A/N: I have wanted to upload this for an while but kept forgetting. As I am going to be uploading less over the next few weeks as I am busy I finally decided too. I wanted to show Mr and Mrs Hallow changing to accept Ethel in this story. Please bear in mind I don't believe this will happen but I think it is good to explore this possiblity. Enjoy. Warning: Very slight mentions of miscarriage.
Learning To Love Her
Ethel Hallow glared at her parents and elder sister her eyes blazing with jealousy. Esmeralda had just won a competition and was now known as the best potion maker who was school-age. Ethel watched as her parents fussed over her sister her eyes narrowing more with jealously with every second that passed.
"Ethel don't squint like that it is not attractive." her father said noticing the look his daughter was making.
"Why can you not be more like our perfect Esmeralda? Her mother asked her as she carried on fussing over Esme. Ethel's face changed into a smirk as she gotten an idea in her head.
A week later Ethel was in her sister's room looking through her bookshelf. She ran her finger across the spines and smiled as she found the book she wanted. She took it off her sisters bookshelf just as she walked in.
"What are you doing Ethie?" Esmeralda asked suspiciously seeing her sister there.
"I was just...looking for a pen I have lost all mine...erm got to go." Ethel said quickly running out with the book behind her back.
Ethel rushed downstairs to the potions lab and slammed the book on the table looking at the contents for the potion she was after. She finally found it. Truth Potion. That was the potion Esmeralda had won with, it was level twelve and Ethel had never made a potion that hard before but it wasn't rocket science it had instructions. She smiled and started making the potion.
"Mum and Dad think Esme is so good for making this right, I will prove I am just as good as her." Ethel said to herself in confidence that she would be able to create it just as easily as Esme.
Esmeralda was sitting on her bed writing an essay she had to hand in for potions. Despite Ethel thinking she was perfect she made mistakes too and she always got confused between two ingredients in the potion she was writing about. She put her pen down and walked to her bookshelf to get the book and see which one it was but saw a space where the book was supposed to be.
"The book it is gone who would..." Esme said to herself but then she was flashed back to earlier when Ethel had been in her room and she got an awful feeling.
"Oh no Ethie." Esmeralda shouted as she ran out the room so fast she bumped straight into HB.
"Esmeralda Hallow I must say it is unlike you to be running in the corridors." Hecate said surprised at who ran into her.
"Sorry Miss, it's my sister I think she is going to try and make truth potion." Esmeralda told her quickly, knowing what was in that book at the highest skill level.
"But that is a level twelve potion, it is way too advanced for her." Hecate replied shocked that the girl would be trying something so advanced.
"Exactly, I have to stop her." Esmeralda replied as she ran down the corridor with HB close behind her.
"Two Gillyleaves." Ethel said to herself dropping them in the cauldron "mix potion for three minutes anticlockwise." Ethel then said doing just that, following each instruction. The potion was meant to be a pure white colour but Ethel's was a pale pink.
"Stupid thing, why are you pink?" Ethel asked flicking through the book to look at what she had done wrong.
"Mmm must need more palmleaves." Ethel said to herself thinking that would correct the potion. She was just about to drop the leaves into the cauldron when the door flew open and Esmeralda ran in with Miss Hardbroom.
"DON'T!" Esmeralda shouted stopping Ethel in her tracks.
"Ethel step away that potion it is far too advanced, the slightest mistake and it could have severe consequences." Miss Hardbroom warned her needing her to stop right away.
"Mum and dad think you are amazing for making this, well I am just proving it is not that hard." Ethel said smugly.
"Ethel step away right now!" Hecate said worried.
Ethel smirked at her sister and teacher before dropping the leaves into the cauldron.
"See dangerous it is..." Ethel started but she never got to finish her sentence because just then the cauldron exploded all over her, a horrible red liquid covering her aggressively. The pressure from the explosion caused Ethel to be knocked onto the floor hard.
"ETHIE!" Esmeralda screamed running to her sister and bending down to look at her. The skin on the bottom of her face and neck was red and sore looking and from the pressure of the explosion Ethel had been knocked unconscious.
"Ethie..." Esmeralda said wanting her to wake up.
