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Chapter Text

Velma Dinkley lived an average life: she had an average house, average belongings, and her day-to-day life included average responsibilities. Every morning, she would wake up and eat breakfast, followed by showering and getting ready. She would then make the five-minute drive to her very own bookstore, Dinkley’s Mystery Books. She had enough customers to keep her business afloat, but she certainly didn’t have any surplus of people coming in. During the busy times, she’d help customers find whatever book they were looking for and ring up their purchases. During the slow times, she’d look for a book she hadn’t read yet on the shelves, so she had something to do. Reading was one of Velma’s favorite things in the world, and she did it often. In fact, after she finished her day at the bookstore, she’d go home, eat dinner, and finish the night off with a few hours of reading. Even her house was quite average - all the walls were painted a drab shade of white, and the only furniture she had was a dining room table, a couch and an easy chair. It was a very modest, boring life, but Velma didn’t mind it.

She used to have a far more exciting life globetrotting with her friends. Instead of reading about mysteries, she would solve them, often figuring out the brunt of the puzzle herself. However, the gang had gotten tired of solving mysteries and no longer found much fun in it. They ultimately disbanded, each getting different jobs: Daphne was currently in the process of making the second season of her own supernatural show with Fred as cameraman, and Shaggy and Scooby bounced around from job to job. Velma had decided to combine her love of mysteries and books into one, by opening a specialty book shop carrying only mystery books. She definitely missed the gang quite a bit and thought about the adventures they’d had together regularly. Although she was bored of mysteries at the time the gang disbanded, she wouldn’t mind going back to solving mysteries with her friends. However, that didn’t seem like it would happen anytime soon, particularly since Daphne was so happy making her show. She still saw the gang sometimes, but it wasn’t quite the same as it was before.

Velma was sitting in her living room, as was customary at this hour, rereading The Mystery of Haunted Island. It was one of the most mystery classic books out there. In fact, Velma always sold every copy she had shipped to her store. Although some people would consider reading a book even once to be drudgery, Velma loved rereading her favorite books as much as possible.

All of a sudden, her phone began to ring. Wondering who could be calling at this hour, Velma went to pick up the phone.

“Hello?” Velma inquired.

“Hey, sis!” a familiar voice answered. It was Velma’s little sister, Madelyn.

“Hey, Mads.” Velma warmly greeted. “What’s up?”

“Nothing good, unfortunately.” Madelyn sighed. “One of the teachers here at my school quit at the last minute. Nobody knows what to do. The semester starts on Monday, and we don’t have anyone to teach the class he was responsible for!”

“Oh no, I’m sorry… I hope it works out!” Velma expressed her sympathy.

“I hope so too. Umm…that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.” Madelyn said. “Our headmaster Whirlen Merlin talked to me today, and since the class is magical literature…uh…he wants you to come and teach the class.”

“Me?” Velma exclaimed in shock. “Why would he want me? I don’t even have a teaching license.”

“Well, you own a mystery bookshop, and a lot of the books you sell have some element of magic in them…I don’t know, V, we’re desperate here! It’s too short of notice to find a replacement, and you’re perfect for the job. I think you’d enjoy our school a lot too!” Madelyn attempted to convince her sister.

“I don’t know…I want to help, but I don’t feel like I’d be a good teacher. Being up in front of a class teaching so many students, with all of them looking right at me expecting me to give them the answers? That seems pretty nerve-wracking.” Velma dissented.

“Please, sis? We need someone.” Madelyn whimpered. “It’d only be for a semester, I promise. 16 weeks isn’t that much. Just think about how long you traveled the world with your friends!”

Although Velma was still a bit resistant to the idea, her sister did have a good point. 16 weeks was nothing compared to how she traveled to a different city with the gang all those years. She rarely saw her sister, so maybe it would be a fun adventure to go and visit her for a few months.

“You know what, sure. I’ll do it.” Velma agreed. “It could be fun.”

“Really?!?” Even though Velma couldn’t physically see Madelyn since they were on the phone, she could only imagine that her eyes had lit up. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you sis! We’re going to have so much fun these next 16 weeks! And guess what? I’ll be in your class! That’s going to be amazing!”

It was already a weird enough thought to Velma that she would be teaching a class, but knowing her little sister would be taking the class she taught made her feel even stranger.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun.” Velma replied, hoping Madelyn wouldn’t notice her semi-cautious tone.

“So, how soon can you be here? I know Whirlen is super excited to meet you!” Madelyn inquired.

“Well…the class starts Monday? I guess I’ll be there Sunday night. I need to find someone to run my store while I’m gone for those few months. I can’t just leave it unstaffed.” Velma said.

“Okay, sis! I can’t wait to see you!” Madelyn exclaimed. “This is going to be the most awesome semester ever!”

“I’ll see you on Sunday, Mads. Goodnight!” Velma replied.

“Goodnight, sis!” Madelyn excitedly said, before hanging up the phone.

Velma felt incredibly overwhelmed. Given it was currently Thursday, she only had three days to get all her affairs in order before leaving on a four-month trip. Thankfully, all her affairs only consisted of figuring out who could run her bookshop while she was away. Ideally somebody who wouldn’t be majorly inconvenienced by having to take on an extra job. That was when a brilliant idea hit her. The perfect people to run her bookshop were…

“So, like, you mean to tell me there’s a hot dog stand and a pizza place just a block away from this place?!?” Velma’s ever-hungry friend Shaggy exclaimed. “Sounds like the perfect job for me and Scoob!”

“Reah!” Scooby agreed.

“I’m glad you guys like the working conditions.” Velma chuckled. “Now, the job is pretty basic. You just have to help customers find books if they need it, and ring up their purchases on the cash register by typing in the price like this.”

Velma provided an example by typing “$2.99” into the cash register.

“Oh, that’s not too hard.” Shaggy said. “All of the other jobs we’ve tried have been so hard…they won’t even let us eat food on the job!”

“Well, you’ll be your own bosses here, so you can do whatever you want as long as you do those two things, and are kind to the customers.” Velma informed.

“That’s, like, great! We accept this job offer!” Shaggy confirmed.

“Re roo!” Scooby added.

“Great! I’ll be back at the beginning of May.” Velma informed. “Feel free to call Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic anytime and ask for me if you ever need any help.”

“Like, will do, Velms!” Shaggy exclaimed.

“I can’t thank you guys enough for agreeing to help me out with this!” Velma appreciated.

“Like, no problem!” Shaggy replied. “Have fun on your trip!”

Velma took the next couple days to make a list of all the belongings she would need for the next four months. As she packed, she checked each item off her list to ensure there was no chance that she had forgotten anything. It had nearly been a three hour drive to Whirlen Merlin’s at this point, but she was pretty sure she was almost there. Her theory was confirmed when she saw a large castle looming up ahead. The castle was more gigantic than she could have ever imagined, with so many towers she couldn’t even count. This looked like an absolutely idyllic place to spend the next four months.

The auburn-haired girl quickly realized that she had never asked Madelyn exactly where to park her vehicle. After pondering it a moment, she came to the conclusion that probably anywhere was fine. If Whirlen was really as desperate for help as Madelyn had made it sound, surely he wouldn’t ticket her. She was admittedly a little surprised nobody came out to greet her, but she supposed that she hadn’t exactly specified when she was coming.

The sun was just starting to set, creating an ethereal view over the castle. Velma parked in an empty spot right next to a tree, which was split down the middle into two large branches protruding from either side. She had two suitcases full of all her clothes, which she grabbed out of the back of her gray vehicle before heading inside the castle.

The scenery around the castle was beautiful. Since it was winter, she could only see tiny bits of the landscaping as it was all covered with snow, but it looked breathtaking, and she couldn’t wait to see it in full bloom in the spring.

A large drawbridge over a moat led into the castle, making Velma feel even more like it was something that had come out of a movie. Velma admired her surroundings as she walked inside the immaculate building. She soon saw an older man with a long white beard and white hair.

“Welcome! My name is Alvin Bumbledore, and I am the headmaster of this magic academy.” the man greeted.

“Hi…Mr. Bumbledore.” Velma was a bit confused. “Am I in the right place? I thought Whirlen Merlin was the headmaster of this school.”

“May I take your coat?” Bumbledore inquired, seemingly ignoring Velma’s question.

“Sure. Thank you.” Velma smiled, removing her orange winter jacket and handing it to the man. She supposed it was silly to wear a jacket the same color as the sweaters she wore everyday, but what could she say? She just loved the color orange.

Bumbledore took her coat and promptly dropped it by mistake. As he bent over to pick it up, he accidentally slipped on the jacket and fell flat on his face.

“Oh no! Sir, are you okay?” Velma shrieked, worried for the man. Given he was elderly, a fall like that could have led to him breaking something.

“Oh, I’m quite alright. Happens all the time, frankly. Seems I’m the clumsy type.” Bumbledore admitted.

“I wouldn’t say that. I’m sure you’re perfectly coordinated and…” Velma said, before looking over in horror to see Bumbledore had somehow managed to have knocked himself to the floor, with a large wooden table on top of his legs, trapping them in place. “How did that happen?!?”

“Not sure, really.” Bumbledore sighed, groaning in pain due to the weight of the table. “Happens all the time. I suppose my last name lost me a few points in the coordination department.”

“Greetings!” another man with long blonde hair greeted, as Velma helped Bumbledore up. The man donned a red button-up shirt and black trousers. “My name is Whirlen Merlin and I am the headmaster of this academy.”

“There are two headmasters?” Velma asked, looking at both of them in confusion.

“No, just one. This is our previous headmaster, Alvin Bumbledore. He retired years ago, but he still sticks around here. He’s such a hard worker he refused to fully retire despite the fact he’s 83. However, we were able to strike up a deal in which he still performs headmaster duties part time.”

“Yes, indeed. I’m responsible for 0.046% of the headmaster duties. It’s quite a burden, but I manage.” Bumbledore proudly stated.

“0.046%? What duties do you exactly perform?” Velma asked out of curiosity before realizing her question could be interpreted as a bit forward. “Just so I understand everything for when I start teaching, of course.”

“Well, I sort the top row of the file cabinet, and sign any paperwork that comes in on November the fourth.” Bumbledore explained.

“Oh wow, that’s….” Velma started.

“A lot, I know. But I don’t want you to worry about me or anything, I get along just fine.” Bumbledore promised.

“We’re glad to have you here, Velma. It was quite unfortunate how our normal professor had to leave on such short notice.” Whirlen lamented.

Velma debated for a moment whether she wanted to ask what had happened or not, but she finally mustered the bravery to do so. “What exactly happened to make the former person in my position leave, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, it’s awful really. He did something so horrible that he attempted to cast a spell to erase everybody’s memories but mine to make us forget, which in itself was a further transgression that led to his firing.” Whirlen admitted.

“I mean, should I know what he did, if you remember?” Velma asked. She was almost afraid to hear what the former instructor had done.

Whirlen let out a large sigh, followed by a few moments of silence, before finally speaking up. “Well, I suppose you should know. This is admittedly very offensive, so please be understanding that this is hard for me to say.”

“I will.” Velma promised.

Whirlen sighed again before he spoke. “On Friday, January 7 at 2:58pm, he yelled ‘poopoo peepee diaper baby’ from the second stall in the men’s restroom. It’s astonishing, really. Please do not repeat that awful, graphically offensive phrase to any student in this school.”

“I won’t.” Velma agreed.

“Good. Now that this atrocity is behind us, I’d like to show you to your quarters and explain some of your job duties. Which would you like to start with?” Whirlen inquired.

“I suppose my job duties would be good, given I’ve got less than 24 hours until I begin.” Velma chose.

“Excellent choice.” Whirlen exclaimed. “Now, listen carefully, as you’ll need to fully understand the complex duties of your job.”

“I take this position very seriously, sir.” Velma smiled.

“I’m glad to hear. That being said, your job duties include teaching and grading a group of 17 students.” Whirlen shared. “Now that you’ve been informed of everything you’ll need to do over the next 16 weeks, let me show you your quarters.”

She found Whirlen’s explanation of her job duties quite anticlimactic. She followed the blonde-haired man down a long hallway and glanced around at the various sights nearby. There was a coffee maker full of coffee, as well as some cups and lids, for the teachers’ convenience. She wondered if other teachers lived in the castle like she was doing now, but she presumed they did.

As she and Whirlen approached a hallway with a washer and dryer, Whirlen held his hand out and handed Velma two coins.

“What’s this?” Velma inquired.

“Well, I said I was going to show you your quarters, so here they are. These are for the washing machine. Everybody gets two free quarters at the beginning of the semester! Now, let me show you to your room.”

Velma mentally facepalmed at Whirlen’s silly explanation. This was certainly going to be an interesting experience, to say the least. After walking a short distance, they stopped at a door marked ‘105.’ Whirlen pulled out a set of keys from his pants pocket.

“Here is your room.” Whirlen replied as he unlocked the door for Velma.

The room was modest, but liveable. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was the couch. It was made of leather, and was long enough to be able to fit several people. There was a television affixed to the wall, along with another small armchair sitting on the other side of the living room on a tile floor. There was also a small kitchenette, including a microwave, gas stove, and a decent-sized fridge. In addition, there was a queen-size bed with a white comforter in its own room, which was the only spot in the dorm that was carpeted. It appeared there was also a door to the bedroom. The bedroom was painted a boring white, whereas the rest of the room was painted red.

“This is really nice.” Velma said. “Almost feels like a fancy hotel room.”

All of a sudden, the leg of the armchair caved in on itself and snapped off, causing the chair to be lopsided.

“Yeah…we won’t be paying to replace that.” Whirlen said. “Anyway, is there anything I can get you? Towels? Snacks? Perhaps you’d like some Bortie Bert’s Singular Flavoured Beans. I’ll give you a hint: it’s almost raspberry, but not quite.”

“Umm…you have a dining hall, right? Maybe I’ll just get something to eat there.” Velma suggested.

“Sure! Perhaps you could even meet up with your sister. All the students are usually there around this hour, I believe.” Whirlen informed.

“That would be great!” Velma replied, setting her belongings down on the couch. “If you could lead the way.”

“Absolutely. It’s a short walk, but I’ll show you some of the other sights around the school. For example, here’s the Passage of Confidentiality.” Whirlen said.

“You know, I’ve read a lot of books, and this place seems awfully similar to a book series about a magic school called Harry Potter.” Velma seemed suspicious. “Was the construction of this place inspired by that book series?”

“Hardly. In fact, I’d argue J.K. Rowling stole it from us!” Whirlen accused.

As Whirlen finished his thought, a terrifying looking ghost statue popped out at them. The most frightening thing about it, in Velma’s opinion, was that the ghost seemed to have his head hanging from his neck!

“Oh, don’t be frightened. That’s Essentially-Headless Rick.” Whirlen explained. “Just a Halloween decoration we forgot to take down.”

“Hmm…” Velma suspiciously thought.

“And here’s our lovely dining hall.” Whirlen said. The dining hall was absolutely immaculate. There were numerous options for the students: one place served burgers, another served pizza and sandwiches, and there was another place that was serving every kind of pasta you could imagine. Velma loved pasta, so that’s where she headed first. She quickly served herself a small plate of spaghetti from a buffet-style container, and additionally took a piece of garlic bread.

“Oh my gosh, Velma!” a familiar voice called to her.

“Mads!” Velma exclaimed as soon as she saw her eager sister, who ran up to give her a hug.

“Great to see you again, sis!” Madelyn gave her sister a squeeze. She was wearing a pink skirt along with a lavender top. “So, are you excited about teaching tomorrow?”

“Umm…yes…no….I don’t know.” Velma said, as they relinquished their hug. “It’ll be fun to teach all of these kids what I know about literature, given I’m so passionate about it. On the other hand, I can’t imagine they’ll be interested in what I have to say. I’ll probably bore them to sleep.”

“I’m sure you’ll be great!” Madelyn encouraged. “They’ll love all the cool stuff you’re teaching them!”

“Well, I’m not big on being up in front of a class.” Velma admitted. “I’ll get nervous talking to over 30 people for nearly an hour.”

“Maybe at first, but I know my brave sis will overcome her silly fear of public speaking!” Madelyn cheered on.

“She’s quite right, you know.” Whirlen chimed in, coming to join them with a hamburger and french fries on his plate. “Teaching is quite simple. You just go in, get on your soapbox for 50 minutes, and throw facts at them until they’re exhausted!” Whirlen provided his advice. “Then, if they don’t do exactly what you ask, then you deduct their grade into oblivion!”

“Okay…” Velma wasn’t so sure about that.

“I take it you used to be a teacher?” Madelyn assumed.

“Yes, years before you came here, I used to teach here whilst Bumbledore was the headmaster.” Whirlen informed. “Anyway, I have some paperwork you’ll need to sign to take the job. I also have some more information for you on the course.”

Whirlen handed the orange-sweatered instructor a piece of paper with a room number, as well as a class time.

“Room 1 from 1:00-1:50pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.” Velma said. “Should be easy enough to find.”

“No, in fact, it’s actually the hardest room in the castle to find. It’s buried all the way at the back of the castle at the end of the hall.”

“That’s…interesting. Thanks for the heads up.” Velma replied. It was clear Whirlen was a very eccentric man.

“So, any plans for tonight, sis? I was thinking we could maybe explore the castle, or watch a movie!” Madelyn suggested.

Although she’d just gotten there, Velma sort of felt like relaxing on her own before a busy day tomorrow. Perhaps she could do her normal routine of catching up on some reading. As Velma thought about it a little more, she realized that she read every single night. She never got out and about exploring places, and lately, she hadn’t really spent time with anybody after work. It was always the same old routine of reading a book every night for a few hours before going to bed, waking up, going to work, and doing the same routine again the next day. Maybe this could be the start of a more exciting life once again, just like she used to have with the gang.

“Yeah, a movie would be great!” Velma smiled.

“Yay!” Madelyn exclaimed. “Do you want to watch it in your room or my room?”

“Let’s do your room. I’ll have plenty of time to be in my room.” Velma replied.

“Here’s a document you must sign.” Whirlen handed her a piece of paper and a pen.

Velma’s eyes bugged out for a moment when she saw the paper. “This says I’m agreeing to be peacefully arrested and escorted to jail by a police officer!”

“Oh dear, that’s the wrong form. Good thing you didn’t sign it, otherwise I would’ve had to incarcerate you immediately.” Whirlen sounded relieved. “Here is the correct form, which is your contract saying that this position lasts the next 16 weeks, and that you will be paid a stipend of $10,000. Be sure you read the fine print.”

Velma glanced at the paper. The fine print was about as straightforward as it could get, given the form was simply a piece of paper reading “I agree to teach for the next 16 weeks for $10,000” in large print.

“This is a very simple contract.” Velma observed.

“Indeed. There’s hardly any need to bombard new hires with the specifics. I find it’s best to be as simple as possible.” Whirlen gave his opinion.

“That’s a good philosophy. Now how will I get paid? Do you need my bank account information?” Velma inquired.

“No, that won’t be necessary. Here you go.” Whirlen reached in his pocket to take out his wallet, grabbing a fistful of one hundred 100-dollar bills.

“You’re paying me it all now?” Velma’s jaw dropped.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I? You signed the contract, didn’t you?” Whirlen looked puzzled as to why Velma was confused.

“Yes…that’s correct. Umm…also, do I need to plan out my class for tomorrow?” Velma inquired.

“No, I have all the old professor’s materials from the prior semester here. Professor Staunchameister was his name. Students often called him Staunchy…for multiple reasons, actually.” Whirlen informed.

“I can see why…these notes are incredibly dense. They’re just listing random facts nobody would remember.” Velma observed, reading over her predecessor’s chicken scratches.

“Well, I suppose you will have your work cut out for you if you want to redesign his lesson before the first class tomorrow.” Whirlen said.

“I’m up to the challenge.” Velma asserted. Even though she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about teaching, she cared about her students enough to give them a good education they’d enjoy. “Mads, let’s head back to get the movie started. I need some time to redesign this lesson tonight.”

When Velma woke up, she immediately felt a sense of dread. Today was the day she had to get up in front of 17 students and try to entertain them somehow. How in the world was she going to do that?

She’d taken the time to develop a lesson plan last night that provided an overview of the materials the students would be reading this semester, but it didn’t feel like enough. Surely the students would be bored and hate her, and spend the whole 50 minutes wishing they were somewhere else. She tried not to worry about it overly much, slipping on a t-shirt and leggings so she could head back to the dining hall for breakfast. She made sure to grab a cup of coffee from the pot that was out, as she’d need it for later today.

With each student she passed, she wondered whether or not they were one of the 17 she’d be teaching in a few hours.

A familiar chipper voice came up behind Velma and promptly greeted her.

“Morning, Velms!” Madelyn said. “That sure was a great movie last night, wasn’t it?”

They’d watched A Close Encounter with a Strange Kind, which was a film about aliens kidnapping a group of friends that were camping. Velma found it to be overall a pleasurable watch, but the aliens were quite cheesy.

“Yeah, it was pretty good!” Velma replied.

“So, are you ready to teach?” Madelyn inquired of her sister.

Velma delayed responding for this to a second, mostly because she was unsure how she was feeling. She carefully examined all the choices on the breakfast counter, which weren’t overly many: cereal, a bagel, a danish, or a donut. Ultimately, Velma went with some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and poured some milk that was in a jug in a mini-fridge they had below the breakfast counter.

“Yeah…I would say so.” Velma stuttered. She felt really unconfident, nervous, and like a fraud. In theory, she loved the idea of teaching, but having to actually get up and talk in front of students for that long was incredibly daunting. She didn’t know how she’d get through today, much less 16 weeks.

“Great! I can’t wait to be in your class, sis! I’m so happy I asked you to teach here. I knew you’d never let us down!” Madelyn exclaimed.

Velma just wished she felt as confident in herself as her sister did.

Velma felt a lump in her throat as she walked into her classroom. It was a large, auditorium style classroom designed to fit what appeared to be over 100 students. Nine rows of purple seats overlooked the main area of the room, with each row holding twelve students, with the exception of the last row which only had ten seats. The platform in which she would teach on almost appeared to be like a stage with how it was elevated a foot or two off the ground.

Velma’s anxiety had only continued to grow throughout the morning, and it was at an all-time high right now. No students had even come in the room yet, which worried her because she wondered how much more anxious she would be when the room was packed. Nervously, she organized her notes in the front of the classroom. Once she had fully organized everything, she mixed them up and organized them again. She realized it was a very silly, pointless thing to do, but she wasn’t sure what else to do to appease her nervousness.

In a matter of minutes, Velma heard the door to the room creak open.

“Hey, sis!” Velma was relieved to hear it was the voice of her sister.

“I can’t believe class starts in less than ten minutes! Are you excited?” Madelyn asked.

“I…guess so.” Velma stuttered. She didn’t want to let her sister down, but she really was not looking forward to doing this. Her anxiety was almost completely overtaking her sense of adventure and excitement to try something new.

The door creaked as it was opened once again. A young-looking boy with red hair whom Velma thought could be no more than 15 years old entered the room, and promptly sat down in his seat without saying anything.

“Hello.” Velma greeted. She wasn’t sure whether she should say anything or not, but that felt like the polite thing to do.

“Hi.” the student replied meekly.

The door creaked once again.

A group of four girls came in together. The first wore a blue skirt and a white top; the second wore a red t-shirt and blue jeans; the third wore black leggings and a lavender top; while the last wore pink trousers and a black t-shirt that said ‘Whirlen Merlin’ on it. Velma presumed one of them must have told a joke, as the white-topped girl began giggling a bit while looking at the lavender-topped student.

Another few students were quick to follow. Velma felt a bit nervous when one of them, a male wearing a red t-shirt, came up to her.

“Hey, I’ve got two questions. First, I just wanted to let you know about an absence in advance.” the student informed.

“Oh, thank you.” Velma smiled at the responsibility the student was showing. “That’s quite thoughtful of you to tell me. When will you be gone?”

“Well, other than today, I won’t be able to be in class any day except the week of April 25-27.” the young man shared.

Velma’s jaw dropped a little. Why would he take a class he couldn’t even attend?

“What’s your other question?” Velma asked. She was so shocked by the first question that she needed a moment to figure out her response to it.

“Can I leave class early on April 26? I’ve got this doctor’s appointment, you see, and…” the student was cut off by Velma.

“Are you sure this class is the right fit for you? I don’t mean to inconvenience you at all, but it seems like you’re not going to be here too much.” Velma observed. “I think it might be hard for you to stay caught up if you’re rarely here.”

“Well, it will be, but I’ll certainly try. They don’t call me Failin’ Freddy for nothing!” the student, apparently named Freddy, said, as he went to sit down in his seat.

More students continued to flood in, just as Velma heard a dreaded sound: the bell ringing. There was no more time to sit and worry anymore. Now she had to entertain these students for fifty solid minutes.

“Hello, my name is Ms. Dinkley, and you’re in the class Magical Literature. Is there anybody who’s not in the right class?” Velma inquired.

Nobody said anything, leading Velma to assume they were all supposed to be there.

“Okay, seems like you’re all in the right place.” Velma accidentally let out a nervous chuckle. “I wanted to start by going over the syllabus.”

Velma handed a stack of papers to the student sitting closest to her, who had blonde hair and was wearing a pink t-shirt and maroon leggings.

“Attendance and participation will be a large part of your grade. 15% of your grade will be devoted to participation, because much of the knowledge you will get out of this class comes from discussing the literature with your classmates. If you’re not here, you can’t participate, and thus you will not earn any participation points for days you are absent. That’s why it’s important to be here all 44 days this semester.” Velma explained.

“What? You’re tellin’ me I’ve gotta be here every single class?!?” the student who had come up to her at the beginning of class exclaimed. “That’s too much. Unrealistic expectations, man. I’m outta here.”

The student quickly gathered his belongings and stormed out of class. The outburst rattled Velma a bit, but she tried to keep going without acknowledging the student’s inappropriate outburst.

“Moreover, you will have three major papers in this class in which you analyze the books in which we are reading.” Velma said. “Those will each be worth 10% of your grade. There will also be a midterm and final, each worth 20%. You will additionally have group presentations during week 7, which will be worth 10% of your grade. The remaining 5% of your final grade will be weekly assignments. They’ll be simple short-response assignments in which you answer a few questions from the week’s readings.”

The female student with the white top and blue skirt raised her hand with a question.

“Yes. What’s your name?” Velma inquired.

“My name’s Kennedy.” she replied. “Are the weekly assignments worth 5% each week, or 5% of our overall grade?”

“Nice to meet you, Kennedy. Good question.” Velma acknowledged. “The weekly assignments are worth 5% of your overall grade.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Kennedy nodded.

“Next, I wanted to go around and have everybody introduce themselves.” Velma said. “If you could say your name, what year you are, and what one of your hobbies are, that would be great.”

“I can start!” Madelyn immediately said. “My name is Madelyn, and I’m a first-year student here. I love watching movies.”

“I’m Kennedy, and I’m a junior.” a blonde haired girl replied. “I enjoy being outdoors.”

“My name’s Mike.” a male with red hair said. “I’m a sophomore, and I like playing baseball.”

“I’m Ron.” a guy with brown hair said. “I’m a senior, and my favorite thing to do is cook.”

“Hi! I’m Ashley.” a brunette girl spoke up. “I’m a huge animal lover, and I hope to be a veterinarian one day! Oh, and this is my first year here.”

“I’m Mitch, and I’m a sophomore here at Whirlen.” a male with blonde hair said. “My favorite thing to do is play hockey.”

“My name’s Sadie and I am a junior.” a brown-haired girl informed. “I enjoy hanging out with my friends.”

“I’m Ramando.” a male student with black hair said. “This is my first year at Whirlen Merlin, and my favorite thing to do is listen to music. If you wanna get any music suggestions, I’m probably the guy to ask.”

“Hello, I’m Sabrina.” a blonde haired girl chimed in. “I’m a sophomore here, and one of my favorite things to do is theater. I’m a big theater nerd.”

“My name’s John, and I’m a junior.” a male with brown hair said. “I’m a big fan of sports - any kind of sports - as well as weight lifting.”

“I’m Katie and I’m also a junior.” a female with short brunette hair added. “I love swimming.”

“I’m Parry. Parry Hotter, to be exact. Interesting last name, but I didn’t pick it. Who chose our last names for us? We may never know. Anyway, I’m in my second year here. It would have been my third, but my mom chose not to enroll me for another year since we were moving and all. We’ve moved a bunch over the years, five times in fact. Once to Albuquerque, another time to San Francisco, then to Minneapolis, followed by Madison, and now I’m here at Whirlen Merlin.” Parry went on and on. “Anyway, my hobbies are very complex: I like writing, singing, humming, walking, running, jogging, sprinting, gallivanting, sleeping, showering…but most of all, I love reading!”

“Thanks for that very detailed introduction, Parry.” Velma smiled. She could tell he was going to be a very talkative student.

“My name is Annabelle, and I’m a junior here. I love writing and working on my art.” a brunette female replied.

“My name’s Owen, and I like mowin’...the lawn, that is.” a brown-haired boy said. “I’m a first-year, by the way.”

“Jake. Sophomore. No hobbies.” a blonde student mumbled, clearly not very interested in being here. Velma just hoped he wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“I’m Kara, I’m a sophomore, and I enjoy collecting vinyl records.” a girl with dark brown hair replied.

“I’m Brian, and I like to write. I’m a junior here at WM.” a brown-haired male concluded.

“My name is Ms. Dinkley. This is my first semester teaching here at Whirlen Merlin. I’m a big book lover; in fact, I used to have my very own book shop before I came to work here.” Velma informed the students. She found herself getting a lot more comfortable once the students had introduced themselves. “I’m really glad to be working here and it’s going to be fun teaching you all. So, many of you are book lovers. Given that, I wanted to ask, what are some of your favorite books?”

Hearing what her students enjoyed and getting to know their names made them feel less like faceless entities she had to entertain. Rather, they now felt like people who she was connected to, and students that she was responsible for making sure learned as much as they could about magical literature. She was still quite worried about boring the students or failing as a teacher, but she had gained something she didn’t have coming into the classroom today: a little bit of hope. Maybe this job wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Today, Velma didn’t feel as much of a sense of dread or nervousness when she walked into class. They had quite a good conversation yesterday about the magical literature they had read in other courses. A few of the students seemed to even be avid literature lovers, which elated the orange-sweatered bookworm. Despite this, she did still feel a bit nervous. She didn’t want to screw up or bore the students, and talking to 17 people at once remained an idea that was quite nerve-wracking to her.

Although it was a lot more work, Velma was happy she wasn’t familiar with the books she was teaching them. It was almost like she was learning along with the students, which was a fun thought. Wonderific Creatures and Places They’re At by Scoot Namander was the first book she’d assigned the students. They were supposed to read chapters 1, 2, and 3 last night. She just hoped her students had done the readings.

The chime of the school bell gave Velma some butterflies in her stomach, but also a different feeling this time: hope and excitement. She had to admit she was a little excited to branch out of her shell to help shape the bright young minds of the next generation.

“Alright everybody. Today we’re going to discuss the first three chapters of the Namander book. Please raise your hand if you did the readings, and be honest.” Velma requested, before adding a caveat. “This is a judgment free zone. It is just the second day, after all.”

Most of the class raised their hands. Owen, Katie, John, Parry and Jake were the students that did not.

Velma felt a little bit of her nervousness coming back. She didn’t yet know the correct balance of being the authority and being considerate to the students.

“Okay, for those who didn’t raise their hands, make sure you do the reading for tomorrow. You’ll have a lot of trouble completing your weekly assignments if you don’t read the materials.” Velma warned.

“Ms. Dinkley?” Jake raised his hand. “Does it count as doing the readings if I picked up the book, looked at it for a moment, and said “nah!” before putting it back down?”

“No, it wouldn’t.” Velma gave the student a disapproving look. She had never seen such a lack of caring in any person before, much less a student. However, she did have to remind herself that not everybody was as passionate about learning as she was, and clearly Jake was an extreme case of this.

Jake just shrugged, and slouched back down in his seat.

“Now, who can tell me what Namander is trying to argue in the first few pages of chapter 1?” Velma inquired.

Madelyn’s hand quickly shot up.

“Yes, Mads - I mean, Madelyn?” Velma inquired.

“He’s trying to argue that all creatures should be treated fairly, because they are living beings. I really agree with what he’s saying. I can’t imagine any sane person arguing for mistreatment of an animal.” Madelyn replied.

“Yes, you’re exactly right!” Velma smiled at her little sister’s smartness. All of a sudden, the lights began to flicker. “Uh oh…did Whirlen forget to pay the electric bill or something?”

Given how scattered Whirlen seemed, she admittedly wouldn’t put it past him. Velma tried to continue talking, but the lights soon went completely out. Thankfully, the room was only dark for a moment, before coming back on. Velma gasped in horror when she saw what was on the whiteboard.

The words “leave this place” had been written in some sort of red ink.

“Alright…” Velma stuttered, trying to remain confident for her students but struggling. “Who did that?”

“It must be the ghost of Merlin.” Owen replied.

“Are you sure?” Velma was skeptical. She’d met so many fake ghosts when mystery solving with the gang that her mind always turned to it probably being some goofball in a Halloween mask. Not to mention Owen had already lost some credibility in her book from not doing the reading for today.

“No, he’s right.” Sadie confirmed. “Legend has it, the ghost of Whirlen’s ancestor still lurks around these halls.”

“I’ve seen shenanigans like that happen in my other class.” Katie revealed. “Thankfully, it doesn’t happen often, and we’ve never seen him before.”

Wow. Velma couldn’t believe she’d found herself in the midst of another potential mystery. One thing was for sure, she’d have to ask Whirlen about it later tonight.

Velma made sure the door locked behind her as she shut the door to her room. She quickly headed to the dining room, hoping she would see Whirlen there. Worrying about teaching was no longer weighing on her quite as much as it did before, as she was now worried about the school potentially being haunted. In her opinion, the latter was a much bigger issue than the former.

As soon as she arrived at the dining hall, Velma saw her sister grabbing a slice of pizza and sitting down at a table. It wasn’t necessarily the familiar face she most wanted to see, but she was happy she wasn’t completely alone. Getting to do this while spending time with her sister made this uncertain new experience quite a bit easier.

“Hey, sis. Have you seen Whirlen anywhere?” Velma inquired.

“No.” Madelyn stated. “How come?”

“I was going to ask him about whatever that message written on the wall was this afternoon in class.” Velma informed. That was pretty freaky.”

“Well, it’s like Sadie said. It’s the ghost of Merlin. He never does any harm other than turning off the lights or leaving the occasional unfriendly message on the whiteboard, so nobody really worries about him.” Madelyn explained, before her tone became playful. “We are in a magic school after all, sis.”

“Hmm…something seems off.” Velma was suspicious. “Do you know of any other relatives Whirlen has?”

“Well, there’s Marlin, his brother.” Madelyn responded, her face scrunching up for a moment when she was deep in thought. “We don’t really see him much, though. I guess he works here, but it’s just doing behind-the-scenes stuff or whatever.”

Before Velma could comment on her sister’s remarks, Velma’s eyes became alert when she saw Whirlen heading over towards them.

“Oh, hello there.” Whirlen greeted. “And how goes the teaching?”

“Pretty good, though we ran into a bit of a problem today.” Velma shared.

“Oh dear. Is a student giving you trouble?” Whirlen inquired.

“No. The lights went off in the middle of my lesson, and a threatening note saying ‘leave this place’ was written on the whiteboard when they came back on.” Velma filled Whirlen in. “One of my students said it was the ghost of your ancestor.”

“Ah, they’d be correct then. That’s Merlin. He gets a bit grouchy after awakening from his after-lunch nap.” Whirlen seemed dismissive.

“You’re not worried at all about the fact there’s a ghost in this castle?” Velma became shocked.

“No, not particularly.” Whirlen shrugged.

“Okay…any other ghosts of ancestors I should know about?” Velma asked.

“No. I can see why you’d be worried, but there’s hardly any need to. Merlin never does anything other than cause a bit of mischief from time to time.” Whirlen explained.

“I hope you don’t mind me pointing this out, but all your relatives’ names seem to rhyme.” Velma observed.

“Yes, that’s quite correct. Now, do you need me to pick anything up at the store that we don’t have here?” Whirlen inquired. “Darlin Merlin already asked me to drive by her house to give her some more makeup. She’s quite into fashion, you know.”

“No, I can’t think of anything.” Velma said. “Thanks for offering, though.”

“By the way, you have a new student in your class. He’s a late enrollee at the school.” Whirlen informed Velma. “He’ll start tomorrow.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ll try to make him feel at home here as much as I can.” Velma said, distance and a distracted mentality present in her voice.

“Excellent. Don’t worry about Merlin’s ghost, Velma. He’s harmless.” Whirlen assured.

“He’s right, sis. The most he ever does is pull a prank every now and then.” Madelyn added.

“Okay…” Velma cautiously said.

Logic and solving mysteries was in Velma’s nature, so it was hard for her to just push the desire to question the illogical out of her mind. Despite how hard it was, she tried to rationalize it anyway. This school had a lot of quirks to it, so this was just another harmless quirk…she hoped.

It was time for the final class of the week. Almost all of her students were sitting in the classroom, patiently waiting for it to turn 1:00pm when the class would start. Velma was surprised how quickly the week had gone. 1 week finished out of 16 total converted into approximately 6%, and it certainly didn’t feel like she’d already completed 6% of her teaching responsibilities. Just as the bell rang, Jake sauntered into class and slouched down in his chair once again. All of Velma’s students were now there, with the exception of the new student that Whirlen had mentioned. She wasn’t really sure where this new student was, and she didn’t want to wait for the person if they didn’t bother showing up.

“Alright class. Last night you were assigned to finish reading chapters 4, 5 and 6 of Namander.” Velma reminded. “We’ll be discussing it in a minute, but first, I wanted to remind you of your weekly assignment. After you finish the book by reading chapters 7 and 8, you’ll be writing a short response for Monday listing three types of creatures Namander discusses, followed by explaining Namander’s arguments about protecting magical creatures and if you agreed with them or not. Please make sure to say why you agreed or disagreed with him; don’t just simply say you agreed and move on.”

Before Velma could continue, a teenage boy with brown hair burst in the room. He appeared to be carrying a small animal in a habitat of some sort.

“Whassup everybody?!? Eric in da house!” the person, apparently named Eric, exclaimed.

“Are you the new student?” Velma inquired.

“Why, yes, yes I am!” Eric rubbed his hands together maniacally. “I’ve been expelled from all my other schools, and I’m gonna break the record for the shortest amount of time a student has ever been enrolled at a school before their expulsion! To do that, I’m gonna break every single rule on the first five pages of the Student Handbook!”

“Eric, please sit down.” Velma said, trying to remain calm even though she felt quite intimidated by this brute of a student.

“Alright, let’s see…no animals in school.” Eric said, as he looked at a copy of the Student Handbook and opened the habitat he was carrying. A chinchilla was quick to scurry out. “No horseplay in the classroom…I’ve got that one covered, since I’m playing this Ultimate Pony Rescue video game right now.”

Eric quickly put down the miniature video game he was holding, and continued glancing through the handbook.

“Ummm…teacher lady. I genuinely care about your class, and will do all the assignments.” Eric replied. “There! I’ve got academic dishonesty covered, given I wasn’t being honest about my motivation to succeed academically in this course! Hahahaha!”

“Eric, please sit down or I’ll have to call the headmaster.” Velma felt incredibly nervous to the point of wanting to leave. She wasn’t ready to deal with any behavioral issues, much less one this severe.

“Okay, this next section’s on the school’s no-gambling policy. Good thing I brought a game of craps with me!” Eric exclaimed, as he grabbed Owen’s notebook.

“Hey man, what’d you do that for?” Owen shouted in frustration.

“Alright, I’ve got theft covered now too. You could also count that as bullying, since I discriminated against him on the basis of him bein’ a nerd, so that’s checked off too.” Eric informed. “Now, I’d like to introduce you to my visitor who is not in this educational institution for a legitimate reason, Snickers the Clown!”

A man in a large clown suit burst in the room and looked at Velma. “Hee hee hee hoo! My job is to distract you!”

“Hmm, let’s see…all students are responsible for course fees…didn’t pay those, so we’re set there.” Eric read out of the Student Handbook.

All of a sudden, a knock could be heard at the door. Velma feared it was another part of Eric’s shenanigans, but she supposed there was little to worry about since he was quite literally trying to get himself expelled as quickly as possible, and thus would be gone soon.

“Come in.” Velma invited in an exasperated voice. Thankfully for her, it was Whirlen.

“I’m just coming to check on your new student and…what is going on?!?” Whirlen exclaimed as he saw a chinchilla running around the room.

“It seems the new student is trying to get himself expelled as fast as he can.” Velma filled the headmaster in.

“Young man, is this true?” Whirlen asked.

Eric didn’t seem to pay mind to the fact that Whirlen had asked him a question.

“Alright, I’ve got my apparel showing gang affiliation.” Eric unzipped his blue coat to reveal a black t-shirt reading ‘It’s Fonzie and the Gang! Tuesdays at 8/7 central on CBS!’

“Eric Stoker, come with me this instant!” Whirlen growled.

“Shut up, I’m trying to get these spaghetti straps to show off my midriff!” Eric snapped, as he pulled his gang shirt below his shoulders to show he was wearing a strappy women’s tank top.

“Young man, you are this close to being expelled from this school!” Whirlen shouted at him. Velma would have never expected to see Whirlen so angry.

“Oh, thank god. Guess I’ll have to speed this up. Looks like I’ve just got the sections on flash photography, false fire alarms and destruction of others’ property left.” Eric said, as he took out a camera and snapped a picture, pulled the fire alarm, and took Katie’s notebook and ripped out a single page. “Now you’ll have to go to the store and buy a notebook slightly earlier than you would have had to before! How do you like that minor inconvenience? Hahahaha!”

“Young man, you are expelled! You must leave these premises, effective immediately!” Whirlen roared.

“Hey, that’s a new record! Only five minutes!” Eric exclaimed, as he picked up his chinchilla and put it back in its habitat. “By the way, I showed up to this class tardy, which also breaks the attendance policy.”

“I’m terribly sorry about the disruption, Velma.” Whirlen apologized. “I’ll turn off the fire alarm in a moment, and I’ll make sure this miscreant doesn’t bother you or this school again. I suppose we should really look into students’ records more. Our current background policy only entails looking at the prospective student and saying ‘eh, they look like a decent person.’”

Whirlen grabbed Eric by the hand and escorted him out of class.

“False alarm, students, false alarm! There’s no fire. Return to your classrooms.” the headmaster informed fleeing students as he walked out into the hall with Eric. “How could you be so foolish, young man?”

“Hey, I don’t make the decisions around here. My brain does!” Eric informed.

Velma felt an odd mix of relief, anxiety and thankfulness. She was relieved the situation had been taken care of, and thankful that her other 17 students were as amazing as they were and nothing like that menace. She also felt anxious that it might happen again, as she felt completely unequipped to deal with behavioral issues, especially on that scale. She tried to carry on like nothing happened, but she still felt a lot of nervousness. She just hoped that the students wouldn’t notice.

“Anyway, now that the distraction has been taken care of…” Velma was cut off by the lights going out just like they had yesterday. She tried not to freak out, but the concept of a ghost possibly being in the room was quite freaky. Thankfully, the lights flickered on in another moment.

“Oh no, did Eric make Merlin’s ghost angry?” Velma asked with a sigh.

“Apparently so.” Madelyn pointed to the board, which had a terrifying message reading ‘leave this castle, or terrible things will happen and you will lose all you love’.

“Oh wow, he’s never been that aggressive before.” Sadie commented.

Velma’s eyes quickly turned to Sabrina, who looked stricken with fear. The orange turtlenecked teacher hoped that she was only acting, given she was a self-proclaimed theater nerd after all.

“Sabrina, what happened?” Velma inquired.

“This has never happened before.” Sabrina sounded absolutely terrified. “I…felt a cold chill in the air. Almost like something floated right through me.”

“You mean the ghost of Merlin?” Velma questioned.

“Yeah…I think so.” Sabrina stuttered. “I don’t understand. He’s never been aggressive like this before. Maybe a little bit grouchy, but he’s never done anything like this before. When I felt him go through me, I felt a sense of vengeance and raw anger. Even though it just happened, it was honestly the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Velma no longer felt comforted by Madelyn and Whirlen’s words. It was clear this place was haunted by a spirit, and he didn’t seem too happy about having everybody in his place of resting. Velma wasn’t sure if the ghost of Merlin would harm any of her students, and she felt extremely worried and unsure if it was safe continuing to teach here.

One thing was for sure, though: it seemed she had another mystery on her hands.

Chapter Text

“Woah sis, that was a great movie!” Madelyn exclaimed, as she picked up the remote placed on the couch. The two of them had been in Velma’s room watching a scary movie.

“Yeah. I didn’t think I’d like a vampire movie with as corny of a title as A Fit Night Out for Bats, but it was pretty decent.” Velma admitted.

“That’s so cool we already got a day off…well, the students anyway.” Madelyn commented.

It felt odd to Velma to already have a day off, especially after only teaching for a week. However, Whirlen wanted to have all the teachers report for a staff meeting. Velma wasn’t exactly sure why, but she supposed somebody who hired a teacher three days before the semester started wasn’t exactly a forward-thinker.

“At least the teachers got the morning off.” Velma shrugged. “I have no idea what Whirlen wants to train us on.”

“Well, I guess you’ll find out momentarily. Look at the time!” Madelyn pointed to the clock on the microwave in Velma’s room, reading 10:42.

“I better get to that conference room so I’m there by 11. Thanks for watching with me, Mads.” Velma replied. “If you want to come with me later, I think I’m going to talk to Marlin Merlin to see if he’s got any more insights on the ghost of his ancestor. Some things just aren’t adding up there.”

‘Yeah, that was super scary last week in class!” Madelyn said. “Merlin’s never done anything more than leave a grouchy message on the board or turn off some lights. I don’t know what came over him!”

“I don’t know either, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.” Velma vowed.

Velma found her surroundings to be very modest upon walking into the conference room. A large conference table with around 20-30 chairs was in the center of the room, which was otherwise simply a bare brick wall. Velma noticed she was one of the first people there, with the exception of Whirlen and a few others.

“Great to have you here, Velma!” Whirlen greeted. “I’d like you to meet everybody that’s here: this is Matt Hawkins, our Magical Technique instructor.”

“Hi.” a man in a blue button-up shirt greeted.

“Doris Rumbridge, the Magical Technique instructor.” Whirlen introduced.

“The pleasure is mine, I’m sure!” Doris exclaimed in a shrill high-pitched voice that Velma found to be a bit irritating. She donned a flowery dress that looked like something Velma’s grandma would wear.

“Sam Spangles, the Magic and Citizenship instructor.” Whirlen continued introducing.

“Nice to meet you.” he dutifully replied. He wore a fancy black suit and dress pants.

“And lastly, Parry Winkle.” Whirlen pointed to a man who was fittingly wearing a periwinkle shirt and pants.

“I like your outfit, Parry.” Velma smiled.

“The name demands it.” Parry said. “But sometimes…the crushing expectation just feels like too much. Every night for a half hour before bed, I lie awake wondering if I’m Parry Winkle enough.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Velma apologized, although she found the man’s comments very odd.

“It’s okay. I know one day I’ll be Parry Winkle enough; it will just take an immense amount of work. A Parry Winkle never fails!” Parry proudly exclaimed.

“My name is Mikayla.” a woman in a suit greeted.

“I’m Amanda.” another woman wearing a red dress introduced.

“I’m Joseph.” another man in a short-sleeved dress shirt said.

A few others introduced themselves, but it was such an overload of names and faces that she knew she’d never remember them all.

“Now, I’d like to introduce the brand new teacher I’ve just hired here at The Me School of Magic.” Whirlen said. It took Velma a moment to realize he’d replaced his name with ‘me’ when saying the name of the school. “Her name is Velma Dinkley and she is our new Magical Literature teacher.”

“Nice to meet you.” Sam replied, in the same monotone, overly formal voice he had before.

“What happened to Staunchameister?” Matt inquired.

“I heard he had plans to lead an uprising of monkeys to take over the school!” Parry shared.

“I heard he switched political standings so quickly that he was ejected from every country on Earth.” Sam presumed. “On Mondays he was a Republican, on Tuesdays a Democrat, then on Wednesdays a Communist, on Thursdays he was in the Tea Party, and by Friday he was a full-blown Socialist.”

“Hello, I’m Dan Walters.” a man in a red sweater came in and greeted. “I heard he perished after finally answering the age-old riddle, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Turns out, the answer was too many.”

“Everyone, please stop speculating.” Whirlen requested. “What happened is that Mr. Staunchameister said a horrible word no one should ever say, leading to his dismissal from these colleges.”

“I thought this was a boarding school for high school students.” Dan pointed out.

“It is. What he said was so bad, no college will ever accept him should he choose to go back to school.” Whirlen’s face got gaunt.

“Oh mercy…is it the ‘p’ word?” Amanda gasped.

“Wait, you mean…pneumonia geezer?” Parry whispered.

“Oh my god!” the entire room erupted in uproar.

“Parry, I’m afraid your horrific words have led to no other choice but for me to dismiss you from this institution immediately.” Whirlen snarled. “Now, pack up all your stuff so I may walk you out of these hallowed halls of learning in disgrace. Be sure to put everything you need on a cart, because you’ll be leaving here in chains.”

“Alright.” Parry regretfully sighed, as he hung his head and marched towards his office.

“While he’s enjoying his last hour as an educator after his unforgivable transgression, let’s continue with the meeting.” Whirlen said. “I wanted to talk about the school policies.”

Velma felt herself tense up a bit. She hadn’t looked much into the school’s policies, other than she supposed the ones that Eric broke, so she didn’t know if she’d have anything intelligent to contribute to this type of conversation.

“So…you guys like all the policies? Are they all cool with you?” Whirlen casually inquired.

“Umm…” Dan raised his hand.

“Yes, Dan. Go ahead.” Whirlen encouraged.

“I was wondering if teachers could get a thirty-one minute lunch break rather than a thirty minute one.” Dan suggested. “Sometimes, if I’m feelin’ naughty, y’know, I like putting an extra slice of ham on my wrap, and it takes me an extra minute to eat that.”

“Okay, motion to pass Dan’s wrap suggestion.” Whirlen said. “Say nay or aye.”

“Aye.” the whole room said. Velma thought it was quite a silly suggestion herself, but she didn’t want to be the nay-sayer.

All of a sudden, a horse appeared outside of the window and began braying enthusiastically.

“Jonathan, I told you can’t bring a horse outside just to give you extra votes.” Whirlen scolded. “Either come to the meeting or don’t. This is worse than the time you had that pirate come to give you extra ‘yes’ votes.”

“How would that horse vote?” Velma whispered to Matt.

“What do horses say?” Matt muttered back, as if it should have been obvious to the glasses-clad teacher. Velma mentally facepalmed when she realized that horses say neigh.

“I wanted to talk about my quarters.” Sam inquired.

“Yes, what about them?” Whirlen asked.

“I’d like an upgrade for my quarters. Instead of just the regular eagle-head ones, can we get those fancy new state quarters?” Sam wondered.

“I have no issues with it. State quarters would be cool. I hear people are collecting them, too.” Velma pointed out.

“Excellent insights, Velma! Does anybody disagree?” Whirlen wondered.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Wonderful. Motion passed!” Whirlen exclaimed. “Anything else anybody would like to bring up?”

Once again, nobody spoke for a moment.

“Alright, meeting dismissed!” Whirlen exclaimed. “I hope you all found this meeting to be productive and fruitful.”

“Umm, sir.” Dan raised his hand. “I don’t mean to cause a bother, because I found the meeting productive…but I didn’t find this meeting particularly fruitful.”

“Oh, darn!” Whirlen gasped. “That’s because I forgot the fruit!”

Whirlen hurried into the break room next door, and returned with a bowl of fruit.

“There. Now you should all have found the meeting incredibly fruitful.” Whirlen said, placing a large bowl with apples, oranges and bananas on the table.

“You all must like literal humor around here.” Velma pointed out.

“Oh really? How’s this for literal humor?” Matt said in an annoyed voice. “It’s kind of funny how the current governmental administration isn’t doing all that much about poverty, isn’t it?”

“That’s a bit too literal for my taste.” Velma admitted.

Except in the literal sense, Velma hadn’t found the meeting to be particularly fruitful, given it was spent discussing pointless details. She supposed the one benefit was meeting her coworkers, but the get-to-know-each-other session went so quickly that she felt like she’d forget half their names by the end of the day. Regardless, she had her class prepped for tomorrow, and she was thankful that she got to go back and relax with Madelyn after tracking down Marlin Merlin.

“Thanks for coming with me, Mads.” Velma appreciated.

“Of course! Always happy to help out my sis.” Madelyn smiled.

The two of them were climbing all the way up the stairs to the castle’s tower. That was an area of the castle that Velma had never explored before, but she supposed she would have had to go up there sooner or later. She didn’t know who was responsible for cleaning the place, but whoever it was clearly had forgotten to dust this place. The dry air and dust in the passageways was causing her to feel like she had to sneeze.

“I think he’s up in that room working.” Madelyn pointed to the top of the stairs, where a small door could be found. Velma considered herself to be short and it looked like there would be barely enough room for her to fit, so she had no idea how a person of normal height would be able to fit through that door, much less a tall person.

Once the two sisters reached the door, Velma lightly knocked on it.

“Hello?” a meek voice inside could be heard.

“It’s Velma Dinkley…the new teacher here at Whirlen Merlin. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“And Madelyn, too!” her little sister chimed in.

“Oh…come in.” the voice replied.

Velma opened the door to see a somewhat heavyset man wearing glasses, jeans, a white button-up shirt and a tie.

“Hi. Marlin, I presume?” Velma guessed.

“Yep, that’s me.” Marlin nodded. “I was just working on this silly lock. Seems to be not functioning correctly.”

Marlin held up what appeared to be an electronic lock. It flashed all the colors of the rainbow, leaving Velma and Madelyn in awe.

“That’s really cool, Marlin!” Madelyn smiled.

“Thanks! So, what can I do for you?” Marlin inquired.

“Well, we were wondering some more about the ghost of your ancestor, Merlin.” Madelyn informed.

Velma felt she should add a caveat as to ensure she was not coming off in any way rude to the man. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Oh…not at all. I’ve actually done quite a bit of research into my ancestor.” Marlin said, rushing towards a bookshelf he had near the table he was working at. The room was quite impressive-looking, in the sense that it looked like every type of tool known to humankind was there. There were tools hung on the walls, placed in boxes, and lying on the floor. In addition, there was a large computer perched on the desk that Marlin was working at. “What is it exactly you’d like to know about him?”

“Well…he interrupted my class twice last week.” Velma informed Marlin.

“That’s nothing to worry about. Sometimes he just gets a bit grouchy, that’s all.” Marlin assured.

“That’s what your brother told me too…but then on Wednesday, he left a threatening message on the board and flew through one of my students.” Velma continued.

“Oh…I was afraid of this.” Marlin sighed.

“Afraid of what?” Madelyn eagerly questioned.

“Well, it’s the 1,500th anniversary of Merlin’s death in four months, and legend has it he’s supposed to return with a vengeance exactly 1,500 years after his death. I never believed it myself, as I’m a man of technology and science, but about a week and a half ago, Merlin came to me and warned me of his return. He said he was going to possess someone in this school, and eventually, cause them to be trapped in the spirit world forever if we did not listen to his demands.” Marlin explained.

“Wait a minute…” Velma gasped. “Could that be why the person I replaced left? The excuse Whirlen gave seemed a bit tedious…no offense.”

“Perhaps. I’m not really sure. I’ve been trying to keep what I know about Merlin a secret, though.” Marlin replied. “That isn’t hard to do, since nobody really notices me to begin with.”

“Aww…well, we noticed you.” Velma smiled. She didn’t quite know how to comfort the man, but his sentiment was sad enough where she felt it was the right thing to do. “We came all the way up here to see you, so don’t feel discouraged."

“Why are you trying to keep it a secret?” Madelyn wondered.

“Well, with this being a school of stage magic and all, we’re already ridiculed pretty heavily by society.” Marlin admitted. “Unfortunately, Whirlen has me read all the mail, and every now and then we get a hate letter.”

Marlin dug through a pile of letters and pulled out a crude drawing of the school, which read Whirlen Merlin’s School of Tragic.

“And there’s this one too.” Marlin pulled out another letter and handed it to Velma.

It was another drawing of the school, with the words Whirlen Merlin’s School of Stupid Stinky Garbage Rubbish written across the front. A note was written at the bottom of the drawing, reading ‘I hate this school so much I didn’t want to gratify it by mocking the name with a clever rhyme.’

“Awful, isn’t it? People can be so judgmental about ways of life they don’t understand.” Marlin sighed.

“They sure can.” Velma nodded. “Anything else you know about Merlin? Do you know how to stop him if what’s prophesied is actually going to happen?”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll tell you what though, you seem nice. I’ll keep doing some research on Merlin for you, and I’ll track you down if I find anything.” Marlin promised.

“That’s very nice, but you don’t have to do that just for me.” Velma remarked.

“No, it’s no trouble at all. I was doing research on Merlin anyway, so I don’t mind keeping you in the loop.” Marlin assured.

“Thanks. That’s really sweet. It was really nice to meet you, and thanks for the info!” Velma smiled.

“Yeah, thank you!” Madelyn added.

