They were easy to differentiate with their dark purple uniforms, and they were all whispering and chattering to themselves as they looked terrified at what was happening in their beloved school.

The second group, consisting strictly of witches only, were from Cackles Academy, a famous school for magic, and while their rivalry with Pentangles was fierce, they were like their counterparts as they gazed in terror at what was happening. Four of the adults stood out - the most powerful and distinguished was the Great Wizard, resplendent in the traditional blue robes with silver accents that denoted his office. Near him was Ada Cackle, a witch who was short with white-grey hair and a kindly face behind spectacles. Her face, which was usually smiling, looked terrified. Next to Ada was Hecate Hardbroom, her potions mistress. A beautiful woman with her hair tied back in a severe bun, she was tall and thin, dressed in black. Hecate was looking on with terror like her old friend.

Besides the Great Wizard, Ada and Hecate stood Pippa Pentangle, the headmistress of Pentangles Magical Academy. It was hard not to miss her since she was dressed in robes of pink. Many people had underestimated Pippa over the years because she liked to stand out in a brighter color than a traditional witch, but while she was glamorous and kept up with the latest fashions, she was not stupid. She was a very driven and ambitious woman who had worked long and hard to build her school. Like the others, she looked frightened, but she was looking at one figure in particular, one of her students, a little witch.

It had only been 3 months, but it seemed like a lifetime since she had brought this special girl into her school, and she hadn't regretted it since because she had succeeded in proving her detractors wrong by attending Pentangles when she'd been offered a scholarship here. It just was not fair this girl had to fight other people's battles. Pippa should be the one down there, but instead she wasn't and she looked down at the ground at the shattered pieces of a glass bottle. Looking around the courtyard, her heart tearing to pieces at the sight of various boys and girls sobbing in fear over what was going to happen, Pippa could see the glinting remains of other bottles, the sun refracting through the glass causing the shards to sparkle maliciously, as though mocking them for their hopelessness.

Her heart went out to the little girl whom she had brought into her school 3 months ago, seething with rage as she looked at the women who was holding everyone at her school a prisoner.

Agatha Cackle and Miss Gullet. It didn't really surprise Pippa all that much that Ada's twin was a vicious psychopath, what did surprise her were the lengths Agatha was willing to go in order to capture Cackles Academy, and once more Pippa cursed the Witches code with the inflexible and severe Inheritance clauses that stated only the eldest child would be the one to inherit the family legacy; Pippa had an elder brother, but while it had made sure that their parents had given him everything she hadn't let that get in the way of her own ambitions when it occurred to her she could be her own person. It had taken a while to realise that, but when she had, Pippa realised it was the best thing to ever happen to her, and look at what she'd accomplished over his life. She had become a teacher, learning that she loved working with children and helping them develop as fully fledged magicians.

She hadn't expected the woman to go to such lengths, using potions brewed by herself and Miss Gullet in order to capture and magically restrain everyone at Pentangles so then they were hopeless against her.

All to get to Mildred. Mildred herself was standing before Agatha and Miss Gullet, both of them dressed in long black cloaks and pointed hats, the garb of a qualified witch though Agatha didn't have her powers it was the symbolism that counted the most, her hands manacled and chained with a shimmering bubble of magic to stop her escaping. Pippa struggled against her bonds even knowing it was hopeless.

Hecate saw her attempts to escape and sighed to herself, knowing there was little point trying to struggle until the potion wore off to the point where they could use their powers to escape; while Miss Gullet's speciality was in Spells she wasn't a slouch when it came to potions, and the potion she and Agatha had used against them was strong. Hecate had never felt so useless in her entire life and she wondered, for the first time ever, how non-magical people coped without magic. She had never given them much thought in the past, not when there was work to do, magic and spells to learn. She remembered being contemptuous towards Julie Hubble, who was the first parent, she had never met a child born from a non-magical family, and she lowered her head in shame, simply because she had believed Julie to be beneath her notice.

Agatha's voice broke through everyone's thoughts. "At last you are exactly where I want you, Mildred, chained up like the little freak you are," she sneered.

Pippa growled to herself. She and her staff and students had worked long and hard to restore and rebuild Mildred's self confidence after the gross mismanagement at Cackles, and she would be damned if she was going to let this….this bitch who had invaded her school and practically destroyed another verbally abuse one of her students, and for what? She closed her eyes, willing her magic to burn through the potion saturated in her system; she didn't care if she burnt herself out with exhaustion, she was going to kill Agatha if she touched a single hair on Mildred's head. She had sworn to protect and nurture her students, and Mildred was no exception.

Pippa could feel the magic burning through the potion, but the potion was still too strong and she couldn't burn through it right away. She wasn't surprised Agatha and Miss Gullet had overpowered everyone with this potion, especially with the Great Wizard who had just visited with a few others to see how well the Cackles students were taking their new temporary home at Pentangles.

Try as she might, Pippa couldn't burn through the potion enough to make a difference, she would have to wait for the potion to wear off before her magic could return. Cursing herself for being such a weakling, Pippa ignored the sweat dripping from her forehead and looked sadly at the girl standing chained up in front of Agatha. "I'm so sorry, Millie," she whispered broken hearted. "You're on your own."

To her surprise she noticed a tearful Hecate Hardbroom trying to burn through the potion herself, and her forehead crinkled in surprise at seeing the reaction Hecate had.

"As you may remember Mildred dear," Agatha mocked, "I don't have my powers thanks to my sister. But you will help me there. I'm surprised, Mildred; accused of theft, scorned by even your friends-"

"Okay, you've made your point," Mildred interrupted, the unusual sharpness shutting Agatha up as did the irritation and the older woman looked at her with an expression that made Pippa's skin crawl. "What are you getting at?"

"Wouldn't it be nicer if you didn't have to worry about spells or potions or flying? I've been told by Miss Gullet here," Agatha said, gesturing lazily at the disgraced spells science teacher who grinned next to her, "about your shortcomings. Is that why you decided to come to this second rate school?"

Pippa ground her teeth, fingers itching to show this woman how wrong she was. She had always hated that, she had worked long and hard to make her school a top rate establishment, using a variety of subjects to attract students, and she would be damned if she was going to let someone like Agatha sneer at all her work.

"Leave Pentangles out of it, Agatha. Just get on with it," Mildred said.

Agatha's eyes flashed and her hand swung out and slapped Mildred across the face.

"NO!" Pippa screamed, almost drowned out by the cries from Maud Spellbody and Enid Nightshade and a fair number of student from Pentangles, but Agatha and Miss Gullet ignored the Pentangles headmistress and everyone else as they enjoyed seeing Mildred's head snap back but she didn't appear to be hurt.

"I'm sorry to use those methods Mildred, but consider this; wouldn't it be nice if you gave your magic to someone else?" Agatha asked in a sickly sweet manner as though she hadn't just slapped the girl in front of her. Pippa couldn't believe Agatha; did she really think Mildred would do something so wasteful? If she did it was no wonder she had been defeated twice already.

Mildred didn't seem impressed either. "Someone like you, you mean? Ha! You need to learn to be a bit more subtle, Agatha. I knew what you were getting at only a few seconds into your…..speech. Why should I give my magic to you?"

"Doesn't your magic deserve a more deserving caster, Mildred? Don't you feel angry and hurt by what your fair weathered friends did to you? They turned their backs on you, saying you weren't worthy of magic - what if they're right, and besides don't you feel like you're wasting your life here at this school?" Agatha looked around the courtyard at the pristine white buildings of Pentangles. "They said you are not a witch, what if they're right?"

Pippa glared hotly at Maud and Enid in the crowd, but they didn't see her face, but she could see the way they looked ashamed of themselves. Good. They deserved a little shaming after saying that about a girl who had more talent than half of the Cackles girls put together.

But Mildred's bright smile took everyone by surprise. "That's a nice offer Agatha, so nice to see you've turned over a new leaf," she said sarcastically, "but there are two things you need to know."

Agatha sighed even as Miss Gullet snorted impatiently. "And what my dear girl is that?"

"First, its a bit rich of you to judge me for not being a witch when I am a witch and you've got no powers, meaning you have to resort to using this idiot," she gestured at Miss Gullet, "to do your dirty work."

