The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (10 page)

‘So
this
is why you’ve been avoiding us!’ gasped Maud. ‘Oh, Mildred! Miss Hardbroom will go
insane
if she finds out – and you’ve been doing so well this term. What on earth possessed you? Where did you get him from?’

‘I didn’t get him from anywhere,’ said Mildred, resting on the back of her hovering broom. ‘He got
me
! Anyway, it’s your fault, Maudie,
you
told me to wish on that shooting star and I wished for a dog – and there he was the next day outside the gates. I couldn’t send back a wish-come-true, could I? It wouldn’t be right. And he’s so clever; he can do hundreds of tricks! Look, I’ll show you.’

She called him over and patted the back of the broom.

‘Oh, come on, you two,’ said Mildred. ‘Stop being so grumpy! Just sit there on your brooms and I’ll show you all the things he can do. You’ll soon see why I had to keep him.’

he three friends made their way back through the silent morning corridors with Star zipped neatly into his holdall and Enid carrying the jug, now full of pine-cone branches and jolly twigs with red berries to brighten up their grey-stone classroom.

They hurried into Mildred’s room and closed the door behind them. Mildred opened the holdall and Star immediately leapt out and dived under the bed.

‘I don’t know what Einstein’s going to say when he wakes up in the spring!’ laughed Mildred. ‘Well then, what did you think of him?’

‘He’s incredible, Mildred,’ said Maud, ‘and
you’re
incredible
with
him. I’ve never seen you fly like that.’

‘He’s like part of you,’ said Enid. ‘Like another arm or leg. I can see why you’re crazy about him – not that it makes things any easier. H.B. will still go mad when she finds out.’

‘
If
she finds out,’ said Mildred, ‘and
we
aren’t telling anyone, are we?’

‘Of
course
not,’ said Maud. ‘Anyway, you’ve done brilliantly so far – even your best friends didn’t suspect a thing, so maybe you’ll be able to hide him till the end of term.
Tell
you what, let’s all go and watch Form Five rehearsing for their broomstick ballet at lunchtime. They’re doing the first dress rehearsal in the Great Hall; it’s supposed to be fantastic.’

‘That would be
so
nice,’ said Mildred, feeling a wave of relief that her two best friends were in on her secret. ‘It’ll be great if we win, especially as Form Five are doing all the hard work – at least there’s no way I can mess up someone else’s broomstick display!’

They all laughed, remembering the now legendary Hallowe’en when they were first-years and Ethel had spitefully lent Mildred a broom with a spell on it, which had wrecked the display. Everything had turned out well in the end, but Mildred still had nightmares about it.

The broomstick ballet
was
fantastic. Miss Hardbroom had taken charge of the project with the help of Miss Bat, who was providing a rousing piano accompaniment, and Miss Mould the art mistress, who had designed some wonderful flowing costumes for the four aerial ballerinas. Each dancer represented different aspects of night flying.

There was an owl-dancer in magnificent wings and a head-dress made from hand-sewn fluttering silk feathers, two dancers draped in midnight-blue robes sewn with star-shaped sequins, and the principal dancer, who was bedecked in silver and blue to represent moonlight. The dancers were set against a beautiful deep-blue backdrop, with a huge white moon and stars picked out in luminous paint which glowed magically under the candelabras. Every class had worked tirelessly, painting the backdrop and sewing on sequins and feathers, so that the whole school felt involved in their competition entry.

Mildred, Enid and Maud sat in the front row with a crowd of excited spectators and watched as Form Five performed the first showing of an act which really did express ‘the joy of flying’.

‘I think we could actually win with that!’ enthused Maud as they hurried to grab some food before lunch-break was over. ‘It was really beautiful.’

‘No it wasn’t,’ said Ethel, who had come up behind them without anyone noticing. ‘Just run-of-the-mill, if you ask me.’

‘No one
is
asking you, Ethel,’ said Mildred. ‘Anyway, you aren’t a judge, thank goodness, so we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed and leave it up to them. Don’t you
want
us to win the swimming pool?’

‘You think you’re really great now, don’t you, Mildred Hubble?’ said Ethel, her voice rising dangerously. ‘Just because you’ve lit a few lanterns without burning the school down, you think everyone’s suddenly dying to hear what
you
think about everything.’

‘No I don’t, Ethel,’ said Mildred wearily, ‘and I’m not getting into an argument about nothing, so why don’t you find someone else to pick on?’

Ethel stalked away down the corridor and Mildred felt a sudden stab of alarm as she imagined what Ethel would do if she found out about Star.

he competition was to take place at the Supreme Magician’s residence – a vast, rambling castle with a hundred and fifty rooms, one of which was a gigantic hall, large enough for three schools to fit in at once, cheering on their acts in front of the three judges. There were thirty schools for sorcery, magic and witchcraft scattered about the country, most of them flying in from isolated places, and it would take ten days for all thirty acts to be judged at a rate of three a day, five days a week. Miss Cackle’s Academy was to perform on the last day of the competition along with Pentangle’s and Moonridge High.

