Words For Wednesday - 25. December -- Unicorn Farm 12

This week's prompts - the last of 2018 -  are provided by River at Drifting through Life.
 

1. hair
2. dissolve
3. concertina
4. candlesticks
5. ribbons
6. causeway

 and/or:
 
1. wizard
2. bonfire
3. unload
4. beams
5. discarded
6. chocolate

Once again I wrote a small chapter from my mock autobiography and once again I took up the additional challenge of using the prompts in the order they were given.

We pick up the story where we left off a week ago:
David poured the potion from the cauldron into several small flasks, careful not to spill any of the evil-smelling liquid. Tue and Lis took a sharp breath as David pulled a hair from Torben's head. He dropped it into one of the bottles and swirled the contents to help the hair dissolve.
 He listened to Torben for a short while, and then he left him to clean and put out the fire. With a swagger he walked to his bike, and pedalled resolutely towards the Unicorn farm.

"Wow," Lis whispered. "What on earth ... "
Does he think he'll put that one off, Tue whispered simultaneously.
Susan looked from one to another, totally clueless.
Heidi whispered - "Is that .. was that a .. I mean will he change into Torben now?"
Susan shot a glance at Torben, who was quickly and methodically scrubbing the cauldron and dousing the fire with flicks and swishes of his wand. He was finished in a very short time, Then he too jumped on his bike and set off in the opposite direction.
Tue and Lis looked at one another, and Lis bent her head.
"Susan and Heidi, you were right," Tue said in a shaking voice. "Those two are up to absolutely nothing good. I have no idea whatsoever quite what they're up to, but that potion is a lookalike potion ... at least that's what I think, and Lis too," he asked questioningly and looked at Lis who nodded.
"I think, I know a way to find out what they were planning," Susan said. "It's a very simple spell actually. A bit like the one making the parchment whole again, only this one can do the same with words."
"What are we waiting for, Heidi said. Let's move."
Oh, but we're not supposed to do any magic, did you forget what happened last time?"
"Let's hope their brewing and Torben's cleaning has loaded the place with magic, so that nobody will notice anything. They're not looking for us all the time, and they have not had our wands traced yet," Susan said.
"OK", Lis said, "go for it."

They went to where the fire had been, Susan swished her wand in small, neat waves and spoke a short command. 
They waited, Heidi had just opened her mouth to say that it did not work, when they heard Torben's voice: "Here you are" it said from somewhere left of Lis' head. She jumped, but kept quiet. 
Then Davids petulant voice rose from the other side of the fire: "Whoever penned this recipe, sprawled and nearly illegible writing that is ..."
"It's mine" Torben's voice responded, and began listing ingredients and instructions in a rapid, angry whisper. Then there was silence until Torben spoke again. "Fine, split it up, one for change, and one for return. Add one hair from my left temple to the flask in your right hand. ... Fine, and shake 13 times ... Wait, did it change?"
"Yes" David's disembodied voice sounded weak, almost afraid. "And when I drink this, I'll look like you for 24 hours, or until I empty that other one?"
"Exactly. Your job is not much really. Just stay at the Farm, eat dinner with the teachers. And when Thora plays the concertina, you grab the candlestick with the pink ribbon and throw it into the fireplace. Now hurry and remember to take care not to be seen when you cross the causeway."
The next they heard was Torben murmuring scrubbing and scouring cantrips, and Susan drew a deep, shuddering breath, unaware that she had held her breath since saying the spell.

"I'm a wizard on a bonfire if they're doing this in a good cause," Tue said deliberately. He ran to where the trucks had paused to unload the coal when the powerhouse was functioning and dived behind the broken beams, that laid discarded on the ground. He returned with a shaking boy.
"Helge!" Susan said, as she saw the lanky, bedraggled apprentice, "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Does any of you have something edible, he's starving," Tue said.
"I have a chocolate bar in one of my coat pockets," Heidi said. She pulled it out and handed it to Helge. He was shaking so hard, he was almost unable to unwrap it.
"Let's rekindle the fire," Susan said.  And suited action to words. A quick movement of her wand, and a short sentence had the fire blazing again. "In for a lamb, in for a sheep," she grinned.