Pippa closed her eyes. She was all for causing problems for Agatha and Miss Gullet after all they'd done, but she didn't see how it would help if she insulted the woman who was still older and more experienced than she was, but while she had faith in Mildred she didn't want her hurt because of one wrong word.

She opened her eyes to find Miss Gullet glaring and hissing at Mildred, but only Agatha's outstretched arm stopped the former teacher from doing something stupid - Pippa wasn't sure whether to be grateful or scared.

"What was the second thing I needed to know?" she ground out impatiently, desperate to regain her magic.

Mildred grinned. "Second…..I am not really in front of you."

Pippa blinked in shock, and she glanced at the entourage around her, and wasn't surprised to see the looks of puzzlement on their faces, it reflected her own. "What have you done now, Millie?" Pippa whispered in surprise.

Three months ago.

Felicity Foxglove was busy curling her hair in her bedroom when she was startled by a knocking on the door. "Who is it?" she called.

"It's Mildred, mind if I come in?"

"Sure," Felicity called, wondering for a second why Mildred was outside and why she wanted to come in; she didn't have a problem with Mildred, not like Ethel Hallow did, but while her fellow student struggled Felicity did admire her because she knew Mildred was doing her best and some of the things that she went through on a daily basis were just accidents. For the life of her, Felicity didn't understand why Mildred wasn't taken in by Miss Cackle or even Miss Bat and given some hints and tips on how to live as a witch, and she wasn't even certain if Mildred had even bothered to ask for help, but if she didn't pull herself together she could be kicked out of the school.

Mildred opened the door. Felicity looked at her with concern, Mildred was still wearing her school uniform which looked fairly rumpled after an entire day and a detention where she had spent 2-3 hours cleaning up the mess from the potions lab, and she looked extremely tired. In fact, Felicity wouldn't be surprised if HB had made Mildred clean the entire lab. Felicity couldn't blame her for being tired and fed up and this time she felt Miss Hardbroom had punished her too harshly. The mess she had cleaned up wouldn't have taken long, Felicity had made the same mistake when she was younger, it had only taken 10 minutes, but in Mildred's case Miss Hardbroom had made it harder.

Mildred's latest potions mishap had nearly destroyed the potions lab and had covered the whole workstation she was working at with a gloop that had the consistency of treacle and the smell of wallpaper paste so Mildred had been told to stay there and clean the whole thing up and the humiliation was further compounded by the other potions lessons HB had, but in Felicity's eyes it was just another reason for Mildred to ask Miss Hardbroom for help and advice - if the woman would actually be kind enough to give it, but surely the teacher didn't want Mildred to fail, did she? - about how potions worked, because if she didn't then she would cause more mishaps.

But Miss Hardroom wasn't the most approachable teachers in the school, and she had seemed to take an almost perverse pleasure in putting Mildred into detention, with that kind of attitude for the job it was probably no wonder Mildred had not asked Miss Hardbroom for help. Felicity herself probably wouldn't either, but unlike some of the other girls Felicity sympathised with Mildred since she herself had been awful at brewing potions when she was younger, and it had driven her mother mad. It had taken years for her to get through it and be better, but she knew if she could do it then Mildred could as well. She just needed time and help. While her mother had been frustrated with her own lack of progress, Felicity was lucky that her mother had been patient enough to take her through it nice and gentle so then she'd be prepared for her education at Cackles Academy.

Mildred hadn't had that advantage and it wasn't her fault, and Miss Hardbroom didn't have the right to victimise and single her out of the entire class as the worst witch. That was a truly unfair title.

At the sight of Felicity in her nightie, Mildred back peddled. "Sorry, Felicity, I didn't know you were getting ready for bed," she apologised.

"It's okay. Rough detention?" Felicity asked in concern, seeing Mildred looked like she was only just holding herself up right, in fact she looked like she was about to collapse because her back couldn't hold her up. She must have done a lot of bending down to get a back like that.

Mildred nodded, "Yeah. I don't know why Miss Hardbroom keeps giving me the dirty jobs, but she loves it. Felicity, do you have the homework set by Mr Rowan-Webb; I was in detention for hours thanks to Miss Hardbroom and Miss Cackle?"

"Have you asked Maud or Enid for the homework sheet?" Felicity asked, standing up and padding over to her desk to get it for Mildred.

"I've only just gotten away from the potions lab, and I don't know what the homework Mr Rowan-Webb looks like," Mildred replied, though her eyes caught sight of something near Felicity on the desk. "Besides, Maud and Enid are asleep and I didn't want to disturb them. I saw your light under the door so I decided to try my luck."

Felicity nodded absently as she picked up the homework sheet, just as she noticed Mildred had crossed the room and had knelt by the desk to look into the star globe on the table. The star globe was incredibly beautiful, it was made from glass that in some areas looked like coarse and rough metal. If you had to think of the right colour to describe the shade of the metal and glass Mildred could honestly say she had no idea, and she was an artist.

Her best guess was a shade of black, mixed with dark brown and a rich purple before being mixed with gunmetal grey and flecked with silver and gold.

Mildred looked closer into the sphere and she felt as though she was being catapulted on a broom through the sky upwards into space. Particles of gold, silver and red sparkled in front of her eyes, and she was almost blinded by a sun before being shoved close to a supernova that was shifting with superheated gas and light.

Mildred gasped as she felt as though her eyes were being taken on a trip without her body throughout the solar system. One minute she was looping around Earth, gazing down on the Pacific ocean with its varying shades of blue and turquoise, and saw Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the islands between those three and the Americas, the next she was gazing at the Moon. Mildred had heard of the Sea of Tranquility, but with the pockmarked and gritty nature of the moon, it made it hard for the girl to categorise the geography, and then she found herself shooting towards Saturn; why she wasn't seeing Venus, Jupiter or Mercury, she had no idea, but she wasn't going to complain as she took in the rings.

"Mildred, snap out of it."

Mildred? Who was Mildred? She thought to herself distractedly. Oh yeah, its my name. Someone was distracting her from the beauty of the solar system, but then she felt a hand roughly pulling her away from the globe and she came back to the here and now, and she remembered where she was, but the sudden shift from the sheer size of the solar system to the cramped confines of Felicity's bedroom made Mildred overbalance and she fell to the ground.

"Ooh, sorry Mildred," Felicity gushed as she held out her hands to help the girl stand up. "I forgot how it could shake up the balance looking into a star globe like that."

"It's okay. A what?" Mildred asked as Felicity helped her to sit down on the bed.

Felicity smiled and picked it up and showed it to Mildred. "It's a star globe," Felicity whispered to the other girl, passing the globe over to her, "they're used by astrologers, when they could find them that is, and they are also used to show children the kind of masterpieces you could make with magical crafting."

Mildred was awed by the beauty of the globe when she caught on to what Felicity had just said, "What do you mean, when astrologers could find them?"

"They are very rare," Felicity answered, putting emphasis on the last two words. "Only a handful of them were ever made, and the ones that came afterwards, well they weren't very good replicas, and they didn't work as well as the originals."

Mildred nodded, "Kind of like the old Masters," she commented, "you could forge as many of their paintings as you'd like, but they don't really seem to capture the original's essence."

"Yeah, but the star globes go back a very long time," Felicity replied, remembering seeing some of the old Van Gogh's over the years, her mother had a love for art and Felicity, being exposed to it, had acquired her own tastes long ago. "They are incredibly hard to find, and they are so rare that if you had more than a hundred and seventy families, only three of them were bound to have one in their possession."

Mildred whistled as she tried to work out just how many of these globes had been made originally, but her shaky grasp of mathematics didn't give her the answer. "It's beautiful anyway," she said instead, "how long have you had it?"

"Not long. It was a birthday present, and I've often been distracted by looking into it," Felicity smiled dreamily at the globe still in Mildred's grip, "and sometimes I get lost looking into it."

"Then you'd better not let HB catch you, she might confiscate it," Mildred said quickly, reminded of how her mobile phone had been taken by the woman; she didn't know to this day whether the phone had been vanished out of existence or had simply been confiscated.

