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A pupil was the last person Ada wanted to see when finally sat down to her mid-afternoon tea on a Friday afternoon. She was half asleep on her feet and having missed luncheon entirely, just as she was about to finally have a bite of toast, through her office door burst Beatrice Bunch, near hysterics.
“Miss Cackle! Miss Cackle you must come quick. Miss Hardbroom is...well when I left she was a hippopotamus but before that-”
Ada shot out of her chair, flinging her toast hastily back onto her plate. “Miss Hardbroom is a hippopotamus!?”
“Probably not anymore,” said Beatrice quietly, looking startled.
Ada looked very cross to Beatrice. “Did you girls-”
“We didn’t do it on purpose, Miss Cackle, I swear it!” said Beatrice. “It was an accident. We promised we’d never do anything like that ever again, we wouldn’t. Sybil made a mistake and-” Beatrice hiccuped. “... and the potion started bubbling over. Miss Hardbroom was trying to stop it but then it tipped all over her and-”
“Did anyone else get hurt?” interrupted Ada, grabbing a seemingly random assortment of vials and trinkets from her desk drawer. “What about Sybil?”
“Miss Hardbroom transferred her out - she transferred us all out - into the hall. And when we came back the potion was everywhere! And...um, Miss Hardbroom was a quail.”
Ada raised her eyebrows. “It was supposed to be a duck into a chicken,” Beatrice explained. “That’s what Sybil had picked.”
“Well,” said Ada, having apparently found everything she was looking for. “Then Miss Hallow has certainly overshot the mark if we’ve veered into large aquatic mammals.”
Beatrice wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Ada smiled grimly. “Let’s go see what we’re dealing with, shall we?”
Beatrice nodded. “I hope she’s not an alligator again,” she muttered as Ada whisked them both away.
Other than the occasional drop of goopy blue liquid from the ceiling and the pool of it on the floor, the potions lab looked perfectly ordinary. Empty, which was an oddity at this time of day, but the entire second-year class, frightened by roars, neighs, and a few hysterical hyena laughs, had elected to stay in the hallway. Beatrice scurried back to the safety of her friends. Ada glanced around at the empty lab and back at the huddled students.
“Girls, are you sure that-” Ada paused at the rustle of papers and a soft chirp sound.
“I’ll take it from here,” Ada informed the girls. “Go to your dormitories until your next class.”
Ada waited until she was sure the last of the girls had left before sitting at the far end of the workbench where she’d heard the noise. “Hecate?” she called softly. “Come on out, it’s safe now. I’m here.”
The papers shifted a bit more and Ada could see two bright eyes staring at her. Ada fought to keep as still as possible, continuing to talk to the tiny creature in low murmur. “It’s all right, the girls are gone, it’s just you and me now. You can come out, I won’t let anything else happen to you. You’re safe here with me, I promise.”
Another shift of the papers, and then finally Hecate came out of hiding. Ada’s complete focus on staying still was the only thing that kept her from squeaking in delight. In place of her tall, aloof deputy headmistress there was now a sleek, black kitten, too tiny to even be mistaken for a child’s familiar. She slunk towards Ada hesitantly, her ears twitching at Ada’s continued to make soft, soothing sounds. Ada reached a hand out, letting Hecate sniff delicately at her fingertips. With a delighted ‘mrrp!’ Hecate, at last, recognized the woman before her, pushing her face into Ada’s outstretched palm.
Ada couldn’t contain the delighted laugh that bubbled up this time, but Hecate was purring loudly and didn’t seem to mind. Suddenly, however, the kitten stiffened and pulled back, just as Ada felt magic charging the air.
“I think we’ve had enough of that for now, don’t you?” Ada said gently, pulling Hecate back towards her and casting a quick hold-and-ward spell over her. “It doesn’t solve the overall problem, but that will keep you from shifting on me every thirty seconds, and will hopefully not continue to use up so much of your magical stores.”
Hecate’s tiny fur head bobbed in what Ada could only assume was agreement, before sneezing three times in quick succession. Ada tried to contain herself from fawning over the impossibly cute creature before her, but she was apparently unsuccessful if the irritated look on the kitten’s face was anything to go by.
Ada reached out again. “I’m sorry, my love. I meant no offence, I promise. Shall we find a way to resolve this issue?”
The kitten chirped her agreement as she jumped and scrambled up Ada’s right arm, settling herself in a curl around Ada’s neck. Ada smiled, scratched the top of Hecate’s head affectionately, and ambled gingerly off in search of reversal spell books.