“My pleasure! Come back anytime.” Marlin waved, as Velma and Madelyn began descending the stairs. Velma didn’t want to pry, but she could have sworn she saw a bed up there, making her wonder if that was his living quarters. If so, that would be a very sad, isolating place to live.

It was a bright and sunny Tuesday, and the students were beginning to trickle into Velma’s classroom. The orange-sweatered teacher recognized quite a few of their names. She hadn’t memorized them all yet, but she was beginning to. The brunette wearing the gray sweatshirt was Ashley; the kid with the red hair was Mike; and she was pretty sure the dirty blonde that just walked in was Sabrina.

After a weekend of leisure, relaxation, and if she was frank, course prep, Velma felt her old worries about not entertaining the class enough slip back in. Her anxious mind counted down the seconds to 1:00pm, wondering if there was an element of her lecture and activity for the day that she should change to be more entertaining or informative to the students.

She felt the immense pressure of being fully responsible for her students’ learning. After all, once they passed her class, the students would never have another Magical Literature course in their academic careers. Whatever she taught them is the only chance they would have at knowledge of magical literature for the rest of their lives.

Velma had to shake these thoughts from her mind. If she allowed them to fester, she knew would never be able to channel the courage necessary for educating her students.

The sound of the school bell served as Velma’s moment of truth: she had no more time to change anything. What she’d come up with would have to be enough.

“Greetings, class.” Velma smiled. “Today we’re going to start reading a piece of literature that documents magical sport. Gridditch through the Years by Whennilworthy Kisp talks about an ancient magical sport named Gridditch. Through giving a history of the sport, he argues what ultimately led to the sport’s demise in popular culture. Can anyone paraphrase what his full argument is?”

Ashley raised her hand.

“Yes, Ashley?” Velma called.

“He was arguing that it was too dangerous, so it didn’t make sense to do it anymore.” Ashley said. She looked like she thought her idea was amazingly insightful. Velma didn’t particularly find it enlightening, though. It was an oversimplification of Kisp’s central argument, which was that the sport itself was completely impractical. He provided a number of reasons for this, mainly that there were too many moving parts and players, leading to general dysfunction and extreme difficulty.

“Sorry, that’s not right, Ashley.” Velma corrected. “Would anybody else like to give it a shot?”

Ashley looked a bit dejected and slunk down in her seat. The rest of the class gave Velma a bit of a blank look.

“Nobody wants to volunteer? Guess I’ll call on somebody then.” Velma said. She noticed Jake, looking bored and like he’d rather be anywhere else than in this class. This would be a good learning moment for him. “Jake?”

“Oh…yeah…” Jake stuttered. “His argument was not to continue the sport because it was too complicated.”

Another oversimplification of the argument. Didn’t anyone understand this relatively simple book?

“Umm…sort of. Go deeper with your analysis.” Velma pushed.

“Sorry. I skimmed it. Guess I didn’t understand it as well as I thought.” Jake shrugged.

Velma tried to push down her frustration. None of her students grasped the arguments Kisp was trying to make. She supposed she would have to go with plan B, which was to get on her soapbox for the next 50 minutes and explain the arguments without asking for the students’ interpretations. It seemed that was the only way the students would learn.

Velma could feel the butterflies in her stomach as the seconds ticked down to starting another class. Her fear of screwing up was now more immense than she’d ever remembered. The sound of the school bell served as the glasses-clad teacher’s cue to begin.

“Alright, I’m about to begin class here.” Velma said, just as she heard a rip. What frightened her the most is that she didn’t only hear the rip, she also felt it. A quick look down below caused her to gasp: her trousers had ripped. A small strip of her underwear was showing to the entire class!

“Here? More like rear!” a female student whom she didn’t recognize mocked, as the whole class erupted in laughter.

“Sorry about that.” Velma said. She didn’t have anything to cover up the rip in her pants with, so she had to continue. “Today’s book is Coast to Ghost by Rankor Dimp. I - uh….”

Oh no. She’d forgotten what she was going to say. She stood there, frozen in trying to recover her lost thought from the depths of her memory. The students patiently looked back at her, waiting for her to say something, anything.

“Dimp? More like wimp!” the same female student chuckled, causing the whole class to laugh.

“As I was saying…” Velma said, right as she felt a big sneeze coming on. It wasn’t just a small, catlike sneeze though - or even a modest sneeze - it was a big, stringy, messy one that splattered everywhere.

“Saying? More like spraying!” the female student delivered another one-liner.

“Hey…wait a minute, you’re not even in this class.” Velma pointed out. “Why are you here?”

“Eh, I don’t know. Just like comparisons, I guess.” the girl shrugged, as she got up and walked out of class.

Velma tried to regain her footing and remember her train of thought. However, she couldn’t seem to think of any words, and she was coming off like a bit of a mess.

“I - uh - umm - urr.” Velma stuttered.

“Boy, what a mushmouth!” she could hear a red-haired student, whom she didn’t recognize the name of, blurt.

“C’mon everybody, let’s all go play hookey while we do a good old competition of pinochle!” another student suggested.

Everybody began racing out the classroom before Velma could think of the words to make them stay.

“Wait! I can teach you things!” Velma pleaded. However, it was no use. She was all alone in her classroom.

She sat in complete solitude for a moment, pondering upon where she went wrong and what could have been. Quickly, she realized she didn’t need any of these ingrates. Clearly this group of youths weren’t as passionate about learning as they should be. If they didn’t want to learn, that was on them.

Velma quickly awoke and realized that the whole thing was no more than a mere dream. No students had left her or mocked her, she hadn’t screwed up in class, and her pants weren’t ripped. What a relief. Now she understood why she didn’t recognize anybody in class, they were just figments of her imagination that her dreaming brain had made up.

However, she was thankful that she had this dream, because it reminded her of how lazy some of her students were. Students like Ashley and Jake needed to step up their game and engage with the readings more meaningfully. Maybe Velma didn’t need to be afraid of teaching or letting students down as much as she had been. If this dream had taught her anything, it was that she needed to take charge of their learning. What was she afraid of, after all? She was completely knowledgeable in all of these subjects, so she had no need to doubt herself. These were her students, and it was her job to make sure they learned.

“Uhh…I’m not really sure.” Owen mumbled.

That was the wrongest answer Velma had heard yet in the course.

“Well, if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that you didn’t do the reading.” Velma called Owen out. “As a reminder, this course requires you to read the materials every day.”

Owen simply looked away and disengaged from Velma’s gaze.

“Since everyone should have read the rest of the book today, I would love to hear what others took away from the final chapters.” Velma asked her class.

Kara raised her hand.

“Yes, Kara?” Velma pointed.

“Kisp was arguing that the sport itself is simply impractical, and has a history of danger attached to it. Thus, he believes that’s ultimately what led to its demise in popular culture.” Kara responded.

“Excellent! You’re exactly right!” Velma breathed an internal sigh of relief. At least somebody got it.

The rest of class had passed quickly, and Velma was very satisfied. The rest of the students were pretty lackluster compared to Kara, but she hoped that they found her lecture exciting and compelling. She desired to recapture the energy of the first day’s introductions, where everybody seemed enthusiastic (except Jake, of course) and eager to begin the class. When she took on teaching, she hadn’t expected the youth of today to be so much less responsible than when she was growing up. It hadn’t even been that long ago that she was in school, which was all the more surprising. Admittedly, it bothered her a bit that even her own sister, Madelyn, rarely spoke up in class.

“Hey sis!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“Hey. So, what did you think of class today?” Velma inquired.

Madelyn suddenly got a bit awkward. “Oh…it was good.”

“I’ve noticed you never really talk much…is there any reason?” Velma asked. She quickly backtracked when she realized that she might come off rude or demanding. “I’m not judging, I’m just curious.”

“Well…sometimes you kind of come off a little like a know-it-all, sis. I read the book, and I thought Ashley had a great answer. I think people are just a little intimidated by your expectations.” Madelyn said, seeming worried. “I’m sorry, but I had to be honest with you.”

“Oh…no, it’s okay. I don’t think my expectations are that high. Maybe it will just take you all a while to get used to the class.” Velma shrugged off.

She didn’t think she was being unreasonable in any way. If anything, the students were being unreasonable by thinking they could get away with such shoddy arguments that required little critical thinking. Teaching was a tough thing to get the hang of, but Velma felt like she was finally finding a rhythm for it.

Velma was in her classroom once again, about to teach in front of the class. During previous class periods, she had been timid about wasting the students’ time. However, she felt this no more. It was clear the situation at Whirlen Merlin’s was dire. These students were completely clueless about the wonders of literature, and it was her job to teach them. She’d always hated it when anybody remarked this before she began teaching, but now she realized: the youth of today were becoming dumber by the millisecond. There was no sense of accountability anymore, as demonstrated by Jake’s clear lack of reading the materials. Moreover, Ashley’s cursory job of doing the readings was shown loud and clear. She wasn’t reading for comprehension; she was reading to do the bare minimum. It would probably age her ten years to think this thought, but the kids of today had no sense of responsibility. In her day, the teacher would have interpreted such lack of preparation as a sign of disrespect.

“Alright, who can tell me the main arguments from The Warlock of Wimbledon by W. Anthos?” Velma springboarded her lecture with a question.

Nobody raised their hand at first.

“Oh goodness, didn’t anybody do the reading?” Velma sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to call on somebody. Jake?”

“Oh, he’s saying that magic is everywhere.” Jake said.

A poor summary of the arguments at best. Velma would have no choice other than to correct his mistaken, lazy argument. It was her job, after all.

“That’s wrong!” Velma challenged, frustration present in her voice. “Who can give me the right answer?”

“I’ve got it!” Ashley responded, lots of hope and excitement in her eyes. Surely she had the answer.

“Yes, Ashley?” Velma called on her pupil.

“He’s saying magic is amazing, because it can regenerate everywhere.” Ashley said. “No matter what you do, magic is always going to follow you wherever you go, so you need to know how to use it.”

What a silly, useless argument. Anthos was arguing for magical responsibility. He believed one could not strip themselves of their magical identity, because the magic was intertwined with their mind and body. ‘Magic is amazing so you need to know how to use it.’ How ridiculous. Was everybody in this class illiterate?

“WRONG!” Velma shouted at Ashley. She was angered by her student’s lack of comprehension. Surely Ashley would ultimately flunk the class for her simplistic arguments.

Then, her brunette-haired student did something she never would have expected…she began to cry.

“Stop disrupting my class!” Velma screamed. “No crying in my classroom!”

Velma felt the frustration surge through her veins so much that she almost couldn’t control it. These students were dumb as rocks and she knew she needed to keep them in line…and that’s when she woke up.

Velma sprung awake, her heart pounding from the exhilaration. She felt horrible about the dream she’d just had. She never could have imagined herself as a sadistic, ruthless tyrant commanding the room like that. She always considered herself a woman dedicated to learning, who was compassionate for helping students grow in their knowledge.

What was perhaps most terrifying is that she saw a shred of truth in her terrifying dream. It was all coming to her incredibly vividly. Thinking deeper about it, there was some wisdom in what Ashley had said in class yesterday. Her argument about Kisp believing Gridditch was dysfunctional due to it being overly dangerous was, in essence, a correct interpretation of the text. It didn’t state it in the perfect, eloquent way Kisp would have, but Velma now realized Ashley certainly had grasped the material. Moreover, although Jake’s answer was a bit of an oversimplification of Kisp’s argument, he did at least make an effort, even though he wasn’t quite there yet. In both cases, Velma shut the students down and essentially told them they weren’t enough.

For Ashley, it could mean feeling dejected and not wanting to contribute in class anymore. For Jake, it could mean far worse. He rarely ever showed any interest in learning, and saying he was wrong the one time he made the slightest effort in trying to be engaged in class could lead him to become completely disinterested in school, or perhaps even drop out.

Her next thought was that Madelyn was right earlier today. She was being too harsh on the students, probably ruining their view of her forever. They might never be comfortable speaking their minds or engaging with the content willingly in class anymore.

Velma had never felt more ashamed of herself. Maybe she wasn’t so far detached from her monstrously aggressive self in the dream. The self-deprecating thoughts continued to fester in her mind until she ultimately came to the conclusion that she most feared when first taking this job: she was a bad teacher who was unfit for this role.

Chapter Text

Velma spent the next morning wondering how she could have been so wrong. She felt like a terrible person for domineering these students and micromanaging their ideas. Sure, maybe they weren’t up to par with what Kisp was arguing, but it was only the second week and these students were still learning about how to articulate their opinions about literature. It was Velma’s job to teach them how to do that, and she had failed.

She had even gone back and reread Kisp, finding to her disgrace that Ashley’s argument was far more correct than she’d thought. She attempted to read the text with Ashley’s interpretation in mind, and discovered that Kisp did indeed hint that the sheer danger involved in the sport was one of the factors that made it impractical. Somehow, Velma had interpreted it in a completely different way the first time she’d read it.

Neither of their interpretations were incorrect per se. Rather, both of them were equally valid…they were just different ways of analyzing Kisp’s argument.

Now Velma felt even more like a bad teacher. A good instructor would have shown her students that there were multiple ways to interpret the same text, but instead, she acted as if her interpretation was the only correct one.

Velma supposed the best way she could make it up to the students was to teach them as long as you were drawing logical examples from the text, there really was no “wrong” way to interpret literature. After all, writing was an art that was in the eye of the beholder.

She’d always hated the strict, rigid teachers in school, so it terrified her to realize she’d become one of them. She could only hope the students would take her back in their hearts, after she’d become the type of teacher she most hated.

Velma grabbed some coffee as she walked to breakfast. She was feeling exhausted this morning, which probably wasn’t a good thing given it was Monday and thus, her first day of the third week of class. Her eye quickly caught Madelyn, who was sitting at one of the fancier tables which had swiveling wooden stools rather than chairs.

“Over here, sis!” Madelyn waved her sister down. “How’s it going this morning?”

“Oh, I’m okay.” Velma sighed.

“You don’t sound like it.” Madelyn didn’t seem so certain about her teacher-sister’s assertion.

“Well…” Velma sighed. She supposed there would ultimately be no harm in telling Madelyn. “I feel bad about the way I’ve been running class lately. You were right that day last week where you said I was coming off like a know-it-all.”

“Oh…I’m sorry.” Madelyn hung her head a bit, feeling bad that she’d made her sister sad.

“Don’t be sorry. You were right to point it out.” Velma said. “Literature is supposed to be fun, and I’ve been making it seem like it’s an act of memorizing the author’s arguments from my perspective. That’s not the beauty of literature; it’s that there’s multiple different interpretations.”

“I’m glad you realized that, sis.” Madelyn looked a bit nervous as she began saying her next remark. “I don’t quite know how to tell you this, but we don’t really like 50 minutes of lecture every day. I know maybe it was like that when you went to school, but things have changed rapidly. People like variety in their learning these days.”

“Heck yeah, brah!” a random “surfer dude” looking student with long blond hair said. “Just from playin’ this Space Invaders game, I’ve learned the beauty of subjective truth!”

“How’s that?” Velma looked a bit skeptical.

“Well, you’re trying to destroy the space invaders, but have you ever thought about what they’re feeling?” the blond-haired student made the sound effect of an explosion while putting his hands by his head.

“Maybe not quite that simplistic, but I’d personally love if we had small-group discussions, group activities, or even an interactive lecture where we’re able to jump in.” Madelyn suggested. “I mean, think about it, would you like to go sit and listen to somebody talk at you for 50 minutes straight?”

“Yes, I’d love it actually.” Velma admitted. “I go to guest lectures at the university near the bookstore all the time.”

“Not everybody does, though.” Madelyn challenged.

“You make a fair point.” Velma realized. “I imagine it would be boring for somebody your age to just listen to somebody talk day after day, and never be able to contribute. Thanks, Mads. I appreciate it.”

“Top of the morning, ladies!” Whirlen exclaimed as he tipped the brim of his hat politely. “I see you’re getting nourished and caffeinated. How are we doing this morning?”

“Great!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“Pretty good, I suppose.” Velma said in a less enthusiastic tone than normal.

“All ready for class, I presume?” Whirlen continued making small talk as he picked up a bagel, three packets of butter and a plastic knife. He then returned to Madelyn and Velma’s table and pulled up an idle swivel-stool from the table beside theirs.

“Yeah…” Velma wondered whether she should bring up how she’d fallen into a bit of a teaching rut with her boss. Sure, he was her boss, but he seemed pretty relaxed…unless you said certain words beginning with ‘p,’ that was. “I feel kind of bad, though. I’ve been relying too much on lecturing, and I realized the students haven’t been enjoying it as much as they could.”

“Interesting. Do you think this is representative of how the students feel, Madelyn?” Whirlen inquired.

“Yeah, I’d say so.” Madelyn responded.

“Well then, I would suggest an immediate layoff for you!” Whirlen replied, causing Velma’s heart to race. “That is to say, I suggest you lay off the lectures and focus more on other methods of content delivery. Perhaps you could start with some small group discussions; class activities; trains. Students love trains!”

“Thanks, Whirlen. I really appreciate that advice.” Velma smiled, feeling relieved.

“Speaking of which, since your class is at 1:00pm today, I wanted you to know about the firing that’s going to happen at that time.” Whirlen ominously said. “Ah, drat, I’m so bad at words this morning…I mean to say, you’re going to have to hone your fire skills for the 1:45pm fire drill we have today! Make sure all the students get out of the classroom safely in an orderly manner, ensure there’s no pushing, shoving, or horseplay of any sort.”

Velma breathed another sigh of relief. It was an odd workplace, but she really cared about doing a good job here. She loved her class, and they deserved so much better than she’d been giving them.

Velma tried not to feel nervous or ashamed when she walked into the classroom. Feeling those things wouldn’t do her any good; the best she could do is be as helpful and informative to the students as possible.

The ding of the school bell served as Velma’s cue to begin.

Many of the students looked bored and disengaged off the bat, which made Velma feel a bit sad. She took all of their lack of interest personally, because she presumed she’d made them feel that way with the past two weeks of content.

“Hey everybody. So for today, you were supposed to read chapters one through four of The Warlock of Wimbledon by W. Anthos.” Velma felt quite nervous saying this, because this is exactly the book she’d dreamt about teaching the kids. She just had to make sure it didn’t play out anything like her dream. She couldn’t let that happen. “Today, we’re going to do things a little differently. I wanted to provide a more interactive way of learning the material.”

She wanted to just come clean to her students and tell them about how she was wrong about the way she was going about teaching the class, but she wasn’t quite confident enough with them to do that quite yet.

“Ooh, are we learning with trains? I love trains!” Parry exclaimed.

“No, not with trains…” Velma laughed. “Maybe another day. I was thinking about doing a small-group activity based on Anthos’s arguments. We could divide into groups of three. How about we have the following groups? Group 1 is Kennedy, Mitch and Brian. Group 2 can be Ramando, Ashley and Owen. Group 3 is Sabrina, Sadie, Madelyn and Annabelle. Kara, John and Katie can be group 4, and finally, that leaves Parry, Jake, Mike and Ron as group 5. I’d like you all to discuss your interpretation of Anthos’s arguments, and decide on a main takeaway that your group had from these chapters. Not every group has to have the same answer, as there can be multiple different interpretations. We’ll come back to the large group in twenty minutes to discuss this!”

Velma hoped that this would bring the students more enjoyment and make them more passionate about the material.

Nineteen of the twenty minutes of group discussion had elapsed. Quite frankly, Velma was nervous and wished she had given the students longer to discuss. She was quite antsy to see if this new way of teaching the students would be functional, but she kept doubting her level of preparation for facilitating this type of learning.

“Alright, it’s time to come back to the large group and discuss. Let’s go around and hear from every group. Group 1, do you want to start us off?” Velma suggested.

“Sure.” Brian volunteered. “He’s arguing for magical responsibility. Magic is a core skill that we bring with us everywhere, so we have to learn to be responsible with it.”

“Great point, Brian!” Velma smiled. It was the same interpretation she’d had of the book, so she was glad that at least one group of students got it. “What about group two?”

“Well, Anthos was arguing that magic is everywhere. You can’t avoid it, so it was like he was saying that magic haters better just embrace it, because it’s not going away anytime soon.” Ramando spoke for his group.

It was an interesting argument, ironically pretty similar to the thing she’d dreamt Ashley had said. It was a very simplistic argument, but Velma could tell that Ramando and his group were at least engaging with the material. The fact that they were thinking about the literature was most important to Velma.

“Good! Thanks for sharing, group two.” Velma complimented. “Group three?”

“We came up with a different interpretation: magic is inescapable. Once it’s a part of you, you have to stay true to it, because it channels the mind and the body. That’s what the reappearing staff represented: the duplicity and recurrence of magic.” Sadie explained.

Velma quite liked that interpretation, even if that wasn’t quite how she had read it.

“Wonderful, Sadie!” Velma replied.

“I have a comment, if that’s okay.” Kennedy interjected.

“Absolutely.” Velma said. She loved the fact that this activity was engaging students so much. “Go ahead.”

“Do you think magic also channels the spirit? I’d argue that’s a whole different thing than the mind and the body.” Kennedy added.

“Ooh, that’s a great point!” Sabrina responded. “I would agree with that.”

“As would I.” Velma added. “Anybody else have any thoughts on that?”

Nobody responded, but Velma was quite frankly satisfied with the engagement that she got. It was great that Kennedy felt comfortable enough to comment on another group’s contribution.

“That’s okay. Group four, how about you go next?” Velma suggested.

“Well, our group focused more on magic being a core part of your essence.” Kara began. “Off of group three’s point, when you do magic, you’re using your body, mind and soul to cast a spell. Anthos is arguing that you can’t separate any of these elements from each other. That is to say, you can’t do magic with just your mind, your spirit or your body; you must do it with all three for it to turn out optimally.”

Velma was so proud of how smart her student was. Kara was so intelligent, and Velma couldn’t believe she’d found an argument that her teacher hadn’t even considered.

“Wow, that’s an excellent point, Kara. I honestly hadn’t even thought of that, but you’re right. I think he was implying that, to an extent.” Velma smiled. “Would group five like to go next?”

“Well, I guess we could do that.” Jake shrugged. Velma couldn’t tell if he was being cautious or sarcastic.

“We think that Anthos was arguing that magic doesn’t mix with tennis.” Mike said.

“What makes you think that?” Velma was a bit confused about what they meant.

“Well, you know, there was that chapter about him chasing people at the tennis match?” Parry clarified. “That chapter felt kinda weird, so therefore, magic shouldn’t be used with tennis.”

Velma felt she had opened her mind to multiple interpretations of the same literary work, but this was flat-out incorrect. There was no way you could interpret his arguments as relating to tennis, as it was such a trivial part of the work that made no sense to emphasize.

Before she was able to respond to group five’s argument, the lights suddenly went out. Nothing had happened last week, so Velma was hoping Merlin’s reign of mischief was over. Clearly it was not, though.

“Oh no!” Sabrina exclaimed.

Velma wasn’t expecting much to happen other than a threatening message on the board.

Suddenly, Velma heard a horribly raspy voice whisper right behind her. “I warned you…soon you will pay the price!”

The lights quickly switched back on, and there was no sign of the creepy voice. Velma presumed that it was Merlin.

“Anybody hear anything?” Velma stuttered. She didn’t want to worry her students if they hadn’t heard what she had.

A bunch of people shook their heads, except Sabrina, who stood there shivering with her hands folded.

“I did…a voice warned you that you were going to pay the price.” Sabrina shuddered.

Velma had honestly hoped nobody had heard the creepy whispers, so she wouldn’t have to worry her students. Now she had to come clean, given Sabrina had revealed what she’d heard to the class.

“I heard it too.” Velma sighed.

“Oh god!” Ashley panicked. “What do we do?”

“There’s not really much we can do, I don’t think. Merlin’s never harmed anybody before, so we’ll be alright.” Velma wasn’t so confident about that, but she had to assure her students.

“Is there anything we could read to help us maybe understand Merlin a little more? Maybe some history books?” Kara inquired.

Velma’s learning-craved mind lit up at this idea. It was a brilliant suggestion that would accomplish two different goals: making the class more interesting for the students through connecting it to something they were actually experiencing, and also doing something about the haunting problem.

“You know, I’m not sure, but I love the idea. I’ll have to check with Whirlen if that’s okay, since I am supposed to follow the syllabus developed by the previous instructor of the position.” Velma said.

“He’s got an open forum in his office for people to pitch ideas every Monday at 3:00pm.” Madelyn informed. “Why don’t you suggest it there?”

This brought a smile to Velma’s face. “Yeah. I think I’ll do that.”

Velma absolutely adored this idea. This would be such an interesting, unique way to teach the course that would be an incredibly memorable experience for the students. She just hoped Whirlen liked the idea as much as she did.

The orange-turtlenecked instructor walked into Whirlen’s office, and took a glance at all the surroundings. There was a degree from the Great Mysto School of Stage Magic framed and hung on the wall, near several pictures of him and his family.

Velma saw a line of several students waiting to propose ideas to Whirlen. Velma was surprised to see that Whirlen was nowhere to be found; rather, Bumbledore was sitting in Whirlen’s chair.

“Hi, I was wondering if we could start an environmental club on campus?” a brunette student with a high-pitched voice inquired.

“Stupendous idea! Instant approval!” Bumbledore exclaimed. “You know what I say, always do what feels right!”

“Thank you!” The girl looked super excited, as she walked out of Whirlen’s office.

Velma was a bit nervous. She hoped her idea would be approved that easily.

“Hey, so I wanted to start this wet willy club on campus, but there’s this pesky anti-bullying rule preventing me from doing it.” a male lamented to Bumbledore. “I was thinking, though…what if we made it a magical wet willy club?”

Bumbledore looked a bit stern, scratching his beard for a moment. “Wonderful idea! Instant approval! You know what I say, always do what feels right!”

To Velma’s surprise, a large mother bear and her cub barged ahead of her in line. The bear began roaring and ruffing up her cub’s fur, before proceeding to do an odd mix of what seemed to Velma to be an interpretive dance and a vaudeville act.

“Stupendous idea! Instant approval!” Bumbledore approved. “You know what I say, always do what feels right!”

The mother bear got a big smile on her face, and gave Bumbledore a firm pat on the head before walking out the door holding hands with her cub.

“Always wonderful to get insight from our surrounding fauna community!” Bumbledore grinned.

“Hi Mr. Bumbledore.” Velma greeted.

“Oh, Ms. Dinky, I believe?” Bumbledore vaguely recalled.

“Dinkley.” Velma corrected. “Where’s Whirlen?

“He was called away to a last-minute meeting. It seems some instructor had some trouble with a student.” Bumbledore explained. “Now, how may I be of assistance to you today?”

“That’s actually what I was going to talk to you about. I was thinking of radically changing the syllabus provided to me, and instead, teaching them about the history of Merlin. Perhaps even ways on how to stop him, should he ever get out of hand.” Velma was uncertain how Bumbledore felt about Merlin, but from what he had said before, he seemed relatively dismissive. Then again, he seemed very dismissive about everything, including the potential bullying club that a student had just pitched to him, so maybe he wouldn’t take much notice.

“Well, I really don’t like…” Velma tensed up when Bumbledore began his sentence. How could he reject her idea, but accept all these nonsensical and ridiculous ideas? “...any of the reasons not to immediately accept your idea! Instant approval!”

Velma breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much! I think this is going to be one of the most interesting classes that’s ever been offered here at Whirlen Merlin!”

“Well, our Critical Intersectionality of Mermaids, Birthday Parties, and Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City course begs to differ, but I can let you have your moment, I suppose.” Bumbledore replied.

“Sorry to run out on you, but I’ve got to do some research on books on Merlin that would be good for my class.” Velma apologized.

“Well, you know what I say, always do what feels right!” Bumbledore repeated.

Velma was so excited to start researching books to teach her class. Not only did the class truly feel like hers now, but she knew this was going to be one of the most memorable experiences these students had ever had.

Chapter Text

Velma was currently grading her students’ assignments from the prior week. All weekly assignments were due on the final day of class for the week, and Velma always tried to grade them on the weekends.

Each student’s assignment took her a varying amount of time to grade. With some students, she could instantly tell they understood the material that they were supposed to, and thus didn’t require much feedback beyond “Keep up the good work!” or “Wonderful job with your assignment this week!” Kara, Madelyn, Sadie, Mitch and Kennedy were in this group. They always got perfect scores on their assignments.

However, some other students struggled a bit more. Parry regularly wrote rambling tangents about all his thoughts for the week, not really connected to any of the questions that she’d asked. Mike usually wrote his assignments by answering the question with as minimal words as possible, which was problematic because it typically meant he didn’t answer the question fully. Jake didn’t even bother to turn assignments in.

The others were anywhere in the middle. Ramando’s assignments were good, but he struggled with being able to paraphrase the author’s arguments. He’d often provide lengthy quotes essentially copying the author’s words verbatim. While that was technically correct, part of the purpose of this class was to allow the students to understand and interpret the author’s arguments in their own words, not just pinpointing where the author made their argument in the book.

Velma was currently reading Katie’s answer to the first question, which inquired what Anthos was arguing.

The Warlock of Wimbledon by W. Anthos was a discussion of how magic is everywhere. Anthos’s staff showed up everywhere throughout the book. His staff was magical, and it was everywhere.

Bless Katie’s heart. Velma could tell she at least sort of understood Anthos’s arguments, but she didn’t go nearly enough in detail. She had requested at least a paragraph for each answer, and Katie had only given her a few sentences. Ashley’s assignment for this week also fell in the same category.

Granted, sometimes she could fudge the one-paragraph rule if somebody clearly got the concept. In example, Sabrina’s response perfectly answered the question:

The Warlock of Wimbledon by W. Anthos shows us how magic is inescapable. The staff of Anthos was a metaphor for magic being everywhere, and shows us that we must embrace our inner magic.

In Velma’s opinion, rules were good frameworks to ensure students were on the right track. However, if they were in any way harmful to a student when they were already on the right track, then the orange-turtlenecked teacher was fine breaking the rules.

Although Sabrina hadn’t given her the full paragraph she’d asked for, Velma could clearly tell she got exactly what the course was trying to teach her, so to penalize her over something as simple as that was unnecessarily punitive.

Many students just did the bare minimum to pass, putting no passion of any sort into their words. Ron, John, Annabelle and Owen were in this group. Owen in particular would have excuse after excuse for why he couldn’t turn in his homework that week: he was sick; he forgot it at home; his grandmother was on her deathbed but suddenly made a convenient “recovery” early enough to allow him to come to class that day.

The one student that didn’t really fit into any given category was Brian. Sometimes, he’d turn in amazing assignments that went into great detail, and other times he wouldn’t turn in any assignment at all. It was very perplexing to Velma, since typically the students who wouldn’t turn in assignments were the same ones that did poorly on them when they did turn in assignments.

Velma was relatively pleased with most of her students this week. Nearly 75% of them had gotten an A on the assignment, with only Annabelle, Katie and Ashley falling into the B range; with Ramando and John falling into the C range, and Ron and Owen flat out failing the assignment. She found Ron’s assignment of notably poor quality this week, his answer to the first question in particular:

W. Anthos talked about a bunch of stuff related to magic. If you ever try to escape your responsibility, you’re gonna be sorry. The lesson here is: always do your chores.

Velma quite frankly wondered if he’d even done the reading. Nothing he had said was anything that couldn’t have been guessed from the course lectures, and he put so little effort into making a coherent argument that it seemed he either didn’t understand or didn’t care enough to read the materials. Velma admittedly worried for Ron’s ability to succeed in the course, as the assignments would only get increasingly difficult as the course went on.

Velma never liked doing too much work on the weekends, but this weekend, she was quite frankly excited to research books on Merlin. Turning this literature course into one specifically about Merlin was going to be one of the most memorable experiences these students probably had at this school, and she was really looking forward to facilitating that learning experience for them.

Now that she’d finished grading papers for the week, her plan was to head up to Marlin’s room and ask for book recommendations on Merlin. She quickly noted down the grade each student received in her spreadsheet, before heading out of her room and locking it behind her.

Following a long trek, Velma lightly knocked on the door to Marlin’s room. She still wasn’t sure if this was an office or a bedroom, or both, so she didn’t want to be too intrusive.

“Hello? Who is it?” Marlin inquired.

“It’s Velma Dinkley. I just had a question for you.”

“Oh! Come on in, Velma!” Marlin invited.

“Hey Marlin!” Velma greeted. “I just came here to give you some news, and ask you a question.”

“Well, don’t leave me in the lurch. What’s the news?” Marlin questioned.

“I’m changing my class into a literature of Merlin course.” Velma informed. “I figured it would be helpful, since it’s something the students are dealing with right now. That will allow the literature to come alive for them more than ever.”

“That’s an excellent idea!” Marlin exclaimed. “The students are going to love that!”

“Thanks!” Velma smiled. “I was wondering if you had any suggestions for books on Merlin, given he’s your ancestor and all.”

“Oh, well, let’s see.” Marlin went over to a bookshelf near his desk, and dug through a large pile of books. “Here’s one: Scared a Lot in Camelot by Charles Nichols. It tells the story of Merlin and his Knights of the Round Table.”

“That’s a great one, yeah!” Velma agreed. “Do you mind if I borrow the book to make copies of it for my students?”

“Well, I don’t, but I think you might find it more fruitful checking out the book at the library.” Marlin suggested. “Here’s another one: The History of Merlin by Ceci Aranovich. This gives a full overview of Merlin’s history.”

“These are great, Marlin! Thank you!” Velma appreciated.

“Now, the library should have copies of these, but if they don’t, you’re welcome to come back and borrow mine.” Marlin added a couple more books to the stack without saying the titles aloud.

“Hopefully this will help give the students the tools to solve our Merlin problem with their magic.” Velma replied.

“I wouldn’t put this on the students, if I were you.” Marlin cautioned.

Velma immediately felt a little bad. She hadn’t intended to give off the vibe that she was turning her students into warriors against Merlin. Rather, she was just trying to make her class interesting by changing her syllabus to be relevant to something that was currently happening in her students’ lives.

“Oh no…” Velma stuttered. “I hadn’t intended to put this on the students at all. I was just going to teach them about something I thought would pique their interest.”

Velma recognized one of her most fatal flaws was taking what other people thought of her very personally, particularly when she was trying to prove herself in a new situation like this one.

“Sorry, I mean…” Velma struggled to explain herself. “This is just so they can be more knowledgeable about something that’s happening at their school.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Sorry, I was just concerned, since this is such a delicate issue.” Marlin clarified. He quickly grabbed a paper and a black pen, and scribbled down some words. “I don’t have these particular books, but I had a few more ideas for books you could teach about Merlin that the students will enjoy. I figure you won’t like every suggestion I give, so might as well go broad and give you everything I can think of.”

Velma glanced through Marlin’s list as he handed it to her. All of them looked solid, from Merlin’s Journey to Merlin: A Semi-Autobiography: The Life and Times of Me with special introduction and foreword by Dan Brown.

“These look great, Marlin. Thank you so much!” Velma smiled.

“Of course. I’ll keep searching for any other information I can find on Merlin…historical or current, in terms of the hauntings…and I’ll keep you updated if I find anything.”

A question nagged at Velma’s mind. She wondered whether she should ask it or not, but ultimately the curiosity overtook her.

“Marlin…do you live in this room?”

“Well…it is where I do research and sleep, but it seems I’m always bustling about campus going to one place or another to fix something or look into something, or what-have-you.” Marlin explained.

“Oh, okay. That’s good.” Velma replied, before realizing her remark came off a bit awkward. “I just feel like it would get a little lonely up here, all by yourself.”

“Well…” Marlin paused for a moment. “I keep busy. And besides, I have a very important job. I’m doing so many things in this school, between fixing stuff or making new technology, that it probably wouldn’t even run without me! When I’m not fixing one thing or another, I’m doing my research up here. Don’t worry about me. I like it up here.”

“Good to hear! Thanks for all the help, Marlin. This class is going to be amazing with all these materials.” Velma said. “Have a good rest of your day!”

“You as well.” Marlin replied, as Velma exited the room. She caught a glimpse of Marlin going back to reading out of a book when she shut the door.

He had a very convincing response, with the exception of that pause. Although she had nothing to base her hypothesis off of, it made Velma sort of infer that maybe he wasn’t really all that happy up here. She felt bad for the guy, if she were honest. Being all alone all day couldn’t be particularly fun.

The weekend had come and gone, and Velma had spent most of it reconstructing her syllabus. Velma could hear the rain pouring down as she awoke on Monday morning. During the week, she and Madelyn typically got up around the same time and would meet each other for breakfast. Velma never needed to set an alarm, as her body always just naturally woke up at around 8. However, she wondered if maybe she should have when she saw the time was 8:45. She had majorly overslept.

Her thoughts immediately turned to how Madelyn would probably be worried that she hadn’t come out to breakfast, so she quickly threw on some shorts and a school t-shirt that Whirlen had given her. The shirt had a picture of Whirlen’s face embroidered on it, along with an image of the school.

She raced out to the breakfast area and was thankful to see Madelyn still sitting there. However, it appeared she was sitting with another girl her age. When Velma approached, she saw that the other girl was Sadie.

“Velma!” Madelyn exclaimed. “Oh, thank goodness you’re okay, sis!”

“Sis?” Sadie looked confused.

Velma wondered whether she should say anything. She didn’t care, but she didn’t want to embarrass Madelyn. Madelyn gave a nod of approval, so Velma supposed it was okay to say something.

“Yeah. Madelyn’s my younger sister.” Velma replied.

“Woah…really?” Sadie gasped. “That must be pretty weird to have your sister teaching you.”

“I think it’s cool, actually.” Madelyn smiled. “Anyway, what happened?”

“I overslept.” Velma informed. “Sorry about that. I’ve been so busy redoing the syllabus that I guess I was pretty tired.”

“You’re redoing the syllabus?” Sadie gasped again.

“Yeah! I’m using Kara’s idea about having you guys read about Merlin. We’ll still read Gap with a Ghoul for today, since I already gave you the print-out, but after that, I’ve completely redone the syllabus.” Velma informed.

“That’s going to be awesome!” Sadie exclaimed.

“Top of the morning!” Whirlen greeted as he passed by. “I see you’re wearing your me shirt!”

Velma was confused for a moment, until she looked down at the image of Whirlen on her shirt and understood.

“And how are we all this morning?” Whirlen inquired.

“Great!” Sadie exclaimed.

“Me too! Too bad it’s raining, though.” Madelyn replied.

“Good. I overslept, though.” Velma yawned.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Mustn’t oversleep, y’know.” Whirlen scolded. “You know what they say, a busy mind is an active mind! At least, that’s what Bumbledore always says.”

“Sorry, I’ve been so busy redoing this syllabus.” Velma apologized. “Speaking of Bumbledore, did he tell you about my idea?”

“Yes, he did, and I can’t say I approve.” Whirlen’s face dropped. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t think showing the children the impact of the Vietnam War from a feline perspective is appropriate.”

“No…no…nothing like that!” Velma exclaimed in shock. “I just wanted to teach the students about the history of Merlin. I don’t know where Bumbledore got that idea.”

“Well, he is always bumbling, y’know. It’s in his name.” Whirlen shrugged. “Regardless, I think your idea is marvelous! It will certainly make for a memorable experience for the students.”

“Thanks, Whirlen!” Velma appreciated. “Now, I better get some breakfast.”

She was happy that Whirlen liked her idea so much; however, she still had doubts about her ability to do justice to the material. Her self-esteem always served as her worst enemy whenever she was trying to do something new, as it attempted to convince her she was never good enough, never smart enough, and never talented enough. Even though she was the one who was executing this idea, technically she wasn’t even the one who had come up with it. Kara had suggested the idea. Honestly, as sad as it made her, she felt like Kara would probably be more qualified to teach this class, despite the fact that she was only 16 years old. She was hoping this experience teaching would transform her self-deprecating thought process, but regardless of how much she liked teaching, she still felt like an amateur and a fraud every time she got up in front of the class.

Velma felt a bit more nervous than usual when getting up in front of the class today, but also a little more hopeful. She was excited to present this new idea to the students; she just hoped they liked it as much as she did.

All of the students except Jake, Owen and Ashley were in the classroom with only a few seconds until class began. Ashley and Owen quickly filed into the room at the sound of the bell, but Jake was nowhere to be found. He must have decided to skip class today. That made Velma a bit sad, as she was hoping this revamp of the class would pique the interest of some of the less engaged students, particularly Jake, who was the student who seemed least interested in the course.

“Good morning, class.” Velma greeted. “Today, we’re going to shake the syllabus up a bit and bring a little variety into the course. We’ll discuss the Ilderoy Glockhart book today, but after that, I’m going to switch up the focus of this course for the remainder of the semester to something a bit more relevant. From now on, we’ll be reading books about the history of our headmaster’s ancestor, Merlin.”

“Wow!” Parry exclaimed. “I can’t believe the variety! And on top of that, I brought this variety snack pack to class today! Do I pick pretzels, raisins or popcorn? The variety is overwhelming!”

Kara raised her hand, as Parry had so rudely forgotten to do.

“Yes, Kara?” Velma called on her student.

“I just wanted to say I love your idea.” Kara smiled.

“Thanks, but it was really your idea.” Velma didn’t want to take credit for a concept that wasn’t her own.

“I mean, not exactly.” Kara replied. “My idea was just having a book about Merlin in the syllabus. A whole class about Merlin sounds so interesting!”

This warmed Velma’s heart a bit. Kara was right. Even though her remark was what springboarded the idea, she had come up with the idea herself. It was all her. This gave Velma a much-needed boost of self-confidence. She knew she was her own worst critic, and sometimes she didn’t give herself enough credit…so maybe it was time to start recognizing all the amazing things she had done more often.

A strike of lightning woke Velma out of a dead sleep. She never quite understood how people became frightened over something like a storm. It was impractical, since there was nothing they could do about the weather, so there was no reason to worry about danger until it happened.

Velma’s thought process quickly changed with the next lightning flash when she saw a shadow flash in her room synchronously with the lightning. From the split second Velma could see it, the figure appeared to be wearing a cloak and a pointy hat. If Velma didn’t know better, she could have sworn it was the ghost of Merlin himself. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know better, so she spent several hours lying awake obsessing over what she might have seen.

Velma woke up late once again to the sound of another violent rainstorm outside. Waking up late was the least of her worries, though. She was really troubled about seeing Merlin last night, and wasn’t sure what to do. She tried to go about her business as if nothing had happened, but she couldn’t seem to remove the pesky thought from her mind.

She attempted to hide her distressed state of mind as she went out to breakfast. However, she needed a couple more seconds to compose herself, so she went over to the breakfast counter and grabbed a danish before sitting down with Madelyn.

“Hey sis!” a familiar voice greeted.

Velma attempted to compose herself and put on a brave face, even if she wasn’t feeling particularly brave.

“How’s it going?” Madelyn inquired.

“Pretty good.” Velma said, not sounding particularly convincing.

“Greetings!” Whirlen waved to Madelyn and Velma as he walked by to get his food. It seemed he often got his breakfast around the 8 o’clock hour just like the two sisters did. “And how are the two sisters today?”

“Great!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“Pretty good.” Velma replied, cursing in her mind that she wasn’t coming off very convincing.

“You don’t sound like it.” Madelyn observed.

Darn. Foiled by sisterhood again. It was such a close bond that you usually could always tell when your sister wasn’t doing well.

“I…had a bad dream.” Velma sighed.

“What about?” Madelyn probed.

Velma supposed there was no point in hiding it now. They could already tell something was amiss. “I dreamt I saw Merlin in my room.”

“That’s hardly something to worry about. Why, just last night, I dreamt that I was eating a raspberry dark chocolate donut whilst riding a motorcycle fueled by unicorn wishes.” Whirlen informed.

“That’s a very specific dream.” Velma observed. “The reason I’m worried is because it may not have been a dream at all. I felt like I woke up and saw Merlin when lightning struck.”

“Again, that’s hardly something to worry about.” Whirlen assured. “Why, just two nights ago, I woke up and believed I saw Mother Teresa and Danny DeVito playing a game of rugby right in my bedroom! Turns out, it was all just a dream.”

“I’m sorry…” Velma apologized. “I guess I’m just worried about it actually being Merlin in my room, since I saw him in my classroom a couple times.”

“I still don’t see how it’s something to worry about.” Whirlen dismissed. “Merlin likes playing little tricks, but he’s never caused anybody any harm. Besides, just three nights ago…”

“Please stop telling me about your dreams. We got the point.” Velma sighed, immediately feeling a bit bad for being so defensive. It just felt like Whirlen wasn’t listening.

“Well, that’s a tad rude.” Whirlen looked saddened. “I was just about to give you a vivid description of my never-before-shared dream about being the first person to ever tap dance to the top of Mount Everest, but I guess I’ll be keeping that one to myself!”

“Sorry.” Velma immediately regretted her previous remark.

“It’s quite alright.” Whirlen accepted Velma’s apology. “Now if you excuse me, I must be going. That last bagel isn’t going to eat itself, you know.”

Velma waited until Whirlen was out of earshot before asking Madelyn the question she had. “Do you think there’s anything to be worried about?”

“Umm…I’m not really sure anymore.” Madelyn replied. “Like Whirlen said, Merlin’s never done anything other than cause a little bit of harmless mischief. He’s never done anything like he’s done in our class.”

Velma had asked that question hoping the answer would comfort her, but now, she felt more discomforted than ever. She even began to question her idea of teaching the kids about Merlin, as the last thing she wanted to do was anger a vengeful spirit.

Velma felt a bit discomforted coming into the classroom today after her potential experience with Merlin the prior night. She was pretty confident she had indeed seen him lurking around her bedroom, but she really had no proof of that given her sleepy stupor at the time. She was truly excited about the idea of beginning the first day of her revamped syllabus, but she didn’t want to put herself or her students in danger in the process.

The familiar ringing of the bell signaled Velma that it was time to start.

“Hello class. I hope you all remembered to read the first three chapters of The History of Merlin.” Velma began class.

Parry spit out the drink he was sipping in surprise.

“That’s not a mocha, this is a joke-a!” Parry exclaimed as he threw his drink in the garbage. “Anyway, you were saying?”

Velma sighed. “I was thinking we could just go around the room and list one point you found insightful from the book.”

“I can start!” Ashley volunteered. “I was surprised his mom was a mortal woman. I’ve heard a lot about how powerful of a wizard he was, so that was really notable to me.”

“One thing that really stuck out to me was that he was killed by his student who had a crush on him, and buried in a magical forest.” Owen stated.

“I never knew Merlin had a sister.” Madelyn brought up. Velma noticed that Sadie had a smirk on her face, presumably remembering when she discovered Velma and Madelyn were sisters yesterday morning.

Velma’s heart sank when the lights began flickering. She presumed it was time for more Merlin mischief once again, probably trying to scare them away after learning about Velma’s change of syllabus.

Thankfully, the lights stopped flickering quickly. However, to the class’s shock, a ghastly figure wearing a large pointy hat and a purple cloak stood before them. It was Merlin.

“Do not meddle in my affairs, or you shall face the consequences! You have been warned!” Merlin rasped.

Suddenly, a cloud of smoke exploded in front of their very eyes, completely covering the room. It took a moment for the smoke to clear, but when it finally did, Merlin was gone.

Velma was absolutely petrified. What was she going to do? She was stuck teaching in a haunted school, and she had angered the spirit haunting it. The haunting realization hit her like a rock: she had not only put her life in danger, but she’d endangered all of her students’ lives as well.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god, what are we going to do?” Ashley exclaimed, following the ghost of Merlin’s warning.

“Well, I know what we don’t need to do, and that’s panic.” Velma assured. She definitely didn’t believe herself, but she felt a sense of duty to calm her students. “Merlin’s never done anything before, so why would he now?”

“He’s never spoken or done anything besides harmless mischief before either, but yet here we are.” Annabelle pointed out.

“It’s just another one of his pranks, probably.” Velma shrugged off. “Maybe he was a little grouchy that we were learning about him.”

Velma felt the complete opposite of the things she was saying, but she felt like that’s all she really could say. She didn’t want to rile her students up further and make them feel like she had lost control of the situation. In her opinion, it was an educator’s job to ensure a safe environment for her students.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll talk to Whirlen to see what I can do about Merlin’s interruptions of our class. I’m sure he’ll know exactly what to do!” Velma promised. She was thinking more along the lines of going to Whirlen and begging him for a solution, because she felt fearful in her classroom, but she supposed she hadn’t been untruthful.

This seemed to calm the students down enough for her to continue with the lesson. She just wished she could calm herself down.

The first thing Velma did was march straight to Whirlen’s office.

“Hey sis, wait for me!” Madelyn called after her.

“Oh, hi.” Velma felt a little embarrassed that Madelyn had followed her. Her sister had heard all her fake-confident musings, and now she’d see her sister basically throw up her hands and ask for help from the headmaster as a last resort.

“You sure don’t seem too worried about this Merlin thing. I was terrified!” Madelyn shared with her big sis.

Velma debated whether to put on a fake bravado with her sibling, acting like the brave older sister and teacher who was completely in control. She was fine doing that with her students, but she loved her sister too much to lie to her.

“To be honest, I am too.” Velma sighed. “I don’t know what to do about Merlin. You all say he’s never done this before…does he do this in any other classes?”

“None that I’ve been in, or heard of.” Madelyn responded.

“Well…maybe he’s doing it in other classes that you don’t know about or something.” Velma struggled to think of any possible explanation that wasn’t as terrifying as the thought of Merlin targeting her class specifically.

“I don’t know about that, sis. Everybody knows everybody pretty well at this school, so I think I would have heard.” Madelyn challenged.

A male student in a red shirt and jeans passed by them.

“Yo, what’s happenin’ Madelyn Grace Dinkley, student ID number 246135?!?” the student said in a sly voice. “Heard you got only $7.54 left in your lunch account! Thinking about replenishin’ those funds at any point?”

“See what I mean?” Madelyn addressed Velma. “And Jack, yeah, my parents are sending more at the end of the week!”

“Okay, cool! I got $28.98 left in mine! Spread the word, alright?” Jack asked.

“I will, Jack.” Madelyn rolled her eyes. “Boy, I know we’re close-knit at this school, but that guy takes it too far sometimes.”

Velma held the door open for her sister as they got to Whirlen’s office at the end of the hall.

“Oh, hello Velma, Madelyn!” Whirlen greeted. “And what brings you here today? Let me guess, was it the miniature butter toffees I just put in the candy dish? Kids love toffees!”

“No, it was to talk about an issue with my class.” Velma informed.

“Let me guess, is Madelyn giving you trouble? Because if she is, thanks to our new no-tolerance policy at this school, we can easily address issues like that. I don’t think I’d be able to have her expelled within the hour, unfortunately, but I’d be able to have her expelled by 3!” Whirlen promised.

“No, no! Nothing like that!” Velma replied in shock. “I’m having some trouble with your ancestor.”

“Zounds!” Whirlen oddly exclaimed. “I knew this day would happen. My ancestor Jerlin Merlin was always a persistent troublemaker.”

Velma felt herself losing a bit of patience with her extremely strange boss. “Not that ancestor. Merlin himself is giving me problems.”

“Oh thank goodness. My next guess would have been my temptress ancestor Flirtin Merlin.” Whirlen went off on a tangent. “Anyway, what’s Merlin doing?”

“He keeps coming into my class and scaring the students, but today, he threatened us and told us to leave this school or there’d be consequences!” Velma recounted.

“Egads!” Whirlen’s face dropped. “These miniature butter toffees are 20 calories a piece! I shan’t be having these sugar-infested diet-wreckers anymore. Anyway…egads! He’s never threatened anyone before.”

“Have you received any other reports from other instructors about Merlin?” Velma asked.

“I’m afraid that information is classified.” Whirlen’s face looked apologetic. “Well, at least it would be classified if I had received any reports, which I haven’t, so the answer is no. Unless I did actually receive reports and I’m concealing the information from you because it’s confidential…but I’m not, so the answer is no.”

“What should I do then?” Velma asked. “I’m sorry, I know I should know what to do since I’m the teacher, but I’m scared. It seems like he’s targeting my class specifically for some reason.”

“Being a teacher isn’t always knowing the answer. It’s about providing education and mentorship to students with the knowledge that you have.” Whirlen provided his insights.

Honestly, it was the most insightful thing Velma had ever heard come out of his mouth. Whirlen could be an odd man sometimes, but this made Velma feel like underneath all the weirdness, there was a really smart person inside.

“You’re teaching your students about Merlin, correct?” Whirlen asked.

“Yes. They’re reading all sorts of books on his history, and biographies and such.” Velma shared.

“Have your students tie in their knowledge from other courses.” Whirlen replied.

“Hey, that’s an awesome idea! I’m in Magical Technique right now, and a lot of others are too. I’m in History of Magic as well…that could come in handy!” Madelyn pointed out.

“Exactly! Perhaps then Velma can both teach her students and make them feel empowered to solve the Merlin problem.” Whirlen agreed. “Besides, I have a hard time believing my ancestor would be violent, so I don’t think we have to worry about that. Spirits stay in this realm because they have something they’re holding on to, so maybe we just have to find out what that is. I don’t know how much you know about mysteries, but perhaps you could work a bit of sleuthing into your class and solve that mystery with your students together. It would certainly make for a memorable experience for them.”

Velma couldn’t help but let out a little smirk. “I know quite a bit about mysteries.”

Velma and Madelyn had just finished their typical nightly movie viewing in Madelyn’s room. The room was quite modest, though if Velma was honest, it looked a little nicer than her own room. The floor was carpeted, as opposed to Velma’s tile floor. The large lamp in Madelyn’s room stood freely on the ground, as opposed to the small lamp sitting on a table in Velma’s. The chair sitting in the corner looked much more comfortable, and much more sturdy for that matter, than Velma’s chair. She didn’t mind overly much though, as Velma had really grown to love her room.

Tonight, they had watched the film A Bungle in the Jungle, which was just some Tarzan knockoff as far as Velma was concerned. One thing the movie did execute interestingly was that Tarzan was the villain of this piece rather than the hero. Even his name was cleverly switched around to be Nazrat, presumably as a metaphor for the characterization reversal.

“Hey sis, I’m curious…was this anything like the evenings you had back when you were at home?” Madelyn asked.

“Not really, I always just read a book. How come?” Velma inquired.

“You read every single night? Wouldn’t that get a little boring?” Madelyn asked. “I mean, you were already working in a bookshop surrounded by books all day!”

“Not really. I mean, I missed how things were with the gang. We would go to a new place practically every night, out solving mysteries at all hours. However, that’s not how things are anymore.” Velma said. “I enjoyed the routine of reading every night. Every book is a new adventure waiting to be had.”

“They certainly picked the right person to teach literature.” Madelyn chuckled. “I’m hanging out with Sadie tomorrow night after dinner, but after that, do you wanna do something completely different?”

“Like what? Movies are fine.” Velma shrugged.

“Oh, like hang out somewhere outside our rooms and do something like play a board game?” Madelyn offered.

“Sure. I don’t really know where to go, though. We explored the castle that one time together, but I don’t really hang out outside my room much, other than for meals and class.” Velma plainly informed.

“You really should explore the castle more, sis. There’s so many exciting places to hang out here!” Madelyn reminded. “Anyway, maybe we could meet in the common room tomorrow night and play a board game.”

“You sure the students won’t mind that there’s a teacher in their space?” Velma wondered.

“I doubt it. It’s not like you’re like some uncool grown-up trying to give them homework or yell at them or something.” Madelyn laughed. “Goodnight, sis!”

“Goodnight!” Velma said, as she got up off the couch and headed for the door to Madelyn’s room.

Velma admittedly felt very much like “some uncool grown-up.” The conversation with Madelyn had made her realize that even though she had taken this completely new experience teaching at Whirlen Merlin’s where literally every aspect of her life had changed, she was still staying in her comfort zone. Her daily routine typically consisted of practicing for class the mornings she had it, getting lunch, going to class, preparing for the next class afterwards, getting dinner, watching a movie with Madelyn, and then repeating it all the next day. She rarely did anything out of her room other than teach and get meals. Maybe it was time to start doing new things, like working outside her room every once in a while or just sitting in lounge areas around the castle so she could be out and about. She couldn’t believe a quarter of her time teaching had almost concluded, which made her feel even more like she needed to start taking advantage of this adventure.

A few days had passed, and Velma had pondered upon what Madelyn’s suggestion had brought to the forefront of her mind. She really should get out and take more advantage of all the unique opportunities this experience brought her, because she would only have four months of it before it was all over.

Starting next week, she had decided she would try to get her work done in different places around the castle. That would allow for some much needed variety, and would get her more immersed in what was going on around the school.

She was on her way to meet Madelyn in the student lounge. Whilst walking through the drafty castle halls, she bumped into a familiar face with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

“Oh, hey Whirlen.” Velma greeted.

“Hello there! I’m surprised to see you out and about at this hour!” Whirlen checked the leather watch on his right hand.

“I thought I’d explore the school a bit, since I’m in my room so much otherwise.” Velma replied. “Madelyn and I are playing games in a half-hour.”

“I’m on my way to watch fencing.” Whirlen shared.

“I didn’t know you had fencing here!” Velma exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes! In fact, you can see it right out here!” Whirlen pointed out a window in the hall.

Velma glanced out, wondering if she would recognize any of the students on the fencing team, but she didn’t see anything. All she saw were some construction workers, appearing to be building something. She tried to hold back her groan when she realized what they were actually constructing.