"She would not dare," Felicity's dreamy countenance shifted into something more serious, so quickly Mildred was taken aback; she was used to Felicity being upbeat and cheerful. "Star globes are precious magical items, and even Miss Hardbroom wouldn't be so stupid to touch them for two very good reasons. First, I have a proof of ownership license for the globe. The rarity of a star globe makes it necessary to have one, and if Miss Hardbroom or one of the other teachers decided to take it then I could simply contact my parents, and they'd have Miss Cackle return it. Second, the star globes were made by Merlin himself. Merlin was one of the greatest wizards who ever lived, Mildred, the founder of the Craft and our entire way of life. No one knows why he created them, never mind how, but they are masterpieces of magical craftsmanship and art. If HB sees the globe she will leave it alone. There aren't many artefacts of Merlin, Mildred, so they are even more precious."

Mildred looked down into the globe with awe. She had of course heard of Merlin, but this was the first time she had heard of him in Cackles Academy. She was holding something created by the legendary wizard himself! Seeing Mildred's arms starting to shake and knowing only too well how careless the girl could be, Felicity quickly grabbed the globe so it wouldn't fall to the ground. "You'd better be careful with globes like these, Mildred," she warned as she took the globe to the desk, "they don't damage easily, but if you damage them there is no way to fix them."

"Oh, sorry," Mildred crinkled her face sheepishly. If there was one thing she hated the most about herself it was the fact when she became nervous she couldn't stop herself from dropping things she shouldn't.

At Cackles, with things like the Witches' code and Hardbroom over her shoulders, that form of self loathing had grown worse because she was still unsure about the magical world and what the dos and don'ts were. If she had damaged this beautiful piece of magical art then she could have found herself in a lot of trouble.

"No harm's done," Felicity waved a hand to show it was not important, and she put the globe down on her desk. She picked the sheet up and she was just handing it to Mildred when a familiar voice echoed around the room.

"Mildred Hubble," Miss Hardbroom appeared, making Mildred and Felicity jump and Felicity even bumped into the desk at the sudden appearance of the potions mistress. Mildred swallowed a little. She had had more than enough of this woman for the day after having to put up with her forcing her (Mildred) to clean up the workstation in the potions lab, and then the rest of the lab. Miss Hardbroom didn't look tired which was a contrast to Mildred herself, who probably looked as tired and fed up as she felt. Instead the teacher looked very much alert and as neat as ever, and Mildred felt jealous just looking at her smart appearance. "What are you doing here when you should be in bed?"

"Miss Hardbroom, I was just picking up the homework set by Mr Rowan-Webb," Mildred said quickly before the potions mistress could make one of her unfair assumptions.

The potions mistress nodded slowly, her eyes travelling to the homework sheet which confirmed Mildred's little story about being up and about. "Very well," she said in that cool manner that made her sound like a purring cat that exuded smugness that said she had had all the cream and the canary and she did not give a damn about who knew about it. "Get to bed now, Mildred! While your desire to continue and further your education here at Cackles is commendable, that does not give you the right to keep your schoolmates up."

If there was one thing Mildred hated about Miss Hardbroom it was how quickly she could go from smooth to rough when it came to verbally smacking down students.

"Yes Miss Hardbroom," Mildred whispered, glancing at Felicity and said gratefully, "Thanks for the sheet, Felicity, and thanks for showing me the globe."

Felicity smiled back, she would have said something back to Mildred but with Miss Hardbroom in the same room at this time of night she didn't dare.

Mildred didn't mind, knowing only too well how intimidating Miss Hardbroom was up close. She walked out of the room and headed off to her own room. She didn't have time to work on the homework with Miss Hardbroom prowling around but she would have time in the morning to sort it out, so she put it on her desk and made sure it was visible for when she woke up.

The sight of the bed in her room with Tabby resting on it made her realise how tired she was, and so Mildred lurched around the room to get her uniform off and get herself ready for bed. It took her a few minutes to get her hair out of its plaits and comb it out, and it took her another minute to feed her cat and then climb into bed, but Mildred was grateful when she got under the covers and she rested her head and back on the pillow and mattress with a sigh of relief. What a waste of a day, she thought to herself, guessing that Hardbroom had already told Miss Cackle about the latest disaster.

Mildred shut her eyes for a second, wishing and not for the first time she had the same basic training and knowledge the other girls had with potions. It was so frustrating; Miss Cackle had only allowed her to stay at Cackles after that mess with the entrance exam on a trial basis, one that was costing her mother money. Mildred had thought it would be fairly straightforward to learn how to be a witch but she was wrong since most of the subjects covered things she hadn't even heard of, she had to cast spells and magic with rhymes. Mildred had watched dozens of movies and cartoons which approached magic like that. The entertainment business had no idea how accurate, they were, but for Mildred Hubble it was a nightmare because she was a long way from truly understanding how it all worked. Okay, some times it was straightforward, but while some of her detractors (and boy, did she have detractors!) believed she was hopeless with magic, Mildred did try to practice her powers in the privacy of her own room while Maud and Enid weren't around.

Thinking about Maud and Enid hurt Mildred, who grimaced; while she liked both girls, Mildred had to admit they weren't very good at encouragement nor were they good at teaching her some basics when it came to magic. While they were both good with magic, Enid and Maud had not reached the same level as experienced witches like Miss Cackle or Miss Hardbroom, so there was not much they could teach her, really. They had taught her a few tips and a given her a few hints about magic, but that was it. And besides all that the timetable of Cackles and the never ending number of tests and exams that cropped up every week made it very tricky to find the time for them to help but Mildred felt she had improved, deep down, though her constant failings frustrated her no end. Her teachers thought she was not trying. Ha!

Mildred shook her head softly and opened her eyes for a second to turn the light off, and she just snuggled under the covers, hoping that the night would soothe her aching head and the new day would be better than the one that had just passed. She was also hungry. Miss Hardbroom had made sure of that by forcing her to clean up every inch of the workstation and then forcing her to clean the rest of the lab for 3 hours, making her miss her last two lessons and causing her to lose quite a bit of credibility. Dinner was practically over by the time she'd finished, and the Dinner witches were so nasty it wasn't worth speaking to them about the weather never mind a Sunday roast.

I hate potions, Mildred thought to herself, guessing that Miss Hardbroom was probably nearby, and she would probably pounce on her for just saying something against her subject. Mildred had had more than enough of Miss Hardbroom for one day, she didn't need to make it two days in a row.

As she drifted off to sleep, Mildred thought for a second whether Cackles was worthwhile and in the end. Yes, she was learning how to be a witch, but the more she thought about it the more she felt a bit unsettled; her time at the school had gone through so many lurches and twists and turns, and she had gone through so many disasters that it was hard to imagine what else could go wrong. Potion accidents, spell mishaps, broomstick nightmares, the bullying from people like Ethel and Miss Hardbroom who seemed to have a twisted vendetta against her….they didn't seem to hold a candle to the messes she had gotten into with Agatha Cackle, being turned into a frog and almost being killed by the numerous cats in the school, and the Great Wizard who'd been manipulated by Agatha into a straightforward plan to not only see her get killed but her sister out of being Headmistress.

How nasty and selfish could you get, killing two girls just so you could get your sister out of her post as headmistress?

Mildred sometimes thought that the relationship between herself and the Cackles teachers was akin to a dog being given treats for good behaviour; she had been awarded with the opportunity to learn magic at the school after that first mess with Agatha, and she'd received little but abuse and punishments afterwards. How was she supposed to understand magic if everyone but her knew how it worked?

Mildred had once asked Miss Hardbroom if she could help, but the teacher had told her she didn't have the time, and in any case if she (Mildred) was so dead set on becoming a witch, she should not need to ask for anything. Mildred had heard that stuff before over the last six months, and she hated it, it sickened her that these people at this school who called themselves teachers didn't seem to act like teachers, and it wasn't just HB. Cackle, Bat, even Mr Rowan-Webb didn't seem inclined to help her. While they'd refused much like Hardbroom, they were more polite about it, or they offered some pathetic excuse.

Mildred closed her eyes, wondering where the exhaustion that had taken her body over previously had gone because she was very tired and she just wanted to get to sleep. But no, her treacherous brain and mind was seemingly ganging up on her and keeping her awake.

Someone roughly shaking her brought her back to the real world. "Mildred Hubble, wake UP!"

