A/N; This is as close to my own story as I felt comfortable with sharing. I was going to do it as a Bella/Hermione but have been watching a lot of the new reboot of worst witch on Netflix and I find I was a lot like Hecate back then. This is going to be a HB and Pentangle centered fic although it will be very slow burn one. There is child negligence more than abuse and it is centered at a young child but the story will focus on more how I had deal with a child who has come from an unstable environment. For anyone wondering I have adopted two beautiful children from my sister and they have been solely mine since the oldest was one and week old and the youngest was only six days, literally they are a year and seven days apart... It is both the most difficult thing and the most rewarding thing I have ever done. The story is going to follow all the challenges I faced up until I got together with my beautiful girlfriend and finally figured out that I don't have to look at parenting as a job but as a privilege. I had never wanted children and am so proud to say that has now changed. I would not give up my babies for anything. I'd love feedback on this but despite it still being a Worst Witch fanfic it will still be a very personal story for me and may take longer to update. For anyone reading, perhaps going through nearly the same thing I did, I want you to know it does get easier. And my God it is so worth it, so please take time for yourself to recharge but don't ever give up. Let me know what you guys think.
Sorry that's so long!
~H~
Hecate stared at her wayward sister in shock. She hadn't seen her in years, not after their last major row. When Salem had mirrored her and ask for a meet Hecate had turned her down, told her not to contact her again. Words she had repeated from so long ago and yet she still meant them. She wanted nothing to do with her younger sister and the past four years without her in her life had been the easiest and happiest she had ever been.
Salem had insisted though, claimed it was an emergency so Hecate had relented. Albeit not at first. It had taken Ada getting involved to fully convince her to give her sister a few minutes of her time.
So she found herself in the smallest flat she had ever seen. Everything was dirty, dishes on counters tables…. Cigarettes on the carpet in the living room, even the TV stand, which she had assumed had one been glass, was flipped upside down with broken pieces of glass still attached to where the top had been.
None of that surprised Hecate though, not that she was sure why it didn't. Their mother had always kept a clean house and insisted they keep their areas clean as well. Salem had always been the rebellious one though and it was apparent Hecate hadn't done her any favors by cleaning up for her when they were children.
What did surprise the deputy headmistress was the small toddler laying on the floor amidst the filth. She couldn't have been even one yet, she surely wasn't walking without assistance, but she could crawl. And put things in her mouth. The dark brooding witch had already kept the child from putting the discarded cigarettes into her mouth twice. The child's mother didn't seem to even be paying attention. She was fiddling around on the mobile device Hecate had seen Mildred use once or twice.
"Salem what was the emergency?" She asked impatiently, she wanted to get the hell out of her sister's house as fast as possible.
Salem pointed down, phone still in hand, at the child. "This is your niece." She said impatiently. "I can't keep her anymore I need you to take her."
Hecate had been swatting a very dirty sock out of the child's little fist but stopped and bent up to her full height in the chair and stared at her sister in shock. She nearly asked her to repeat herself but she knew she hadn't misheard. She had assumed correctly the child was Salem's but she would never have believed someone could so nonchalantly give away their child.
She glanced down at the little girl in mild horror. She had never wanted to be a parent. Had even been relieved to find out she couldn't get pregnant. Children, her own at least, just wasn't in her future.
She watched the child for a few moments, taking in her lovely tanned complexion, dark chocolate eyes and infectious smile. She looked like a happy child. She was very inquisitive, which wasn't a good trait for her in her current surroundings. Hecate was angry at her sister for not even putting forth the effort to keep the place clean for a child but she bit her lip to keep silent.
Her eyes lingered on faint, nearly imperceptible bruises on the girls upper arms. They looked like fingers and she blew out air irritably, nearly biting through her lip to keep from blowing up at her sister and frightening the child.
