Disclaimer - I don't own the Worst Witch.
I based this one-shot on ImaginationOfAFan's Christmas at Mildred's because it inspired me. Thanks for that, and Happy Christmas.
A Very Hubble Christmas.
The potions lesson was over, but as soon as the girls left the room and saw the Christmas decorations they cheered up considerably. Miss Hardbroom really didn't like Christmas, and she never let off in her lessons. There were no decorations and she refused to allow any talk let alone the start of a song in her classroom. Mildred Hubble was pleased that there was one tradition that linked the witching world and the non-witching world, and she was glad. Christmas was fast approaching and it made Mildred happy that old, traditional songs of Christmas were also sung at Cackles.
And a few she hadn't known about.
Walking alongside her two friends Maud and Enid, Mildred hummed 'Jingle bells' while Maud and Enid chatted. "HB is a real Scrooge," Maud was saying, "oh well, at least we've got Miss Bat next, she always makes us sing Christmas choruses."
"I know," Enid laughed, remembering the chaos the class had got into last year.
Mildred broke off her singing. "Oh, that was a good one," she laughed.
Ahead, Felicity, Drusilla and a few other girls, passed a small group of first-year girls, singing "Tis the season to be jolly," at the top of their voices. Well, at least they did until Esmerelda Hallow walked up to them. The usually mild-mannered older girl had an ugly expression on her face.
"SHUT UP!" She snapped loudly, stunning the girls, and made the first year girls stutter to a halt. The almost tearful look on one of the girls' faces made the older girl lower her voice. "I'm sorry, but please can you not sing so loud?"
Without waiting for a reply, Esmerelda stalked off, leaving behind some very unhappy girls, and a few near tearful girls that were upset Esmerelda had ruined their fun and not understanding why.
Mildred shared a look with Maud and Enid. Before the run-up to Christmas the three Hallow sisters had been acting normal, but now Christmas was virtually here and the girls would be leaving for a couple of weeks to enjoy the festivities, the Hallow sisters were not happy. And it wasn't just Esmerelda, Ethel and even Sybil, the one sister Mildred had expected to love Christmas the most since the first year girl was more childlike than her sisters. She was as smart as Ethel and Esmerelda, got annoyed whenever someone started to celebrate Christmas or sung. This was not the first time Esmerelda had stopped someone singing, but at least she was milder at it than Ethel. Even Sybil was prone to lose it whenever she heard someone beginning to sing.
No-one understood why the sisters were acting like this. Usually, Esmerelda and Sybil were approachable. Esmerelda was always polite and had a friendly smile on her face. Sybil was always bubbly and perky, but Ethel was usually always miserable and driven to be better than both her sisters, but it didn't make sense for the two girls to suddenly join their middle sister's attitude.
When it came to people being upset, Mildred hated it because she wanted to help, though she was always aware of others personal space. She didn't know how she was going to approach the Hallow sisters for this one. She could speak to Esmerelda and Sybil with ease, but in this mood, it would be like talking to three bottles of nitroglycerin with blond hair instead of the one.
After spotting Ethel and Sybil with Esmerelda soon after Chanting class, Mildred told her friends she would catch them up in a bit and told them to go ahead without her and she walked over to the three blond girls.
Mildred walked over to the Hallow sisters cautiously, wondering what they would do if she even mentioned the word Christmas.
"Hi," she greeted the three sisters, interrupting them from whatever they were talking about. It was none of her business, but it was clear the topic was not something the sisters were happy about.
The sisters - well the eldest and the youngest - seemed relieved that they were no longer speaking about whatever it was they were talking about, and they looked at her with a welcoming smile.
But Ethel didn't look happy to see her. Nothing new there, really. "What do you want? What're you doing here, isn't it bad enough we have to be in the same classes?"
Mildred sighed, guessing correctly that Ethel was more upset that she was interrupting her private time with her sisters.
"Ethel!" Esmerelda chided gently before looking at Mildred, and the dark haired girl wondered if deep down underneath that sweet persona, the older girl was just as resentful. "Is there something you wanted, Mildred?"
Mildred hoped she didn't mess this up, but she was having trouble phrasing what she wanted to ask. She knew enough about the Hallow sisters to know that while the three girls loved each other dearly, they were clearly having problems with their parents and Christmas was connected to that. She knew from long experience that none of the girls would straight out tell her why they seemed to hate Christmas
"I was making some Christmas cards for some of the girls at the school," she told them, "but I was wondering would you prefer one card to share between you, or separate ones?"