Mildred groaned as the strident voice went through her ears to freeze her brain. "W-wha?" she tried to say, but her mind was still partially asleep. Whoever was shaking her didn't seem to care, and as Mildred gradually became more awake, she became aware of the sounds of people nearby who were making a vast amount of noise. "What's going on?" she managed to say before blearily sitting up and looking around the room, blinking rapidly and rubbing her eyes to push life back into them. What she saw made the sleep leave her mind as she looked on in horror.

Her bedroom was in chaos with Miss Cackle, Miss Bat, and Mr Rowan-Webb and Miss Drill opening and closing drawers in the desk rapidly, and going through them all thoroughly. Miss Hardbroom was standing over her, and Mildred realised to her growing horror that none of the teachers looked particularly amused or happy. In fact they looked furious for some reason. "What's happening?" she asked, already dreading the answer.

"Where is the Star globe, Mildred?" Miss Hardbroom's voice was like a knife left in the arctic ice for a year before being sharpened with an oiled whetstone.

Mildred looked up at her potions mistress uncomprehendingly. "Felicity's star globe, what do you mean where is it? It was in Felicity's room, last I checked."

Miss Cackle came over, and Mildred shivered at the look in the eyes. It reminded Mildred strongly the way Agatha looked when she had threatened her during that last mess when the Great Wizard was visiting, but now she could definitely see the family resemblance since Ada Cackle was more of a human being than her sister.

"It's not there anymore. Felicity is quite upset by the loss of the globe, and since Miss Hardbroom says you were in her bedroom….." Miss Cackle broke off suddenly, and turned around with a look of disgust on her face that Mildred just caught. "Theft is not only frowned upon in this school, Mildred, it is harshly punished. I had thought better of you."

"Hold on, you think I stole it? You're wrong. I touched it, I held it, but I didn't take it," Mildred argued. "It isn't in here. You're wasting your time."

"Miss Hardbroom says you were interested in the globe," Mr Rowan-Webb spoke up this time, and Mildred glanced at the wizard. The look on his face reminded her more of HB, with the amount of disdain written all over it. It got worse. "To think I was rescued by a thief," he hissed, shaking his head in disgust.

"Interested, yes, but that doesn't mean I stole it! I haven't done anything!" Mildred then realised something. "Wait a second, you are not calling this a trial, do you?"

"Oh no, Mildred, this isn't your trial," Miss Hardbroom said softly, and Mildred shivered already guessing that this was not going to be good in any way for her. "This is your interrogation."

Mildred looked up at her potions mistress wide eyed, unable to hide her feelings. She couldn't believe it, she just could not believe it. How could they believe she would be stupid enough to steal something as precious as a star globe from Felicity and give everyone the clue she had done it when she hadn't? She knew Cackles tended to have a bit of a 'guilty until proven innocent' mindset as opposed to the 'innocent until proven guilty' attitude Mildred was familiar with, but this was taking it too far.

"My interrogation? So what's the trial going to be then?" Even as she asked the question, Mildred guessed it was not the best thing to say.

Miss Cackle looked grave, angry, disappointed, and she looked as though she would like nothing more than to throw Mildred out of her Academy right now. "It will be before the entire school," she said softly but her voice trembled slightly as though she was trying to hold back her temper, "in the evening. In the meantime you will be isolated from the rest of the school."

Mildred felt as though her heart had just been dropped into an iceberg. "Isolated, you mean kept in here?"

"No, you will go to your lessons."

Oh no. The penny dropped in Mildred's mind when she realised what part of the punishment was going to be. She wasn't the most popular student in the school thanks to her background, her lack of proficiency in spells or potions, the way she always put her foot in her mouth because she didn't understand how magic worked, how to act and speak like a witch and so on.

But life had been bearable, but it soon would become a living nightmare. After the teachers would leave her bedroom she knew it would all come to an end. Everyone in the school was going to hate her for something she hadn't done. She had to do something, say something, anything. "Miss Cackle, please listen to me, I did not steal-"

"Then where is it, Mildred?" Miss Cackle interrupted furiously, her voice rising. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Tact left Mildred at that point, but she too was growing angry. "If I had really taken that star globe, do you really think I'd be stupid enough to leave a trail that came back to me?" she asked.

"Do not ever answer me back! How would I know what a thief like you would do, but I suppose it makes sense seeing as you come from a non-magical background. Did your mother teach you how to be a thief, Mildred, is that why you cannot perform a simple spell successfully?"

Mildred let out a gasp as tears began to fill her eyes. Oh, that was a low blow, something she would have expected from someone like Agatha since even Miss Hardbroom and Ethel Hallow seemed to have seen the thin line that separated insults to her mother, she just had never expected Ada Cackle to say something so cruel. But as soon as the horrible reply left the woman's mouth, she seemed to realise what she had said because there was a flash of regret over her face, but it quickly disappeared.

If the teachers judgemental attitudes were bad then Mildred could positively say her life in Cackles had become a living hell, so by the time the evening came she was so mentally beaten she didn't really care what the teachers or the students did to her anymore.

When she looked back on it all, Mildred could honestly say the teachers harshness was restrained, whether by age or experience that stopped them unleashing their pent up fury towards her, Mildred could not really tell. But Mildred guessed they felt they didn't need to, not since the rest of the school population seemed to have that well in hand.

Everyone in Cackles knew what Mildred had supposedly done with the star globe and the moment she left her bedroom, she was attacked in the corridors, threatened with vicious curses and was even hit with spells that made her feel as though she'd just been struck with a wrecking ball to the chest. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, girls like Esmerelda Hallow stopped them, only to tell them that the thief would get what was coming to her later.

Looking up into Esmerelda's face, Mildred finally saw the resemblance between the older girl and her sister Ethel, and since Mildred had always liked Esmerelda until now it was really painful. But that was nothing compared to the way the older girl spoke to her afterwards, how she should never have been given the chance to become a witch after that mess with the entrance exam. Mildred had stayed absolutely silent, she had had nothing she really wanted to say to the girl or to the others, no she was just memorising everything they said to her so then if things took a different turn then she would know better than to forgive and forget.

But the worst was to come in the shape of Maud and Enid. The moment Mildred saw both of them she had known things were going to be bad, well worse than they were already. Maud and Enid had been Mildred's friends for six months, they were the only bright spot in her life, the only friends she really had, and without them Cackles became more like the gauntlet.

They both seemed to believe the news she was guilty though how they had reached that conclusion Mildred had no idea. She had no idea what had been said to the two girls, but she knew it was anything good.

It wasn't.

"Miss Hardbroom and Ethel were right when they said girls from non-magical families couldn't be trusted," Maud told her after barely listening to Mildred, who had spent two minutes trying to explain what had happened.

"Maud, please don't say that. I'm trying to tell you what happened; yeah, I went into Felicity's room to ask for the homework set for Spells, but I didn't steal the star globe. I admired it, yeah, but I didn't take it," Mildred pleaded with her and Enid, but neither girl was having it.

"Yeah, like we're going to trust you," Enid snapped and for the first time Mildred had known the carefree and mischievous girl the way she looked reminded her of Ethel Hallow. "Witches don't steal anything, we don't need to. Magic can give us whatever we want. But you, well you're from outside our world, so who knows what you've been taught?"

The implications of that last question angered Mildred, and she couldn't believe they'd think that of her or her mum. They knew the woman for heaven's sake.

"Leave my mother out of this! We are not thieves," Mildred hissed, starting to get angry with them both, but Maud had heard more than enough at that point. "Shut up. Do you know something, you are truly the worst type of person because you pretend to be good."

"You don't deserve your powers," Enid said, glaring at her, "everyone's right about you, you non-witch freak."

Mildred took a step back, gazing at Maud and Enid, trying to picture them as the two she had met months before when they'd started at Cackles. Where had the nervous girl with the glasses who had crashed into the balcony of her flat gone, the same girl who had lost her glasses and brought her to Cackles where they'd laughed after crashing into that pond?

Looking at Enid, Mildred wondered where the girl who had been so nonchalant about being expelled from Cackles after being expelled 17 times already before she'd settled down for good had gone. Looking at them both Mildred's mind replaced Maud's round face and brown hair in bunches with Miss Hardbroom, and Enid with the blond, pale sneering features of Ethel Hallow. Their friendship was over.