“It’s a fine looking fence, isn’t it?” Whirlen proudly declared.

“Yeah, looks great.” Velma tried to fake being impressed. “I’ll see you Monday at breakfast.”

There was a few second delay before Whirlen responded. “Ah…yes, yes, I will. Sorry, I was distracted by the fencing. This team has such fine moves.”

Velma simply chose to keep moving. Whirlen’s literal interpretations of things were enough to drive her crazy at times.

“Over here, sis!” Madelyn thankfully distracted Velma from having to respond to Whirlen’s odd remark. “I’ve got a couple different games picked out: Magic Mystery Mansion, Sorry, and Magical Scrabble.”

“Magical Scrabble? How’s it different from regular Scrabble?” Velma asked.

“Oh, it’s exactly the same.” John said. “It’s just a cheap capitalist venture to get people to spend more money on the same product they already bought thinking it’s different, but hey, they gave us 10 free tips on how to up our Scrabble strategy!”

“Oh, hi John. I didn’t know you were here.” Velma suddenly felt a bit nervous. She had thought it would be just the two of them; she didn’t realize Madelyn was inviting her to a game night with other students. “Don’t they include that piece of paper with 10 tips in the original Scrabble too?”

“Well yeah, but it’s free!” John exclaimed, seemingly missing the point entirely.

“Hey, Ms. Dinkley.” another familiar student’s voice greeted. Velma quickly glanced over to where the voice came from, and saw it was Sadie.

“Hi again, Sadie.” Velma smiled.

“Your sis must have invited you to game night?” Sadie asked.

“Wait, Madelyn’s your sister?” Annabelle gasped.

Velma’s face fell. She wasn’t really comfortable with her students knowing that she was currently teaching a class that her sister was taking.

“Woah, I didn’t know that!” Mitch gasped.

“Wait, how many people are at this game night?” Velma questioned.

“Quite a few…” Madelyn pointed to the back corner of the room once Velma had fully entered the student lounge. She saw at least 20 students here, some of which were in her class and some which she had never seen before. “Sorry, I should’ve remembered to mention that.”

“I don’t know if I want to play.” Velma muttered, accidentally blurting her feelings out loud.

“Why?” a girl wearing a red sweatshirt and jeans asked.

“Well, I’m a teacher, and I don’t want to ruin your fun.” Velma admittedly felt weird playing board games with a bunch of teenagers as well, but she didn’t say that part.

“We don’t mind!” Madelyn assured. “Besides, our Vocabulary of Magic teacher’s here too!”

Her sister pointed to a man in a black button-up shirt and gray trousers. He had a stern look on his face.

“By the way, all of the words you play here will be on Monday’s test.” the man authoritatively informed.

Several kids let out groans, presumably because they were in the man’s class.

“The test of how much of a bossed-up time you had tonight! Yeah!” he continued, before blowing a loud noisemaker and pulling out a boombox from behind his back. The gray-trousered man pressed the power button on the device, prompting electronic dance music to blare from it.

“I’m sorry…I’m…” Velma struggled to think of an excuse to get out of there. She wasn’t comfortable hanging out informally with so many students at once. Quite frankly, she found it inappropriate. She was an esteemed teacher that students were supposed to look to for knowledge. She couldn’t be informal or share parts of her personal life with them. Sadie sharing that Madelyn was her sister was a complete violation of her privacy, and she was uncomfortable. “I’ve got a headache. I need to go back to my room. Maybe another night.”

“Aww, sis…but you’ll miss all the fun!” Madelyn whimpered. It was clear she was really excited to have a fun evening with her sister.

“I’m sorry, but my head’s pounding. You’ll just have to go on without me. Have a good evening.” Velma raced out of the room so fast that it probably looked unnatural, but it didn’t really matter to her. A teacher’s job was to facilitate giving her students knowledge, and anything beyond that was simply not appropriate.

“Well, looks like I’m the only teacher left! That just means we’ll have to get things lit in this joint!” the other teacher exclaimed, as he turned on a nearby lamp. “I also forgot it’s a dimmer switch, so let me make it even brighter!”

“Woah, Mr. Mistara’s gettin’ things turned up tonight!” Velma could hear Mitch shout, as the lights became brighter.

Velma felt like her reaction to the situation was not what it should have been; she should have more professionally articulated why she wasn’t comfortable in that situation rather than acting weird and practically running away. She wanted this experience to make her more comfortable hanging out around the castle in public, but all this did was make her want to retreat even more to her room.

The weekend had come and gone, and week five loomed before her. If someone were to have told her she had been at Whirlen Merlin’s for a month, she wouldn’t have believed it. The time was going so fast, and she had expected to get in the swing of this job in a few days. Four weeks had already passed, and she didn’t feel all that much more knowledgeable or prepared to be a teacher than she had on the first day. Moreover, she had spent most of yesterday moping over making a fool of herself on Saturday night in front of her students. How would she face them today after being so weird and awkward when she should have maintained a more professional demeanor?

She hadn’t talked to Madelyn since the incident, which was very unusual and probably made her little sis even more worried about her, but she wasn’t really ready to face anybody yet, at least not before she had to. Much less her little sister, which she felt really ashamed for letting down. By ignoring Madelyn and not showing up when she usually did, she was probably making the situation even worse and putting herself in a continuous cycle of trouble.

She came to breakfast extra late at around 9, hoping none of her students or Madelyn would see her. Thankfully, only a couple students she didn’t recognize were at breakfast, and there was no sign of Madelyn. Velma didn’t particularly enjoy the cereal she got for breakfast, as she was too consumed by her emotions to enjoy what she was physically consuming.

She then retreated to her room to practice for class, purposefully not leaving until nearly right before she had to.

Velma felt chills when she walked through the hall, only a small part of it being due to the drafty halls. She had gotten herself so worked up about everything: Merlin possibly appearing in her class again, the students making fun of her or being weird around her, and most prominently, having Madelyn confront her.

As she approached the door to room 1, her anxiety continued to increase. Although she had a lesson plan, she was feeling very nervous, certain that she would surely screw up or not be able to fill the time properly. When Velma came to the door, she closed her eyes and sighed to mentally prepare herself for today’s class.

She saw that most students were already there, which made her regret her decision to wait until the last possible minute to show up, as perhaps she looked unprofessional to the students. A quick glance at the clock showed that she only had a minute to begin.

The orange turtlenecked teacher walked past Madelyn without saying anything, almost certain that Madelyn was going to confront her. Alas, she only got radio silence back from her sister, which honestly hurt a bit even though she knew she was doing the same thing. If Velma were honest with herself, it was sort of a cry for attention: she wanted Madelyn to know she was struggling, but didn’t quite have the words for it yet.

Velma marched up to the front of the class. Rather than sitting up in front of the class for an agonizingly long minute of worrying, she decided to simply start the class right away. Confidence was the best repellent for anxiety.

“Good morning, class.” Velma greeted. “Today, we’re going to do something a bit different. We’re going to use Scared a Lot in Camelot by Charles Nichols for a bit of a class activity. Since our class is themed around Merlin now, I wanted to come up with a fun way to learn the materials. Starting today, for the rest of the semester, let’s approach this together as a way of using the information we read in these books to solve the case of our resident poltergeist. Think of everything you read as a clue that you have to piece together to uncover the bigger puzzle.”

“You mean like a mystery?” Owen inquired.

The sides of Velma’s mouth began perking up, forming into a smile. “Yes. Exactly like a mystery.”

Chapter Text

“Your assignment for tomorrow is to read the remainder of Scared a Lot in Camelot, and we’ll discuss it during class!” Velma instructed, just as the bell rang. “Thanks for a great class, everyone!”

Everyone quickly gathered their belongings, and headed out of the room to wherever they were going next. Everyone except Madelyn, that is. Velma’s sister walked right to the front of the room where Velma was currently putting the day’s assignments in the bag in which she kept her notes and books.

“Umm…hey.” Madelyn greeted her sister in an awkward fashion.

“Hi.” Velma replied in an equally strange demeanor.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Madelyn asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

Velma immediately felt horrible. She had spent the weekend working things up in her head, thinking that Madelyn thought she was foolish or that Madelyn was frustrated with her for humiliating her in front of her friends.

“I’m so sorry.” Velma apologized. “I’m sorry for everything.”

“It’s okay, sis…just please talk to me.” Madelyn pleaded. “I don’t understand what happened. We went from talking and hanging out together all the time to you suddenly avoiding me for days.”

“Nothing happened.” Velma promised. “Nothing except my own stupidity. I made a fool of myself in front of you and all your friends.”

“None of us thought you being there was remotely weird. In fact, I think people thought it was more weird that you freaked out and suddenly said you had to leave.” Madelyn presumed.

Suddenly, Mr. Mistara came into the room. He had apparently overheard the conversation, given his next remark. “Yeah, even I can tell you that was some pretty weird crap, Velma. Why’d ya do that?”

“I guess…I’ve always thought of a teacher as somebody who was supposed to be prim and proper. Teaching has always seemed like a prestigious career, where you have to be…” Velma was interrupted by Mr. Mistara.

“Staunchy?” Mr. Mistara guessed. “You don’t want to be like that guy, cuz they fired his derriere!”

“I wasn’t trying to be staunchy in my attitude, or Staunchy the teacher…I just think teaching should be a field where students look at you with great admiration and respect.” Velma argued.

“I agree. Does respect and admiration have to mean that you can’t ever connect with your students, or relate to them on a personal level?” Mr. Mistara challenged.

“You know, you make a really insightful point. What’s the line between relating to them on a personal level while still maintaining some level of professionality?” Velma inquired of her colleague.

“Oh, I wouldn’t know.” Mr. Mistara shrugged, as he typed a few words into the computer and it began playing “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio. The instructor quickly began dancing in place. “I always cross that line!”

“Umm…okay, thanks for the advice.” Velma quickly gathered her belongings and hurried out. Although Mr. Mistara’s advice had made her start thinking a bit more about how she could better connect with her students, quite frankly he’d gotten a bit too casual for her liking.

Madelyn was quick to follow her.

“I’m really glad I didn’t do anything wrong, sis.” Madelyn seemed relieved.

“No, you didn’t. I guess Mr. Mistara was right…to an extent. There’s a difference between remaining professional and being too stuffy to connect with your students, and I just need to find my comfort zone with that.” Velma realized. “I’m sorry I ever ignored you, sis.”

Madelyn extended her arms out for a make-up hug, which Velma quickly reciprocated. She realized that maybe even the most skilled instructors didn’t figure out every aspect of being a teacher right away. Maybe it would just take her a little time.

Velma opened her eyes to a bright and sunny February morning. She pondered upon what she’d be teaching in class today, and finally felt she was starting to get used to her daily routine at Whirlen Merlin’s. Getting up every morning to run her book shop felt like sort of a distant memory to her. She didn’t really think about it much anymore. Sure, it was a part of her, and it would be there waiting when she returned, but for the moment she just wanted to focus on her experience here.

However, the thought crossed her mind that she hadn’t bothered to check in on Shaggy and Scooby at all, and she probably should have.

After putting on a pair of gray dress pants and a red top, Velma picked up the stationary phone in her room. It sat on the marble table near the microwave and stove top in her room. Whilst dialing the number to the bookstore, Velma wondered if anybody would even answer. She loved Shaggy and Scooby, but sometimes, they could be a bit irresponsible. She could easily see a scenario in which they didn’t even bother to pick up due to oversleeping or going out for a big breakfast.

She was surprised when she heard a familiar voice on the other end of the phone.

“Like, hello! This is Dinkley’s Mystery Books! Shaggy speaking.” Shaggy greeted.

“Hey Shaggy! This is Velma.”

“Velma! It’s great to hear from you! How are things going at your sister’s school?” Shaggy questioned.

“They’ve been going great...well, other than there’s been a bit of a mystery over here. The ghost of the headmaster’s ancestor is haunting the school.” Velma informed.

“Zoinks! Like, I’m glad I’m not there!” Shaggy gulped.

“I do always seem to have a knack for going places where hauntings are happening.” Velma chuckled. “How are things going at the bookshop?”

“They’re going pretty well, Velma!” Shaggy informed. “Quite a few customers every day. It’s a great job for Scoob and I, because when there aren't any customers, we can do whatever we want!”

Velma laughed. “I’m glad it’s been so good for you. How’s Scooby?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Shaggy said. It sounded like he handed the phone over to his canine companion.

“Hi Relma!” Scooby greeted.

“Hey Scooby! How has it been working at the bookstore?” Velma inquired.

“Great!” Scooby informed. “Rhere’s a rot dog stand and a rizza place right next roor!”

Velma let out a chuckle. “I remember. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the job so much. Things have been great here too. It’s been awesome hearing from you both again! Feel free to give me a call if you need anything.”

“Re rill!” Scooby-Doo promised.

“Like, bye Velma!” Shaggy must have taken the phone back again.

“Bye!” Velma said, as she hung up.

It relieved Velma to know that all was good at the bookshop. It seemed like Shaggy and Scooby had it all in great hands. She only wished she could say the same here, as the Merlin issue still nagged at her anxious mind every now and then.

Velma heard a knock at her door. She wondered who it could be at this hour. She quickly scampered over to the door so as not to keep her guest waiting.

“Hey, sis!” Madelyn greeted. “Just wanted to check on you since you weren’t at breakfast again this morning. Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine!” Velma assured. “I needed to call Shaggy and Scooby to check on how the bookstore was running without me.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Madelyn breathed a sigh of relief. “After yesterday, I was worried something had happened again.”

“I’m all ready to go to breakfast.” Velma informed, as she headed out the door with Madelyn.

“I’ve already got our normal spot staked out.” Madelyn replied. The two sisters headed down the hall together towards the breakfast area. When they arrived, the first thing they noticed was that Whirlen stood at the front of the room, facing everyone who was eating breakfast.

“Alright, everyone! I have an announcement to make!” Whirlen shared just as Velma and Madelyn sat down. “Tonight is our annual RS Dinner!”

“Dinner?” Velma said aloud, only intending for Madelyn to hear it. “I didn’t know about any dinner.”

“Of course you didn’t!” Whirlen assured. “That’s because RS stands for Random Spontaneous Dinner! Nobody ever knows when it will be! Now, I need you all to make sure you’re here by exactly 4:54pm!”

“I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Velma made sure to whisper her comment this time so Whirlen wouldn’t overhear.

“It’s a norm here at our school. We all love it.” Madelyn whispered back.

“It’s always our first event of the year, except when it isn’t.” Whirlen confusingly clarified. “In a few weeks, you can also look forward to Mrs. Rumbridge’s Midterm Magic Show.”

“The pleasure will be yours, I’m sure!” Doris shrilly added, as she popped her head in from another room.

Despite the - pardon the expression - random spontaneity, Velma was looking forward to going to her first school event. Perhaps this would be just the thing she needed to break herself out of her shell and get more involved with the campus life around the school.

Velma wasn’t particularly sure whether this dinner was a formal event or not. Quite frankly, she wished she would have asked, but she decided to improvise a bit. She picked out a yellow skirt and a nice-looking top with flowers on it. It wouldn’t look overly fancy if this wasn’t a formal event, but it also didn’t look too casual if this was an event that commanded professional attire. She supposed it couldn’t have been too fancy of an event, given it was taking place in the cafeteria where she always ate all of her meals.

Once arriving at the cafeteria, she discovered that it wasn’t a formal event at all - she saw students sitting around just wearing t-shirts, jeans and sweatpants. Velma was glad she hadn’t dressed up in some elaborate way.

“Over here, sis!” Madelyn waved. It appeared she was sitting by several of her friends again - Sadie, Annabelle and another girl with red hair that Velma didn’t know. Velma had a moment of panic, worrying about whether it would make her look too casual if she sat with students. Maybe it would be more professional to find the other instructors and sit with them.

She couldn’t let Madelyn down though, so she ultimately decided to follow her heart rather than her mind.

“Hey, Ms. Dinkley!” Annabelle greeted. “You’ve probably never been to one of these before, but it’s super cool. You just go up to that buffet and serve yourself.”

“Oh, that’s nice!” Velma noticed an empty plate in front of her. “I’ll be right back.”

Velma spotted the buffet line, which was mercifully short at the moment. She took her plate and went to get some food. The buffet had two large platters, one full of scrumptious spaghetti noodles and the other filled with meat sauce. It looked incredible. She noticed that the meat sauce platter was nearly out. She hoped that some would be remaining when she got to the front of the line.

Thankfully, she did relatively quickly. She hadn’t eaten much of a lunch, in order to save room for the presumed feasting tonight, so her mouth watered at the sight of the delicious Italian cuisine in front of her. She scooped a healthy serving of spaghetti on her plate, telling herself that it was okay to overindulge a bit tonight, since it was a special occasion.

Now, it was time for the spaghetti to meet its partner in flavor, meat sauce. Velma was just about to put a scoop of it on her plate, when a man in a chef’s outfit came up behind her and plopped a serving of a white sauce with chicken over her noodles.

“Ha ha! Your spaghetti just got alfredoed!” the male teenager behind her laughed.

“And how are you enjoying the random spontaneity of tonight, Velma?” Whirlen inquired, as he apparently caught sight of what had just happened.

Velma wanted to mutter not very much, but she decided to express her disdain through vagueness instead. “Well, it’s certainly interesting.”

“I’m so happy to hear that!” Whirlen smiled in response. “There’ll be lots more of that coming tonight!”

Feeling annoyed, Velma simply didn’t respond and headed back to sit by Madelyn.

“I see they ran out of spaghetti.” Sadie pointed out.

“You might say that.” Velma rolled her eyes. “At least these salads look great.”

Velma looked at the scrumptious green salad in small bowls that had apparently been placed on their table while she was up at the buffet getting food.

“I’m glad you like my lovely creation!” the same chef who alfredoed her spaghetti earlier said. “I hope you like this just as much! Yoink!”

The chef snatched Velma’s salad and replaced it with a bowl of steaming brussel sprouts.

“Why does he keep doing that?” Velma lamented.

“All part of the fun of the RS Dinner!” the redhead who Velma didn’t know said. “Hi, I’m Melissa, by the way. Seems like you all know each other, so I thought I should introduce myself as well.”

Velma felt a little awkward. Not only did she not know the traditions of this school very well, but she also felt like she was imposing upon these students by sitting at their table.

“I’m not bothering you, am I?” Velma blurted. “If I am, I can certainly move over to another table.”

“Not at all!” Madelyn assured. Velma would have preferred if one of the other three kids had said something, as Madelyn was bound to be biased as her sister.

“You’re not bothering us, Ms. Dinkley.” Sadie assured. “It’s cool to have you sit by us!”

“Good.” Velma smiled. This immediately made Velma feel a bit better, and less like she was intruding or overstepping her bounds. She was glad to know the students actually wanted her there, and that she wasn’t imposing on them in any way. She glanced around and noticed a number of her students sitting at various tables. Kara and Katie were sitting with a group of girls; Owen was sitting near the buffet with someone; Parry was sitting with Mitch and Brian, and another girl she didn’t recognize.

“Everybody, I have an announcement!” Whirlen exclaimed. “As we look back on this semester so far, I would like to take a moment to celebrate some of the new faculty we have here at Whirlen Merlin. First, we have Tibyll Srelawney, who joined us in the fall as a secretary. Tibyll has done an exemplary job here.”

Everybody clapped for Tibyll, as did Velma, although she had never met the woman before.

“The pleasure is all hers, I’m sure!” Rumbridge shrieked in delight, much to Velma’s annoyance.

“Next, we have Johnny Drubunka! He’s currently teaching our Chemistry of Magic course.” Whirlen introduced.

“Oh thank you, thank you! I’m so proud of how far I’ve come here!” Johnny beamed.

“Jonathan, I’m afraid we don’t take kindly to narcissism at this school.” Whirlen’s expression grew serious. “Thank goodness we aren’t a religious school, or you’d be thrown out immediately for committing the worst sin of all: pride! This will be a strike on your permanent record, Johnny.”

“Ah man.” Johnny hung his head in disgrace.

“And lastly, we have Velma Dinkley. She’s been doing an amazing job here teaching our Magical Literature class, and she’s only been here five weeks. Many students have come to me and told me they love her class!” Whirlen informed everyone.

Velma couldn’t be more proud, although she wouldn’t say it out loud for obvious reasons.

“Thank you!” Velma smiled. “I couldn’t do this without my students. They’re all amazing.”

To Velma’s surprise, Sadie stood up and blurted out a comment. “We couldn’t do this without you either. You’re one of the best teachers we’ve ever had here!”

This made Velma even more excited. She was always her own worst critic, but hearing that she was actually doing a good job from one of her students made her so excited.

“I don’t agree with that!” Parry snapped.

They were currently having a class discussion on one of the Merlin books they had read, Merlin’s Journey by Mark Jones. Sabrina had just made a point about how Merlin seemed mad with power in his later days, which Parry apparently disagreed with.

“What part exactly don’t you agree with?” Velma questioned. A week had passed since the RS Dinner, which had given her a boost of confidence in the classroom. Moreover, Merlin hadn’t appeared in her class in a few weeks, which gave her hope that maybe he had lost interest in spooking her students. However, all despite this, she was still averse to conflict, so she didn’t exactly like how heated things were getting.

“The part where he was mad! He wasn’t mad, in fact, he seemed pretty happy to me!” Parry defended.

“Ugh, you’re ridiculous.” Sabrina harrumphed, slumping down in her seat in frustration. Sabrina had always been the theatrical type, so her reaction was not surprising to Velma. She had mastered names at this point, but she was still getting to know their personalities and hobbies. However, she believed Sabrina’s love of drama was because she was a theater kid, but Velma couldn’t exactly remember.

“Parry, Sabrina just meant that Merlin was consumed with power. She didn’t actually mean he was frustrated.” Velma clarified. If there was one thing that she was surprised how often she had to do, it was explaining the most simple of things to students. However, she supposed they were young, and she was growing an appreciation for the fact that every student was different.

The bell rang. Velma had intended to reserve a few minutes at the end of the class for students to turn in the paper that was due today, but she had gotten distracted with the flow of the discussion.

“Alright everybody, make sure to turn in your papers on your way out!” Velma said.

All of the students came up to the front of the room and handed her their papers.

“Here you go!” Madelyn said, handing her paper to her sister. “See you at dinner!”

“Thanks!” Velma appreciated. Even though it was her sister, she tried not to be overly informal and call her “sis” in the classroom, given it was such a professional context.

Every student had handed her a paper, other than John, who was absent today. She quickly noticed that Jake also had not given her his paper. Rather, he simply sat in his seat digging through his belongings. He looked completely disengaged from the course. He rarely turned in any assignments ever, but this assignment was such a big one that he must have felt obligated to do it.

“Here.” Jake said, as he picked up his backpack and sauntered out of class.

Velma was really concerned about Jake. Even just glancing at his paper, it was so short that there was no way he was going to get anything better than a C on this. Velma had clearly said the essay needed to be two pages, and Jake wasn’t even able to fill a page.

“Here you go, Mrs. Dinkley.” Ramando handed the instructor his paper. Velma had admittedly forgotten she hadn’t gotten a paper from him yet.

“Thanks, Ramando, but it’s just Ms. Dinkley. Looking forward to reading your paper. Have a good weekend!”

“You too, teach.” Ramando said, as he picked up his belongings and headed out of class.

Velma quickly gathered all the papers and put them in her book bag before heading out of class. She knew it would take a long time to grade these papers, so she planned to get a head start on it immediately.

As she walked through the drafty hallway, a thought crossed Velma’s mind: maybe she should work outside of her room today, so as to enjoy the school atmosphere more and break out of her shell. Ever since the night of the dinner last week, Velma had felt more comfortable and confident in general. It was almost as if she needed somebody to tell her she was doing a good job, because she didn’t really believe it herself.

“Velma, may I have a moment?” the familiar voice of Bumbledore asked when she was about to pass by his office.

“Sure.” Velma shrugged. “I was just about to grade papers.”

“Excellent, I caught you at the perfect time then. Since we are approaching midterms, and it seems you are about to grade a major assignment, please report any students that are currently failing your course to Whirlen. Do you think there will be any?” Bumbledore inquired.

Velma’s mind immediately turned to Jake. “Unfortunately, yes. I’ll let you know once I grade these papers.”

“Wonderful. Grading your first big assignment is an exciting milestone in a new teacher’s career, so please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you.” Bumbledore offered.

“Thank you. I really feel like I’ve grown teaching here over these past six weeks.” Velma smiled.

“That’s stupendous! I remember starting off as a teacher here myself. I was quite nervous about mucking up. And in fact, I did. It took me 67 times just to read the roll call. In fact, the 43rd time required two firefighters and an ambulance.” Bumbledore shared.

“I was admittedly a bit nervous myself for a while. I was so worried about crossing that line between being personable to the students and remaining professional.” Velma opened up a bit, given Bumbledore had trusted her enough to share such an embarrassing story.

“Oh, I can assure you it’s quite normal. In fact, I still haven’t quite mastered where that line is!” Bumbledore revealed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go to my weekly listening session with some students.”

Velma glanced in the main office to see several students sitting up against the wall, apparently waiting for Bumbledore to return. She thought it was quite a nice idea to offer a session to listen to student concerns. That is, until Bumbledore plugged in a boom box, which began playing loud music. Bumbledore slouched against the wall and joined the four male students, bobbing their heads up and down as the first few notes of “Gangsta’s Paradise” played.

Velma simply chose to ignore Bumbledore’s odd behavior and continued looking for a place to sit. She quickly found a comfortable-looking table near an art classroom, and decided to set her bag down. It appeared to be a suitable place to grade papers. The table had almost a booth-like look to it, like you might see in a restaurant. There were two cushy looking leather seats on either side of the table, affixed to the floor.

Velma glanced around her, and noticed several abstract paintings hung around the table. One featured some sort of weird deformed-looking human feet, while another had a monstrous-looking rabbit coming out of a hat.

The instructor took her students’ papers out of her bag and began looking through them. She already sort of knew what the general quality from each student would likely be. She had sort of lumped the students into categories: Kara, Sadie, Mitch and Kennedy were still in the good category, although Kennedy was beginning to slip. She hadn’t turned in her assignment from last week, and seemed a bit distant when she came into class this entire week. Katie had sort of taken Kennedy’s place, as she’d greatly improved from the first weeks. She was starting to become more detailed in the answers she gave, and actually explained what she meant rather than just assuming Velma knew what she was talking about. Sabrina still didn’t quite follow Velma’s guidelines to a T, but Velma always could tell she understood the materials and thus gave the blonde-haired drama lover an A.

Madelyn was also in this ‘A’ range. She was quite proud of her sister, but still, Velma found herself feeling a bit weird grading her little sister at first. However, Velma could quickly tell she had mastered the materials, which made grading her much easier than if she had done poorly on the assignment.

As Velma read through each of these individuals’ papers, she found herself pleasantly unsurprised with how excellent their work was. Even Sabrina, who regularly didn’t follow all the instructions, stayed relatively in line with what she had asked this time.

Towards the middle of the spectrum, Ashley still struggled with getting the concepts; Velma could tell she was thinking, but her mind hadn’t quite made it from point A to point B. Velma felt bad about it, but she ultimately had to give the paper a C. It was extremely average, nearly to the point of being dull and requiring very little critical thinking beyond what was explicitly stated by the author.

She found Owen’s paper surprisingly good; not in the sense of being particularly well-written, but he was at least making more of an effort now. In the first several weeks, it was beginning to seem like he put in more of an effort trying to come up with excuses why he couldn’t do his assignments than actually completing them.

Velma felt bad about this, given it was her sister’s friend, but Annabelle usually did extremely poorly on the assignments. She had gotten just enough D’s to escape failing, but not by much. Her paper was no different; she sort of rambled on about nothing for two pages, connecting her arguments to what the author said in the most tangential ways.

Velma’s face fell a bit when she read Ramando’s paper. While he typically struggled with paraphrasing the author, this was a new level of low. His paper was full of long quotes directly from the author, with almost no critical analysis of anything that had been said. He had seemed so happy about successfully completing his paper when he had turned it in too. However, Velma had no choice other than to fail him for the paper. It was completely unclear to her if he even remotely understood what the authors they had read so far this semester had said in connection with one another.

On the other hand, at least it wasn’t as bad as Parry’s paper, who appeared to have written her a six-page ramble that had little analysis at all. It simply said what he thought of each of the books, even down to giving them rankings.

“Scared a Lot in Camelot - 2 / 5. I didn’t like that one so much. The author seemed like a complete jerk!” was perhaps the worst line in his paper. Although it wouldn’t completely wreck his grade, Velma would have to give it a D. He at least showed he read the books, but didn’t bother to adhere to any of the analysis.

Mike and Ron were about in the same boat. While at least they didn’t write rambling reviews of the book, they could have taken a note from Parry to make sure they had written two pages. Velma now regretted saying in class that if they were very confident in their work, they could go slightly under the two pages. Mike and Ron had taken that to an extreme, apparently.

John was absent today, so there was no paper from him. Velma hadn’t noticed it at the time, but Brian hadn’t turned one in either, which was concerning to her. His work was usually amazing, but that was when he turned it in, which he didn’t half the time. She was becoming increasingly worried about both of them, as she thought they both had potential as students, particularly Brian. She wondered what could make a smart student like him so irresponsible and not keep up with his work.

Finally, it was time to read over Jake’s paper. This was the first thing Velma had ever read from him, given he hadn’t turned in any of the prior assignments. When she looked at the paper, she was shocked. The paper only had three paragraphs, all of them only three to four sentences. Even worse, the paper started with the most horribly written introduction she’d ever seen.

I liked all the books, but all of them seemed different, so no comparison here. The book cover was colorful, so there was lots of contrast there.

Velma had never seen a worse paper in her life. While a few of the poor papers had just barely failed, this was a hard fail. Velma didn’t realize it was possible to write a paper this shabby.

Although Jake clearly didn’t bother to understand the materials at all, Velma experienced an odd feeling in the back of her mind. She didn’t feel angry that he had done the assignment so wrong, or amused at how bad his attempt was. Velma realized that strange feeling was sadness. She felt bad for this student. Learning was such a wondrous and transformative thing, and Jake failed to even bother to open his mind to it. From the first day of class, Jake never engaged like the other students and always seemed like he’d rather be anywhere else. While she was going to talk to John and Brian before telling Whirlen about them, Velma realized she would have no choice other than to report Jake as a failing student to Whirlen.

Velma was incredibly glad she had graded all the papers right after class that day. The weekend had refreshed her, and she was excited to begin yet another week. She had informed Whirlen of Jake’s currently failing status in her class, but she was planning to talk to Brian after class today, and hopefully John would be here to turn in his assignment as well. If neither of them turned anything in, they would fail too. Brian’s case weighed a bit heavily on her mind. While she knew there wasn’t anything she could do if he did fail, Velma didn’t want to fail a student with such potential, and hoped he would be open to telling her why his assignment submissions were so inconsistent.

As per usual, the classroom was dark when Velma arrived at it. She assumed it was because nobody taught in that room before her, but she wasn’t entirely sure. Velma turned the light on, but was surprised when it quickly turned off again. She presumed it must be an electrical short. She knew there was a phone on the wall by her desk, so she tried to maneuver over there so she could call Whirlen and inform him of what had happened. It was so pitch black that she couldn’t see much, so she tried to feel around for the phone with her hands. After a bit of frustration, her hand felt something which appeared to be about the same weight as the phone would be. Her eyes had just barely adjusted enough to the darkness that she could see that her sense of touch had not failed her.

Suddenly, she felt an icy burst on the hand which held the phone. Velma’s heart nearly stopped when she realized that the sensation wasn’t from something she had bumped into; it was another person. Her terrifying presumption was proven right when a ghastly figure appeared before her. It was the ghost of Merlin.

“Hello Velma.” the wizard rasped. “I’ve been waiting for you!"

Chapter Text

Velma felt petrified with fear as Merlin tightened his grasp on her arm.

“W-w-what do you want from me?” Velma shivered.

“I want you to stop meddling in what you do not understand!” Merlin hissed.

“What do you mean?” Velma nervously inquired. She was pretty sure she knew, but she hoped that perhaps the answer wouldn’t be as terrifying as she believed.

“Do not attempt to teach your class about my affairs. It shall not work.” Merlin cautioned. “My powers go beyond what you could imagine!”

“I-I-I’m sorry.” Velma quivered. She was so anxious that she could barely speak without tripping over her words. “I won’t teach my students anymore about how to stop you, I promise.”

“Good. You must stay true to your promise, because I will be watching you.” Merlin rasped.

“Why are you here?” Velma blurted. “Why hasn’t your spirit moved on?”

“My spirit remains here to take care of some unfinished business.” the wizard replied.

“What unfinished business?” Velma continued to probe.

“It is not of concern to you.” Merlin coldly shut down the glasses-clad teacher. “Now, I’ll make you a deal. I will stop appearing in your class if you do not meddle in my affairs.”

“I promise I won’t.” Velma said, feeling like she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

“Good, good.” Merlin’s mouth turned upward in a terrifying-looking grin. “Remember, I’ll be watching you. Do not try to defy me, or you will face the full extent of my powers!”

With that, Merlin disappeared in a puff of red smoke. Velma could hear him chuckling as his physical form disappeared.

“Are you okay, Velma?” a familiar voice asked, The lights came on, showing that it was Sabrina.

“I…I think so.” Velma tried to regain her confidence. She still felt her body shaking a bit from the shock of being ambushed by Merlin. “Did you see any of that?”

“Both of us did.” Sabrina said, pointing to Parry Hotter, who was also standing in the doorway with her.

“Yeah, he told you not to meddle in his affairs!” Parry repeated. “I didn’t realize you were gonna teach us about his love life too!”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Sabrina asked.

That was a good question. Velma hadn’t even regained her composure from the incident yet, much less figured out how she was going to teach her class now that she couldn’t teach anything about Merlin.

“I don’t know.” Velma admitted. “You guys read Merlin: A Semi-Autobiography: The Life and Times of Me today, correct?”

Parry and Sabrina nodded.

“Well, maybe I can teach that in a way that’s flattering to Merlin.” Velma said. She couldn’t express her full thoughts on the matter, which were that she could continue her plan of having her students read about Merlin and figure out clues as to what his “unfinished business” might be, while presenting it in a light that would seem like she was praising Merlin to avoid his wrath.

“Sounds good to me.” Sabrina shrugged.

“Let’s just please keep this between us, if you don’t mind.” Velma asked. “I don’t want the other students to worry.”

“We will.” Sabrina promised.

“Yeah Ms. D, your secret is safe with us.” Parry promised.

“I overheard everything too!” Owen popped his head in the room. “By the way, I also have a megaphone with me, since it’s Megaphone Monday!”

“That’s a thing?” Velma was befuddled.

“No, but it’s a side project I’m trying to get started.” Owen stated, as he pressed the button to turn on his megaphone and put his mouth by it. “Hey everybody, guess what I just promised to Ms. Dinkley! I said…”

“Owen, the point of me asking you that was for you to keep this quiet.” Velma clarified.

“Oh, sorry.” Owen turned off the megaphone and looked discouraged.

Velma struggled to think of how she was going to teach about the book she’d assigned her students, especially given she only had ten minutes before class to do it. She’d just have to find a way to improvise.

Velma attempted to still teach the materials she had assigned for that day the best she could, although it was very difficult. She felt like her instruction was coming off overly gratuitous as not to anger the wizard.

“And those are some of the amazing things Merlin did.” Velma concluded her lecture, feeling a bit sheepish. “Now since you’re in groups, I’d like each group to share something they learned from this book about our headmaster’s amazingly powerful ancestor. Preferably something you read about that you liked.”

Velma felt like she was treating class as if it were a commercial, but she attempted to comfort herself with the thought that maybe she could think up some sort of solution to this after class today. She felt stuck though, as she’d already made the students read the Merlin book for today, and suddenly teaching about something else after they’d already done the assigned reading would make her students think there was something wrong.

“Do you want us to start?” Mitch asked.

“Sure…go ahead, group 1.” Velma urged.

“We thought one cool thing about the book was that Merlin’s grandson was a half-Devil.” Kennedy pointed out.

“Yes, that was really interesting, wasn’t it?” Velma smiled. “Group 2?”

“I never realized that Merlin is considered to be part of Arthurian legend.” Ramando answered.

“Yeah, it was wild to find out King Arthur and him were in the same court.” Owen agreed.

“Good, good!” Velma said. “Group 3?”

“I can go.” Madelyn offered to her group mates. “I thought it was really interesting that Merlin is sometimes portrayed in the legends as a good guy, and other legends portray him as a villain.”

Velma was immediately alarmed, worrying about offending the angry wizard. “Well, it’s important to remember that he did a lot of great things. He is Whirlen’s ancestor, after all. Anyway, let’s move on to group 4.”

It was no surprise to her that Kara was the one to speak from that group. “The fact that stood out the most to me is that Great Britain was nearly named after Merlin. It’s only given a brief mention in the book, but another name for Great Britain was Clas Myrddin, which can be translated as Merlin’s Enclosure.”

“Excellent, Kara! Thanks for sharing.” Velma smiled. “Finally, group 5.”

“Well…” Ron stuttered. For once, Velma was glad they were having trouble coming up with an answer. Each answer the students were giving had her on the edge of her seat, wondering if they were going to say something to unknowingly offend Merlin and make him enact his vengeance.

“Merlin’s the name of a bird. That’s kind of a neat fact, ain’t it?” Mike continued Ron’s sentence.

“Yes…yes it is.” Velma said. “Anyway, I see we’ve got seven minutes left…I want to use the time remaining to hand back your papers. I graded all of them over the weekend.”

If Velma were completely honest, she just wanted this class to be done and over with as quick as possible. She needed time to process what had happened to her before class, and how she wanted to move forward. Thankfully, handing back the papers provided the perfect excuse for her to pad out the rest of class this way.

“Here’s my paper, Ms. Dinkley.” John said, as he handed it to her.

“Thanks, John. Have a good day!” Velma well-wished.

At least that was one less person to worry about. She handed out papers to a few students, but she felt a bit bad when she approached Jake, knowing the news she would have to tell him.

“Here’s your paper back, Jake.” Velma said, a hint of cautiousness in her voice. “I’m afraid this means your current standing in this class is…”

He quickly looked at the two horizontally perpendicular lines intersecting with a vertical one on the top of the paper.

“Yeah, yeah. I figured.” Jake shrugged, as he snatched the paper out of Velma’s hands and walked out of class.

Velma felt like she was experiencing some of Jake’s discouraged feelings. Even though it was ultimately Jake’s poor performance that was causing him to fail the class, Velma still felt bad for Jake. She didn’t want to fail anybody; she just wished everybody could be as passionate about learning as she was. Nonetheless, he tried not to think about it too much and continued handing out papers to students.

“Woah, an A! Thanks!” Katie exclaimed. She seemed quite thrilled by this result.

“Nice, a B!” Ashley smiled. “Thanks, Ms. D.”

Once she had handed out all of the papers, she noticed Brian sauntering out of class.

“Hey, Brian. Can I speak with you for a moment?” Velma called after him.

“Oh geez.” he muttered under his breath. “Sure, sure, coming.”

Velma found herself struggling for the words to say to her student when she had invited him over. She knew the sentiment she wanted to convey to him; she just didn’t want it to come off as blaming him for his lack of assignment submission.

“I just want to say your assignments are great.” Velma started.

“Oh…wow. Thanks, Ms. Dinkley!” Brian looked thrilled, which made Velma feel even worse about what she was going to say.

“That’s why I’m always a little surprised when you don’t turn anything in.” Velma stated, immediately panicking that she had come off too blunt. “I mean, I’m absolutely not calling you out for your lack of turning stuff in or anything like that. You’re not failing. I’m just a little concerned is all. Is everything okay with you?”

“Umm…yeah. There were a couple of Wednesdays where I was really sick, you know. Bad headache, chills…it wasn’t good.” Brian said. However, his actions definitely didn’t match what he was saying. He seemed incredibly nervous, almost like he was a deer in the headlights ready to sprint at any moment. She even believed she remembered him showing up one of the Wednesdays he hadn’t turned in the weekly assignment, so his excuse didn’t make sense.

“Oh, okay. You’re welcome to turn in those assignments you missed at any point. We can always work out a revised deadline where you’re not losing as many points for the late submission.” Velma offered.

“Yeah…uh…I’ll do that.” Brian said. “Anyway…I gotta go.”

“Sounds good. Just wanted to check to make sure you were doing alright. Have a good day!” Velma smiled.

“Yeah, you too!” Brian practically ran out of the classroom.

Velma felt like something was definitely up with Brian. It didn’t make any sense for him to supposedly get sick and then never tell her or try to catch up on the assignments he missed. Something quite frankly seemed very wrong. She didn’t know what it was, but she vowed to herself that she would try to help him as best she could to not fail this course. First, however, she had to fulfill her vow to herself, which was figuring out what in the world she was going to do about teaching her class now that Merlin had forbidden her to teach anymore about him.

Velma had spent most of the afternoon planning out her class for tomorrow. Since her students had already started reading the Merlin book, her plan was to have them finish reading the book this week, and then switch gears completely back to non-Merlin books. Of course, she would ensure all discussions of Merlin this week were extremely positive almost to the point of sounding almost promotional, since Velma didn’t want to risk having any more run-ins with the ghostly sorcerer.

She was currently eating dinner in the dining hall with Madelyn, informing her about what had happened before class today.

“You mean that Merlin appeared in the classroom and confronted you?” Madelyn gasped.

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Velma confirmed. “He told me I can’t teach about him anymore or I’ll face the consequences.”

“That’s horrible! What are you going to do, sis?” Madelyn asked. “He probably even got more upset because you taught about him today!”

“Well, I was thinking if I taught about him as a great sorcerer, he wouldn’t get mad.” Velma said.

“You did seem awfully gratuitous today when you were teaching.” Madelyn admitted, causing Velma to blush.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, though. I guess just go back to what I’d planned before I switched the course to be about Merlin.” Velma sighed.

“Are you going to tell Whirlen about it?” Madelyn inquired.

“I guess I should, yeah. He didn’t seem to do much last time, though.” Velma pointed out.

Speaking of the headmaster, Velma noticed him walking past the dining hall. He seemed in a hurry.

“Hey Whirlen?” Madelyn called. “Velma wants to talk to you.”

“Is it quick? We’ve got a very important guest coming any minute to make some sort of a documentary series, and I want to be at the door to greet them.” Whirlen informed.

“Oh, you can take care of that first. My issue isn't that important.” Velma assured.

“Excellent. I can’t wait for you to meet our guest!” Whirlen hurried off to the front door.

“Not that important?” Madelyn said in disbelief. “V, you could have gotten hurt!”

“I know, but if he’s got an esteemed guest he has to make accommodations for, I don’t want to inconvenience him.” Velma reasoned.

“Velma?” a familiar voice called. “What are you doing here?”

Velma almost jumped ten feet when she saw who it was.

“Daphne?” Velma gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“I might ask you the same thing!” Daphne cried out in shock. “Remember that show I was making about haunted attractions in America?”

“How could I forget?” Velma mentally rolled her eyes. That show was everything to Daphne; it was her proudest achievement and she talked about it all the time.

“Well, I’m working on filming something here. Supposedly, the ghost of the headmaster’s ancestor is haunting this place.” Daphne explained.

“Yeah, I knew that. I think the question is how did you know that?” Velma wondered.

“I was looking through a brochure of attractions with ghostly legends, and this place came up. I called the headmaster…is it Whirlen Marlin, or Merlin Whirlen?” Daphne inquired.

“It’s neither, actually. There’s Whirlen Merlin, and his brother Marlin Merlin.” Velma explained.

“That really clears things up.” Daphne rolled her eyes.

Ever since the gang had broken up, she and Daphne sort of had a witty banter going between them. It wasn’t really like it was before, and Velma wasn’t sure if that was because of a hint of tension between the two friends, or just an evolution of their relationship. Daphne was always on the road looking for haunted attractions, so Velma rarely saw her anymore. It’d caused the two friends to drift apart a bit, which made Velma sad. She wanted to be friends with Daphne, but there was no denying she had really changed from the person she was a year and a half ago when the gang disbanded.

“Ah Velma, Madelyn, I see you’ve found our guest of honor!” Whirlen smiled. “Now, let me show you to the guest room. I hope you won’t mind the sleeping bags we provided you.”

“There’s no bed in the guest room?” Daphne questioned.

“Oh, there is, but it’s been occupied.” Whirlen informed.

“I’d be sharing a guest room with somebody else I don’t know?” Daphne gasped.

“Well, yes, obviously!” Whirlen seemed annoyed. “Why do you think it’s called the guest room? All our current guests stay in that room. At the moment, we have a teaching fellow sleeping in there.”

“I didn’t know you had fellowships here!” Velma said.

“Oh, no, we don’t.” Whirlen clarified. “It’s just this fellow I hired to teach for us. He’s done quite the fine job, I might add.”

“Velma, can I stay in your room?” Daphne inquired. “I’ll only be here for two nights. I can even sleep on the couch if there’s no room.”

“Umm…sure.” Velma shrugged. She was still reeling a bit from the shock of having Daphne randomly show up here.

“Great! Then it’s settled!” Daphne breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, almost. I didn’t come alone…”

At that moment, a young woman probably around her age came into the school carrying a couple of suitcases. It would have been hard not to notice her with her bright pink hair. She wore a purple t-shirt and black leggings.

“Hey Daph! I got all the luggage.” the pink-haired woman replied.

“Oh good, this must be your assistant you mentioned on the phone?” Whirlen questioned.

“Yep, that’s her.” Daphne nodded.

“Hi. You must be Velma.” the woman greeted her. “I’m Isabel. It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’ve heard so much about you from Daphne!”

“Oh, hi Isabel.” Velma shook the woman’s hand. She wasn’t aware Daphne was working with an assistant. As far as she knew, Fred was her cameraman.

“So it turns out the guest room is a room full of guests.” Daphne informed her assistant, rolling her eyes.

“Great! Lots of new friends to be made, I guess!” Isabel excitedly said. “So which way is the guest room?”

Velma was surprised how open Daphne’s friend was to staying in a room with some random stranger. Clearly that came across to Daphne as well, as she leaned over to Velma.

“She’s a bit of a ray of sunshine.” Daphne whispered to Velma.

“Clearly.” Velma chuckled.

“So, I guess it’s settled then.” Daphne said. “I’ll stay with Velma, and Isabel will stay in the guest room.”

Velma had noticed Madelyn was sitting quietly in the background. She hadn’t uttered a peep since Daphne had arrived.

“By the way, this is my little sister, Madelyn.” Velma introduced.

“Oh! I remember Velma talking about you before.” Daphne said. “It’s great to meet you, Madelyn. You must be here visiting her, then. Wait a minute though…Whirlen said you had a room here. Is that just Madelyn’s room?”

“No, I work here now. I’m teaching a Magical Literature class.” Velma explained.

“Oh wow! That’s so cool!” Daphne exclaimed. “Congratulations. That’s got to be a lot more fun than working in that dank old bookshop.”

Velma admittedly felt a little insulted by Daphne’s comment. Although she didn’t feel particularly connected to the bookshop anymore, she still had fond memories of her quiet life working there. It felt nice to settle down after globetrotting and visiting a new place practically every week with the gang. Daphne clearly didn’t feel the same way, however. She still traveled more than ever, practically going to a new place every week to film an episode of her show.

“Well, I’ve enjoyed both experiences.” Velma decided to say. She didn’t think Daphne had meant to come off as condescending as she did, so there was no reason to get upset. “Have you had dinner yet?”

“Yeah, Isabel and I ate on the road.” Daphne informed.

“Well, we’re almost done.” Velma said. “If you want, I can give you the key to my room and you can bring your suitcase in there.”

“That would be great! Thank you!” Daphne appreciated, as Velma placed the room key in her hand. “I’ll be back in a minute!”

Velma was still reeling a bit from the shock of having her friend visit her. She never would have expected to see Daphne here. This felt like her own personal adventure away from home that nobody really knew about but her, so it felt a little strange to try to navigate bringing Daphne into her current new reality.

Once Velma and Madelyn had finished eating dinner, they headed back to meet Daphne in her room. Isabel had also joined them. Madelyn, Velma and Daphne sat on the couch, while Isabel sat in the chair with the broken leg on the other side of the living area. Of course, Velma had informed Isabel about the broken leg, but the chair appeared to still be functional, and Isabel seemed unconcerned with sitting there. Daphne had been telling a lengthy story about a recent adventure she’d had filming an episode of her show.

“And then, it turned out that the three ghosts of Christmas in the play were real ghosts!” Daphne shared. “Or, so we thought. We continued doing the play, but it turned out, it was just some guy trying to promote a cooking show. Stupid. I’d never watch that show.”

“That sounds like a pretty wild experience.” Velma said. Admittedly, she was getting a little sick of hearing her friend’s stories. She wanted to know what Daphne had been up to; it was just the way in which she told some of these stories like she was the coolest, worldliest, most experienced person in the world that irritated Velma. The other thing that admittedly annoyed Velma a bit is that she had gotten to tell no stories thus far, whereas Daphne had told at least ten. There was the one about her trying to unhaunt a house only to realize the guy was trying to stop a form of oppression called “apparitionism,” the time she was nearly killed at her studio by a falling spotlight, another story about her being kidnapped by her boss who was apparently evil, and the list went on.

“Oh, did I ever tell you about the time Shaggy and I ran into a werewolf?” Daphne excitedly said.

“You never told me about that story!” Isabel exclaimed.

“Yes I did. I told you about it in the car, remember?” Daphne looked confused.

“I know. I just wanted to hear it again.” Isabel snickered. “It’s such a sweet story of you and Shaggy kissing.”

This got Velma’s ears to perk up.

“You and Shaggy are dating?” Velma gasped.

“Well…” Daphne looked a little embarrassed.

“So it’s like a no strings attached thing?” Velma wondered.

“No, not like that. It’s complicated.” Daphne blushed.

“So Velma, how did you get started teaching here?” Isabel inquired.

Velma was glad the pink-haired woman was kind enough to ask something about Velma, given Daphne had dominated the conversation for the last hour.

“Oh…yeah, sorry. I meant to ask about that.” Daphne looked further embarrassed. Velma knew Daphne didn’t intend to be rude or self-centered, but she’d gotten quite focused on herself and clearly thought the world revolved around her sometimes.

“Well, I got a call in January from the school. They wanted me to teach a Magical Literature course, because one of the other teachers had to suddenly leave at the last minute.” Velma explained. “It’s just for a semester, but I’ve really enjoyed it so far. Educating today’s young minds is such a rewarding experience.”

“That must be weird to have your sister teaching in the same school as you.” Daphne said to Madelyn.

“Not really. I’m actually in her class, and I think it’s cool.” Madelyn revealed.

“You just give her all A’s then?” Daphne joked. Velma was admittedly a bit annoyed by the remark, even though she was pretty sure Daphne hadn’t meant any harm.

“Well…yes, but not for the reason you’re thinking.” Velma let out a polite chuckle, even though it didn’t necessarily match her reaction to Daphne’s comment. “Madelyn does great work. Her last paper was amazing.”

“Aww, thanks sis!” Madelyn smiled.

“That’s so cute!” Isabel put her hands on her heart.

“So what kind of stuff do you teach?” Daphne asked.

“I teach literature about all sorts of magic. Lately I’ve been focusing a lot on Merlin.” Velma informed.

“The same Merlin that haunts this place?” Daphne wondered.

“Yep, unfortunately.” Velma said with a sigh. “I might have to stop teaching about it now.”

“Why’s that? Are you worried he’ll be upset?” Daphne questioned.

“Well, that’s one way of putting it.” Velma said, letting out more of a genuine chuckle this time due to how unknowingly spot-on Daphne was.

“Merlin told her that she can’t teach about him anymore, or she’ll face the consequences.” Madelyn shared.

“What?!?” Daphne replied in shock. “You’ve met the ghost of Merlin?”

“Several times, actually. He has a bad habit of appearing in my classroom in the middle of class and scaring the students.” Velma further informed.

“Would you mind if I come to your class tomorrow and film?” Daphne perked up.

“Well…you can come to class, but not film. I think it’s illegal to film students without their permission.” Velma said. Besides this, she didn’t really want Daphne interrupting her class just so she could film another episode of her show. However, she didn’t want to say that aloud so as not to offend Daphne.

“Okay.” Daphne shrugged, seeming a little disappointed. “I guess we can always film other areas around the castle.”

“Even if you can’t film, it’d be fun to have you come to class. I’d love for you to meet my students. They’re great.” Velma smiled. She wasn’t just bragging either, she genuinely believed her students were amazing. She had really grown a connection to them in the past few weeks, far more than she’d ever thought she would. Every single one of them brought something unique to the class.

“Sure, yeah, that’ll be fun! Anyway, I’m feeling pretty tired from the trip. I’m ready for bed.” Daphne said.

Velma admittedly felt a little annoyed by this. Daphne had spent nearly an hour droning on about everything she’d done, and when it was finally Velma’s turn to talk, she got to talk for 10 minutes at the most. To add insult to injury, the conversation was mainly catered to Daphne wanting to get Merlin on film for her show rather than actually caring about the exciting adventure Velma had embarked on for the past couple months. Velma would have loved to tell Daphne and Isabel about each of her students and talk more about what she taught, but it was clear Daphne didn’t care enough to hear it. She certainly wasn’t going to try to wedge it in; she knew how to take a hint that Daphne wasn’t interested.

“Okay, I guess you have your choice of the couch or you can sleep on the other side of the bed with me.” Velma coolly said.

“If you’re fine with it, I think I’d prefer the bed.” Daphne informed the brunette of her preference.

“That’s okay by me.” Velma shrugged. “Isabel, it was great talking with you tonight, and I look forward to talking with you more tomorrow! And goodnight, sis!”

“Goodnight to you too, sis!” Madelyn responded back.

“Aww…sis. That’s so sweet.” Isabel commented on Velma’s term of endearment for her sister.

Once Madelyn and Isabel had left the room, Velma got ready in the bathroom and changed into her pajamas. It would feel odd sleeping on the other side of the bed from Daphne, but she supposed that her and Daphne had shared a bed before when the gang was traveling together a long time ago. Being a part of the gang felt like a distant memory to Velma at this point, especially with Daphne changing so much. She didn’t think Daphne meant to hurt anybody, but tonight had cemented what Velma had felt on the rare occasions she saw Daphne in the past: her redheaded friend was so consumed with her own life that she didn’t really think much of others anymore.

It was a bit jarring for Velma to wake up on the other side of the bed from Daphne. Despite having a bedmate, she slept quite well; so well in fact that she felt a bit groggy waking up.

Daphne was still fast asleep. Velma had noticed that the redhead’s hair had fallen over half of her face as she slept. Velma didn’t want to wake her, so she tiptoed into the bathroom to get changed and headed out to breakfast right away.

Upon arriving at the breakfast area, she saw Madelyn and Isabel were already sitting together.

“So, how did you sleep last night?” Madelyn inquired.

“Pretty good!” Isabel exclaimed.

“Good morning.” Velma interjected when she arrived at their table. “I’m sorry you had to stay in that guest room with that random guy. I hope it wasn’t too weird.”

“Not at all!” Isabel said, a little bit of a squeak coming out at the end of her sentence. “He turned out to be a pretty cool guy. Name’s Jeff. Worked in HR before this, then decided he’d had enough and moved to teach here. Prefers discussion-based teaching. Believes in trauma-informed pedagogy. Likes his sandwiches with no tomatoes. Nice dude.”

“Salutations, student, teacher, and guest.” the voice of Alvin Bumbledore greeted.

“Hi.” Isabel waved in a friendly manner. “Who’s this?”

“This is the other headmaster, Bumbledore.” Madelyn introduced.

“Hey, Bumbledore. I wasn’t expecting to see you out here!” Velma stated. She typically only saw Whirlen at breakfast in the mornings.

“I was just coming out here to break the fast.” Bumbledore informed. “I hope our accommodations were sufficient.”

“Oh, they were great. Thanks, Mr. Bumbledore.” Isabel appreciated.

“Oh, yes, yes, of course. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to grab a muffin.” Bumbledore informed.

“So, what time is class?” Isabel inquired.

“It’s at one.” Velma answered.

“Maybe Daphne and I can look around a bit while you’re prepping for class.” Isabel said. “I’m excited to meet your students!”

Velma really appreciated Isabel taking such a genuine interest in her life. It was certainly more than she could say for Daphne. Speaking of which, Velma noticed Daphne heading towards them.

Her red-haired friend let out a yawn before greeting them. “Good morning.”

“Good m - what happened?” Velma cried out when she heard a thud and saw Bumbledore fall to the floor.

“Appears I’ve had another muffin-related mishap.” Bumbledore sighed. “The blueberry ones are extra dangerous, I’ve found.”

“Oh dear, was it the muffins again?” Whirlen ran out to help Bumbledore. “I really need to stop putting pastries out. They’re far too dangerous for everyone.”

“You’re telling me.” said a blonde male student who had his arm entirely wrapped up in a cast. “I still haven’t recovered from last week’s strawberry streusel sprain!”

“So what’s the plan for today?” Daphne asked.

“Isabel and I were just talking about it.” Velma informed. “It sounds like Isabel thought you might want to look around the castle while I’m prepping for class. Plus, you’ve got a class at 9:30, right sis?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Madelyn confirmed with a nod.

“Sounds good!” Daphne agreed. “I’d love to have a look around.”

“We’ll meet you in your classroom at 1.” Isabel promised.