She was telling the truth there, she was making cards for some of her friends and even one big one for the teachers as well, so she thought the question was a good one.
The response from the Hallow sisters was an unhappy look shared between them.
"That's really nice of you, but we don't want a card," Esmerelda said sadly.
Ethel said nothing.
Sybil, however, seemed more interested in explaining why. "We don't really celebrate Christmas that much, Mildred, but thanks all the same." She said it as politely as she could, but that same sadness in Esmerelda's voice was there in Sybil's voice, and it was painful to hear.
Her interest aroused and fully piqued, Mildred nodded as if the matter of the card was a simple matter to shrug off. "Oh, okay. But why is that?" she asked as carefully as she could.
The Hallow sisters shared another look, and Esmerelda explained. "Our parents work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, its the busiest time of the year for them. They buy us a few gifts, get our servants to cook us a meal like it was every other day, but that is about it."
"It's never been fun for us," Ethel whispered sullenly.
Mildred sagged. She had always thought, well everybody else had as well, so she couldn't exactly be considered guilty of it just being her fault for thinking that, that being rich the girls would have had Christmases authors like Charles Dickens wrote and dreamt about, filled with enough food to feed the tower block Mildred and her mother lived in for a month, but she hadn't expected this.
What made it strange and eerie was how similar it was to her own situation.
"Your parents work on Christmas day?" She repeated and shook her head. "I know how that feels."
Ethel sneered at her. "How could you know-?"
"Ethel!" Esmerelda interrupted, but Mildred decided to give the sisters a home truth, that they were not alone.
"I do know," Mildred replied, her quiet voice interrupting the sisters. "My mother works as a nurse at the local hospital, and sometimes she would get the short straw when it comes to Christmas. It's like a game of Russian roulette, you never know until its too late whether or not you've got Christmas duty or not, and she could be pulling a shift for hours. Imagine it for a moment, you are in the middle of eating your Christmas dinner and you are suddenly left alone for hours on end, forced to do the washing up, or even worse left on your own unwrapping your presents while your mother looks at you sadly. It's something we always dread every year. My mother always makes sure she never signs up for Christmas duty because she doesn't like being called away, but that's not always a guarantee. Sometimes she has no choice. I know its nothing like with your parents, but it's similar enough, right?"
The Hallow sisters were shocked into silence by Mildred's confession. They hadn't known this, they had always assumed that Julie Hubble was always there for her daughter all year round. Ethel blinked at the dark haired girl, trying to picture Mildred forced to eat her dinner alone why she was left by her mother who did more to help than their parents ever did.
"You're right. We didn't know," Esmerelda looked at Ethel with a very displeased look, but the younger girl accepted it.
"It's okay," Mildred replied, swallowing the bitterness she felt; she was proud for her mother being a nurse, someone interested in helping people though she did draw a line over how much time her job consumed. "It has not happened for a while, the last time was a year before I came to Cackles. I'm just sorry your Christmases are bad."
"We've gotten used to it, honestly," Esmerelda smiled, but Mildred saw the sadness in the older girl's eyes.
She hadn't gotten used to it.
"I've put the decorations up, but I'm saving the best until you get home," Julie told Mildred when the Mirror call came up. "You and I are so doing the tree."
Mildred smiled at her mother absently, she was trying to be enthusiastic but she had a problem getting the sisters out of their mind. That was when she got an idea. "Mum, how would you feel if I invited some friends who don't really have proper Christmases to Christmas dinner?"
Julie blinked in surprise. "I don't mind, who are you planning on asking?"
"The Hallow sisters. Esmerelda, Sybil, and Ethel. They've been upset about Christmas, telling people to stop singing, things like that. They spend them alone because their parents work over Christmas," Mildred told her mother to make her understand the situation; it might be overstepping her bounds, but her mother needed to see the facts.
"Hallow, as in Ethel Hallow? The girl who's bullied you since day one, that Ethel?" Julie asked in surprise. She didn't understand why Mildred would invite Ethel to Christmas of all things.
"Yeah."
"But why?"
"It is Christmas mum, and even Ethel Hallow deserves a chance to be happy. And it's not just her, what about Esmerelda and Sybil? They are really unhappy about spending the holiday alone," Mildred said.