By the time the trial finally dawned, Mildred had never had such a long, miserable, rotten day. Everyone was sneering at her, and at mealtimes she was given only a small helping, and even then she had to eat it fast so then the others didn't just take her food out of her mouth. But Mildred hadn't wasted her time when she had time to spare. She had gone to the library to study up on the Witches code to find out more about the laws and punishments that covered theft. She had taken to skimming the code now and again to learn more about becoming a witch, but most times she didn't bother.

This time the code was critical. But when she opened the latest edition of the Witches' code she wished she hadn't because the rules and punishments governing theft were clear and harsh. The penalty for a witch stealing from another witch wasn't something as mundane as imprisonment, no it was virtually identical to the punishment received by Agatha Cackle, and it also meant imprisonment for 50 years.

Mildred had then spent the rest of the day in the library - she didn't see the point of spending time in the classes where the lessons themselves were forgotten and the teachers actually encouraged the other girls in ganging up on her, jeering her and insulting her and her background until she cried, and besides she doubted that Cackle or HB would care - reading through the history books to gain some insight into magical theft. Enid's words about how witches didn't need to steal anything, not when they had magic to give it to them, had given her some insight but not a lot. In the end Mildred simply gave up because the history section didn't tell her a great deal about magical theft, but she did find a book about Merlin. Felicity had already told her that Merlin had founded the Craft, planted the seeds for the numerous traditions witches and wizards followed to the present day, created the magical conclaves where witches and wizards could finally live in peace and still interact with non-magical people from a position of safety, but his artefacts were considered sacred, but as she had read through the book she learnt that while the legendary wizard had more than enough magical enemies to fill a dozen rogues galleries, he also had his fair share of non-magical enemies. Bandits, rival kings with delusions of grandeur, petty criminals who wanted Merlin and his power to gain more power and were so arrogant they believed kidnapping him would be effortlessly easy. They had also tried stealing from him, only for the wizard to make them regret it. As Mildred read through that part of the history of Merlin she wondered if that was one of the reasons why theft was treated so harshly anyone who was near the person or object that had gone missing was instantly suspected without any proper investigation. It would certainly fit with what Mildred had learnt so far of witches and wizards; accuse first and don't bother performing a proper investigation afterwards.

In the end she was glad to leave the library when a cold Miss Hardbroom materialised in front of her table. "It's time," the woman had said.

Mildred was silent. Miss Hardbroom believed she was being compliant but Mildred was furious underneath her facade.

Miss Hardbroom didn't bother to use a transportation spell to take them both to the Great Hall, instead the woman had escorted Mildred there on foot, though why Mildred didn't know, but as they walked she found herself not caring one bit, though it occurred to her the teacher was only doing it to increase the tension. All day Mildred had felt like she was on Death Row, now that the deed was going to be done that feeling she was about to face her own execution grew like a balloon filled with water. Miss Hardbroom had not said a word to her, not one word, not even commenting that she hadn't attended any of her set lessons, and Mildred didn't bother saying anything to her; Miss Hardbroom had never wanted her to attend Cackles, she had made it abundantly clear to Mildred she believed children from non-magical families had no place learning magic, so for her she must be delighted that she had been proven right in her beliefs and Miss Cackle must be kicking herself for believing otherwise, but as the silence stretched and the only sounds coming from the two of them as they walked to the Great Hall was the echo of their footsteps and the gentle sound of their breathing and the swish of their clothes, and the aura coming from Miss Hardbroom didn't welcome any kind of talk. As the journey wore on, Mildred found herself thinking it was probably for the best.

The moment she walked into the Great Hall, pushed a little bit roughly by Miss Hardbroom to get her through the door, Mildred's horror increased. Every single student and teacher had filled the hall from the younger students to the older students, and all of them wore their cloaks and hats. Miss Hardbroom, now wearing her own cloak and hat after using magic, escorted her to a single hard wooden seat in the middle of the room before walking over to sit on Miss Cackles right side.

No one said a word as Mildred sat down, feeling isolated but after an entire day of being isolated and maligned by everyone in the school, Mildred was more than used to it, the only thing that did frighten Mildred was what could happen to her. Her mind went back to the first day she had been in the school, back when Agatha had used the Witches code to take hold of the school, the only reason Mildred had managed to stop her was because as a girl from outside the magical world the code the witches followed like diehard Christians followed the Bible didn't apply to her, but it had been six months since that day and Mildred had no idea whether her status had changed. She shivered at the thought of not only losing her magic but being imprisoned somewhere far away from her mum. With luck, Cackle and everyone else would be feeling generous and let her return with just her magic gone. At that point Mildred was willing to give up her powers just to be back home where she was safe.

Miss Cackle had been silent the whole time Mildred had entered the hall and her expression was so cold and mask like Mildred shivered just looking at it. Finally she spoke, in a voice so hard even her delusional sister would find it hard to match. "You are late," she uttered, and she turned to Miss Hardbroom. "Where did you find her?"

"In the library," Miss Hardbroom answered clearly. Mildred shuddered, from the way HB said that you'd think it was a crime to be in a library.

Miss Cackle seemed to be considering asking what Mildred was doing there and Mildred herself was preparing to explain why she was there in the first place, but Miss Cackle didn't seem interested. In fact, judging by the look on her face and the expressions everyone else in the hall was sporting, she seemed determined to get all this over and done with.

"It doesn't matter," the headmistress declared at last, "even though it gave the impression you had run away Miss Hubble from this trial, it doesn't matter now."

Cackle paused for a second, her expression unhappy and pained for a moment before she sat up straight. "As all of you are aware, theft is something that is frowned upon in our community," she announced, "but since the accused is a non-witch and doesn't understand our ways, then I shall have to remind you all of how in the past many families had used their magic to steal possessions, including valuable spells and potions from those families. Under the Witches code this kind of crime is punishable by several means, but since Mildred Hubble here is underage and a non-witch, her punishment will be the removal of her powers and imprisonment back in her world."

There were a few mutters at that, but the one that got Mildred's attention came from Maud. "Good riddance."

Miss Cackle waved her hands and magically silenced everyone in the hall. "We shall now proceed with the trial. Miss Hardbroom, if you would?"

"Yes, Headmistress," Miss Hardbroom inclined her head before she transported herself from her spot at the staff table and reappeared by Mildred's shoulder. "What were you doing in Felicity Foxglove's bedroom?" she asked Mildred.

Hoping she could at last find a way to defend herself properly and make one of the others doubt her guilt, Mildred jumped at the chance to explain. "I had just gotten off detention," she began, but Miss Hardbroom interrupted her. "I wish to clarify that the detention the accused is referring to was a detention set by myself. Miss Hubble here had destroyed the cauldron, covering her workstation in potion waste. I had given her detention to clean the mess up and it took three hours."

"Noted," Miss Cackle said, the disappointment flashing over her face, clearly regretting her decision of allowing Mildred into her school in the first place since she couldn't perform a simple potion, "carry on."

Miss Hardbroom inclined her head again in Miss Cackles' direction before looking down at the girl she was looming over. While in her mind where she was beginning to get an uneasy feeling, something shared by all of her colleagues, the trial had to continue. "Carry on with what you were saying," she ordered.

Mildred let out a breath, hoping she could continue to speak without being constantly interrupted and questioned. "I went to Felicity to ask for the homework set for spells because I couldn't attend the class since I was in detention," she went on, "I had checked with Miss Spellbody and Miss Nightshade, but they were unavailable, but I saw a light on in Felicity's room so I went to her. That's all I wanted, I just wanted the homework sheet."

Miss Hardbroom nodded, it tallied with what Felicity had told them. "And the star globe? Felicity says you showed a lot of interest in the globe when you saw it in her room, in fact you were taken in by its spell."

Mildred licked her lips. She wasn't an expert in criminal investigation, but she and her mother had seen a lot of police dramas in their time to know that she could reply, and Miss Hardbroom would trick her into saying something she shouldn't have said, and she was in enough trouble already. "I saw the globe, yes," she admitted, "I have been in this school for six months, and I've seen so many things that were beautiful, but the star globe was beautiful. The moment I looked into it I felt as if I was taken on a broomstick ride through space itself. Felicity snapped me out of it, and we talked."

