'Destiny Catslove,' Miss Moffat scowled. 'I think I need to have a little chat with this young lady.'
Demi and Destiny walked into their room and froze like figurines when they saw their head teacher standing in their room, along with their Spells teacher who was tightly gripping her wand.
'Destiny, would you care to explain how the Mistress of Spells’ wand came to reside beneath your mattress?' she glared at her.
The door swung open and Margaret walked into the room, an alarmed look appeared on her face when she saw who was in there.
'Well Destiny, we're waiting?' Miss Moffat asked.
Destiny didn’t know what to do. She stood there thinking.
'It was Margaret,' she blurted out. 'She must have hidden it there to frame me.'
'I did what?' Margaret stared at her open-mouthed.
'Is this true Margaret?' the Mistress of Spells asked.
'No, no it's not, she knows it’s not,' Margaret scowled at Destiny.
'I know the perfect way to get to the bottom of this,' the Mistress of Spells smirked. 'Can the three of you please stand in a line.'
Margaret remained where she was and Destiny and Demi nervously moved over to her.
'Closer,' the Mistress of Spells smiled and Destiny reluctantly shuffled closer to Margaret.
'Lovely,' she said.
She exchanged a look with Miss Moffat before she held up her wand.
'Verum, sciri,' she flicked it out along the line of girls. 'Now then, let's get some answers.'
'Margaret, did you take the Mistress of Spells’ wand?' Miss Moffat asked.
'No I didn't.'
'I thought as much,' she sighed. 'Margaret you can go.'
'But-'
'Go!' Miss Moffat glared at her.
Margaret gave a nod of her head before she left the room. She paused outside of the closed door and tried to listen in.
'We shall continue this conversation when Margaret has moved herself away from the door,' Miss Moffat shouted.
Margaret jumped back from the door and quickly hurried away. She was desperate to find out what was going on but she didn't want to get on the wrong side of Miss Moffat. Still, she liked the thought of Demi and Destiny being in trouble. She just hoped that they were in Code of Conduct trouble and that they'd have to walk around with warts on their noses for the rest of the term.
'Destiny, did you take the Mistress of Spells’ wand?' Miss Moffat asked her.
Destiny tried to say the word 'no' but it came out as a 'yes.'
Demi gave her a horrified look as she tried to force back her tears.
'Elaborate,' Miss Moffat said.
'It wasn't just me, it was Demi too, but we only took it because the Mistress of the Books asked us to. We just wanted to read the Book of Dragons, no one else was ever meant to know. I just wanted to be given a chance in this place but you all look at me like I have the green pox or something. The dragon wasn't meant to escape and when it did, the Mistress of the Books told us to keep quiet.'
Miss Moffat couldn't hide her shock, she looked at the Mistress of Spells before she stared back at the girls.
'Demi, is this what happened?'
'Yes,' Demi looked alarmed as the word left her mouth. 'I only wanted to read the book, am I in trouble?' tears trickled down her cheeks and fell onto her shirt.
'Trouble,' Miss Moffat jeered. 'Trouble is if you don't do your homework or if you turn your classmate into a toad. What you have both done isn't trouble, what you have both done is disrespecting everything that this Academy stands for. You are no longer students of mine. Pack your bags and change out of you uniforms, I shall get Molly to come and collect you,' she moved briskly past them.
'Such a waste of ability,' the Spell Mistress tutted as she followed her out of the room.
Demi sat on the edge of her bed and sobbed into her hands. She'd been foolish, she knew that now, but now was too late.
'Thanks a lot Demi, thanks to you we have to leave,' Destiny snarled.
'Me,' Demi looked at her through puffy eyes. 'This wasn't because of me, it is all your fault! Besides, you don't even like it here.'
'No I don't, it's horrible. But if I get expelled from another school my parents will freak out. Maybe when Miss Moffat calms down she will give us another chance?'
'Yeah,' Demi muttered, not believing her own words.
'I don't want to pack, especially if we end up having to unpack it all again.'
'I'm going to pack as I don't want to annoy Miss Moffat any more than I already have.'
'Aperto,' Demi flicked her wand, and her large black suitcase appeared on top of her bed and opened itself.
Destiny reluctantly used the same spell and began to pack her suitcase.
The two girls packed in silence, both of them regretted ever taking the Mistress of Spells’ wand and giving it to the Mistress of the Books. Demi didn't want to leave as she liked it here, she wanted to make her parents proud and become a great witch. Whereas Destiny didn't like it here, there were too many rules and the way Miss Moffat flew around thinking she was better than everyone else really wound her up. She didn't want to be expelled though, as her parents would be even angrier with her. There was a large part of her that wanted them to be proud of her, but at the same time she knew that she'd never be as well-behaved as Gerty or Charlotte.
