 Miss Cackle s birthday is a day of indescribable boredom where the girls are all expected to sing, recite or chant for her in the Great Hall. Maud is getting special coaching for her chanting and Ethel is playing solo violin. Mildred is starting to realize that looking after Enid is becoming a liability and Maud is feeling decidedly left out. On the morning of the birthday celebrations, Enid, determined not to sit through the whole interminable performance, drags a reluctant Mildred into a store cupboard. Eagle-eyed Ethel however, has spotted them and locks the door on them. Maud sees what has happened but before she can do anything, Miss Hardbroom appears, and ushers her into the Great Hall. Inside the locked cupboard Mildred is in despair - she ll definitely be expelled now. Piles of old furniture surround them and, high up on one wall is an arch that which leads to who-knows-where? Buried beneath the furniture, they find a broken broomstick that they temporarily repair with Enid s sash and very shakily they manage to take off - just as Miss Hardbroom comes bursting through the door. At Miss Cackle s birthday celebration, the proceedings are in full swing when suddenly; Mildred and Enid fly out through an archway at the top of the Hall. Maud, thinking quickly, introduces them as the surprise item - a double display on solo broomstick! Despite their clownish acrobatics, Miss Cackle decides to take it kindly. Their display may not have been delicately performed, but it showed "team spirit and initiative and effort". Mildred breathes a sigh of relief - they have gotten away with it! But Miss Hardbroom, doing one of her sudden materializing acts, tells her that the prize should go to Maud, "You have her to thank for saving you from a fate worse than death!"