The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star Read Free Page B

make a wish!’ exclaimed Miss Cackle. ‘Quickly, Miss Hardbroom, or it won’t come true.’
    ‘Oh really, Miss Cackle,’ said Miss Hardbroom grumpily. ‘Surely you don’t believe in all that silly nonsense?’
    ‘It is
not
silly nonsense,’ replied Miss Cackle indignantly. ‘Didn’t you ever make a birthday wish when you blew out the candles on your cake?’
     

     
    ‘We didn’t
have
birthday candles in our house,’ said Miss Hardbroom, sounding briefly wistful. ‘Or cakes, or cards, or anything frivolous
and
we only had one present – usually something useful, such as a new spell book; not like nowadays, when they have so many presents that they need a fork-lift truck to get them all home.’
    The other teachers stared at Miss Hardbroom, imagining her as a child in a sensible black party dress, clutching her one present to her chest. It suddenly explained a great deal about her character.
     

     
    ‘Come along now, Miss Hardbroom,’ continued Miss Cackle brightly. ‘Make a wish anyway, just to prove it one way or another.’
    ‘Oh yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ giggled Miss Bat. ‘That would be such fun!
Do
make a wish.’
    ‘All right then,’ said Miss Hardbroom, feeling unexpectedly caught up in the spirit of fun and camaraderie between her fellow teachers. ‘If it means so much to all of you.’
    ‘You have to close your eyes,’ said Miss Cackle.
    ‘And don’t tell us what you’ve wished,’ said Miss Drill. ‘Or it won’t come true.’
    Miss Hardbroom closed her eyes and wished. After a few seconds, she opened one eye and glanced at her fellow teachers. ‘What do I do next?’ she asked earnestly.
     

     
    ‘Nothing at all, Miss Hardbroom!’ said Miss Cackle, stifling a smile.
    ‘Oh,’ said Miss Hardbroom, feeling a little disappointed, as she had rather hoped for some sort of magic to accompany the wish.
    ‘Right then, ladies,’ she continued primly, her sense of fun departing as suddenly as it had arrived. ‘Enough silly nonsense. We have a
very
arduous term in front of us and only hard work and planning can keep us ahead of all the other schools if we want to win this competition.’
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     

 
    ext morning, Mildred was already awake when the rising bell clanged through the corridors. She had hardly had any sleep, mainly because the bats had been in and out of the bat flap all night. It made a clunking rattle each time one of them came in or went out, and as there were now eight of them, the flap was clunking and rattling the whole night long. To make matters worse, Tabby jumped out of his skin every time the bat flap crashed open and Mildred had to give him extra cuddles to calm him down. The bats had all finally come back in to roost along the picture rail, but it was too late for Mildred, who had only slept for about two hours altogether.
    Maud put her head round the door, already in her uniform. ‘Up you get, Mil,’ she said cheerfully. ‘
Oh
dear, what’s up? You look awful.’
     

     
    ‘The bats have been driving me mad,’ said Mildred, yawning and stretching. ‘They were in and out like a fiddler’s elbow all night long. I know it’s nice to have glass in the windows, but I think I preferred it when there wasn’t any. I never heard a thing in the old days –
and
it disturbs Tabby.’
    ‘I haven’t got any bats at all in my room,’ said Maud, ‘so I was OK and I think Enid’s only got two. Never mind, Mil, you’ll soon get used to it. My auntie lives right next door to a railway line and the walls shake every time a train zooms past. When you first stay there it makes you jump every time it happens and you lie there waiting for the next one, but after a while you really don’t notice; it’s the same with chiming clocks – my auntie’s got one of those too! Where’s Einstein, by the way? Did you bring him with you?’
    Einstein was the tortoise that Mildred had used for her animal transformation spell the term before and Miss Cackle had