The Worst Witch Strikes Again Read online

  YOUNG PUFFIN MODERN CLASSICS

  The Worst Witch Strikes Again

  Jill Murphy began drawing and writing stories at a very early age, and was already putting books together (literally with a stapler) by the time she was six. She was only eighteen when she wrote The Worst Witch. Since then, her books about the lovable but disaster-prone Mildred Hubble have become much-loved classics. Jill Murphy has also written and illustrated several award-winning picture books for younger children.

  Other books by Jill Murphy

  (Titles in reading order)

  THE WORST WITCH

  THE WORST WITCH STRIKES AGAIN

  A BAD SPELL FOR THE WORST WITCH

  THE WORST WITCH ALL AT SEA

  THE WORST WITCH SAVES THE DAY

  THE WORST WITCH’S SPELLING BOOK

  (with Rose Griffiths)

  Jill Murphy

  THE Worst Witch STRIKES AGAIN

  PUFFIN

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,

  New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

  Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published by Allison & Busby 1980

  Published in Puffin Books 1981

  Published in this edition 2007

  1

  Text and illustrations copyright © Jill Murphy, 1980

  Introduction copyright © Julia Eccleshare, 2007

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition

  that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise

  circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other

  than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition

  being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  INTRODUCTION

  BY JULIA ECCLESHARE, SERIES EDITOR

  Imagine being the Worst Witch in your school. Poor Mildred Hubble, it’s not a title she ever meant to gain and she hates it. After all, she never means to be bad. In fact, she always tries her hardest to do well and this term she’s promised everyone at home that she really will try not to get into any scrapes. But, somehow, everything seems to go wrong for her. She isn’t helped by her cat and, this time, she isn’t helped by her friends either.

  It’s now the Summer Term at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches – the poor witches do wear the very worst summer uniform – and Mildred is looking forward to some fun with her best friend Maud while also taking care to improve her reputation, especially with Miss Hardbroom. But Mildred’s plans soon go badly wrong. So wrong that even her friendship with Maud is in tatters while her days in the Academy look very much as if they are numbered.

  A school touched by a bit of magic is a very attractive place. A little bit of flying for some light relief and unexpected adventure is good fun; the cats or – in the case of the new girl, Enid Nightshade – monkey that are the girls’ familiars add a bit of zest to the school corridors and bedrooms.

  Whether you love or loathe school, Jill Murphy’s Mildred, Maud and Enid, and their skirmishes with their teachers, will immediately strike a chord. They are great girls, ready to support each other and to get the best – or worst – out of school and especially out of their teachers. Luckily, most schools don’t have the possibility of magic! The results can be disastrous!

  CHAPTER ONE

  UMMER had arrived at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches. Not that it made much difference to the grim-looking school which was perched on a mountain amid swirling mist and pine trees.

  On the first morning of term the members of Form One sat in class looking a dismal sight in their new summer uniform which was even more dreary than the winter one. It consisted of a black-and-grey-checked short-sleeved dress, brightened a little by the sash around the waist, and grey ankle socks with black lace-up shoes. Everyone’s knees were startlingly white after spending the winter swathed in itchy black wool stockings.

  Despite this picture of gloom, the room buzzed with laughing voices and the pupils all sounded very excited to be back — except for Mildred. Worried would be a better word to describe how Mildred felt as she sat on her desk listening to Maud’s tales of what had happened during the holidays.

  In fact, she wasn’t really listening to Maud at all because she was busy imagining all the dreadful things that were just bound to happen during the coming term. Why, it hadn’t even started yet. There were weeks and weeks to get through! After the appalling report she’d had at the end of last term, she had promised everyone at home that she really would try this term.

  Even though Miss Cackle had kindly mentioned the day when she had saved the school from disaster, it hardly made up for all the days when everything she touched fell to bits or broke or, worse, when she couldn’t resist doing something wicked to liven things up a bit. It was the worst report she’d ever taken home.

  ‘Mildred!’ Maud broke into her thoughts. ‘You haven’t been listening to a word, have you?’

  ‘Yes, I have,’ said Mildred.

  ‘Well, what did I say then?’ asked Maud.

  ‘Er — you got a pet bat for your birthday?’ replied Mildred, hopefully.

  ‘I told you you weren’t listening!’ cried Maud triumphantly. ‘That was about ten minutes ago.’

  The door crashed open and Miss Hard-broom, their terrifying form-mistress, swept in like an icy blast, bringing with her a girl whom no one had ever seen

  before. As usual, everyone nearly jumped out of their skins, and there was a mad scramble as desk-lids slammed and people crashed into each other in their hurry to be standing by their desks in an orderly manner.

  ‘Good morning, girls,’ said Miss Hard-broom crisply.

  ‘Good morning, Miss Hardbroom,’ replied the girls.