Four hours and sixteen unsuccessful reversal spells later, Ada was exhausted and Hecate had a minorly singed tail, but they were no closer to turning Hecate back. Ada heaved another book onto the pile of discarded texts and sighed.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what else to try,” she murmured to the kitten on her shoulder. “But we’ll find something, I promise.”
The cat didn’t respond and it took Ada a moment to realize that she’d fallen asleep, again, face buried in the fabric of Ada’s sweater. Ada tried to move her head slowly so as not to disturb any further, but as soon as she thought it, the kitten yawned and stretched, quickly losing its balance and sliding down Ada’s front with a confused “meeeerop?”
Ada laughed, jostling Hecate further, leaving her a messy tangle of fur and claws as the cat tried haplessly to regain her footing. Ada scooped her up and reoriented her, unable to resist cuddling her gently against her chest. Purring erupted immediately and Ada smiled.
“There, that’s alright isn’t it?”
The kitten blinked in response and leaned into Ada’s offered hand. Ada glanced at her watch, concerned that they’d let the rest of the day slip by. Supper was be long over and her stomach didn’t fail to remind her that she’d missed it.
“Are you hungry?”
The kitten’s ears perked up and Ada had to stifle another giggle. Affirmative then. Ada shifted the cat to one side and tucked another book under her arm. “I think we’ll try potions next. Potions got you into this state, I’m sure they’re just the think to get you out.”
Hecate slipped out of Ada’s arm and landed on the floor with a loud thump that startled them both. The creature looked remarkably sheepish for a cat, even as she yawned again.
“Graceful,” remarked Ada, stifling a yawn of her own. “Come now, let’s go upstairs and I’ll get you something to eat.”
Ada left Hecate and her book in their bedroom and went off to the kitchens in search of food for them both. When she returned she found Hecate trying valiantly to flip the pages of the book, with little success.
“Could I interest you in some fish? Or would you like to claw a few more holes in that book?”
Ada was teasing, but the cat glared anyways, at least until the scent of salmon reached her twitchy nose. She gave a high pitched trill and abandoned the book to crowd Ada’s feet.
Ada laughed and set the dish down. It had barely touched the ground when Hecate’s tiny furry head dived in. Ada took care to measure out a portion of water and set it beside before turning to her own supper - cold leftover mushroom casserole.
“I suspect,” said Ada between bites. “That you are having a better time than I with tonight's feast.”
Hecate didn’t pause in her eating to acknowledge her, she was busy licking the bowl clean. When she finally lifted her head from the dish, Ada had to stifle a giggle.
“My dear, you’ve got a bit of...oh dear.” The tiny kitten tried to clean her whiskers with her tongue but it refused to cooperate with her and just lolled out of her mouth.
“Come here,” Ada beckoned, offering a handkerchief. Carefully she wiped the mess away from Hecate’s chin, whiskers, and, inexplicably, the top of her head. “That’s better.”
The kitten wiggled its nose and seemed satisfied with Ada’s efforts, despite her fur looking a little damp and mangy. Ada wondered if a bath would be warranted before this was over.
“Now,” said Ada, tapping the book Hecate had been tearing at earlier “You were trying to tell me something. Why don’t I flip the pages and you can stop me if you see something important?”
The kitten mewed and Ada carefully set the book down so they both might see. “Now, let’s have a look…”
It didn’t take long for Ada to find what she was looking for and Hecate gave an excited chirp when she did. Reversal potion for diverse animal transmorphications (witches only). Ada scanned down the list of ingredients. “This doesn’t seem so bad…”
The kitten reached one paw tentatively towards the word “garoroot” and then smacked the page. Ada sputtered, half laughter, half disbelief. “Miss Hardbroom would not approve of books being treated as such.”
The kitten flopped down in frustration but kept a paw on the word. “Merow.”
“Garoroot…” mused Ada. “That rings a funny bell. Weren't you telling me about it just last week?”
The kitten blinked.
“We’re out of it, aren’t we?” derived Ada, her mood sinking at the affirmative chirp. “Oh dear.”
The kitten yawned and turned several circles before settling down again, chin resting on her front paws and eyes closed.
Ada glanced at the clock on the wall. Nearly midnight. “That’s something to fix tomorrow,” she decided. The kitten opened one beady eye. “Bedtime,” insisted Ada, stroking between twitching ears. “For us both.”
