Authors note - My thanks to ImaginationofAFan who gave me the basic building block for this story.
Disclaimer - I don't own The Worst Witch, you should know that by now.
Author's note 2 - I'm hoping to give something truly different with this story, so I'd like some feedback, particularly since the story is a darker toned story.
Coming back to Cackles.
Returning to Cackles Academy after the summer holidays on their broomsticks, cloaks flapping in the wind exposing the figures in their school uniforms consisting of a gym slip, black boots, grey shirt and striped tie with a sash either coloured purple, yellow, green, or red, the students were preparing to continue their magical education. Since they were flying in near broad daylight many people on the ground, non-magical people should have seen them, but the spells placed on every broomstick prevented anyone from noticing them. But there were exceptions. Many witches and wizards of the magical community believed that magic should remain firmly in the magical families, but that didn't stop some people from possessing magic. People who, as far as they knew, didn't have any magical heritage.
Mildred Hubble was one of those people.
Flying on her broomstick with her red lined cloak flapping in the wind wearing the traditional garb of a Cackle's student, Mildred sat on the broom as she travelled to the Academy for her third year at school. Despite many people's beliefs that she wasn't good a flyer, Mildred had only needed time to develop her skills. That was the problem with many of her detractors - they were so quick to judge her without giving her the chance to spend time honing the skills on her own. Granted, she wasn't great, but she was okay, and besides the Academy wasn't that far from her home; it was the equivalent of boarding a train to the nearest city, which only took 45 minutes on a good day, but on a broomstick a journey that would have taken a while only took her half an hour.
Mildred looked around the skies, noticing that it was still early morning, so she had the skies pretty much to herself - she'd hated to leave her mother so early, but with things at work being as bad as it was for both of them, Mildred had felt it was a good idea to just slip out as early as she could and reach the school earlier than normal. The early morning air should clear her mind as she flew back towards school. Mildred wasn't really bothered about being the only witch out in the sky at the moment, she just wanted to be left alone for the time being. All she wanted to return to Cackles and forget about what had happened to her. Staying in her flat with her mother had been driving her crazy, the only bright thing had been her mother.
Besides, with the colour of her skin and look of fatigue in her eyes, anyone with half a brain could tell that Mildred hadn't been sleeping very well recently, not after what happened….. Mildred shook her head, desperately trying to get her mind out of those thoughts, though it hadn't helped matters when her mother refused to leave it alone. And those questions….. What was the point of asking someone the same questions over and over again when the answers wouldn't change? Oh, she knew that the police were only asking them to get a picture of what had happened, but it was still frustrating….. She only hoped…..
She shook her head, trying to think positively about returning to Cackles. While some of the work was hard, it had taken Mildred a while to reach the level she was now, but she was still behind the other girls.
When she landed in the courtyard of the castle, Mildred saw she wasn't alone. There were a few girls already there in the grounds, looking like older students and they looked as tired as she was but unlike her they were more excited and happily chatting to other's who'd listen about their holidays, but Mildred couldn't see any of her friends, she was still tempted to go over and speak to them but decided against it. She wasn't in the mood to speak to anyone at the moment, and she just wanted to be left alone at least until Maud and Enid arrived. Sitting down on a bench she rubbed her eyes and held back the urge to yawn, cursing the summer once again for giving her nightmares. Palming her face, she tried rubbing her eyes to coax some life back into them when a voice interrupted her.
"You are early, Mildred Hubble."
Mildred was glad she was facepalming, otherwise she'd be seen rolling her eyes at the observation. "Hello, Miss Hardbroom," she replied, uncovering her face to look at her potions mistress. "How was your summer?"
Miss Hardbroom towered over Mildred, and though it wasn't even fully bright today she still seemed to create a solar eclipse with her dark clothes and tall black witches' hat. The woman looked the same as ever, but there was something in her eyes that Mildred quickly identified as concern, particularly when she caught sight of the bruise on Mildred's face.
"Mildred, how did you get that bruise?"
Mildred swallowed, realising she would have to get used to the questions until the bruise went down. "I was attacked during the summer, Miss Hardbroom, my mother called the police to find the man who did it. So, how was your summer?" She stood up quickly, hoping that she wouldn't be asked questions now. It was too early, and besides as long as she kept her head down she shouldn't have any problem whatsoever keeping her secret. She had no intention of anyone knowing what had happened to her during the summer - she might have thought of a cover story that was a partial truth, but until she was sure she'd gotten over it she didn't want anyone to know, least of all HB. She had no idea how the woman would react.