“Great. It’s classroom 1, which, despite what you might think, is on the opposite side of the school.” Velma laughed.

“Classroom 1 at 1. Okay, we’ll remember that.” Daphne nodded.

“Aren’t you going to grab breakfast?” Isabel wondered.

“I’m not really hungry.” Daphne shrugged. “Guess the only thing I’m hungry for this morning is making some quality paranormal content.”

Oh brother. Velma was starting to feel like an inconvenient errand in Daphne’s quest to catch the ghost of Merlin on camera. Velma would have really enjoyed eating breakfast with her friend, but Daphne acted as if she didn’t care to know about Velma’s life at all, beyond the normal pleasantries.

It was nearly 1, and Velma didn’t see any sign of Daphne or Isabel. She supposed she couldn’t really worry about them, especially when she had so many other things on her plate to think about. One of those things was that Brian was also completely absent, which concerned Velma after she had talked to him yesterday. Maybe her confronting Brian completely scared him away from ever attending class again. She also was still worried about Merlin, even if she was going to be incredibly positive about him again. She hoped that she didn’t look as silly as she felt praising Merlin so much, but she didn’t feel like she had any other options.

“Alright class, we’re going to talk about the next few chapters of Merlin: An Autobiography: The Life and Times of Me. You might have noticed a few religious things discussed in this particular chapter.” Velma pointed out.

“Hey, I thought the school handbook said you can’t talk about religion in the classroom.” Parry pointed out.

“Doesn’t it say you only can’t specifically teach about religion with the intent to convert?” Velma clarified.

“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t follow that thing.” Parry said, as he began to unzip the red sweatshirt to reveal he was wearing a shirt reading “Hooter’s.”

“Well, I have, and I don’t think you can wear that.” Velma scolded.

Parry finished unzipping his sweatshirt to reveal the shirt actually said Little Hooter’s Baby Owl Rehabilitation Center. “Hey, you got somethin’ against baby owls?”

“Never mind. Anyway, these chapters talk about some of the great things Merlin has done.” Velma felt herself starting to stutter, struggling for the right words. “He really was a great man and a great sorcerer, you know! Umm…anyway…I want you to break off into groups and do a project together. Today, you’re going to be making a ranked list of Merlin’s accomplishments and how you think they contributed to modern magic. Then, you’ll pick your favorite accomplishment, and debate with the other groups. The winner of this debate will receive an extra credit point. You’ll have all of today to work on this, and everybody will present their findings to the class tomorrow.”

Velma immediately felt guilty, and like this was a bit of a cop-out from having to teach. If she were honest with herself, it totally was. She didn’t want to risk saying anything that might offend Merlin, and she figured devoting an entire project to his accomplishments was probably the best way not to do that.

At that moment, the teacher noticed that Daphne and Isabel had arrived and were sitting at the back of the room. She quickly hurried over to them.

“Wow, Velma!” Daphne said, making Velma feel a pang of happiness. Her friend must have been really impressed by her class. “Did Merlin pay you to say all that? That was practically a commercial!”

Velma’s face immediately fell a bit.

“Oh…I’m sorry. I was just joking.” Daphne apologized.

While her apology seemed genuine, it didn’t exactly help Velma feel any better. This fed into a much larger insecurity Velma had: with Daphne constantly bragging about how amazing her life was, her life felt boring in comparison. Velma was really proud of this opportunity she’d gotten to teach, but Daphne acted like she barely even cared. Even worse, she acted like this was just an opportunity to get Merlin on camera, rather than genuinely enjoying the opportunity to reunite with her old friend. This wasn’t any sort of new problem - Velma distinctly remembered yelling at her in the bookstore for only visiting her to get some ghost that happened to be haunting the store on camera. And worse yet, the person behind the mask wasn’t even haunting her bookstore for Velma…they were just using the opportunity to get to Daphne. It felt silly to want a person to have a personal vendetta against her, but when even some guy in a ghost costume was more focused on Daphne than her, it began to make Velma feel extremely boring.

Alas, as a result, Velma sat alone in front of the class while they worked, telling her two friends that she needed to pay attention to what was going on in the class at all times. She could have sat by Daphne and Isabel, but quite frankly, she was a bit upset with the former of those people. Had the days when Daphne actually cared about her as a friend passed? Velma didn’t want to admit it was true, but she was starting to fear that it was.

Velma was sitting at dinner with Madelyn in the dining hall. They’d spent the afternoon together in Velma’s room working on class in different ways: Velma updating the participation grades on her attendance sheet and planning out the order of who would present when, and Madelyn working on finishing her part of her group’s project. In the meantime, Daphne and Isabel had gone out to eat at a restaurant nearby and explore the nearby town. Just more evidence Daphne didn’t particularly care about her.

Velma looked up from eating her plate of pasta to address Whirlen, who happened to be walking to get his meal.

“Hello Velma! And how goes the visit with your friend?” Whirlen always had a very antiquated way of saying things, which Velma found a bit charming.

“Pretty good.” Velma shrugged. She didn’t want to let him know that anything was wrong. “I was surprised you listed that the school was haunted by your ancestor in a brochure.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Whirlen looked puzzled. “I haven’t told anybody about the Merlin hauntings, other than students.”

“Hmm…maybe one of the students put it in a brochure?” Velma wondered. “Daphne said she saw it in a brochure, and that’s how she knew to come here.”

“Suppose so.” Whirlen shrugged. “Anyway, I must be going. This pasta isn’t going to eat itself, I’m afraid.”

“Are you okay, sis?” Madelyn asked once Whirlen went to retrieve his noodle nourishment. “You didn’t seem like you were enjoying the visit very much when you told Whirlen.”

“Well…I guess what I think doesn’t matter.” Velma simply stated. She admittedly didn’t want to go deep into something she didn’t really know how to think about at the moment, even though she really wanted to tell Madelyn. “What have you thought of the visit so far?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to offend you, sis…” Madelyn looked worried.

“You won’t.” Velma promised. “Just say whatever’s on your mind.”

“Well, Isabel’s really nice, but honestly…Daphne seems pretty self-centered to me. She didn’t ask anything about us last night, and she just talked about herself the whole time. It seemed like she just thought we would be so amazed by all her stories that she didn’t need to ask us about our lives.” Madelyn admitted.

Velma was admittedly a bit wowed. She felt quite validated that Madelyn had also noticed everything she felt. Maybe it wasn’t just her feeling sorry for herself in her head. Maybe Daphne really was in the wrong here.

“I didn’t know anybody else felt that way. I’ve been feeling that way about her lately too.” Velma sighed. “I don’t know what to do, though. She’s my friend, and I want to be supportive of her. It is really cool that she has her own show, but I could stand without her talking about it all the time.”

“Just because she’s your friend doesn’t mean she can never be wrong. Friends do stuff wrong sometimes, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to call them out when they’re treating you poorly.” Madelyn advised. “Sometimes friendships just need a little work.”

“You’re right. Honestly, I kinda felt like it was all in my head, but it’s really nice to hear another perspective on this.” Velma smiled. “Thanks, sis.”

“Of course. You deserve to be treated with respect.” Madelyn reminded.

Hearing Madelyn say that was incredibly affirming to her. Tonight, when Daphne came back to her room, Velma was going to say something if Daphne droned on about herself and acted like it was an inconvenience to work around Velma in her own home.

Velma was sitting on the couch in her room when she heard a knock at the door. She quickly ran to get it, and as she opened the door, she saw it was Daphne and Isabel, back from their dinner.

“Hey! So I just talked to Bumbledore, and it sounds like we have free reign to explore the castle!” Daphne informed. “Want to come with us to see if we can find Merlin?”

“Sure.” Velma agreed. “Let’s go get Madelyn first. She’ll want to come with.”

“Oh, I remember where her room is! It’s right near the guest room.” Isabel informed.

“Okay, sounds good.” Daphne agreed.

“I wouldn’t exactly trust Bumbledore, though…he greenlights everything.” Velma warned.

Nearby in the dining room, Velma noticed two students standing by Bumbledore. One of them, a girl wearing a red shirt and blue shorts, was talking to him.

“Hey, can I start an anti-club club? If you don’t know what that is, it’s a club for people who don’t like clubs. I think you’ll find it will be very productive.” the student pitched.

“Greenlight! Instant approval! You know what I say, always do what feels right!” Bumbledore repeated his standard line.

“See what I mean?” Velma rolled her eyes.

“Uh…yeah…we might want to ask Whirlen.” Daphne chuckled.

“Honestly, a better person to ask might be Marlin. He’s Whirlen’s brother.” Velma suggested. “He knows a lot about Merlin.”

“I’m down for that.” Isabel shrugged.

“As am I.” Daphne agreed.

Meanwhile, Velma noticed another male student wearing a black shirt and jeans walking up to Bumbledore.

“Hey, Bumbledore.” the student snickered. “Me and the boys are lookin’ to have a little harmless fun tonight. Just as a joke, y’know…we were thinking about rewiring the traffic light near the school so it always turns green when it’s actually red, and red when it’s supposed to be green. Just to keep things fresh, y’know. What’s your opinion on that idea?”

“Greenlight!” Bumbledore exclaimed.

“Heck yeah!” the black-shirted student went to high-five several other students waiting nearby.

“Marlin’s just upstairs, but let’s go get Madelyn first.” Velma instructed.

“Thanks for bringing me along, sis.” Madelyn said. “I just wish there weren't so many stairs.”

“There are certainly a lot of stairs…are we almost there?” Daphne panted heavily.

“Just a few more. It’s this door up there.” Velma pointed to Marlin’s room, which she could see some light in under the door.

Madelyn knocked on the door once she made the long ascent up the windy staircase. “Hey Marlin, it’s Madelyn and Velma!”

“Open up!” Isabel playfully knocked on the door again. “We just went up a lot of stairs for this!”

The door quickly opened. Marlin looked a bit surprised to see that Velma and Madelyn had brought two other people with them.

“Hey Marlin, these are my friends, Daphne and Isabel.” Velma tried not to feel frustrated when she said the word ‘friends,’ because Daphne didn’t feel like much of a friend to her lately. “We just had some questions about Merlin.”

“Oh, come in, come in.” Marlin invited.

“Woah, there are so many books in this place!” Isabel exclaimed when she saw the rows of full bookshelves in Marlin’s room.

“Yes, I’m quite the avid reader.” Marlin chuckled. “Now, what were your questions?”

“So, I have a bit of an update for you.” Velma began. “Merlin confronted me alone in my classroom the other day.”

“Oh dear! I was worried about this.” Marlin sighed.

“He told me I had to stop teaching about him, or I’d face the consequences.” Velma continued.

“Good lord!” Marlin looked astounded. “He’s never directly confronted somebody like that before. Have you stopped teaching about him?”

“Well…kind of? I wanted to finish teaching the book I’d already assigned my students, so I’ve been teaching lessons about him in a way that would be flattering to him, so as not to upset him.”

“In other words, a bit like an infomercial.” Daphne interjected.

“That was a good choice, Velma. I think you need to stop teaching about him immediately until I’m able to research more on the situation. It’s not worth putting your class in danger.” Marlin advised. “Thank you for letting me know about this.”

“We were thinking about looking for him around the castle. I have a TV show where I capture haunted attractions on film, and I’d love to feature Merlin on this show. Is that okay?” Daphne asked.

Marlin got a look of annoyance on his face, his face scrunching up a little in disdain. “With all due respect, this is hardly some sort of cute fun little thing to put on your show. Merlin is showing more signs of aggression than he ever has before in this school, and it’s specifically targeted at your friend. I’m not going to stop you if you choose to do such a foolish thing, but it’s hardly a wise idea to rile him up, especially if you care about your friend’s safety.”

“Oh…sorry to bother you, sir.” Daphne meekly replied.

“Thanks for the advice, Marlin.” Madelyn appreciated.

“Yes, thank you so much.” Velma replied.

“Thank you for telling me. I’m very glad that you did. I’ll keep looking into this, and let you know what I find the moment I do.” Marlin said.

“Nice to meet you!” Isabel cheerfully chirped.

“Nice to meet you both as well. Take care.” Marlin replied, his voice noticeably getting a tad bit colder when talking to the visitors.

They all remained silent until they had gotten a decent way down the stairs, after which Daphne was the first to speak up.

“Well, he was kind of a jerk. I’m not going to let that stop us from investigating this mystery, though.” Daphne vowed. “I say that we still should investigate the castle.”

“He wasn’t a jerk, Daphne.” Velma sighed. “He was just concerned for our safety.”

“Yeah, Marlin’s great.” Madelyn added. “He just wants to make sure all of us don’t get in a dangerous situation.”

“Trust me, I’ve been in these situations before.” Daphne confidently said. “Somebody always warns me away because they think it’s too dangerous. There was this guy at a gas station by some haunted cabins where Shaggy, Scooby and I were staying, and he warned me about this ghost that was haunting the place and that I needed to stay away. Often, the best content for the show comes when I do go into those places that I’m warned not to enter.”

Velma tried to keep her composure and not get too upset, although Daphne was really pushing her buttons. She calmly took a deep breath before she spoke. “Have you ever stopped to think about how it’s not all about content?”

“When you’re in the business I’m in, trust me, it’s all about content.” Daphne let out a light chuckle.

Velma decided to just ignore the remark for now. “So where do you want to start?”

“I was thinking in the basement.” Daphne suggested. Velma had admittedly never gone down there before, since she never really needed to, so she had no idea what it looked like.

“That’s fine. You’ll know the place as much as I will, though. I haven’t been down there.” Velma said.

“I have.” Madelyn informed. “It’s a pretty nice place, although kind of spooky. It’s got some old-style classrooms.”

“I think it’s around this corner?” Isabel guessed. “I got a little lost yesterday, so I passed by it on the way to the guest room.”

“Yeah, it is!” Madelyn confirmed, as the group headed over towards the basement door. She held the door open for everyone, including a group of three snickering male students.

“What were you guys doing down there?” Velma asked.

“Uh…basement stuff.” one of them quickly said, before the group ran off.

“Oh wow, it’s spooky down here.” Isabel commented. There were currently no lights on in the basement, making it impossible to see anything.

“I’m trying to feel around for a lightswitch, but it’s not working.” Daphne lamented.

“What do you mean, it’s not working?” Madelyn inquired.

“I mean I feel like I’m hitting a switch, and it isn’t working.” Daphne clarified her previous comment.

“Let me try.” Velma offered, as she brushed the palms of her hands along the firm, dense wall. It took her a moment, but she quickly felt the lightswitch that her friend was talking about. Sure enough, she couldn’t get the switch to turn on.

“That must have been what those kids were doing down here.” Madelyn presumed. “They were messing around with the lights.”

“You should not have come down here.” a creepy voice rasped.

“Daphne, turn your camera on!” Isabel shouted. Velma couldn’t really see, but the rustling around in the dark made it sound as if the redhead was fumbling to get it on so she could record. The light from the device lit up the basement enough for Velma to see what they are dealing with.

“Velma Dinkley, I warned you not to meddle in my affairs, and yet you brought your friends down here to find me!” the wizard hissed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to!” Velma cried.

“This is your final warning! If you do not heed my words, you and your friends shall deeply regret it.” Merlin snarled, as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Did you get all that, Daphne?” Isabel asked.

“I sure did!” Daphne gasped. “Jeepers, that was scary! Is everybody okay?”

A chorus of “yes” and “mhmm” affirmed Daphne’s statement.

“I bet if we go in your classroom tomorrow and you talk bad about Merlin, he’ll show up again, and we can get him on film saying why he’s haunting the place!” Daphne said.

Velma felt a frustration bubble up in her. Daphne didn’t even seem to care that she would be putting her class in danger; she just wanted to do things that served her own self-interest.

“Daphne, sometimes you’re just too much!” Velma snapped.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Daphne retorted.

“C’mon guys, let’s get up these stairs before we keep talking. I don’t like it down here.” Isabel shuddered.

Everyone trudged up the stairs as they headed back into the light. Madelyn held the door open.

“Daphne, what it’s supposed to mean is that sometimes all you care about is your show. You don’t even care about putting my students in danger. What if Merlin gets vengeful and attacks them? Is that worth it for your show?” Velma growled.

“I’m…” Daphne’s excited expression waned to a guilty glance. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking that one through. Maybe there’s some other way we can get him on camera.”

“That’s what I mean. You’re always talking about that stupid show.” Velma sighed. “I’m happy for you that you have a show you’re so passionate about, but there’s no need to make that the only thing you ever focus on or talk about.”

“I do not just only talk about that show!” Daphne defended.

“Yes you do! You didn’t even care what I was doing with my life. You’re only here for Merlin.” Velma got increasingly worked up.

“I absolutely care about what you're doing!” Daphne rebuked.

“You don’t act like it! You didn’t even ask me a single thing about myself, and we talked about you for an hour whereas we talked about me for ten minutes. Heck, you’ve barely addressed Madelyn, and I don’t even really know Isabel besides the fact that she’s your new sidekick or whatever, because you wouldn’t let her talk or introduce yourself! All I know about her is your stories, because you always have to be the center of attention!” Velma’s voice raised from a level of frustrated banter to an angry shout.

It was clear Velma’s words hit Daphne hard, because she had no reply to this for at least a minute.

“Look…I’m sorry.” Daphne looked like she was tearing up. “I wasn’t trying to be mean, I just was excited about seeing you here, and I wanted you to know what was going on in my life…but I didn’t really know how. We really don’t see each other that much anymore…I mean, at least, not compared to how it was where we saw each other every moment. It feels weird we never really hang out anymore…I’ve been trying to do more stuff with Shaggy, so I wanted to try to initiate that with you again when he told me about Merl - oops.”

Daphne suddenly became silent.

“Wait a minute, so Whirlen was right! There was no brochure. You just made the whole thing up!” Velma gasped. “Why would you lie?”

“I never wanted to hurt you! I just thought it would be a good excuse, where I wouldn’t have to actually admit that I was coming to see you, because it had been so long and I felt awkward. Jeepers, I mean, the last time we talked was when I said I was going on that trip to Sumley’s, and that was like…fall? I felt bad about that…so I thought it would be more natural to just say I stumbled upon the school myself. I don’t know. I made a mess of things. I’m a terrible person!” Daphne broke into tears.

“You’re not a terrible person, Daphne…sometimes you just have to be less focused on yourself.” Velma tried to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t upset her friend further.

“Ugh…I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry. I need to get to bed.” Daphne said. “Can you give me the keys?”

“Sure.” Velma nodded, handing the redhead the keys. Whether she intended it or not, Daphne could be a bit too full of herself at times…Velma just hoped she hadn’t been too harsh. She felt really bad for upsetting Daphne so much, but she hoped Daphne would feel better enough in the morning to discuss it further.

Velma awoke from her slumber as the late February sun shined down on her brunette hair through the window.

“Good morning.” Velma greeted her cohabiting comrade.

“Hi.” Daphne meekly said.

“Listen Daph, I’m sorry if I was too harsh last night. I was just feeling invisible, I guess. You spent so much time talking about your stuff that one night, and we didn’t talk about mine at all. You even worked your schedule around what you wanted to do when you’re visiting me.” Velma shared. “I don’t want to make you feel bad, I was just feeling like you were acting as if I were unimportant or not as good as you.”

“Wait a minute…are you jealous?” Daphne wondered.

Velma genuinely hadn’t considered that question before, but stopped to think for a moment before she answered.

“Maybe a little.” Velma sighed. “But it still doesn’t excuse your actions.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t.” Daphne admitted. “I can understand why you’d be jealous, but your life is pretty amazing too. You’re teaching at a school for magicians. How many people can say they’ve done that?

“I mean, I won’t be in another nine weeks.” Velma said. “I’ll be back to running my boring old bookstore.”

“Is it boring to you, or do you just think it’s boring to other people?” Daphne questioned.

“I loved my quiet life. However, working in a bookstore is objectively probably the most boring job you could possibly tell people you have.” Velma responded.

“Who cares what other people think? Their judgment shouldn’t mean anything to you.” Daphne pointed out. “You love your life, and that’s what matters, right?”

After Daphne had been kind of full of herself, Velma was astounded at the amazing advice the redhead had provided.

“Yeah.” Velma’s facial expression shifted from a groggy stupor to a smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry I said all that about you.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Daphne asked. “You were completely justified in everything you said. Sometimes I do get a little carried away with talking about my show to people, and it’s something I need to work on. I’m sorry I was acting like I wasn’t interested in what you had to say. That was wrong. I’ll make you a deal…I’ll promise to work on being a little too focused on myself, if you promise to work on your self-esteem. Deal?”

Velma felt all the appreciation and recognition from Daphne that she had been missing come racing back. It was great to hear Daphne admit that she could be too self-centered at times, and especially to hear the sentiment that Velma didn’t need to feel subconscious about her life. Daphne was absolutely right: this job was fulfilling to Velma, and that was enough.

“Deal.” Velma agreed.

Velma and Daphne realized they were the last ones at breakfast as they got their food and saw Madelyn and Isabel were already sitting at their normal table.

“Good morning!” Madelyn greeted. “How’d you both sleep?”

“Pretty good!” Velma informed.

“I slept well too.” Daphne said. “Hey…um…I just wanted to say I’m sorry, Madelyn. Velma was right last night about me not making much of an effort to get to know you, and that was wrong of me.”

“Oh…” Madelyn looked surprised that Daphne was apologizing to her, but pleasantly so. “No problem. I appreciate your apology.”

“How’d you sleep, Isabel?” Velma inquired.

“Oh, decent.” Isabel replied.

“I’m gonna go pack up my suitcase after breakfast.” Daphne informed.

“I’ve already got mine in the car.” Isabel informed. “I said goodbye to Jeff. Nice guy. We’ll keep in touch. We’re having lunch next week, actually.”

“Oh, do you guys have to head out soon?” Madelyn inquired.

“You’d be welcome to sit in on my class, if you want. Just to meet some of my students.” Velma suggested.

“You know, I think I’d like that.” Daphne smiled.

It was a minute before 1, and Velma had just seen John come in. He was the last remaining student who was not in the room yet…except Brian, who Velma sadly didn’t expect to see today. She would have to talk to Whirlen about him next week if he continued to not attend.

“Alright class, we’re going to do our presentations today on Merlin, but first I’d like to introduce you to some special guests.” Velma pointed to Daphne and Isabel sitting in the back of the room.

“This is Daphne Blake. You might know her from the TV show Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake on the Americana network.” Velma introduced. “And this is Isabel, her travel partner when going to the haunted attractions she visits for her show. They’re going to sit in and watch your presentations today. Now, let’s start with group 5.”

Velma had a feeling that one was going to be relatively bad, as group 5 never produced great work.

“Uh…Merlin’s greatest accomplishment is that he was a sorcerer!” Ron stuttered.

“Ooh, magic!” Mike whispered.

“How many people can say that, am I right, or am I right?!?” Parry confidently said.

Velma tried not to let out an audible sigh at how extremely poor quality their presentation was.

“How exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Velma inquired.

“Well…he’s a sorcerer! Isn’t that enough to ask of the guy?” Parry defended.

“Okay.” Velma sighed quietly. She decided not to push the group, as clearly they’d put nearly zero preparation into this. She would need to have a talk with that group. “Let’s mix it up a little bit today. Group 1, would you like to go next?”

“Sure!” Kennedy agreed.

“Brian’s not here, though.” Mitch mentioned. “In fact, he probably doesn’t even know we’re doing this assignment, given he’s been gone since Monday!”

“I know.” Velma tried to not reveal too much detail of her presumptions that Brian was hiding out of fear of being confronted by her. “It’s okay, just go on with your presentation.”

“Okay then.” Mitch began. “We think Merlin’s biggest accomplishment was protecting Arthur.”

“They talked a lot about this in the book. It was clear that he completely dedicated himself to ensure the prince was safe, so that he could return magic to the land of Camelot.” Kennedy explained.

“Excellent! Let’s jump to group 4 next.” Velma said.

“In our opinion, Merlin’s greatest accomplishment was fighting his sister Morgan le Fay. He had to deal with great inner turmoil in realizing that a member of his family had become evil, and it took a lot of courage for him to realize that somebody he loved was in the wrong.” Kara began.

“Morgan was sneaky and manipulative, so arguably, Merlin was a brave man for standing up to his sister.” Katie added.

“Yeah, Merlin dealt with a lot, but he kept at it no matter what came at him.” Velma found John’s addition to be a bit generic compared to the other two, especially when it was next to Kara’s incredible contribution, but she didn’t let it bother her too much as the group’s argument was otherwise very good.

“Wonderful job! Let’s go to group 2 next.” Velma pointed to the group, who was currently sitting near the back by Daphne and Isabel.

“Defeating the dragon was Merlin’s biggest accomplishment.” Owen said.

“I mean, just think about how much courage it would take to defeat a literal dragon! So scary.” Ashley enthusiastically continued.

“Yeah, dragons are pretty dangerous, so it took Merlin a lot of mental courage and emotional courage to make it through that situation.” Ramando added.

The argument came off a little flat, but she knew all of them were in their first year at Whirlen Merlin’s, so she felt less cynical about it than she did with group 5’s poor presentation.

“Great! This will be our final group to share before the groups all come up and debate. Group 3?” Velma knew Madelyn’s group would have a very well thought through argument.

“Ours was kind of similar to group 1’s.” Sabrina warned.

“That’s okay, go ahead.” Velma encouraged.

“We think Merlin’s greatest accomplishment was the act of protecting the throne.” Sadie stated. “That took so much dedication and courage.”

“There were times he almost gave his life for the throne.” Sabrina argued. “That’s true courage right there.”

“Merlin sacrificed himself for his people, and that was truly an honorable deed.” Madelyn added.

“Merlin dedicated his life to protecting the people, and if that’s not an amazing accomplishment, I don’t know what is.” Annabelle concluded.

“Wonderful job, everyone! It’s now time for you to debate against each other. Group 1 and 2 can debate, then group 3 and group 4…and…” Velma knew it didn’t really matter which groups she put group 5 with, since their argument was so atrocious. “Group 5 can be with groups 3 and 4 as well. Groups 3, 4 and 5: your question essentially boils down to is protecting your people, dealing with the heartache of betrayal, or being a sorcerer more important?” Velma internally cringed when she said the last one.

“Awww yeah baby, I know which one they gon’ choose!” Parry muttered.

“You know what, I’ll be the first to say that I think protecting your people is most important.” Kara said, to the class’s surprise. “We didn’t think about him protecting the throne from that angle. I think group 3's argument is the best.”

“Wow…thank you.” Madelyn looked shocked.

“Butcha still gotta face off against group numba five!” Parry slyly smirked. “He couldn’t have protected the throne if he wasn’t a sorcerer. Boom! Check and mate.”

“Group 3 wins!” Velma exclaimed. “Him being a sorcerer wasn’t an accomplishment because it’s not like he worked to get his powers; he just had them.”

“It is so an accomplishment! He was a sorcerer! What more could you want from the guy?” Parry snapped.

Velma chose just to ignore Parry’s ramblings. “Group 1 and 2, it’s your turn to debate.”

“I guess our answer seems pretty silly in comparison to theirs.” Owen blushed.

“Yeah…Merlin protecting Arthur is far more important than fighting a dragon.” Ashley agreed.

“So that just leaves group 1 and group 3, and we both have very similar arguments.” Mitch pointed out.

“I would argue that you could make a case for both, personally.” Madelyn pointed out. “By protecting Arthur, he was protecting his people.”

“Yeah, can more than one group win?” Sabrina asked.

“Absolutely. In fact, I was hoping they would. The point of this exercise was to get you to engage in dialogue about the perspectives that you read with one another. There’s no one right or wrong answer, in fact, the majority of your perspectives were right.” Velma wanted to say ‘all,’ but it would be hard to be more wrong than group 5’s answer. “The important thing is that you talked about what stood out to you most. Now, class is just about over, but before you leave, I want you to come up here so you can see the grade I gave you.”

The students began packing up their belongings, and each group sent a representative up to check their grades.

“Nice, we got an A!” Madelyn rushed back to inform her group after she looked at Velma’s sheet.

“Sweet, an A!” Mitch said to Kennedy as both of them glanced at the grade sheet.

“B. That’s pretty good!” Ashley said.

Next, John came up to see his grade. “Nice, we got an A! Thanks, Ms. D!”

She was admittedly hoping group 5 would be the last, as she needed to have a conversation with them. She saw Daphne and Isabel, who she’d admittedly forgotten about due to getting so caught up in grading the students.

“Aww, sweet, I bet we got a big fat honkin’...F?!?” Parry gasped. “What’s the meaning of this transgression against academia?”

Ron and Mike quickly hurried up to the front of the room when they heard Parry’s frustrated exclamation. Jake eventually sauntered up as well.

“Well, I don’t want to hurt any of your feelings, but…” Velma cautiously said.

“You don’t know how to grade? Yeah, we noticed that!” Mike exclaimed.

“Mike, there’s no need for insults.” Velma’s tone suddenly became more firm. “Your presentation was poor.”

“Umm, I think you mean to say academically disadvantaged.” Parry joked.

“This is no time for jokes, guys.” Velma sighed. “Your presentation didn’t have any information in it that couldn’t have been said from not even reading the book.”

“Well, I never! I’ll have you know that I skimmed this book very thoroughly.” Parry replied.

“I really think you guys have potential, but if you keep doing assignments this poorly, I’m afraid you’re going to fail this course. I hate to say this, but you really need to step it up and start putting some effort into your assignments. That goes for your weekly assignments too.” Velma warned. “Have a good weekend, you all.”

Parry and Mike stormed off in a frustrated stupor, while Ron simply looked worried. Jake, as per usual, looked disengaged. In fact, Velma hadn’t thought about it in the moment, but he didn’t even say anything in his group’s presentation. He simply didn’t contribute at all. While she was going to at least give the group a 1/10 for a very slight effort, Jake was going to have to get a zero for his complete lack of engagement.

“Wow…I had no idea how good of a teacher you are.” Daphne gasped.

“Oh…this? This is nothing.” Velma shrugged off. “I was just trying to help them, because we’re already halfway through the course as of next week, and they were going to fail if I didn’t say something to prompt them to turn it around.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t just lecturing or making the students read stuff. You really were engaging them in the content.” Daphne smiled.

“Yeah, you were a total boss up there!” Isabel agreed.

“You’re amazing, Velma. I’m so lucky to have such a cool, kind person as my friend.” Daphne responded. For the first time in forever, the redhead wrapped her arms around the brunette and gave her a hug, making Velma feel very warm inside.

It was a considerably nice day for wintertime. The sun was shining, and it was just barely warm enough for Velma not to need gloves. She admittedly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been outside, as she spent all her time in the castle and never really had anywhere to go. Velma, Madelyn, Daphne and Isabel were all gathered by Daphne’s red car.

“It was so amazing seeing you again, Velma.” Daphne smiled. “And it was nice meeting you, Madelyn!”

“Nice meeting you both too!” Madelyn said.

“It was a lot of fun seeing you again too, Daphne.” Velma responded. “Great meeting you as well, Isabel!”

“Yeah, super nice meeting you both!” Isabel replied.

To Velma’s surprise, she saw Whirlen rushing out of the school as well.

“I wanted to say goodbye before you both left. It was so nice having you here! I hope you enjoyed your stay, and I wish you both all the best.” Whirlen said farewell. “Always nice having guests staying here at the Me School of Magic!”

“Thanks, Marlin.” Daphne accidentally misremembered his name. “It was pretty nice, other than running into Merlin, of course.”

“You ran into my ancestor?” Whirlen gasped. “Why didn’t you inform me?”

“I’m sorry, I promise I was going to tell you after they left.” Velma apologized. “We just saw him in the basement yesterday with the lights out.

“We thought it was some kids messing with the lights, but I think Merlin short-circuited the lights to scare us.” Madelyn added.

“Why did you think it was the kids?” Whirlen questioned.

“They said they were doing ‘basement stuff’ or something dumb like that.” Daphne answered.

“Why, I’ll have you know those students were doing some very honorable basement stuff down there! They were dusting, cleaning, and washing down everything since the janitor called in sick. Have you got something against basement stuff or something?” Whirlen became defensive.

“No…no, we don’t.” Daphne looked a little bewildered.

“I’ve got something against basement stuff.” Velma could hear Isabel playfully mutter.

“Regardless, I must check into the Merlin thing. Thank you for informing me.” Whirlen appreciated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a tennis match to get to.”

“I didn’t know there were any tennis courts around here.” Madelyn looked a little confused.

“I said a tennis match, not a tennis game! As in, I need to get to the shoe store and get some new tennis shoes that match my socks.” Whirlen scurried off.

Isabel waited until Whirlen was out of earshot to make her next comment. “He’s sort of a character, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he is.” Velma chuckled. “I like him though. And I like this school.”

“I think it’s safe to say this school likes you.” Daphne smiled. “I saw all those students beaming at your knowledge and loving the activity you had for them. I think you’re doing great work here.”

Velma felt like she should affirm Daphne’s show back, since she was kind enough to compliment her on teaching. “You are too. It’s amazing you have your own show, and I’m really proud of you.”

“Maybe sometime you’d join me filming an episode?” Daphne suggested. “I’d love to have you come along!”

“That would be great.” Velma’s facial expression shifted into a smile.

“Then it’s set. I’ll bring you along when you get back to Coolsville in May!” Daphne agreed, as she began getting in the driver’s seat, and Isabel went around to the passenger’s seat. “Bye, Velma! Can’t wait to see you again soon.”

“I can’t wait either!” Velma replied, as Daphne got fully in the car and began to drive away.

As Velma and Madelyn watched Daphne and Isabel drive off, Velma started getting reflective on her old life. It was nothing like it was now, but Velma was truly loving every moment of teaching. It was beginning to even feel like home to her. Even if it were temporary, Velma was so happy she had gotten this experience, and teaching here felt arguably like one of the most fulfilling things she’d ever done.

Chapter Text

Velma rushed through the halls, desperate to make sure she got to class on time. She’d spent the morning trying to revert her syllabus back to how it was before she’d changed all the content to center around Merlin. However, this had caused her to completely lose track of time. Thankfully, she’d noticed the time about ten minutes before class. She usually always liked to arrive in the classroom between 15-20 minutes before it began, so she would be the first one in the room.

“Hey Ms. Dinkley.” Velma heard Ron say. When she glanced behind her, she noticed that he was racing to catch up with her.”

“I’ve been really thinking about what you said the other day, and you’re right. I’m not really putting my best foot forward for this class, and I’m sorry.” Ron said.

“It’s okay, Ron. I appreciate your acknowledgement of it, and hopefully realizing that, you’ll be able to improve the quality of your work for the rest of the course.” Velma smiled.

“Well, that’s what I was gonna talk to you about. I think it’d be best if I dropped the course.” Ron said.

“Oh…are you sure?” Velma questioned.

“Well, even if I got a great grade on the rest of my assignments, I’ve really tanked my grade in the past few weeks. The highest grade I can get is a C- at this point, and I just don’t think it’s worth it. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” Ron muttered. Velma’s warning the other day must have really resonated with him.

“You didn’t waste my time. Don’t think that for a moment.” Velma assured. “It was a very honorable thing for you to do to come to me and think this through so much. I won’t think anything bad of you if you drop my course. Maybe you’ll be more prepared to take it again another semester.”

“Thanks for understanding Ms. D.” Ron smiled. “It wasn’t you at all; I just wasn’t putting in the effort. I’m really sorry. If I take this class another semester, I hope I get you. You really were a great teacher.”

“Thanks, Ron. It was great having you in class. I hope you have a great rest of your semester!” Velma well-wished, even though she knew that he probably wouldn’t get her again.

“Thanks Ms. D. You too!” Ron said, as he headed in the other direction.

Even if it made her a little late to class, Velma was really glad she had that conversation with Ron. She truly meant what she said to Ron. Even if he had dropped the course, it took a lot of responsibility to really think about it like he had and make a decision that seemed best for him.

As Velma had suspected, all of her students were already sitting in the room. A quick glance at the clock showed it was exactly 1.

“I’m sorry I’m late, class.” Velma apologized. “I had to deal with something related to a student.”

To be fair, it wasn’t exactly a lie, even if it wasn’t the only reason she was late.

“Today, we’re going to talk about the exciting history of stage magic.” Velma began. She stopped when she saw Mike raise his hand. “Yes, Mike?”

“Hey, what about Merlin?” Mike asked. “I thought we were talking about him for the rest of the semester.”

“Well, there was a change of plans.” Velma simply said. She didn’t want to worry any of the students by divulging the real reason why she’d stopped talking about Merlin.

“Ah man, this class is already boring enough as it is. Just when it was getting exciting, we’ve gotta go back to talking about boring old literature.” Mike sighed. “I bet you’re just switching because you’re afraid Merlin’s gonna show up or something.”

Velma had never experienced an outburst like this in the classroom before, besides maybe Eric, but that was obviously a very different situation. She wondered if Mike’s outburst was because he was upset with her for calling his group out for doing a poor job last week.

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Mike.” Velma’s voice became a little more stern. “It’s important you learn about the history of stage magic, since you are going to a magic boarding school after all.”

“Oh c’mon, are you really that afraid of Merlin? What’s he gonna do, turn off the lights so you stumble and lose your glasses or something?” Mike teased. “Nobody in this room’s afraid of Merlin.”

Velma’s heart sank when the lights turned off again. They weren’t off very long this time, but when they turned back on, she admittedly wished they had stayed off. Merlin had appeared right in front of Mike, his ghostly fingers pointed right at him. Velma had never seen Merlin’s hands very close, but this time, she noticed they were bony, skeletal hands. This feature alone added a whole new level of creepiness to the ghostly wizard.

“So you aren’t afraid of me?” Merlin rasped. “I’ll give you something to be very afraid of!”

In a puff of smoke, Merlin disappeared. However, this time, he quickly reappeared in front of Madelyn.

“No! Don’t hurt my students!” Velma cried.

Merlin simply cackled, as he wrapped his arms around Madelyn.

“Let her go!” Velma exclaimed.

“Let this be a warning to the rest of you!” Merlin hissed. “Two shall face my wrath! Do not let there be a third!”

The lights suddenly went out again, causing the classroom to erupt in gasping and frightened screaming. After a few moments, the lights flickered on.

Velma immediately looked over to see if Madelyn was safe. Her heart began to race when she saw an empty seat next to Sadie.

“Madelyn’s gone!” Sadie panicked.

“Merlin said two shall face his wrath, though. Who else is missing?” Sabrina looked around the room frantically.

“Parry’s disappeared too!” John exclaimed. “Merlin must have kidnapped both of them.”

“Oh god!” Velma exclaimed. She usually would never show her students that she wasn’t confident in handling a situation, but she was completely freaking out about Madelyn. Her stomach began to ache, she started to breathe quickly, and she felt like she could barely think straight. She still hadn’t even processed that this had really happened. It didn’t feel like it could be real that Merlin would kidnap her sister and Parry like this. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to dismiss class for the day. I need to inform Whirlen about this immediately.”

Velma didn’t even wait for her students to leave the room. The glasses-wearing teacher raced out to see Whirlen before any other student had left yet.

She sprinted through the halls to Whirlen’s office as fast as she possibly could. By the time she’d made it to his office, she felt a bit out of breath.

“Whirlen. Whirlen!” Velma shouted as she came into the office. She didn’t have time for normal pleasantries; she needed the headmaster out here immediately. Thankfully, he poked his head out of his office with a concerned look when he saw Velma’s frantic expression.

“What’s wrong?” Whirlen asked. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I have! I saw the ghost of Merlin again, and he…” Velma had a hard time even explaining the situation to him. It still didn’t even feel real to her that this had happened. “He kidnapped Madelyn and Parry Hotter.”

“What?!?” Whirlen’s eyes grew wide with shock. “How did this happen?”

“One of my students was asking why I wasn’t teaching about Merlin anymore, and accused me of being too scared to teach about him.” Velma explained.

“Are you saying the student was taunting you?” Whirlen looked frustrated.

“Yes.” Velma confirmed.

“Why, that’s the clearest violation of the Nana Nana Boo Boo Policy I’ve ever heard!” Whirlen snarled.

“Anyway, Merlin appeared and said that Madelyn and Parry were going to face his wrath.” Velma continued explaining. “Then he turned the lights out and grabbed them, and when the lights came on, they were gone.”

“Good lord!” Whirlen gasped. “We must warn the students! Bumbledore, please warn everyone!”

“I don’t even know where to begin, since Merlin can appear and disappear at will.” Bumbledore panicked, as his hands hovered over a set of buttons below Whirlen’s desk. “I suppose I’ll just have to press all these buttons.”

Velma glanced at the set of emergency buttons Bumbledore was pressing, and saw the headmaster’s fingers press the ‘fire,’ ‘tornado,’ and ‘lockdown’ buttons all at the same time.

“Attention students!” a pre-recorded message of a robotic voice came over the intercom. “There has been a fire spotted somewhere in this building! Please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion immediately.”

Another pre-recorded message began promptly afterwards. “Attention students! There has been a tornado spotted outside! No matter what you do, do not go outside! Line up in the brick hallway and cover your head with your hands!”

A third pre-recorded message started as soon as the last one ended. “Attention students! There has been an intruder spotted in the building! No matter what, you cannot go out in the hall! Stay in your rooms!”

“Oh dear, I’ve really bumbled things up again, haven’t I?” Bumbledore sighed.

Whirlen didn’t respond directly to Bumbledore. Rather, he simply picked up the intercom and began speaking into it.

“Attention students! False alarm…all three of them, actually. Please ignore all of the previous alarms; they were simply an accident. However, what I meant to announce is that there is an all-staff meeting after classes today. All staff must report to my office.” Whirlen announced. “Apologies for the inconvenience.”

“Why didn’t you warn the students?” Velma inquired.

“In hindsight, I think it’s better if they don’t know for now. The all-staff meeting shall give us an opportunity to brainstorm what to do, and hopefully, we’ll find Madelyn and Parry before nightfall.” Whirlen said.

Velma sighed. It wasn’t the best solution, but it was at least something. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

By the time the staff meeting came around at 3:30, Velma felt like an absolute nervous wreck. She’d hardly gotten anything prepared for her class the next day, because all she could think about was Madelyn. She didn’t know what Merlin’s “wrath” entailed, but all she could hope was that her little sister was safe. She didn’t know if she could ever forgive herself if Madelyn was somehow hurt or worse.

Velma tapped her foot anxiously as she sat in the chair awaiting the rest of the staff to show up. Nearly everybody was already there, and the one holdout - Mr. Mistara - had just entered the room, so Velma presumed they were about to start. She wasn’t sure if Bumbledore would join the meeting, but she assumed not.

“Alright, it appears as if everybody’s here.” Whirlen said. “I suppose we can start.”

“Where’s Bumbledore?” a woman whom Velma believed to be named Mikayla asked.

“Ah, he’s out doing one of his typical weekly listening sessions with the students.” Whirlen informed, as the beat of a rap song and a loud bass could be suddenly heard outside the room. “Velma, would you like to explain what happened and why this meeting is being called?”

“The ghost of Whirlen’s ancestor, Merlin, appeared in my class today and kidnapped two of my students.” Velma shared, feeling very emotional as she said it.

“Oh no! Does that mean we have to close the school?” Dan wondered.

“Well, Hogwarts never had to close even when a Satanic wizard was attacking the school for seven years, so I don’t see why we should have to.” Whirlen oddly referenced. “However, I would like to open up the floor to suggestions.”

“Perhaps it’s time to revive the STF.” Sam suggested.

“The Stupid Task Force? Ugh, I hate those guys. They’re so incompetent.” Whirlen harrumphed.

“No, Sam’s talking about the Staff Task Force.” Matt clarified. “We haven’t used it since Bumbledore was launched out a window in a tragic-yet-comedic series of events resulting from opening a file cabinet.”

“I for one would be in favor.” Joseph agreed. “We need to find those students as soon as possible.”

“So would I.” Amanda agreed. “Student safety should be our top priority here.”

“Let’s put it to a vote.” Whirlen suggested. “All in favor of forming the task force, raise your hand.”

Everybody raised their hands.

“So it’s settled then.” Whirlen said. “We go out on a mission to rescue Madelyn Dinkley and Parry Hotter.”

A man wearing a tweed coat and gray pants who had not yet spoken yet raised his hand to denote he had something to say.

“Yes, Jonathan?” Whirlen inquired.

“Well, I vote our first task is to get supper. I’m famished.” Jonathan rubbed his stomach.

“I’m in favor of that!” Dan agreed.

“Alright, so first we get supper, then perhaps a little dessert if there’s room, then our second task is to find those students!”

Velma couldn’t help but roll her eyes. The last thing that was on her mind right now was eating, but if she had learned anything from working here for two months, it was to embrace the chaos.

Dinner felt like it took absolutely forever. Velma was more than ready to go look for her sister and Parry. Quite frankly, she found the Staff Task Force’s lack of morale and concern for these students quite frustrating.

Thankfully, someone seemed to understand the direness of the situation. She saw Sadie wander over to the group of staff and walk directly up to Velma.

“Have you found Madelyn yet?” Sadie asked, seeming very anxious.

“Not yet. After dinner, the whole Whirlen Merlin staff is going to go out and look for her, so you can be assured we’ll find her.” Velma comforted. She wasn’t exactly feeling too certain of that herself, but the teacher in her didn’t want to worry her student.

“Okay, good.” Sadie had a faint hint of a comforted smile on her face. “I’ve been so worried all day, I just haven’t been able to focus on anything else.”

Velma could relate, but she didn’t want to say anything that would show Sadie she was worried. She felt like she had no business comforting this student on something that she was feeling equally awful about, but she felt like she had to at least try. “I’m sorry to hear that. Just get some dinner and try to distract yourself.”

“Okay…I’m not really hungry, but I’ll try.” Sadie walked over to pour herself a glass of milk. However, her hands were so shaky from being worked up about Madelyn’s kidnapping that she dropped the entire bottle on the ground and began to tear up. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!”

Whirlen scurried over to help her clean it up, but his facial expression grew a bit stern. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to stop crying over spilled milk.”

“Sorry. I’ll run to the bathroom to get some paper towels.” Sadie sniffled, as she scurried off.

“Well, I think everybody’s just about wrapped up eating. We need to find those students.” Velma decided to use the Sadie situation to her advantage, since the other teachers might not know Sadie was one of her students. “Look how upset that student was. Word must be getting around, so we need to get out looking for them before students get too worried.”

“She’s right.” Whirlen agreed. “We need to start combing every room to see if Madelyn and Parry are there. Do we want to split up into multiple groups? One group can look at the classrooms on this floor, another group can look on the second floor, a third group can check the third and fourth floors, and the last group can look in the basement.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Velma noticed that Marlin was rushing towards the group of teachers.

“What’s happened?” Marlin asked. “I’m sorry I missed the staff meeting, I was in my room fixing something and it took far longer than I anticipated.”

“I’m afraid it’s horrible news, brother. Our ancestor has taken two students, and we devised this task force to look for them.” Whirlen updated.

“Oh good lord!” Marlin gasped. “We have to find them before something terrible happens!”

“Indeed. How would we like to split up?” Whirlen inquired.

“Well, we’ve got 13 of us here.” Marlin looked at the group of staff. “How about if we make group 1 Sam, John and Amanda? Group 2 can be Joseph, Matt and Dan. Group 3: Mikayla, Harper and Don. Doris, would you be okay with being in a group of four with those three?”

“The pleasure will be all mine, I’m sure!” Doris exclaimed.

“That just leaves myself, Whirlen and Velma.” Marlin said.

“Alright, group 1 can check this floor, group 2 can check the second floor, and group 3 can check the third and fourth floors.” Whirlen instructed. “I guess that just leaves the basement for us. For those checking the floors, be sure to look in each and every classroom.”

Velma certainly wasn’t looking forward to going back in the basement after her experience last time, but she knew she had to. As powerless as she felt, she knew she and the other staff were Madelyn and Parry’s only hope.

“Let's all meet back here in two hours. That way, we’ll be sure that all of us are safe and nobody was kidnapped by Merlin.” Marlin suggested.

Each group headed their separate ways. Marlin, Whirlen and Velma hustled towards the basement.

“I never would have thought Merlin would have done something like this.” Marlin said, as he held the basement door open for Whirlen and Velma. Once again, there was no light in the basement, making Velma fear the possibility of Merlin ambushing them.

“Yes, it is quite odd. It seems his behavior has gotten more rash since you’ve come here, Velma.” Whirlen agreed.

Velma found herself tensing up when Whirlen moved his hand towards the lightswitch. She was terrified that nothing would happen when he attempted to turn on the light, just like last time. Thankfully, the light turned on when his hand hit the switch. However, Velma still felt a bit tense. Why would Merlin specifically be targeting her?

“Are you saying that you think he’s targeting me?” Velma finally said. She was admittedly afraid to hear the answer.

“Well, it does seem a bit like that may be the case.” Whirlen stated.

“I would agree.” Marlin admitted. “Think about it, of all the students he could have kidnapped, he chose your sister.”

“He’s also always appearing in your class, it seems. No other teachers have reported him doing anything else, beyond the occasional prank of turning the lights out and whatnot.” Whirlen added.

The basement was very spooky at night. It appeared to be just a long, windy hallway of classrooms as far as the eye could see.

“But why would he be targeting me?” Velma asked. “I just don’t understand it.”

She quickly popped her head in the first room she saw, and turned on the light to the classroom. This one was much smaller than the room she taught in; it was just four large tables pushed together in the shape of a square. It looked like it would fit 20 students maximum. No Madelyn or Parry in there, though.

“Well, it’s said that Merlin will return on his 1,500th anniversary to restore balance, at least according to the legend.” Marlin answered, as he looked in the next classroom. “She’s not in here.”

Velma popped her head in a third classroom and turned on the lights. This one was another smaller room, though it looked like it was designed to hold slightly more students. There were around five rows of desks, and from a quick glance, it looked like it could hold around 20 students. No Madelyn or Parry again.

“What do you think that has to do with me?” Velma wondered.

“Not in here either.” Whirlen said, after looking in another classroom.

“Well, as our newest teacher, you represent change.” Marlin postulated. “Therefore, Merlin sees you as the biggest threat.”

Velma glanced in another room and saw no sign of her sister or Parry. “There have been lots of new teachers here. You introduced a couple new ones just the other week at that dinner.”

“They all started last semester, though. You’re the only new one this semester, which aligns with Merlin’s return spoken of in the legends.” Marlin explained.

“Not in here.” Whirlen informed, after a quick glance in another room.

“Here either.” Velma responded after looking in another classroom, before averting her attention back to her conversation with Marlin. “That still doesn’t really line up, though. It seems like he’d need more of a reason than that to come after me.”

“And they’re not here either.” Marlin commented. “I don’t know what to tell you. That’s the best explanation I’ve got.”

Velma tried to mull over all the possibilities for why Merlin would specifically come after her as she continued to check each classroom, but she was drawing a blank. She couldn’t understand why Merlin would specifically come after her, but Whirlen and Marlin were right: there were too many signs to keep ignoring it at this point. It was clear the vengeful wizard had it out for her for some reason.

Whirlen, Marlin and Velma had checked every classroom, but there was no sign of Madelyn or Parry anywhere.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say we’ve combed the basement, and there’s nothing.” Marlin sighed.

“Oh dear…” Whirlen muttered, before raising his voice back to normal volume. “You’re right…and it’s been around two hours, so we should be getting back upstairs to meet the others.”

“We can’t give up yet, though.” Velma started to panic. She wasn’t willing to admit defeat…not when it came to something as important as her sister. What if Madelyn was being tortured somewhere?

“Maybe one of the other groups will have found them.” Marlin comforted, patting Velma very lightly on the back.

“And what if they haven’t?” Velma worried.

“We’re not at that stage yet.” Whirlen asserted. “If the other groups haven’t found your students yet, though, I will have to insist that your class is canceled until we do. We can’t risk Merlin appearing again and kidnapping somebody else.”

“You’re absolutely right, and I will.” Velma said, as Whirlen and Marlin headed back up the stairs to the main floor.

When they arrived back on the main floor, they saw everyone else sitting there. To Velma’s horror, Madelyn and Parry were nowhere to be found.

“Well, anybody have any luck?” Whirlen inquired.

Each person from every group somberly shook their head.

“Well, I found this ripe pear in the fruit bowl at the dining hall.” Dan said. “Could we name it Pear-y 2.0 and have it stand in for the original Parry?”

“No, I’m afraid we can’t.” Whirlen shook his head.

“Aww man.” Dan hung his head.

“Well everyone, it’s quite late.” Whirlen said, seeming quite weary. “I think we’ve pretty much combed this school. I don’t know what else to suggest at this point, but I’ll phone the police and inform them that there are two missing students. In the meantime, Velma is canceling all her classes until the missing students are found.”

Velma felt a mix of frustration and absolute hopelessness. She wanted to be angry with Whirlen for not doing enough, but she knew there wasn’t really anything more he could do about the situation. They’d searched the school top to bottom, and the two missing students were nowhere to be found. All Velma could do was hold out hope that they’d turn up or the police would find them. It felt like such a simple wish, but the only thing in the world Velma wanted right now was to see her baby sister again.

It felt like a long, tiring day already, and it had just begun. Velma hadn’t been able to sleep a wink last night, as she had spent the whole night tossing and turning due to her mind perseverating over where Madelyn and Parry might be. She felt responsible for their kidnappings simply due to the fact it had happened on her watch, even though Mike had taunted Marlin. While it made Velma feel better that she wasn’t holding class today, it also made her feel worse at the same time, because it meant there wasn’t really much of anything to do to stop her mind from worrying. She was supposed to give the midterm tomorrow, but Whirlen had ensured to give every student in her class a take-home midterm, which was to be submitted to Whirlen’s office no later than 1:50pm tomorrow when class normally ended. Even though it was nice to have the freedom, Velma wished that she could be in class with her students. She missed them.

Velma hadn’t felt hungry since yesterday at lunch, before Madelyn was kidnapped, but she tried to force herself to at least have a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk for proper nourishment.

Although it was very pitiful, Velma was going to spend the day planning ahead for the next week of class. It was unnecessary to do this early, but Velma needed something to keep her anxious mind busy.

As Velma monotonously ate her cereal in an anxious stupor, she noticed Mike coming up to her.

“Hey, Ms. Dinkley. I wanted to talk to you. You know, Ron was telling me about what he did, and I think I should drop your class too. There’s no way I’m gonna pass at this point.” Mike informed.

Although it was basically the same thing Ron had said, Velma felt an angry outburst boil up inside her. How dare he cause Madelyn and Parry to be kidnapped, then immediately drop the course the next day! That essentially meant they were kidnapped for nothing, since if he would have just dropped the class yesterday like Ron had, none of this would have happened.

“Young man, your behavior was really inappropriate.” Velma growled. “I don’t look kindly upon you endangering my students yesterday.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to endanger anybody. I was just sassing off because of what you said to my group the other day.” Mike said. The lack of empathy and remorse in his voice was making Velma livid.

“Well, your sassing off harmed two of my students!” Velma snapped. “Now, they’ve been kidnapped and no one can find them. I don’t know if you know this, but every teacher in this school spent all evening searching the school last night, and still no one can find them!”

That’s when Mike’s face really fell. It was clear the regret was hitting him hard. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. Please don’t be angry with me…I didn’t mean anything, I was just in a bad mood yesterday! I didn’t mean to get anyone kidnapped!”

Velma’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor when Mike burst into tears. For such a macho, posturing guy like Mike who was always trying to be the class clown, Velma never would have thought she would see the vulnerable side of him. Now, she was starting to feel bad. Although Mike had technically caused the kidnappings, Velma realized he was exactly right…he was just being a teenager and mouthing off. It was Merlin she should be blaming, not him.

“I’m sorry I lost my temper.” Velma said, taking a deep breath. “It isn’t your fault they were kidnapped I suppose, it was that you said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I really appreciate the courage it must have taken to come to me and drop today. I assure you that you don’t need to just because you feel guilty.”

“No, I was just thinking about what you said the other day.” Mike said. “I was just mad yesterday because I was dealing with an internal struggle, I think. I was angry you called me out the other day, and I didn’t want to admit I was the problem, but you’re right…I really haven’t been putting much effort into this class. The content bores me, to be honest. I put a lot of thought into this last night, and between saying the stuff that caused Merlin to kidnap those two and my general lack of effort, I think it’d be best to drop. I’m sorry.”

“That’s a really mature conclusion to come to, Mike. If that’s what you want, I’ll put in the paperwork with Whirlen.” Velma promised.

“Thanks. I hope you find your sister.” Mike said, seeming almost afraid of her, which made Velma feel even worse for losing her temper like that.

“I hope so too.” Velma said, with a prolonged sigh.

It had been a whole two days since Madelyn and Parry had first been abducted by Merlin. The police had kept an eye out around the surrounding area of the castle, but had come up with nothing. The pain of losing her sister still stung deeply, and quite frankly Velma didn’t know if she’d ever get over it if her sister was truly gone. Velma was really spiraling without her sister. It was hard to achieve tasks, no matter how hard she tried to bury herself in her work so as not to become too anxious.

She was currently sitting at dinner, picking at her food. Sadie still sat by her, but it didn’t really feel the same.

“The midterm went really well.” Sadie said, a hint of somberness in her voice. It was clear this was deeply affecting her too.

“I’m really glad to hear that. I should have them graded and back to you by Monday…if we’re in class, that is.” Velma added a caveat at the last minute.

