04x11 - Grounded

[bunniefuu]

The Head Girl Triathlon.
Mildred will need to win all three

to stay in the competition.
Come on, Tabby.

I can turn back time
and win the triathlon

and my vision will never
have come true.

THEY SING

Ethel! Ethel! Ethel!

This belongs to you, Mildred.
Thank you, Miss Cackle.

Long ago, the heavenly bodies which
we call comets were thought

to be products of witchcraft,
created to warn us of impending

disaster, to open our eyes,
to magically change our destiny.

These will be good,
won't they, for watching the comet?

They're toy ones.
I got them free with a comic.

Well, it's an art trip.
The kids can use their imagination.

Where are you going to see the
comet? I don't think I'll have time.

What?!
Everyone's going to be watching it.

They only come round once
every years, you know.

You weren't even born
when it was the last one.

I was still on my travels
in Morocco.

I'm too busy preparing for the final
Head Girl Challenge, Mum.

I have to design a new spell.

A spell thousands of witches
before me haven't done already.

You'll think of something.
Mum, you don't get it.

This is the last challenge and me
and Ethel are tied. I have to win!

Listen, Head Girl sounds good,

but it's not worth making
yourself ill over.

It's not like the school's going
to disappear if you don't win.

Posters should be affixed solely to
sanctioned noticeboards, Mr Daisy.

Um, I... Oh, I...
I do apologise, Miss Hardbroom.

I'll remove them immediately.

I hear that attendance at your
Spell Science Club increases with

each meeting. It appears you have
captured the girls' imaginations.

Despite grave initial reservations,

I'm beginning to see that you
have...some worth. Carry on.

Expanding molecules!

Chocolate cauldrons! Wouldn't
they melt? Flying cauldrons, then.

Not very practical. Stop panicking.

You still have a few days
to think of something.

Let's look at these again, shall we?
A spell to find lost socks.

How's that for a winner?
Milly, will you relax?

Can't.
I'm the only one who can stop Ethel.

You have heard of magical burnout?
Ooh!

How about a spell to find
the end of sticky tape?

I'm on fire today!

You two need to help me
keep an eye on her this weekend.

Sorry, I have to go home.

My dad wants me
to watch the comet with him.

I wish I got to have
a weekend on a farm.

Farm...

You live on a farm?

Yep. Miles from anywhere.

As in...countryside?

Peace and quiet?

No magic? Yes.

Mr Daisy, would it be possible to
make an anti-foot fungus spell?

Alas, no.
Or I'd have used it years ago!

Oh!

Mr Daisy...

One of my loop potions -
but I was in my cupboard just

a moment ago
and they're all accounted for.

It's a long story.

And one I suspect it's best
I do not hear. Is that right?

I wouldn't ever take one
of your loop potion spells

if there wasn't a good reason.
A very good reason.

I believe you would not.

Hm.

ALERT

Miss Cackle's office?! What now?

You wanted to see me, Miss Cackle?

Maud tells me you are feeling some
pressure from the Head Girl contest.

She believes that a short break
away could do you good.

Um, well, that's very kind of Maud,

but I really think I should stay...
How can a few days off hurt, Mil?

It may be for the best, Mildred.

Magical burnout is no joke.

But my mum's away on a school trip.
Where would I even go?

That's Harry Houdini.
He's always escaping.

DOG BARKS
Self-walking dog spell?

Forget the contest! OK, OK!

Are you sure your parents don't
mind? There's just me and my dad.

He's not like other dads.

Don't you think about it!
Don't you dare!

Don't you dare! Ooh!

I tell that bird chickens can't fly.

Every five minutes, it's throwing
itself off the shed roof.

Who do they get it from?!
This is my friend, Mildred.

The one who saved Izzy from
flying off into outer space?

Thank you, Mildred. Consider
yourself part of this family.

Thanks, Mr Jones. No, call me Spike.
Everyone else does. Nobody does!

He just wishes they did
because his real name's so boring!

Why don't you put your wellies
on and come to the cow shed?

It is feeding time.

They like witches,
but they can't eat a whole one.

Dad!

Welly cleaning spell? Mildred!

Forget the contest, I know.

Hello, Harry. I don't suppose you've
got any ideas for a spell, have you?

No?

OK.

Sorry about my dad.
He's so embarrassing. He's funny.