Fortunately the woman noticed that she wasn't in the mood to speak, so she decided to put it aside for now but Mildred knew Miss Hardbroom well enough to know that sooner or later there would be questions. As long as they were a long way away, Mildred didn't care.
"Busy Mildred," HB replied in that smooth, but deadly manner of hers, "thank you for asking. How was your holiday, aside from the attack of course?"
Mildred had to fight off the rising panic, but she managed to catch herself just in time before she lost it. "Not bad," she replied before looking around; it was weird to engage in small talk with a teacher as formidable and as nearly unapproachable as Hardbroom, but if she could speak to her a little to throw her off the scent about what had really happened during the summer…..
"How was the Entrance Exam?" Mildred asked, mentally crossing her fingers HB took the bait. The woman had never allowed her to forget or live it down the mess the exam turned out to be for her, but things had mellowed over time, but Mildred couldn't forget all those horrible moments in her first year when she was treated like dirt. It was not her fault she had spent the first 11 years of her life in the non-magical world, was it? She had spent all her life dreaming of becoming a witch, but she had hoped Cackles would understand that and ease her into her new life.
Miss Hardbroom pierced her with a look. "We have three new students from non-magical families, Mildred," she said, the expression on her face could've been chipped from a block of ice for all the emotion it showed, but Mildred had been in so much trouble with the woman for the last two years she could tell that HB was dreading the prospect of teaching three new Mildred Hubbles.
"Where are they?" Mildred asked, excited despite her best intentions to push as many of her emotions to one side so she didn't lose it and draw attention to herself, but she couldn't help it when she heard this news- she remembered how lonely it had been for her in her first year at the Academy, being the only girl from a non-witch family attending the school. Sure, she had Maud and Enid as her best friends, but the three of them were still separated by a wall of culture. Maud and Enid might not be completely separated, they knew about the non magical world, knew what a phone was, knew about electricity, cinemas, game stations and computers, but they didn't use them.
To them, the reality were potions, spells, the Witches' code, and magical history.
But if there were new students like her, they would be as lost as she had been. Their only hope was to be together - it might be social suicide for a third year to mix with two first years, but Mildred would make sure they knew they could see her anytime they wanted, so long as they didn't miss any of their lessons. She didn't want them to endure what she had in her first year. Her second year had been more tolerable, but there were more than a few criticisms.
Miss Hardbroom wasn't too surprised by the excitement in Mildred's features of the prospect of Cackles' hosting more students without magical heritage - Hecate Hardbroom knew only too well how lonely Mildred had been as a first year even with Maud and Enid around her, and she wasn't blind enough to think Mildred wouldn't have been unhappy having someone who shared roots with her at the school. It had taken Hecate a while, but soon she had grown to like Mildred, though she wouldn't ever admit that to anyone besides Ada, and she still felt guilty that she had hurt the girl's feelings with those comments about her being non-magical. While she was concerned that with four girls with no magical heritage behind them, there would be more disasters - it was bad enough with one worst witch than having three more added to the mix, but Mildred had certainly come a long way. That was enough, and besides one of them, with the right mindset, could be a more proficient potions maker than Mildred was.
But it wasn't Mildred fault she and her mother were non magical, and it was still a mystery to Hecate and the others about where these four girls got their powers from.
"They aren't here yet, Mildred, but I'll point them out to you soon," the teacher replied with a promise.
Mildred nodded, and seeing that the conversation was over, Miss Hardbroom walked away but Mildred knew the real reason the teacher had walked off like that - she had wanted Mildred to tell her what was wrong, but it was never going to happen. Not yet, anyway, not if her worst fears were confirmed soon. Mildred closed her eyes and shuddered, trying hard to stop the shaking that overtook her limbs.
By the time the light fully came out, more than half of the students had returned to Cackles, cheerfully greeting their friends. Mildred's eyes flickered over most of them, recognising several of them from her own year and one or two from last year. Maud and Enid hadn't turned up yet, but there was plenty of time before they arrived. Mildred was in two minds about their absence and knowing they'd soon turn up - on the one hand Mildred wanted to catch up with the pair of them, find out what had happened during the holidays.
On the other hand, Mildred wanted to have some time to herself before they asked the inevitable questions about her summer, but Mildred doubted that their holidays were as awful and as painful as hers turned out to be. Mildred pushed that aside and picked up her stuff and walked around the throng of girls as they chatted under the watchful eye of the teachers on duty - she smiled at the sight of Miss Drill, clad in that dark tunic trimmed with blue with shorts, and Miss Bat wearing her usual robe with black shawl, but she shuddered and her heart pounded at the sight of Mr Rowan-Webb, and she quickly turned away to master her breathing. She hadn't expected it to be this bad, but then she hadn't expected to see the only wizard on the staff so soon, but she had been so distracted by the misery of what had happened to her to realise what she'd have to go through.