“It’s Spring Break next week, remember?” Sadie reminded. “You’ll have to give it to us the following Monday.”

Velma admittedly had spaced this out completely. It felt like a trivial detail to her given everything that had happened.

“Oh. Yeah.” Velma said.

Both of them sat in silence for a moment. They each knew that they were avoiding the subject that was weighing heavily on both of their hearts. Finally, Velma broke the silence and talked about the sorrow that both of them were wallowing in.

“I just wish I could spend one more evening in her room.” Velma sighed. Even if she still watched movies to distract herself, it just hadn’t felt the same without her sister.

“Has anybody looked in her room for clues?” Sadie inquired. “I guess that was a dumb question. I’m sure somebody has.”

“I don’t know if they have…I doubt it’d do much, though. She was kidnapped from class, so it’s not like she would have known to leave a note.” Velma said. “I guess we have nothing to lose but our own emotional composition.”

Velma’s eyes perked up when she saw Whirlen coming her way.

“Whirlen! Any news on Madelyn or Parry?” Velma asked.

“Nothing yet, I’m sorry.” Whirlen sighed.

“Do you know if anyone’s investigated her room yet?” Velma asked.

“No, I don’t believe so. I doubt you’d find anything in there, though. It’s not like she knew she was going to be kidnapped.” Whirlen justified.

“We’re going to check around in there and see if there’s anything, just in case.” Velma informed.

“Excellent, I suppose I can join you and come back to eat later.” Whirlen stated.

“I’m not really hungry either…” Velma said, twirling her spaghetti noodle on her fork aimlessly for the umpteenth time. “Let’s check her room out.”

As Whirlen, Sadie and Velma headed towards Madelyn’s room, Sadie looked at Whirlen with an extremely concerned look. “Isn’t there anything else you can do?”

“I’m afraid we’re doing everything we can do already.” Whirlen sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something more that could be done, but we’ve looked everywhere.”

“Well, we’re doing something now.” Velma attempted to be brave for her student, even if she was feeling very little courage. She had never felt so powerless…her sister was currently trapped in the hands of a vengeful spirit, and Velma had no way of knowing how to get to her.

Velma, Sadie and Whirlen noticed quite the mess upon arriving in Madelyn’s room. Her desk was scattered with various pieces of homework and notes she’d written herself, several dirty clothes were strewn on the floor, and the bed was not made.

The first thing Velma did was rummage through the papers on Madelyn’s desk. She was hoping to find some sort of note, or a clue to where Merlin might be keeping her, but there was nothing.

All of a sudden, groaning and muffled shouting could be heard from the closet.

“Oh my gosh, somebody’s in there!” Sadie exclaimed.

The muffled yells continued.

“Dear god, the person must be gagged!” Whirlen rushed to Madelyn’s closet and swung the door open. Parry had been locked in the closet, although he wasn’t gagged…it appeared he was just making noises with his bare mouth.

“Help, help, I’ve been locked in this closet for two days and fed nothing but steak and lobster!” Parry cried out.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Sadie looked confused.

“Y’know, Merlin made me some baked alaska one night for dessert too.” Parry thoughtfully said, his face looking like he had just come to a realization. “Come to think of it, Merlin actually treated me pretty nice. I think you guys are the real kidnappers!”

“So you’ve been tied up and gagged in this closet for two days?” Velma gasped.

“Oh no, I wasn’t gagged. I was just making a bunch of weird noises so that somebody would hear me.” Parry informed.

“I don’t see any ropes either.” Sadie noticed.

“No, I was tied up…with deez cool tie-dye kits!” Parry held up a couple of tie-dye t-shirts, one of them with a logo with a picture of a smiling Merlin in the center, and the words “Merlin’s Choice” printed below his face. “You’d be amazed how much your schedule gets freed up when you’re kidnapped!”

“I’m so glad you’re alright, Parry.” Whirlen said. “Do you know what happened to Madelyn?”

“Who’s Madelyn?” Parry asked.

“Oh god, Merlin wiped his brain!” Sadie panicked. “What if he doesn’t remember anything now?”

“No, I’m just a raging narcissist who doesn’t pay attention to personal details about others unless it personally benefits me in some way.” Parry said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Can you describe her?”

“The girl who was kidnapped with you.” Velma clarified.

“Oh, her. She’s the one Merlin took up to the tower for that magic ritual thing.” Parry explained.

“WHAT?!?” Velma shrieked.

“The tower was blocked off years ago!” Whirlen exclaimed. “I never would have thought to look up there.”

“Clearly Merlin banked on that. C’mon, we’ve got to get up there and save her!” Velma said, motioning for the others to follow her.

“Which way to the tower?” Sadie inquired.

“It’s up above the fourth floor. We must be very careful, though.” Whirlen warned. “The tower was blocked off because the brick wall was beginning to break, leaving it rickety and dangerous to be up there.”

“I think we should try to use the element of surprise on Merlin.” Velma suggested. “It’s going to be a long shot, but it might be our only chance to get Madelyn back.”

As fast as they could, all four of them ran up the stairs to retrieve Madelyn. Velma was exhausted and a little sweaty once she’d sprinted up three of the sets of stairs.

“The tower’s right here.” Whirlen pointed to a room with a sign on the door marked ‘keep out.’ “Now, we need to be very quiet when we’re walking up the stairs so Merlin doesn’t hear us.”

Whirlen quietly swung the door open, but was unable to stop it from making a small creak. Thankfully, Velma didn’t think it was loud enough for anyone to hear. Velma and the others thoughtfully creeped up the stairs, being sure not to make a peep of any sort. Velma could feel her heart racing as she got closer to the door to the tower at the top of the stairs.

The orange-sweatered sister searcher was the first to reach the top. She glanced at Whirlen with an inquisitive look, wondering if she should open the door or not. Whirlen responded with a nod.

Velma braced herself for the worst possible scenario as the door swung open. While what she saw wasn’t the worst possible, it was still pretty bad: Madelyn had her ankles tied together, and her wrists tied behind her back. A cloth gag was wrapped around her mouth. She was stationed near a bubbling cauldron, which Merlin was currently stirring.

“Soon they will regret ever meddling in my affairs! Hahahaha!” Merlin cackled, as he stirred the potion. The red cloak he was wearing, as well as his beard, ever-so-lightly brushed against the cauldron that the potion was in.

Velma felt a surge of adrenaline pump through her veins. Although she was never normally this brave, she knew the element of surprise would be the only way to stop a powerful sorcerer like Merlin. She ran at Merlin on the other side of the room, so quickly that it seemed to take him a moment to notice.

“Leave my sister alone!” Velma screamed, as she pushed Merlin into the brick wall. This was very intentional, since she remembered what Whirlen had said about the weak wall, and this side of the room was clearly very worn down: a large crack ran all the way down the wall, and the bricks were beginning to crumble.

Merlin was so caught-off guard that he fell backwards into the wall. The wall began to crumble right on top of him, as he laid on the ground in a confused stupor.

“We have to get out of here!” Whirlen exclaimed. “This tower isn’t stable anymore. The wall is crumbling!”

Velma glanced over to where Merlin was currently laying. It looked like he was just regaining his composure, but another large chunk of wall fell on one of his legs, causing it to be crushed under the weight of the brick.

“Everybody, down the stairs!” Velma urged Parry, as Whirlen sprinted back down the staircase. She knew she wouldn’t have the time to untie Madelyn, so she simply picked her up and tried to awkwardly carry her down the stairs.

Velma could hear the wall crumbling behind her as she carried Madelyn down the staircase and back to safety. Once she was safely down the stairs, she untied Madelyn and removed her gag before embracing her with a big hug.

“Sis! I’m so glad you’re safe!” Velma cried.

“You saved me, sis!” Madelyn reciprocated Velma’s hug. “Merlin’s had me tied up there for two days! Thankfully, I was fed, but my wrists and ankle were starting to ache.”

“I’m very glad you’re safe.” Whirlen said. “Do you know what he wanted with you?”

“I don’t know…he was going to make me drink a potion, and he kept saying something about showing the school who he was or something… I don’t know.” Madelyn stuttered. “I’ve been so terrified it’s all been a blur.”

“That’s okay. All that matters is that you’re safe.” Whirlen comforted. “Let’s head back downstairs so that we can share the good news with everyone that you and Parry have been found!”

“I never want to go through that again!” Madelyn said, starting to tear up from how traumatized she was. “Promise me you’ll keep me safe, sis.”

This made Velma want to tear up too. At this point, she felt like she had no control over what happened in her classroom. Merlin could come in and kidnap or harm any one of her students at any time, and there’s nothing she could do about it. Honestly, she didn’t even know if she wanted to keep teaching here if Merlin was going to target anyone associated with her. After all she’d been through, Velma didn’t want to scare her little sister any further at this point. Although she hated the fact that she was making a promise she knew she couldn’t keep, Velma said the words anyway.

“I promise.”

Chapter Text

“I’m just not sure about you continuing to go to that school.” Velma and Madelyn’s father stated.

Velma and Madelyn had returned home for the week of Spring Break to spend some time with her parents. To their shock, Madelyn had revealed the story about being kidnapped out of Velma’s class by Merlin and tied up for two days.

“Dad, it’s perfectly safe, I promise.” Madelyn assured. “Velma and our headmaster, Whirlen, are taking precautions to make sure it will never happen again. Besides, Merlin’s gone. Velma knocked him against that brick wall and it fell on him. There shouldn’t be any trouble with him again.”

“I agree with Dale. I don’t know how I feel about this either.” Velma’s mother replied. “What precautions exactly are being taken?”

“I was wondering that too, Angie.” Dale responded to his wife.

That would be a tricky one. Velma didn’t know of any precautions that were being taken, given Merlin was a magical being, and if he wasn’t crushed or defeated in the rubble of the wall that crumbled over him, there wasn’t any simple solution that could defeat him.

“Well, if Merlin’s not actually gone, Velma was able to pretty easily defeat him with the power of surprise.” Madelyn convinced. “He must not be that powerful of a wizard.”

“You’re really convinced he’s gone?” Angie answered with a look of concern.

“We are.” Velma said. Another promise Velma wasn’t sure she would be able to keep, since nobody really knew for sure what happened to Merlin.

“Okay.” Dale didn’t sound so convinced. “I’ll be calling your headmaster, Whirlen, to discuss this further with him before I let you go back to that school.”

“Sounds great to me!” Madelyn responded. “Thanks, daddy!”

“Of course, darling.” Dale responded. “I hope you know that I just want you to be safe.”

“I know.” Madelyn nodded.

“Would Whirlen be around at this hour over break?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, he lives at the school.” Velma answered.

“Excellent, then I’ll call him now.” Dale said, rushing over to the phone.

“I hope Whirlen can convince him that it’s safe. I love that school, and I’d be sad having to transfer somewhere else.” Madelyn told Velma.

“I hope so too, sis.” Velma responded.

After about 15 minutes, Dale returned over to sit on the couch next to Madelyn and Velma.

“Well, I’ve talked to Whirlen.” Dale began. Velma could sense a hint of feeling troubled in his voice, so this might not be good news for Madelyn. Although her parents couldn’t do anything to prevent Velma from teaching there, she wondered if they would be disapproving if Whirlen hadn’t been able to convince them that it was safe for Madelyn to continue attending the school.

“What’d he say?” Madelyn eagerly questioned.

“It seems like safety is very much his top priority. He informed the police of your kidnapping, and he assured me that Merlin is no longer a threat. He sincerely apologized for what happened and the fact that you were put in danger at his school, and promised me that it was safe for you to return there now that Merlin had been taken care of.” Dale reported.

“So I can go back to school?” Madelyn excitedly asked.

“What do you think, Angie?” Dale asked his wife.

“Well, it sounds pretty safe to me. I would say she can go back if she also feels safe.” Angie responded.

“I definitely feel safe! Merlin’s gone for good.” Madelyn replied.

“I still don’t like that you were literally kidnapped in this school by a vengeful spirit, or a criminal, or whoever ‘Merlin’ was.” Dale looked worried. “I think it’s okay for you to go back if you feel safe and your headmaster says there’s no threat anymore. However, I want you to call me every single week for the rest of the school year, and give me an update.”

“I will, daddy. I promise.” Madelyn assured.

“Do you feel sure that she’s safe here, Velma?” Angie asked.

Velma took a deep breath and thought about it for a minute.

“Yes, I’m sure she’s safe. Merlin was crushed by that brick wall, and he’s gone. You can count on me to protect her. Now that I had that horrible experience of watching my little sister being kidnapped by a fiend, I’ll be watching her like a hawk. When I’m not around, I’ll be telling her friends to watch her closely should any other threat arise by some strange chance.” Velma promised.

“Well then, it sounds like it will be okay for Madelyn to return.” Dale said. “Given all that, I’m fine with her going back.”

“As am I.” Angie agreed.

Velma was pretty sure of what she was saying, but she felt incredibly guilty because she wasn’t 100% confident that Merlin was actually gone. She wanted to support her sister’s wishes, but she honestly didn’t know if this would be what was best for her. She just hoped that saying that wouldn’t lead to her sister being in danger in any way.

It was the night before spring break ended and classes resumed. Velma and Madelyn were in the car, driving back to Whirlen Merlin’s.

“I’m so glad our parents were okay with me coming back here!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“Yeah, me too.” Velma smiled. “It would have been weird teaching at the school without having you there. Do you actually think it’s safe, though?”

“I think so. You knocked Merlin against that wall, and he didn’t come out of the room with us before that part of the room crumbled.” Madelyn replied.

“He’s already a ghost, though.” Velma pointed out. “How would that kill him? Can you even kill a ghost?”

“Well, I didn’t think you could push a ghost, but apparently you can.” Madelyn laughed. “I think he’s definitely gone. If he wasn’t, he would have done something to stop you from rescuing me.”

“I guess you’re right.” Velma shrugged. She admittedly still felt very uneasy. She could easily see Merlin just faking being defeated, then coming back stronger than ever. Regardless, she needed to think about it more before discussing it with Madelyn. She realized she needed to do it quickly, though…before it was too late.

Velma had been hailed as a hero by the entirety of Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic for rescuing Madelyn and Parry from Merlin’s grasp. Everybody had asked her how in the world she’d thought to look for Parry in the place people would have least expected Merlin to hide somebody. Of course, she told them, but she didn’t have any particularly grandiose explanation like she thought they would all be expecting. She simply thought it might be a good idea to check if Madelyn had left any sort of note before being kidnapped, although it was a huge long shot, and found Parry. Parry led them to Madelyn. That was about the extent of the story. She supposed jumping at Merlin and pushing him against the wall was heroic, but she didn’t particularly feel the action was well-thought through even if it was ultimately successful. It could have easily failed, and she could have gotten herself and the others captured along with Madelyn. Quite frankly, she was surprised it had even worked. For a ghost, it seemed incredibly easy to defeat Merlin.

Monday morning had arrived, and all the students had now returned from break. Many parents dropped their children off the prior night, but some waited until the morning classes resumed. Velma watched them file in as she ate a bagel and sipped on a glass of milk for breakfast.

“Woah! You’re that teacher, Ms. Dinkley, aren’t you? The one that rescued those two students?” a male student with red hair inquired.

“Yes, that’s me!” Velma answered.

“That must have taken so much bravery and courage.” the student said in awe.

“It did.” Velma responded. She didn’t particularly feel like anybody special for what she had done. In her opinion, she was just doing what any teacher would do: help their students.

“That’s amazing!” the student replied. “So cool to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too!” Velma answered. She wondered if this was going to become the new norm now, where students would recognize her regardless of whether she knew them or not. She noticed Whirlen heading towards her, likely getting his morning breakfast too. Madelyn was alongside him.

“Hey sis!” Madelyn greeted.

“Top of the morning, Velma!” Whirlen formally greeted. “Welcome back from Spring Break! I wanted to inform you of an event we have coming up here.”

“Oh, you’re talking about the magic show that Ms. Rumbridge’s class is doing in the auditorium tonight?” Velma asked. “Madelyn already told me about that.”

“Well, yes, but I wanted to inform you of a special last-minute addition we’ve made to the event.” Whirlen started. “At the end of the show, we’d like to have a special segment honoring you with an award for your extreme courage and bravery in rescuing Madelyn and Parry from Merlin.”

“Oh…wow.” Velma gasped. She never would have expected this in a million years. “I’m honored.”

“Yes, that’s what I just said.” Whirlen repeated. “You’re going to be honored with this award.”

“I know, I was just saying I’m honored about being honored.” Velma joked with a light chuckle.

“We don’t give meta-honorships here at Whirlen Merlin’s.” Whirlen looked annoyed.

Velma chose to drop the subject. There were several little things that Whirlen was always odd about, so she decided to ignore it.

“Well, I’m excited to receive the honor.” Velma simply decided to say. Admittedly, she didn’t really feel like she deserved it. She didn’t do anything all that special, and she didn’t really make the conscious decision to act and save her sister. She simply did the first thing that came to mind, which, luckily for her, ultimately worked out. She didn’t think that particularly deserved an award, but she supposed she might as well embrace the school’s newfound desire to put her on a pedestal.

Velma admittedly felt a bit weird heading into class today after nearly three weeks of not being there, between Spring Break and the week off they’d had to keep the students safe from Merlin’s attack. She sat atop the elevated ground at the front of the room, standing by the podium at the ready to begin teaching sharply at 1. When she noticed Brian came into the room, she had to fight the urge to immediately race over to him to see why he had been missing so many classes previously. She knew it would be better to give him privacy rather than possibly having anyone from the class overhear it.

“Alright, class. We’ve had a lot going on the past few weeks, but I’m excited to let you know that - to use a very literary pun - I’d say we’ve turned a page. As you know, Merlin is gone, and we no longer have to worry about anything horrible like you saw last time you were in class. I’m so sorry you had to see that, and…”

Velma’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest when the lights suddenly went out again. She expected the absolute worst possibility: Merlin would reappear and make everybody in her class disappear.

She was so petrified that Merlin would reappear that she shut her eyes even once the lights came on. Knowing that she had to keep her students safe, she slowly reopened her eyes to see what the current situation was. She was shocked at what she saw: nothing. The entire class was still sitting in their seats, which she made sure of by doing a quick roll call in her mind.

“Oh my gosh, was that Merlin?” Sabrina panicked.

“I…I’m not sure.” Velma stuttered. She was utterly panicked that it could be Merlin, and she didn’t know how to process what had just happened.

Velma spent the rest of the day feeling on edge and almost uncomfortable in her own skin. Besides the fear of Merlin returning, she also felt horrible about bringing her sister back to this school. What if Merlin had returned and she had put Madelyn in some sort of serious danger?

Regardless, it was time for the magic show, so Velma tried to temporarily set the thought to the side, even though it was difficult. She didn’t really have any idea what to expect, but since Whirlen hadn’t asked her to prepare a speech, she didn’t think it would require much preparation. Thinking through a short speech in her mind was about the extent of the thought she’d put into it.

Velma simply sat in the audience with Madelyn and Sadie on one side. No one was sitting on the other side for a few moments, until Brian came over and sat in the seat. She’d been so shaken up by the potential return of Merlin earlier today that she hadn’t talked to him after class as she’d intended to.

“Hey Brian!” Velma exclaimed.

“Oh…hey.” Brian stuttered. He looked as if he hadn’t noticed that she was in the seat next to him.

“It was good to see you in class today.” Velma replied. “You know…I know what you might be going through.”

“You do?” Brian looked shocked.

“Yes. It’s got to be a nerve-wracking situation coming into a class where the ghost of Merlin is regularly appearing. I assure you, he’s gone now.”

“Yeah…” Brian nodded his head. “I’m…umm…already an anxious person, so that was making me pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. I’ve been avoiding coming to class.”

“I’ve noticed.” Velma said. She didn’t want to come across confrontational in the slightest, since she wanted to be as supportive as possible. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable about coming to class?”

“Well, Merlin seems to be gone now, so I’m feeling more comfortable.” Brian responded.

This instantly made Velma a little tense, given the events of yesterday. Clearly he didn’t believe the momentary power outage was Merlin, but Velma was definitely convinced. She didn’t want to unnecessarily worry him when she didn’t know for sure if it was actually Merlin or not.

Velma’s eyes averted over to the front of the auditorium when she saw the curtain go up, with Whirlen standing at the front of the stage.

“Greetings, students and faculty.” Whirlen began. “Every year at the Me School of Magic, we have a talented group of students from Mrs. Rumbridge’s Magical Technique course that perform what they’ve learned over this first half of the semester. Tonight, we have an especially amazing group of students showing us what they’ve learned. Mrs. Rumbridge, do you have any words you’d like to share about your students before they begin performing?”

“The pleasure will be all theirs, I’m sure!” Mrs. Rumbridge exclaimed in the shrill voice that Velma hated.

“Alright then, I now present to you our Midterm Magic Show presenters!” Whirlen exclaimed.

Velma saw several students bustle out onto stage. She only recognized Ashley thus far. Ashley donned a long black dress, whilst the two gentlemen on stage wore suits and top hats. One of the male students took off his hat, and pulled a large black rabbit out of it.

“Wow!” Velma exclaimed. “How’d he do that?”

“That’s the trick of the trade, sis!” Madelyn exclaimed. “I learned it too in her class last fall. I wish you could have seen the show!”

“Seems like one student didn’t really prepare too well.” Sadie pointed out.

“It’s the magic of electricity! Ooh!” another male student said, as he flickered the backstage lights on and off.

“Now, I am about to perform the trick of sawing someone in half!” a familiar voice exclaimed from backstage. Velma quickly realized it was Sabrina, who raced out to the main stage with a large box. Another student’s head and feet were sticking out of the box. Just as she was about to put the saw to the box, another male student in a black suit grabbed the saw out of her hand.

“Well folks, how did you enjoy that trick? Get it? There was never any intention to actually perform that act, so the trick was on you guys! Hahahaha!” the male student exclaimed.

“Oh dear, I’m afraid I didn’t like that much at all.” Bumbledore shook his head from the side of the stage. “Assuredly that will get an F.”

“Yeah, but he’ll get an A from me! Great wordplay, Jack!” Mr. Mistara, the Magical Vocabulary teacher said, as the student ran to him and gave him a high five. “Yeah!”

“If you wouldn’t mind.” Sabrina put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently. The student quickly handed her back the saw, and she began cutting the box.

Sadie looked like she was on the edge of her seat in complete shock. Velma knew all this stuff was done in a way that wouldn’t hurt anybody, so she wasn’t particularly worried.

“Oh my gosh!” Sabrina dramatically cried, in a very ‘theater kid’-like way as she had nearly cut through the box. “This is the end of poor, poor Peter!”

“Hey! What’d you say about my family’s financial situation?” Peter snapped.

At that moment, the box snapped in half. It appeared that Peter’s body had been completely severed into two, although there was no blood. This only further proved Velma’s point there was nothing to be anxious about.

“Hey! I still feel like me.” Peter’s supposedly disconnected head said from the right side of the box.

“That’s because you are still you!” Sabrina revealed, as she opened the other end of the box with Peter’s head in it. “This side of the box has Peter all in one piece. In the other box, it’s just fake legs!”

Sabrina opened the other box to demonstrate that there were dummy legs positioned to look like Peter’s real legs.

“Our next trick will be a real treat.” Ashley announced, as she and three other students hurried out onto stage. She had a deck of cards in her hands, and held one out to a female student with dirty blonde hair. “Pick one card and show it to the audience please, before I shuffle it.”

The other female student pulled a card. She showed the seven of hearts to the audience, before handing it back to Ashley. Ashley shuffled up the entire deck extremely thoroughly, then pulled out a card. Not only was that card the seven of hearts, but all sorts of Halloween candy began spraying out of the deck: Starburst, Skittles, Twizzlers, and much more.

The crowd erupted in cheering and clapping.

“Woah! I hope I learn that when I’m in this class next fall.” Sadie commented.

Although she knew none of it was technically “real,” Velma was quite impressed with the show that the students had put on. For the most part, all of it was immaculate and really showcased that the students were clearly learning a lot in the course.

The magic show had nearly concluded at this point. Sabrina had just announced it would be the final trick of the night, and it appeared they were going out with a bang…literally speaking.

“For my final trick, I’m going to light these fireworks with these two tiny sticks!” Sabrina announced. “As you can see, the sticks are incredibly brittle and small, so it will be nearly an impossible feat!”

Velma could see what she meant: the sticks were paper-thin and looked like they had been pulled off some tiny little bush. There was no logical way that this could start the fire to light those fireworks.

In a very delicate, theatrical manner, Sabrina lightly rubbed the two sticks together, and all of a sudden, a fire erupted. Thankfully, it was small enough that it was contained. Very carefully, Sabrina used the fire from both of the sticks to light the wick of the firework. The length of the firework’s wick began to disappear as the flame creeped down it. Once it reached the bottom, the firework went into midair and created a small explosion effect. Velma presumed there was some sort of precaution taken so that the explosion wouldn’t create any sort of danger.

“Well, I guess fire works! Hahahaha!” Peter exclaimed.

“Ugh, that was terrible.” Bumbledore exclaimed. “If I were the instructor, I’d bring that student’s grade down to a D for that…D for Don’t ever say that dreadful pun again.”

“Wow, that was amazing! How’d he do it?” Sadie gasped.

A male student sitting next to Sadie leaned over to her and whispered “They soaked the sticks in lighter fluid.” This caused Velma’s jaw to drop a little bit.

Her attention averted over to Whirlen, who was making his way on stage to make an announcement. Velma wondered if this was going to be when he gave her the award.

“Wow, that was a great performance!” Whirlen exclaimed. “It’s clear Mrs. Rumbridge’s class has been working very hard this semester. Now, to conclude the evening’s event, we will be giving a very special award out to a member of the audience. To do this, I’ve invited an esteemed celebrity to do so.”

Another man walked up on stage. He was a skinny fellow with long legs, black hair, and donned a suit with a bowtie. Velma gasped internally when she recognized who it was.

“Hi folks! My name is Don Knotts!” the man exclaimed. “Now, I’m sure your stomach is in KNOTTS wondering who’s going to win this award.”

“We know it’s Ms. Dinkley!” a loud young male from the audience shouted.

“Ah, kids these days have no sense of humor. I was going to tell you all the importance of focusing on your studies and what-KNOTT.” Don punnily replied. “But anyway, I will KNOTT make you wait any longer. This award is dedicated to someone who showed a lot of bravery, courage, and integrity when it came to the line of duty. She was KNOTT afraid to do what she knew was right. I’m talking about none other than Velma Dinkley!”

Velma supposed that was her cue to go up on stage, so the instructor got out of her seat and hurried up there.

“Good to see you again, Velma!” Don exclaimed.

“Nice to see you again too, Don!” Velma responded.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Whirlen looked shocked.

“Yeah, she came up to Juneberry a while ago for some bananas and chocolate custard!” Don replied, matter-of-factly. “I now present you with this Whirlen Merlin Honor of Extreme Bravery, Courage, Integrity, Confidence, Drivenness, and ''Well Gee Willikers, You Rescued Madelyn and Parry'' Award!”

“Thank you, I’m truly honored…” Velma quickly caught herself and avoided saying she was honored about getting the honor, as not to start that whole mess again. “I mean, I’m glad to have received this award. I love this school, and I really care about every student here. I’m going to make sure this school stays safe!”

She admittedly felt a bit awkward and embarrassed after saying that, because it unintentionally came off as if she were running for political office or something, but nonetheless, she truly meant her sentiment.

The crowd in the auditorium erupted in cheering. Although Velma knew the school appreciated her, she still had a bit of imposter syndrome. She worried that the students and faculty were putting her on a pedestal. What if Merlin wasn’t really gone, and what if he tried to kidnap somebody from her class again? What if she couldn’t keep her students safe, and her image was ruined forever in the eyes of the school?

Velma felt a sense of dread as she sat down at the breakfast table. She didn’t want to go back to class today and potentially put her students in danger again, due to whatever obsession Merlin had with appearing in her class. She realized that she was building something up in her head that might not even be real, but nonetheless, the feeling of worrying Merlin had returned continued to bubble past a simmer in the boiling pot that was her anxious brain.

“Hey sis!” Madelyn greeted. “That’s so exciting you won that award last night!”

“Yeah. I guess.” Velma muttered. She wanted to be excited about the school’s admiration of her, but she was lost in a sense of imposter syndrome that she didn’t feel anybody could understand.

“Velms…what’s wrong? I can tell something’s bugging you.” Madelyn replied.

Sigh. A sister always knows, Velma supposed.

“Well…” Velma had promised to protect her little sister, and she wasn’t about to break that promise. She knew in her heart the best course of action was to just be honest from the get-go.

“You know how the lights went out in class yesterday?” Velma asked Madelyn.

“Yeah. What about it?” Madelyn wondered with a nonchalant tone.

“I think it might have been…” Velma had intended to bring her tone down to a whisper, but Madelyn said it for her at full volume.

“Merlin?”

“Yeah.” Velma whispered. “I don’t know what to do. Everybody thinks I’m a hero, but I might not have even defeated him. I’d be open about it in class, but if Merlin’s watching our class again, he might kidnap somebody else and I can’t have that happen. I don’t even know what I’d do if that happened.”

“Well, if you can’t talk about it in class, why don’t you start a little secret after-school club where people can talk about how to handle Merlin? Just like you did in class, but in a secret club!” Madelyn suggested.

“That seems kind of dangerous.” Velma responded. “Just changing the time isn’t going to throw Merlin off.”

“Ask Whirlen for permission to do it in his office. Maybe doing it in Merlin’s ancestor’s office will deter him from coming in… if he’s still around, which I don’t think he is.” Madelyn continued.

“Permission granted!” Bumbledore exclaimed, as he walked by.

“Did you even hear what we’re doing in there?” Velma flashed him a confused look.

“No, but I trust you.” Bumbledore shrugged. “In fact, this school is so amazing, I trust everybody! Although come to think of it, perhaps that’s how all the crude drawings of me with an enlarged rump featuring the caption ‘BUMbledore’ keep appearing on the wall. Hmmm…something to process further, I suppose.”

“Well, thank you for trusting us, but how do we spread the word to the students?” Velma asked. “We can’t exactly tell them in class, or Merlin will know.”

“I think I’ve got an idea.” Madelyn said mysteriously.

Although she believed Madelyn’s idea was a good one, she still wasn’t quite sure what she thought of it. Nonetheless, she skeptically went ahead with it. Just before class was about to start, she handed a note to Ramando.

“This is an attendance sheet. Please sign it…if you want.” Velma stuttered. In reality, it wasn’t actually an attendance sheet…it was a sheet with a vague amount of information on a group meeting about Merlin. It simply read ‘If you’re interested in learning more about the wizard, sign your name on this sheet and come to Whirlen’s office around 4.’

She tried not to focus on the note, as not to let Merlin know it was of any real importance in case he was still watching. Although it was hard, Velma tried to just start class without thinking about the note.

“Hi class, today we’re going to discuss a little more about the New and Remembered Hexes and Tricks book by Leduardo Imus.” Velma began. “Does anybody have any questions about the book?”

Velma tensed up when there was silence in the class, only because she knew that note was still making its way around. She saw that it was about midway through the class. Sadie was currently glancing at it and writing her name down.

“Okay, if not, I’ll just dive into my lecture.” Velma began. “Leduardo Imus was a stage magician ahead of his time, who expressed his extraordinary talents through hexes and magic tricks in his youth. After he attended university, and got to be around 25, he wrote this book and…”

Velma was interrupted by Parry coming up to the front of the room handing her the note.

“This says there’s been an unexpected death in my family!” Velma gasped as she read the note.

“Oh, sorry. That’s for something else. This is the one I meant to hand.” Parry responded.

Velma breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was the note with the list of names. At quick glance, it appeared there were around ten students on the list, which she was happy about. She didn’t want Merlin to know anything was up, so she simply shoved the note in her pocket and continued to teach her lecture.

Velma became increasingly nervous as the clock’s hand moved towards the four. Although Merlin hadn’t made an appearance in class today, she was still worried that somehow he knew about this meeting and would be watching them, or worse yet, kidnap a student from the meeting.

“This is so exciting, sis!” Madelyn exclaimed. “Your first time hosting a club meeting!”

Velma wasn’t feeling particularly excited, given this felt very risky if Merlin was still around, but she tried to channel some of her sister’s excitement.

“I wonder how many people will show up.” Velma pondered.

“Well, there were about five on the sheet when it got around to me.” Madelyn informed.

Velma pulled the note out of her pocket and glanced at the list. Mitch, Ashley, Owen, Sabrina, Sadie, Madelyn, Annabelle, Kara, John and Parry had signed up. She was admittedly surprised Parry had joined, given his general tomfoolery and lack of interest in the classroom, but she supposed maybe being kidnapped was a motivating factor for him to want to join.

“Looks like there’s ten on this list.” Velma reported to her sister. “Hopefully they’ll all show up.”

“Well, we’ll find out in a minute!” Madelyn replied, as she began to approach Bumbledore’s office. She gasped in surprise when she saw a group of unfamiliar people.

“Are you here for Edna Twigglesberry’s Tea Party?” a male student with a thick British accent inquired.

“Um…no…I thought there was another club meeting in this room.” Madelyn stuttered, feeling embarrassed.

“Mads, it’s in Whirlen’s office. This is Bumbledore’s office.” Velma reminded.

“Oh…thank goodness.” Madelyn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wait…you don’t want any tea?” the same student asked.

“No…we have to get to a meeting. Sorry.” Madelyn apologized.

“Alright, then I just guess we’ll have to start this tea fight without you then!” the student informed.

As Madelyn and Velma walked down the hall to Whirlen’s office, several yelps and shouts of “oww” could be heard from the tea party room.

Velma and Madelyn walked side-by-side into Whirlen’s office and saw nine of the ten students sitting on the floor and waiting. It appeared only Parry was missing.

“Hey everyone. Thanks so much for coming!” Velma appreciated. “I know that note was vague, so I’m going to tell you a little bit more about my thoughts on creating this. If you decide this isn’t something you want to be a part of, you’re welcome to leave.”

“Hey everyone, sorry I’m late. I didn’t really care about this, but then, at the last minute, I decided I did!” Parry provided an excuse.

“That’s okay, Parry. I’m just about to talk about why I decided to create this club centered around investigating Merlin.” Velma responded.

“Is that what this stupid club’s about? I thought it was an audition for Merlin’s replacement!” Parry revealed. “Never mind. I’m out.”

“Honestly, I thought this was a caucus for your election.” John responded.

Velma gave him a puzzled look. “I’m not running for any position.”

“Well, you might not be, but people are really trying to get you to be lead of the faculty committee. Just check out this video.” John said, as he pulled a VHS tape out of his backpack and inserted it in a player below a TV on the other side of the room.

The TV showed an image of Velma looking proud whilst teaching her students, as a narrator spoke over her.

“Velma Dinkley successfully saved two students from the grasps of an evil madman! She’s strong! She’s driven! And she can do anything she puts her mind to!” the narrator announced, before the scene shifted to a video of a student talking.

“Yeah, I’d take any class from Velma.” a female student wearing a blue shirt said, before the camera switched to another student.

“Velma’s the best! I wouldn’t want to mess with her.” a male student wearing a red shirt replied.

Velma was shocked when the scene shifted to none other than one of her best friends, Shaggy. “I know I’m an all-powerful God and all, but I wouldn’t even want to use 100% of my power on her. It just wouldn’t defeat her.”

Velma wondered why exactly he’d said he was an all-powerful God when such a thing didn’t exist, but she supposed maybe he was bribed to with food by whoever made this silly video.

The video returned to footage of Velma passionately lecturing, and putting her foot down. She believed this was somehow taken when she was discussing the Gridditch Through the Years book, and trying to adamantly make the point that Kisp felt the sport was completely obsolete.

“When Velma puts her foot down, nothing will stand in her way! We need a fearless leader, and that leader is right in front of us. Velma Dinkley: tough on discipline; tough on Merlin!”

A heavily edited shot of Velma pounding her right fist against left was then shown, with an “oomph!” sound effect that sounded far more like a chorus of deep-voiced men than it did Velma.

“So, what’d ya think?” John asked.

“Umm…I’m glad people want me to lead the faculty committee, but I have no idea what that even is. That’s not even what this meeting’s about.” Velma was befuddled by how a campaign to elect her to a position she’d never even heard of had been started.

“Ah man. I’m outta here, then. However, Velma’s still our man…I mean wo-man.” John said, as he left the room and shut the door behind him.

Velma tried to ignore what had just happened and simply continued explaining to the other students.

“While I don’t want anybody to worry, I’ll be blunt: I think that the lights going out in class yesterday might have been Merlin signaling a return.” Velma informed her students. “Our efforts to solve the mystery of what he wants in class didn’t really work, so I thought I’d move it here so we could do it more in secret.”

“I love that idea!” Ashley exclaimed.

“Yeah, that’s a great plan!” Sadie agreed.

“So, this is like a book club?” Annabelle inquired.

“Not exactly. I won’t have you be reading anything…we’re all on the same level here.” Velma replied.

“Sweet, we are? So…what’s your love life lookin’ like these days?” Owen asked.

Velma sighed. “I just mean that this club is intended for us all to discuss our ideas about Merlin.”

“What’s the name of our club going to be?” Mitch inquired.

Velma felt like they were sort of missing the important part of this club, but she supposed she could humor them.

“Ooh…something like Dinkley’s Army would be cool!” Ashley suggested. “We could call it DA for short!”

“Isn’t that super similar to…nevermind. Let’s go with Dinkley’s Army for now.” Velma shrugged. “That’s not the important part of this club anyway, so it really doesn’t matter what we name it. Now, I’m not going to be grading you on this. It’s just an extracurricular discussion where all of us have equal stakes. I have a couple ideas I’d like to throw out there and get others’ perspectives on.”

“As would I.” Kara chimed in.

“Good.” Velma smiled. “You can go first.”

“Well, it’s pretty common knowledge you pushed Merlin against a brick wall. How did you do that if he was a ghost?”

Velma smiled at her student’s perceptiveness. “That was exactly the same thing I was going to ask.”

“Is it possible he’s not really a ghost at all?” Madelyn suggested.

“I mean…I have to imagine he’s a real ghost, right?” Ashley suggested. “Otherwise, how would he be able to appear and disappear without us seeing him?”

“He does always disappear in a cloud of smoke, to be fair.” Kara pointed out.

“That cold icy chill that I felt…it was like something went right through me.” Sabrina remembered. “You can’t tell me that’s not a real ghost.”

All valid points. Velma was genuinely conflicted about what to believe.

“What would he have wanted, though?” Madelyn inquired. “He just tied me up for two days. He didn’t try to kill me or anything like that. The worst thing he did was make that potion and tried to force me to drink it.”

“What was the potion supposed to do?” Mitch followed up.

“It was supposed to put me into a deep sleep.” Madelyn answered.

“How would that benefit him?” Sadie asked. “That doesn’t really seem like it would advance any agenda Merlin might have had, other than I guess he’d be punishing a student of this school.”

“It would benefit him in the sense that people feared him.” Kara postulated.

“Do you think that’s his goal, then?” Annabelle inquired. “Just to have people fear him?”

“You might be onto something, Kara.” Velma wondered. “When I talked to Marlin, he said that Merlin was returning for the 1,500th anniversary of his death. Maybe he’s trying to assert that he’s still dominant over this school even in death?”

“I still feel like we’re missing a piece.” Ashley responded.

“I believe I can fill that missing piece in.” a voice in the doorway responded, causing everyone to jump. They quickly relaxed when they saw it was only Whirlen’s brother, Marlin. “I assume everybody’s aware that Merlin built this school right before his death.”

All of the students nodded, but Velma didn’t move a muscle. She honestly had no idea about Merlin’s connection to this school, but it made sense.

“I believe the girl over there has a point.” Marlin pointed to Kara, before making a comment that made everybody’s jaw drop. “I think Merlin’s trying to reclaim the school.”

Chapter Text

“He’s trying to do what?” Velma gasped. She couldn’t believe what Marlin had just said. What purpose would Merlin have for usurping his ancestor as headmaster of the school?

“You heard me. Merlin wants to take over this school and become the headmaster.” Marlin repeated.

“Why would he want to become the headmaster?” Ashley began to panic.

“This school was his pride and joy; he built it on one of his last days alive. Legend has it he’ll come back to reclaim his school 1,500 years after he died, and based on what’s happened, it seems like that’s what he’s doing now.” Marlin clarified.

“Wait a minute…I’ve got a question. If that’s really Merlin, then why was Ms. Dinkley able to knock him out so easily?” Kara asked.

“Perhaps he wanted you to think you’d defeated him, so that he could use the power of surprise to come back stronger than ever.” Marlin pondered.

“Why kidnap anybody in the first place if he was just going to pretend to be defeated?” Annabelle wondered.

“Maybe it’s like Marlin said.” Madelyn replied. Velma could sense a hint of fear in her voice, so clearly Marlin’s words were resonating with her. “He just was trying to create fear. He didn’t actually care about kidnapping Parry or I; he just wanted to do something that would really shake the school up for a while before he started his real plan.”

“What do we do, then?” Ashley shuddered, looking to Velma and Marlin. She looked absolutely terrified.

Velma quickly moved her gaze over to Marlin. She didn’t feel any more confident on how to process this information than the students did, so she didn’t want them to turn to her for advice.

“I’m not sure if there’s anything to do, given we don’t actually know if Merlin’s still around. I suspect he is, though. Let’s just all agree to keep an eye out for Merlin and if you see anything suspicious, report it to Whirlen or I.” Marlin suggested.

No one said a word, but everyone nodded their heads.

“I like the idea of this club, though. You should definitely keep meeting to discuss your ideas about Merlin.” Marlin continued.

“I do too.” Velma confidently said. Although she felt terrified of Merlin’s potential return, she thought this was the smartest way of determining a plan to stop Merlin if it were possible. Although she did consider herself to be very smart, she had no idea what she would do if she were confronted with Merlin again. “Let’s just keep this between us. Don’t share that you’re in this club with other students or faculty. That’s going to minimize the possibility of Merlin finding out about this. What do you all think?”

Once again, Velma’s remarks were met by verbal silence; however, everyone nodded.

“I think that’s the smartest idea.” Marlin said. “The fewer people who know about this club, the better. You never know when Merlin might be listening.”

Velma wished he hadn’t said that last bit. The possibility that Merlin could still be lurking around anywhere felt insidious to her after what she’d been through a few weeks ago. All she wanted to do is teach her students. She never asked to get involved in something like this, but it felt like for whatever reason, she was Merlin’s primary target.

“Alright. I think we’ve had a good discussion for today. We’ll plan to reconvene next week on Monday, if that works for everyone.”

“Can we meet multiple times a week?” Ashley asked. “I think I’d feel better if we were regularly meeting so we could bring up any concerns we might have that happen during the week.”

“Yeah, I’d like that too.” Sadie agreed.

“Maybe we could meet Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:00pm?” Madelyn suggested.

“I like that idea.” Velma agreed. “How does that sound to everybody else?”

A mixture of ‘yes's and head nods abounded.

“Good, then it’s settled. We’ll meet again next Monday. Have a good weekend, everyone!” Velma said, as everyone began heading out of the room.

Velma felt confident in her plan, but she still felt uneasy about Merlin’s potential return. At least now, she didn’t feel so alone in dealing with this, because she’d have her students and Marlin to discuss anything related to Merlin.

Velma tried to distract herself the rest of the weekend, although it was difficult. Madelyn had invited her to another board game night, which she hoped would preoccupy her anxious mind for a short time. As she and Madelyn approached the student common room area, she noticed several familiar faces from her class - Mitch, Annabelle, Sadie, and John - as well as Mr. Mistara.

“I’m glad you’re feeling more comfortable playing games with us, sis.” Madelyn said.

“Me too. It’s fun playing with you guys.” Velma smiled back, before approaching the other students. “So what are we playing tonight?”

“I think you should choose, Ms. Dinkley!” a blonde female student whom Velma didn’t recognize suggested. “Heroes deserve first pick!”

“Yeah, Ms. Dinkley! You’re like the coolest person at this school. You get to make the pick.” another brunette female whom Velma didn’t recognize spoke up.

Velma still hadn’t really come to terms with the fact that the school considered her a hero. She hadn’t even really felt she’d done anything that special, other than making a snap decision to save her sister. In that moment, she had no idea if the idea was even going to work, she simply acted without thinking and hoped luck would be on her side. That line of thinking certainly didn’t feel like it was worthy of being put on a pedestal. However, she supposed it wasn’t hurting anyone…in fact, it was actually benefiting her…so it was useless to fight against it.

“Let’s see…” Velma said as she headed over to a shelf in the corner with a number of board games. “Magical Sorry, Stage Magic Monopoly, Magical Life…is every game you have here related to magic?”

“Yes, this is a stage magic school after all.” the familiar voice of the headmaster said, as he approached the game shelf and began going through the titles of the other games. “We’ve also got Magic Clue, Magical Sequence…Jumanji? How’d that get in here?!? There’s no magic in that title!”

Whirlen disgustedly plucked Jumanji out of the stack of board games and held it in his hand.

“Well, which one do you want to play, Velms?” Madelyn asked.

None of the games particularly sounded interesting to Velma, but she supposed Magical Life sounded the least boring of the bunch.

“I’ll do Magical Life, I guess.” she replied.

“Excellent choice! The scenarios are redonkulously random, you’ll love it!” Mr. Mistara informed.

Velma picked the board game from its shelf and began helping the students set it up.

“Whirlen…I’ve been meaning to ask you about this. What exactly is the Head of the Teachers’ Committee position?” Velma inquired.

“I’m so glad you asked that!” Whirlen replied. “You’ve got a heck of a campaign going.”

“That’s just it, though. I didn’t start this campaign. I don’t even know what the position is.” Velma said.

“Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” Whirlen exclaimed. “This position would have you serving as the representative for all teachers. You’d get to present any concerns the teachers have to me at our staff meetings.”

“Who’s running against me?” Velma questioned.

“Sam Spangles is. You’d have some tough competition.” Whirlen explained. “I know you’ll be up to the challenge, though. I’ve never seen the students build such a compelling campaign like this before with no help or interest from the candidate!”

“What do you mean, a compelling campaign? Are you just talking about the commercial?” Velma inquired.

“You mean you haven’t seen?” Whirlen looked surprised. “Two campaign ads, a huge marketing campaign, debates!”

“How could there have been debates if I wasn’t even there?” Velma wondered.

“Well, see for yourself.” Whirlen headed over to a TV that was in the corner, and picked up a VHS tape that was precariously set atop the VHS player. He quickly put it in the player.

The screen showed an announcer in a suit standing next to two podiums. Sam Spangles stood at one podium, while the other podium labeled “Velma Dinkley” was completely empty. Velma was befuddled by how such a debate could have even happened without her knowledge.

The announcer began reading the first question. “What is the impact of a teacher not addressing a student falling behind?

The camera shifted to Velma’s podium first, and given she wasn’t there, the question was met with silence.

“Oh my god, she’s right!” the announcer gasped. “Her lack of presence here is a metaphor for the fact that not addressing a student’s struggles leaves them completely voiceless!”

“Her absence spoke louder than her presence ever could!” someone cried from the audience.

Whirlen ejected the VHS tape as the sound of a crowd cheering could be heard. “Well, I think you’ve got the idea.”

Velma rolled her eyes. Only at this school could someone build up an entire political campaign for her without her even knowing it.

“Alright, who’s going first?” Mitch inquired. “Is it our next Head of the Faculty Committee?”

“Sure.” Velma said. She was still recovering from the shock of the news about her candidacy. She rolled the dice and got a 10. “Let’s see…mermaid brushes your hair and makes it softer. Move ahead six spaces.”

Velma did as the game instructed her. She landed on the “get married to an Elf Queen” space and grabbed an extra plastic person from the bag.

“The final debate is on Monday night, by the way. Wednesday is Election Day.” Whirlen informed.

“Okay, I’ll be prepared.” Velma agreed.

“Ah dang it, a dragon roasted my behind. Move back 5 spaces.” Mitch lamented.

“You’re gonna rock that debate, sis!” her ever-supportive sister said.

“I certainly hope so.” Velma replied.

Velma kept busy the entire weekend between hanging out with her sister, prepping for class, and preparing her speech for the debate. Nothing strange had happened in class today, and while that relieved Velma, it also made her wonder if she was just worrying the students for nothing. Perhaps the lights going out a week ago was just an electrical malfunction. Regardless, the DA had another meeting today, which Velma was currently on her way to now. Maybe her students would have some more ideas about why the lights went out.

“Hey Velma! Ready for another meeting of the DA?” Owen asked as he approached Velma in the hall. Unfortunately, he spoke far louder than Velma would have wanted.

“Yes, but you might want to be quieter when you say that.” Velma cautioned.

Velma nearly jumped ten feet when she heard a voice behind her. She quickly realized it came from Sam Spangles.

“Why would he need to be quiet?” Sam asked. “What exactly is the DA, and why are you going there?”

Although Velma didn’t think Sam had any connection to Merlin, she still didn’t want to tell him what the DA was. He could spread the word to the entire school, and then Merlin would find out.

“Uhhh…the District Attorney.” Owen stuttered. “My mom accidentally misparked her car last week and we got a ticket. She’s trying to fight it, saying she didn’t know. Ms. Dinkley was kind enough to help me.”

“Why did you say another meeting?” Sam further questioned.

“Well, she really parked it badly.” Owen sheepishly said.

“Okay…” Sam didn’t seem convinced. “I’ll be watching you…present your History of Magic and Citizenship paper in front of the class tomorrow!”

“Okay! I can’t wait, Mr. Spangles!” Owen eagerly replied.

Velma felt herself tense up for a moment until he began walking the other way. She chose not to say anything until she and Owen had made it into Whirlen’s office. When she got safely in the office, she saw the faces of her other seven students.

“Phew, that was a close one.” Velma finally blurted once the office door was safely closed. “Great thinking, Owen!”

“Well, I tried!” Owen laughed.

“What was a close one?” Mitch asked.

“We almost got caught by Mr. Spangles when I said something about the DA. Thankfully, I was able to convince him it was something else.” Owen breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh my gosh, that would have been awful!” Ashley exclaimed.

“It’s okay, everyone. Owen made a little mistake, but everything’s fine now.” Velma attempted to comfort her students.

Velma felt her heart race as she heard a loud knock at the door.

“Umm…w-who is it?” Velma stuttered.

“Marlin. Just coming to join you.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Come on in.” Velma could feel her shoulders loosen up from the tenseness. She was a little surprised Marlin wanted to join them again.

“Great to see all of you again.” Marlin said once he had opened the door.

“Any news, Marlin?” Velma asked.

“Nothing. I haven’t seen any sign of Merlin.” Marlin responded.

“Nor have I. I’m starting to wonder if the lights going out that day was just a fluke.” Velma stated.

“Do you mind if I bring up a question?” Kara inquired.

“Go ahead.” Velma nodded.

“I think the subject got switched last meeting, but I’d love to hear more people’s thoughts on if Merlin is a real ghost or not.” Kara asked.

“My sister has caught lots of fake ghosts before.” Madelyn informed, causing Kara to quirk an eyebrow. “She’d know if it were fake or real.”

“This one seems pretty real to me.” Velma responded. “Usually, whenever I caught fake ghosts with the gang, it was just some goofball in a Halloween costume. I never felt a cold icy chill down my spine with any of those ghosts.”

“You were a part of a gang?!?” Owen gasped. Velma simply didn’t respond to that comment, as it was too complicated.

“That still doesn’t explain how you were able to push him into that wall so easily.” Kara pointed out.

“Well, some ghosts are solid and others are see-through.” Sadie provided her thoughts.

“Maybe Merlin wanted you to easily defeat him, so he could trick everybody and then have the element of surprise on his side for when he actually attacked.” Sabrina said, sounding incredibly worried.

“Oh god! What if Sabrina’s right?” Ashley panicked. It seemed she was the most easily frightened of anybody here. “Maybe he’s just waiting for his moment to pounce?”

“Merlin’s not a cat.” Mitch rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, but he could be, if he turned into a cat using his powers.” Sadie brought up.

“Everyone, I think we’re getting off track here.” Velma replied. “It’s not going to do any good using these sessions to spiral into our worries about the worst case scenario. Let’s get back to the subject: is Merlin a real ghost or not?”

Everyone remained silent for several moments.

In an attempt to keep the conversation going, Velma quickly thought of a question. “Marlin, how closely is he abiding by the legend?”

“Pretty closely, I’d say. Other than the possession part.” Marlin responded.

“Possession?!?” Ashley shouted. Velma worried that her voice had gotten loud enough for someone out in the hall to hear, but she refrained from saying anything for now.

“According to what Marlin’s told me, Merlin is supposed to possess the body of somebody in this school.” Velma explained.

She immediately felt bad as all of her students looked back at her in horror.

“It’s just a legend, guys. There’s no guarantee it will happen.” Madelyn stepped in when she saw her sister was struggling to comfort the students.

Albeit awkwardly, she tried to change the subject. “Well, I think that can wrap up our meeting for today. The debate’s tonight, so I should probably start getting prepared. I hope to see you all there!”

Velma wished she hadn’t said that. It only unnecessarily worried the students, when she didn’t even know if it was something that was going to happen. If she were honest though, the thought disturbed her too. Having two students kidnapped was bad enough; she couldn’t imagine someone in her class being possessed on her watch.

The time had come for the debate. Although it was past school hours, nearly all the students chose to stay and gather in the gym to watch Velma and Sam. Although there were a ton more students watching her than she was used to, she tried to just imagine it as another class day, where she had to prepare a lecture to entertain everyone.

Velma was currently standing at the podium set up at the front of the gym, placed right next to Sam’s podium. Both wooden podiums had the candidate’s name on them, and were decorated with red, white and blue garland. Whirlen stood in between both of them wearing a fancy suit.

“Greetings, everyone!” Whirlen announced. “We are about to begin the final debate for the candidates poised to run for the Head of the Teachers’ committee. I will serve as moderator, and will be asking the candidates a series of five questions.”

Velma tried not to worry about the huge audience watching her too much. Quite frankly, she didn’t even really care about this position, but the fact that the whole school seemed so passionate about her running was enough to motivate her to keep going.

“Alright, your first question is: what are you going to do about discipline at this school?” Whirlen inquired. “Sam, you may start.”

“Thanks, Whirlen.” Sam replied, in a very professional, confident sounding voice. “I’m going to take a hard line with discipline. While students might think it’s clever or even “funny,” misbehavior is disruptive to the classroom experience and cannot be tolerated. Any student who misbehaves will be given a firm warning, followed by being forced to sit out in the hall for a short period if there is continued misbehavior. If they continually refuse to listen after this, I’m going to create a rule mandating teachers to send the troublemaking student to the headmaster’s office, so that the other students’ learning does not have to be compromised.”

“Velma, what about you?” Whirlen asked.

Velma realized her anxiety had caused her to stand too far away from the podium, so she took a few steps closer. Unfortunately for her, her foot slipped causing her to nearly fall. As a last ditch effort not to look clownish, Velma stomped her other foot firmly on the floor so she could regain her balance.

“Woah!” someone from the audience called. “Ms. Dinkley’s really putting her foot down on discipline!”

“Wow, that’s so much better than Sam’s answer!” a faculty member said in the audience. “She’s so dedicated to being hard on discipline that she didn’t even have to give an answer! Talk is cheap. Action is what we’re looking for!”

“Mr. Spangles is out of touch with all these antiquated ideas. Ms. Dinkley’s way more with the times!” a male student shouted from the audience.

“Ugh, I know right?” a prissy-looking blonde female student in the audience agreed. “Saying your answer is, like, so last year.”

“Excellent answers.” Whirlen responded. “Now, we’re moving on to the second question. What’s your strategy for keeping students interested in the classroom?”

“Good question, Whirlen.” Sam responded. “To keep students interested, we must show them the value of what we are teaching them. In other words, we need to combine theory with practice, and show the practical applications of what they are learning through a number of targeted methods of engagement. Student Development Theory has a number of things to say on this, and I use this to ensure our students are engaged. Our students will graduate knowing so much more than they did when they arrived.”

“Velma, how do you keep students engaged in your classroom?” Whirlen asked.

“Well, I always try to cater to their interests. It’s boring for students to just listen to lectures all the time, so as a teacher, it’s my job to incorporate examples of things they like outside of school so they can see the benefit of what I’m teaching them.” Velma responded. She felt like that wasn’t as formal or as detailed of an answer as Sam’s, but she hoped everyone liked it.

“Heck yeah! I knew she’d tie in my interest of pepperoni pizza, fire trucks, and jacked-up mega-slaughter army tanks into our learning!” a student from the audience called.

“Honestly, I was half asleep just listening to Mr. Spangles’s answer already! He can’t engage students!” another female student added.

“Yeah, I agree with her! Just hearing the teacher talk all the time is boring as heck! Lectures are conjectures!” a male’s voice responded.

“Dude, what’s a conjecture?” another student asked.

“I don’t know…I heard some teacher use it, but I don’t have enough information to know what it means. I’m not good with big words.” the original student answered. “Anyway, I don’t know about you guys, but I get a weird vibe that Sam’s answer had undertones of Antidisestablishmentarianism!”

“Moving onto question 3. This will be our final question before you respond to each other’s arguments.” Whirlen responded. “How can you prove you’re going to be a good leader?”

“I -” Velma began, before her face grew bright red. She’d spoken out of turn. Sam was always the one that went first, and she’d stupidly forgotten that.

