Authors Note: This is probably a direct result of watching Degrassi Junior High for three days, followed by episodes of The Worst Witch on YouTube. I was originally going to make a longer fic out of this idea, but it became a one-shot instead.
The Price of Perfection
"Come on Ethel, lunch was hours ago," Drusilla whined, thumping her coloured pencils impatiently against the littered bench top.
"Well, don't let me stop you," the dark haired witch replied absently, still completely absorbed in their latest potions assignment. Drusilla huffed and sat back with her arms folded, almost giving up on the idea of a decent meal altogether.
It had started as a simple assignment, pair off and create a new twist on an old potion. Their projects were to be presented before the class; that was until Ms Cackle had caught wind of some of the exciting ideas and creations coming from her students and had decided that they should be presented before the whole school as a competition to see who had the best idea.
Ethel had become like a woman possessed, working tirelessly on their expanding potion. Drusilla felt like she could take no credit from their discovery that with a simple change of words one could control the rate of growth, rather than just letting the object expand until it could expand no more, like they normally would.
"I'd rather you take a break too, you hardly slept last night, and I haven't seen you eat since breakfast yesterday," Drusilla continued sulkily, her brow crinkling as she watched her friend work tirelessly.
In the last year, as they had almost reached the pinnacle of education through Cackle's Academy she had watched her friends weight drop, her mood sour and her single minded focus on her studies turn almost obsessive. The once beautiful witch who had held herself with regal grace now wrapped herself in old oversized robes, her skin turning sallow and gaunt, her hair dull and lacking any of it's usual lustre. The transformation had been noticed by many and whispers had started.
As rumours flew; some said that Ethel Hallow had been cursed by an old crone, others were adamant that she had been taking illegal potions in the dungeons while everyone was asleep. Drusilla could testify that it was neither of these things because she had watched this transformation happen before her very eyes.
"Do you want to beat Mildred Hubble and her rag tag band of gypsy followers? Or are you happy to come second place to those poor excuses for witches, because from the sounds of it you don't seem to care!" Ethel suddenly exploded, her chest heaving beneath her robes.
"Of course I care! But there is a whole day left before we have to give our presentation, and we are nearly finished. Please Ethel; come to lunch with me,"
Ethel glared at her for a moment before taking another few deep breaths, visibly willing herself to calm down, "I-I suppose I can take this with me," she stuttered, gathering her papers carefully before standing up. She looked almost guilty after exploding at her best friend.
"I bet you Hubble won't even get her project finished in time anyway," Drusilla smirked, trying to make her friend smile as they walked toward the dining hall.
"I doubt that, her friends would never let her fail such an important assignment. I can see it now, she will come up with some bogus excuse for a project last minute, make a spectacle of herself, and the teachers will be so dumbstruck they will automatically give her top marks," Ethel ranted, chewing on her lower lip as she prophesised losing out to her worst enemy.
"That, or she will copy someone else's assignment and get herself expelled so close to graduation," Drusilla sung enticingly to the head girl.
Ethel let out a very un-lady like snort and slung her arm around her friend's shoulder, "If only."
They entered the dining hall together, finding it close to empty, only a few stray students still sat there, eating and working on their projects at the same time.
"I'm going to go set up, you grab yourself something to eat," Ethel said, walking toward the farthest unoccupied table, her project held close to her chest.
Drusilla watched her friend go with a sigh before heading to the buffet style table set up at the front of the room. She loaded her plate with a selection of sandwiches and was almost ready to turn away when she caught sight of the miniature pumpkin pies left out for dessert. They were Ethel's favourite.
"Look what I got for you," she told her friend fondly, as she set the plate of pies before the all too absorbed girl. Ethel's head slowly rose as she eyed the plate, biting her lip at the sight of the enticing treats.
"Thanks," she said to Drusilla, picking up a pie and eating it in two bites. Drusilla leaned over, grabbed a sandwich for herself and starting to riffle through the papers, looking for something to do.
They sat in silence, once again absorbed in the information before them. After a while Drusilla came to realise that they were in the hall on their own. "Did you want to return to the library?" she asked, looking up.
Ethel had the last pie in her hand, absently chewing around the edges of the sweet pastry as she made corrections to a chart, "No," she replied.
"I knew you had to be hungry, you hadn't eaten anything since yesterday," Drusilla smiled happily, seeing the whole plate of pies empty. Ethel blinked and looked down at the empty plate. Her eyes went wide in silent horror and her face became impossibly pale.
"What's wrong?" Drusilla cried as her friend ran from the dining hall in a blind panic. She jumped to her feet and followed her, their project lying forgotten behind them.
Drusilla followed her to the bathroom located just outside the dining hall doors. Swinging inside she heard the horrible retching noise coming from the farthest stall and it took her a few moments to recognise what it was.
"Are you okay, was there something wrong with the pies?" she called, almost afraid to walk those last few steps.
"I'm fine, go away!" Ethel cried back before the violent hacking sounds started back up again.
"I think I should get help," Drusilla felt uncertain now, Ethel sounded angry, not sick and she sensed something wasn't right.
"No, you can't!" the head girl practically shouted, emerging from the stall so quickly it was hard to believe that she had been losing her lunch just moments before.
"But you're sick," Drusilla whispered back, her hand automatically going to the door handle that stabbed her back, ready to flee for help at the slightest indication.