Still, it wasn't fair to blame all men for what had happened to her, though it was hard to forget. And Mr Rowan-Webb had never done….that….to anyone, and besides he was firmly in love with Miss Bat.
That doesn't mean he doesn't have those urges, a treacherous part of her mind sneered. Mildred ruthlessly shut it up, knowing that if Algernon had ever thought of that, having someone 'fresh' he'd have done it in the pond when Ethel had turned her into a frog…
"Millie!" A shout from above made her look up, grateful for the distraction, and she grinned when she caught sight of Enid Nightshade.
"Hi Enid," Mildred called up as the other girls nearby noticed Enid coming into land, and clearing her a space. Mildred rushed towards her friend as soon as she touched down. Enid hadn't changed much over the holidays. She still had her hair in the same style, and she still had that glint in her eyes that hid the monkey like streak of mischief in her. Mildred smirked as she wondered how her friends would react when they saw her hair, but it quickly disappeared when she remembered the other things that had changed for her over the summer holidays.
Enid grinned at her friend and wrapped her in her arms, holding onto the broomstick at the same time. Mildred hugged her back, hoping that the tight embrace didn't make Enid suspicious, and it made her wonder how she was going to tell both Enid and Maud about what happened over the holidays-
"Er, Millie? Can you let me go, please?" Enid's slightly choked gasp made Mildred jump and let go of her, clearly she'd been holding her too hard.
"Oh, Enid, I'm sorry," Mildred said, "I just missed you, that's all."
Enid blew out a breath even as her airway cleared, but she paused as she took a good look at her friend. "Are you okay? You look exhausted. And where did you get that bruise?"
Cursing Enid's too accurate observation, Mildred tried to wave it away. "I'll tell you later. Yeah, I haven't been sleeping. How's it going?"
Enid still looked a bit suspicious, and Mildred held her breath, realising that her friend's streak in causing problems told her straight that the evasion was making her suspicious, but Enid decided to put it aside for the time being. "Brilliant," she replied, "dad took us to Australia to visit some relatives, though they weren't as fun loving, but they did love a few pranks."
Mildred stood there with a grin as she listened to Enid talk about how she had persuaded a few of her cousins into setting off a magical firework in the kitchens of their manor house. Enid had tears of laughter in her eyes as she described how the firework had created a sparking dragon, and Mildred soon followed suit, just picturing the Nightshades extended family gathered for a lovely quiet day, only to receive the shock of their lives when the kitchen exploded with sparks and screaming.
Enid told her how she was punished, which wasn't a surprise, but her parents let her off the hook after a few days, remarking that their extended family were duller than rotting frogspawn. Mildred made a face at the reference, but she could imagine it only too well.
"Anyway, how was your holiday, Millie?" Enid asked once she'd gotten control of her laughter.
Just like that Mildred's laughter was cut off and she became solemn. "Terrible, I'll fill you guys in later," she added, hoping that Enid took the hint not to pry now, not when there were too many ears to hear.
"Okay," Enid nodded, "if you're sure you're okay…"
No Enid, I'm not okay. I'm far from okay, especially if what I think happened happened, but Mildred didn't say that out aloud. Instead, she nodded with a casual smile. But any further conversation between the two girls ended when Maud called from above. Mildred studied her best friend as she landed - while still chubby, Maud seemed to have lost some of the baby fat in her cheeks. They were all growing up, but Mildred was unsure if they would want to know what was out there.
No matter what happened, she didn't want her friends to suffer the way she had. It was weird, but a few months ago she had been so blind to the misery in the world, but now she knew about it and she didn't want her friends to know what could await them out there.
"Millie, how was your summer? Hold on, how come you've got that bruise?" Maud's voice interrupted her inner musings, but fortunately Enid spoke up. "Mildred's going to tell us later, aren't you?" she asked Mildred.
Mildred just nodded, and then she grinned and took her hat off. Both girls gasped.
"Oh Mildred, I love your new haircut."
"It's so short," Enid stated bluntly.
Mildred continued to grin, though she wished she could tell them both the truth about what had made her get it, but she wasn't ready to tell anyone that; her mother knowing it, along with the police and the doctors was bad enough, but she was simply not ready for her best friends to know about it. Maybe later it would happen. Her hair had been cut into a pixie hairstyle. "I'd gotten tired of the long hair after blowing it out of my eyes so many times," she explained.