As funny as broomstick splinters.
I'll keep him out of your way.

You're here to relax. I think
it's working, you know?

I haven't even
thought about magic for ten seconds.

Oh, is that one Emilia?

That's her. Raised by ducks.
Wishes she was one.

Always trying to fly.

The good thing about magic
is you can make wishes come true.

That chicken's heart now repair,
let it fly up in the air!

Whoa!

Scrambled eggs for tea?

That wasn't meant to happen.

You've got a lot on your mind.

You've fixed that thing
so many times,

there's nothing left of
the original one.

Dad says, if it can be broken,
Dad can fix it.

If it can be built, Dad can...?
Build it!

You're supposed to join in on
that one.

Um, I really appreciate you letting
me gate-crash the comet party.

Oh! It's nice for Izzy to have
someone to share it with.

No-one forgets their first one.

Where they were, who they were with.
I remember I was... Dad!

Right. You've got witchy
things to talk about.

I'm going
to just drop these bales off.

There's a knack to this.
Never fails, watch this.

KNOCKS

One, two, three, start.

ENGINE FAILS

Engine fire, petrol flow,
turn the key and make it go!

ENGINE BANGS

I'm so sorry. I...
I don't know what...

Who cares? It's a car.

I'll go and get my tools.
Why is my magic acting so weird?

What did Maud say about magical
burnout?

Maybe I should go back to Cackles.

I mean,
I've caused enough damage already.

Could you, erm,
say thank you to your dad?

And sorry.

But, Mildred... Hover!
Mildred! Hover?

No magic.

It's not working.

It's not working at all.

I knew she'd cheated.
This is about Mildred, right?

I saw her return an empty bottle
to Mr Daisy earlier,

one of his designs,
a loop potion to rewind time.

That's how she won
the Badge Triathlon. She cheated!

You don't know that for sure.

It's the only thing that
makes any sense.

And when I tell Miss Cackle,
she'll agree too.

Mildred will be disqualified.

It's Ethel. It's bad.

I've never heard of this happening,
not to anyone.

There's probably a simple reason.
Right, come on, girls.

Let's get this fixed.

There's only minutes
and seconds...

Who's that?
Who's that, waving in my lamp?

Maud! Am I glad to see you!

Listen, Ethel's trying to get
you expelled.

Do you know anything about
loop potions? Erm...

Yeah?

That's not even the worst thing.

My magic's stopped working.

I warned you you'd get magical
burnout if you worked too hard.

Magical what?
I can't even fly out, Maud.

We can fix this. It's just
in the instruction manual somewhere.

This is the Witches' Code
and we've already looked!

Too much stress can drain a witch's
magic, Milly. Like a used battery.

Yeah? I get batteries. OK,
so, how do I fix it?

You need your grounding stone.
My what?

You know, like your own personal
founding stone.

Every witch family has one,

passed down from generation
to generation.

Found it. OK.
It can start your magic afresh.

Like when you switch a computer on
and off again. I get the computers!

A grounding stone is infused with
the energy of the natural

elements, fire, wind, water, earth,

bound together with lightning
by an omen from above.

My mum's not a witch.
What if my family doesn't have one?

I'll deal with Ethel here.

But, Mil, if you can't
reboot your magic, you'll never get

back into Cackles, which means Ethel
will win Head Girl, which means...

I have to find my grounding stone.

ALERT

Hey, you. Miss Cackle
magic mirrored me to tell me

you'd flown off to stay on a farm.

You should be asking me
before you go

and stay with people I've not met.
Yes, Mum, but I was wondering...

Carly! That is not what a pencil
is for!

Um... Do we... Our family, I mean,
do we have a grounding stone?

A what? What's one of them
when it's at home?

All witching families have one,
so, do we?

I think I would have mentioned it

if we had some sort of special
witch stone.

I did used to have a lucky stone.
Years ago. Your gran gave it to me.

Yes, yes!
And what did you do with it?

Erm, oh, it's long gone. I think
I gave it away. What?!

How could you give it away?!

Why? What's the problem? Why are
you so worried about a stone?

I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm just...

Look, Mum, I've got to go.
Sorry, bye.

Hey.

Any luck?

BELL RINGS

Ah, Maud. Have you seen Miss Cackle?

No, but I know why you want her,
to get Mildred into trouble.

And? It's not fair when Mildred
isn't here to defend herself.