Hecate perked up and led the way to their shared room with her tail held high.
Ada awoke the next morning to a soft persistent nudging against her cheek. Opening her eyes she found a tiny black shadow peering expectantly at her. Despite her grogginess, she smiled and summoned her glasses from the nightstand.
“There, that’s better,” she said, peering through her spectacles at Hecate. “I see it hasn’t worn off overnight.” The cat gave a sharp meow. “Yes, I didn’t really think it would...” Ada guessed, heaving herself out of bed. “Let me get dressed and we go for the garoroot we need.”
Ada headed for the gates, but before she could take more than a step or two, Hecate was weaving between her feet and Ada had to stop before she tripped over both of them. “Hecate, what--” but as soon as Ada had stopped, Hecate grabbed her the hem of Ada’s skirt in her teeth and tugged back towards the castle grounds. Concerned that they had forgotten something important, Ada let herself be led until she realized they were headed towards the busy dining hall. “Don’t you think we should focus on changing you back to your human form? The school, I’m sure, can do just fine without me for one morning.”
Hecate let go of Ada’s skirt to give her a lofty glare, then turned and continued on towards the sounds of witches voices. Ada sighed. “Well, all right then, if you insist, but I hope you have a way of explaining this to Dimity and Gwen, because I surely don’t.”
The kitten ignored her, turning not into the dining room as Ada had imagined, but into the kitchens instead. Jumping gracefully up on one of the tables, she made her way past the mornings preparations to a table farther back where materials for snacks and sandwiches were kept. She turned and sat, staring back at Ada.
Ada looked sheepishly back as her stomach took that moment to growl loudly. “All right, yes, I suppose it would make more sense to take a few supplies with us.” She grabbed a satchel and hummed thoughtfully as she grabbed an apple and a canteen. “Any preferences?”
They had just about finished picking supplies when Maria Tapioca’’s voice interrupted. “Headmistress? Is there something you’re needing?”
Ada was trying to recover from the duplicate surprise of being suddenly made aware of her cook’s presence and having her high-strung assistant-deputy-turned-kitten diving into one of her oversized apron pockets. “No, no that’s...that’s quite all right, Maria, but thank you. I’m afraid I have an early morning outing to attend to, so I was just grabbing a few things. I’ll be on my way now!”
As Ada walked quickly away, she looked down to check on how the kitten was doing. Hecate had managed to poke her head out of the pocket, bracing herself with her front paws and surveying the new angle of the castle grounds with interest. Ada slowed down, feeling that they were far enough away to avoid any additional awkward encounters and also as to not jostle the kitten quite so much.
Once they passed through the entrance gates, Ada reached a hand down. “I think it’s safe now, if you’d rather a bit more space.” Ada had meant to let the kitten know that she could prowl and explore beside her, but instead the kitten took advantage of Ada’s outstretched arm and climbed her way up to Ada’s shoulder, curling in a way where she could hook into Ada’s sweater for balance but still keep a lookout. Ada chuckled, “All right, if you insist.”
It had been years since Ada had gathered potion ingredients, but she was still familiar with the grounds around the school. While Hecate had improved the variety and potency of flora and fauna over the years, she’d kept the locations of many things the same. Ada found herself feeling grateful for the time to be outside enjoying the quiet of the woods, and though she missed her partner, she couldn’t help being delighted by the soft purring she could hear as Hecate stalked through the undergrowth.
Finally, they came to a section of the woods that turned damp and marsh-like, the water table carefully maintained by Hecate to provide a host of resources they’d previously had to order from other schools and regions. The kitten leapt off Ada with ease and began prowling, nose to ground and ears alert. Ada pulled out her notes for reference and began searching as well, taking care to keep clear of the plants she could not identify. Absentmindedly she munched on an apple that had been in her pocket as she peered at bunch of ferns that looked...almost right?
There was a splash and Ada swirled around in a fit of worry. Out of the mire came one drenched kitten with a reed as large as she was proudly clenched between her teeth.
“Oh! Goodness, let me take that,” exclaimed Ada, hurrying over. “That’s more than enough for our potion, let’s get you home and dried off and back to yourself, hmm?”
The kitten gave an exhausted little chirp, followed by a shiver. Ada bent to pick the poor creature up when there was a loud croak beside her. The kitten darted out of Ada’s grasp and planted herself in the mud, hissing for all she was worth.
Ada whirled around to find Hecate, teeth bared, staring down a perplexed bullfrog. She bit back a laugh.
