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Chapter One
Brainbox Has An Idea!
    Cranky Hazel (Young Witch in Training), stared at her cross-eyed cat, Brainbox.
    â€˜I’m bored, Brainbox,’ she growled. Cranky Hazel
always
growled when she spoke. She NEVER talked in a normal voice and
definitely
never in a soft, giggly little voice. ‘Ellie’s been away ALL weekend. She’s not gonna be back till this afternoon. What in frogs legs am I gonna do till then?’ She pushed her spikey black bob behind her ears and crossed her arms. As usual, Agatha and Anton, Cranky Hazel’s mum and dad, had put clever-clogs Brainbox in charge that morning before they went up to the attic to conjure up frothing potions and lotions. Apparently they had a back log of orders so would be VERY BUSY today and WERE NOT TO BE DISTURBED.
    Brainbox stared back, thinking. At least he stared back with one eye, the other eye was looking in quite the opposite direction, at a toad sitting on a pile of books. Brainbox was exactly the same grey colour as a shadow. This was handy if he didn’t want to be found, (like when he fancied a nice, long snooze), because he’d go and lie in a shadowy place and Cranky Hazel could never spot him.
    A photo of Ellie with her arm round Cranky Hazel, stood on the nearby black windowsill in a pink fluffy frame that Ellie had given her friend as a birthday present. Pink was Ellie’s favourite colour whereas Cranky Hazel preferred silvery-black, although she liked the frame because Ellie had made it. She glared at the photo, wishing Ellie was next door like she usually was at weekends, so that they could get together and have some FUN. Having fun was what Cranky Hazel and Ellie did BEST OF ALL! Ellie’s heart shaped face looked right back at her, with its sky blue eyes, freckly nose and the cheekiest smile in town. Ellie’s Mum had taken the photo in the park last year, when Ellie was six and Cranky Hazel was seven.
    Cranky Hazel wasn’t
always
in a cranky mood, as her grinning photograph face showed. In that picture, even her dark, twinkly eyes were smiling. Ellie loved Cranky Hazel VERY MUCH because she could be kind and funny and did REALLY COOL spells. It was just that certain things, like bossy grownups, awful weather, silly rules, feeling bored and most of all NASTY BULLIES, annoyed Cranky Hazel quite a lot and made her, well, rather cranky and cross. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at photograph Ellie, then glared back at her cat.
    â€˜Well,’ Brainbox said eventually, in his EXTREMELY posh voice, when the toad had taken a flying leap onto the dusty floorboards and hopped off. ‘Why don’t you go and play round at Alfie Fletcher’s house. You know he keeps asking you to, and it will be good for you to meet more children your own age while Ellie’s not here.’ He took a sip of his tea. Brainbox ALWAYS drank tea. He was a very classy cat.
    They were in Cranky Hazel’s lounge, which her parents had decorated in the traditional witching style. All the walls were painted black with a hint of grey. Spider’s webs (both real and plastic) hung from every corner. A rusty cauldron bubbled away in the fire place, a brown stew in it filling the air with spicy smells. A row of multi-coloured bottles stood on a shelf and underneath them sat a pile of books, (now minus the toad), that had titles like, “How To Turn Toads Into Gold”, “A Witch’s Guide to Humans”, and “Cauldron Meals For Dummies”. The sofa and arm chair were grey, torn and hard, which was EXACTLY how Cranky Hazel and her parents liked them.
    â€˜Eugh, YUK,’ Cranky Hazel growled. ‘I DON’T WANT to get to know other children. They’re so dull and smelly. I just want Ellie to come back. She must be HATING every minute of her weekend, being stuck with those bossy parents of hers at her grandparents’ house. Hey,’ she said, straightening up, pushing her ragged