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Snufflypoo arrived at the house where the witch tests were being held. “Why do they always have to do it at the darkest creepiest house in Gaia?” she grumbled to herself. Her kitty was so spooked he’d retreated under her hat and refused to come out. She entered the house and took her place in line. Some of the other witches in training were already there and as soon as they saw her they began saying mean witchy things about her to each other. “Humph…look at her clothes. Is that a daisy on her hat?” one of them sniffed. “A proper witch would wear nicer clothes,” said another “her dress is just patched-together rags.” “And a black cat as her familiar? How positively boring!” cackled the third. Kitty poked his head out from under her hat and hissed at this remark.
The other witches would curse people for the fun of it and make it so the trees wouldn’t give them gold. They thought they were better than Snufflypoo because they were rich and had all had the latest witchy fashions. Even her kitty wasn’t good enough, THEY all had owls and gwees and ravens…. They were the mean sort of witches who would curse an unsuspecting person and leave them that way forever and then laugh about it later.
Snufflypoo was not an evil witch, even though the others made fun of her. She wanted to be a good witch and she tried to make sure she didn’t hurt anyone while she was practicing. She also didn’t like the idea of turning innocent unsuspecting people into frogs but she couldn’t pass the final exam without learning to do just that. Then one day she had an idea. No rule in the exam said a transformed frog had to stay that way! So she started learning temporary and reversal spells. Snufflypoo spent many days in the countryside practicing. The mean witches thought it was silly. “If I turn someone into a frog, why would I want to change them back?” they cackled at her.
It took a lot of work but finally it happened! One afternoon, the aspiring good witch pointed her wand at a yellow butterfly and ZAP it turned into a frog, hitting the ground with a thud. “HEY!!! WTH?!” it yelled. “Sorry about that” she responded with chagrin, “it should wear off soon.” “Well it *&%$#@! BETTER!!!” the butterfly-turned-frog yelled. Sure enough, after only a short time, the frog changed back into a butterfly. “You are SO lucky!” it squeaked at her as it flew away. “How rude” she shook her head as it left. “I said I was sorry and it didn’t even last that long! I hope he doesn’t notice he’s red now’ she chuckled.
Despite the butterfly’s angry reaction, Snufflypoo was ecstatic. It had turned into a frog and then changed back! She could pass her test, the person would change back later, and no one would be the wiser! Well….except the person she turned into a frog of course. ‘Hmmm’ she pondered thoughtfully ‘that butterfly was really angry. Maybe it would help if I picked someone who’s been a frog before’. She remembered that over the summer one of her mean classmates had disguised herself as a black crow and zapped Snufflypoo and her friends into frogs. They remained this way for several weeks, catching bugs for an old witch, before the hag finally agreed to change them all back. . Still, the experience hadn’t been all bad. Both Willamette and gramma seemed to enjoy their froggy life. Perhaps they wouldn’t mind helping her with her test.
With this in mind, Snufflypoo began her practice on real people. Catching gramma unawares in the garden, she snuck up and zapped the woman. But there was no frog! Instead, gramma was now covered in disgusting green slime. “Dangit! She’s green but not froggy” Snufflypoo muttered. She searched through her books to find the reversal spell and managed to cast it. She was relieved to see gramma was no longer slimy or green.
Determined not to give up, the next day Snufflypoo found Will and zapped him when his back was turned. “Ribbit” croaked Willamette looking confused. ‘That’s a good sign’ Snufflypoo sighed with relief, ‘just a little more practice’. Just in the nick of time since her test was only a few days away.
Finally, the time had arrived. Snufflypoo waited anxiously in line as each of the advanced level witches stepped forward in response to their names. Zap! Zap! Zap! All over Gaia, people were sprouting ears and tails or turning zombified. As her turn approached, Snufflypoo grew more nervous. In fact, she felt a little sick…
“WITCH SNUFFLYPOO!” the headmistress yelled. ‘Oh no’ thought Snufflypoo. She’d been daydreaming and hadn’t heard her name the first time. The headmistress was irate. Snufflypoo took a tentative step forward.
“Yes headmistress?”
“I said have you picked someone to turn into a frog?” the headmistress snapped sharply. The other witches giggled snidely. Snufflypoo turned pink
“I….I….I…” she stammered.
“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD GIRL! Just PICK someone and ZAP THEM ALREADY! THERE ARE OTHER STUDENTS WAITING!!” she hissed.
“I….I pick Willamette” Snufflypoo muttered shyly.
“Fine, get on with it then”.
Snufflypoo gazed deeply into the big magic mirror that would show her whatever she was thinking about. To her relief, she immediately saw Willamette. He was running around town by his house, catching bugs and flirting with girls. Snufflypoo concentrated very hard and pointed her wand at him. ZAP! In the middle of his conversation, Willamette suddenly turned green….”so if you’re ever in the neighborhood stop ribbit” he said. The girls looked confused, Willamette looked embarrassed. Snufflypoo watched him hurriedly excuse himself and dash back to his house. Just before the mirror image faded, she saw him transform fully into frog form. “Sorry about that Will” she said quietly, smiling to herself. “Very good witch Snufflypoo!” the headmistress said “And I see you used a temporary spell too! That’s worth extra credit!” Snufflypoo’s smile could not have been bigger.
The headmistress handed out diplomas and presented Snufflypoo with a special skull pin as a reward for her extra credit work. The petty witches weren’t teasing her anymore. They were fuming! Not one of them had seen any reason to learn temporary spells and she had just shown them up! They muttered angrily amongst themselves.
Snufflypoo was so happy she ran off to tell her friends she passed her test…..and to explain to Willamette why he was a frog again…..