Maud smiled at her, feeling somewhat envious since out of the three of them Mildred looked the most grown up, and then she noticed something, and she leaned in to have a closer look. "Mildred, is that eyeliner I can see?"
Mildred nodded. "I wanted to look a bit more grown up," she replied, hoping that she didn't give too much away, it was bad enough she was essentially giving her friends a half truth.
"It suits you, it makes you look more of a Goth," Enid commented.
Mildred raised an eyebrow even as she felt the bruise on her face, drawing attention towards it. That hadn't been her intention, it was simply to change her appearance and make her into the grownup she was rapidly becoming. She had no intention of using all the rubbish girls her age outside of Cackles used to cake their faces, she wanted to be different from them. A bit of eyeliner, mascara and some lipstick, and she looked older than she was, not that she would cake her face with that stuff. But she liked the Goth reference, wondering if she was a Goth in all but appearance.
Nah. She wasn't going to dye her hair since there was no point, her hair was dark enough as it was, and besides even if she was a Goth she wasn't one for darker clothing.
But Enid's voice had carried and some of the girls, particularly the ones in their year group turned to see Mildred Hubble. They barely recognised her, even if her slightly moonlike face was identical, and many were amazed by her radical new hairstyle since very few of them had changed themselves so drastically. Then they noticed the bruising on her face, and many of them wondered where she'd gotten it, and some even began speculating.
Mildred noticed the attention, and turned around to take in their stares - it amused her that they believed she would still be the same little girl with long hair in plaits. "What? Never seen a Third year with a shorter haircut before?" she asked, hoping they'd take the hint and get used to it.
While some of her classmates were definitely getting used to it, realising it wasn't a big deal, Felicity came over and grinned at Mildred. "Hey Mildred, love the new look," she said, though like everyone else who'd seen Mildred up close she was concerned about the bruising on her face.
Mildred smiled back. "Thanks Felicity," she replied.
Now Felicity was a nice girl, but sometimes she said the wrong things without really thinking about the consequences. "Did your mum tell you to get it done to go with the bruise?"
"WHAT?!" Mildred shouted, swinging around, her eyes sparking and the very air around her crackling with magic. Everyone nearby jumped at the sound of the shout, and they turned to watch the confrontation. Mildred didn't care though as she focused on Felicity. It was a stupid comment, she knew, but it was infuriating to hear. Especially the insinuation about her mother.
Felicity swallowed hard and stepped back, frightened by the glint in Mildred's eyes. "I should've asked if you asked your mum if you can get it done," she tried to correct herself, but Mildred's eyes narrowed. "I can make my own decisions for myself," she snapped.
Behind Mildred, both Maud and Enid glanced at each other, wondering what it was that had made Mildred so annoyed. While Mildred had taken so much from the others over the years she'd been at Cackles, she had never lashed out like this before. They might not see her face like Felicity could, but they could tell from her clenched fists that she was close to really losing her temper.
"Mildred," Maud said cautiously, "I think Felicity didn't mean anything, did you?" she asked Felicity pointedly.
Felicity shook her head. "N-no, sorry Mildred. I was just saying that your hair was beautiful."
Enid stepped closer, hoping her friend didn't lash out at her either, wondering what the problem was - yeah, Mildred had mentioned she'd had a terrible summer but that was no excuse for her to lash out at Felicity. "Mildred, calm down," she said as gently as she could, her mind racing as she tried to work out why Mildred was upset to this extent.
It was as if a red mist had descended over Mildred the moment Felicity had made her truly tactless mistake. But where she'd normally let things pass by trying to be the bigger girl, letting things slide so she wouldn't sink to their level, Mildred was furious now. Her mum was the only one during the summer to help her - the others didn't really count - and since Maud and Enid were away on their holidays, Mildred hadn't called them because she'd doubted they'd be able to help her. How could they help her?
She had been torn between throwing herself onto Felicity and using magic, but when Maud and Enid spoke to her, she managed to get a grip on herself, and she was beginning to calm down, but if Felicity said one more thing-
Fortunately she didn't. Instead she looked frightened. Mildred closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Felicity," she got out, trying to sound as sincere as she could, though she wondered why she was bothering.
Felicity still looked at bit shocked by what had just happened, but she smiled back and said in her sweet voice. "I'm sorry as well, Mildred, I shouldn't have said that. I was just admiring your hair."
"I wanted something different," Mildred said; it wasn't exactly forgiveness, it was more of a peace offering.
"I shouldn't have done that," Mildred commented as she walked into her room, throwing her things idly on the bed. "I shouldn't have lashed out at Felicity."