Poor Maud Spellbody.

I would have thought you'd know me
well enough by now. I don't do fair!

But what if Mildred did cheat?

It was because letting Ethel win
would have terrible consequences.

But how do we stop her now?

Come on.

Mentions tracking spells in here.

Maybe you could find your stone.
Tracking spells only work

if you can visualise exactly what
you're looking for and I can't.

There's just no way
this can be fixed.

I'm sorry, what did you say?

It can't be fixed?

What does Izzy say again?
I can't remember... Oh, that's it.

If it can be built,
Dad can build it.

You can't just cobble together
a grounding stone,

like one of your telescopes.
Magic's more complicated than that.

Is it? Well, this instruction manual
doesn't seem too complicated at all.

Yeah,
it's not an instruction manual.

Ooh! Lightning,

by an omen from above.

In ancient times, you know,
before astronomy, science...

You know? Yeah? Who were people
most afraid of?

What did people see as harbingers
of doom, disaster? Urgh!

Comets.

An omen from above.

But it says you need lightning
and the skies are clear.

Well, comets have
electromagnetic fields.

That's a bit like lightning,
isn't it?

What else did it say? The...

The energy from
the natural elements.

Yeah, you'd have to infuse those
into an ordinary stone, somehow.

Fire, wind, water, earth.

Bind them together with
the energy of the comet.

This is just another DIY project,
isn't it?

DIY?!

T minus minutes and seconds.

Come on! Let's go
and make a grounding stone.

This is where Miss Cackle always
takes her afternoon stroll

and Ethel knows it.
So, what are you going to do, Maud?

Confusion reign and make believe,

Ethel's eyes will now deceive!

Oh! Miss Cackle!

Are you being funny?

I assure you,
this is no laughing matter.

I must inform you of a terrible

infraction of the Head Girl
Contest rules.

Is that right?

Snitching!

No, simply just reporting injustice,
Miss Cackle.

You want your eyes testing, you.

Forgive me, Miss Cackle,

but I fear your afternoon snack
may have affected your disposition.

It looks inedible,
even by Miss Tapioca's standards.

It's for the compost bin.

And you'll be going in with it,
if you don't clear off.

Right now!

He's always happier
when he's got something to build.

I don't even get how it works.
OK, OK.

This stone here comes along here,
along the conveyor belt,

gets roasted with the heat
from the barbecue. Fire!

Continues past the blowers, wind!

And down here, gets cooled by the
water - water, obvious, that one.

Falls down here into the dirt,
earth!

At the exact same moment, the comet
flies over, the aerial catches

all the energy from it and zaps it,
along this wire, all the way to

this trough here and into the stone,
binding all four energies

inside it, a bit like when you put
a cap on a bottle of fizzy pop.

And voila!

One grounding stone, piece of cake.

If piece of cake means something
without a chance of working!

T minus three minutes
and ten seconds.

Mildred Hubble is a terrible
time travelling cheat.

Do you understand what I'm saying,
Miss Cackle?

Everything all right, Ethel?

Mind your own business, Felicity!

Perhaps Mildred Hubble is not
the only one in need of a break.

I'll start again.

Sooner or later,
she'll realise what we've done.

It's like being at NASA,
this, isn't it?

Huh?

So, who's this Ethel, then?
Ethel? Yes.

Erm, she's who I'm up against
in the competition.

She's so selfish and mean, but...

..I don't know,
I sort of half admire her.

Like, she sets her
sights on something,

she doesn't let anything
get in her way.

There's two kinds of people in
this world.

Those who help themselves
and those that help others.

Now, selfish people
like this Ethel, right,

they might have the confidence,
yeah, but the odd bit of, you know,

self-doubt is a small price
to pay for being a good person.

Is it? Yeah. Yeah. It is.

Izzy, she wanted to be a witch her
entire life, it was her dream,

but it only came true thanks to you.

Thank you. No, no. No, thank YOU.

It's good to feel useful.

I can't help Izzy much any more.
I can't... Look at me.

What does this guy
know about witching, eh?

That's probably why she's
so embarrassed of me.

She's not embarrassed of you.

I think she's proud of you!

Like, super proud!

What makes you say that?

I'd be proud of you.
I mean, if you were my dad.

Here it comes!

It's just like I remember it! Dad!

Oh, yeah.

