Lovesick Witches

A Brand New Day

The noisy sound of my alarm clock woke me up the next morning. I sat up in my bed and knocked the alarm off. I stayed in bed for a few minutes, admiring the beauty of the day. 

My room was surprisingly warm as the sunlight beamed pleasantly through my slit window. I took a deep breath and relaxed my body. For the first time in weeks, my mind was clear. I was free from stress, worry and sadness. I felt so at peace with the world as I got up and got dressed for the day. 

I had made up with HB! We weren't ignoring each other anymore! A smile pasted onto my face as I thought about this. For the first time since starting here at Cackle's, I felt truly calm and complete. Everything seemed perfect. It was a beautiful day outside, my mind was finally clear from confusion, and I had Miss Hardbroom again. 

It felt like I'd had some sort of spiritual awakening after getting my priorities straight and working out what was most important to me. It was HB. And she had forgiven me! I could finally see things clearly and it was such a relief to be in a state of pure happiness. 

After getting ready for the day, I skipped down the corridors to the Great Hall for breakfast. Other students entered the breakfast hall when I did. I spotted Maud and Enid sitting at a table with Felicity so I walked over and joined them. 

"Good morning guys!" I said, beaming at them. 

"You're in a good mood this morning," Enid said as she rubbed her eyes. 

"Yup. The nice weather has me in a positive mindset." 

"I'm glad to see you happier today, Ana," said Maud as she smiled at me. 

"Where's Mildred?" I asked. 

"Still getting ready. I had to wake her up," Maud said with a giggle. "She'll be here soon." 

"And Felicity is sitting with us today because she fell out with Ethel," said Enid. 

"Oh no, what happened?" I asked as I turned to Felicity, sitting opposite me. 

"Ethel has been spending so much time helping Clarice with the head girl competition and kind of just abandoned me." 

"Oh. You can stay with us then, Felicity," I said, smiling. She smiled back. I never did understand why she was friends with Ethel. She was a really kind girl. Not like Ethel at all. And Ethel didn't really care about her friends anyway because she was so selfish all the time. Felicity deserved better friends than Ethel. I liked Felicity. She was really smart, hard-working and a pleasant person to be around. 

The school's cook, Miss Tapioca, came around the tables and poured some runny porridge into our bowels. I chatted with my friends as we ate and after a few minutes, Mildred entered the hall and joined us. 

"Tired this morning?" I asked her. Her long, ginger hair was still loose as she sat down. 

"Yeah. I didn't hear my alarm go off so I slept in," she said as she parted her hair and started to plait it into her usual style of two loose braids. 

"Ana is strangely sunny this morning," Felicity told Mildred. 

"What's the occasion?" Mildred asked me as I beamed at her. 

"No occasion. Just in a good mood." 

We talked together some more and I noticed a certain potions teacher enter the hall. I was filled with joy as I watched her black hair shine in the morning sunlight as her long dress swayed softly when she walked. I gazed at Miss Hardbroom as she sat with Miss Cackle at a table and poured her drink. 

She turned her head and scanned the dining room, observing her surroundings. As she did so, she noticed me looking at her and our eyes met. I felt my heart thumping in my chest as her twinkling eyes looked into mine from across the hall. She radiated a smile at me and I perceived her warmth from the other side of the room. I beamed back in delight before turning back to my friends and re-joining their conversation. 

We had chanting class all morning and whilst most of my friends lay their heads on their desks in boredom, I found myself singing, happily. I was even enjoying chanting that day! As Miss Bat was still away on holiday, Miss Drill was covering our chanting class. She hated chanting but she was the only other teacher who could play piano so she ended up being our cover teacher. 

Unlike Miss Bat, Miss Drill didn't really care whether we sang or not so it ended up being a trio between me, Ethel and Miss Drill as no one else could be bothered to chant. Usually I would have kept my mouth shut, but I was just feeling so joyous that I couldn't not sing! 

At lunch time, my friends went outside with Felicity to enjoy the sun but there was someone I wanted to see instead. So I told Mildred I would meet her in the Great Hall after some studying. Of course I wasn't actually going to study. 

I sprang over to the potions lab with glee. I felt like a Disney Princess in a fantasy movie or something. The students around me would have thought I was mad. But I didn't mind. I was just happy and didn't care about anyone watching me skip through the school. 

I knocked on the door when I reached the potions classroom and waited until it opened. I walked in to see HB tidying her desk as the sunlight shone through the big, glass window at the back of the classroom. 

"Ana!" she said, smiling at me. "Nice to see you! Do come in." 

I wandered over to one of the seats at a desk near the front of the classroom and sat in it, unable to contain my bliss. 

"You look particularly pleasant today," she said as she followed me over to the desk and sat down next to me. 

"I'm just happy we resolved things between us," I said. 

She beamed at me. "I am happy too." 

There was a pause as we looked at each other and I appreciated her close presence. 

"Since you have discovered your priorities regarding exams," she said, "I can continue to help you, if you like. You may not know what you want to do with your exam results yet but it is always good to have them. And I'd be more than happy to continue the extra study sessions to help you." 

"Thank you, Miss Hardbroom," I said. I felt hopeful and excited by this. I would no longer be struggling with work on my own! 

HB and I continued the friendly chat until it was time for us to go in for lunch. It was wonderful to be able to talk to her like that again.