Read The Worst Witch Strikes Again Online
Authors: Jill Murphy
The Worst Witch Strikes Again (2 page)
before. As usual, everyone nearly jumped out of their skins, and there was a mad scramble as desk-lids slammed and people crashed into each other in their hurry to be standing by their desks in an orderly manner.
‘Good morning, girls,’ said Miss Hard-broom crisply.
‘Good morning, Miss Hardbroom,’ replied the girls.
‘I hope you’re all glad to be back with us,’ said Miss Hardbroom, narrowing her eyes and glaring at the unfortunate pupils in the front row. ‘All nice and rested and looking forward to some hard work?’
‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ chorused the girls in their most sincere voices.
‘Good!’ said Miss Hardbroom, clapping her hands together in a business-like way. ‘Now then. This is Enid Nightshade.’ She extended a bony hand towards the newcomer, who stood with hunched shoulders, looking fixedly at the floor.
Enid was a tall girl, even taller than Mildred, but much more ungainly, with big hands and feet. There seemed to be an awful lot of her, though she wasn’t exactly fat. Her hair was the colour of milky tea and was restrained into a long, thick plait,
but you could tell that it would be very wild and wavy once it was unleashed from the black hair ribbon.
‘Enid is newly with us this term,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘Mildred, Enid is to be entrusted to your care. I must point out that this is not my idea, but some strange notion of Miss Cackle’s that if you are awarded such a responsibility it may actually turn you into a responsible member of the community. Personally, I feel it a great loss to send young Enid off down the path of ill-fame with you, when we could all breathe easily if someone like Ethel were to show her the ropes.’
Ethel, the form sneak and goody-goody, smiled demurely at this point and everyone felt like hitting her.
‘However,’ continued Miss Hardbroom, ‘perhaps I shall be proved wrong. I certainly hope so. Please make sure that Enid knows where everything is, Mildred, and keep her company for the next few days.
Thank you. Now, Enid, take the desk next to Mildred and let us begin the lesson. The first school assembly will be tomorrow morning in the Great Hall.’
‘Crumbs,’ thought Mildred, sneaking a look at Enid, who had crammed her huge frame into the neighbouring desk. ‘We won’t get much fun out of
her.’
But Mildred couldn’t have been more wrong.
ARLY
next morning before the rising-bell had rung, Maud crept along the stone corridor to Mildred’s room and knocked on the door.
There was no reply, but this was hardly surprising as Mildred was renowned for her ability to sleep through any amount of noise; in fact Maud often had to go and
shriek in her friend’s ear to waken her when the rising-bell failed to do so.
Maud tiptoed into the room, closing the heavy door quietly behind her. Mildred’s three bats skimmed over her head returning from their night out and settled upside-down on the picture rail.
A soft ‘Miaaow’ at her feet reminded Maud of Mildred’s little tabby cat which was threading itself round her ankles. She bent down and picked up the little creature, which immediately draped itself around her neck like a fur stole and began to purr. Maud was quite glad of the warmth as she felt a bit chilly in her summer nightdress of grey cotton.
‘Mildred,’ she whispered to the bundle of bedclothes. ‘Wake up, Mildred. It’s Maud.’
‘Whassat?’ mumbled Mildred’s voice from deep under the covers, followed by a series of rhythmic snores.
‘
Mildred
!’ whispered Maud, giving the
lump under the covers a vigorous shake. ‘Wake up!’
The top of Mildred’s head appeared on the pillow.
‘Oh, hello, Maud!’ she said. ‘Is it time to get up yet? Did I miss the bell?’
‘No,’ said Maud curling up on the end of the bed. ‘It’s still early. The bats have only just come in. I came to have a chat before the others get up.’
Mildred hauled herself into a sitting position.
‘Wrap yourself up, you must be freezing,’ she said, offering Maud her black cloak. Maud took the cloak from the bedpost and put it around her shoulders.
‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘What shall we do at break?’
‘Well,’ said Mildred, ‘I’ve got to show Enid round the school. You know, the potion lab and gym, that sort of thing.’
‘Can’t you hand her over to someone else?’ asked Maud, sounding a little touchy. ‘She looks very dull, and anyway you and
I
always go about together.’
‘It’s a bit difficult to get rid of her,’ said Mildred. ‘Miss Hardbroom asked me and she’d go berserk if I tried to get out of it. Anyway the poor girl is new, I feel a bit sorry for her.’
‘Oh, all right,’ agreed Maud reluctantly. ‘I’ll come and call for you later and we can at least go to Assembly together.’
‘Er – well, I’ll have to take Enid to Assembly,’ said Mildred awkwardly. ‘But you can come too, though.’
‘Oh,
thanks
!’ stormed Maud. ‘I’d rather go on my own.’ She flung off the cloak and uncurled the cat. ‘Perhaps you could fit me in later in the week!’
‘Oh, Maud!’ said Mildred. ‘Don’t be so silly, I didn’t mean –’
But Maud had already swept out of the door, letting it bang behind her.
EN
minutes later, the rising-bell clanged and echoed through the gloomy corridors. Mildred, who was just on the verge of going back to sleep, steeled herself to get out of bed and grope around for her clothes which were festooned all over the room as usual. The summer dress was much easier to cope with than the winter uniform. Somehow, in winter she always got in a dreadful muddle with her tie.
She was just about to go and bang on Maud’s door and surprise her by being ready when she remembered about Enid and set off to the next corridor to call for her.
‘Enid! Are you up yet?’ she called softly through the door.
‘Hang on a sec!’ called Enid’s voice. ‘I’m just feeding the monkey.’
‘Monkey?’ thought Mildred. ‘I must have misheard.’
But she hadn’t. When she pushed open the door, there sat Enid on her narrow bedstead. Perched on her shoulder was a slender grey monkey eating a banana.
‘It’s to go on the back of my broom,’ explained Enid, as Mildred hastened inside and closed the door, in case by some mischance Miss Hardbroom should materialize outside.
‘But it’s a
monkey
, Enid!’ exclaimed Mildred. ‘You won’t be allowed. It says in the rules that we can only have cats. We can’t even have owls.’
‘Oh, it’ll be all right,’ said Enid airily. ‘No one’ll notice when it’s all hunched up on the end of my broom.’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure,’ said Mildred
darkly. ‘You don’t know Miss Hardbroom yet.’
‘Anyway,’ continued Enid as if she hadn’t heard Mildred’s dire warning, ‘it’s much more fun than a silly old cat. It can hang upside-down by its tail and do all sorts of things.’
‘Well,’ said Mildred doubtfully, ‘I do hope it’ll be all right. Come on, we’d better go down to Assembly or we’ll be late, and that would never do when I’m supposed to be looking after you!’
As the girls filed into the Great Hall, Mildred caught Maud by the arm and whispered, ‘Hey, Maud! You’ll never guess what Enid has got in her room.’
But Maud didn’t answer and brushed past with her nose in the air.
Miss Hardbroom stood beside the headmistress, Miss Cackle, on the platform at the end of the Great Hall. Unlike Miss Hardbroom who was scowling, Miss Cackle beamed down at her flock which