“I appreciate the tenacity, Hecate, but I think we’ve nothing to fear from the likes of him.” The kitten looked affronted, and then she sneezed loudly, causing the bullfrog to startle and scamper off into the pond.
“Better safe than sorry?” Ada grinned, bending over and scooping up her tiny, ferocious protector. The kitten nuzzled against the bottom of Ada’s chin, damp fur smearing against Ada’s neck. “I should be worried about you,” Ada fussed, one hand digging through her pockets for a handkerchief. “You’ll catch your death of cold at this rate.” The kitten didn’t respond, only cuddled closer, shivering.
A transfer couldn’t hurt, Ada mused. “Let’s get you back,” she murmured, and with a snap of her fingers, they were gone.
The fireplace in the potions laboratory was rarely used, but Ada found use for it now. Hecate had curled up in front of the dancing flames, leaving Ada to sort through their ingredients and prepare the potion on the workbench. Clearly their morning adventure had tired her out. Ada delighted in watching Hecate fold her paws under her chin and sink into a deep sleep as she ground a selection of herbs into a fine powder. The cat looked more relaxed than Hecate had all term.
The brewing was over all too soon, and Ada was forced to disturb Hecate with a gentle nudge to wake her. “It’s ready,” she whispered, her fingers sliding through Hecate’s fur as the cat blinked sleepily up at Ada.
Hecate’s nose twitched almost violently as Ada drew the ladle near, a glistening purple liquid nearly spilling over onto the carpet. For a second Ada wondered if Hecate was ever going to drink it. A bizarre image of her pinning the cat down and trickling it down her throat while she squirmed, much like she had Pendel when he’d needed that anti-hairball potion, sprang to mind. Hecate might not think that very dignified…
Fortunately for Hecate’s dignity, no such measures were required. The kitten clumsily lapped at the spoon, a few drops landing on her whiskers and dribbling down her chin, but before a drop could hit the floor there was a shimmer of light and the kitten blurred out of sight, replaced with Hecate kneeling on the floor.
Ada offered a hand to help Hecate to her feet, peering at her carefully. Everything seemed to be in order but she wanted to be absolutely sure.
“Hecate? Are you alright?”
Hecate’s face was scrunched up in confusion as she looked about. “I...I believe so.”
“Welcome back,” said Ada warmly, trying to resist the urge to throw her arms around Hecate’s tall frame. “Do you remember-”
Hecate’s hand had flown to her temple, her eyes squeezed shut. “Sybil Hallow,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
Ada said nothing, placing a reassuring hand on Hecate’s forearm.
“How long was I... what was I?”
“A cat,” said Ada quickly. “Erm, for the majority of it. Since yesterday afternoon. It’s nearly noon on Saturday.”
Hecate blinked in surprise. Nearly an entire day! Ada was mumbling something that sounded vaguely like an apology, but Hecate wouldn’t hear of it.
“Thank you, Ada.” said Hecate, pulling Ada into a warm embrace. “I knew you’d figure out something.”
Ada sunk into Hecate’s arms, the knot of anxiety that she’d been holding in her chest finally unwinding. “I’m glad you’re back,” she said, her voice muffled against Hecate’s breastbone. However adorable kitten-Hecate had been, it couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing.
Hecate’s delicate fingers smoothed Ada’s hair. “I’m glad to be back,” she said simply. She cupped Ada’s chin gently, tipping it ever so slightly up so she might lean in and press her lips to Ada’s, colliding with an intensity that surprised them both. Relief and warmth flooded Ada as she melted the kiss, her lips parting to grant Hecate better access. It was easy to forget how passionate Hecate was and Ada was grateful for the reminder, for the heady, giddy feeling that only Hecate could inspire. They kissed for several long moments, until either of them could bear to not draw breath, and even then they held each other tight, foreheads and noses so close they were nearly touching.
“I am glad you’re back,” whispered Ada. then she sighed dramatically as she rested her head on Hecate’s shoulder. “But who will defend me against frogs now, I wonder?” she lamented.
Hecate blushed faintly, her memory trickling through in bits and pieces, much like remembering a fanciful dream. “It could have been something more sinister,” she said.
“Like a badger?” Ada teased.
“Hush,” said Hecate, but her face was jovial. “That frog might very well have been a wizard in disguise. Better safe than sorry, Miss Cackle.”
Ada laughed merrily, one hand pulling Hecate down so she might kiss her once again. “As you say, Miss Hardbroom.”