Er, once you hit that button,
there's no going back, all right?

Now, the stone needs to hit
the dirt at the moment that

the comet's energy blasts it, OK?

DOG BARKS
Harry Houdini, no!

Houdini!

I'll fix it! Get ready, girls!
Hey, Izzy! Come on!

It's caught. I'll help him.
You start it!

Hurry, we're on fire!
Oh, no, there's plenty of time.

No!

No, no, no, no!

Hurry!

SIZZLING

Quick, Dad!

BANG

DOG BARKS

No!

It's gone.

We can try again, right,
when the comet comes back? Yeah.

In about years.

We only had one sh*t at this.

But it's OK.

Er, we tried our best.
We really did.

But without a grounding stone...

Looks like I'm never going
back to Cackles.

Ethel's going to win.

Hey...

Hey!

What is that?

Looks like it's reacting to
the comet.

Where did you get this?

Someone gave it to me.

A long time ago.

A girlfriend in Morocco.
She told me it was lucky.

What was her name, this girlfriend?
Like the telescope, Hubble. Julie...

Julie Hubble.

That's my mum.

This is my grounding stone!

Fire, a heat that does not lie

Wind, a force that makes us fly

Water and earth combine together...

Lightning charge to bind forever.

All four elements, hear this plea,

Return my magic now to me!

ENGINE CLANKS

SILENCE

Broomstick...hover!

It worked!

It actually worked! My magic's back!

Oh, my gosh!

Oh, thank goodness,
it's the real you!

You are going to wish it wasn't,
Ethel Hallow.

Someone put a confusion spell on me,
Miss Hardbroom, to keep me

from reporting to Miss Cackle.

I only realised
when she started meowing.

Reporting what to Miss Cackle?

Whoa! There she goes!

Off into the cold, empty blackness
of space!

You really know how to make it fun,
you do!

That was brilliant, Mr Daisy!
Spell Science Club is the best!

I'd even come
if you didn't do free biscuits.

To be honest,
that would be a deal breaker for me!

Miss Hardbroom, you're moments
too late for the comet.

That is not my concern.

Pupils, to your hutches.

Ethel Hallow has made a serious
accusation against Mildred Hubble.

What's that got to do with him?

Mildred Hubble was seen returning
a time loop hourglass to Mr Daisy.

If she used such a spell
to alter the results

of the Head Girl Contest, she will
be instantly disqualified and worse.

That doesn't sound like
especially solid evidence.

I cast a detection spell

and discovered trace echoes
of irregularities in this timeline.

Is that solid enough for you?

Did Mildred Hubble use a time loop
spell? Because someone did.

Well, if she did, I'd know she
probably had a good reason for it.

In other words, it was her,
Miss Hardbroom!

She has to be disqualified!
I did it! I...did it.

Er... I was the one meddling,
experimenting with my loop potions.

What are you saying?

I was just trying to get a class

that would impress you,
Miss Hardbroom.

I was only thinking of myself.
But that's not what I heard!

You must have heard wrong.

Mr Daisy, you leave me no choice.
I know Miss Cackle will concur.

You have until the end of term,
then consider yourself dismissed.

It was Mildred Hubble!
I know it was... Ethel Hallow!

You have wasted time and energy
trying to get your opponent

disqualified
and what has been achieved?

A wizard's career ruined.

I hope your spell design
is worth such a waste.

My dad and your mum... It's crazy.

Your mum, she wrote her number
on that stone.

I had to come back from Morocco and
I left it in my pocket on a hot wash

and the number came off.

I kept it anyway. She won't believe
this when I tell her.

What are the chances, eh?

You coming here, losing your magic,

right at the place where
your grounding stone is, on the same

day a comet I last saw with your mum
happens to be flying over!

It really is a lucky stone.

It's magic.
It has been all along. You reckon?

Yeah!

The stars aligning, even to
this day, and the three of us

can find each other on the very day
that I needed you the most!

I mean, well, that's pure magic!

Well, if you put it like that...

And if this is possible,
anything is possible.

I can win the last challenge.
I can b*at Ethel!

Your new spell,
have you got an idea for it?

If it can be broken,

magic can fix it.

GLASS SMASHES AND SCREAMS

Out! Everybody out!

The only place for you now
is the Correctional School

for Undesirable Witches - Wormwood.

For your own good,
don't cross Splinter.