My First Coven

Take the Power Back

Wow, Mr Banks was not messing about. Later on that Sunday morning he had everybody who was at the school; staff and students alike gathered in the dining hall at breakfast time and got the biggest bollocking ever. He said that it was "a complete disgrace" and that whoever had done this terrible prank was to turn themselves in immediately. And of course, nobody did. I mean my Auntie M and I knew it wasn't a person that filled the fountain full of blood and Mr Banks would be waiting till the twelfth of never for somebody to come forward and admit it; who in their right mind would? Nobody turned themselves in for things like that.

Whatever, it took Marshall the best part of two days to clean out the fountain and remove all of the red stains. He was not a happy man after that. But after talking at length with Auntie M about what would possibly happen was freaking me out. Monday had gone off without a hitch. Auntie M had set aside some time in our chemistry lesson devoted to the soap we were making, even Francesca decided it was kind of fun making her own soap. Mrs Clarkson never let us do anything like this when she took our class.

After dinner and after the nightly walk I went on with Katie and Victoria, I went to see my Auntie M in her own dorm room. Normally I would go and study the family spell book on my own for a little bit and usually have some sort of fight with the sentient thing; but tonight Auntie M was with me, taking me through the procedures the coven would do whenever they met for particularly special events. This coming Sunday was Samhain, so tonight we would gather in our usual place and discuss what would happen for our gathering on Sunday. Which also happened to be when I would have my initiation. Later on however we were going out to the clearing in the woods to meet the rest of the coven for a bit of a dress run.

I was feeling a little bit nervous about it but Auntie M and everybody else in the coven kept telling me it was nothing to worry about. When I'd had my initiation, then my own powers would be a lot easier to manage and that couldn't come quick enough. I'd had a few flare ups in the past few weeks. I had gotten quite good at lighting candles using magic, I was nearly at the level where I could just do a hand gesture like pointing or snapping my fingers and the candle wicks would light but I still had to boost my magic and direct it properly with a spoken word. Normally I would point my finger at a candle then say "light" and the wick would crackle to life. One time however I tired doing that but instead of saying "light" I said "flame" and snapped my fingers in lieu of my usual pointing. I melted an entire pillar candle within seconds, thankfully I had it set on a tray so the wax didn't go everywhere. I tired switching the kettle on too one night using my powers, but I had inadvertently blew the main fuses in the entire dorm building and everything plunged in to darkness. I wouldn't be trying that again any time soon, well; not until after my initiation.

'Auntie M,' I started asking her a question as I was flicking through the pages of the spell book. 'Are there any simple spells you can recommend for me that are maybe a step up from what I've been learning?'

Auntie M who was busy rummaging through her wardrobe at the time smiled and came to stand beside me. She carefully ran through the pages of the spell book landing on a seemingly random page, who's colours were vivid and filled with really intricate drawings and fancy script.

'Now this can come in handy. It's not too difficult but it's worth practising.' She pointed at the page on the left. 'This one here is just a bit more complicated because it involves some precise hand movements but once you get it well... it's like riding a broom. Ha ha.' Auntie M chuckled at her lame joke.

The spells Auntie M had found me didn't seem like much but they would probably come in handy; the first one was a spell for refilling glasses or mugs. It was pretty strange but apparently the spell was for those witches who didn't want to get up every five minute for a drink refill. It looked like it had been written a long long time ago though. I was beginning to think there was possibly a spell for everything.