An hour later Molly walked into their room to find both girls sitting on their beds dressed in their normal clothes, their packed suitcases on the floor next to them
'All packed I see, great. Now all you need to do is leave your wands on your beds,' she said.
'Our wands?' Demi asked.
'Yeah,' Molly rolled her eyes.
'But why?' Destiny asked.
'Because Miss Moffat told me that was what you had to do.'
'Can I see her? I know I shouldn't have done what I did, I was stupid and-'
'Enough, I don't want to hear it. Just do what I've asked and stop wasting my time.'
The girls nodded before they reluctantly placed their wands down on their beds.
Molly leaned against the door and drew pictures in the air with her wand while she waited.
'Peribit,' Molly aimed her wand in the air and both of the suitcases vanished. 'Come with me,' she gestured the girls forward before she walked out of the room.
She led them through the empty corridors of the Academy, as all of the other students were in their lessons. They followed her outside and over to the large, gold, front gate of the Academy, where Miss Moffat and the Mistress of Spells were standing next to the girls’ suitcases.
Miss Moffat pulled Molly to the side and whispered something to her. Molly walked off and Miss Moffat turned to face the girls.
'Please, I don't want to leave. I know I was stupid and I shouldn't have done it but I was curious about the Book of Dragons. I never meant for it to escape, I just wanted to read the book, that was all,' Demi sobbed.
'It's alright for you, you can go to Witchery College, my parents would never allow me to go there,' Destiny sighed.
'I don't want to go to Witchery College, I want to stay here.'
'Neither of you will be going to another witch school,' Miss Moffat said sternly.
'Please, I won't misbehave ever again,' Demi pleaded.
'You aren't welcome here at my Academy any more as you are not the type of pupils that we want here. You lack honesty and integrity and you fail to abide to the rules, rules put there to keep not just you, but the entire Academy safe.
Molly will be back shortly to escort you home, but you won't be arriving there as witches.'
Both of the girls gave Miss Moffat confused looks.
'Northmanni in perpetuum,' she aimed her wand at them.
'W-what happened, w-what did you do?' Demi said.
'I just made you normals, you will never be able to practice magic ever again.'
'You can't do that,' Destiny shouted. 'My parents will remove your stupid spell and send me to a better school tha
n this.'
'No they won't,' Miss Moffat said calmly. 'I think you'll find that the spell is irreversible. As for your parents, they signed a contract for you to come here, one that clearly states that when you are under my roof I can punish you how I see fit. For your actions this is the most fitting of all the spells that I possess. Witches are good people who strive to protect others around them, they are not like you.'
'What about the Mistress of the Books, it was her idea. If it hadn't been for her this never would have happened?' Demi sobbed out.
'How the Mistress of the books has been dealt with…is not of your concern. As for your punishment, if you both hadn't stolen The Mistress of Spells’ wand then you would both be sitting in class at this very moment. Shifting the blame from one-to-the-other doesn't make it go away, if anything it makes it worse.'
Molly flew towards them, beside her were two beautiful unicorns with rainbow manes and glistening horns, they were pulling a silver carriage. They landed down next to Miss Moffat and she gave Molly a nod.
'One last thing…and then you are never to set foot in this Academy ever again.'
'Please,' Demi cried out. 'I don't want to leave, I don't want to be a normal.'
Miss Moffat flicked her wand at them both and bright red smoke shot of it and engulfed the two girls, they coughed and tried to fan the smoke away.
The Mistress of Spells used magic to send their suitcases into the carriage and a reluctant Demi and Destiny stepped into it, as they sat down on the soft, cushioned seats, they found themselves wondering what the red-smoked spell had been. The Mistress of Spells waved her wand and the unicorns took off into the sky, with the carriage floating behind them. Molly flew alongside the unicorns, making sure that they arrived home.
'That's one thing done, now to find this dragon,' the Mistress of Spells said to Miss Moffat.
'You make it sound easy.'
'If only it was,' she sighed, before the pair of them walked back towards the Academy.
Demi was upset and angry but she wasn't fully sure what it was about. Her and the girl who sat next to her had argued, hadn't they? But who was the girl sitting next to her? They were flying, no, they couldn't be flying. Maybe she was dreaming? Yes, that's right, this was just a dream, one with flying unicorns and a pretty girl flying on a broomstick.
She turned to the dark-haired girl sitting next to her and smiled. The dark-haired girl frowned back at her before she looked out at the cloud filled skies and found herself longing for marshmallows. She couldn't recall the last time she'd eaten them, thinking about it, she couldn't recall the last time she'd eaten. This didn't worry her, instead it passed her by as irrelevant.
