A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch (7 page)

‘Where did you get the potion from?’ asked the frog, slipping silently from the stone and swimming across to Mildred’s head.

‘Oh dear,’ said Mildred, ‘it’s a long story. I’m not really a frog at all. I’m a second-year witch at the school, and this beastly girl called Ethel Hallow has changed me into a frog and I was –’

‘Good gracious me!’ exclaimed the frog. ‘This is quite amazing!
I’m
not a frog either. I’m a magician. What a wonderful coincidence. I’ve been here for years and this is the first conversation I’ve had with a human for simply ages. How extraordinary! Well, well, well, I can scarcely believe it. Allow me to offer you a nice fly from my store.’

‘A
fly
?’ repeated Mildred.

‘Oh dear,’ said the frog-magician. ‘Of course, you’ve only been a frog for a while. A
fly
, my dear, you know, bzzzzzz. They really are quite delicious once you get used to the idea. I nearly starved at first because I couldn’t bear the idea of eating – well – insects and the like, but it’s amazing what you can get used to.’

Mildred grimaced. ‘I’m hoping to be changed back before I get used to it,’ she said (with considerable spirit, bearing in mind how hopeless she felt). ‘Tell me how you got here in the first place.’

‘Well, my dear,’ said the frog-magician, settling fatly onto a stone. ‘It was so long ago that I’ve almost forgotten. Let me see… Yes, well in those days, of course, the castle was not a school. It was used for meetings and conferences of magicians. We used to have a lovely “do” in the summer. Like a holiday camp it was, endless teas and lectures and displays of magic all afternoon. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had an argument — rather like
you
did, by the sound of it – with a fellow magician and this was the result. Before I could persuade him to change his mind, the summer was over, everyone went home and I was left behind. I’ve been here ever since. I must admit I get very glum sometimes.’ He breathed a huge sigh and gazed into the dark water.

‘Why don’t you come with
me
?’ said Mildred brightly. ‘I’m going to find my friend Maud, after dark. I know I can make her understand, and then she’ll be able to help me. She’ll help you, too.’

A large tear splashed from the frog-magician’s eye. ‘It’s no use,’ he croaked sadly. ‘It’s got to be a magician who takes off the spell. There aren’t any in the school, are there?’

‘No, there aren’t,’ said Mildred thoughtfully. ‘All right then, I’ll go to find Maud by myself, but I’ll come back for you as soon as I’m changed back and I’ll get you to a magician somehow. I won’t forget.’

‘You’re very kind, my dear – What is your name?’ said the frog-magician.

‘Mildred Hubble,’ replied Mildred. ‘What’s yours?’

‘Algernon er – something-or-other Webb. Isn’t that awful?’ said the frog-magician. ‘Do you know I can’t remember the first bit, I’ve been here so long. What was it now? Bowen-Webb? Stone-Webb? Or was it Webbley-Stone? I’m sorry, child, I’ve completely forgotten. Oh dear, it was all so very long ago. I must say, sometimes I’d give
anything
to have a proper old-fashioned tea again, one gets so fed-up with flies and water-boatmen. Every now and then I can see it all so clearly; a nice log fire and a little round table with a tablecloth, and hot toast with great slabs of butter, and crumpets with honey all oozing out of the little holes, and a china cup with steaming tea-’

The memory was too much for him and he erupted into loud, desperate sobs, a pitiful sound to hear.

Mildred hopped next to him and patted him with a half visible arm. ‘Don’t cry Mr Algernon, sir,’ she said comfortingly. ‘You
shall
have crumpets for tea again, don’t you worry. It’ll be all right, I promise it will.’

ight had fallen and the pupils of the academy were all in bed. That is to say
most
of the pupils were in bed. Enid had sneaked into Maud’s room for a quick conference about Mildred. It was bitterly cold in the cell-like bedroom and the two girls were huddled on the bed, wrapped in blankets, with cats draped over their feet to keep out the cold. (Maud was taking care of Mildred’s tabby.)

‘Well, I give up,’ said Enid. ‘If she
has
run away, she’s left every single piece of clothing behind – even her cardigan, so she must be frozen solid by now.’

‘She
hasn’t
run away,’ said Maud. ‘
She
wouldn’t have gone just because H.B. told her off. Anyway, she’s not likely to have run away without old Tabby here, especially as that was
why
H.B. was cross in the first place. It just doesn’t make sense. No,
I’m
quite sure that Ethel knows something about it. Don’t you remember what she said to Mildred? No one insults
my
family and gets away with it. Well
I
think she’s done something really awful to Mildred.’

‘Like what?’ asked Enid.

Just at that moment, the cats all leapt to their feet with their fur on end and looked in the direction of the door. The girls exchanged nervous glances, thinking that it must be Miss Hardbroom come to reprimand them for being out of bed. Maud crept to the door and opened it very slowly.

Outside in the shadowy corridor was the little frog which had escaped from the potion laboratory. Maud and Enid could tell it was the same one because its feet had not yet reappeared.

Mildred hopped inside and was picked up by Maud, who took her over to Enid.

Tabby immediately began nuzzling up against the frog in a very friendly way, unlike the other two cats who kept in the background, backs arched and humming frantically.

‘How strange, Enid!’ said Maud. ‘Look at Tabby. It seems as if they’ve met before.’

The two witches suddenly looked at each other in horror.

‘Oh
no
!’ they exclaimed at the same time.

‘It can’t be!’ gasped Maud. ‘Or can it?’

‘I think it might be,’ replied Enid grimly. She took the frog from Maud and held it up near her face.

‘Are you –’ she began, but before she could finish, the little frog was leaping up and down, nodding its head and croaking so loudly that the girls were afraid someone would hear.

‘Sssh!’ whispered Enid. ‘Calm down, for goodness’ sake. Now then, are you our very good friend, Mildred Hubble?’

There was no doubt about it, from the nodding and mad capering, that here was the answer to Mildred’s sudden disappearance.

‘Did Ethel do it?’ asked Maud.

More nodding and croaking was the answer.

‘
Right
!’ said Maud. ‘Come on, Enid.’

Ethel was not asleep, either. She was sitting up in bed learning the chant which was to be tested the next day. She nearly leapt through the ceiling when the door opened and Maud and Enid marched menacingly into the room.

‘Recognize this?’ asked Maud, holding out the frog. ‘Remind you of anyone, does it?’

Ethel turned white as a sheet. ‘I – I don’t know
what
you’re talking about,’ she said.

‘All right,’ said Maud, ‘then we’re off to Miss Hardbroom. Come on, Enid. Sorry to have bothered you, Ethel.’

‘No!’ cried Ethel. ‘It’s
Mildred
, isn’t it? Oh, thank goodness you found her. I didn’t
mean
her to run off and get lost. I just wanted to give her a fright, that’s all. Come here and let me take off the spell.’