  ‘I hope you’re all glad to be back with us,’ said Miss Hardbroom, narrowing her eyes and glaring at the unfortunate pupils in the front row. ‘All nice and rested and looking forward to some hard work?’

  ‘Yes, Miss Hardbroom,’ chorused the girls in their most sincere voices.

  ‘Good!’ said Miss Hardbroom, clapping her hands together in a business-like way. ‘Now then. This is Enid Nightshade.’ She extended a bony hand towards the newcomer, who stood with hunched shoulders, looking fixedly at the floor.

  Enid was a tall girl, even taller than Mildred, but much more ungainly, with big hands and feet. There seemed to be an awful lot of her, though she wasn’t exactly fat. Her h
air was the colour of milky tea and was restrained into a long, thick plait,

  but you could tell that it would be very wild and wavy once it was unleashed from the black hair ribbon.

  ‘Enid is newly with us this term,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘Mildred, Enid is to be entrusted to your care. I must point out that this is not my idea, but some strange notion of Miss Cackle’s that if you are awarded such a responsibility it may actually turn you into a responsible member of the community. Personally, I feel it a great loss to send young Enid off down the path of ill-fame with you, when we could all breathe easily if someone like Ethel were to show her the ropes.’

  Ethel, the form sneak and goody-goody, smiled demurely at this point and everyone felt like hitting her.

  ‘However,’ continued Miss Hardbroom, ‘perhaps I shall be proved wrong. I certainly hope so. Please make sure that Enid knows where everything is, Mildred, and keep her company for the next few days. Thank you. Now, Enid, take the desk next to Mildred and let us begin the lesson. The first school assembly will be tomorrow morning in the Great Hall.’

  ‘Crumbs,’ thought Mildred, sneaking a look at Enid, who had crammed her huge frame into the neighbouring desk. ‘We won’t get much fun out of her.’

  But Mildred couldn’t have been more wrong.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ARLY next morning before the rising-bell had rung, Maud crept along the stone corridor to Mildred’s room and knocked on the door.

  There was no reply, but this was hardly surprising as Mildred was renowned for her ability to sleep through any amount of noise; in fact Maud often had to go and shriek in her friend’s ear to waken her when the rising-bell failed to do so.

  Maud tiptoed into the room, closing the heavy door quietly behind her. Mildred’s three bats skimmed over her head returning from their night out and settled upside-down on the picture rail.

  A soft ‘Miaaow’ at her feet reminded Maud of Mildred’s little tabby cat which was threading itself round her ankles. She bent down and picked up the little creature, which immediately draped itself around her neck like a fur stole and began to purr. Maud was quite glad of the warmth as she felt a bit chilly in her summer nightdress of grey cotton.

  ‘Mildred,’ she whispered to the bundle of bedclothes. ‘Wake up, Mildred. It’s Maud.’

  ‘Whassat?’ mumbled Mildred’s voice from deep under the covers, followed by a series of rhythmic snores.

  ‘Mildred!’ whispered Maud, giving the

  lump under the covers a vigorous shake. ‘Wake up!’

  The top of Mildred’s head appeared on the pillow.

  ‘Oh, hello, Maud!’ she said. ‘Is it time to get up yet? Did I miss the bell?’

  ‘No,’ said Maud curling up on the end of the bed. ‘It’s still early. The bats have only just come in. I came to have a chat before the others get up.’

  Mildred hauled herself into a sitting position.

  ‘Wrap yourself up, you must be freezing,’ she said, offering Maud her black cloak. Maud took the cloak from the bedpost and put it around her shoulders.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘What shall we do at break?’

  ‘Well,’ said Mildred, ‘I’ve got to show Enid round the school. You know, the potion lab and gym, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Can’t you hand her over to someone else?’ asked Maud, sounding a little touchy. ‘She looks very dull, and anyway you and I always go about together.’

  ‘It’s a bit difficult to get rid of her,’ said Mildred. ‘Miss Hardbroom asked me and she’d go berserk if I tried to get out of it. Anyway the poor girl is new, I feel a bit sorry for her.’

  ‘Oh, all right,’ agreed Maud reluctantly. ‘I’ll come and call for you later and we can at least go to Assembly together.’

  ‘Er – well, I’ll have to take Enid to Assembly,’ said Mildred awkwardly. ‘But you can come too, though.’

  ‘Oh, thanks!’ stormed Maud. ‘I’d rather go on my own.’ She flung off the cloak and uncurled the cat. ‘Perhaps you could fit me in later in the week!’

  ‘Oh, Maud!’ said Mildred. ‘Don’t be so silly, I didn’t mean –’

  But Maud had already swept out of the door, letting it bang behind her.

  CHAPTER THREE

  EN minutes later, the rising-bell clanged and echoed through the gloomy corridors. Mildred, who was just on the verge of going back to sleep, steeled herself to get out of bed and grope around for her clothes which were festooned all over the room as usual. The summer dress was much easier to cope with than the winter uniform. Somehow, in winter she always got in a dreadful muddle with her tie.