Julie smiled proudly at her daughter, pleased with her big heart and caring nature, especially to someone who was usually so nasty to her. "Okay, sure, why not? It's gonna be fun, tell them to come to us" she said, and both Hubble's' mutually agreed silently not to think about the hospital and the X-mas shift.
Mildred grinned back at her mother. When her mirror call was over she went out to look for them. The Hallow girls were walking down a corridor, shirting around some of the decorations hanging up, and were basically trying to avoid anything related to Christmas. In her excitement Mildred ran up behind them, calling out to them, and the four girls went down into a pile just as they turned around at the sound of her voice.
Sybil was on top of her sisters, so she had no problem recovering first and she stood up and laughed as she watched her sisters. Mildred bit her lip, wincing at the chaos she had just created in her excitement. Esmerelda got up, trying hard not to laugh herself as she realised Ethel was moaning beneath her weight, and Esmerelda helped Ethel up.
Sybil and Esmerelda were both laughing, and it took all of the self-control Mildred could muster not to burst out laughing as well.
"Mildred, why did you do that?" Ethel snapped out.
"I'm sorry," Mildred replied, trying not to laugh at what she'd done before she looked at the sisters. "I've got good news for you."
Ethel was still angry. "What news?"
"My mum just agreed to you spending Christmas around my place."
Esmerelda looked at her in confusion, but both her sisters could see she was delighted by the news. "Why would you want us to come to your place?"
Mildred smiled sadly. "I told you I know how you feel about spending Christmas alone, and no-one should have to go through that. My mum and I thought it would be brilliant to spend it with you, and I know we can show you what a Christmas is like. Well, will you come?"
Sybil clapped her hands excitedly. "YES!"
Esmerelda smiled at her littlest sister. "We'd be delighted to, Mildred," she replied, nudging Ethel when she didn't reply.
Ethel just looked at Mildred, but the dark haired girl couldn't immediately place it.
The Hallow sisters were nervous as they approached the door to Mildred's flat, though for different reasons they all didn't know for sure what a real Christmas was like, so they didn't know what to expect with the Hubbles.
Esmerelda rang the doorbell, and any doubts in her mind that this was the right place was thrown out of the window when they clearly heard Mildred's voice calling out. "Coming."
The door opened. Mildred was wearing a blue wool jumper with a Christmas tree knitted onto it with white snowflakes settling on it, her hair was done up into a messy pony draped over her shoulder. She wore a red Santa hat on her head. "Hi, come on it!" she smiled happily and moved out of the way to let the girls follow her.
Mildred felt a little bit nervous. She knew Esmerelda and Sybil would not say anything bad about the flat she shared with her mother, but Ethel would probably insult it. The Hallow sisters were dressed smartly and they wore their hair differently, well all but Ethel. The girls followed Mildred and they quickly met Julie who was working at the cooker, the older woman poked her head out and smiled at them kindly.
"Hi girls," she said happily, welcoming them into her home though she didn't know them personally.
"Hello, thanks for having us here for Christmas, I hope we haven't put you out," Esmerelda said nervously.
"Why would you think that?" Julie asked the older girl she was sure was Esmerelda.
Esmerelda shrugged. "It's just that no-one's really invited us to Christmas dinner before, and none of our parents 'friends' have bothered, but we didn't want to put you or Mildred out," she explained.
Julie chuckled. "You didn't. It's Esmerelda, right?"
Esmerelda nodded. "Yes," she said, and she turned to her sisters. "This is Sybil," she introduced Sybil, who was hiding slightly behind her big sister. She had known she would be meeting Mildred's mother, but she was still shy. "And this is Ethel," Esmerelda pointed rather redundantly at the third girl who was looking anywhere but at Julie or Mildred.
Julie looked at Ethel, noting how the girl wouldn't look her in the eye.
"They're not normally this quiet," Esmerelda said hoping to break the tension.
"It's okay. Listen, Mildred's going to be in the living room, about to put on a film, but there will be some games later," Julie said, "but if you're hungry or thirsty, just come to the kitchen and help yourselves, okay?"
"Yes, Miss Hubble-" Sybil said shyly.
"Julie, sweetheart," Julie corrected firmly.
Esmerelda looked around the flat, and Mildred and Julie both wondered what was going through the teenager's mind. "You have a nice place," she said, still awkward.
Julie looked around the flat as well, like she was only seeing the place herself for the first time. "Thanks, Mildred and I don't have too much, but we try to make this place as nice as possible. Anyway, go and watch the film."