"Stay with her I am going to call an ambulance." Hecate told Esmeralda before vanishing.
Esme held her little sister in her arms letting tears fall down her face silently until the door opened and the paramedics appeared.
Esme moved away letting the paramedics check Ethel over. Everything seemed to become a blur at that moment. She could hear people talking but could not understand what they were saying. Finally Ethel was taken into the ambulance.
"Let me come please I am her sister." Esme begged not wanting Ethie alone and scared.
Luckily they were nice paramedics and at seeing how distraught the teenager was they agreed and Ada agreed to follow on. Esmeralda sat next to her sister holding her hand.
"Is she going to be okay?" Esme asked her eyes red and sore from crying.
"We can't say yet." the man told her honestly not wanting to lie to her even if she was a teenager. It would be much crueller that way.
Arriving at the hospital Ethel was rushed into surgery and Esme went and sat in the waiting room as Ada arrived with Sybil who was crying hard.
"Sybil." Esme said hugging her as she cried silently as well.
"I have called your parents dear." Ada told Esme as she sat down with them she could not allow the sisters to wait alone in a hospital.
Sybil leaned her head on Esme's shoulder sadly.
"Can you call our grandma she will want to know." Esme said taking her phone out and finding the contact not up to calling her herself.
The three of them sat in silence for about an hour until a doctor came towards them.
"Is she okay?" Esmeralda asked even if she was terrified of the answer.
"Yes, but her injuries are severe, I am sorry I can't tell you more without an adult family member present." the doctor replied sticking to policy.
"Ada is our aunt." Sybil lied wanting to know what was wrong with her sister.
"Yes that is right, I am their headteacher and their aunt, so can you tell me about my niece's condition?" Ada asked playing along.
"Ethel has second degree burns at the bottom of her neck, we can do skin grafts but they will scar, the thing we are most worried about is her physical state, the force from the blast has sent her into an coma like state. I am going to be honest with you, we don't know when or if she will wake up she is very weak." the doctor told them.
Esme touched her head at those words and she felt Sybil shake next to her.
"Can we see her?" Esme asked keeping her head down.
"Okay, come with me." the doctor agreed.
The three of them were led to intensive care and into a ward. It was quiet, too quiet the only sound that could be heard was the bleeping of machines. They walked closer to the bed where Ethel's burns were easier to be seen in the hospital lights and she was hooked to machines.
"Ethie." Esmeralda said collapsing into a chair and taking her hand to hold.
Sybil took a seat at the other side of her and just stared not saying anything.
They all sat there for hours and hours none of them wanting to leave her side.
"Where the hell are mum and dad?" Esme asked annoyed at their lack of care over something like this.
"They probably got held up at work." Sybil replied defending her parents.
"Sybil their daughter is in a coma, work can wait it is not important." Esme replied annoyed at them for not dropping everything and being here.
Another hour went by and Sybil was starting to play up.
"I am tired and hungry." She moaned as she had being sitting in the hospital for hours and hours.
"I am not leaving Ethel alone, what if she wakes up?" Esmeralda replied cautiously she didn't want Ethie to have no one around her if she did wake up.
"Why don't I take her for a little walk?" Ada suggested happy to help the girl.
"Would you? Thanks Miss." Esme replied not really paying attention as she was focused on Ethel.
Sybil left with Ada as Esme stayed by Ethel's bedside after a few minutes she heard the door open again. She looked up and saw her mum and dad stood there.
"Oh you finally decided to show up?" Esmeralda asked disgusted they had decided to leave it hours when it was as serious as this.
"We had work darling we only just got away." her mother replied really not seeming too concerned about her middle daughter's state.
"Mum this is not a broken limb we are talking about, you could have left the work for someone else." Esme replied standing up and walking towards her parents.
"We came as soon as we could." her father replied defending their actions.
"If that had been Sybil you would have being here before the ambulance arrived!" Esme replied knowingly of what they would have been like given it was a different child in the situation.
"Sybil is delicate you know that." her mother replied trying to explain the difference.
Something inside Esmeralda snapped at that. She realised they really could not care less. They were not concerned in the slightest they only showed up because they felt they had to.