Chapter Eight
The girls were woken up far earlier than normal by Sonya and Silvia. They were told to quickly get dressed and hurry down to the great hall for an early breakfast. It was still dark outside and the girls wondered what was going on.
They got dressed into their uniforms and hurried down to breakfast. The great hall was full of tired and curious students and staff.
'It's too early to eat,' Stef yawned.
'It must be early if you're not eating,' Alice said.
'Like you can talk, you're always eating,' Stef replied.
'I am not,' she huffed.
Charlotte took a bite out of her strawberry muffin as she looked around the room. She saw Margaret sitting on another table, she was a seat away from Patricia and Victoria but she wasn't talking to them.
'I don't see Demi or Destiny,' Charlotte said.
'That's odd,' Gerty peered around the room. 'I don't see them either.'
'They missed most of yesterday's classes and now they're nowhere to be seen, I wonder if they're in trouble?'
'Who cares about them, I wonder why we're here?' Stef said.
'It's ridiculous that we're expected to be up this early, if I don't get at least eight hours of sleep a night then I can't be expected to concentrate,' Alice commented.
'Miss Moffat must have a really good reason, I wonder what it is?' Charlotte said.
'Looks like we're going to find out,' Stef looked up at the stage, where Miss Moffat had stood up.
The room fell silent and everyone looked at Miss Moffat, intrigued to find out why they'd been woken up so early.
'Good morning girls, I am aware of how early it is, but I assure you that it is most necessary. This College has witnessed a great betrayal, one that has resulted in the Book of Dragons being tampered with.'
Shocked gasps echoed throughout the room.
'I regret to inform you of the unfortunate news that it appears that the dragon, which we have kept locked away for many, many years, has escaped. Professor Alexander has reason to believe that it is residing in the Dark Forest, so today along with Alexander's College and Witchery College we are going to search for it.'
More gasps erupted and the room filled with chatter.
'Shush,' Miss Moffat said and the room immediately fell silent. 'I know that this news is both shocking and frightening but I assure you that this dragon will be found and locked away securely. We shall search the Dark Forest in groups, each group will be led by a member of staff or a prefect. It is of the up-most importance that you do as they say and that you don't wonder off. The Dark Forest is an enchanting place but it is also home to many magical beings. Some friendly, some not so friendly,' she looked over the room.
'One last thing, if you are prone to feeling the cold them I suggest you bring a coat.'
Miss Moffat flew out of the room and the girls remained seated, as they gave each other dumbfounded looks. They couldn't believe that this was actually happening, the dragon had escaped and they were about to go looking for it in the Dark Forest.
'Go and get your broomsticks and coats and then gather in the yard,' Molly addressed the room.
'I hope we're in a group together,' Gerty said to the others, as they walked back to their room.
'I hope we're with the Mistress of Spells, at least then if we find the dragon she can freeze it or something,' Stef said.
'Not if she loses her wand again,' Gerty giggled.
'It is preposterous that they're making us go into the Dark Forest to find a dangerous dragon, my parents won't be pleased when they hear about this,' Alice huffed.
'You'll be fine,' Charlotte put her arm around her. 'Miss Moffat would never put us in danger.'
'She's had a dragon locked away in this Academy the whole time, we're lucky it didn't burn the building down.'
'I think it's kind of exciting,' Gerty smiled. 'Not many can say that they've seen a real life dragon.'
'And if we do see it, it will probably burn us to death,' Stef grunted.
The girls entered their room and carefully opened the large wardrobe, it spat their brooms out before it swung its doors shut.
They all put their coats on and grabbed their wands before they rushed out to the yard.
***
The outside of Alexander's College was crowded full of witches and wizards, all of them clutching their broomsticks and anxiously looking out at the Dark Forest.
Charlotte tried to spot Charlie but it was too packed to find him, instead her eyes fell onto a group of witches with black broomsticks and long black robes. Charlotte recognized one of the girls from their Save the Princess game and she smiled over at her, the girl scowled back and Charlotte quickly looked away.
'I don't know why they're here,' Stef looked over at the girls. 'If they find the dragon they'll probably keep it as a pet.'
'So it can burn any intruders trying to get into their scary school,' Gerty chuckled.
'Exactly,' Stef grinned.
'I hope we don't get stuck in a group with them,' Charlotte said.
'I'd take them over Margaret,' Stef laughed.
Charlotte looked over at Margaret, she was studying her wand as she stood by a group of third years, none of them were acknowledging her, but this didn't seem to phase her. She looked up from her wand to see Charlotte look
ing straight at her and met her stare with a smirk.
'If the dragon sees us it'll probably eat us, seeing as Alice looks like a big bird,' Stef looked at Alice's bright red, faux fur coat.
'This coat was very expensive,' she said snootily.
'Doesn't change the fact you look like a red version of Big Bird.'
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 24