By a fantastic stroke of luck, Miss Cackle’s Academy was only three mountains away from the Supreme Magician’s castle, which meant that they would not have to stay overnight. Mildred had been racking her brains for a furtive way of bringing Star with her under the watchful eye of Miss Drill (who was, unfortunately, proving every bit as vigilant as Miss Hardbroom, despite the zany outfits), and Mildred breathed a sigh of relief that she would only be gone for the daytime hours – when Star was used to having his long sleep under her bed anyway.

Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom sat in the staffroom with all the teachers on the night before their schools’ auditions.

‘I think that’s everything covered, Miss Cackle,’ said Miss Hardbroom, who had just read out their travel plans in minute detail, including the transport of costumes and scenery, plus the making of nearly two hundred packed lunches.

‘Do you think we might actually win?’ asked Miss Drill. ‘I’ve seen one of the rehearsals and I must say it did look quite
special
.’

‘I think we have an excellent chance,’ replied Miss Hardbroom. ‘My only worry is whether there might have been an
over-abundance
of broomstick ballets during the previous nine days. If so, the judges might be a little bored by yet another ballet routine. I must say, I rather wish we weren’t the very last act of all.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, Miss Hardbroom,’ said Miss Cackle. ‘Surely it’s worse to be at the beginning, nearly two weeks earlier! The judges are much more likely to remember the last act than the first one!’

‘And the judges
are
all getting on for a hundred years old,’ laughed Miss Mould. ‘So it’s better to be fresh in their memories, I’d say!’

‘Now, now, Miss Mould!’ scolded Miss Cackle, a twinkle in her eye. ‘We’re
none
of us getting any younger and I’m sure that the combined brains of the three most honoured sorcerers in the country are quite adequate to judge a talent competition!’

‘Well, if you don’t mind,’ announced Miss Hardbroom, ‘I’m off to bed, as there will be a great deal to contend with tomorrow morning. One last thing, Miss Mould, could you assist me with taking the costumes down to the front hall, ready for Form Five to tie on to their broomsticks in the morning? I shall be carrying the rolled-up backdrop underneath my own broom for the journey, as it really
is
rather unwieldy and we don’t want any accidents before we get there! All pupils to be assembled in the playground by ten o’clock sharp, ready for take-off. Well, goodnight, everyone.’

‘Goodnight, Miss Hardbroom,’ called Miss Cackle as Miss Hardbroom swept out of the door. She was going to say ‘pleasant dreams’, but somehow she couldn’t imagine her deputy dreaming of anything but school rules and timetables, so there didn’t seem much point.

The following morning Mildred was up and dressed even earlier than usual, ready to zoom round the corridors, take Star for his walk and hurry back to hide him under the bed before the journey. She put down a bowl of catfood for Tabby, left the door ajar so he could go for his morning wander, stuffed Star into the holdall and set off down the corridor.

She was now an expert Lantern Monitor, taking her duties extremely seriously. She had changed all the candles the day before and polished the glass so that there was no maintenance to do that morning and she was making very good time. She soon reached the entrance hall and flew up to douse the candle in the large lantern which hung above the main doors leading to the playground.

It was a cheerful, sunny morning, most unusual for the academy. Mildred glanced around at the rays slanting in through the windows and noticed the rail with the four ballet costumes, awaiting broom-transport. Star was already wriggling about in the bag, keen to have his breakfast on the grass and a run about through the trees.

‘Stop it!’ giggled Mildred. ‘You’ll have me off the broom!’

‘Talking to yourself now, are you, Mildred Hubble?’ said a sharp voice right behind her.

Mildred jumped and almost overbalanced as she was now fifteen feet up and not expecting anyone to be there.

‘Ethel!’ she exclaimed. ‘Careful! You made me jump – what are you doing here?’

‘Following
you
,’ said Ethel unpleasantly, hovering next to Mildred and nudging the holdall with her foot. ‘You weren’t
quite
quick enough outside the gates yesterday. I was looking out of the window when the mist cleared, just in time to see you putting something in your bag. What was it, Mildred? A badger? A large hedgehog? It was definitely an animal, that’s for sure.’

‘It was only Tabby,’ said Mildred, feeling desperate, as the holdall was now noticeably beginning to judder. ‘He’s in there now, so I’d better get on, Ethel, if you don’t mind, or we’ll
both
be late for take-off.’

Unfortunately, just at that moment Tabby (unmistakeable as he was the only tabby cat in the school) strolled underneath them and out into the yard through the communal cat flap set into the wall.

‘I think
not
,’ said Ethel. ‘So, what
have
you got in the bag, Mildred? Come on, show me!’

Mildred had flipped open the lantern door and was poised with the candle-snuffer when Ethel made a dive for the zip on the holdall.