Mildred slipped in the Father Christmas DVD, a film that none of the Hallow sisters had ever seen, but pretty soon Sybil was laughing her head off at the way the Santa was drawn by Raymond Briggs sounded, all grumpy and irritated by everything, but overall a nice man.
As the film went on, the Hallow sisters loosened up a little bit. Esmerelda was the first one to get something to drink for herself, though she knew her sisters would have to get their own drinks. Independence was a must for the sisters, and they knew how to do things for themselves.
Esme found Julie in the kitchen, concentrating on the cooking. "Do you want any help?" she asked.
Julie smiled at her. "No, I'm fine. Thanks anyway," she said.
Esmerelda smiled at the woman who had shown more kindness that was truly genuine than anything her mother had shown her. But she was still awkward.
"What's up?" Julie asked, noticing the expression on the older girl's face.
"I don't know what to say. I mean, I'm grateful for you and Mildred inviting us, but I don't know what to say about it," Esmerelda said honestly, and Julie's heart melted at the look on the girl's face.
"Don't try to force it then, just let yourself relax and calm down. It'll come to you, don't worry."
Esmerelda smiled back but Julie could tell she was still unsure.
Ethel was the next person to come to the kitchen for something to drink, but Julie could tell the girl was truly nervous about something. The blond girl was doing everything in her power to avoid Julie, but she knew deep down she would be sharing a table with her and Mildred, so there was no use escaping this.
Ethel kept a close eye on Julie even as she got some water to drink, and she was just about to escape when she heard Julie sigh. "Ethel?"
Biting her lip, Ethel turned to face Julie. "If you want to shout and scream at me, get on with it."
"Is that what was worrying you, my yelling at you?" Julie asked.
Ethel nodded. "Yeah. Just get on with it."
Julie blinked a little at how direct the girl was. She would have been lying if she hadn't thought it was tempting to shout at this girl for all the misery she had heaped on Mildred's shoulders, but she recognised that the girl was suffering mentally, and she hadn't known the girl for more than two hours.
Gently she put her hand on Ethel's, making the girl look up at her in shock. "I'm not going to shout, but maybe later we can have a chat, yes? Right now, try to enjoy yourself. We may not have much to entertain you, but we really want you to feel welcome, okay?" Julie whispered.
Ethel smiled weakly at her, and Julie smiled back, pleased she had brightened the girl up a bit. When Father Christmas was over, Mildred put on another film after showing them a selection of family movies, and in the end, they chose a Disney movie. Sybil laughed and began singing the songs off key to Beauty and the Beast, and while some aspects of the movie were grim and even violent, the young girl was happy with the romantic parts.
"Oh that was so sweet," Sybil gushed when Belle's love for the beast transformed him back into a human.
Ethel smiled at her youngest sisters happiness, and she burrowed into Esmerelda's embrace when Julie called out, "Dinner's ready girls."
The girls rushed to the dining table and they sat down, choosing whatever seat they wanted while Tabby ate a bowlful of meat happily. The girls gasped at the size of the turkey, browned to perfection. The sheer care of the way Julie had cooked the meal told the girls just how much time that had gone into it, though they didn't know the first thing about cooking.
As they ate, the girls and Julie had a wonderful time, sure the conversation was a bit stilted and awkward in places.
"Is the food okay?" Julie asked, but she was relieved to see all three of the blond-haired sisters were tucking in happily.
"It's lovely," Sybil replied, surprising Esmerelda since she knew her younger sisters were incredibly fussy about what they ate. Ethel was probably the fussiest of the Hallow sisters, always complaining if her food wasn't done to perfection, but she seemed happy enough.
When the meal was over, and everyone was waiting for their stomachs to relax a bit before the pudding, Mildred grinned at Ethel. "Let's pull a cracker," she said, offering the other end to the girl.
Ethel, curious in spite of herself because she had seen these things advertised in shops but had never pulled one, tugged the end of the cracker and pulled. She got herself a yo-yo, a mini magnifying glass that Sybil pinched sneakily and peered through, making her brown eye larger than normal ("Oi, that's mine," Ethel had laughed) a small deck of cards, and a couple of pens. After putting on a red tissue paper hat, she read the joke aloud, making everyone groan at how appalling the joke was.
The Hallow sisters looked confused. "Was that meant to be a joke?" Sybil asked.
