Baby brother 1/9

The Witches’ Home was unusually quiet. Abigail and most of the other senior witches were relaxing happily in their common room, grinning at each other now and again, when footsteps could be heard hurrying past the door on their way to the library, or the shielded spell rooms in the basement. It was nearly the end of the school year, when examinations were held to determine who was competent enough to pass on to the next stage of their apprenticeship.

Jennifer Jane was one of those swotting hard, trying to catch up on the elementary spells that she’d never managed to learn as the only human in the school. Strangely, many of the other apprentices were trying equally hard, to learn spells that she had used so often that they had become almost second nature to her.

She had to admit that she wouldn’t have been as advanced as she was, if it hadn’t been for an accident when an elf had sent her two hundred years into this world’s past. This had meant she was able to learn full time for six months, whilst waiting for some one to come and rescue her.

Abigail had raised her hopes of becoming a third year apprentice. “You’re very good at solving problems and finding the right spell for a particular job. Your weak point lies in the simple stuff that most witch children learn as they grow up! Concentrate on that and you should be alright, although how you’re ever going to become the greatest Grande Dame that ever lived I’ve no idea. Very few of us ever make it as far as Dame, let alone Grande Dame!”

She hesitated for a moment, then added as an afterthought, “By the way, don’t forget there’s an entertainment held after the prize giving and you’ll be expected to do some sort of a turn. Most apprentices sing a song or do a dance, but whatever you do don’t try any magic. Not even conjuring tricks!”

So there she was, filling her head with all sorts of strange spells, every now and then popping down to Abigail’s spell room, so that she could practice a particular set of twiddles. Most of them were fairly simple, after all they were the ones that the infants grew up with, but after an hour or so her head was aching and she decided to have a quick flight down to Lurbridge for some fresh air and a ginger beer.