  She was just about to go and bang on Maud’s door and surprise her by being ready when she remembered about Enid and set off to the next corridor to call for her.

  ‘Enid! Are you up yet?’ she called softly through the door.

  ‘Hang on a sec!’ called Enid’s voice. ‘I’m just feeding the monkey.’

  ‘Monkey?’ thought Mildred. ‘I must have misheard.’

  But she hadn’t. When she pushed open the door, there sat Enid on her narrow bedstead. Perched on her shoulder was a slender grey monkey eating a banana.

  ‘It’s to go on the back of my broom,’ explained Enid, as Mildred hastened inside and closed the door, in case by some mischance Miss Hardbroom should materialize outside.

  ‘But it’s a monkey, Enid!’ exclaimed Mildred. ‘You won’t be allowed. It says in the rules that we can only have cats. We can’t even have owls.’

  ‘Oh, it’ll be all right,’ said Enid airily. ‘No one’ll notice when it’s all hunched up on the end of my broom.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be too sure,’ said Mildred darkly. ‘You don’t know Miss Hardbroom yet.’

  ‘Anyway,’ continued Enid as if she hadn’t heard Mildred’s dire warning, ‘it’s much more fun than a silly old cat. It can hang upside-down by its tail and do all sorts of things.’

  ‘Well,’ said Mildred doubtfully, ‘I do hope it’ll be all right. Come on, we’d better go down to Assembly or we’ll be late, and that would never do when I’m supposed to be looking after you!’

  As the girls filed into the Great Hall, Mildred caught Maud by the arm and whispered, ‘Hey, Maud! You’ll never guess what Enid has got in her room.’

  But Maud didn’t answer and brushed past with her nose in the air.

  Miss Hardbroom stood beside the headmistress, Miss Cackle, on the platform at the end of the Great Hall. Unlike Miss Hardbroom who was scowling, Miss Cackle beamed down at her flock which

  stood in neat black-and-grey-checked rows in front of her. Mildred could not suppress a snigger at the strange-looking pair they made. Miss Cackle short and wearing a tight dress of grey satin which made her look very bulgy, and Miss Hardbroom tall and extremely thin, wearing a gown with black vertical stripes which made her look even taller.

  Miss Hardbroom’s piercing gaze swept past like a searchlight, causing Mildred’s smile to vanish instantly like the sun behind a cloud.

  ‘Welcome back, girls,’ said Miss Cackle. ‘You have a term of hard work ahead of you. As well as the usual exams there will be the school Sports Day which I know you all look forward to.’

  At this point Miss Hardbroom closed her eyes and a look of pain flashed across her face. Mildred also felt a twinge of dread as she remembered the disastrous broomstick display at Hallowe’en the year before.

  Now Miss Cackle looked a little shy. ‘And there will be my birthday celebration

  when I look forward to the little songs and chants which you always prepare for me.’

  A gentle groan ran round the room. Miss Cackle’s birthday celebration was the most boring event of the year.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  FTER Assembly the girls marched to the music-room for their chanting lesson with Miss Bat the chanting mistress. She was tiny, thin and very old with frizzy grey hair which she wore in a plait twisted around the back of her head. Because of her habit of pressing her jaw into her chest, she had three
chins and this looked very odd on top of her thin little figure. She wore circular steel glasses attached to a chain round her neck (not the dainty gold kind but more like a bicycle chain) and she always had a conductor’s baton tucked behind her ear.

  She sat at the piano in a black dress with grey flowers and played a rousing march as the girls entered.

  ‘Chanting’s ever so dull,’ whispered Mildred to Enid as they marched into the music-room.

  ‘Don’t you believe it,’ Enid whispered back with a surprisingly wicked glint in her eye.

  They all took their places, and Mildred managed to position herself with Maud on one side and Enid on the other, though Maud still looked very crochety and wouldn’t return Mildred’s smile.

  Miss Bat struck up the opening chord to a chant that they all knew very well, and the girls began.

  To Mildred’s surprise, Enid was singing completely out of tune — not loud enough for Miss Bat to hear, but loud enough so that Mildred couldn’t concentrate on the right note herself. Verse after verse droned on with Enid just missing the correct note and the pupils around her struggling to keep in tune.

  Mildred sneaked a look at Enid, who was smiling sweetly and obviously doing it on purpose, then glanced at Maud who was trying desperately to keep a straight

  face. A sudden mad burst of uncontrollable laughter welled up in Mildred. She clenched her teeth and racked her brains to think of something sad, but the sound of Enid’s voice droning flatly on beside her was too much and a loud snorting noise erupted from Mildred’s nose like a motorbike starting up.

  Mildred put her hands across her mouth and even tried stuffing her handkerchief into it, but it was no use, a real fit of the giggles was upon her and she just doubled up with helpless laughter and giggled till her face ached.