"So you admit you were enthralled by it that you stole it then?"

Mildred's eyes widened. "W-what, no-"

"Mildred, everyone in this school knows of your interest in art," Miss Hardbroom interrupted, a smile on her face that would have seemed kind hearted if it wasn't for the malicious glint in her eyes. "It's understandable that you would be so fascinated by the globe, they are beautiful."

Suddenly Mildred's temper burned hot, it had been boiling very nicely for some time, but now it burned. "Enough to steal it you mean? No, Miss Hardbroom, I was fascinated by the globe, but it was Felicity's and I wouldn't take it from her," Mildred countered. "Art treasures are meant to be enjoyed, in private or in public. That's why people go to galleries and why they have private collections."

"Mildred, you had the time to steal the globe when I arrived in Felicity's bedroom, you must have used the distraction to take the globe," Miss Hardbroom said. "Admit it, you are a thief."

Felicity Foxglove slammed her bedroom door closed and cried into her hands. She hadn't wanted things to be thrown out of control, especially so quickly. When she'd discovered the star globe was gone, she had raised quite a stink about it and was unlucky enough to have Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom come into her bedroom to find out what was wrong. When she told them the star globe was missing and that Mildred had been in the room with her, both of the teachers had seemed to transform before the young witch's eyes, and they had refused to bother investigating any further than that and they hadn't even bothered to look properly through her room in case the globe was in here somewhere, and from what she had heard most of the staff had trashed Mildred's room trying to find the globe. Felicity had tried to convince the two teachers that Mildred was many things but not a thief, but the two wouldn't listen to her though Felicity had no idea why that was. The young witch had thought Miss Cackle at least wouldn't let things go this far, but she was disappointed.

Felicity had had to watch as Mildred was forced to sit through nearly every lesson today with the teachers encouraging bullying and jeering at her until she cried. Felicity had tried to stop it, but no one, not even Maud or Enid, who were supposed to be Mildred's friends had bothered to listen to her. And now she had left the great hall. It had stopped being a trial about theft, now the teachers and the rest of the girls were using the opportunity to talk about Mildred's various misdemeanours, and there were quite a few of them, but every single one of them was magnified to appear to be life threatening incidents.

It was too much and Felicity felt terrible because it was because of her.

Leaving the door she walked over to her desk and sat down, unfastening her cloak and taking off her hat. She would have liked nothing better than to try to help Mildred, but she couldn't. She let out a sigh and she opened a drawer, hoping to write a few entries into her diary and use it to write down her frustrations. She had just taken her diary out, and now she was reaching inside the drawer for a new pen to use when her fingers brushed across a familiar shape. Felicity's heart clenched as she pulled it out of the drawer. It was the star globe.

"Oh no," Felicity whispered as she finally realised what had happened. She picked the globe up, and ran out of the bedroom. She had to get to the hall before it was too late.

Mildred had been given her first taste of a magical trial and she could honestly say she hated the experience wholeheartedly. Throughout the early half of the trial everyone had been saying she had to be the thief, because logically she was the only person who had been with Felicity, so she must have stolen the globe. Mildred had told her story, repeating it every time, but no one had listened or believed her. All they had done was rehash everything they thought they knew. It had been passed around so many times Mildred had gotten sick of it. Frankly, everyone had become heartily sick of the theft angle and had definitely decided that she was guilty no matter what. Now they were using other tactics to show she shouldn't be in the school.

But this trial seemed to be used as a platform for everyone in the hall to point out every single thing she had done wrong since the year had started. Every single time Mildred had said or made some stupid comment because of her ignorance about magic and witches in general was being brought out into the open, and they were loving it. And Maud and Enid themselves had plenty of ammunition to expend, and those two had only dropped a few of the misdemeanours.

Broomstick accidents, that mess in Miss Gullet's classroom because Mildred had been having fun before with Enid (whose own involvement seemed to be overlooked), turning Ethel into a pig, being turned into a frog. Mildred just sat there deciding there was no point trying to defend herself since she had being doing little else and was now so tired of defending herself all the time she had run out of things to say.

Mildred was amazed by the hypocrisy of the witches around her. Every one of them, including Maud and Enid seemed to be forgetting their own parts in those little messes, they also seemed to forget the good that had come out of that mess with the Entrance Exam when Agatha had taken over and turned Ada into a snail (Mildred was now beginning to wish she hadn't bothered), and what about that incident when Ethel had turned her into a frog - snooty cow deserved being turned into a pig, what did she expect? - and she'd brought Mr Rowan-Webb back to the school, exposing Miss Gullet in the process? The sense of gratitude she was getting back was amazing.

That mess with the mutant hair came back, and more than one person came forwards to say her hair had almost suffocated them, well it would if they'd just run away instead of letting it engulf them. Besides, weren't they witches or not? Couldn't they have used magic to do something to stop the hair? But no. Here she was, getting the blame, and Miss Hardbroom seemed to be enjoying telling Miss Cackle to add all of those misdemeanours to the list of crimes. If the school allowed the practice of the death penalty, Mildred had no doubt that Miss Hardbroom would be pushing for it.

Time seemed to stretch for hours, but Mildred wasn't sure how long it had been since she had first walked into the hall. In the end Miss Cackle seemed to have heard enough, more than enough, and she stood up looking grave. Everyone fell silent as they watched their headmistress stand up.

"When I decided to bring this girl into the Academy, I had no idea how wrong I would be to give her the benefit of the doubt. I have had to stand up in front of my deputy on many occasions to defend this girl, but now I see that Miss Hardbroom was right all along; girls from non-magical families cannot be trusted nor can they learn magic or our beliefs."

The more Miss Cackle spoke the more hurt and furious Mildred became. She wasn't stupid, she knew how many times Cackle had defended her, but now listening to the woman speak, the things she was saying….. And then Mildred came to terms with the truth.

She had no place in Cackles Academy.

She would never be one of them, she would always be an outsider to everyone here. She would always be something to be pitied and insulted simply because she and her mother were not seen as witches. Mildred closed her eyes for a moment; she had thought she had come so far after the Entrance Exam debacle, learnt a bit about magic (and making mistakes along the way), but it was clear she would never be considered a witch. Even the words of the Great Wizard sounded like lies in her mind now.

Just as she was coming to terms with the truth, Mildred found herself wanting Cackle to kick her out, to give her the chance to grab her things (the magic stuff could stay, but her cat and her clothes would definitely be coming with her), and then HB could finally return her mobile to her, and then she could walk down to the road, and head home then they could go their own separate ways. Just as Mildred was beginning to take comfort in the idea, there was a disturbance in the hall as Felicity burst through the doors holding the star globe in her hands, hat almost flying off her head.

"STOP! Mildred didn't steal the Star globe at all! It was in my room the whole time, it had fallen in a drawer!"

Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom exchanged looks with the other teachers and chattered while the rest of the student body did the same thing, but Mildred didn't pay attention to any of that, she was staring at that bloody globe that had caused her so much grief in such a short amount of time, her mouth dropped to the floor in disbelief. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe that no one had bothered to properly search Felicity's bedroom to see if the globe had fallen underneath the bed, or had landed in a drawer and simply rolled out of sight. How stupid was Felicity? Mildred couldn't believe it or their collective stupidity; they had preferred to believe she was guilty instead of looking too deeply, if this was what being a witch meant then she wanted nothing to do with it.

Mildred was so out of it that she didn't realise how she looked, she was too busy looking at Felicity in disbelief even when Miss Hardbroom and Mr Rowan-Webb spoke to her for a few moments before heading to Miss Cackle to deliberate. The rest of the school had gone silent, now they were looking at Mildred, saw the expression on her face. It was so empty, cold and shocked. "You mean you never bothered to look for that stupid thing?" Mildred said at last when she realised she had been shocked and surprised for too long. "You put me through this nightmare when it was sitting in your drawer the whole time?"

Felicity nodded, "I am so sorry, Mildred."

"We are way past sorry, really way past sorry," Mildred hissed.

By now the teachers had realised what was going on, and Miss Cackle called out specifically for Mildred. Mildred herself was tempted not to bother listening to the old cow, but she decided to let the woman have her say. When she turned around, she didn't let the woman's sudden sorrow get to her, not after what she had just said.

