The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (14 page)

uddenly Mildred heard the Chief Wizard on the other side of the curtain. ‘And now,’ he was announcing with great enthusiasm, ‘the last entry in the competition: a surprise act from Miss Cackle’s Academy entitled “The Joy of Flying”.’

Mildred snapped out of her terrified trance and commanded her broomstick to hover. ‘Up you jump, Star,’ she said, remembering Enid’s advice about pretending to be in the forest. ‘We’re going to have some fun.’

And they did!

The training sessions had paid off – and Star was thrilled that he was out of trouble, making him even happier than usual to do all the things he loved for the mistress he adored. He leapt from the broom in mid-air, while Mildred set off in a perfect nosedive to catch him. He jumped from the back of the stick over Mildred’s head into her lap, then back again the other way. He stood on his head, and together they zoomed out over the audience and buzzed Enid and Maud to shrieks of delight, then flew several loop-the-loops – Star jumping on top of the broom each time it rolled so that he didn’t fall off. The finale was ‘The Waterfall’, starting right up near the ceiling and tumbling down almost forty feet, before landing the right way up at the front of the stage, facing the judges.

Star leapt into Mildred’s arms and she bowed low, laughing with relief as the audience sprang to their feet, cheering, stamping, even whistling their appreciation. Mildred could hear Maud and Enid’s voices above the cacophony. She searched the crowd and saw Miss Cackle’s friendly face wreathed in smiles. Even Miss Hardbroom looked pleased, in an exasperated kind of way, and Miss Drill was waving her arms dementedly in the air, cheering at the top of her voice.

The most amazing part of all was the judges’ reaction. They all solemnly got to their feet, and Mildred thought for an alarming moment that they were going to walk out; instead they held their arms out towards Mildred and clapped the loudest of all. Star decided to join in and began barking joyfully. It was the best day of Mildred’s whole life.

The Supreme Magician turned and gestured to the audience to quieten down. Mildred hastily seized Star by the nose as he was having such a wonderful doggy barking session that he couldn’t stop. ‘That’s enough,’ whispered Mildred.

‘Well,’ said the Supreme Magician, ‘that was certainly a surprise act, my dear. A little un
usual
– a dog on a broomstick – are they allowed, your Grand Highness?’ he asked, turning to the Grand High Witch.

‘There isn’t actually
any
rule concerning which sort of animal is allowed on a broom,’ said the Grand High Witch. ‘It could be anything at all, even an elephant, except for its size! It’s just become a tradition that most schools have cats because they are small and easy to care for – and there’s nothing in any rule-book stating that they have to be black cats. It’s just turned out that way over the years because black ones are less conspicuous for night flying.’

Mildred was thrilled to hear this. Perhaps Tabby wasn’t such a misfit after all.

‘We were looking for Star Quality,’ continued the Supreme Magician.

‘Which these two have in vast quantities,’ affirmed the Chief Wizard.

‘I think we have our winner,’ said the Grand High Witch. ‘Are we all agreed?’

‘Agreed!’ said the Chief Wizard.

‘Agreed!’ said the Grand High Witch.

‘Agreed!’ said the Supreme Magician. ‘And the winner of the Swimming-Pool Competition is Miss Cackle’s Academy with “The Joy of Flying”!’

he flight home was so different to the miserable outward journey. The whole school was buzzing with happiness and Mildred thought she might actually explode with joy. The teachers had given up trying to calm the pupils down, especially as everyone kept begging Mildred to do some more tricks with Star and she couldn’t resist a few loop-the-loops when Miss Hardbroom’s back was turned.

When they arrived back at the academy Mildred escaped to her room with Maud and Enid, but she was soon besieged by pupils from all over the school pleading for an audience with Star, who was delighted to oblige, giving a paw and bouncing around the room.

Mildred picked up Tabby and gave him his favourite upside-down cuddle, so that he wouldn’t feel left out, but he was worried by the crowd and soon wriggled out of Mildred’s arms, taking cover by leaping on top of the wardrobe.

Mildred began to enjoy herself. Everyone kept thanking her for winning the competition and asking if Star could do some tricks, so Mildred made the broomstick hover, and Star impressed them all by standing on his head. The room was already crammed to bursting with admirers when there was a knock at the door.

‘
Another
fan!’ laughed Maud, sweeping the door open.

‘I’m not sure you could actually call me a “fan”, Maud,’ said Miss Hardbroom, who was standing outside in her usual disapproving manner.

Everyone froze, including Star, who was still standing on his head on the back of Mildred’s broom.

‘Miss Cackle wants to see you in her office, Mildred,’ announced Miss Hardbroom, ‘and you’d better bring the dog – preferably on all four legs.’

‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ said Mildred, clicking her fingers at Star, who did a perfect back-flip from the broom, landing at her feet. The back-flip somehow looked slightly cheeky with Miss Hardbroom watching sternly from the doorway.

Mildred gave a last, anxious glance back at the room full of silent pupils, Maud and Enid holding up crossed fingers and mouthing ‘good luck’.

Mildred followed Miss Hardbroom through the winding corridors, past the unlit lanterns, which she now thought of as ‘her’ lanterns after weeks of lighting them so diligently each night. She wondered sadly who would be lighting them now, as it seemed unlikely she would still be allowed after the costumes fiasco.

‘Where did the dog actually
come
from Mildred?’ asked Miss Hardbroom.

Star was now slinking behind his mistress, trying to keep as far away from Miss Hardbroom as possible.

‘I’m not sure you’ll believe me, Miss Hardbroom,’ explained Mildred, ‘but I saw a shooting star fall behind the school gates – ages ago on the first day of term – and I wished for a dog and the next morning I found Star outside the school gates! I know you’ll probably think I’m being silly –’

‘I
don’t
actually, Mildred,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘I feel I should tell you that
I
saw the same shooting star and wished that we would win the swimming-pool competition. The likelihood of two wishes on the same star coming true would seem, to me, to be
very
remote, yet they
did
. Interesting, isn’t it?’