“Woah! Velma’s going to lead no matter what!” a student gasped. “That’s the quality we need in a leader!”

“Well, that was kind of rude.” Sam snapped at Velma. “It’s my turn to go first, you go second!”

“Mr. Spangles is putting people in their place, and he’s not even in the role yet! He’s gonna go mad with power!” a student from the audience guessed.

“Now don’t jump to ridiculous conclusions!” Sam shouted at the audience.

“Wait a minute…Mr. Spangles is always telling me to put a conclusion in my papers for him. So why’s he saying no conclusions now?” another boy said. “He must be wishy-washy or something.”

“I think this display more than answered the question.” Whirlen said. “Now, it’s time for you to face off against each other and respond to each other’s answers beginning with this question. Our fourth question is, what is your leadership style, and why is it a fit for this school?”

“Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic is an academy of great prestige, so I think you need a strong leadership style. I would lead with strength and endurance, so that everybody would feel confident in my ability to represent the teachers at this school.” Sam responded.

“I think it’s important to make sure everybody’s heard.” Velma began. “As a leader, it isn’t just your job to dominate everything. You should make sure you’re listening to those around you, and making a change if things aren’t working.”

The crowd began cheering vigorously.

“We love you Ms. Dinkley!” someone yelled out.

“Well, what if those around you are wrong?” Sam challenged. “If you’re the leader, you have to be the one to take charge when someone’s spouting incorrect ideas. You have to be assertive and let them know who’s boss.”

“I think by listening to others, you can help them improve themselves. If I’m elected to this position, while I’ll have a strong vision, I don’t think this means I can’t still listen to those who I’m leading. Being a teacher is about learning, and I consider myself a lifelong learner. I’m still learning little things from my students every week.” Velma responded.

“You tell him, Velma!” a student cried from the audience.

“Yeah, everybody knows being assertive is the new smoking!” another student called out.

“Are you kidding?” Sam sighed. “You’re teaching them, not the other way around! Have you forgotten what your job is here?”

Velma was getting upset now. Was this man actually so full of himself that he thought he knew everything? “We’re all learning and growing every day. For example, let’s say a difficult student is making your life hard. Well, then you have to find a way to adapt to the situation and help the student succeed. In doing that, you’re learning new ways to help students. That’s our job as teachers. If you don’t know that, I’d say you’ve forgotten what the job is.”

Sam stood quiet for a moment. Clearly Velma’s point had resonated with him, which she was glad about. Campaign or no campaign, a teacher’s joy should be continuing to learn new things every day so they could improve their own teaching style. A teacher was not equivalent to a ruler who had nothing to learn; teachers should always be learning new things as they went along in Velma’s opinion.

“And now for our final question!” Whirlen announced. “How are you going to positively represent the faculty at the Me School of Magic?”

“I will positively represent our esteemed faculty here by maintaining a professional demeanor at all times. To put it bluntly, we all have the same goals here, so I think we’ll find by working together, we’ll achieve these goals as a unified whole.” Sam answered.

“We don’t all have the same goals, though.” Velma challenged.

“Excuse me?” Sam looked shocked.

“Some of us might have different perspectives, but that’s okay. Being a leader here at the Whirlen Merlin School of Magic means more than just trying to force everybody into believing the same thing. The world would be a really boring place if we all had the same opinion on everything. As head of the faculty committee, I’ll make sure everybody feels listened to, and provide everybody a chance to voice their concerns. Then, we can try to incorporate as many ideas as possible into any policy proposals we might have for Whirlen.” Velma answered.

“What if someone has a terrible idea? Are you going to feel obligated to use it simply because somebody has suggested it?” Sam questioned.

“No, not at all. If someone suggests something that would be harmful to the school, I would share my perspective as to why I believed it harms the school, and then ask other faculty members for their opinions as well. The question you have to ask yourself, Sam, is whose goals are they? Are the ‘same goals’ you mention just your own goals, or are you going to actually ask others what they want?” Velma rebuked.

“There’s a sense of decency to be maintained here, you know! What if the majority of faculty suggest having donuts and chocolate milk for lunch?” Sam snarled.

“Do you have that little faith in our faculty, Sam?” Velma asked. “Personally, I’m confident that we’ve got a great community of faculty here, and nobody would make a decision like that.”

“Well, no, I was just…” Sam stuttered.

Although Velma wasn’t particularly interested in running for this position before, now she felt a duty to run. This man was clearly just in it for himself. He was meaninglessly saying whatever he could think of in an attempt to make himself look good.

“You were just trying to make yourself look good, right?” Velma questioned. “So far, not one of your answers has talked about any other faculty member but yourself. In my opinion, a good head of the faculty committee should put all the faculty members first. You just want this role so you can be in charge.”

“Yeah Ms. Dinkley!” a couple of students shouted in support.

“I think when he was saying a unified whole, he was arguing for authoritarianism!” a student in the audience shouted.

“When he said ‘we all have the same goals,’ I think he secretly meant communism!” another student said.

“Omg, you’re so right! That was, like, majorly Marxist.” a girl in the audience said. “If they heard Spangles’s answer, the creators of capitalism and socialism would be rolling over in their graves right now!”

“That concludes our debate! Thank you both for your excellent answers, and students, we’ll see you tomorrow!” Whirlen said.

Velma felt like she was a shoe-in for this position now. Quite frankly, she was glad the students favored her. Sam’s philosophy seemed very self-gratifying and narcissistic. He was clearly just in this for himself, but Velma knew that this amazing school deserved so much better. Quite frankly, she couldn’t believe she only had seven more weeks left here, but she hoped getting elected could perhaps secure her a permanent position at Whirlen Merlin’s.

All of Velma’s students had filed into the classroom, and were patiently awaiting her to begin class for the day. Velma had quickly prepared a campaign commercial within the past few hours upon learning from Whirlen shortly after the debate that she’d needed to make one to show to all classes at the school before the students voted tomorrow. It wasn’t difficult: rather than being flashy, she just chose to speak her mind. Openness and honesty would be best, she thought.

“Hi everyone, we’re going to take a brief detour before we talk about The Unconventional Book of Tricks by Giranda Moshawk. We’re going to watch my campaign commercial, along with Sam Spangles’. Remember, you should all vote tomorrow after classes.” Velma informed. “I’ll play mine first.”

Velma put the VHS tape of her campaign commercial in the player, which had been wheeled in the room by Whirlen before class.

“Hello everyone, my name is Velma Dinkley and I’m running for the head of the Teachers’ Committee. If you elect me, I’m going to put everyone’s voices first and make sure any and all concerns are heard. We’re all in this together, so it’s important to make sure everybody feels like they’re enjoying their experience here at Whirlen Merlin. By listening to my fellow faculty and treating this position as a collaborative relationship with my colleagues, it’s going to make Whirlen Merlin a better place for you to learn. I highly recommend you vote for me, Velma Dinkley, if you want to see positive change and an environment of inclusivity here at Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic.” Velma said in her commercial.

“Alright, now we will view the campaign commercial for my opponent, Sam Spangles.” Velma picked up a copy of Sam’s tape, and put it in the player. She wondered what Sam was going to argue. Probably more of the same self-serving junk about how we all need to be working towards the same goals, which was actually just another way of supporting his own self-interest.

When the tape began playing, Velma was shocked to see Sam wearing baggy clothing and dancing around on screen while a rap-style beat played.

“S-s-s-spangles on that beat.” Sam whispered in the video, before he began rapping terribly. His voice sounded so extremely autotuned that it sounded like the equivalent of if you asked a robot to rap for you. “Hey kids, would ya look at me? I’m runnin’ for the head of the teacher committee. I’m cool and I’m hip; nah, I ain’t gonna trip! Run to da booth and vote for me tomorrow, or your days at Whirlen gonna be filled with sorrow!”

“That was among one of the worst things I’ve ever heard.” Madelyn blurted.

“That sounds worse than my dad’s rapping robot. And he was pretty bad.” Annabelle said.

“Woah, that was awesome! Mr. Spangles is rapping for us! Maybe he ain’t such a square after all.” John said.

“Yeah, you gotta admit, that was pretty wicked.” Parry nodded. “I’m not voting for that other candidate. What was her name again, Binkley? What a sellout.”

“I’m right here.” Velma put her hands on her hips.

Velma couldn’t believe this. Spangles had completely sold out. Even though he looked incredibly stupid, Velma recognized how smart his strategy was. He knew that he didn’t have a chance, so he was going to do one last ditch attempt to seem like he could relate to the students. Maybe Velma didn’t have this in the bag after all.

Velma had felt a little low for the last day since she’d seen Sam’s commercial. She didn’t understand how she’d gotten so invested in this to begin with, because two days ago, she couldn’t care less about running for this position. However, seeing Sam trying to appeal to the kids in such a desperate, ridiculous way that didn’t even address what he stood for infuriated Velma. A person like that shouldn’t be in power, as he’d only abuse it to make all the decisions he wanted without actually caring about the school or the faculty.

She’d almost forgotten there was another meeting of the DA right before the voting took place. With her head a bit in the clouds, Velma wandered into Whirlen’s office to see everybody was there waiting for her.

“So how’s our favorite candidate doing?” Madelyn asked.

“She’s not our favorite candidate.” Owen rebuked. “I’m voting for Spangles! He really feels like he’s on the same level as us kids.”

“Ugh, are you kidding me?” Sabrina asked in disbelief. “It’s so obvious that he just made that commercial so he’d seem cool. We all hate his philosophies, so he tried to appeal to people in the most lazy, generic way possible.”

“Nah, he’s pretty cool.” Mitch replied.

“Yeah, seems like he’s going to put us students first.” Annabelle replied.

“It’s the clearest example of pandering I’ve ever seen.” Kara agreed with Sabrina.

“Anyway, to answer Madelyn’s question, I’m doing good.” Velma replied. “Now, let’s get down to business and discuss Merlin. Has anybody seen him, or any clues that he might still be around?

“Not a peep.” Sadie stated.

“Yeah, there’s just nothing.” Madelyn agreed. “I think he might really be gone. We would have seen some sort of sign by now.”

“Should we come up with a plan for what we should do if Merlin were to appear again?” Velma inquired.

Her question was met by silence for a brief moment, but it was quickly broken by Sabrina. “Can we meet back here after voting? I’m really antsy to cast my vote and see who wins.”

“Well…” Velma pondered for a moment. To be quite honest, she was also so distracted by the election stuff that she hadn’t been thinking as much about Merlin the past few days. Quite frankly, Merlin had provided a really good distraction for her anxious mind. “Yeah, let’s all vote and then come back here once they reveal the results. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

All eight students quickly hurried out to cast their vote. The voting would be taking place in the gym, which was only a few hallways away. After a few turns, she had arrived at the gym. A huge group of students, which Velma believed to constitute every single student in the school, stood waiting for the election to begin.

“Alright, students and faculty! It’s nearly time to vote!” Whirlen announced.

“Wait!” a student wearing a red ‘Whirlen Merlin’ t-shirt exclaimed. “I’ve uncovered a video that is going to blow this election wide open! Is there a VHS player and TV anywhere around here?”

“Oh my! Yes, we have one right over here.” Whirlen pointed to one in the corner of the gym, taking the VHS tape from the student. As he put it in the player, a picture of Sam Spangles popped up on the screen. What followed appeared to be a very heavily edited together video of Sam speaking.

“I - don’t like - Whir-len Merlin - much.” the jumpy footage of Sam collectively said, as it switched back and forth between short video clips of him wearing different clothing.

The crowd erupted in a gasp.

“OMG! That extremely disjointed video of Sam has completely changed my opinion!” a student yelled. “We all need to vote for Ms. Dinkley!”

“What?” Sam Spangles gasped from the back of the room. “I didn’t say anything like that! That video is clearly made up!”

“Wait! I found another video! This time, it’s real!” the same student exclaimed. “This is what some of Sam’s students think of him.”

Whirlen rushed over to grab the VHS tape the student was holding, and put the new one in the player. An image of a male student wearing a yellow shirt and black pants appeared on camera.

“Yeah, I know he made that rap video, but he’s not so cool.” the student said.

“He assigns way too much homework, and he’s really full of himself.” another female student wearing a black skirt and a white shirt said.

“He doesn’t believe in teamwork at all.” a male student wearing a black sweatshirt and blue jeans said. “In fact, he banned group assignments last week, because he said it was an affront to individualism.”

To Velma’s surprise, a short clip of Charlie Brown suddenly appeared on the TV screen, in which the singular-haired kid said: “He’s kinda wishy-washy.”

“See, I told you!” the same student who had originally called him this announced.

“No more distractions!” Whirlen said. “The election starts now! Please line up in an orderly fashion to cast your vote.”

Although the videos were beyond stupid, the students had fallen for his terrible rap music video from earlier, so maybe this would give her the edge she needed to win the election.

Velma anxiously awaited all the students to vote, followed by several minutes of Marlin counting the votes. Whirlen stood by his side.

“Well, it’s been several exhausting minutes of counting votes by hand, but I’m elated to announce our winner.” Marlin exclaimed. “The new head of the faculty committee is Velma Dinkley!”

Velma felt so incredibly proud. She was incredibly honored the students had chosen her for such an important role, and she was glad that selfish Sam Spangles hadn’t won.

All of a sudden, the lights suddenly flickered off, causing Velma’s heart to pound. When they came back on, her previously rapid heartbeat nearly came to a complete halt when she saw the ghastly face of Merlin in front of her.

“So, you think you’re going to elect a new leader, do you Whirlen?” Merlin rasped. “I hope you’re ready for another new leader.”

All of a sudden, Merlin completely transformed into a ball of energy as the lights began to flicker again. The energy ball went straight towards Whirlen until it hit him and knocked him out.

“Oh my god, what’s happening?” Madelyn screamed.

When the lights came back on, Whirlen had gotten up off the floor and Merlin seemed to have disappeared. However, she quickly realized that Whirlen had not only gotten up off the floor…he was ascending into midair. She could see it in his eyes that the passionate, driven man Velma knew him to be was gone. Now, Whirlen had a terrifying soulless gaze on his face. His eyes now began to burn a shade of bright red, as he glanced directly at all the students and staff gathered in the gym.

“Whirlen is gone!” the voice of Merlin rasped from Whirlen’s body. “I am the new headmaster of this school!”

Chapter Text

Velma couldn’t believe her eyes.

Whirlen was currently floating in midair, his eyes glowing a bright shade of red. Merlin had completely consumed his body, causing Whirlen to look almost soulless.

“At last, I have reclaimed my school after 1,500 years!” Merlin chuckled, as he placed Whirlen’s feet firmly on the floor. “Things are going to run a lot differently around here now! This school will be run with an iron fist. Whirlen was far too soft on the children, but if any students misbehave under me, I will torture them!” Merlin cackled.

“That’s horrible!” Madelyn whispered to her sister.

“Moreover, finding my lost wand will be top priority. After finishing their classes for the day, students will work tirelessly digging up this school to find my wand!” Merlin continued.

“Your wand?” Marlin inquired. “You mean…”

“Yes, Marlin.” Merlin responded with an evil grin slowly forming on his face. “The Wand of Eternity. Students will be working tirelessly night and day to recover my lost wand, so that I may regain the full source of my power!”

“You can’t do this! This is essentially the equivalent of sending children into the salt mines!” Marlin exclaimed.

“And who is going to stop me?” Merlin cackled.

Everyone stood there, their eyes wide with fear. Nobody was brave enough to respond.

“As I expected.” Merlin smiled. “Now, Marlin, you will join me in setting up the work room for the children in the gym.”

Velma’s heart pounded with anxiety. She had never in her wildest dreams thought something like this would ever happen. The previous worst case scenario in her mind is that Merlin kidnapped somebody else, but she never thought that somebody would be Whirlen. Merlin essentially putting the students into forced servitude took it a step beyond the worst-case-scenario. There was no better way to describe the current situation than an absolute nightmare.

After Whirlen’s possession following the election, Velma had stayed in her room the entire weekend. She and Madelyn didn’t do their normal movie night viewings, she didn’t go out for any game nights, and she didn’t even leave her room to eat. One night, she’d snuck out and grabbed a stash of food from the dining hall at an odd hour to last her a few days. She was constantly worrying that Merlin would attempt to come into her room and confront her, given his fascination with her class, but thankfully he never did. It felt sort of like old times to Velma, as she spent a lot of the weekend reading to find a sense of escape from this horrifying situation. It had been a nice way to calm herself down (well, as much as one could when an evil ghost wizard had possessed your boss and changed your working environment into a place of servitude). However, it was Monday now, and even though the world around had practically ended, she still had to teach her students.

She pondered just staying in her room for breakfast again, but a quick look in the cupboard showed her that there was no food remaining. She would have to venture out to the dining hall to grab some food. A part of her secretly hoped the Merlin issue had resolved itself within the weekend, but she knew that was unlikely.

Very cautiously, Velma opened the door to her room and looked around. No sign of Merlin. Inevitably, she knew she’d probably run into him sooner or later, but she was hoping she wouldn’t have to run across him again until much, much later.

“Hey.” a voice whispered.

Velma’s heart started to race for a moment, until she spun around and saw it was just Madelyn.

“Velms, are you okay? I haven’t seen you for days.” Madelyn asked, keeping her voice quiet.

“Yeah.” Velma made sure to keep her voice at the same level. “I’ve been trying to lay low given what happened.”

“Good plan.” Madelyn replied. Her attention quickly drifted over to John, as her jaw dropped in horror. He wore a construction hat and his face was covered in dirt.

“John, what happened?” Velma exclaimed in shock.

“Oh you know, just digging for the boss.” John sighed. “We didn’t find anything yet, but I’m just taking my 15 minute break while my coworkers fill in for me.”

“Coworkers?” Velma asked. She was getting more worried by the minute.

At that moment, Ramando came out into the hallway in a construction hat as well. His face was also covered in dirt and it appeared he had a cut on his hand.

“What’s up, coworker? How’s the break going?” Ramando asked.

“Oh, pretty good.” John sighed. “I’m just going to get a morning cup of joe before I get back into the daily grind.”

“Yeah, Mondays, am I right?” Ramando laughed.

Velma was horrified at how her students seemed to just be taking this in stride. She supposed it was the best coping mechanism they had, but Merlin had essentially instituted a violation of child labor laws.

“Hey, have you asked Boss Man Merlin for Friday off yet? I’m gonna need some extra time to do Ms. Dinkley’s paper.” John asked his coworker.

“Nah, he’d never approve that. You know Merlin, he’s really stingy about making sure you get your weekly hours in. I tried to punch out a half hour early yesterday, and he got pretty mad.” Ramando answered.

“You can have an extension on the paper.” Velma vigorously assured. “Being forced into working by a ruthless dictator is more than a reasonable excuse for being late.”

“Oh thank god. Thanks, Ms. Dinkley! Now, we’ve got to get back to the work room.” John said. “I see the boss coming right now!”

A quick look showed Velma that they were right. Merlin was heading right in their direction. Velma had no idea how to talk to Merlin, who everybody just seemed to be accepting as the new headmaster of the school. How exactly did you have a conversation with a ruthless dictator who was currently forcing children to work against their will?

She simply blurted “Hi, Merlin. How are you doing today?”

Velma had to fight the urge to blush from how dumb her comment sounded. What in the world was she doing, addressing Merlin as if they had a polite working relationship?

“Excellent, excellent. The children are making great progress in finding my lost wand.” Merlin rasped. “I expect you’ll be teaching the children more about my history today?”

“Well, actually I assigned them to read Offensive Magical Theory by Slilbert Winkhard.” Velma paused, worrying she was going to anger Merlin. “But I can do that another day. Today, I’ll make teaching them about you the priority. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that before. I just thought the students would be more engaged if they had the opportunity to read something specific about your history first.”

“I like your thinking, Velma.” Merlin hissed. “Teach them the other book today, and assign the books about me for tomorrow.”

“Will do!” Velma simply said, hoping Merlin would go away. Thankfully for her, he headed back towards the gym, presumably to check on the children. She was absolutely terrified to be taking orders from a being from beyond the grave like this, especially one who had the power to cast spells to do who knows what to her if she disobeyed. All she could hope is that this nightmare would be over soon.

Velma felt a cold chill run down her spine as she went to class. She could see the discomfort and fear on the students’ faces as she walked up to her podium to teach. There was still a few minutes before class began, and there were still several students who hadn’t arrived yet. She didn’t want to make the silence more awkward than it already was, so she decided to check in on her students.

“So how’s everyone doing?” Velma asked her class. “I know there’s been a lot going on lately.”

“That work room sucks, man.” Mitch blurted. “It’s crowded and dirty.”

“Yeah, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve got the song “Macarena” in there on a twenty-four hour loop.” Parry revealed.

“I’m so sorry you guys have had to work so hard.” Velma tried to remain cautious as not to say something that would offend Merlin, in case he was listening. “How many of you have had shifts?”

John, Parry, Kennedy, Ramando, Owen, Ron, Sadie and Annabelle all raised their hands.

“I’ve got a shift this afternoon.” Ashley began to tear up a little.

Velma was still in complete shock that this could even be happening. She struggled to know how to best respond to comfort Ashley. Ashley was such a sheltered sweetheart who loved everyone, and didn’t deserve to be working in shabby conditions like that.

“Ashley, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” Velma asked.

“I…don’t think…so. Thank you.” Ashley struggled to say through her tears.

Velma looked up at the clock and saw it was time to begin class. She noticed Brian was still missing, but she assumed with what had happened with Merlin, he’d never show up. He was probably hiding out before he was assigned a shift by Merlin. Velma couldn’t imagine what he could be going through right now. If he was already anxious about Merlin before any of this happened, surely he couldn’t be doing too well with this. Velma felt horrible for him.

“Class, today we’re going to be discussing Offensive Magical Theory, which is centered around a discussion of unethical practices for stage magic. Does anybody have any thoughts they want to share before I go into my lecture?” Velma inquired.

“Yeah!” Parry exclaimed. “I loved this book! It taught me so many things I want to incorporate into my stage magic career!”

“No, Parry, this book was telling you things you shouldn’t be doing.” Velma clarified.

“Really? Even the part about revealing all of a magician’s secrets without their consent?” Parry rebuked.

“Yes, that part too.” Velma rolled her eyes.

“What about the part where you make the magician a victim of their own trick?” Parry asked.

“That part too.” Velma simply replied, growing impatient.

“What about the part where you hijack another magician’s trick and make it your trick in order to create a meta-trick?” Parry asked.

Someone clearing their throat by the door caused Velma to feel a lump in hers when she saw that it was Merlin.

“And how is the class going, Ms. Dinkley?” Merlin hissed in a hostile voice.

Velma tried to maintain her sense of confidence as not to let the class (or Merlin) know that she was scared.

“Oh, good, good. The students are really enjoying learning about this book.” Velma smiled nervously.

“Excellent to hear. I hope to see the students this engaged during your teaching evaluation next week. I will be conducting some routine firings for anyone who does not live up to my standards.” Merlin said with an evil chuckle. “Anyway, I am here for one of your students, Ashley. It’s her turn to dig in the work room.”

“During my class?” Velma asked, quickly worrying she came off as too blunt immediately after she said it.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Merlin growled.

“No, no! Not at all!” Velma panicked.

“Good. Ashley, it is time.” Merlin once again flew up into the air. It was incredibly strange to Velma to see Whirlen in this soulless, possessed state.

“Okay.” Ashley whimpered. Her eyes became red and puffy from the tears streaming down her face.

Velma’s heart became heavy as she saw Ashley disappear out the door following Merlin to the work room. In the 11 weeks she’d been working here, she’d really grown a connection to her students, which made it hurt extra when she saw the horrible conditions her students were being subjected to under Merlin’s rule. Moreover, she was terrified about the ‘routine firings’ next week. Surely Merlin had no other motivation to say that in front of the class other than to terrify her and create fear for the students. At this point, it was an understatement to say she didn’t want to work in these conditions, but she felt an obligation to be here for her students. Somehow, some way, there had to be a way to defeat Merlin and end his reign of tyranny.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, dad!” Velma assured.

Her parents had called her on the phone asking how things were going. Naturally, Velma panicked and didn’t know what the best thing to do was anymore. While her parents would want Madelyn to return home immediately, Velma felt that would be even more unsafe than keeping her here. If Madelyn tried to leave, Merlin could stop her and punish her by doing who knows what. Merlin had instituted a strict policy that no student was allowed to leave the school for any reason, even to visit parents. On the other hand, even if Madelyn did successfully escape the school, Merlin could still come to her parents’ house and find her. In Velma’s mind, it was ironically safer for Madelyn to stay here. Unfortunately, that meant lying to her parents, which Velma hated doing, but she felt she had to, for the safety of Madelyn.

“I’m glad you and Madelyn are having a good time, honey. Sounds like Whirlen really got a hold of the situation.” Dale Dinkley declared.

“Yep, he sure did!” Velma rapidly said, in an attempt to move on from this subject as fast as possible. It wasn’t technically a lie, since Whirlen technically did get a hold of the situation…or at least, the person inhabiting his body did. “Hope you and mom have a great week!”

“Sounds great! We’ll talk again next week.” Velma’s father promised. “Goodbye!”

“Bye dad!” Velma responded before hanging up the phone.

Suddenly, Velma heard a knock at the door and panicked. She presumed it was probably Madelyn, but now that Merlin had free reign over the school, she was always worried it was going to be him confronting her on one thing or another. However, she supposed if he was really mad, he wouldn’t knock…he’d just come in like he had that one night when Velma was sleeping.

“Who is it?” Velma asked.

“It’s just me, Madelyn.” her sister replied.

Velma breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her sister’s voice. She quickly ran over to the door and opened it, as not to keep Madelyn waiting.

“Hey sis. You know, I’ve been thinking about this whole Merlin thing.” Madelyn began.

“Yeah, as have I. It’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about, actually.” Velma nervously chuckled.

“We can’t keep living like this. I just got back from my first shift in the work room, and it’s the worst thing you can imagine. It smells, it’s dirty and it’s so hot and sweaty in there.” Madelyn whimpered.

“Well, I figured Merlin wouldn’t be considerate enough to put on the air conditioning.” Velma teased.

“Sis, this is no time for jokes.” Madelyn scolded. “What Merlin is doing isn’t only driving students into exhaustion, it’s illegal.”

“I don’t know what to do though. We can’t exactly tell the authorities that the headmaster has been possessed by a vengeful spirit from 1,500 years ago. No one would believe us.” Velma reasoned.

“We need to restart that club to make a plan to plot against Merlin. Nobody’s doing anything, and we can’t just keep living like this.” Madelyn began to tear up.

Madelyn definitely had a point. Velma had been absolutely miserable this past week. Even thinking about Merlin putting the students to work was enough to churn Velma’s stomach if she thought about it too hard.

“I agree with you, but what can we do? How can I let the students know that our club meetings are still on without Merlin knowing?” Velma asked.

“Well, it’s just about dinnertime. Maybe you could find everybody and secretly spread the word to each person individually. I can help, if you want. You take three people and I’ll take four. I can tell Sadie, Annabelle, Owen and Mitch and you can take Sabrina, Ashley and Kara.” Madelyn suggested.

“I like your thinking, sis.” Velma smiled. It would be risky, but if Velma didn’t at least try, everyone would be at the mercy of Merlin for the rest of the semester. She couldn’t let that happen. She owed it to her students to rescue them from the tyrannical dictator trying to make their lives a living nightmare.

Velma felt a pit in her stomach as she arrived at dinner. She spotted Sabrina right away in line, but she had to look first to ensure there was no sign of Merlin. She glanced around in all directions, but only saw a sea of students. Thankfully, she didn’t see Merlin anywhere. She tried to make it look like she was about to get dinner by heading over to the line, but she noticed two male students had gotten behind Sabrina. The first student donned a blue shirt and had short blond hair, while the second student wore a red shirt with a black stripe, and had brunette hair. She had to slip ahead of those two students somehow.

“Sorry…I need to talk to this student. It’s about a late assignment.” Velma said to the two students blocking her from being behind Sabrina. They quickly moved out of her way, which allowed her to jump ahead two places in line.

“Psst…Sabrina.” Velma whispered in her ear. “The DA meetings are back on. Let’s meet next Monday at 4:00pm in Bumbledore’s office.”

“Sounds great.” Sabrina whispered back.

Velma scouted around for Kara and Ashley, but she didn’t see them at first. After a bit of looking, she saw Kara was at the very front of the line, as she grabbed a scoop of a disgusting-looking meal.

Velma quickly stepped out of line and hurried to intercept Kara as she went to sit down.

“Have you seen what they’re serving us?” Kara asked. “It’s just been goulash every single meal for the past seven days.”

A random student wearing a yellow shirt who was sitting at a nearby table chimed in. “I heard tomorrow, they’re serving us spaghetti, but they’re switching it so that the meat is noodle-shaped, and the noodles are meat shaped! And instead of sauce, the sauce is gonna be all parmesan cheese, and instead of cheese on the top, they’re gonna sprinkle a little bit of sauce on the top!”

“I know…that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.” Velma said to Kara, ignoring the other student as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “The DA meetings are back on, if you’re interested. Monday at 4:00pm. Bumbledore’s office.”

Kara simply gave her a thumbs up as a smile slowly formed across her face.

Velma walked the entire length of the dining room, but she couldn’t find Ashley anywhere. She began weaving in and out between the tables to ensure she wasn’t missing anybody, but still, no sign of Ashley. Although Velma didn’t want to think about it, she assumed Ashley must be in the work room. Velma didn’t want to waste any time getting goulash. It didn’t particularly look very appealing anyway.

Velma hurried down the hall to the gym. When she arrived, she saw a horrific sight. She saw a number of students digging out trenches with shovels, searching for Merlin’s lost wand. The entire gym floor was now approximately a six foot deep hole.

The brunette teacher scanned the room for any sign of Ashley, and quickly located her as one of the students that was currently digging. She didn’t see any sign of Merlin around, thankfully, but she did see a ladder for the students to climb down into the hole. With a heavy heart, Velma stepped one foot on the ladder and descended into the growingly-cavernous hole. She quickly scurried over to Ashley the moment her feet hit solid ground.

“Ashley.” Velma whispered in her student’s ear.

“Ms. Dinkley!” Ashley exclaimed.

“Shhh…” Velma said. “I’m here to rescue you…I mean, I have a plan to help everybody.”

“I knew you’d be able to help! You’re incredible! You stopped Merlin before, and I know you’ll do it again.” Ashley replied at normal volume, clearly not understanding that she should be quiet in case Merlin came back in.

Velma tensed up when she heard her student say this. She didn’t feel half as brave as Ashley believed her to be. She knew she had never stopped Merlin before…he clearly wanted to be defeated in their previous confrontation, so he could have the element of surprise and come back stronger than ever. Velma didn’t have any business executing a plan like this, but she knew she had to at least try for the good of her students and this school.

“My plan is to start the DA meetings again, so we can come up with a plan together.” Velma whispered. “We’ll meet next Monday at 4:00pm in Bumbledore’s office, if you’re up for it.”

“Absolutely! I knew you’d have a plan.” Ashley smiled.

“Remember, you can’t tell anybody about this.” Velma whispered. She didn’t think Ashley would, but she could be a bit naive at times, so she just wanted to make sure that the plan was foolproof.

“I know. Merlin has that policy about no extracurricular activities except work.” Ashley said at normal volume.

“Hey, I was told this was Professional Development Club!” John chimed in from a few feet away. Velma hoped he hadn’t overheard other bits of the conversation, but she was pretty sure he hadn’t given most of what Velma said was done in a whisper.

Velma admittedly wasn’t aware of the banning of all clubs, but it definitely sounded like something Merlin would do. It was clear he wanted the students to focus on nothing but digging for him, given he was even taking students out of her class so they could work..

“I’m going to leave now before Merlin shows up. I’m so sorry you have to go through this, but know it will be over soon.” Velma admittedly didn’t feel nearly as brave as she was sounding. Even as a teacher, she was afraid of Merlin’s random firings, so she couldn’t imagine being forced into hard labor.

“Okay!” Ashley replied, finally lowering her tone to a whisper. It seemed she finally understood she needed to keep this quiet so others wouldn’t overhear. “You’re my hero!”

This felt like a lot of pressure on Velma. She knew the school thought of her as a hero, but Merlin’s return negated any feeling of success Velma had previously thought she’d had against Merlin. Velma hadn’t done anything to stop Merlin or even slow him down. This was all just an elaborate ruse so that Merlin could take over the school.

As Velma made her way back to the dining hall to get some dinner, she shuddered as she thought of the idea of eating goulash for the third day in a row. To her chagrin, Velma got in line to get her scoop of goulash for the evening.

“I can’t believe we have to have goulash for another meal.” a red-shirted student ahead of her sighed.

“It could be worse. My last school was taken over by a kraken for a semester and a half! We had to eat Slimy Swamp Water Souffle every night with a side of Octopus Surprise!” another student wearing a blue shirt lamented. “The worst part was that the surprise was really that the octopus was alive.”

“Sis!” Velma heard a voice cry behind her.

“What is it?” Velma panicked, worrying something was wrong.

“I told all four of them. We’re all set. The DA is back in business!” Madelyn whispered. “We’re gonna beat Merlin once and for all.”

As much as Velma was happy the first step of their plan had worked, she almost felt more afraid than she did before resuming the DA meetings. Now, she would be putting herself in danger by running these meetings when Merlin had forbidden any club meeting. Not only that, but she would be putting all her students in danger as well. She knew her students really looked up to her. In fact, she knew the whole school looked up to her after rescuing Madelyn and Parry, but all she could think is that she felt like a fraud. She wasn’t nearly as brave as everyone thought she was, and she had no idea if her plan would even work. Velma hoped she and her students could use this opportunity to come up with a plan, but she had serious fears that taking this risk might inevitably doom them all.

Chapter Text

Velma felt tension in her shoulders as she concluded her lecture for the day. The class itself was going decently well, but Velma was more worried for what was to come in a few hours. The very first DA meeting since Merlin had usurped the headmaster position would be occurring, and while Velma thought it was a necessary step to defeating Merlin, she was terrified she’d be caught or found out by Merlin.

“That concludes our lecture for today, class. Make sure you read the Hilda Hagshot book for tomorrow!” Velma reminded.

She felt a cold chill run down her spine when she heard a slow clapping from a figure standing in the doorway.

“Very good, Ms. Dinkley.” Merlin hissed. “Seems like you’ve passed.”

“You mean, that was my teaching evaluation?” Velma stuttered. She thought she’d at the very least be notified when it was going to happen, but she supposed Merlin really wanted the element of surprise.

“Yes, and you’ve passed…unfortunately, your friend Mr. Walters wasn’t so lucky.” Merlin chuckled evilly.

Merlin came out of the doorway, revealing he had his arms wrapped around Mr. Walters.

“No! I promise I’m a good teacher! I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your standards! Please don’t kick me out!” Mr. Walters pleaded.

“I’m afraid it’s too late! You’ve proven you will never live up to my standards!” Merlin cackled.

“No! No! I won’t accept this!” Mr. Walters cried.

“He’ll be gone quickly if he knows what’s good for him. Now, I’m going to need Ron and Madelyn to report for their work shifts.” Merlin demanded.

“Bye, sis.” Madelyn whimpered. “I wish I could stay for the rest of class, but I guess duty calls.”

“Well, you know what the Boss Man always says. A busy body is an active body!” Ron rationalized.

The bell rang just as Ron and Madelyn departed the classroom with Merlin.

She’d been so preoccupied with worrying about Merlin that she’d not felt as invested in her class as she wanted to, but she thought everyone was doing decently good grade-wise. Even some of the struggling students like Ramando and Ron had at least turned it around a little, which Velma was happy about. Parry continued to barely get by with subpar assignments, but his groupmate Jake was miserably failing. He had only turned in four assignments this semester, and had done terribly on all of them.

Since she needed an escape from thinking about the DA meeting this afternoon, Velma decided to take advantage of the opportunity to talk to Jake.

“Hey Jake.” Velma said, as she went up to the red-shirted student. “I just wanted to talk to you about your grade. Right now, you’re failing the course. There are only five weeks left in the course, and I’m really worried about your ability to turn it around. Do you think you could start working on some late assignments? I’d be willing to give you partial credit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” Jake muttered, as he got out of his seat and promptly walked off.

It saddened Velma how little Jake seemed to care about his education. However, Velma was even more worried about Brian, who hadn’t shown up to class in approaching two weeks. She would have to do something to help him if she could, but in an insane working environment with a ghost for a boss, she had no idea how.

The butterflies in Velma’s stomach seem to be fluttering around more and more as the time approached 4:00pm.

Velma tried to distract her mind between when class ended and the meeting by updating the students’ attendance sheet, but she was working at a snail’s pace due to her anxious mind. She worried that she was somehow putting herself or her students in danger by holding this meeting. Her brain kept coming up with reasons to cancel the meeting, but ultimately, she knew if she did nothing, Merlin would continue his reign of terror and who knows what would happen. Thank goodness Whirlen had paid her one hundred $100 bills at the beginning of the semester, because she probably wouldn’t have even been paid otherwise.

Just as she’d finally distracted her brain by calculating out all the possible ways for Jake to still pass the course (and there weren’t many), Velma realized it was almost 4. Cautiously, she sifted through the empty halls. Just as she had nearly reached Bumbledore’s office, she bumped into the last person she would have ever expected to.

“Oh…hey Ms. Dinkley.” Brian said nervously.

“Hi Brian. I’ve missed having you in class lately!” Velma tried to strike a positive tone as not to frighten him away. “I hope you’ll be back soon!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about missing so much. I’ve just…this whole Merlin thing has been a lot for me.” Brian admitted. “I’m terrified he’s going to do something horrible if we don’t abide by everything he says.”

Velma felt really sorry for Brian. It was clear that he had some very serious issues with anxiety. She supposed there would be no harm in inviting him to the DA meetings. “Hey, you know, I’m just about to go to a little support meeting, where students are able to talk about their concerns with the new situation. You’d be welcome to join.”

“Oh, really?” Brian asked. “That’d be great! Where’s it at?”

“Just follow me.” Velma smiled. Brian cautiously sauntered along behind her for the few steps before they reached Bumbledore’s office.

As Velma opened the door, she was relieved to see the normal eight students sitting there.

“Oh, hey Brian!” Mitch greeted.

“Hey.” Brian meekly replied.

“Brian’s going to join us today.” Velma began. “So…needless to say, we’ve been through a lot in these past weeks. I was thinking we could go around and just check in to see how everybody is doing. Kara, do you want to start?”

“I’m doing alright.” Kara cautiously nodded. “It’s been a lot to deal with.”

“Yeah, I agree. I’m really growing tired of all the whippings in the work room.” Sadie replied, causing Velma’s jaw to drop.

“Merlin’s whipping you?” Velma gasped.

“Yeah.” Owen confirmed. “Whipped creaming us, that is. Whenever we don’t dig deep enough, he sprays a bottle of whipped cream in our face. Gets old pretty fast.”

“I haven’t been doing so well with all this. I’m not good at manual labor, and all this digging is causing my muscles to ache.” Annabelle lamented. “I wish Merlin could just do the digging himself.”

“To be fair, I still doubt he’s a real ghost.” Kara shared.

“How’s that?” Mitch looked confused.

“Well, if he were a real ghost, wouldn’t he just use his magic to dig holes instead of making the students do it?” Kara hypothesized.

“I think he just likes torturing us, to be honest.” Madelyn chimed in.

“That checks out. He’s made it so that the washing machines cost four quarters for a wash instead of one!” Sabrina revealed. “What’s he using that money for, anyway?”

“I heard he’s using it to create a mega-humiliation machine!” Owen guessed.

“I can’t help but feel we’re getting a bit off track here.” Velma jumped in. “How are the rest of you doing?”

“I don’t think any of us are doing good, that’s for sure.” Owen admitted. “I know I’m not, at least.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty rough.” Sabrina sighed dramatically. “I’m not built for working like this. I’m built for the theater!”

“I’ve honestly been afraid to go to class or out in public. I haven’t been summoned for a shift in the work room yet, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.” Brian revealed.

“You’re lucky. I feel as if I’ve been worked to the bone.” Ashley started tearing up a little bit.

“All of us have. School isn’t fun at all anymore. No clubs, no gourmet meals, no student gatherings. Everything’s either classes or work.” Mitch sighed.

“I’m not doing well either.” Madelyn chimed in. “This has got to stop.”

“I agree.” Velma responded. “I’ve been horrified to hear the stories of what you’ve been going through, and I’m so sorry for everything that’s happened. So what are your thoughts on how to stop him?”

“Wait a minute…this is a club to stop Merlin?” Brian gasped. “Isn’t this way too dangerous? Merlin will catch us!”

“Not if we maintain a high level of secrecy and keep these meetings between us.” Madelyn responded.

“Okay…I guess if you say so.” Brian didn’t seem so convinced.

“What if we ask him to cast a spell?” Sadie suggested. “If he can’t do it, that’ll prove he’s fake.”

“Yeah! I like that idea. We could intimidate him so much that he’ll have no choice but to cast a spell. We’ll say that if he doesn’t cast a spell, we’ll tackle him to the ground and bring him to the authorities.” Mitch suggested.

“I think that would be too risky.” Velma felt weary. “If Merlin does really have powers, which I think he does, he could just cast a spell to harm you or worse if you get on his nerves.”

“I agree.” Madelyn chimed in. “We can’t risk something that dangerous. I think our best strategy is using the element of surprise.”

“So you mean, like, jump up behind Merlin and scare him?” Mitch jokingly proposed.

“Not exactly. We need another strategy that’s going to surprise Merlin so much that he won’t ever expect it.”

“Could you jump up behind him again and knock him against a brick wall?” Owen asked.

Velma felt her nerves constrict a bit when Owen suggested this. She knew that the students believed she was a hero who could easily defeat Merlin with the flick of a wrist, but Velma feared sooner or later, she was going to have to take herself off of this pedestal the school had put her on.

“Yeah, you’re the head of the Faculty Committee! You could kick Merlin’s butt!” Ashley suggested with an overly hopeful tone in her voice.

“Well…” Velma stuttered.

“What is it, sis?” Madelyn inquired.

“It’s nothing.” Velma sighed. “Let’s just keep the discussion going.”

Velma didn’t know how to break it to the kids that she wasn’t nearly as brave and strong as they believed she was. She knew that they looked up to her and thought she was going to save the day, but quite frankly, it was starting to feel like a full-on facade. Not only did Velma have no plan for how to stop Merlin, she had no idea what she was doing in general. How was she ever going to stop Merlin when she could barely even formulate a plan to save herself and her students?

While Monday’s meeting was useful, ultimately it had been another discussion session where no concrete plan was formed. She desperately hoped that one of the kids was going to have the magic solution to solve the Merlin issue at today’s meeting. Everyone’s lives at Whirlen Merlin had become a living nightmare with Merlin around. Velma knew Madelyn’s shift in the work room was close to ending, which was good, because the next DA meeting would be starting in a matter of minutes.

When Velma made her way through the front room of the school by the main door, she noticed a large ruckus occurring.

“I’ll have you know I’ve been working in this school for 20 years!” Sam Spangles shouted. “You can’t do this!”

“I’m afraid you did not meet my qualifications for teaching here. You’re entitled, you’re opinionated, and therefore, you’re unwanted.” Merlin hissed. “Students, start the humiliation machine!”

Two male students pulled a large metal crank, which appeared to move a robotic hand. The hand proceeded to remove Sam’s pants so that his underwear was showing, followed by a large metal foot kicking him in the rear end. The forceful kick caused Sam’s entire body to sail out the front door.

Velma felt sick to her stomach. She didn’t know if she could stand working in this horrible, disgusting work environment one minute longer. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t really have much of a choice without Merlin doing something to her, so there wasn’t anything she could do. However, Velma did find it a bit odd that Merlin had been so focused on her previously, but now he seemed to be targeting the other teachers.

Velma tried her best to stay out of sight and keep heading for Bumbledore’s office. The last thing she needed right now is to have Merlin find out she was secretly holding club meetings to brainstorm ideas for overthrowing him.

Once she’d gotten far enough down the hall, Velma looked behind her to make sure Merlin wasn’t following her. She didn’t see any sign of Merlin anymore in the main hall, at least not from the glimpse she got, but she figured she should pop her head into the work room to see if Madelyn was still in there. Whilst approaching the room, Velma could begin to hear the song “Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio pumping out of the work room.

“Oh god, he’s been making us dig for three hours straight!” a male student wearing a red shirt lamented.

“C’mon, keep working. If we work another 30 minutes, we get a 15 minute coffee break.” a female student optimistically replied.

“I don’t even like coffee!” the male student sighed.

“Well, it also doubles as a cough-ee break if you need to do that, ever since Merlin imposed that no coughing during work hours rule.” the female student explained, as she pointed to a group of several students leisurely coughing together in a corner.

“I’d much rather save up my breaks. If we save 16 coffee breaks, Merlin gives us a vacation day! Ain’t that a nice benefit package?” the male student replied.

“Eh, I don’t think so.” Velma heard John chime in. “I submitted a claim to see if Merlin would cover my new braces, and I still have to pay 75% out of pocket! What a tightwad!”

Velma tried to tune out the students’ oddly professional conversation and looked way down in the pit. To her horror, she saw Madelyn digging vigorously. Velma could see her sister’s hands were covered in cuts.

The brunette teacher quickly looked around and saw no signs of Merlin. However, she did see Bumbledore standing at the edge of the pit, overseeing all the digging students.

“Bumbledore, where’s Merlin?” Velma asked.

“Why would you want to see him?” Bumbledore seemed confused.

“I was just wondering if he was around. I’m here to pick up Madelyn. It looks like she’s more than ready too.” Velma pointed out. Look at all the cuts on her hands!”

“Oh dear, those are a lot of cuts.” Bumbledore exclaimed, only for Velma to see he was looking at a piece of paper in his hands rather than at Madelyn. “Merlin wants to cut back 5% on medical expenses, 10% on vision, and 15% on dental!”

“Ah man!” John blurted. “Now I gotta pay 90% out of pocket for those braces! If I didn’t need this job, I’d leave this miserable miser high and dry!”

“You don’t need this job. You didn’t even volunteer for it; you were forced to work.” Velma pointed out.

“Yeah, I know.” John acknowledged. “I meant I need this job to not get in trouble with Merlin.”

“Sis!” Madelyn exclaimed, distracting Velma from responding to John. “I’m so glad to see you. Let’s get going to…movie night.”

Velma noticed that Madelyn stopped herself before accidentally revealing any details about the secret club.

“I’m ready when you are.” Velma agreed.

With that, the two sisters walked together to Bumbledore’s office. Velma was worried they would somehow bump into Merlin, but thankfully, the only person they ran into was Mr. Mistara.

“Hey Velma! You missed the staff meeting this morning!” Mr. Mistara reminded.

“Oh shoot. You’re right, I did.” Velma fibbed. She had intended to skip the staff meeting, as she knew it was technically optional and she didn’t want to have to deal with Merlin. “What’d I miss?”

“You didn’t miss much. He passed a rule that you can cast spells on a student if they’re misbehaving, a policy that every meal has to be goulash, especially if it’s breakfast…oh! He passed that club-club-club policy.” Mr. Mistara recounted.

“What’s that?” Velma wore a confused expression on her face.

“Anyone found to be running a club will get clubbed with a club.” Mr. Mistara revealed, causing Velma to shiver with discomfort.

“Okay, thanks. Good thing I’m not running a club.” Velma sheepishly said, which she immediately regretted.

“I was.” Mr. Mistara revealed. “Guess my Club Club will never get their night at the club.”

“Sorry, I’ve got a meeting.” Velma nervously said. She immediately regretted saying this too, because now Mr. Mistara would probably get curious as to what that meeting was.

“What type of meeting?” Mr. Mistara inquired. “I didn’t know about any staff meeting.”

“It’s a student mentorship meeting. I have a student that’s really struggling right now.” Velma lied. Technically, that was partially true, since she did have Jake and Brian who were failing her course.

“Oh gotcha!” Mr. Mistara said, as he headed in the other direction. Velma breathed a sigh of relief as he walked further and further down the hall. She and Madelyn quickly scurried into Bumbledore’s office.

Velma’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she heard Mr. Mistara’s voice again. “Wait, I have one more question….why are you going in Bumbledore’s office? He’s not even here! He’s at one of his weekly rap sessions.”

“Oh…umm…I needed a place to meet a student. I didn’t want to be unprofessional and do it in my room.” Velma quickly made up an excuse. “Bumbledore approved it. Go ahead and ask him.”

Knowing that Bumbledore literally approved everything that came his way, she figured this was a lie she could easily get away with.

“I believe you, but why’s Madelyn going in there with you? She’s one of my best students, so she can’t be the one you’re talking about!” Mr. Mistara challenged.

“I think the better question is why do you keep asking so many questions?” Madelyn challenged. Velma internally facepalmed. That was the worst thing she could have said to decrease Mr. Mistara’s misgivings.

This was confirmed by the fact that Mistara had a stern look on his face for a moment, until his facial expression suddenly changed to a look of confusion. “God, you’re right! What the heck is wrong with me?!? Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me while I go think about that question in silent contemplation for the next five and a half hours.”

Velma waited until Mr. Mistara had walked a safe distance away this time before saying “Good thinking, Madelyn…I guess.”

“A sister always knows best.” Madelyn chuckled, as she held open the door to Bumbledore’s office for her sibling.

Velma was relieved to see all of her seven other students there again. She didn’t see Brian, but she wasn’t sure if he was coming. A sudden knock at the door seemed to answer her question…or so she thought.

“Who is it?” Velma inquired.

“It’s Marlin.”

Velma quickly hurried over to the door and opened it for him.

“Hey Marlin! How did you hear that the club was meeting again?” Velma asked.

“Sadie told me.” Marlin replied, as Sadie smiled sheepishly.

“That’s okay, Sadie! We’re glad to have you back, Marlin. We need all the help we can get with brainstorming.” Velma replied. “So, did anyone have any thoughts about Merlin since we last met?”

“I was thinking, he’s been having students dig for weeks now. If he really wanted to find this wand and he had powers, couldn’t he have just used his magic to find it himself?” Kara asked. “It would be way quicker.”

“That’s a great point, Kara. I think -” Velma paused as the door flung open. Her heart began to race heavily, as she started to panic assuming the worst case scenario. She quickly calmed down when the door fully opened to reveal it was just Brian.

“Oh, hey Brian.” Velma greeted. “You scared me.”

“So you guys are meeting again tonight to plot against Merlin?” Brian asked.

“Yep.” Owen confirmed.

“Well, you won’t be able to do that anymore. Clubs aren’t allowed here according to Merlin’s new rule.” Brian’s tone became more bothered.

“It’s fine, Brian. I know you’re worried, but we’ve made sure everything’s safe and that Merlin won’t know about this.” Velma couldn’t say this with absolute certainty, but she wanted to comfort her anxious student. Brian seemed even more flustered than usual, which made Velma want to ensure she assured him that everything would be okay.

“Oh, he knows.” Brian’s facial expression became grim.

“WHAT?!?” Madelyn screamed. “How do you know that?”

“You guys think you’re hot shots trying to outsmart Merlin, but the reality is, there’s no way to defeat him. I don’t want him running this place anymore than you do, but I attended your meeting on Monday, which means I was involved with your club once, even if I didn’t fully realize what it was.” Brian said, his breathing becoming increasingly heavy and intense. “I’m not letting Merlin punish me. The only way to redeem myself was to come clean about everything.”

“Brian, what are you saying?” Velma cried out in fear.

“I’m sorry, but I hope you understand I couldn’t put myself in danger like that. Velma, you should be ashamed of yourself! Putting your students in danger like this. You too, Marlin.” Brian’s expression grew dark and intense. “It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I had to. I told Merlin all about how you made a club that’s planning to overthrow him, and he’s coming to get you right now.”

Chapter Text

“Brian, how could you do this to us?” Madelyn shrieked.

“I had to. It was the only way to clear my name.” Brian defended.

While Brian was her student, Velma wanted to start screaming at him for what he had done. She couldn’t believe he was so selfish. However, Velma fought this urge, and shifted her mind’s full focus to figuring out how she was going to keep her students safe.

“We have to run.” Velma suggested.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You’re already in enough trouble as it is.” Brian coldly said.

Velma felt a rage boil up inside her body. She couldn’t believe anybody could be stupid enough to completely sell them out to Merlin. However, she tried to keep her composure as she spoke to Brian.

“Brian.” Velma said, keeping her voice calm. “I hope you realize that this trouble we’re in is all because of you. I understand that you didn’t want to get caught, but you’ve now potentially doomed eight of your classmates and your teacher, all because you didn’t want to get caught at something Merlin never would have known about in the first place if you hadn’t told him.”

“Well, I hope you realize you got yourself into that trouble.” Brian rebutted. “It’s your own fault for starting a club against Merlin’s policies. In fact, I think you’re the selfish one for not telling your students that you were putting them in danger!”

“We all knew what we were getting into.” Sabrina defended. “Well, at least until you came along.”

“What you did wasn’t some act of bravery.” Mitch pointed out. “It’s cowardice. You’re so afraid of yourself getting hurt that you don’t even care that you’ve just hurt eight other people.”

“We don’t have time for this!” Velma interrupted. “We have to get out of here before Merlin comes here.”

Annabelle hurried over to the door and slowly creaked it open to see if anyone was in the hall.

“Nobody’s out here. Let’s run!” Annabelle said, right before she quickly shot out the door and ran through the hall.

“I’m with her.” Ashley agreed, as she too sprinted out of the room.

“Yeah, I’m not sticking around to let Merlin get me.” Mitch quickly followed. Sabrina, Kara and Sadie were quick to follow.

“Are you coming, sis?” Madelyn asked.

“It won’t matter if you run. I’ve told Merlin all of your names, so he’ll find you sooner or later. Running is only going to be delaying the inevitable punishment you’ll get for disobeying Merlin.” Brian responded. “In fact, you’ll probably just be punished more for running away.”

Velma was absolutely livid at Brian. She wanted to shout in his face, and ask him how he was going to sleep at night after he had done this to his peers and teacher. She knew this wouldn’t do any good, though.

“What should we do, sis?” Madelyn asked.

“Well, this is a club for coming up with solutions, so maybe we can think of some way to phrase this to Merlin that makes it sound like we actually appreciate him.” Velma pondered.

“We could do that, but I’m sure Mr. Tattletale over there would just tell him about our conversation.” Madelyn sighed.

“Look guys, I’m sorry I had to do this. I don’t like Merlin any more than you do, but revolting against him is only going to cause more trouble.” Brian reasoned.

“You’re not wrong, my loyal confidant.” the terrifying voice of the ghost wizard rasped. “What’s this I hear about a club to overthrow me?”

“Umm…they meant over…throw you a party! It’s your birthday in a couple weeks, isn’t it?” Owen sheepishly said.

“Is this true, Brian?” Merlin asked.

Brian looked terrified. It took him a moment to even respond to the wizard because he was shaking so much.

“No, it’s a lie.” Brian finally said. “They were just talking a minute ago about how to trick you into letting them go.”

“Thank you for being honest with me, Brian.” Merlin creepily patted him on the head. “As for you, what were you thinking, trying to overthrow me? You cannot defeat me!”

As much as Velma didn’t want to respond, she knew she couldn't put that burden on her students.

“The students don’t like being forced to work.” Velma simply said.

“Ah yes, but they’re doing it for a good cause.” Merlin replied. “Retrieving my wand will help me regain my full power, so their hard work will pay off in the end. Now, we must address the fact that you directly disobeyed me. Since you’re so passionate about helping students, you will help them…in the work room. Every moment you are not teaching or preparing for class, you will perform hard labor and dig with them.”

“What?!?” Velma gasped. These past few weeks, she’d been thinking how she couldn’t possibly imagine having to work round the clock like the students were, and now she’d know exactly how it felt.

“Madelyn and Owen, your work hours will be extended. You will now have a designated period of two hours each night to do homework and eight hours to sleep. Other than this, any time you are not in class, you will be assigned to a shift in the work room.” Merlin informed. “All you will do is work, eat and sleep! Hahahaha!”

“Oh my god, we received the worst punishment of all: adulthood!” Owen said in horror.

“This will teach you to revolt against me!” Merlin cackled. “Now, where are the other six students?”

Velma simply looked to Brian. “You might as well tell him. You’ve told him everything else.”

The brunette teacher noticed her student blush as she said this about him.

“They ran off.” he responded. “Down the hall.”

“Thank you, Brian. They may think they can run now, but I’ll hunt them down sooner or later. Speaking of which, I nearly forgot to implement the Club Club Club rule.” Merlin replied as he took a large club out from his cloak and clubbed Velma over the head.

Velma felt her stomach churn, her muscles tense up, and her hands shaking. She couldn’t believe this had just happened. Now, her entire life would be either teaching or working for Merlin. The worst part is that she had actually done a good job keeping this club a secret from Merlin. If not for being kind to Brian and inviting him in the club, they probably could have secretly met for the remainder of the semester without him ever finding out. No, scratch that. The actual worst part of this was that Velma felt like she was partially responsible for the horror these eight students would have to go through now that Merlin had found out. She didn’t know if she could ever forgive herself.

Laboring in the work room was perhaps one of the most grueling tasks Velma had ever done. It was a constant pace of lifting her shovel, digging it in the dirt, then tossing that dirt to the side if there was no wand. She was sure she had done this repetitive action thousands of times by now, and she would have to do it thousands more. Today marked a full week in the work room, and Velma was already sick to death of the constant hard labor.