"Mildred," Miss Cackle began hesitantly, "because of this new evidence, you shall continue to be a student at this Academy. We also hope you will find it in your heart to forgive us."

Forgive you?! After what you've done to me, you think I'm going to trust you again, are you delusional? Mildred just let out a breath, trying to hold back her temper, and deciding it didn't matter, she turned around and walked out of the hall, ignoring the teachers and everyone else as her mind found itself in a kind of limbo. As soon as she had cleared the threshold she broke into a run down the corridors, hoping to get away from everybody in the hall as she headed for her bedroom. She just wanted time to herself and she wanted to spend it with Tabby in the hope the cat would soothe her mind and give her some idea of what to do next. When she'd reached the door to her room, Mildred opened it and stepped in. But the sight that greeted her made her stare with horror.

The entire bedroom was trashed. Someone had used her art supplies, or what was left of them by the looks of it to scrawl the words "NON-WITCH", "FREAK GO HOME" on the walls. Her desk had been blown in half, the rickety chair was in pieces. The bed itself was upturned, the frame warped and buckled, and she could tell someone had used a spell to damage the metal beyond repair and the mattress had been practically ripped apart and the bedclothes were strewn about everywhere. The wardrobe doors had been pulverised, pieces of them lay everywhere, and Mildred only had to take a brief look inside to see that the same outfit she had worn when she had first met Spellbody (she wasn't going to bother calling her Maud anymore, they weren't friends now) had been destroyed, and pieces of the colourful fabric had made a massive pile in the destroyed wardrobe. Tears filled Mildred's eyes, her fingers lightly tracing the fabric and recoiling almost as though the material had feelings and was screaming in pain, and she blinked her tears back back a little bit as she went around the rest of the room, all of her artwork had been torn up and destroyed, and her art supplies were almost destroyed though a few things had survived here and there. Mildred picked up as many pieces of snapped pencils and painting brush and then dropped them again when she saw there was no point finding a place large enough to place them.

It took her a minute to realise she hadn't seen Tabby at all since coming back, and her heart clenched in fear as she frantically looked around her bedroom for her beloved cat, her heart thumping as she panicked, but then she found Tabby. He was hiding underneath what had once been her duvet. The moment the cat saw her, he meowed and looked the very image of a terrified pussy cat. "Tabby," Mildred gasped in surprise and picked the cat up, but she quickly dropped him when the cat yowled madly. "Tabby, what is it?" she asked, already fearing the answer as she picked him up again, slowly this time and she quickly found out what had happened.

Tabby's back leg was broken and at an unnatural angle, and the cat was in a lot of pain. Mildred let out a pained cry as she held her cat to her chest, rocking him and sobbing at the same time. She couldn't believe someone would deliberately come into her bedroom and do this - she didn't care about her possessions or her art work, not when Tabby was in serious pain. He could have been killed, what the hell were they thinking?! Mildred had always thought witches were above this kind of thing, but clearly not. Tabby yowled with her as she cradled him, and then she stopped as she began to shake with rage. Mildred didn't care about receiving physical injuries if it meant Tabby was left out of it, but that hadn't mattered to those extremist bitches who had come into her room and trashed it. How could they justify this? It was obscene! He could have been killed! What thought had passed through their brains when they had done this?

Mildred didn't care if time was getting on a bit, she was going to make sure Tabby got the best of care. She stood up, taking extra care to be gentle with her cat and she opened the door and walked down the corridors to the nurses' office. She knocked on the door. The nurse opened it. She was dressed like a normal witch with a black robe underneath but she wore the type of uniform a nurse of the 1950s wore. She looked at Mildred for a moment and then saw the cat in her arms and saw the injured leg and heard the noise he was making, and quickly opened the door.

"What happened to him?" she asked as she gestured for Mildred to lay the cat on one of the beds.

"I don't know," Mildred replied, thankful that the woman's oaths extended to animals. "I got back to my bedroom, found it trashed, and Tabby was lying underneath my bed covers, he was terrified and he yowled in pain when I tried to pick him up, but I didn't realise then one of his back legs was broken."

The nurse nodded as she cast a diagnostic spell. "This is easy enough to fix, but I'll have to give your cat a pain-reliever for it to work properly," she said, hurrying away quickly to get the relevant potion. Mildred watched her go for a second, but then stroked Tabby gently, hoping he didn't already blame her for his pain, though she wouldn't be surprised if he did. The nurse came back with a bottle in one hand and a syringe in the other.

"What's with the syringe?" Mildred asked as the nurse siphoned some of the potion into the tube.

"Oral ingestion sometimes takes too long with potions," the nurse explained, "that's fine, it gives the body time to digest it, but with medical potions the effects need to be immediate for them to work. Listen Mildred, I'm going to numb the area around your cat's injured leg so I can inject the potion, but can you please reassure your cat so I can do my work?"

Mildred nodded at once, seeing quickly that this wasn't the time to argue or to ask any stupid questions. Tabby was suitably distracted by Mildred making a fuss over him, so the nurse found it easy to cast a numbing spell over the leg and injected the potion into his thigh before casting a number of other healing spells to repair the damage. "I've managed to reset the bone, Mildred, your cat's going to have to rest for a few days for the spell to do its work, so don't be too surprised if he spends a lot of his time asleep. Just give him food and water and plenty of attention, and be gentle with him."

"I will, thank you," Mildred replied, thankful there was at least one witch who wasn't a complete and utter bitch. The revelation she didn't belong at Cackles despite the long six months trying had been a blow to Mildred's hopes and dreams of becoming a fully fledged witch.

But the nurse had more to say. "Stupid girl, bringing a star globe into a school," she muttered, "that brings back unpleasant memories from when I was accused of theft myself."

Mildred was instantly intrigued. "What happened?"

Jumping a little, the older witch winced as she realised what she had just said, but she sighed when she realised that she might as well just get on with it. "I was a year older than you are now," she explained, "and I was accused of stealing a star globe from a friend, but in actual fact one of my rivals had taken the stupid thing and hidden it in my bedroom."

"Ouch! How did you prove your innocence?"

The nurse smirked. "I brewed a truth potion and I swallowed it in front of everyone including my headmistress who recognised the potion for what it was, and it cleared my name. After that finding the real thief was easy and she lost her right to a magical education. But," the nurse's face turned ugly, "my friends turned on me, and so did the school. After that I asked my parents to take me out of the school and move me somewhere else."

The nurse smiled gently at her. "As soon as I heard the story of what happened with you, I wanted to wait and see what happened before I passed judgement. Unlike the others I think you're going to be brilliant as a witch. You've got the spirit of a witch. In fact," she quickly came to a decision, "sit down and I'm going to give you a few tips about spells…."

The nurse's words ringing in her ears, Mildred walked back to her bedroom. It wasn't much of a bedroom now after what had happened to it, but it was the only place she had that gave her an actual barrier away from the rest of the school. The moment she got back inside, she picked up a pillow and dropped it on the ground and placed Tabby on it. It took Mildred five minutes to get the mattress off what was left of the bed frame, and she draped the duvet back onto it. Tabby yowled when Mildred gently moved the pillow he was resting on before he snuggled back into the comfortable mattress. Mildred smiled gently at her cat, mentally promising him he was going to have a more comfortable bed at the flat she lived in with her mother. That reminded her, she would need to speak to her mum and tell her what happened. There was no way she was going to keep this quiet, no way.

Julie had not exactly been enthusiastic about her coming to Cackles in the first place, so Mildred had no idea how she was going to take the news that all she wanted to do now was to leave Cackles.

The bed frame was awkward to move but Mildred dumped it in a corner and looked at it sadly for a second before she looked at the rest of her things either torn to pieces or broken. She sighed before she began the long laborious task of sorting through the mess, seeing what was destroyed and needed to be chucked out and what was, more or less, salvageable. It took Mildred half an hour to get all of her art materials and art works together, but out of all the pencils, erasers and sharpeners and pens she had brought along with the watercolour paints and brushes, only a few were intact. It was such a shame since she had had the set for a long time.

