Ethel and Mildred were once again stood in Miss Cackle's office. It was almost considered a ritual, nay, a tradition at this point that the two warring witches were hauled into the office in a rather unceremonious manner by a livid Miss Hardbroom.
Mildred is looking down at the ground, focusing on anything but what she knows will be the latest addition to the plethora of dissapointed looks from Miss Cackle. Ethel Hallow however, is a different story, she juts her chin out haughtily, arms folded with her gaze firmly fixed on Ada, forsaking any burden of blame with her body language alone.
"Girls." Ada sighs and shakes her head, " This," She motioned between the two girls, Hecate stood rigid between them, "Simply will not do, this ridiculous feud should have been nipped in the bud years ago, you're not children anymore, you're young ladies, and I expect better from both of you in the future."
"Yes Miss Cackle." Said the girls in small voices, though Ada didn't miss the fleeting display of Ethel Hallow rolling her eyes and doing a very bad job of masking a scoff.
"I mean it this time, you're in your fifth year at Cackles, I implore you ladies to spend the remainder of your time here flourishing, not quarreling." Ada says nothing more and twirls her quill in her hands and her eyes lock with Hecate's, soft blue clashing against steely, unyielding brown.
The girls nod briefly, neither looking the other as they exit.
The door shuts softly behind Hecate, "Ada.."
"I know, I don't know why I bother anymore."
"Nice one Mildred Hubble." Ethel spits, "That was all your fault."
"Ethel, you started it, Maud and and Enid saw you putting that frogspawn in my cauldron."
"I don't know what you mean." Ethel tilts her had up with a haughty indifference. She knows Mildred well enough to know she won't take this any further, in fact she's quite certain the only action Mildred will take will be to slink off quietly back to her room and bitch about her to Nightshade and Spellbody at a later date.
Which is fine with Ethel, because she does not care what Mildred Hubble thinks about her.
"You know exactly what I mean. You've had it in for me for years. Every bad thing that's ever happened to me at Cackles, half the time you've been behind it!" It's break time and a few students begin to clamour around the two as Mildred backs Ethel against the wall.
"Go on Hubble." Ethel grins, smug and cruel even though she's struggling for breath with mildred's arm pressed against her throat. "I dare you."
The gathering of girls fell silent, watching warily as Ethel's legs began to give way from under her until Maud Spellbody bashed through the crowd.
"What are you doing, Millie? Stop!" The head of year shrilled, ripping Mildred's arm away from Ethel's throat, an act that took every morsel of her strength. Mildred had become a lot more toned over the years, she and Enid had divised their own work out regime at the beginning of term and spent a hefty portion of their free time on the field or using Miss Drill's exercise equipment, so prying one of Mildred's sculpted arms away from Ethel's throat was no easy feat.
"Maud She-"
"I know." Maud said calmly, Ethel at right of her coughing and wheezing and spluttering out obscenities inbetween. "But has Ethel Hallow ever been worth getting expelled over before?"
"No." Mildred huffed.
"Right, so she's definitely not worth getting expelled over now, in your final year."
Appreciative of the talk down, Mildred threw a hard stare at the blonde thirty seconds later, who was still gasping for breath and leaning against the wall for support and left.
It took at least another five minutes for the heat between her legs to subside.
Mildred sat at her desk doing her potions homework. She'd been pouring over the book for the better part of an evening but the more she studied it the more she found herself agreeing with one of Ethel Hallow's more colourful declarations.
The declaration being that she was shit at potions.
"Oh, Fuck it." She slouched in the rickety hard back chair as she tossed her pencil onto her desk. Her mind remained fixated on the altercation that took place earlier. Doubtless Ethel Hallow drove her mad but the way she'd get under her skin annoyed her the most. Going out of her way to antagonize her, infiltrating her thoughts to the point of insanity left Mildred thinking of her and only her for the rest of the day.
There was a knock at the door, and in walked the girl herself, Ethel Hallow.
"Was pissing me off earlier on not enough for you? Come for round two?"
"No." Ethel said with a scowl, she'd convinced herself on the way to Mildred's room that she'd come to apologize, or at least shoulder some degree of blame.
"Then why are you here?"
"I...I..." Suddenly Ethel went blank, why am I here? Embarrassment made her turn to walk away, "I don't know...I should go..."
"No." Ethel heard the harsh scrape of a chair on the cold stone floor, "Ethel...If this is...I know you're hurting...because...of Esmeralda."
"This has nothing to do with what happened to Esmeralda." Ethel said in a dark tone of voice as if she were warning Mildred. She felt the all too familiar prick of hot salty tears at the back of her eyes, she commanded herself not to cry, not in front of Mildred fucking Hubble of all people.
"I'm so sorry Ethel." She didn't notice Mildred inch closer to her. "What happened was terrible. No deserves to feel like that."
"But why did she feel like that Mildred?!" Ethel screamed, startling Tabby so much that he pounced off his owner's bed and bolted out of the room, "I tricked her into giving her magic to Agatha all those years ago, she lost her magic because of me, it's my fucking fault Mildred! It's my fault she couldn't cope without her magic! It's my fault she got depressed! It's my fault she!-"
Ethel exhaled audibly and a look had cast itself over her face. What the look was Mildred could not say, but it was as though it had booted all of the air out of Ethel, as if she was just now seeing something for the first time.
The confession came out as a mangled shudder, "It's my fault she killed herself."
Mildred didn't bother to close what little space was between them because Ethel had already collapsed onto the brunette's lean frame, "I'm sorry Mildred." The sounds ripping from her throat were not that of a cry, or even a sob. Ethel Hallow was weeping. Mildred Hubble coiled her arms around her, the left on the small of her back, the right on the nape of her neck, pale as milk.
And though neither girl would admit it, they relished the peculiar warm throbbing in their chests when skin touched skin.
She felt Ethel tense up in her arms, easing her mask back on, mending the walls that crumbled around her, "Don't." Mildred tucked her index finger under Ethel's chin, smiling in a way that melted Ethel's insides. "Don't shut me out."
Barely a second passed before Mildred registered Ethel's lips on her own. They were soft and warm and in that moment Mildred couldn't help but kiss her back. There was an urgency in Ethel's kiss, a desperation, she could even taste a light drizzle of relief as she swiped the girl's bottom lip with her tongue, clamping her hands on the blonde's hips when the action elicited a shaky moan.
But it stopped as suddenly as it started, Ethel's hands reluctantly fell from Mildred's neck from the tuft of hair at stumbled back with a horrified look on her face. "I...I...I have to go.." She mumbled to the wall, Mildred was frozen in shock,
"Ethel..wait.."
"No..I'm sorry..that shouldn't have happened...please don't tell anyone."
Ethel all but flew out of the room, leaving Mildred standing in her room, confused, dishevelled and aroused.