“So what are you here for?” a young blond-haired male asked.

Velma figured she had nothing left to lose, so she chose to be honest with the student. “I started a club to plan how to overthrow Merlin. How about you?”

Velma immediately realized it was silly to say this since all students were working. However, the student still replied “Yeah, I’m in a similar boat. I called Merlin a cotton-headed ninny muggins, so this is actually a work release from detention.”

“I wish he would give us better shovels.” Velma complained. “This could barely dig into a pile of gelatin.”

“Yeah, Merlin’s kind of a cheapskate. Would you believe he gave me one hour below the minimum amount of hours you need for it to be considered a part-time job? Now my parents won’t be able to claim this on their taxes! They’re gonna be so mad.”

This comment struck Velma a bit odd, as she surely thought his parents would be a lot angrier to know their child was being forced into hard labor by a phantom wizard.

“Velma!” the voice of her undead boss shouted.

“Uh oh. Guess the boss calls.” Velma sighed, as she put down her shovel and climbed up the ladder. “Yes?”

“We have a faculty meeting I would like you to be at right now.” Merlin informed. “There are many important things to discuss.”

“Okay! Lead the way!” Velma tried to sound eager-to-please. In this situation, some people would sass the dickens out of their dictator, but Velma didn’t feel like this would do any good. Merlin had already reduced her life to teaching and shoveling. It was demeaning and soul-crushing to be forced into a situation like this, so she felt her best strategy of not getting punished further was to be on Merlin’s good side. “So, what exactly are these important things?”

“There are many, but there’s one thing that is of particular importance.” Merlin’s expression turned into a cruel grin. “You are going to tell everyone what you have done, and explain to them how it was an affront to the school.”

“Oh…you really want them to know?” Velma was confused. Surely that would just give somebody else the idea to do the same thing.

“Yes. I want them all to hear an apology from you, and a cautionary tale of why no one should ever try something like this again.” Merlin grinned.

So that was Merlin’s intent. He was trying to create a work culture of fear where everyone was so scared that nobody would ever dare defy him. An incredibly smart plan, and sadly, Velma couldn’t do anything but be complicit with it.

Merlin and Velma walked silently the rest of the way down the hall, until reaching the conference room. Although it was the same room, it had a very different feel to Velma than it’d had previously. Instead of excited and eager, the faculty all seemed as if they were in a dungeon. Velma didn’t blame them, but she did envy them. She wished more than anything that she’d never told Brian about that club. If she hadn’t, she’d likely still have a normal life where her worst worries were just about running into Merlin, rather than being worked to the brink of exhaustion.

“Hello, esteemed faculty. I have a number of policies I’d like to run by you today.” Merlin informed. “Firstly, any student that is late for class will be sentenced to public humiliation using the humiliation machine. Motion to pass?”

No teacher uttered a peep.

“Motion to deny?” Merlin inquired.

“Nay.” everyone said.

“Well, as headmaster, my vote usurps all of yours, so the humiliation policy shall commence.” Merlin asserted his authority.

“I don’t know why you ask us if our votes don’t matter in the first place.” Matt spoke out.

Merlin seemed to ignore him. “Next policy, mid-day ala carte snacks in the dining hall will be replaced by another helping of goulash. All in favor? By the way, if you’re not in favor, you will be publicly humiliated.”

“Aye.” everyone said.

“Motion passed. Next policy, the optional mid-day helping of goulash will be replaced by half a helping of goulash to save money. Our budget’s really been stretched with the tools we’ve needed for the work room. Motion to pass? Anyone who does not pass will be subject to an hourlong shift in the work room.”

“Aye.” everyone sighed.

“The pleasure will be all ours, I’m sure!” Doris Rumbridge added cautiously.

Velma couldn’t think of a worse drudgery than being asked to agree to policies that they were going to be forced to abide by anyway. Well, that is, until she thought about how she’d have to spend another seven hours straight in the work room after teaching today.

“Now, Velma has something she would like to tell us regarding an egregious act against this school she’s committed.” Merlin laughed. “Speak, woman!”

Velma felt utterly degraded. She would be forced to humiliate herself by talking about what she’d done, and presumably, Merlin would want her to talk about herself in a negative light.

“Alright, I started a club that was coming up with a plan to get rid of Merlin.” Velma admitted.

“Sweet! How’s the progress comin’?” Mr. Mistara looked delighted.

“Well, what do you think?” Velma snapped, pointing at Merlin. “Merlin caught me, and I’m here to tell you not to revolt against Merlin. It won’t work. We have to accept Merlin as our leader…actually, not only accept. We need to embrace him.”

“Good, good.” Merlin smiled. “Now tell them of your punishment so everyone may hear of what you’ve earned with your misbehavior. I want the entire Whirlen Merlin faculty to know what you have been subjected to.”

“Bumbledore’s not here, though.” Mikayla pointed out.

“Ah yes, I tasked him with watching over the children in the work room to ensure nobody uses the absence of the adults as an excuse to escape.” Merlin responded. “Now, no more waiting. Tell them, Velma!”

“I have to do hard labor amongst the children in the work room.” Velma sighed. “Other than teaching, eating and sleeping, all I can do is work night and day.”

“Yes, because that’s what you deserve for turning against me, isn’t it?” Merlin laughed.

Velma had to fight back the urge to tear up. She didn’t want to say these words, but she had gotten to a point where she had no power over anything that happened in her life. Merlin was in complete control of everything she did. “Yes, you’re right. My life is work, and that is all I deserve.”

Merlin began laughing maniacally, which caused Velma to completely lose composure of herself. Her eyes began to get wet and puffy, as the tears streamed down her face. Her whole life had become a miserable wreck.

“That will be all for our meeting for today. I hope you found it useful, particularly Velma’s presentation.” Merlin concluded. Velma hardly felt like it was a “presentation,” it was more like an excuse to humiliate her to tears.

“I sure did! I was actually considering setting an elaborate trap for you to end your reign of terror, but Velma’s presentation sure talked me outta doin’ that stupid crap!” Mr. Mistara announced. “See, it’s right over there!”

Mr. Mistara then pointed to a small tripwire over by the door, along with a sign reading “step right here for free cookies” placed directly above it.

“Good, good.” Merlin smiled. “I’m glad you’ve reconsidered your harmful actions. We all know that my leadership is what’s best for this school, so there’s little reason to not collaborate.”

Merlin being casual and acting as if he was some sort of leader, rather than a usurping fiend, felt even more sinister to Velma than when Merlin was being openly evil. She tried to pretend he hadn’t said that, and went to lunch to savor her few moments of not working.

As she left the room, Velma saw her sister headed to lunch as well. The brunette teacher had been so exhausted that she’d barely talked to her sister lately, as all of them had been working around the clock.

“Sis! How’s it been going?” Madelyn asked. She looked exhausted. Her eyes looked red and puffy, with dark circles outlining the bottom of each eye. Velma wasn’t sure if the puffiness was from crying or tiredness, but she assumed it could be either.

“It’s been hard.” Velma replied, as they sat down at their normal table. “I’ve had no energy for anything.”

“Yeah, same.” Madelyn answered.

“At least you had a little break from Merlin today when Bumbledore was watching over the work room during our faculty meeting.” Velma recalled.

“Nobody was in the work room when you were in the meeting.” Madelyn gave her sister a confused look. Velma was quite confused herself, before realizing that perhaps Bumbledore found himself in another bumble which prevented him from making it to the work room. It would certainly be in-character for him. “Well, I guess it’s time for more goulash.”

“They’ve got potatoes.” Velma said.

“Yeah, but they’re just whole uncooked potatoes.” Madelyn said, looking at Owen’s plate at the table directly adjacent to them.

“I’ve just been eating them like an apple.” Owen shrugged, as he took a large bite of his raw potato. Velma shivered as he did it…it looked disgusting. It didn’t really matter anyway, Velma supposed. She hated the constant dose of goulash she’d been getting every single meal, and given Merlin’s ‘no leaving the school’ policy, she couldn’t exactly go out and get another meal. Her eating was now for basic nourishment for the heavy labor she’d be doing, rather than actual enjoyment.

Velma felt a sense of relief when she got into class. Lately, this was her singular escape from the drudgery of forced labor. Now more than ever, she enjoyed being with her students. She didn’t know if they enjoyed this class as much as she did, but she presumed that this was a part of the day they looked forward to, since it meant not having to work…well, unless Merlin pulled them out of class, which he had a few times. Unfortunately for Velma, it appeared he was perhaps doing the same thing again as he came into the room just as class was about to start.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Dinkley, but I need to make an announcement to your class. Do you think you can set aside a few minutes here at the beginning?” Merlin questioned.

“The floor’s all yours.” Velma said, sitting down in a nearby seat with her students. She didn’t know why he always asked if he could do things, given he was going to just force her to do what he wanted anyway.

“Greetings, class.” Merlin began. “Today, I would like to invite a few students on stage to discuss something that happened recently. When I call your name, come up on the stage so I may have you speak to the class. Madelyn, Sadie, Annabelle, Sabrina, Mitch, Kara, Owen, and Ashley.”

Velma’s heart sunk. She knew exactly what Merlin was going to do.

“Now, students, tell them about the little illegal club you were recently a part of.” Merlin said.

All of them looked absolutely terrified. None of them spoke, each of them hoping one of the other chosen students might volunteer to speak instead of them.

“So, you aren’t going to cooperate, huh? Ashley! Speak!” Merlin commanded.

Ashley was probably the worst person he could have chosen to scream at. She was so sweet and sensitive that she wouldn’t handle that kind of treatment well. This was quickly demonstrated by her immediate tearing up.

“Well…we were a part of this club…it was talking about…umm…” Ashley stuttered through her tears.

“Tell them!” Merlin shouted.

“We stupidly were planning how to bring the school back to how it was.” Ashley said. It was clear she didn’t want to say anything to hint they had tried to revolt against Merlin, as not to anger him further.

“And how were you planning to do that?” Merlin coldly pressured.

“Alright, I admit it! The eight of us were thinking up a plan to get rid of Merlin, but that was stupid and misguided. We never should have done that ever, and I’ll regret being a part of that club for the rest of my life!” Ashley groveled, fully bursting into tears now.

“Yes, and thankfully, your classmate Brian told me about these rebels, so I was able to take care of them.” Merlin smirked, now pointing Whirlen’s finger towards Mitch. “You! Tell them what your punishment for this was!”

“We’ve all got extra shifts in the work room. We’re working all the time, except sleeping, eating and two hours for homework.” Mitch informed.

“Oh, the torture isn’t so bad.” Ron shrugged. “I just wish he’d stop forcing us to listen to “We Built This City” on continuous repeat while we dig!”

“Yes, it is awful.” Merlin said, gracing Whirlen’s face with a Cheshire cat smile. “Thanks to Brian, your misbehaving classmates were stopped. Now, where is Brian?”

“I don’t know.” Velma admitted. “He didn’t show up today.”

“Well, that’s good. I will be dropping him from your class. Clearly, you are unfit to teach a bright mind like his.” Merlin taunted.

“Excuse me, Ms. Dinkley is not unfit!” Ramando snapped.

“What did you say?!?” a rage boiled up in Merlin, shown through Whirlen’s squinted eyes and flaring nostrils.

“I said she’s not unfit!” Ramando defended. “I wasn’t doing very well in this class, but Ms. Dinkley believed in me, and it motivated me to raise my grade.”

Velma was shocked, both that Ramando had defied Merlin like that, and that he believed she was such a good teacher. He had never directly told her that before.

“You are clearly a troublemaker who doesn’t have a drop of sense in his head.” Merlin snarled. “Ms. Dinkley, I command you to fail that student immediately!”

Velma felt a panic wash over her entire body. She had adopted the philosophy of just doing whatever Merlin said to avoid certain torture, but what he was asking her to do was flat-out wrong. Ramando had improved so much as a student since the beginning of the semester, and he’d just admitted that he was only doing well because she believed in him. She couldn’t fail a student with such a bright future like him. Doing that might affect his development forever, and make him feel that nobody really believed in him. No matter how much she was trying to cater to Merlin’s whims, she couldn’t ruin a student’s life by telling them they were unworthy like that.

“No.” Velma said. “Ramando may have spoken out when he shouldn’t have, but he doesn’t deserve to fail.”

“Velma Dinkley, I am placing you on probation! I will teach your class for the remainder of the semester, and you will spend your remaining few weeks here in the work room! Night and day, with only short breaks to eat and sleep, so that you can work, and work, and work until you pass out!” Merlin screamed.

Velma had never felt more stricken with panic in her entire life. Merlin had now taken away the only thing left that brought her happiness, and had condemned her entire being to a constant state of work. Velma had no idea of what to do, so she ran out of the room sobbing. It was embarrassing to do this in front of all her students, but she presumed they understood given what Merlin had just done.

Before she pushed her body to the outer limits with heavy labor, she needed a few minutes to breathe so that she didn’t have a full-on heart attack. Her heart was racing so fast that it was beginning to physically hurt from how quickly it was pulsating. She began to feel like she couldn’t even breathe. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to go somewhere that nobody would think to look for her. She was too terrified to even process what she was doing clearly, so without thinking, she ran into the first dorm room she saw. Once she had gone through the door, she realized that this was Whirlen’s old room. Although it was risky to be in the room Merlin now resided in, she presumed Merlin would still be teaching her class, so he wouldn’t think of coming in here now.

Velma was so rattled that she needed to lay down so she could bring her heart rate back down to a steady level, as it was beginning to feel like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She laid down on Whirlen’s king-sized bed, resting her shaking body on the soft white quilt. For a few moments, she simply laid there and paid attention only to her breathing, so that she could hopefully slow down her breaths from hyperventilation back to a normal level.

Just as she was beginning to relax, her heart began to speed up rapidly again when she heard a thumping noise. She lied there on Whirlen’s bed, staying completely still for a moment. Throughout the few minutes she stayed still as a frightened deer, she didn’t hear any sign of the noise, which was a relief. Velma decided to go back to focusing on her breathing to slow down her elevated heart rate.

All of a sudden, she heard the thump again. However, what was most frightening to the brunette is that she didn’t just hear the thump. She felt it.

There was something under the bed.

Her heart rate had now gone sky-high again, knowing what she had to do. She had to kneel down and look under the bed to make sure she was still safe in this room.

Velma could feel the sheer terror as she lifted up the hanging sheet that covered her view of seeing under the bed. As she slowly knelt down on the floor and lifted up the sheet, her emotions quickly shifted from fear to shock when she saw who it was.

Whirlen was tied up and gagged under the bed.

Chapter Text

Velma couldn’t believe it. How was this even possible? Whirlen was currently possessed by Merlin, yet here he was tied up under the bed.

Whirlen’s mouth made muffled noises under his gag, presumably trying to get Velma to take it off. She quickly removed the gag, and once she did, he began to rapidly breathe in the fresh air.

“Thank goodness you found me!” Whirlen exclaimed.

Velma found herself at a complete loss for words. “How is this possible? Merlin possessed you.”

“No, he didn’t. I’m right here, aren’t I?” Whirlen questioned.

“Well, yes, you are…but I watched him possess you.” Velma replied. “Right as you were announcing the results of the election.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible. About an hour before I was planning to go to the gym and hold the election, Merlin grabbed me from my office, tied me up, and hid me under the bed. I’ve been tied up under here for nearly a month now.”

Velma felt sick to her stomach at this revelation. “Oh my god. I thought I was going through torture, but this is horrible. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright.” Whirlen shrugged. “Merlin’s been quite kind to me, actually. I get two hours of exercise time in this room every day, and each night, he makes me a gourmet meal. I’ve been using the exercise time to work on this puzzle.”

Whirlen pointed over to the back corner of the room, where a one-thousand piece puzzle was mostly set up. Nearly all the pieces were in place, showing a picture of a group of koalas with the caption “We’re koala in this together.”

“I don’t understand…” Velma struggled to process through what she had just discovered. “So Merlin captured you? Did he use his powers to ambush you?”

“No, not at all. He grabbed me from behind and said ‘you’re coming with me,’ tied me up, and put me under the bed.” Whirlen said.

“What purpose would Merlin have for kidnapping and pretending to possess you? Unless…” Velma began to postulate a theory. “I don’t think Merlin is a real ghost.”

“But what purpose would somebody have for impersonating my ancestor?” Whirlen questioned.

“If Merlin was a real ghost, he wouldn’t have needed to come up with this elaborate scheme of possessing you.” Velma pointed out. “In fact, I’ve never seen him use his powers once in the three weeks he’s been in charge of the school.”

“If he’s not really the ghost of my ancestor, why would he do this?” Whirlen questioned.

“Well, he seems to want to take over the school, for some reason.” Velma replied. “I don’t think that’s the whole reason, though. I think that wand he’s looking for might have something to do with it.”

“The Wand of Eternity?” Whirlen gasped. “Has he found it?”

“No, but he’s been having students…and me…dig for it night and day. He hasn’t been able to find it yet, but I fear he’s getting close.” Velma worried. “We need to do something to stop him.”

“Are you proposing we set a trap?” Whirlen asked.

“Well…yes. However, even if Merlin can’t stop us with magic, he still could be a dangerous criminal, so we have to be careful.” Velma cautiously suggested. “Now that I’ve angered him, we can’t risk executing a plan tonight. He’ll be expecting me to do something right away, but if I show him I’m still complacent, he might let his guard down just enough for us to strike.”

“Perhaps you could get all your students involved in that club together again.” Whirlen suggested.

Velma stuttered as she attempted to formulate a response. She really hesitated to rely on her students at all anymore. She felt horrible about putting them in such a dangerous position so many times. Not only that, but she had consistently let them down again and again. First, she had converted her class to a course teaching about Merlin, and that caused Madelyn and Parry to be kidnapped. Then, she’d started the secret club, only to have Merlin strike before any plan could come to fruition. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’d then started the club again a week later, but was stupid enough to tell Brian, who sold them out to Merlin. Now eight of her students were all subjected to intensely heavy labor nearly around the clock all because she involved them. She thought about Ramando as well, who was probably punished by Merlin for defending Velma after she had left.

After pondering it for a few moments, Velma finally gave her response with a strict tone of voice. “No.”

“No?” Whirlen gasped. “That could be our only chance in defeating Merlin!”

“I won’t involve my students in this again.” Velma firmly asserted. “My students have been kidnapped, punished, and subjected to heavy labor all because they were associated with me. It’s not fair to me to keep involving them in something that could put them in danger. They’re so young that they might not even know what they’re getting into. It’s unethical.”

“I think the students are far smarter than you give them credit for. Did you ever force them to come to your meetings?” Whirlen asked.

“No.” Velma simply responded. Even though she hadn’t forced them, it still didn’t change her firm opinion.

“Did you ever tempt them with extra credit, or try to persuade them into joining this club?” Whirlen further questioned.

“No.” Velma repeated.

“Were the students who joined the club doing poorly in your class?” Whirlen inquired.

“No. In fact, all of them are the best students I have.” Velma could feel her tight mental hold on her opinions begin to loosen as Whirlen continued asking questions. Maybe he was right. These students weren’t mindless puppets who she’d tricked into joining this club. She had been completely neutral when presenting the idea of the club to them, and all of them made the effort to join. None of the students in the club were getting bad grades; in fact, they regularly demonstrated insightful analysis of the concepts.

“Well, then, if you don’t mind me being blunt: what exactly are you concerned about here? Their happiness, or the guilt around the situation you’d created in your own mind?” Whirlen asked.

He did have a point, actually. If Velma were concerned about their happiness, which she should be, she would do anything she could to free them from these oppressive conditions. Given the realization that Merlin was likely just some criminal in a Halloween costume, this provided more of a reason than ever to stand up to Merlin. Merlin hadn’t shown many signs of strength at all. In fact, he was just using people’s fear to his advantage. Everyone believed that if they disobeyed, Merlin would cast some horrible spell or use the full extent of his magic on them, but in reality, Merlin had no power.

“If I wouldn’t have trusted Brian and told him about the club, this never would have happened.” Velma lamented.

“How would you have known that? Did Brian give you any reason to mistrust him?” Whirlen probed.

“No, not exactly.” Velma paused as she thought deeper about what Whirlen was saying. “He seemed like an anxious student who needed my help, to be honest.”

“See? You can’t be too hard on yourself for something you never could have anticipated. All you can do is use it as a learning experience to grow into a better person.” Whirlen provided his advice.

Velma couldn’t help but let a slight smile show on her face. Although Whirlen could be a quirky boss with strange whims at times, this was definitely one of his more insightful moments.

“You know, that’s a fair point.” Velma nodded. “I couldn’t have anticipated Brian doing that. He seemed like he was practically scared of his own shadow, so I never would have expected him to go to Merlin.”

“What’s the harm in including your students in this plan, then?” Whirlen wondered aloud. “Honestly, you’re one of the most compassionate teachers we’ve ever had at the Me School of Magic. You didn’t take advantage of your students. You took steps to ensure this school would remain a safe place for the students to live and study, and that is truly admirable.”

Velma felt her frightened heart warm up a bit as Whirlen complimented her. She knew the students loved her because of this vision they had of her as a “hero,” but hearing how beloved she was because of her teaching philosophy and values felt like so much more of a genuine appreciation of her identity.

“You’re right.” Velma agreed. “I got my students into this, and now, I’m going to get them out. I still think it’s a good idea to wait a few days so that Merlin really thinks he’s crushed my spirit.”

“Could we perhaps wait until a week from today?” Whirlen inquired.

“Okay, but why would we do that?” Velma asked.

“Merlin serves chicken cacciatore on Tuesday evenings.” Whirlen informed. “I’ve been trying to figure out the secret ingredient in his recipe so I can make it myself, but I haven’t quite been able to do it yet.”

Velma was a little insulted. “It’s a kidnapping though…you aren’t supposed to enjoy it. Besides, you’re saying that both of us should suffer another week in this drudgery so that you can figure out his secret recipe?”

“Yes, I thought it was quite clear I was saying that.” Whirlen looked annoyed.

“Okay fine, we’ll execute our plan on Wednesday morning then?” Velma asked.

“Oh drat.” Whirlen sighed. “Wednesday mornings are when Merlin makes his famous Belgian waffles with fresh vine-picked raspberries and just a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Could we perhaps schedule the ambush for late morning?”

“You do know the rest of us are being served goulash for every meal, right?” Velma found herself losing her patience. “But fine. Yes. You can have your raspberry waffles.”

“What exactly is the plan, anyway?” Whirlen inquired.

“Well…” Velma remembered back to one of the more recent meetings of Dinkley’s Army, where Mitch suggested pestering him until he cast a spell. “Actually, one of my students had a great idea. If I confront him and demand that he use a spell, he’s not going to be able to do it. Even if he were to do something to me, that’s where you and my eight students come in. He won’t know that all of them are in on the plan, and he especially won’t expect you, so it’s pretty foolproof. If he does anything to me, the nine of you will just grab him and that will stop him. Then, we can call the police, and voila, no more Merlin!”

“Sounds like a smart plan to me.” Whirlen replied. “Can you take care of telling each of the students about your plan?”

“Yeah, that shouldn’t be too hard…maybe.” Velma paused for a moment. Her mind wandered back to how Merlin was going to be extremely suspicious of anything she did. Her plan continued to morph as she spoke. “Actually, I think the best course of action is to just find Madelyn and tell her. Merlin won’t suspect anything if he happens to see me talking to her, since she’s my sister, but he might suspect something if I’m talking to the other students. I’ll tell Madelyn about our plan, and then she can tell the rest of the students.”

“Well, sounds like you’ve got things figured out. Tie me up again and I’ll see you in a week.” Whirlen nonchalantly said.

“You seem awfully relaxed about being tied up under a bed for another whole week.” Velma pointed out.

“It’s been quite peaceful. There’s a surprising amount of time for contemplation when you’re crammed under a bed with a cloth wrapped around your mouth. In fact, all of this time has allowed me to finally come to terms with why being bullied in middle school was so damaging to my self-esteem.” Whirlen revealed.

“What’s that?” Velma wondered.

“Well, it took a lot of self-reflection and personal growth, but I’ve ultimately come to the conclusion that I’m afraid of jerks.” Whirlen plainly stated.

Velma didn’t even know how to begin to respond to a shallow realization like that. “Are you sure you’re okay with being tied up again? I feel bad.”

“Yes, I’m okay with it. You’re doing a noble thing for this school, Velma, and I want you to know you will be generously rewarded if you defeat Merlin.” Whirlen said, as he climbed under the bed again. Velma quickly picked the ropes up off the floor and began tying her boss up.

“Thank you, Whirlen. I’m so sorry about this.” Velma replied, as she tied the cloth gag around his mouth. She tried to keep it somewhat loose so it wasn’t choking him like before, but she didn’t want to make it too loose so that Merlin wouldn’t notice anything was amiss. She felt a horrible sense of dread wash over her as she thought about having to go back to the work room. The best she could do to comfort her mind was making a promise to herself that this would all be over in a week.

It had been a grueling week of backbreaking work thus far. Unfortunately for her, it was only Monday, so she still had two more days left of this drudgery. As Velma slogged back to her room for the evening in a tired stupor to take a shower, she perked up when she saw Madelyn walking down the hall right behind her.

“Mads!” Velma said. “Can we go in my room and watch a movie?”

“At this hour? Sis, I’m wiped.” Madelyn said.

Velma felt the tension building in her shoulders. This could be her only chance to tell her sister about the plan, so that she could disseminate the word to the other students. She couldn’t outright say what she wanted though, in case Merlin was listening, so she had to package it under the guise of a movie. “Madelyn, I’m sorry, but I really need you to watch a movie with me.”

“Oh…oh!” Velma could see the switch in Madelyn’s brain flip to realize what Velma was saying. “Yeah, let’s watch one real quick. I need time to unwind.”

Velma quickly pulled her key out of her pocket, and unlocked the door to her room. Madelyn rapidly glanced from side to side before darting in, presumably to ensure nobody saw her.

“Alright, I think we’re safe. There’s so much to tell you I don’t even know where to start.” Velma could feel her heart rate begin to speed up.

“Well, start from the beginning.” Madelyn suggested. She seemed eager to hear the news.

“That day that Merlin kicked me out of class and sent me to the work room…” Velma began, before Madelyn interrupted her.

“Oh my gosh, that was awful!” Madelyn exclaimed. “I’ve never felt such a sense of dread and terror as I did that day.”

“Can you let me finish?” Velma snapped, before immediately feeling bad for doing so. “I’m sorry, we can catch up about how you feel and what’s been going on with Merlin later. I just want to tell you this as quickly as I can. If Merlin passes by your room and doesn’t see you there, he could suspect something.”

“I’m sorry.” Madelyn apologized. “Please continue.”

“Anyway, that day, I needed a moment to breathe before diving into hours of heavy manual labor, so I ducked into Whirlen’s room.” Velma explained.

“Sis, you didn’t!” Madelyn gasped. “What if Merlin would have caught you?”

“I knew he was in class with you, so I thought I had a few minutes. Turns out, I did, and guess who I found in there?” Velma rhetorically asked. “Whirlen. He was tied up under the bed.”

“What?!? How is that possible?” Madelyn cried out.

“Merlin isn’t a real ghost, or a wizard. If he were, he wouldn’t have had to lie about possessing Whirlen. Apparently, Whirlen’s been tied up under there for weeks ever since the day of the election.” Velma continued. “He’s still in there now, in fact.”

“Oh my god! We have to get him out!” Madelyn gasped.

“Shhh…” Velma lowered her voice to a whisper. “I know we’re safe in this room, but I don’t want to risk Merlin listening at the door. We are going to get him out, but I’m going to need the DA’s help one last time. We’re going to overthrow Merlin on Wednesday morning.”

Madelyn’s eager look changed to a cautious one. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, sis, but…”

“But what?” Velma became concerned.

“This is the third time you’ve asked us to help, and the other two times didn’t work out so well.” Madelyn pointed out.

Velma hung her head a bit in disgrace. The feelings of guilt from before Whirlen comforted her were returning.

“I know, but this time, I think we’re really going to defeat him.” Velma promised. “Think about it, he’s been forcing you guys to dig all these weeks under the guise that he has magic powers to hurt you with. In reality, he has nothing. I was thinking of executing Mitch’s plan where I confront Merlin and refuse to work, and dare him to put a spell on me.”

“He could still hurt you, sis!” Madelyn exclaimed quietly. “Even if he doesn’t have magic powers, he could still beat you up, or worse.”

“That’s where you all come in. He won’t expect any of you to step in anymore. He thinks he’s got you all scared stiff, but when eight students step up to defend me, he won’t have a chance to do anything. If he tries anything, push him to the ground and hold him down. He can’t fight eight of you. Besides, I’m going to untie Whirlen right before I do it, and he’ll come to gym and help with the ambush.” Velma explained.

“That’s a brilliant idea! I knew you’d save the day, sis!” Madelyn replied, hugging her sister. It was a brief hug, however, as both of them still needed to shower from being so sweaty.

“You’ve still got an important role too. I can’t risk talking to any of the other students. If I do, Merlin will suspect I’m up to something.” Velma said. “If you do it, though, he’ll just think you’re talking to them about class or something. I need you to find some way to let the rest of the DA know about this. No matter what, be extremely careful. If we want to have any chance of defeating Merlin, he can’t know our plan this time, no matter what.”

“Your secret is safe with me, sis.” Madelyn smiled. “I wish I could tell you everything that’s been going on in class, but I guess I have to leave.”

“I’m sorry. I think that’s best, in case Merlin notices you’re not in your room.” Velma sighed. She really missed teaching, and it significantly bothered her that she couldn’t teach on one of the last weeks of the semester (especially given the reason for her absence was digging for a maniacally authoritarian villain).

“Bye, sis. Love you! I’ll be waiting for Wednesday morning!” Madelyn replied.

“Bye! Love you too, sis.” Velma said, feeling depressed and worried as her sister left. Besides the fact that it would be depressing to have to work herself to the bone digging for another endless day, Velma felt a pang of worry about screwing up again. She was pretty confident about the plan this time, given Merlin’s main weapon was the power of fear, but she found herself beginning to feel frightened of letting her students down and screwing up their lives once again.

Wednesday had finally arrived, and Velma’s anxiety had only increased since Monday night. Promptly after breakfast, she knew what she had to do: slip off briefly to untie Whirlen, then go to the work room, work for a brief period, then lay down her shovel and confront Merlin. Unfortunately for her, she only had a few bites left of her morning goulash. However, despite her fear, Velma knew she had to be brave for her students. If she didn’t, she knew they would continue to be subject to his reign of tyranny.

Velma glanced around to ensure nobody was watching her. Thankfully, nobody was; there were only a few students eating a meal in the dining hall. Just in case, she didn’t want to look like she was sneaking around. As casually as she could, she tried to look like she was heading back to the work room. She passed a few students in the hallway, but it was nobody she recognized, and nobody professed to recognizing her, so thankfully, she was safe. Velma vigorously looked around when she reached the hallway leading to Whirlen’s room, but didn’t see anyone around. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally arrived in the room and headed inside, although the weight of the rest of the plan quickly hit her again once she realized she’d only gotten the easy part out of the way.

“What are you doing here?” a voice asked.

Velma practically jumped ten feet when she heard the voice from outside Whirlen’s room. She peeked her head out of the room and saw it was a male student whom she didn’t recognize. He was wearing a purple Whirlen Merlin shirt and blue jeans.

“Oh…I…Merlin had me run and do an errand. He forgot his…um….beard trimmer in here.” Velma immediately facepalmed at what she said. Surely this stupid excuse would make this student think she was lying and report her to Merlin.

“Well, Merlin’s beard sure is long.” the student pondered. “Never mind. Sorry to bother you.”

Velma exhaled deeply once the student was out of hearing range. Knowing that she had to act fast invigorated her to move past her anxiety, because if she didn’t, she knew she might ruin her only chance to defeat Merlin and rescue everyone.

The brunette teacher dropped down to her hands and knees, and lifted up the bed sheet covering the view under the bed. A tied-up Whirlen quickly shifted his glance over to her, as she untied the ropes around his legs. Once his legs were free, it removed the constriction that prevented him from rolling out from under the bed. Whirlen used his legs to move the rest of his body out from under the bed. As his arms came beyond the threshold of the bed, Velma de-knotted the ropes around his wrists, and removed the cloth gag tied firmly around his mouth.

“Merlin must have tightened that gag again, huh?” Velma questioned.

“Ah yes, he removed it last night so we could have a conversation. We had quite an engaging chat about the current state of our country’s economic system.” Whirlen revealed. “So, are we ready to execute the plan?”

“I’m ready if you are.” Velma replied, before adding a caveat. “At least, I think I am.”

“Why the hesitation?” Whirlen wondered.

“Well…I just don’t want to screw up.” Velma admitted. “If I mess this up, it’s going to have disastrous consequences for my students.”

“That’s part of the journey of being a teacher. You don’t have all the answers, you just have to give it your best attempt and do everything you can to help your students.” Whirlen provided his insight. “Well, that’s what I’d tell you if your students weren’t being forced to work by a crazed person dressed up as my ancestor. Instead, I’ll tell you don’t screw up, no matter what! If you do, you’ll be facing unimaginable anguish.”

“I think I like the first sentiment better.” Velma rolled her eyes. Whirlen was right after all. She didn’t have all the answers, but she and Whirlen had carefully thought out this plan that seemed foolproof. If something didn’t go according to plan, she’d just have to remain brave and do whatever she could to make sure it still worked.

“We don’t have time to be exchanging sentiments.” Whirlen pointed out. “I’ll be in the gym in 15 minutes, and you should get there now.”

“Agreed. Let’s hope the next time we meet, Merlin will be defeated.” Velma optimistically replied, as she scampered off to the gym. She thankfully didn’t run into any other curious students on the way, and was able to make a straight shot to the gym.

The thought of having to get back in the pit and dig wasn’t appealing to her in the slightest, given she’d worked herself to exhaustion in the past week. She tried to comfort herself with the thought that she’d only need to do it for about 10 or 15 minutes so that Merlin would think it was just another normal day.

It saddened Velma to see all eight members of the DA digging down in the pit when she arrived. She didn’t want to risk talking to them before the plan began, so she picked up a shovel and started digging. She dug the shovel into the ground with great vigor, using it as an outlet to express her anger at Merlin for doing this to her.

“Wow, you’re really working hard this morning!” a male student whom she didn’t recognize said to her.

“I’m not in a good mood.” Velma admitted. She supposed saying this wouldn’t bring her any harm…in fact, it worked into her plan of confronting Merlin perfectly.

“Yeah, me either.” the student admitted. “Merlin wouldn’t honor the overtime I put in. I tried to convince him it should count as flextime, but he wasn’t going for it. He just said I could take extra breaks until I made up the time. Man, what a jerk!”

“Eh, what are you gonna do?” another female student in a pink shirt and blue jeans said. “I was under the impression that there were vision benefits in this job, but it turns out he just meant that his vision for finding the wand would benefit everybody. Now I’ve gotta cancel the checkup with my eye doctor!”

“These working conditions are really unfair.” Velma complained. “I can’t believe he’s making people work like this.”

“You’re telling me. He’s been playing “Footloose” for the past seven hours!” Mitch lamented. “Seems like it’s finally almost over, though.”

Just as Mitch presumed, the song finally ended, and was followed by a radio jingle of sorts.

“MRLN, Merlin Radio!” a chorus of high voices sang, before another song Velma found annoying, “Together Forever” by Rick Astley, began playing.

“He already played this for three hours yesterday!” Ron harrumphed.

“Ow!” another student screamed in the distance. This seemed to get Merlin’s attention. Merlin quickly pivoted his head over to the student who had shouted. The ghostly wizard didn’t look particularly pleased.

“What seems to be the problem?” Merlin asked.

“An unfortunate-yet-clownish series of events led to me bonking my funnybone!” the student responded.

“Keep working!” Merlin demanded.

“But I’m injured!” the student lamented. “I never realized it, but getting hit in the funnybone isn’t so funny at all!”

“As long as you can still work, you will finish your shift!” Merlin shouted.

“What about that injury insurance paperwork I signed, though?” the student inquired.

“The only thing that insured is my right to make you keep working!” Merlin snapped.

“Ah man, everything around here’s about work!” the student griped. “In fact, I’m starting to think that vacation day you gave me to work on the other side of the pit wasn’t really a vacation at all!”

Velma realized this argument would provide the perfect catalyst for her to execute her plan. Forcefully, she threw her shovel across the pit.

“Ow, my other funnybone! I don’t find this very funny at all!” the student cried, as the shovel accidentally hit him in the arm.

Velma climbed up the ladder in a frustrated frenzy, walking so fast that her feet barely grazed each step. Once she reached solid ground again, she began to raise her voice and unload on Merlin. Even though this was technically an act to ambush him, she really felt the anger boil up in every ounce of her body. She’d been tortured by this man for a month at this point, and she’d had enough. Teaching at Whirlen Merlin’s had been an incredible experience for her up until recently. Merlin had ruined what could have been one of the most unique, amazing experiences of her life, and now he was going to pay for it.

“Merlin, I am finished!” Velma screamed.

“You too?” Merlin chuckled, his voice sounding so superior that it was almost as if she was an insignificant bug to him.

“You’ve been treating me and these students awfully for the past month, and I won’t stand for it anymore!” Velma yelled.

“Velma, you don’t have a leg to stand on. I’ve already made you work every second of every day, stripped you of your teaching privileges, and humiliated you in front of your entire class. Are you really so stupid as to ask for more punishment? I’d be delighted to punish you further, but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get down in that pit and work before you receive further reprimand!” Merlin threatened.

“Go ahead, punish me more. I don’t care.” Velma shrugged.

“From here on in, you have no more breaks or lunch! It will be a working lunch! It’s the latest innovation in workplace efficiency!” Merlin’s tone of voice heightened.

“He’ll do it, you know.” a male student in a blue dirt-covered shirt said. “Last week, he made me get lunch with the city building inspector so he could get a digging permit.”

“How about this, no dinners or breakfasts either!” Velma added onto her punishment.

“Are you really that moronic as to challenge your superior leader in such a disrespectful way?” Merlin hissed, his cape swooping as he moved closer to her near the pit’s edge.

“Actually, you know what, I’ll just work 25 hours a day.” Velma sassed.

“You don’t understand how your foolish actions have doomed you yet, but soon you will.” Merlin’s face grew grim. “Now, all your meals will be served to you in a dog bowl on the ground, like the animal you are! You will have to eat your scraps as you work yourself into oblivion. In addition, the two snacks you usually receive in the afternoon and before bedtime will now be brought down to only one snack in the afternoon.”

At that moment, Mr. Mistara walked into the gym. He’d apparently overheard at least part of the conversation, given his exclamation. “No bedtime snack? That girl must be whack!”

“No. I don’t accept that.” Velma firmly said. “That is mistreatment, and I’m tired of these poor working conditions. I’m walking out of here.”

“No! You will not walk out on me!” Merlin shouted.

“How are you going to stop me? Casting one of your silly spells on me? I bet you couldn’t even cast a spell that would cut paper.” Velma taunted.

“Do not invoke my powerful magic!” Merlin screamed. He continued to inch closer to Velma until they were only standing a few feet away from each other.

“I dare you to cast a spell on me.” Velma challenged.

“Just because you are so impetuous, I’m not even going to waste my puny magic on you.” Merlin cackled, as he unexpectedly grabbed Velma and put his arms around her neck.

Velma gasped for air as Merlin’s hands grasped her neck. She only managed to muster out a faint “Help!,” with a glance at the eight students who had been a part of the DA.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t.” Mitch said. His comment nearly put Velma in a state of shock. “You sold us out to Merlin, and now, we’ve gotta spend every moment we aren’t studying in the work room.”

“Yeah, why would we help you again?” Owen agreed with his classmate. “We’d just get in more trouble.”

The glasses-clad teacher couldn’t believe her ears. Madelyn must not have been able to convince them to help like Velma had wrongly assumed they’d want to.

“Sis?” Velma whimpered.

Madelyn glanced back at her with a cold, detached look in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Velma, but I can’t help you. You shouldn’t have challenged Merlin like that.”

“There, what do you say now?” Merlin chuckled. “As your sister said, you should not have challenged me like that. You have let down everybody you care about. Now who will help you? Hahahahahaha!”

“I will.” the voice of Whirlen said from the doorway. “You’re not my ancestor, you impetuous fraud!”

Velma glanced around as Merlin’s hands remained on her neck, and noticed a sea of shocked faces in front of her. None of the students looked like they could believe it.

“I am Merlin! You are the fraud!” Merlin laughed.

“Unhand my employee immediately.” Whirlen snarled, as he rushed towards Merlin.

“If you say so.” Merlin smirked, as he removed his grasp around Velma’s neck. To her shock, he then made his hand into a fist, and punched Velma squarely in the face. Velma felt a rush of pain as Merlin’s fist hit her cheek. She quickly realized that he had punched her so hard that it had knocked her off her feet, as she rapidly lost her balance and fell face first on the ground. She didn’t lose consciousness, but she saw stars for a minute.

“You can’t do that to my employee!” Whirlen shouted, as he ran at Merlin. “Didn’t you read the anti-punching policy in the Faculty Handbook, you fiend?”

“Well, if I can’t do it to your employee, I’ll just have to do it to you!” Merlin laughed, as he rapidly reached for Whirlen’s neck and began choking him as well. “This silly little ‘revolt’ of yours was doomed to fail. Nobody will save either one of you now!”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Sabrina responded. Velma had been so disoriented from the punch she hadn’t even noticed the eight students had left the pit, and were now standing right in front of Merlin.

“If you like this pit so much, why don’t you spend a while in it?” Sadie snapped.

“Now!” Madelyn exclaimed. To everybody’s surprise, all eight of the DA members pushed Merlin. Unable to withstand the force behind the students all simultaneously shoving his body at once, Merlin fell directly into the pit, hitting the ground hard with a loud thud. When he hit the ground, he did not get up.

“Oh my god! We did it!” Sabrina exclaimed.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if we’d pull that off!” Annabelle responded.

“What…how…?” Velma was so disoriented she didn’t feel like she was tracking anything well. “I thought you all said you didn’t want to help me, because I’d let you down.”

“We’re sorry we had to lie.” Owen apologized.

“That was all just an act so that we could really catch Merlin by surprise.” Ashley further explained.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Velms.” Madelyn apologized, a bit of guilt visible in her eyes. “I know it must have been scary, but there was no opportunity to tell you without Merlin overhearing. I just couldn’t risk it.”

“It’s okay, Mads.” Velma replied, giving her sister a warm hug. “Thank you so much for organizing all this for me.”

“Of course! It’s what any sister would do.” Madelyn responded.

“Looks like you were right all along, Kara.” Velma shifted her attention to the brown-haired girl. “Merlin was a fake.”

“It seemed a bit too convenient that nobody ever saw Merlin actually use any spells.” Kara pointed out. “It always bothered me how easily he was defeated previously, as well. A real ghost wizard would never be defeated by somebody pushing them up against a wall, or at least, I can’t imagine they would if there are any real ghost wizards out there.”

“What I’m more curious about is who would go to all the trouble to dress up in a ghost wizard costume and a Whirlen costume?” Sadie questioned.

“Who wants to do the honors of unmasking him?” Velma asked. She was surprised by who answered, given she hadn’t even seen that this person was in the room.

“The pleasure will be all mine, I’m sure!” Doris Rumbridge said, as she climbed down into the pit and approached the currently incapacitated body of Merlin.

Velma waited in anticipation as Doris removed the Whirlen mask. Her heart raced a bit with a mix of nervousness and excitement. Not only did she wonder who could have possibly done something like this, but it also gave her a bit of exhilaration remembering back to the days of doing this with the gang. In classic Mystery Inc. style, Velma said a phrase that she’d said so much previously that it had nearly become a catchphrase. “Now let’s see who Merlin really is.”

Chapter Text

Velma let out a gasp when the stretchy rubber mask snapped, and the culprit’s face was revealed. In fact, she was pretty sure everyone in the room gasped.

“Bumbledore!” Whirlen shouted in shock. “But…how could you do a thing like this?”

“The headmaster's job is mine! I was forced into retirement when I didn’t want to be!” Bumbledore sneered as he stood up. “I am perfectly capable of serving as the headmaster!”

“What’s going on here?” Marlin inquired as he entered the room. “I heard quite the racket down here.”

“Well, we’ve caught this rapscallion posing as Merlin. Turns out it was Bumbledore all along.” Whirlen answered his brother.

“If you weren’t a real wizard, how did you appear and disappear in a cloud of smoke like that?” Ashley asked.

“If you don’t know, this school hasn’t done a good job educating you on stage magic! It was a simple disappearing act featuring a smoke screen.” Bumbledore explained. “I always ensured that I turned the lights off before throwing the smoke bomb, which served the double purpose of scaring you all.”

“How exactly did you possess Whirlen? We all saw that flash of light that happened as you went into his body.” Madelyn inquired.

“Simple. The Whirlen you saw next to Marlin as he was making the announcement was just a very realistic dummy.” Bumbledore explained.

“Wait a minute. What about that cold chill I felt down my spine that first week of class. It almost felt like a ghost went through me.” Sabrina recounted.

“That’s easy.” Bumbledore shrugged. “I brought a miniature fan with me and pointed it at you, hoping you would think it was a ghost.”

“Just one question, Bumbledore.” Velma inquired. “How did you appear in my room that one night?”

“Simple. You left your window open like a nincompoop!” Bumbledore revealed. “It was easy to sneak in, and sneak back out when you were blinded by the lightning strike.”

“Bumbledore, I don’t understand. You’re far too old to be full headmaster.” Whirlen reasoned. “The duties would drive you into exhaustion. Even the School Board recommended that you step down from the role entirely due to your age!”

“That’s the problem with all you young fuddy-duddies. You don’t give old people a chance to do anything!” Bumbledore shouted.

“So your solution was to force children to work and essentially turn the school into an authoritarian regime?” Velma sassed.

“I wanted to punish the school for stripping me of my role as full headmaster, and also teach them a lesson in respecting their elders!” Bumbledore snapped.

“But why all this digging?” Velma asked. “Were you just trying to torture us?”

“The wand would have made me millions! I knew the legend of Merlin’s lost wand being buried under the school, so I came up with a foolproof plan…or so I thought. By forcing all of the students to dig for the wand, I thought for sure I’d find it. After I did, I’d have my revenge on you all, and I’d get rich in the process! It was a win-win!” Bumbledore explained.

“You’re a terrible man. I can’t believe I ever let you stay partial-headmaster.” Whirlen snarled.

“Quite frankly, I’m surprised you were able to pull this off with your…err…bumbling ways.” Marlin pointed out.

“Are you implying I am too clumsy to properly execute a plan?” Bumbledore accused.

“Yes, I am. In fact, you’re on the floor as we’re speaking!” Marlin argued. Velma had glanced away for a brief minute to look at Marlin, and was surprised to see Bumbledore had somehow tumbled to the ground again into a pile of dirt.

“Thankfully, given the students did all the work, I was able to keep my clumsiness at a minimum. Whenever I was feeling particularly clumsy, I’d change back into Bumbledore.”

“That’s why Bumbledore was always watching over the pit when Merlin was away.” Velma realized. “Come to think of it, I never saw Merlin and Bumbledore in the same place at the same time.”

“Well, I phoned the authorities before coming in here, and they should be coming any minute now.” Whirlen said. “I cannot believe this betrayal! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bumbledore. You had 40 good years as headmaster of this school and you would have been thought of as a hero, but now your name will be tarnished over this outrageous act of ego.”

“Wow, sis, it’s just like those mysteries you always told me about you and the gang solving.” Madelyn replied, moving over to stand by her sister’s side.

“Yeah. I guess it is. Usually the culprit was at least somewhat obvious in those, though.” Velma recalled. “I never would have expected Bumbledore to do something like that.”

“Well, regardless of what you say, the students loved me! Why do you think I accepted all of those outrageous proposals?” Bumbledore bragged.

“Hey, my proposal to create a ballroom dancing club with monkeys was not outrageous!” Parry snapped from a distance.

At that moment, two men wearing blue uniforms and hats came into the room. One of them had red hair, while the other sported brown hair.

“Alright, what seems to be the problem here, sir?” the brown-haired cop inquired.

“My former headmaster has staged an unimaginable revolt, in which I was kidnapped and tied up under a bed for a month, unjust firings occurred, and students were forced to partake in heavy labor.” Whirlen exclaimed.

“Good god!” the red-haired cop exclaimed.

“Ah, it figures Velma would ruin my plan with her professional mystery-solving skills.” Bumbledore lamented.

“Wait a minute.” Velma reached an epiphany. “That’s why you were so focused on scaring my class and not the others, right? You knew I’d be a threat to figuring out your plan to overthrow Whirlen with my past mystery-solving experience, so you tried to frighten me away before I uncovered your scheme.”

“Precisely.” Bumbledore admitted. “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you bronchitis babies!”

Whirlen gasped in outrage. “Get that man out of here immediately!”

“C’mon buddy, you’ll be seeing plenty of bronchitis babies where you’re going.” the brown-haired cop said intensely, as he handcuffed Bumbledore and began taking him away.

“There’s no children in jail, Ben.” the red-haired cop looked confused.

“I know. I just feel like I’ve gotta be the tough guy on account of the hegemonic masculinity my Grandpa Chad ingrained in me.” the brown-haired cop hung his head in shame.

“Velma, you’re a hero!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“I couldn’t have done it without you guys.” Velma replied.

“I still can’t believe Bumbledore was behind all this!” Sadie gasped.

“I can’t believe he made students dig for weeks when nothing was found.” Kara interjected.

“Yeah, we didn’t find anything but that stupid black-painted piece of wood.” Parry said.

“What are you talking about?” Annabelle asked.

“It was a polished black piece of wood with a white tip, and a M on the bottom of the wood.” Parry further explained. “I saw it in the dirt weeks ago. It seemed pretty neat, so I brought it back to my room.”

“You’ve found Merlin’s lost wand!” Whirlen exclaimed.

“Take us to your room at once, Parry.” Marlin instructed. “We need to see if it’s really the wand.”

“Alright.” Parry shrugged, as he began leading everybody to his room.

“I’m so sorry for all the mayhem Merlin has caused over the past few weeks, everyone.” Whirlen apologized. “However, I can guarantee you that your last two weeks of the semester will be filled with fun and celebration. I’ll be giving you the rest of the week off of classes, and now that Merlin is gone, the Year-End Stage Magic Show can commence on Sunday evening.”

“But we haven’t had any time to practice!” Peter lamented. Velma remembered that he was a part of Mrs. Rumbridge’s stage magic class. “Merlin was gonna have us celebrate the end of the year by having a pit-digging contest. Come to think of it, that was pretty much what we were already doing.”

“That’s the best way of all to test you, then! I’ve always found preparation and practice to overglamorize the performances. Testing you spontaneously shows whatever skill level you’re at currently. You know what they say, authenticity is key!” Whirlen replied, before shifting his attention over to Velma. “By the way, I hope you know you will be receiving a generous reward at the end of the show.”

“I’ll accept on one condition: if my students each get rewards too.” Velma provided her ultimatum.

“Absolutely.” Whirlen agreed. “You all saved this school from Bumbledore, and I could not be more grateful to you.”

Parry quickly hurried out with the wand once everybody arrived in his room. “Are you sure this is the wand? It still just seems like an old piece of wood to me.”

Marlin inspected the wand as Parry handed it to him.

“This appears to be the wand, but there’s only one way to know for sure.” Marlin ran his index finger smoothly along the tip of the wand. To everybody’s surprise, the wand began to gain a faint glow.

“It is the real wand!” Whirlen gasped. “Everybody knows that first-millenium wands were filled with phoenix feathers, and only those feathers produce that kind of glow.”

Velma was going to ask how they knew the glow wasn’t just some cheap LED light somebody had put into the wand, until she looked up at the ceiling and saw the breathtakingly beautiful light projection of a phoenix, coming directly from the wand.

“That’s amazing.” Velma gasped. “This should be in a museum or something.”

“It will be put in our collection of magical artifacts over by the art room.” Whirlen replied. “I’m so grateful to you, Parry, for finding this wand. Perhaps this Merlin situation wasn’t all for the bad after all, as without it, this wand likely would have never been uncovered.”

Although Velma didn’t feel the same sense of gratitude for finding the wand, given she’d barely known what it was an hour ago, she shared Whirlen’s sentiment in a different way. The awful ordeal with Merlin had arguably made her a much braver person. Back when she was traveling around the world with the gang, Fred and Daphne were always the brave ones. She had always considered herself as just the smart girl who figured the mystery out. Now, through the drive she showed to help her students, she knew she was far more than just the smart girl with glasses: she too was brave.

After what they’d been through with Merlin the past few weeks, students were thrilled to have off of their classes for the rest of the week. Velma also was glad to have a rest, although she was becoming a bit sad that she only had two weeks left with her students. She really connected with her students far more than she thought she would when she took the role. In fact, Velma would even say she loved her students. She’d grown to appreciate them each for their individual learning styles and quirks, and was truly going to miss teaching them every day.

Mr. Mistara had invited everyone who normally partook in game night back for one last hurrah before they had to buckle down and study for finals. They were currently playing Magic Mystery Mansion. All of the normal game-playing gang was there, in addition to Whirlen, who had decided to join them on a whim. Velma remembered back to how resistant she was to playing games with the students ten weeks ago, thinking it would mean that she was getting too chummy with the students. Now, she wished she could have had more opportunities to play games with this group.

“1, 2, 3, 4, oh dang it!” Mitch lamented as he moved the four spaces awarded to him by the dice. “I got kidnapped by a griffin! Move back 10 spaces.”

“We’re really going to miss having you around here, sis.” Madelyn said, as she took her turn and rolled the dice. “1, 2, 3. I found a lucky charm!”

“I’m going to miss being around here. I can’t believe there’s only two weeks left!” Velma replied.

“Ah, that’s where you’d be wrong. There’s only one week left.” Whirlen corrected.

“What do you mean?” Velma was confused. She knew that there was a full week next week, followed by finals.

“Well, you see, in your absence, Merlin chose to cover all your remaining materials at twice the pace you were going just to spite you.” Whirlen revealed. “The only thing he didn’t get to was the final.”

“So all I have to do is give out the final? Can’t I give them a review session for two days, and then give the final Wednesday?” Velma asked. If she were honest with herself, she knew most of the students would probably succeed at the final knowing how brilliant they were, but she wasn’t ready to leave them yet. She wanted at least one more week.

“I suppose you can, sure.” Whirlen replied, as he took his turn. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Oh drat, a ghoul has captured me! Looks like I must lose a turn.”

Velma felt a bit relieved, though still quite shaken up by the fact that she’d be leaving here at the end of next week. “What was it like having Merlin teach you, by the way?”

“Not good.” Sadie shared. “He was talking so fast, I could barely understand him. All he wanted to talk about is himself, and why the magical authors he taught were inferior to his philosophy.”

“The only author he liked was Michael A. Erlin, and it turns out that was just his own pseudonym!” Annabelle added.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. Merlin made me redo my weekly assignment because it didn’t have enough gratuitous compliments about him in it.” Mitch explained.

“It was honestly a nightmare, Velms.” Madelyn chimed in. “Most people still got A’s because they bent over backwards to compliment him, but a few of us didn’t. Myself included.”

“I’ll give redo assignments to those of you who got bad grades.” Velma promised. “Hey, maybe I could even stick around for an extra week and try to re-teach what Merlin did.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow you to do that.” Whirlen stepped in. “According to the school board’s ART policy, no subject can be retaught if it has already been taught by a licensed teacher, and Bumbledore was a licensed teacher.”

“What does ART stand for?” Velma questioned.

“Anti-Re-Teaching.” Whirlen answered. “Your last week is next week, and that’s final.”

Velma felt a bit down after this revelation. She didn’t realize how much she’d grown to love this routine of teaching her students, but now, life without it was going to feel strange.

Velma sat down in the crowded theater with her sister by her side. The room was packed with students and faculty filling nearly every seat, as they watched the year-end magic show. She was amazed by the intricacy of some of the tricks performed.

“With this trick, I’m going to jump through a hoop within a hoop!” Peter exclaimed, as Sabrina spun a larger hula hoop around inside of a smaller hula hoop.

“Do you really think he can do it?” Velma asked her sister.

“They didn’t spend all of this semester training for nothing, sis.” Madelyn laughed.

With a flying leap, Peter jumped through both hoops at once in an incredible feat of agility.

Velma felt her body tense up as she saw who was coming to fill the empty seat next to her: Brian.

“Hey…” Brian awkwardly said. “I’m sorry, I would have picked another seat, but there weren’t any.”

Velma figured Brian was trying to be polite, but he was coming off incredibly rude.

“It’s fine. You can sit here.” Velma didn’t want to be too cold to somebody who was a former student, but what he had done was pretty despicable. If not for him, she and her students likely never would have been caught, and she wouldn’t have had to dig for weeks upon weeks.

There was an awkward moment of silence between them, where nobody said anything and both of them kept their eyes squarely on the show. It appeared Sabrina was doing some sort of rope trick.

