Drabbles times! I will be adding more later, these are just some I had saved for a long time. Mostly (ahem) Miss Hardbroom-centered. Enjoy and don't forget to post your own drabbles, too!
Prompt: The First Night
Rating: PG
The bed was too big.
She did not mind the cold walls, the broken windows, the stone floors without a carpet, the leaking bathroom or the lack of heating. No. The only problem she had with the room was that it had a queen sized bed.
"I would like to have the bed replaced," she told the headmistress that very day, after unpacking her suitcase.
"Really, Miss Hardbroom? It's the only comfortable piece of furniture in the castle, why would you want it replaced?" Amelia Cackle wondered.
"I am afraid that is exactly the reason, headmistress. I should let you know I am very keen on traditions and I truly believe that beds like that only support one's laziness with the unnecessary comfort they provide. Laziness, in my opinion, is the root of all evil for a true witch. Isn't that right, Miss Cackle?"
The older witch listened to her new employee's words carefully and agreed to replace the bed as soon as possible. She would have to sleep in it for only one night.
Constance Hardbroom spent her first night at Cackle's Academy awake. She knew that falling asleep would mean waking up and finding herself in a huge bed with no one beside her and it would make her feel alone. For the terrible feeling of loneliness, she hated big beds.
Prompt: Not Getting Her Way
Rating: PG
"Our girls need to know about these things! Every school in the whole Britain has already worked Sexual Education into their schedule."
"In case you haven't noticed, Miss Drill, we are not every school!" Constance snapped at the annoying blonde and turned to address Amelia, who was sitting in her comfortable chair.
"It is hardly appropriate to talk to thirteen years old girls about such personal matters as sexuality, headmistress! As long as we remain a girls-only Academy, I see no reason for such lectures!"
"Isn't school supposed to educate them about all aspects of life? Knowing their bodies might later save them from getting pregnant at sixteen. These are modern times we live in, such things are not unheard of," Imogen said and shot a pleading look Amelia's direction.
The tallest witch was not happy with Miss Cackle's decision: the fourth year will have two classes of Sexual Education per year, led by Miss Drill. The fact that the headmistress always had to make a decision that would balance her traditional education views and the non-witch's modern inputs in order to improve the quality of the Academy irritated her.
Yet, deep down inside, she knew such balance was essential.
Prompt: Who's there?
Rating: PG
"You knock," Enid poked Mildred when standing in front of Miss Hardbroom's chamber.
"No way, if we disturb her she will go all HB at us! I hate it when she screams at me," Mildred refused.
"She will scream at us anyway for being stupid and trying out the invisible potion on our potions text books, so you don't have to worry about it much. Just knock – she'll open, we'll ask for news book and we can go to away!"
"Yes, well, if it is no big deal then you knock!"
"No way, she'll kill me for disturbing her in her free time. I suggest Maud knocks," Enid tried and looked at Maud.
"Go on Maud, do it."
"It was your idea to make our books invisible, you should do it."
"You mixed the potion!"
The girls started to quarrel when suddenly they heard knocking on the doors from the inside. All three of them looked at the wooden doors, confused. Miss Hardbroom appeared in the doorway, looking at them with one eyebrow raised. She was not pleased.
"Well, since it seems you girls are unable to come to a decision without arguing like a pack of wild monkeys, I decided to help you out with your decision and knock myself. Now, can one of you tell me why are you interrupting my reading?"
The next time, they would decide on knocking before appearing at HB's doorsteps.
Prompt: You Must Be Kidding Me
Rating: PG
There were three times in the life of Constance Hardbroom when she considered quitting teaching at Cackle's Academy for Witches.
Once it was when it seemed like their Academy would merge with Camelot College and suddenly there would be boys running around, teasing the girls, shouting in the halls and oh, simply be boys – something the witch could not tolerate under any circumstances.
Before that it was when Amanda Honeydew was about to buy the castle and turn it into her who-knows-what, resulting in Cackle's being moved to a new, modern building with windows, central heating and electricity (the nerve!). Everybody was singing praises about the new Cackle's – everybody but her. She could only dance to one tune and that tune was accompanied by the creeks of the old, rusty windows hinges.
But the very first time she considered quitting was when she met yet another new, eager teacher (she'd seen quite a few come and go throughout the years) who was hired to 'teach' something called physical education – a useless subject, in her opinion. The young, 20-something woman was obviously unaware that it is a witch school and when Amelia told her about the school's rare pupils, the blonde's eyes went wide.
"Witches? Wow. That is really amazing. So you teach the girls turn people into frogs, huh?"
Yes, there were three times in her life Constance Hardbroom considered quitting teaching at Cackles.
Prompt: Heartless Love
Rating: PG
Even though she did not have to, she ran through the forest.
She was a witch – she could disappear into the thin air, she could fly on her broomstick with her feline companion by her side, she could turn people into amphibians, she could do anything she wanted. Yet, she chose to run, tree branches scratching her face as she did so.
Her dress was not made for running and by taking long steps, it tore at the end. The sound of tearing textile could be heard in the night, her own hard breathing accompanying it, the sound of blood rushing through her veins loud in her ears. And she ran and ran and ran, until she tripped over a small stone and fell down, her hands automatically protecting the rest of her bony body from crashing hard on the ground.
There, lying on the layers of wet leaves in the middle of the night, she stayed still for a moment. The sound of her racing heart reminded her that it was still there. Despite what she'd been telling herself for the past thirty years, she had a heart.
It was that moment in the woods that Constance decided not to give up on love just yet.
Prompt: Different Now
Rating: PG
It wasn't often that the deputy headmistress would bump into someone from her past. Being all the year in the castle did not make it easy to meet anyone, really. But occasionally, she left the safe walls of the Academy and attended various Witch Conferences where she tried to be as invisible as possible (she even considered attending literally invisible but quickly dismissed the thought). Sometimes, though, people recognized her and came up to her, wanting to talk about the good old times (yet she didn't think of them as good or that old).
"Constance Hardbroom! I cannot believe my eyes!" she heard a high pinched voice from the crowd and soon enough a short, thin woman with long blonde hair appeared. She had unnaturally bright smile and so much make up that it could be considered body painting.
"Ersebeth Owl," she greeted her politely without continuing the conversation.
"My, my, Constance. You're the same as I remember you. Same old black dress, that old fashioned hair do...oh, and those buttons everywhere. See, and we all thought it was just a phase," Ersebeth, always the bubbly one, laughed.
"Thank you, Bethy. I wish I could say the same about you, however then you would think that the charm you are using for those wrinkles is really working and I would hate to deceive you like that. Old friends don't do that, do they?"
The blonde's fake smile froze and she wished Constance a pleasant evening, turning on her heel and walking away.
Constance smiled to herself. Standing up for herself against the most popular girl at school was something a fifteen years old Constance would never do. It might have not be visible but she did change.