"Why now? I've never even met this child. Why me?" She had no intention of leaving the child with her sister, not after everything she had seen, but she still wanted to know. It couldn't be any good intention on her sister's part. Salem never had a conscience and she had always been more self involved than anything. Of all the people Hecate knew Salem was the one who never needed a child. A fact that was being proven now.
"Richard just got out of jail. He doesn't really like having a kid around and it's just a lot of work. She cries all night you know. I tried shutting her up in her room but the little brat just throws things at walls. He gets super irritated when his sleep is interrupted and I have to listen to him complain about it all day. Plus child care is ridiculous, I can't keep putting my whole paycheck into sending her to daycare."
Hecate felt a little nauseated at the way Salem was speaking about her own child. "The child's father?"
"Richard was in jail when she was born so he didn't get to sign her birth certificate. He doesn't want to either but he said if he had to he would sign over his parental rights too." Salem stood and pulled papers out of her purse on the counter. She handed them to Hecate and sat back down.
They were papers giving Hecate custody….not just guardianship. Full custody. Salem had signed over all her rights as a parent to Hecate. It was on legal paper and everything, with a lawyers leader head. She knew nothing of non magical laws but she assumed all that was needed was a signature and some form of legal procedure ensuring it was all done correctly.
"Her birth certificate is also there. Since she is half witch I'm not sure how that will affect her powers." It was the first bit of concern Hecate had heard color her tone when speaking about the girl. "Everything I have for her is all packed. You can leave whenever you want. I got to go out and get Richard, just lock up when your done."
Hecate watched her walk out in stunned silence. The little girl was crawling around the floor pulling things down and making a right mess. She had half a mind to destroy the place herself but again found herself reluctant to cause the child unnecessary fear. The baby looked happy enough but she had been through enough already.
She flipped through the papers quickly before she found the birth certificate. It didn't take he long to find what she was looking for…Salem hadn't told her the child's name. She hadn't asked if Hecate was actually going to take her in either, she just abandoned her without a backwards thought. Like luggage.
"Aspen Fields." The child turned at the sound of her name and smiled over at her aunt with an ashtray in her hand. A filthy one at that. Hecate moved and took it from the tiny fingers, in turn Aspen reached up for her to hold her completely unafraid of the strange new woman she had been left alone with. Hecate picked her up reluctantly and managed to tuck the papers into her dress pocket somewhat awkwardly with her free hand. The little girl reached up and tugged at a curl that had escaped the harsh bun she kept it in. "Don't pull child." Aspen only gave her a toothy smile.
Hecate was impressed by all the teeth the kid had. She didn't rightly know too much about babies but she didn't think they were supposed to have almost a full mouth full of teeth at such an obvious young age.
This was not going to be easy, but she had no intentions of letting her go to strangers or even back to the useless parents Aspen had been so unluckily blessed with. It was pride that kept her from going to the nearest orphanage and finding her a more suitable home though, not any immediate affection for a niece she hadn't even known about. However she refused to be like her sister and abandon her responsibilities. She wasn't sure that actually made her any better than Salem, after all wasn't children supposed to be a blessing instead of a job. Still there was nothing she could change about her feelings or her moral standards.
She carried the child into the room Salem had pointed out and easily found the bag containing Aspen's entire life. It was light and contained only a few outfits tossed in without even an attempt and a decent folding. Hecate scowled harshly. Aspen reached up and tried to smooth away the wrinkles it created on her face, she shook her off and continued to examine the room.
There were no pictures of the girl anywhere. And as she had expected everything the tiny girl owned was packed into that pathetic duffle bag. A quick look into Salem's closet revealed a variety of outfits and more shoes than Hecate had ever seen, and they weren't all her sister's. She hissed in disgust and collected everything she could think of that belonged to the child and transported them both straight to Cackle's.
She wasn't entirely sure what the students were going to think of her carrying a child down the halls but she really didn't have much of a choice. She had no idea what she was going to do come Monday morning when her classes resumed. Surely she couldn't watch Aspen and teach.