"I'm fine, nobody needs to know about this," her tone was still bitter and angry as she leant over the basin to wash out her mouth, "am I clear?" she asked imperiously, standing up and almost looking like her old self.
Drusilla shook her head, not liking the glint of threat in her friend's eye; she had only ever seen the head girl look at Mildred Hubble that way. "Was it the pies?" she repeated faintly.
"No it wasn't the pies you dolt, and I am not sick. Just pretend this didn't happen," Ethel growled, walking up to her to push out of the bathroom, returning to the dining hall with a pompous air that sent first years running. Drusilla waited a moment before following her out.
Once again Ethel chose to forgo the evening meal and then sleep as she worked tirelessly on their project until it was complete in the early hours of the morning. Drusilla was helpless as her friends anxiety about the presentation built throughout the morning, and by the time the other students were summoned to the great hall Ethel was shouting at people just for moving too close to her.
"Will you calm down? The project is perfect," Drusilla hissed from the corner of her mouth shortly after Ethel had yelled at the girls behind her for laughing too loud.
"If you call it perfect then your perceptions of things is completely off," Ethel breathed back nastily.
"Fine," Drusilla huffed, looking around in an effort to calm her own nerves, "Hey, Hubble hasn't shown up," she observed.
Ethel looked around then, her eyes sweeping the room dramatically until she felt satisfied that the worst witch at Cackle's Academy had certainly failed to make an appearance, "There is still time, I refuse to get my hopes up yet."
Drusilla chose to say nothing as she watched the first group take the stage, presenting their idea on modifying a potion that made one bounce to great heights, having worked out how to make the bounce even bouncier. They demonstrated with devastating results and it wasn't until the poor student who had been demonstrating was pulled down from the beams in the ceiling that Drusilla realised that Ethel hadn't been paying attention at all.
"We are a shoe in, for sure," she whispered, following Ethel's gaze to the doors off the side of the hall.
"Hmm, that's nice," the head girl replied absently before muttering, almost to herself, "If she isn't here after the third presentation then she is automatically disqualified."
"Well, she better hurry up then," Drusilla replied, not liking how ignored she felt. Ethel shot her a look that could have surely killed.
The two witches continued to watch the doors with great anticipation, the next two presentations failing to capture the attention the first one had managed. Of course, Mildred Hubble didn't disappoint, making a grand entrance on a dilapidated broomstick moments before the third presentation came to an end.
Many stood up and cheered for the witch with the pigtails as she soared around the room. Nobody seemed to notice the head girl drop her head between her knees, her chest heaving as she fought the sudden panic attack.
"Ethel?" Drusilla cried in a panic over the din of the cheering students. Ethel's head shot up, her eyes wide with fear as she fought for breath. She stood up amongst the crowd and ran straight for the open doors, her best friend hot on her heels.
"Ethel? What's wrong, what's happening?" she called as the dark haired witch ran away from her.
"What's wrong?" she sobbed, coming to a stop at the opposite end of the long hallway, "Everything and nothing! I wanted everything to be perfect, I needed things to be perfect and she always goes and ruins it!"
"Who, Mildred?"
"Yes Mildred," Ethel spat angrily, running her hand through her hair with restrained violence, "No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do and achieve, she will always be better than me. I am a Hallow, I am supposed to be perfect and loved and surrounded by friends and yet I'm not. She is!" her chest still heaved in panic, her eyes roving the room wildly, occasionally settling on her only friend before moving away.
"That's not true," Drusilla whispered, taking a few steps forward.
"It is true! Listen to them! She can do no wrong!"
"Ethel, listen to yourself, you're freaking out over nothing," Drusilla tried to reason.
"Nothing! You think this is nothing!" she shouted in return, spinning in a circle with her hands thrown up in the air. She came to a stop facing Drusilla once again and it was moments later that her hand dropped to her forehead and she swayed on her feet.
Drusilla had no time to react as Ethel's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body went limp, dropping to the cold stone floor.
"Quick, help me!" a harsh voice said behind her, Drusilla watched shocked as Ms Hardbroom rushed past her in a blur of black robed to help the fallen head girl. It was another few moments before she could react to go and help, dropping to her knees at Ethel's side.
"What happened?" Ms Hardbroom asked, feeling Ethel's forehead and taking her pulse.
"She … she's sick," Drusilla mumbled, looking away.
"Drusilla, you tell me what is wrong with her now!" the strict teacher demanded, already preparing to levitate the body to the nearest bed.
"She'll kill me if I tell," she whispered, tears falling freely now.
"She may die if you don't," the teacher exaggerated, realising there was more than just a panic attack to excuse this fainting spell.
"She hasn't been eating, and when she does, she just throws it back up again,"
Ms Hardbroom looked at her young student, who cried freely now. This wasn't the first case of an eating disorder Cackle's had had to deal with, but she never expected it of such an exemplary student.
"She needn't know you told me, but now I know how to help her," she told the crying witch, softening her tone just a little.
"I just want her to be better again. I want her to know she doesn't need to be perfect for people to like her," Drusilla cried.
"With friends like you, I think she will have trouble denying it," Mr Hardbroom said, giving a rare smile before levitating the unconscious student from the hallway.
Thanks for Reading!