"It's a Christmas tradition, the jokes are forever meant to be new and original, but they're just bad," Julie explained as she prepared herself to get up and get the pudding.
"Yeah, but it wouldn't be Christmas without the truly bad Christmas cracker jokes," Mildred grinned, and the sisters began pulling their own crackers. Sybil put on a bright green paper hat and read another joke, but it was just as bad as the others.
When Julie brought the pudding to the table out of the massive pot that she'd been steaming it in, the rich smell permeated the room and the Hallow sisters were amazed. The Christmas puddings they had eaten in the past had never been steamed for long, they were just reheated in the same manner as one putting a ready meal into a microwave, but magically so it was magical for them.
But that smell wasn't the only thing that surprised them.
Mildred stood up without a word and turned out the lighting a little, leaving only the LED lights and the Christmas tree lights still on.
"What's going on?" Ethel whispered.
Mildred smiled at the blond girl, the dimmed lighting only serving to highlight her features more. "You'll see," she said, carefully lighting a candle on the table.
The Hallow sisters watched as Julie, very carefully, picked up a ladle on the table and a bottle of brandy and very carefully started to heat the bottom of the spoon. She did this carefully for a while before the heat ignited the alcohol. The Hallow sisters gaped at the shimmering beauty of the electric blue flames before Julie carefully poured the burning alcohol over the pudding.
Ethel gaped at the beauty, wondering deep down if her father would ever do something like this, but she quickly killed that thought. Her father worked for the family, but he didn't really care what any of their daughters did, or what they wanted. She smiled through misty eyes at her sisters, who were looking at the flames with wonder.
When they ate their pudding with custard, Ethel and her two sisters had a wonderful time with Mildred and Julie. She had never imagined or even pictured the Hubbles' to invite any of them to their home, and while it was small and unimpressive at first, Ethel found it cosier and warmer than what she had.
After pudding, the Hallows and Mildred and Julie went over to the sofa to relax and to let the food go down. The played a few games in the flat, one of them being Monopoly. Ethel and Esmerelda were both brilliant players, but Mildred and Julie weren't bad either.
They watched How to Train your dragon, though it didn't take long before Mildred regretted her choice. While the Hallows enjoyed the movie and how brilliant the quality of the story was, they didn't like the subtle reminders of how bad their parents treated them, but for Ethe, it was even worse because of how similar she and Hiccup were treated by their respective parents. Mildred saw the sadness in her sometimes enemy's eyes, and gently and carefully wrapped a comforting arm around the girl's shoulders, half afraid Ethel would push her arm away, but the blond accepted her arm just as the scene where Astrid discovered Toothless and Hiccup came up.
"I'm sorry, Ethel," Mildred whispered. "I didn't mean for you to be upset watching this-"
"It's not that, and I'm not upset with you. I love the film, but it makes me realise I need to grow up, but thanks," Ethel smiled brightly at the dark-haired girl.
When the Hallows were due to leave, Esmerelda smiled at Julie. "Thank you for having us," she grinned happily, "it was lovely."
Julie pulled the tall girl towards her into a hug. "You're welcome," she grinned.
Esmerelda pulled back and Ethel shyly took her place. "Thank you," she whispered, hiding her trepidation.
Julie pulled the girl into a hug all of her own, making the blond squeak a little bit, and Ethel had to rapidly blink back tears. "Ssh, I'm sorry, luv. Listen, if you want to pop round, do so," she whispered.
Ethel nodded against Julie's shoulder and pulled away with a smile. Mildred wondered what her mother had said, but she didn't have time to ponder about it because Ethel pulled her away and took her to her bedroom.
Ethel bit her lip, worrying Mildred. "Ethel, are you okay? Did you hate today-?"
"Oh, shut up," Ethel interrupted, though she didn't say it as sharply. "I loved today, really I did."
Ethel waved her hand and a present appeared on Mildred's bed, wrapped in brightly coloured paper. Mildred looked at the present and Ethel in surprise. "Don't open it until I've gone," Ethel said softly before wrapping Mildred in a hug, Mildred returned it in surprise and Ethel left before she could respond.
When the Hallow girls were gone, Mildred opened the present. It was a beautiful woollen jumper, only in dark purple with a snowman and Father Christmas emblazoned on it. The note on the tag was short and brief.
"Thanks for having us. Love Ethel. Merry Christmas."
Mildred smiled and hugged the jumper to her chest.
Happy Christmas.