Her sketching pad had been destroyed as well, so Mildred piled everything onto what was left and walked over and dumped the whole lot unceremoniously onto the wrecked bed frame, making pieces of paper, pencil shavings and destroyed brushes fly everywhere. As she was sorting through what was left of the wardrobe, Mildred had another heartbreak.

"Oh no, not you as well, Puss," she whispered as she fished out the remains of the teddy bear she had owned since she'd been a kid. The bear's golden fur was blackened and there was nothing left of the chest, though there were pieces of the paws and legs. Mildred cuddled what was left of her beloved toy to her chest, tears flowing down her cheeks as she remembered all the good times she'd had holding it when she was younger, all the times it had comforted her in the middle of the night after she'd had a nightmare, how it had been the inspiration behind her attempt to run away after that mess when she'd accidentally turned Ethel Hallow into a pig.

But Mr Rowan-Webb had talked her out of it. He had told her there would always be a little voice in her head afterwards if she did leave Cackles, saying "What if?"

Now Mildred wished she hadn't listened to him, if she had done that then maybe she would still have her toy and everything else intact. She had been overwhelmed, so overwhelmed and so tired of being picked on by arrogant teachers like Gullet and Hardbroom, Cackle turning a blind eye, and Ethel Hallow jeering every six minutes. But on top of that, she had been so frustrated by Enid and Maud not being able to get over their stupid petty fight over her, well they can have each other now. Mildred looked down at the head of her toy, and she bit her tongue as the sadness welled up inside of her; she had long since wanted to give Puss to her own children if she ever had them to pass on a good thing to another generation and let them be happy. Now it was impossible; sure magic could repair the teddy bear, but it wouldn't be the same and besides she didn't want it to be repaired since it would not be worth it.

Looking down at the toy bear's head in her hands, Mildred suddenly lost it. It began as a slow burning anger that quickly turned into a white hot fury, no, not fury. Rage.

In an act totally unlike her Mildred screamed as she grabbed the sides of the wardrobe and smashed what was left of it onto the floor. It was on its last legs anyway, so it broke up all over the floor. Mildred kicked what was left to try to get rid of what was left of her frustration and anger, but it was hopeless. She looked down at what was left of the wardrobe and what was left of the bed frame and she decided she didn't care about the wreckage, and she definitely didn't care if she had made enough noise to bring everyone nearby running to see what was going on.

Mildred suddenly felt the anger leave her and she was left exhausted. She sat back down on the bed, ignoring the paint on the walls and just groaned as she felt a headache come on. She was about to stand up again and get ready for bed when she heard the familiar unwelcome sounds of a transportation spell in her room.

"Mildred, I just wanted to offer you - what happened here?" Miss Cackle broke off as she looked around the wrecked bedroom, her eyes widening in horror as she took in the devastation.

Mildred refused to look up at Miss Cackle.

"Mildred, what happened?" The old witch tried to go over to sit down on the mattress and give the girl some comfort, but Mildred spotted the move and she leapt back, only just avoiding stepping on Tabby.

"Don't touch me," she snapped. "All of this is because of you!"

Miss Cackle felt her heart break as she took in the growing anger of the young girl's face. She had never seen Mildred Hubble so angry, so hurt before.

"You didn't even bother to look for that stupid globe," Mildred went on, "as soon as you heard my name, you put 2 and 2 together and somehow got 7 and I'm suddenly a thief and instantly guilty, all because of that!" She finished with a shout at the "NON-WITCH" scrawl on the wall.

Ada bit her lip, remembering all the nasty things she and the other teachers had said to Mildred in the last 24 hours, and she was willing to bet that the girl remembered what she had said to her in the Great Hall as well.

"Mildred," she said, raising her hand, "I can at least make things right-"

Mildred recognised the gesture the headmistress made and she was on the alert. "What are you going to do, haven't you done enough damage?" she asked.

"I can repair the damage to your room," Ada said, wincing as the question went through her mind and wouldn't leave because Mildred was right, she had done a lot of damage, "I want to make up for what's happened."

"You can't," Mildred sneered, "you can't make up for the ways my day has been a living hell with your teachers using their classes as an excuse to bully me and encourage my so called friends to do the same, spending the periods calling me a freak, a non-witch and making comments about my mum. You can't make up for that trial where everyone used it as an excuse to make every little thing I'd done sound like the crime of the century. And you definitely can't make up for the fact someone nearly killed my cat!" Mildred's voice, already echoing around the room had been steadily growing louder and louder with each word until she screamed the last word.

"What?" Ada looked down at the tabby cat lying on the bed, using her magic to scan him and she found the residual magic of a bone breaking curse and some healing magic, which meant Mildred must have gone to the nurse for help. She couldn't believe the sadism that had gone into that injury, the way her students had forgotten the Witches code concerning familiars.

"Tabby's back leg was at an odd angle, he was in agony when I found him," Mildred said softly, going over to stroke the cat. "Get out."

As far as Mildred was concerned the impromptu interview was over.

Ada stood there, stunned. "Mildred," she tried to say, hoping that she could speak to the girl whom she had grown so fond of and had mistakenly caused so much pain and grief towards today. But she knew Mildred would probably not want it. She had no idea how right she was. Mildred looked up at her.

"Get out," she repeated. "I don't want to speak to you, listen to you, see your smile and have to listen to your lies!" She hissed the last words.

"Mildred, I have never lied to you," Ada tried to stop the rising anger in her own voice since she knew it would only make things worse.

Mildred's anger faded leaving behind a solemn, sad expression on her face that made Ada's heart ache. For a moment the old witch thought that perhaps she was getting through to her. But what Mildred said next told her that it would be a cold day in Avalon before that happened.

"I looked up to you. I respected you, I trusted you," Mildred said so softly that Ada had to strain to hear it, "I almost died falling from the sky on a broomstick because your insane sister had gotten the drop on you and planned to make this school look bad in front of the Great Wizard, and it didn't matter to her if I died. I have just had to listen to you say to everyone you should have listened to Miss Hardbroom about not letting me into this school in the first place when you have been trying to tell me that you are happy that I'm here when its clear your sneering at me behind my back, thinking I'm a non-witch like everybody else."

Mildred looked down at her hands. "Please, just go. Leave me alone."

Ada looked down at the girl sadly before she silently departed, realising that Mildred was not going to listen to her.

After she'd gone, Mildred looked around the bedroom. She would deal with the pile in the morning, right now she had to get ready for bed and hope everyone else realised she didn't want to be bothered. She hurried out to brush her teeth before coming back and untied her hair before getting ready to get under the covers when Miss Hardbroom appeared.

Mildred yelped in surprise, and glared at the potions mistress. "What do you want? You have the worst timing there is."

"I won't be spoken to like that. What did you say to Miss Cackle, Mildred. She is very upset."

While a part of her felt slightly guilty for upsetting Miss Cackle, Mildred didn't really care after what had happened to her today. But she didn't get a chance to reply because Miss Hardbroom had finally noticed the devastation in the bedroom. "What happened here?"

"Exactly what it looks like," Mildred grumbled, her tiredness making her careless. "And someone nearly killed my cat. Don't bother repairing the room, I want it to look like this as a reminder that I shouldn't trust anyone in this school, and you have done more than enough already. Now please go away, I want to get to bed and end today once and for all."

Miss Hardbroom didn't move, she didn't cast a spell, she just stood in the room looking wide eyed at the destruction the student body had caused to someone who was supposed to be one of their own, but then she took one look at the paint scrawled on the walls and she realised just how far the prejudice towards Mildred went; she herself believed that Mildred was a witch, she just didn't belong in Cackles.

Unfortunately, she was standing there looking at the graffiti on the wall like an idiot for too long, and Mildred gradually lost any patience. "Miss Hardbroom, are you just going to stand there, I would really like to get some sleep?" she asked.

Hecate looked down at the girl sadly for a moment. While the teacher was annoyed with how Mildred had spoken to Ada, she only needed to look around the wrecked bedroom to see that they were in the wrong. She transported out of the bedroom and let Mildred have her peace, leaving behind a girl who was flummoxed by the encounter before she shrugged her shoulders.

I know that some of the reactions to the theft of the star globe might seem extreme, but there is a reason for it which will become known in future chapters. Anyway, please enjoy the story