“Hey, look.” Brian finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’ve thought about it, and I just acted the way I did because I was frightened. It wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Although Madelyn didn’t say anything, a quick glance beside her showed that she was absolutely enraged. Surprisingly, Velma didn’t feel the same way. There was no doubt in her mind that Brian had made one of the dumbest decisions ever, but looking at Brian showed his vulnerability. His tone of voice seemed genuinely open and honest, and his hands were even shaking a bit as he said it. It was very hard for Velma to accept his apology, but spending the past 14 weeks being a teacher taught her that students sometimes made dumb decisions. Jake was a perfect example of this: Velma didn’t feel her assignments were unreasonably hard. Essentially, if you did the readings and put in some level of critical thinking, you’d pass the course. However, Jake chose to repeatedly squander the opportunity by not even attempting most of the assignments. Thinking about this caused Velma to experience a new feeling inside of her: forgiveness. Knowing that Brian had behaved stupidly did not cloud her view of him, because there was always the possibility for improvement in the future. Velma knew he was anxious, and anxiety often caused people to make reckless decisions. In fact, the divide between Jake and Brian was pretty clear: while Jake didn’t even bother to try, Brian at least showed some effort and desire to pass the class. In Velma’s opinion, that awarded him the benefit of the doubt.

“Apology accepted, Brian.” Velma finally responded. “Make no mistake…what you did was wrong, but I understand it was done out of fear rather than malice.”

“Thanks, Ms. Dinkley. It was an honor being in your class.” Brian’s cautious look transformed into a smile.

“You could be in it again, if you wanted. Whirlen’s been talking with the school board, and from what he’s told me, they’ve declared none of the firings or grading Bumbledore did was legitimate, since he forcibly took over the role of full headmaster.” Velma informed. “That means you dropping my class wasn’t legitimate either…unless you want it to be.”

“I think I’d like another chance, if that’s alright.” Brian decided.

“On one condition: you have to make up all the assignments you missed by Wednesday.” Velma requested. “I know it will be tough, but I think you can do it. Besides, it will be a week before your other finals anyway, so you should have time.”

“Deal.” Brian reached out his hand, which Velma assumed to mean that he was shaking on his promise. Velma reciprocated and shook his hand.

Velma hadn’t been paying attention to the magic show as she talked to Brian, but apparently it had nearly concluded. Sabrina, Ashley, and the rest of the students were now all on stage.

“We’re now going to perform the same match trick we did at midterms!” Sabrina announced to the audience.

“Oh come on! If I wanted a repeat, I’d just watch reruns of Bewitched on KQIC weekdays at 6, after the Nightly News with Nick!” a man wearing a black blazer and gray dress pants shouted from the audience. “Also, this serves as your official sponsored message to watch reruns of Bewitched on KQIC weekdays at 6 after the Nightly News with Nick!”

“Hold on, you didn’t let us finish!” Sabrina clarified.

“We’re going to perform the same match trick…with only one match!” Ashley announced, as she snapped a singular match in half. The half-matches couldn’t have been any longer than a thimble, so this would take extreme gracefulness and coordination. She was barely able to even hold on to the tiny matches. To Velma’s shock, she was somehow able to cause a fire to ignite from the two half-sticks. Ashley cautiously carried the fire over to a large bottle rocket, and lit the wick on the firework. The rocket exploded into the air, its sparks safely disappearing without causing any damage.

“Wonderful job, Mrs. Rumbridge!” Whirlen exclaimed, as he got up from his seat and went onstage.

“The pleasure was all yours, I’m sure!” Mrs. Rumbridge shrilly spoke to the audience through her microphone, before handing it to Whirlen and sitting down in his prior seat.

“To conclude tonight’s show, I would like to recognize some very special people. As you all know, for the past four weeks have been very trying for all of us.”

“I didn’t know!” a male student with blond hair exclaimed in the audience. “I’ve been on vacation in Aruba for the past month and just got back! What the heck happened?”

“However, even in the face of fear and peril, one very special teacher and her eight students stood up to Merlin and ultimately saved our school. This teacher and her students deserve recognition tonight.” Whirlen announced. “I’ve invited a very special guest to provide you all with an award. I’d like to introduce none other than special musical guest Michael Jackson.”

“Wow!” Parry shouted in the audience. “Special musical guest Michael Jackson?”

A man with a ghastly white face who was wearing a black suit ran up on stage holding a stack of awards.

“And the award for Bravest Instructor sponsored by Nike goes to none other than…” Michael announced. “Velma Dinkl-hee-hee!”

Velma quickly got out of her seat and scurried up towards the front.

“Besides Velma, we’d also like to recognize eight of Velma’s students who helped her defeat Merlin.” Whirlen interjected, taking the microphone back from Michael as he went to sit down in the audience. “Madelyn, Sadie, Annabelle, Ashley, Mitch, Sabrina, Owen and Kara, come on up here.”

“You nine have shown so much dedication to this school, and truly exemplified our school’s motto: study hard or you’ll flunk!” Whirlen spoke into the microphone. “In addition to that, you have shown immense bravery in a situation of great danger, aided your fellow students in distress, and most of all, you saved our school. That deserves a reward. In addition to these official “Bravest Instructor Sponsored by Nike” certificates, I would like to present you with a gift to show my deepest appreciation.”

Whirlen handed out a small piece of paper to Velma and each of the eight students. The glasses-clad instructor quickly looked at hers, excited to see the reward she would be receiving. Her face quickly fell when she saw what the “reward” actually was.

“$1 off of a crispy chicken sandwich at Burger King?” Velma asked, perplexed as to why in the world Whirlen would have given her this.

“I thought you said we were getting a generous reward.” Mitch questioned.

“Well, I could have made you pay for the whole sandwich.” Whirlen replied defensively. “I considered it quite generous.”

Although she was certainly disappointed, she figured it was a fitting reward for a man who paid her entire salary on the first week by handing her 100 $100 bills. Whirlen could be a very strange man at times, and while his reward was disappointing, Velma was at least thankful that Whirlen was honoring her and her students in front of the school.

Going into the second-to-last-day of class was bittersweet for Velma. She could remember her first day at Whirlen Merlin’s like it was yesterday, so the fact that this 15-week experience was just a few days away from being over was mind-blowing to Velma. She really wished she would have spent less time worrying about Merlin and more time getting to know her students. In the past week, she felt like she’d gained more of an appreciation for her amazing students than she had ever before.

To help prepare her students for the final exam, Velma decided to spend part of the class period doing a trivia-style game, in which she asked the students questions related to the literature they’d read over the course of the semester. The way the game worked is that the first student to call out their answer for the question she asked was given a point. Currently, the game had almost wrapped up. Madelyn was in the lead with 13 points, although Kara trailed closely behind with 12, and Sabrina right behind her with 10. After the game was over, Velma had told the students she would check in with each of them individually to ask if they had any questions or concerns about the exam.

“Ooh! I know this one!” Owen exclaimed. “The main argument of The Warlock of Wimbledon was you can’t separate the mind, body and spirit. They’re all connected when you’re doing magic.”

“Good job, Owen! Another point for you. You’re up to eight points.” Velma announced. “Now, the next question is what was the winning argument for the class activity about the Merlin books?”

“The courage of protecting his people!” Owen quickly blurted.

“Excellent work!” Velma exclaimed. Owen had significantly improved as a student throughout the semester, but that was especially showing this week. Velma remembered back to the beginning of the year where he was feigning illness and coming up with all sorts of different excuses for why he couldn’t turn in his assignments. Now, he’d probably improved more than any student in the course. It was success stories like this that made Velma love teaching.

“Alright, since this is the final question, whoever answers this correctly will get a bonus point.” Velma informed her students. “What was Kisp’s philosophy about Gridditch?”

“The danger that accompanies Gridditch makes it far from ideal, and therefore impractical to play.” Kara answered.

“Great work! Kara pulls into the lead and takes the win with 14 points!” Velma exclaimed. “Great game, everyone. Now, for the rest of class, I’m going to meet with each student individually just to check in with everybody to see if they’re ready for the exam. Remember, the exam will consist of three essay questions, and anything we’ve covered in the class is fair game. It’s more likely that things from the past six weeks will appear on the exam, however, since you weren’t tested on them in the midterm. Once I’ve talked to you, you may leave.”

Velma didn’t really want to allow her students to leave, because she wanted to have as much time with them as possible, but she knew it would be unfair of her to keep her students there only for that reason. She wanted to get the troubled student out of the way first, so she started by going up to Jake.

“Hey Jake.” Velma said, keeping her voice low, so as not to embarrass him in front of the other students. “I’m very concerned about your grade. You’re currently failing my course.”

“I know, I know.” Jake seemed perturbed.

“You can still pass my course if you do all the assignments, and get an A on the final, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work on your part.” Velma informed.

“You know what your problem is?” Jake snarled, causing Velma’s jaw to drop. “You’ve got unrealistic expectations!”

“Jake, I’m trying to keep this private. Please keep your voice down.” Velma urged.

“Even when I did some of your crummy papers, you still flunked me! I don’t see what the point is in doing anything.” Jake complained.

“Jake, you didn’t follow the instructions in those papers. On your midterm paper, I asked for at least two pages, and you barely gave me a paragraph.” Velma explained.

“I’ve heard other people in the class talk about how they didn’t follow the instructions, and you still gave them full points!” Jake argued.

Velma felt a bit of anxiety. It was true that she sometimes gave people points even if they didn’t follow the instructions, but this was only when the paragraph count of the papers was slightly under what it was supposed to be, and she could tell they still got the concept they were supposed to learn.

“That’s only if they were slightly under the page count.” Velma rebuked. “You didn’t show me you understood what I taught you. Jake, I know my criticisms may seem harsh, but I’m trying to help you.”

“Whatever, man, I don’t need this. I’m outta here. You can take your class and shove it!” Jake snapped, as he stormed out of class.

Velma felt a little hurt at first by this remark, but the frustration dwindled as she thought about all the effort she’d put in trying to help Jake. She’d felt sorry for Jake’s inability to grasp the concepts, because she cared about all her students regardless of if they were doing well in the class or not. However, Jake’s angry outburst made Velma realize something: there was a difference between academically struggling and not putting in the effort. Jake simply didn’t care, and there was nothing Velma could do to change that. She tried to shake the unpleasant encounter off as she moved to the next student, Parry.

"How are you feeling about the final?” Velma asked.

“I’m feeling great. I have a feeling I’m going to get an A!” Parry exclaimed.

Velma very much doubted that, admittedly. The best grade he’d gotten on any assignment was a B-, and in hindsight, probably even that was a bit generous. In general, Parry’s weekly assignments came off as unrelated rambles about the week’s content rather than actually answering the questions Velma had asked him to.

“I’m glad you’re so confident about the exam.” Velma simply responded. “Just remember to go over all your weekly assignments and papers again, and look at the feedback I gave you.”

“Oh, I will! Parry Hotter never fails… well, unless you count all of those times I failed.” Parry said, as he grabbed his belongings and headed out of the room.

“How about you, John?” Velma questioned.

“Umm…I don’t quite understand Anthos’s argument. He’s saying that people need to have emotions to be able to do magic?” John asked.

It seemed John faintly got Anthos’s argument, but hadn’t connected all the pieces or thought about it with any depth.

“You’re partially correct. Anthos is saying that magic requires a physical component, but you also need to be in touch with what emotions you’re feeling, as well as thinking about it as a spiritual experience.” Velma explained.

“What if I don’t feel anything?” Parry asked.

“You’re usually always feeling something. Even peace and indifference are feelings.” Velma pointed out.

“Nope, I don’t feel a thing. See?” Parry rebutted, and to the shock of everyone, ran headfirst into the brick wall. “See, even then I didn’t feel anything…except pain! But it’s only physical pain, so yep, still no feelings.”

Velma ignored Parry’s ridiculous antics and turned back to John.

“Does that make sense?” Velma questioned.

“Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!” John appreciated, as he put the pencil and notebook he had on his lap into his backpack. He rustled around in his belongings for a moment to return his pencil back to its home, before zipping up his bag and walking out of the classroom.

“I don’t think I need any help, Ms. Dinkley.” Katie responded from a few seats away.

“You’ve really shown a lot of improvement over the course of this semester, Katie.” Velma complimented. “I hope you know how proud of you I am.”

“Aww, thanks Ms. D.” Katie smiled.

“I imagine you don’t need any help either.” Velma asked Kara.

“Given my current 108% in the course, I think I’m alright.” Kara chuckled.

Thanks to the four extra credit assignments she’d completed, Kara was able to get over 100% in the course. Velma was quite a similar student to Kara; she’d regularly use extra credit so she could say she took every opportunity given to her in the course. Granted, she most certainly didn’t ever need to do the extra credit, given Velma was almost always at 100% in all her courses anyway.
.
“Thanks for everything, though. This has been a great class, and I’ll miss it.” Kara replied.

“I’ll miss having you all around too. It will be weird not to teach here next semester.” Velma responded.

“I can’t believe Whirlen won’t bring you on for another semester. You’re easily the best teacher here.” Kara complimented.

“Aww, thanks.” Velma smiled. “Have a good day.”

“Yeah, you too!” Kara reciprocated.

As the dark brown haired girl grabbed her belongings off of the chair next to her and headed out, Sabrina came up to Velma to make an inquiry. “Hey, Ms. D, I’ve got a question. I don’t get Nichols’ argument in Scared a Lot in Camelot. It’s sooo confusing!”

Velma had remembered that this was the one assignment Sabrina had struggled a bit on. Instead of saying that Nichols was arguing Merlin was an asset to saving Camelot, she had written about how daily life in Camelot could relate to modern society.

“Nichols’s argument is a bit complicated, but essentially, he’s just saying that without Merlin, Camelot would not have been saved. Think about that activity we did during week 7, where you all came up with different positive contributions Merlin made in his life.” Velma provided a comparison point.

“Oh, that’s all? That’s easy! You’re so good at making this stuff easy to understand, Ms. Dinkley!” Sabrina exclaimed, causing a smile to form across Velma’s face. She was happy her students found her advice so helpful.

“Kennedy, you’ve been pretty quiet lately. Doing alright?” Velma asked.

“Yeah, I’m doing well.” Kennedy nodded. She’d still been turning in subpar assignments. However, they were a far cry from the amazing work she turned in at the beginning of the semester. Velma admittedly wondered if her quietness meant she was going through something, but she supposed if Kennedy didn’t want to tell her, there would be no way to know. Kennedy had really changed from the bubbly outgoing student she was at the beginning of the semester.

Velma looked around the room for Brian next, but realized he hadn’t shown up. Given his apology, Velma wanted him to succeed and was pretty sure he had the drive to, but not if he kept up like this. She couldn’t worry about it overly much, but she hoped Brian would come through in the end for his own sake.

She decided to head over to Ramando next.

“Nah, I don’t need no help Ms. Dinkley.” Ramando said as the glasses-clad instructor approached him. “I honestly just wanna say thank you. I was really struggling at the beginning of this class, but you were so helpful. No teacher’s ever believed in me as much as you have, and I just gotta thank you for that.”

Velma found Ramando’s compliment to be quite sweet. She felt she had just done what any good teacher would do by helping her struggling student, but regardless, Velma was glad her words of wisdom had resonated with him so much.

“I’m really glad I could help you, Ramando. I have a feeling you’re going to do amazing on the final.” Velma well-wished. Although his assignments still weren’t quite A-quality, she could tell Ramando was thinking critically in the work he submitted. Even if he wasn’t on the same level as other students, Velma still considered the growth he had made since the beginning of the class to be a success.

Next, Velma went up to Mitch to see if he had any questions. “Anything you need to ask me before the final, Mitch?”

“Nah, I think I’m okay.” Mitch responded, whilst in the process of packing up his belongings. “See you tomorrow!”

“I’ve got a question, Ms. Dinkley.” Owen inquired. “Are there going to be any essay questions that ask us to compare and contrast different authors?”

There was only one essay question that had the students do this; however, it just asked the students to compare and contrast one of the books about Merlin to the arguments of any other book in the course, so it likely wouldn’t be overly difficult for Owen.

“There might be.” Velma responded. “Just make sure you know all the author’s arguments, and you’ll be fine.”

“Actually, I have another question! If that’s okay, of course.” Owen backtracked after his initial excitement.

“Of course it’s okay! I’ve noticed how you’ve really improved your presence in the course, and I want you to know that I’m proud of you for that.” Velma complimented.

“Thanks, Ms. D! My other question is about the Merlin books. Do we need to know every argument from every book about Merlin, or can we just memorize one of them?” Owen asked.

A very smart question. Technically, the students only needed to memorize the arguments of one of the Merlin books, but Velma wanted the students to review all of their weekly assignments so they remembered the materials. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be one of those teachers that made their students waste time overpreparing for something they didn’t need to memorize, so she kept her answer neutral.

“I’ve been recommending to some of your classmates to just read over your weekly assignments again. If you do that, you’ll be fine.” Velma promised.

“Awesome, I definitely will!” Owen responded. “See you tomorrow!”

“Is any of the stuff Merlin…umm… I mean Bumbledore taught us going to be on the test?” Ashley inquired.

“No, you don’t have to worry about last week’s content. Like I told Owen, if you just study your weekly assignments, you’ll be absolutely fine.” Velma promised.

“Awesome! Thank you so much!” Ashley said, as she zipped up her backpack. “See you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow!” Velma repeated, as she turned her attention to another student. “Annabelle, do you need any help?”

“I had the same question as Owen, so no.” Annabelle replied. “Have a good day.”

“I’ve got one, though.” Sadie chimed in. “You said don’t worry about last week, but what about the Wednesday before that where Merlin took over for the last half of class? He read a book then.”

“What was the book?” Velma asked.

“It was an excerpt from Johnny Cash’s autobiography.” Sadie revealed.

“That isn’t magical, so I don’t know why he would have taught that.” Velma responded in a confused manner. “No, it’s definitely not on the test.”

“Merlin said Johnny’s words were magical to him.” Sadie said. “That’s good we don’t have to study it, though. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Do you have any questions, sis?” Velma turned to her last student.

“Nope. I’m pretty confident about the test.” Madelyn smiled. “You’re such a caring teacher. I’m really going to miss having my sister as my teacher next year.”

As Velma looked around the classroom to see that all her students were gone, she felt a pang of emptiness inside her heart. She’d been trying not to think of it as the last week, but now, it was beginning to feel more and more real. She only had one more class period, and teaching would be done forever.

Velma was chowing down on a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs (this one was thankfully not alfredoed like it had so rudely been a few months ago). It was one of her favorite meals, and the chef here always made it so deliciously. The tomato sauce was perfectly rich in flavor, the noodles had an excellent texture, and the meatballs were baked to perfection.

“So what do you want to do tonight, sis?” Madelyn inquired. “Watch another movie, maybe? Sadie told me they’ve got a new DVD in the common room. I think it was called South Seas Scare.”

“Oh! My roommate saw that, and he gave it a rating of scare-tacular!” Parry interjected, as he walked by with his plate which was only covered with the faint remnants of tomato sauce.

The tradition of watching movies with her sister was tempting, since they’d done that most nights together. However, Velma felt the craving to do something different. This would be one of her last nights here at Whirlen Merlin, and she didn’t want to waste it sitting in her room doing the same old thing. Besides, after finals came in tomorrow, she’d probably be busy grading them. She knew Madelyn would have other finals she needed to begin studying for tomorrow as well.

“How about we take a walk around the school?” Velma suggested. “It’ll be one of my last chances to do that here, so it’d be nice to reminisce on old memories.”

“That sounds fun!” Madelyn agreed, taking her last bite of meatball. “We can always watch a movie later. The walk won’t take that long.”

Velma quickly scarfed down her last few bites as well. It was hard to believe this would be one of her last nights here, but she intended to make the most of it.

“Ready to go, sis?” Madelyn wondered.

While Velma was physically prepared she was most certainly not mentally ready. She didn’t want to leave behind everything she’d built here over the past few months: her routines, her identity as a teacher, and most prominently, the bond she’d built with her students. However, she knew time was the worst captor of all, so she ultimately couldn’t say anything but “yes.”

Velma wasn’t particularly talkative as the girls walked by each room together. It wasn’t due to any awkwardness between them, though. Velma was just trying to take it all in, and think about the memories she’d had in each respective room. The route they were taking now was the way she took to class every day: past the dining hall, through the brick-wall-filled castle halls that were always a bit drafty, and past the big picture window that Velma always glanced out as she practiced excerpts of her lecture in her mind. What had felt so commonplace was about to become a cherished-yet-distant memory.

“There’s the room where we played all those games.” Velma said, pointing to the currently empty student common room and the shelf filled with board games.

“Yeah. I really enjoyed game nights with you, sis.” Madelyn reminisced.

“Me too.” Velma replied, before a short pause ensued. She began speaking again once they passed Whirlen’s office. It was empty now, as presumably Whirlen was in his room for the evening. Velma fondly remembered going in there to ask advice or meet with him. Most prominently, she remembered the DA meetings. All of those times she snuck in there to meet with her students and plot against Merlin in secrecy. Right next to it was what had formerly been Bumbledore’s office. Velma wondered what they’d do with it now that he was in jail.

“I’ll never forget those Dinkley’s Army meetings.” Velma thought aloud.

“Me either. Thank goodness we don’t need them anymore.” Madelyn said. “That was pretty scary, hiding from Merlin. The only thing scarier was being forced to dig for his wand in that pit.”

Velma didn’t care to relive any of those moments. The horror she’d experienced with Merlin was still far too recent and raw to want to think about.

“Mads, what do you want to do with your life?” Velma asked.

“Woah, that’s a deep question!” Madelyn gasped in surprise.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shock you. I’m just thinking about where my life is going next, and was wondering if you had any idea of where you’re going.” Velma further explained. “I thought I knew where I was going, but…I loved this experience. I thought I loved sitting at home with my books, selling them by day and reading them by night…but I loved this more. Connecting with students brought more of a sense of purpose to my life than the bookstore did, or at least it feels that way. Ugh…sorry. I asked you a question and then I went on and on.”

“Don’t be sorry, sis!” Madelyn assured. “I don’t really know where I’m going yet, other than college, but I’m only in ninth grade. I’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.”

“That doesn’t help me feel better. I thought I had my life figured out, but this last week has made me a lot sadder than I expected to be.” Velma sighed.

“It’s okay, Velma.” The older of the sisters noticed that the younger had used her full name, which was relatively rare. Usually it was just “Velms” or “sis.” “You’ll figure it out. You thought your life was going to be mystery-solving with the gang, but that ended, so you ran a bookstore. Now, you have this opportunity to teach, which will be over tomorrow. Life is supposed to be fun. In fact, I’d say it would be pretty boring if you just went through life never growing or changing.”

That was a surprisingly insightful point. Maybe she didn’t need to know what she was doing right now. All that mattered is that she enjoyed the teaching, and would keep that as a potential dream for the future.

“You’re right, Mads.” Velma acknowledged.

“A sister always knows best.” Madelyn smiled. “Besides, I don’t know, maybe the gang will want to solve mysteries again with you someday. That’s what seemed to make you the happiest.”

Madelyn definitely wasn’t wrong. Velma enjoyed the thrill of figuring out complex mysteries even more than teaching. Racking her brain to uncover the secrets behind difficult puzzles was incredibly exciting to her, and she loved getting to do that with her best friends in the world. Although she enjoyed this teaching experience, she missed spending time with her close friends. When she was working at the bookstore, even though she didn’t get to see Fred, Daphne, Shaggy or Scooby often, it was at least semi-often. Now, she hadn’t seen anyone except Daphne in months. That was one pleasure that being a teacher couldn’t give her. She enjoyed doing what she loved among her best friends. Perhaps that’s what she was missing when she was working at the bookstore. Although she did like reading and selling books, it admittedly got lonely doing the same routine day after day all alone. Sure, she talked with customers, but most of them didn’t care to discuss the books they were buying; they simply bought their literature and left. Teaching allowed her an outlet to discuss her love of literature and critical thinking with others…she hadn’t thought about it before, but perhaps that’s why she liked it so much.

Velma peeked her head in the auditorium. She cared less about that particular room given she was only in it twice, but it still held memories for her simply for being a part of the school that she’d been in more than once.

Close by was the conference room that Whirlen held all the staff meetings in. Velma would have one more meeting in there tomorrow, so this wasn’t her last time in the room like it would be most of the places she was seeing, but she still felt the pang of prior memories in her heart as she strolled past.

“This is where you sit to grade papers sometimes, isn’t it?” Madelyn pointed to the nearby restaurant-style booth adjacent to the conference room.

“Yep, that’s the place.” Velma knew she’d be back there tomorrow to begin grading her students’ final exams. Her mind began to wander back to all the countless hours she’d spent there grading her students’ work, updating the attendance spreadsheet, and organizing all of her lesson plans.

“Top of the evening to you!” the familiar voice of the school’s headmaster greeted. Velma had really missed hearing that voice when Merlin had taken over. “What are you doing out here on this fine evening?

“Hey, Whirlen.” Madelyn greeted. “Velma and I are just taking a walk.”

“Yeah, I wanted to walk around the school one last time, since I don’t have too much time left here.” Velma explained further.

“That you don’t.” Whirlen confirmed. “I wanted to let you know that you should bring your keys to me promptly by 9:00am on Thursday.”

“Thursday?!?” Velma felt an alarm of anxiety go off in her mind. “I thought I was staying here through the weekend.”

“Oh heavens no. Your room is scheduled for renovation beginning at 9:30 on Thursday. That’s why I needed you to vacate the premises by then.” Whirlen exclaimed.

“Oh…but…” Velma didn’t want to tear up in front of her boss, but this revelation was really affecting her emotionally. She had expected to have until next week to come to terms with leaving this place and say her goodbyes, so it was utterly shocking she didn’t even have 48 hours. “Sorry, I just thought I’d have longer to stay here.”

“I’m sorry, but I have some extremely enthusiastic construction workers who want to start this project as soon as possible.” Whirlen replied. “In fact, there’s one of them now.”

“Well, did ya tell her yet Whirlen? Did ya, did ya, did ya?” a blond-haired man in a construction hat eagerly replied with a huge grin on his face as he scurried up to Whirlen.

“Yes, she’ll be out by Thursday, Robert.” Whirlen confirmed.

“Yee-haw!” the blond-haired construction worker exclaimed in delight.

“I understand. I’ll pack my things tomorrow and be out by Thursday morning.” Velma confirmed, hanging her head a bit.

Once Whirlen and the overly eager construction worker were out of potential hearing range, Velma let out a sigh.

“Oh sis, I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t be forced out like this.” Madelyn lamented. “Oh hey, look, this will cheer you up! It’s our classroom. You love our classroom!”

Velma glanced inside the empty classroom and reached her right hand in to turn on the lights. The emptiness of the classroom admittedly was a bit haunting to her. There were no students to fill the seats, no backpacks adorning the floor, and no one was up in front of the class at the podium. Velma knew after tomorrow, the classroom would soon be this way regularly. Especially given her allotted time had now been shortened, seeing this classroom didn’t bring Velma any happiness, because she knew she wasn’t going to be ready to leave this place yet.

Velma tried to savor every single bite of her breakfast, knowing it would be the second-to-last one she would have there.

“Have fun in your meeting!” Madelyn said, still finishing up her last few bites of breakfast as Velma headed off to the conference room.

The glasses-clad teacher looked up at a clock affixed to a wall and noticed she only had a few minutes to get to the meeting. She wished she could have a few more moments to walk down the hall at a pace that allowed her to appreciate and reminisce, but alas, she had to keep moving so she wasn’t late.

“Ah good, Velma’s here.” Jonathan greeted as the brunette teacher arrived in the room.

She noticed all of her fellow faculty members were already sitting down in the chairs. Velma quickly took a seat as well in the one remaining cushy, padded chair.

“Well, everybody, I want to start by giving you an update on Bumbledore.” Whirlen said. “He’s been in jail for seven days now. Anyway, things seem to be wrapping up nicely, and I wanted to let you know that all the teachers that were unjustly fired by Merlin are being brought back next semester. They’ve all received a generous gift basket.”

“What was in the basket?” Dan asked.

“The gift was the basket itself!” Whirlen revealed. “We don’t have that kind of budget!”

To Velma’s horror, all of a sudden, the lights went out. She felt a sense of panic wash over her as she lost her ability to see around her in the room, but that panic thankfully abated a little when the lights went back on.

Velma was incredibly surprised to see the other faculty members acting so calmly about it. She didn’t want to come off overly terrified if there was a logical explanation for what happened.

“What was that?” Velma gasped.

“That was Merlin…well, the real Merlin. The one we told you about in the beginning of the semester that didn’t do anything other than the occasional harmless prank.” Whirlen explained. “Isn’t that right?”

A cackle could be heard resounding throughout the room, but this one was much different than Bumbledore’s fake Merlin voice. While his was deep and eerie, this one was much more high-pitched and nasally.

For some reason Velma had been thinking Bumbledore had been dressed up as Merlin the whole time, but the school must actually be haunted by a poltergeist. Thank goodness this one was harmless.

“Whirlen, I just have a question.” Velma spoke up. “What about Bumbledore’s open position? Will that be filled again?”

“No, that was just a temporary position to support Bumbledore’s wishes to still remain a part of the school’s administration even after he retired. Clearly, that was a mistake. In fact, I don’t think there will be any open positions here for a long time!” Whirlen revealed.

“What about Ms. Dinkley’s open position?” Amanda asked. Velma was very glad she had asked that, given she was wondering the very same thing herself. She admittedly wanted to ask if there were any openings for teaching positions, but she didn’t want to be so obvious or blunt about her intentions.

“Ah, yes. That was what I was just going to share next. We have hired a new person for the position Velma is currently in.” Whirlen informed. “I would like you all to meet them. C’mon in, Joseph.”

A blond-haired man wearing a red turtleneck and orange cargo shorts came into the room. “Hello everyone, my name is Joseph Josephson.”

“Joseph was the ideal candidate for this position.” Whirlen shared. “He is a lover of literature, is dedicated to student success, and he’s a forward thinker. Joseph, I’d like you to meet the person you’ll be replacing, Velma Dinkley.”

Velma had never heard of the new candidate meeting the current person in the role, since it could potentially cause awkward feelings.

“Hi, I’m Velma.” the brunette teacher greeted.

“Hello, I am Joseph Josephson. I can’t wait until you’re at home doing whatever the heck you’re doing after this, and I’m up there teaching in your place!” Joseph expressed, much to Velma’s surprise.

“That’s a bit forward, isn’t it?” Velma gasped.

“Yes, as I said, he’s a forward thinker. As in, he’s always being forward about whatever he’s thinking.” Whirlen clarified. “I’ve got to say, I love that attitude. With other employees, I have to worry about them not liking me, but with Joseph, if he’s feeling something, he’ll just say it!”

“Whirlen, has anyone ever told you those pants make you look kinda frumpy?” Joseph asked.

“See what I mean?!?!” Whirlen exclaimed in delight. “That’ll be all, Joseph.”

“Alright, good to meet you all, although I would have much preferred if this meeting would have been tomorrow.” Joseph replied, as he turned the door handle and walked out of the open door.

“To conclude today’s meeting, I just wanted to ask if anyone had any final thoughts or concerns they wanted to voice before concluding the year.” Whirlen opened it up to the floor.

“I just want to say thank you to all of you for a great semester!” Mikayla spoke up. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

“The pleasure has been all ours, I’m sure!” Doris Rumbridge interjected.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you especially, Velma. You made a great addition to the Whirlen Merlin team.” Matt complimented.

“I don’t wanna dismiss this sweet moment, but can I get a free meal from the dining hall today, Whirls?” Mr. Mistara asked. “I meant to pack a turkey sandwich, but I accidentally made a ham one instead.”

“Yes, you can get a free meal, but it’ll mean additional taxes will be taken out from your salary this year.” Whirlen warned.

“Deal!” Mr. Mistara exclaimed, as he pulled out a brown paper bag from under the table and whipped it in the trash. He then began shaking his head in disgust. “Ham. What a sham!”

“Thank you all.” Velma brought the conversation back to its original point before Mr. Mistara interrupted. “It’s been amazing working here, and I will truly miss it dearly.”

“It’s been an excellent semester working with you all. We definitely had times that were a little trying, but the important thing is we got through it together. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Velma, who saved us from Merlin.” Whirlen appreciated.

“How about a big round of applause for Velma?” Dan exclaimed.

Everyone in the room began clapping enthusiastically. It warmed Velma’s heart to know she was appreciated this much by her colleagues. As much as she wished she could continue to teach there, it was nice to know she at least left a mark.

Velma couldn’t believe the time had already come for her final class. Most students had already filed in the classroom, but there were still a few stragglers, including Brian. Velma was quite worried about him; unlike Jake, he seemed dedicated to succeeding in the class. He wouldn’t be able to though if he missed the final; that would mean an automatic fail.

Speaking of which, she saw Jake didn’t show up, as she suspected he wouldn’t. Unfortunately for him, that would mean he would fail the course. However, unless he finished every missed assignment and got an A on the final, he would have failed anyway, so Velma wasn’t particularly sad for him. He’d had dozens of chances, and he’d chosen to waste them all.

“Ready for the final, Owen?” Velma asked, as the brown-haired student came into the classroom. The brunette instructor had only decided to comment because she noticed Owen looked jittery.

“I would say I am. Four cups of coffee outta do it!” Owen said, before chuckling nervously.

“Yeah, that should do the trick.” Velma laughed. She was glad Owen was taking the final seriously, but he certainly didn’t need to caffeinate himself that heavily.

She momentarily became distracted when she saw Brian saunter into the room. She was incredibly happy he had made the right decision and showed up. Now all he had to do was get a good grade on the final, and he could still pass the class.

“Alright class, I’m about to hand out the final. You’ll have 50 minutes to write your answers to each of the three essay questions. Just as a reminder, you need to write at least three paragraphs for each answer.” Velma said. “Before you start this final, I just want to say I’ve truly loved teaching you all these past 15 weeks. I wish you the best of luck on the final, and I hope you all have an amazing summer!”

“Heck yeah I will!” Parry blurted. “I’m going to Camp Rock! I hear Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers are gonna be there this year!”

“Isn’t that, like, just a movie?” Sabrina asked.

“The final starts now!” Velma informed. She didn’t really have anything much to do at the moment, but thankfully, she’d remembered to bring her favorite book The Mystery of Haunted Island. She only had two chapters left, but she figured that would at least get her through most of class.

30 minutes of class had passed before the first person finished. Contrary to popular belief, the first people to finish were not always the ones who performed the best. While one might have expected Kara or perhaps Madelyn to finish first, Sabrina was the first to finish. Velma was on the last page of her book when Sabrina came up to the front of the room and handed the exam to her.

“All done, Ms. D. Thanks for an incredible class! You were an amazing teacher!” Sabrina said, handing Velma her exam. A quick glimpse at it showed that Sabrina had written a significant amount.

“Thanks, Sabrina. You were an amazing student too.” Velma said, as Sabrina embraced her in a hug.

A quick glance at the clock showed there were still ten minutes left for the students to take their exam. She figured she could slip grading another paper in. She looked over Sabrina’s paper, and was incredibly impressed. Typically Sabrina was one of those students who often fudged the rules about length, but Velma often gave her full points anyway because she could tell Sabrina understood the content. This, however, was incredibly detailed and well thought out.

Nichols’s argument connects to Kisp’s book because Nichols is arguing Merlin was essential for a functional society in King Arthur’s court. On the other hand, Kisp is arguing that we need a functional society, and Gridditch does not provide us with this due to its level of danger.

This would most certainly get an A.

Velma stopped looking at Sabrina’s paper when she saw Kara had come up to hand in her exam.

“Here you are, Ms. D. Thanks for everything!” Kara extended her hand in a very formal manner, shaking Velma’s hand lightly before heading out.

“Have a great summer!” Velma responded. There wouldn’t be time to read Kara’s exam before class went out. In fact, she decided to save it until the end, knowing it would probably be the best one in the class.

“Hey…um…Ms. Dinkley.” Brian came up to her nervously. Velma was surprised to see he did not just have the exam in his hands; he was carrying a gigantic stack of papers.

“Brian!” Velma exclaimed. “Good to see you!”

“Now, I wasn’t able to get the assignment for week 5 or 11 done, or either of the last two essays, but I got all the other assignments finished.” Brian revealed. “I’m really sorry. I tried…I even skipped class these past two days to devote my time to finishing those assignments, but there just wasn’t enough time for those four.”

“It’s okay, Brian.” Velma smiled. “This is more than I could have ever expected or wanted.”

Velma felt a sense of warmth in her heart seeing how hard Brian had tried to succeed. She was admittedly beginning to count him out given his absence the past two days, but she was really happy he cared enough about her class to do all that work. Her students truly were amazing.

Velma didn’t waste any time beginning to grade her students’ finals. She’d already graded Sabrina, but she still had thirteen left to grade. She considered going to her room to grade, but she wanted to sit in the study area with the restaurant-style booth one more time before her early departure tomorrow.

Thinking through the students she had, she thought Parry’s final would likely be the worst. She decided to grade that one next, as to get the bad one out of the way. Velma was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t terrible, but it was quite rambling and more of an opinion than an answer.

I really liked Kisp’s argument about not playing Gridditch. That sport sounds pretty dumb to me, so I can see why he thought it was dangerous. I’d say that too if it got me out of playing that stupid stuff.

There was the faint semblance of an answer somewhere in Parry’s rambling opinions, so Velma decided to be a bit generous and give him a C-.

She decided to grade Owen’s next. He had been so nervous, but he had done an incredible job.

Anthos argued that the mind, body and spirit are completely inseparable in his book, The Warlock of Wimbledon. Without being in tune with all three, performing magic will be impossible.

Velma was amazed with how much he’d improved over the course of the semester. She couldn’t believe he was the same student that was making silly excuses not to do the work back at the beginning of the semester. Although Owen’s personality was a bit strange and quirky, when he was passionate about something, he really put his all into it.

She wished his groupmate Ashley’s paper would have been of the same quality. The final was absolutely terrible. Barely any detail was put into the answers, causing them to be quite shallow. Velma admittedly felt a little responsible for it at first, if she were honest. She’d told Ashley all she needed to do was look over her weekly assignments again, but Ashley had approached the final as if it were a weekly assignment. Velma wasn’t as harsh on the details in the weekly assignments…the students got a good grade as long as she could tell they understood the material. However, here, Velma expected a decent level of analysis to show they had learned what they were supposed to from the course.

Kisp argued Gridditch wasn’t safe. He thought nobody should play it. He recommended that it no longer be called a sport.

Ashley demonstrated a surface level of understanding of Kisp’s arguments in her first answer, but it was extremely vague almost to the point of not saying much. The question had asked why Kisp had the argument he did, which Ashley completely skipped over answering.

As much as Velma hated to do it, she would have to fail Ashley. She’d still earn a B- in the course, so Velma couldn’t worry about it too much, but Ashley was such a sweet, sensitive person. Surely it would be very hard for her to see she’d flunked the final. Ashley was such a genuinely kind, gentle person, and Velma would really miss being around her radiant positive energy.

Velma tried to put the unpleasant thought of failing Ashley out of her head and moved on to Kennedy. Her final was quite representative of the work she’d been putting in towards the end of the course: passable, but not good.

Glockhart talked about his experiences with ghouls and magic in Gap with a Ghoul.

That he did, but her answer wasn’t particularly descriptive.

In working with a ghoul, he learned about how to use magic in a spiritual way.

Had that been accompanied by some sort of explanation, even a general one, it would have been a far stronger answer.

Glockhart believed magic was a positive thing, and said everyone should use it (if they can).

This line was an oversimplification of the argument, as was the entire paragraph. Glockhart was talking about how learning to use magic from a ghoul taught him the importance of channeling positive spiritual energy, so that you are focused and logical when you are utilizing the wonders of magic. Kennedy’s argument was a vague interpretation of that, and only came slightly above Parry’s rambling opinion answer. Kennedy would get a C on the final. Velma felt a little sad for Kennedy, because her assignments had always been quite good at the beginning, but in the past couple months, they’d gotten a bit sloppy and unorganized. Velma wondered what was going on in Kennedy’s life that caused her to decline so much academically.

The next student Velma graded, Katie, was the complete opposite: she’d struggled at first, but got progressively better as the semester went on.

Glockheart believed that magic was a beautiful thing, which is why he believed you should always channel positive energy when you use it. Working with a real ghoul caused him to learn the importance of spiritual energy. His experience with a spirit caused him to adapt his theory to consider the spiritual aspect of magic.

That answer was the perfect example of why Kennedy’s response was subpar. Katie was quite descriptive in her answer and presented his arguments in chronological order, whereas Kennedy’s vague answer was disorganized. Katie had spelled ‘Glockhart’ wrong, but it mattered little in comparison to her superb answer. She was impressed with how much Katie had improved since the beginning of the class, when she used to be more like the current Kennedy.

Velma turned to Annabelle’s final next. She’d improved a little bit over the course of the semester, but Velma got the sense that she rushed through all of her assignments and put little actual thought into them.

Lots of tricks were shown in New and Remembered Hexes and Tricks by Leduardo Imus. These tricks are some of the most common ones in magic. A connection to one of the Merlin books is that Scared a Lot in Camelot by Charles Nichols talked about some of the tricks Merlin used, and how his magical technique was based on the culture of his court.

The answer was quite vague and the connection was tedious. Annabelle was a super nice student, and she knew that Madelyn liked her as a groupmate. Velma was a little sad giving her a D, but that’s ultimately what such a vague, information-light final exam deserved.

Speaking of Madelyn, Velma turned to grade her friend Sadie’s final next. As soon as she began reading it, Velma could tell she really got it. Students like Sadie were always a joy to have, because it was clear she critically engaged with the material. Velma was glad Madelyn had such a smart, supportive friend like Sadie. Velma would certainly miss seeing Sadie in class, and it had been a pleasure to get to know her.

Glockhart and Anthos both argued for the inclusion of the spirit within the magical practice. Both authors discussed the importance of spirituality for putting your full mind and body into the process of doing magic. Magic is not just a physical experience. These two authors prove that magic isn’t just mind over matter, it is both mind and matter.

Madelyn’s answers were similarly insightful. Velma was so proud of how smart her younger sister was. Teaching her sister was one of her favorite memories of working at Whirlen Merlin, because it allowed them to bond more regularly than they ever had before.

One way in which Charles Nichols’s book connects to The Unconventional Book of Tricks by Giranda Moshawk is through Merlin’s unconventional practice of magic. Merlin regularly amazed his kingdom with his magical abilities, and eventually saved his people with his powers. Merlin is one of the most famous magical figures of all-time, and for good reason, because his powers represent a lack of conventionality as compared to other magic-wielders.

Velma chose to read John’s final next. John was never an exemplary student, but he did at least generally submit quality work. However, this final was not particularly quality, and came off as if he was just trying to get it over with as fast as he could.

There are so many different books that we’ve read that connect to the Merlin literature that it’s hard to choose one. I ended up picking Offensive Magical Theory. Merlin was one of the greats of magical theory, and that’s why he’s remembered. Merlin argued that you should always be defensive when practicing magic, and that’s what Slinkhard argued too.

While Sadie and Madelyn had both earned A’s, John received a C-. It was not as bad as some of the other finals, but Velma could tell he really didn’t try much. It was a bit disheartening, because Velma had seen John submit a few really good assignments, and he could have done a lot better in the class had he just put in the effort.

Velma glanced at Mitch’s final next.

Hilda Hagshot talked about the difference between using magic for good and utilizing it for evil. In the Nichols book, Merlin was conflicted about whether he should use his magic for good. Ultimately, Merlin decided to use magic to help his kingdom, which is what Hagshot said you should do.

Mitch’s answers admittedly could have been slightly more descriptive, but Velma could definitely tell that he mostly got the material as she read through his work. Ultimately, he received a B, which is also what he would receive in the class. It was quite fitting for his quality of work, because Mitch tended to mostly get concepts, but he’d occasionally get a bit too cocky and cut corners in making arguments.

Velma couldn’t believe she’d already almost gotten through the big stack of finals, so she decided to save Ramando’s and Kara’s for later. She had a huge stack of late work to grade from Brian, so she began to dive in by beginning with his final. Velma was really rooting for him to succeed, given how much effort he’d put in at the end.

Reading through his final, Velma was pleasantly surprised at his level of effort.

Through Nichols’s book, the reader is taken through the journey of Merlin’s life with him. The book explains how Merlin learned his philosophy of only using magic for good purposes. Merlin’s theory is essentially highlighted by contrast in Offensive Magical Theory, which tells the reader about unethical magical practices through a number of stories.

Brian’s answers were very well-explained and drew upon the texts in a very insightful way. Brian would be getting an A on his final for sure, and hopefully if his late assignments were good enough, he would pass the course successfully. It was moments like this that made Velma proud to be a teacher. Had Velma not believed in Brian and reached out when he was struggling, he would have easily failed the course. She didn’t take any of the credit for Brian’s success, though - that was all his own motivation. Although he had wronged her, Velma now saw Brian in a whole new light: he was just a scared kid who dealt with a bit of a self-esteem issue. She was so proud of him for pulling through and doing the work in the end.

Velma almost wished she had waited to do some of the grading until later on. It felt weird and empty knowing that she would never have class or see any of her students again. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was getting dark, but Velma wasn’t quite ready for bed yet. She decided to grade one more final before heading to bed. She would start on Ramando’s now, and save Kara’s for when she was at home. She knew that one would be amazing, so she might as well save it so she’d have something to look forward to when she got home. She knew that was quite a sad thought, but she was very worried that her life would be boring upon returning home. She remembered back to her routine of selling books by day and reading them by night, then doing it all over again day after day. Compared to how busy she’d been when she was teaching, she almost preferred being busy because at least it provided some variety for her.

Nonetheless, she tried to push the worrisome thought from her mind and just focus on Ramando’s paper. He had a very quirky style of writing, and some teachers might not consider him the best student as a result, but Velma could tell he was really trying.

Merlin was a pretty famous guy in his time. Everybody in the court knew him and stuff, because of the way he used his powers for good. He had a spiritual connection with his powers, and knew that you needed to use your mind to use magic. That’s kind of like what that Anthos guy was saying about using mind body spirit, so I guess that’s my connection.

Albeit very informally, Ramando had hit all the points that he needed to and answered all parts of the question, even if it wasn’t exactly in the traditional way. Velma didn’t see any reason to knock off points simply because he did things differently, so she gave him an A. It was clear he knew what he was talking about.

Grading Ramando’s final went far quicker than she’d wanted it to, so she glanced at her grade sheet again.

Madelyn, Sadie, Sabrina, and presumably Kara had all gotten A’s. Ramando, Ashley, Owen, Mitch, Katie, and thankfully Brian had all gotten in the B range. All of Brian’s assignments were extremely well written and thought out, and it made Velma feel like such a proud teacher that her student pulled through with such a good grade in the end. John and Kennedy had gotten C’s, Parry had gotten a D, and Jake would completely flunk out of the course.

Velma sighed as she looked out the window into the purple midnight sky. She stood up and took another glance around the room at her surroundings: the comfy couch, the chair with the broken leg, the wooden tile floors, the small little kitchen island, the oven and microwave which she cooked her meals in, the cushy bed, the nightstands, the lamps in her bedroom…all of that would be gone tomorrow. This would be her last night here. Velma almost didn’t want to waste it by going to sleep, but she knew she’d need her sleep for the trip back tomorrow, so she submitted to her sleepy desires. As she drifted off to the land of nod, she reminisced on all the excellent memories she’d had here at Whirlen Merlin. She wished she had appreciated her time here more instead of worrying about Merlin, but nonetheless, there was nothing she could do to revise history now. All she could do was make the most of the last morning she had tomorrow.

Velma woke up out of a dead sleep to a deafeningly loud crash. When she opened her eyes, she saw a horrific sight: a bulldozer had completely demolished the wall of her bedroom.

“Bill, the bulldozing wasn’t supposed to be until 9:30!” an annoyed voice from outside called.

Velma looked up in shock at the man riding the bulldozer that had just crashed through her wall. The man had brown hair and was wearing a yellow construction outfit.

“Oops, sorry about that little mishap. Hope I didn’t wake ya.” the man said in a dopey voice, as he began backing up his bulldozer.

“Whirlen told me my room was going through a renovation at 9:30.” Velma responded. “How is this a renovation?”

“Ah, you see, he probably meant to say demolition.” the construction worker informed.

Velma didn’t even know how to respond to such a comment. Why would Whirlen be demolishing just one room?

“I’ll grab my stuff out.” Velma said, quickly grabbing the few bags she had and scurrying out to the dining hall. Luckily, she’d packed everything last night, so getting all her belongings didn’t take very long. As Velma headed out the front door of her room to get away from the madness, she thankfully saw Whirlen in the hall.

“Whirlen, forgive me for being blunt…but what is going on in my room?!?” Velma exclaimed.

Whirlen glanced in the room, which had the entire bedroom wall that was facing the parking lot completely ripped out.

“Ah, it seems they started a little early.” Whirlen assured.

“I’m not worried about them starting early. I thought you said that this was a renovation, not a complete demolition!” Velma pointed out.

“Apologies, I should have been clearer about that. It’s a renovation in the sense that we are converting the room into a ball pit.” Whirlen clarified.

“Why would you change it into that?” Velma asked.

“Well, our richest alum, Bown C. Ballpit, was very persuasive you see, and I’ll do anything if people give me money!” Whirlen exclaimed.

“Hey Whirlen!” Parry shouted from down the hall. “If I give you five bucks, would you do a cartwheel?”

“Absolutely!” Whirlen agreed, as he positioned himself acrobatically and attempted to perform the cartwheel. Unfortunately for him, he had nearly completed it when he momentarily lost his balance. However, he was able to regain it before he tumbled to the ground.

“Well…that was a little messy at the end. I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you four bucks.” Parry bargained.

“Aww shucks.” Whirlen hung his head. “Anyway, I’d recommend getting all your stuff out now. These construction workers are extremely aggressive about making sure the job is done.”

At that moment, two men in construction outfits, one with red hair and the blonde construction worker she saw yesterday, hurried into Velma’s former room. One of them was carrying a large jackhammer.

“Alright Whirlen, I’m ready to get started!” the blond construction worker exclaimed, as he turned on his jackhammer and manically began drilling into the room.

The other construction worker stood by the wall and began writing something on it.

“Jack, what are you doing?” the blond construction worker asked the red-haired worker.

“I’m emotionally tearing down this wall.” Jack answered very seriously, as he wrote “Dear wall, you’re not much fun at all” on the paint.

A third construction worker with brown hair then ran in with a baseball bat and began clubbing the chair with the broken leg. Velma had never really liked to sit in that chair given its instability, but staying here the past four months had made her enjoy the quirkiness of the chair and consider it as part of the whole package of this room. She’d grown to love her room over the past few months, and couldn’t believe this was the end. Sighing and taking one last look at her room, Velma picked up her luggage and turned her back to it. She then began walking towards the dining hall with Whirlen to get one last breakfast before hitting the road. It felt surreal to her that it could be over, but she couldn’t sit around moping that such an amazing experience was ending. Life had to go on.

“It’s been amazing working for you, Whirlen.” Velma smiled. “I’m so glad I got this opportunity, and I want to thank you for one of the best experiences of my life. I’m not going to lie, I’ll really miss working here.”

“It’s a good thing you’re not going to lie, as I’m still your supervisor for another hour, and misrepresentation of the truth would lead to a formal grievance being filed.” Whirlen said, his face looking incredibly serious. Although Whirlen was generally a good boss to work for, Velma had certainly learned that he had many odd quirks if you said something the wrong way.

“Anyway, it’s been great having you here too. Thank you for saving our school and caring so much about our students. I owe you a debt of gratitude.” Whirlen continued responding. “I give you my deepest gratitudes. There, now my debt has been fully paid! Safe travels.”

“Thanks. Have a good rest of your semester.” Velma replied coolly. Quite frankly, she was extremely disappointed that she wouldn’t get her final hour in her room. She already felt like she was being rushed out with her departure date being pushed from the weekend to this morning, but this put it into overdrive. This was shaping up to be a bad morning.

“Hey sis, you’re up early!” Madelyn exclaimed.

“Yeah, I know.” Velma sighed. “The bulldozer outside woke me up.”

“Bulldozer?!?” Madelyn exclaimed. “What happened?”

“Apparently my room is being converted into a ball pit.” Velma explained.

This caused Madelyn to chuckle in response. “That’s just like Whirlen. Very spontaneous and random.”

Velma was feeling quite annoyed, but seeing her sister laugh and try to make it into something silly lifted Velma’s spirits a bit. Maybe this didn’t have to be the perfect last morning she was expecting…maybe it could be like how Madelyn described Whirlen…simply a spontaneous last morning. Trying to put the morning on a pedestal with extremely high expectations was only going to end in her feeling disappointed. Besides, her whole adventure at Whirlen Merlin’s had been a series of one random unexpected event after another, so the current direction of the morning was quite a good metaphor for that.

From that moment on, Velma vowed to herself to make the most of her last hour. Not by putting tons of pressure on herself to make the morning “special,” but by appreciating the special thing she had right in front of her: her sister.

Velma and Madelyn had spent the last hour talking over donuts and coffee. Between reminiscing about all the memories they’d made here, Madelyn talked about how easy the final was for her, in addition to informing Velma what finals for other classes she had remaining. Velma was grateful to have one last morning to bond with her sister.

“It’s been a great morning, Mads. I can’t think of a more perfect way to have spent it.” Velma got out of her seat and embraced her sister in a hug.

“Safe travels, sis!” Madelyn called after her sister.

“I’ll call you right when I get home to let you know I’m safe.” Velma promised.

Home.

Velma let that word slosh around in her mind for a moment. She hadn’t thought about it in such depth before, but she realized something when that word left her lips: this school felt like home to her. Velma loved her small, cozy house and the bookstore, but she hadn’t thought about it much or missed it since the very first week she was here. That was back in the beginning of January, and now it was nearly four months later at the end of April. Velma felt like she’d changed and grown so much since then, in the past few weeks especially. Never had she expected to exercise such bravery, or grow such a close connection with her students. It still felt surreal to her that she had literal moments left in this place, but she knew it was time to go. Like Madelyn had said a few nights ago, just because this teaching opportunity was ending, didn’t mean that this was the end of excitement in her life. There would be other adventures to be had and new sources of joy that were yet to be uncovered.

Velma picked up her suitcases, and walked out the front door waving to Madelyn. It wasn’t until she had fully left the building that the realization fully hit her: the life she had known for the past four months was completely over.

Chapter Text

A large red couch adorned with blankets and pillows. Bookshelves filled to the brim with literature. Lamps, rugs, decorations and gewgaws from her world travels with the gang. Velma’s home was full of belongings, but this didn’t change that her heart felt empty. She had been home for a full week now and was back to her old routine of staffing the bookstore. She used to love it, but these days, it felt a bit empty. She missed the excitement of teaching her students every day, and she still hadn’t processed that everything she’d experienced at Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic was over.

Whirlen had invited her to the school graduation on Friday, but none of the students in her course were seniors, so she figured returning for a few hours would only make it harder to leave. Thus, she had politely declined the headmaster’s invitation.

She had been holding off on grading Kara’s final. It was pitiful, but since it was the only final remaining to grade, Velma wanted to hold onto at least one last memory. The grades were due to Whirlen this evening, so the former teacher could not wait any longer to look over the final. With a sigh, Velma got up off the couch and headed over to the coffee table where she had placed Kara’s final.

Scoot Namander’s book Wonderific Beasts and Where They’re At discusses a magical world of all different types of species, and provides extensive reasoning for why these creatures should be treated with the utmost respect. Namander explains that these creatures are often thought of as “beasts” - that is to say, unruly, untamed brutes - and argues that thinking of majestic beings this way is immoral. I wholeheartedly agree with Namander, as all creatures are deserving of respect and love. There is no basis for this “beast-ification” of these creatures, as it is based on the assumption that all animals are somehow dangerous or uncontrollable.

Merlin faced a relatable dilemma when attempting to help his kingdom. Many individuals in his kingdom did not understand his unique way of utilizing magic, and feared him because of this. Similar to Namander’s argument about how creatures are beast-ified, Merlin was deemed a “dangerous outsider” by some due to his strange ways. In both cases, this ostracization stems from misunderstanding and fear.

As Velma expected, the final was incredible. Kara always argued her points so eloquently. There was never any doubt in Velma’s mind that Kara would get 100% on the final and the highest grade in the class. Velma had to stop her mind from turning back to her class, before she got sad again that the experience was just a memory.

Velma heard a loud knock at the door. The brunette got off the couch and stood up, quickly heading towards the door, so as not to keep whomever it was waiting. Upon opening the door, she saw a familiar blond-haired man wearing blue jeans, a white jacket, a blue collared shirt underneath, and an ascot.

“Hey Velma! I was wondering if you’d like to come with Daphne and I to a haunted hotel.” Fred asked. “Daphne told me you wanted to come along with her to film an episode.”

Velma was elated to be invited along on an adventure like this with Fred and Daphne. Her mind quickly turned back to her time at Whirlen Merlin’s, and all the experiences she’d had there with her students. They’d been a lot of fun, and she could feel that she had grown a lot as a person. Although she still felt in emotional limbo, unsure of how to think about her current reality, the idea of reuniting with part of the old gang again to solve a mystery was very exciting, even if it was just a one-time thing.

“Yes, I’d love that!” Velma said. “Just give me a few hours to get packed.”

“Sounds great! Daphne said to meet her at the TV station at 5 this afternoon.” Fred replied.

“I can’t wait.” Velma smiled, as she shut the door when Fred began walking back to his car.

She was moving to a new stage of life, but she knew she would always fondly remember her time at Whirlen Merlin’s School of Magic.