A Familiar's Guide to Magic

not kansas

This room was huge, with a high ceiling. At the center of it hung an ornate copper chandelier, with swirling long arms that held flickering torches. But despite being a large space, the room was cluttered with strange bits and bobs—walls lined with overstuffed bookshelves.

I hadn't taken in much on our walk here and found myself regretful. My mind had been lost in a haze, thoughts focused on the fact I was somewhere—somewhere that shouldn't exist but did. Now, I wished I'd taken a better look while I'd had the chance. 

The man behind the desk adjusted his glasses. Beside him stood the woman who had found us outside—her expression was fixed into a heavy scowl. I was delighted to not be the one with the focus of the adults in the room.  

"Please, explain one more time how the human came to be here, Miss Harmon?"

Yes, I think we were all curious how I came to be in this place. I let out a heavy sigh, flipping a narrowed look at Willow. She sat beside me, hands folded in her lap, looking more perturbed by the question than my being there.

"As I said the first time, I was trying to summon my familiar..."

"Outside of the classroom, without the guidance or supervision of a professor. Not to mention that casting such a spell is completely against the rules of this academy for any witch under rank five. Last time I checked you were only rank four." The heavyset woman hissed as if we hadn't understood her the first time she had said it.

And she had let into Willow after shooing Rose and the other girls away. Then repeated the reprimand several times while escorting us to this office. My ears were burning with the level of nagging. I thought my mother was bad, but this woman was giving her a run for her money.

She dabbed at the sweat that collected on her brow. Honestly, she might combust at any moment, the vein in her forehead ticking feverishly.

Willow pushed up from her seat, cheeks stained pink. "Me, a rank Four? Rank Four?"

Her voice was shrill. "I passed my proficiency in magic before winter term ended last year. That makes me rank six."

Rank four? Rank six?

I didn't understand any of this and didn't care to. I wanted to go home. My mother was no doubt distraught, having seen me disappear before her eyes.

"Yes, but then there was the incident with Hollis Crabtree."

"I fixed him up."

"After he spent a month as a rat! That incident demoted you to rank five."

The woman's jowls shook as spit flew from her mouth. Willow plopped back down into her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And let's not forget the fact that we lost half of the old library after you exploded it with a dirty spell not even fit for a Hedge Witch. Some of those books were irreplaceable."

This woman was working herself up into a nervous breakdown from the way her body trembled and her breath came in quick and shallow. I wasn't sure which of us was more pitiful at the moment. Willow for being so clearly terrible with magic, or myself for getting dragged into this mess in the first place.

"You should consider yourself lucky that you're even rank four. Although with this stunt I wouldn't be surprised if they revoked your right to a wand entirely!"

My eyes widened as the woman disappeared in a puff of smoke, a black cat taking her place. The cat arched its back and hissed in Willow's direction, barring all its teeth. The old man took off his glasses, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.