The Marvelous Magic of Miss Mabel Read Online Free PDF Page B

instructed to mix up small sachets of smelling salts, which were essential to have on hand because students were always swooning in the hallways, often when the toads escaped fromthe spells and charms room. But in place of crushed butterfly wings, Mabel mixed a hyena laugh into her salts, curious to see what would happen. And when she waved them under Cynthia Price’s nose (who had fainted at the sight of a toad), poor Cynthia came round braying with laughter instead of fluttering her eyes open in the ladylike fashion that the butterfly wings ensured. Distraught at the noise she was making, Cynthia promptly collapsed again.
    â€œI’m really sorry,” Mabel apologized to Miss Mantel, the potions teacher. “I just thought it might make the girls feel more cheerful when they woke up.”
    â€œMeddling about with magic is not part of this curriculum,” Miss Mantel replied crisply. “We are a school of traditions. You will follow the spells precisely as they are written. Remind me of your name, please, girl?”
    â€œMagnolia,” Mabel whispered, before she could stop herself.
    â€œMagnolia?” Miss Mantel frowned, knowing this didn’t sound quite right. “Please report for cobweb-sweeping duty after school then, Magnolia.”
    Mabel blushed hotly, realizing it wouldn’t take Miss Mantel long to find out the truth. In fact, it took her less than two minutes before she remembered Mabel’s real name, and poor Mabel had to write out “I will not lie to my teacher” fifty times, on top of cobweb-sweeping duty.Luckily none of the girls who had overheard made fun of her. In fact, much to Mabel’s surprise, they were most sympathetic, huddling around her after class.
    â€œYou can always change your name when you grow up,” Tabitha Pritchard said. “I think you look like a Rosamalinda.”
    â€œOr a Crystabella,” Lucy Habersham suggested. “I’ve always loved the name Crystabella. It reminds me of a princess.”
    â€œI wish there was a spell that would make people forget I was called Mabel,” Mabel sighed. “So when people spoke to me they’d say ‘hello, Magnolia,’ and dull old ‘Mabel’ would be erased from their minds. Nobody would ever call me that again.”
    â€œWell, I like the name, Mabel,” Ruby Tanner said softly. She was a thin, pale girl with even thinner, paler hair. “It’s a strong, capable name.” And Mabel tried to remind herself of this every time her wand case ended up in tangles, or as she struggled to master the waft and glide.
    Curiosity burned inside her like an oil lamp, glowing dimmer and dimmer in the stifling atmosphere, but never completely going out. Nothing could extinguish Mabel’s longing to experiment, turning a spell inside out to see what would happen or giving an extra little flick with her wand. Which is why she ended up on cobweb-sweeping duty more times during her firstterm than any other girl in the school. But however constricting Mabel found Ruthersfield to be, for the first time in her life she had friends. Lots and lots of friends. There was nothing more wonderful than sitting at the lunch table with a whole group of girls, laughing and chattering away, and Mabel soon became known for her spontaneous hugs. She would fling her arms around girls in the hallway, slipping squares of Daisy’s homemade toffee into their pockets.
    There was only one girl Mabel couldn’t seem to make friends with. And that was Winifred Delacy, or Lady Winifred Delacy as she constantly reminded her classmates. Winifred wore her hair in fat gold ringlets and pranced around school as if she were already in year twelve, and not just a first former. Her father was Lord Winthrop Delacy the third, one of the biggest landowners in the county. He was on the board of governors at Ruthersfield, a fact that Winifred brought up regularly. Mabel had only spoken about a