Enid and Maud followed her inside.
"What happened Mildred, you've never lost your temper like that?" Maud flopped onto the bed.
Mildred sighed, but she didn't say a word just yet as her mind raced, wondering what she could say, what she could do; lashing out at Felicity was something she shouldn't have done, not if she wanted to hide the truth, but maybe she could tell her friends something without giving them all of the facts.
"Well, Mildred?" Enid asked as she and Maud stared at their friend's back. "Has this something to do with your bad summer and the bruise on your face?"
Mildred closed her eyes, thankful neither of her friends could see her expression. Apart from her mum and a few others, no one knew what had happened to her, and she hoped to keep it that way until she was sure of a few things first.
"Bad summer?" Maud repeated, looking between her two friends questioningly. "What happened? I saw the bruise, but what happened to you to get it?"
Mildred sighed. "I was….attacked during the summer when I went out partying with some friends I have outside Cackles," she explained, hoping to not give too much away, and besides, she was telling the truth - she was just being selective about what she meant by attack.
Maud gasped, hand flying to her mouth while Enid just looked wide eyed.
Mildred licked her lips. "It was a nasty attack. Whoever it was grabbed my hair, and used its length to hold me, it was like a dog owner pulling on a leash. That's why I had it cut, where I got the bruise, and I know that a few people who form assumptions about it and who gave it to me, so I really don't want to talk about it, not yet," she said, adding on the last part as a warning. "Please, just give me time, yeah? I've had an awful couple of weeks, and I can barely think about anything else."
Maud shook her head as she tried to make sense of what Mildred was telling them both. "Who attacked you?" she whispered, hoping she wasn't sounding too pushy given Mildred's current mood. But Mildred didn't mind answering the question. Besides the more she got out now without actually telling them the full truth of the horror, the better, and the more chance people would leave her alone.
"I don't know," Mildred replied truthfully; she didn't know who attacked her, the police were trying to find details and were keeping her mother informed, when she had the time what with the threat of redundancy looming over her head even though mum had no idea if she was going to be laid off.
"Are the police telling you anything?" Enid whispered.
Mildred sighed under her breath, wondering if she should have at least kept her mouth closed so then she wouldn't have had to deal with this interrogation, but her friends needed to know a few details after what happened in the courtyard. They needed to know that she was traumatised. Besides, they could already see the bruising on her face, and the logical assumption would be her mother had given it to her. It was a logical route to take, but it was also a sign people didn't want to consider other options.
"They're keeping my mother appraised, but things aren't going well for my mother at the moment either; she was threatened with redundancy only a month ago, so she's been preparing for the worst and is looking for a new job just in case. But she is aware, and they should tell her if anything comes up."
"Well at least there's that," Maud whispered, stunned and horrified by what had happened to her friend, but she didn't even know the worst of what had happened, and if Mildred had her way it wouldn't come out too soon. She didn't want to be pitied.
"Listen guys, I'll tell you more later, but right now, all I want is just to be left alone on the subject. I've had a gut full of it for the last couple of weeks from my mother, the police, and doctors," she ignored the gasps that the last word evoked when they realised for the first time how bad it was implied the attack had been, "I wasn't seriously hurt, but I just want to put it behind me and focus on my schoolwork with you guys. Okay?"
Mildred knew she was essentially lying to her friends, but what else could she do?
Unknown to the trio someone had overheard their conversation, and from the look of wide eyed amazement which later mixed with pleasure, she had not only heard every single word, but was delighted by them as well. Ethel, like all of the others in the courtyard had watched surprised as Mildred Hubble, who was usually so meek and mild mannered, and lashed out at Felicity for a careless comment. Sometimes Ethel wondered if Felicity had any idea what tact meant, but Ethel didn't care about that, nor did she really care about Felicity's feelings on the matter. She was more interested in what had made her school enemy so angry. She had followed the three up to Mildred's room, and listened in on their conversation. She was surprised at first that Mildred had been attacked, and her sudden concern for Mildred nearly made her sick, but she got over it quickly.
Ethel knew Mildred hadn't told the complete truth and she guessed neither Maud or Enid would be surprised either if Mildred admitted it, but she knew that Mildred Hubble would probably never tell them anything. Mildred was good at keeping secrets close to heart, it was only Ethel's persistence that had revealed the truth behind the birth order of the Cackle twins. But Ethel had learnt from her mistakes then, she would be more subtle, she would needle Mildred in public. It would all work out in the end.
With a smirk on her face, Ethel walked down the corridor to her room, she had a plan to cook up. Whatever happens, she mused, I'll get one over Mildred Hubble.