Chapter 4

Chapter FOUR I kept walking until I got to a dark and gloomy part of the forest. Then I stopped. I was all alone. It was perfect. I knelt down on the ground and took the necklaces off, admiring again the swirling and glittering potion ingredients inside the tiny bottles. I didn't have a cauldron of course so I took off my shoe and put

it in front of me. Then, before I could change my mind, I poured the little bottle of purple seeds into it, followed by the swirling mist of dragon breath, and stirred them together with a twig. The mixture immediately began to crackle and little stars and moons flashed into the air.

'Ooh,' I whispered and leant closer so that a few petals from my wonky flower crown fell off and drifted downwards. I had no idea what would happen. The mixture began to fizz and hiss. Pink and purple smoke puffed out into the air in glittering clouds, spluttering and crackling as the petals fell into it. I wondered if I should say some magic words but I didn't know what as I didn't have my spell book with me. So instead I just stared down at the mixture, wondering what it would do. Suddenly the twig in my hand started to twitch and I let go of it in surprise. It landed fully in the potion and began to

wriggle. I gazed at it in wonder and then noticed that something else was starting to happen. The flower petals that had fallen into the potion were wiggling about too, rising up and joining together in a rosy clump. The clump began to float around my head, forming itself into a loose dragon-like shape. Excitedly I pulled the flower crown off my head and began to pick off more petals, throwing them into my shoe. As soon as they touched the potion they began to squiggle and writhe, floating up to join the others so that the flower-petal dragon got bigger and bigger. It began to skip and dance around the clearing, flapping its wings.

I looked around me to see what else I could put into the potion. Leaves! There were leaves all around! I jumped up and began to pick them off the trees, throwing big handfuls of them at my shoe. Any that touched the potion seemed to come to life, joining up with other leaves and flowers. Soon there were five large dragons made from leaves, flowers and twigs, rustling and rippling round the private little clearing. I gazed at them proudly and then began to skip with them. We

danced round and round, a whirl of perfumed petals and summer-smelling twigs. I danced until I was out of breath and then threw myself back down on the ground, delighted. I felt as though all the witchy naughtiness had been danced out of me. I was ready to go back to the fairy party now and be good for the rest of the night. I was sure that the dragons would now go off into the forest and no one would ever know about them. They would probably disappear eventually once the spell wore off.