Chapter Text
“Come on! Hurry up! We’re going to be late for chanting!”
“But class is going to be so boring today. Wouldn’t you much rather sneak outside and test this new potion I concocted?”
“You’re going to get us into trouble.”
“That doesn’t sound like a no to me…”
Joy Hardbroom collided right into the two near identical twin girls, knocking her books from her hands. She gasped in surprise, listening to Agatha’s bitter contempt at her clumsiness as Ada dipped down and helped pick up her books.
“I’m so sorry!” Joy gasped. “Pardon me, I was distracted. I should have been watching where I was going.”
“Yeah, you should have,” Agatha huffed. “You nearly made me drop my potion.” She clasped the vial of swirling purple liquid in her hand, holding it up to the light to inspect for damage.
“Is that an invisibility potion?” Joy questioned with interest.
“It’s better!” Agatha sneered, suddenly grabbing Joy’s wrist and tugging her back behind a stone pillar. Ada followed a bit begrudgingly, still carrying a stack of Joy’s books. “It makes you invisible to all non-magical folks. Ada and I are going to sneak into town today and get some ingredients for pranks.”
“Sounds interesting,” Joy nodded, turning and finally collecting her things from Ada. “Thanks,” she nodded to the other girl. “I think though… you should have added a little more beetroot. The potion should turn out a pale lilac, but yours is a little deep. Beetroot should lighten it up to the perfect ratio next time you brew some.”
Joy nodded, a hesitant smile on her face, but Agatha didn’t take the criticism well. “You’re such a freaking know-it-all. If you weren’t such a brat, maybe we’d invite you out with us.”
“Well you’re going to need a new batch of that potion before you head out anyway,” Joy shrugged.
“Come on, Agatha, let’s just go to chanting,” Ada pleaded, tugging at her sister’s arm.
Joy nodded to the twins before she turned and headed off on her own way again. She had chanting as well, which was certainly not her favorite class by any means, but she was mostly punctual and didn’t want to be late. Exams were coming up, but her mind was spread elsewhere. She approached the classroom door, still thinking about Agatha’s poorly brewed potion, but she stopped short, remembering the letter in her hand. She had been reading the letter when she collided headlong into Agatha.
Joy held up the letter, inspecting the Hardbroom family crest pressed into the wax seal. Sometimes, no, rather, most times she despised her parents. They wanted a mirror call as soon as Joy was free… as if she’d ever give them the satisfaction. Her brows tipped in anger and with a snap, the letter vanished. Good riddance.
Joy stomped into chanting, her mood now bitter. She fell into her desk, scrambling to reorganize her disheveled books. The need for magic to always be prestigious was annoying. Her parents were always breathing down her back about tradition and how to be proper. Evidently, the Hardbroom name brought with it a lot of pressure, which Joy understood—she was, after all, top of her year—but she grew tired of the rigidness. Would it really be so awful to have a little fun with magic every once in a while?
As she thought, to calm her head, Joy doodled in her notebook as she waited for class to start. She found herself drawing a potion that would allow her a little more frivolousness in her life. She drafted up a list of ingredients in all the right ratios to make the potion Agatha wanted. Maybe a trip into town would suit her well.
Joy was snapped from her drafting when she heard a distinct poof followed by the crackling sparkle of magic and a scream. In an instance, Claire stormed into the classroom covered in a periwinkle dust, her hands clenched into fists.
“Why can’t those pesky twins mind their own business!” Claire shouted. “Look at the state of me, Avery!”
Avery dashed into the classroom next, clearly trying to suppress her giggles. “I don’t know, Claire. I think periwinkle quite suits you.”
Another poof went off in the hallway, but this time Joy heard Emory burst into laughter. “You missed me, bat brains!” she laughed, skipping into the classroom. Claire eyed her clean friend with annoyance.
Joy bit at her lip. Both Claire and Emory deserved to be covered in prank dust. They were, by far, the most annoying girls in their entire year. Good on the Cackle twins for getting at least one of them.
But then, another poof rang out. Joy tipped her head towards the door curiously, only to find one Pippa Pentangle skipping into the room, covered head to toe in a rich pink dust. “Looks like they got us both,” Pippa shrugged to her friend Claire. Claire snarled, smacking at Emory who was still laughing. Then Pippa turned to Avery and after a beat, both girls burst out laughing too.
Pippa was too good for them. Joy shook her head slightly.
“Come on, Claire, stop being such a sour puss,” Pippa declared. With a whisper of a spell and a quick wave of her hands, the dust disappeared from both herself and Claire, the two girls looking good as new. “No sense being bitter when we have magic to clean up with, am I right?” Pippa grinned.
“The Cackle twins are a nuisance,” Claire huffed, taking her seat. “They ought to be expelled… not running this magical academy in their future. I’d never send my children here if they were running the place.”
“You’re just mad because both Ada and Agatha scored higher on their potions exam than you did,” Avery declared, drumming her fingers against Claire’s desk.
Joy found that she was still staring in Pippa’s direction. Some days, she wished a little too desperately that she could be Pippa’s friend. Though she never wanted to be friends with Claire and Emory, and really, those four girls—along with Avery—came as a package deal no matter what. Besides, Joy was nothing like those girls. They were refined and charismatic, still brilliant witches in their own rights, but they didn’t have the strictness of the best witching bloodline to hold them back. They could have fun if they wanted without having to desperately watch their backs.
Pippa and Joy locked eyes from across the room, and it looked almost as if Pippa had given her the smallest of smiles. It couldn’t have been though. Joy shook her head. Pippa sat down in her seat and Joy was convinced she had imagined the entire thing.
Joy looked back down at her notebook with her potion draft. Maybe if she could afford to have a little fun, she could understand why Pippa seemed to radiate such positive energy. Maybe, if she could brew a proper non-magical folk invisibility potion, she could make friends with the Cackle twins. And maybe, befriending the year’s worst troublemakers would be the best revenge against her parents.
Maybe.