"Oh why did you even bother to come?" Esme asked angrily.
"She is our daughter." her father replied as if it was so simple.
"When it suits you, you do realise this is all your fault." Esmeralda told them.
"How is it? Did we force her to make the potion?" her mother asked confused.
Esmeralda was not sure if her parents did not realise the effect their treatment actually had on Ethel or if they were just stupid.
"You told her she had to be like me, she was trying to copy me and of course it backfired because that potion was way too advanced for her. All she ever tries to do is impress you but you never bother to notice." Esme replied feeling her temper rising.
"But you are such a good person Esme it would benefit her to copy you." Her father told her trying to explain that they were trying to change her behaviour.
"When will you get it into your thick heads? She can't be like me because she is not me, she is Ethel, a completely different person." Esme replied loudly her voice filled with anger at her parents. She seriously thought they did not understand that.
"Exactly, she is always getting into trouble." Her mother replied simple.
"She acts up because you make her feel bad, so bad she only gets a good feeling when she is bullying someone or doing something she shouldn't, you don't bother to try see the rest of her. She is funny and kind and incredibly smart and talented." Esmeralda replied proudly sharing about how wonderful her sister really was.
Her parents looked at each other as if they thought Esmeralda was the deluded one.
"All she has ever wanted is for you two to love her, but you don't, you never did even when she was little, and now look what you caused her to do." Esme told them wiping a tear that had fallen.
"I am sure she will recover." her mother told her uncaringly.
Despite Esmeralda being extremely upset and angry she had kept her voice to a reasonable volume the whole time but that comment changed it.
"RECOVER? SHE IS IN A COMA, SHE COULD DIE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Esmeralda shouted at them not getting how they could be so unfeeling towards their daughter.
Her dad opened his mouth to reply but Esme cut him off.
"Oh but that will probably please you so you don't have to bother with her." Esme shouted at them getting all her anger out at them both.
"Don't be silly Esmeralda." her mother said calmly to her.
Esmeralda took a breathe to calm herself down knowing she needed her energy for Ethel.
"Don't worry yourselves, I am the one who mothers the poor girl anyway." Esmeralda told them honestly.
"You are a great sister but you are not her mother." her own mother said not understanding her daughter and thinking she was confused.
Esmeralda shook her head done with her parents and their stupid excuses.
"You know what you are not needed here just go back to your jobs but I hope you can live with the guilt of what you have done, because there is no-one to blame for this accident but the two of you." Esmeralda said her parents finally falling quiet at her statement. Esme started walking away.
"Where are you going now?" her father asked confused what she was going to do.
"To sit with Ethie, I don't want her to wake up and think no-one loves her enough to be with her." Esme said walking back towards her sister.
Her parents looked at each other as if trying to decide if they should go or not but they knew no-one would ever forgive them. They walked slowly towards their daughter's bed and were nearly at it when out of nowhere a loud beeping sound started.
"What is going on?" their father asked looking around for the sound.
Esmeralda had felt Ethie drop her hand as she slumped over more and she realised it was one of the machines that was beeping. Knowing this was not a good thing she ran outside shouting for help. Doctors and nurses flooded in rushing to her.
"All of you out now" one of the doctors shouted.
"Why what is happening?" Esme asked concern and worry in her mind.
"I can't find a heartbeat, she isn't breathing." one of the doctors who was working on her said to another nurse within the room.
At that statement finally something seemed to click with their mum. Some tiny bit of evidence that showed that she cared was finally shown.
"Ethel?" her mother said totally ignoring the doctors and walking closer to her bed. She saw her daughter slumped over covered in burns and clearly not in a good way.
"Ethel!?" her mother said as she got closer and the machine continued to bleep.
"We can't work with it crowded like this all of you out now." the doctor told them again when none of them moved a nurse had to go and physically take them out.
"NO I AM HER MOTHER, LET GO OF ME SHE IS MY DAUGHTER!" the woman shouted hysterically but it was no good they were taken outside. Esmeralda sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room and burst into tears again.
"MUM!" Sybil said seeing her parents had arrived coming back from her walk.
The young girl ran up to her parents who were shell shocked and looking through the window.
"Is everything okay?" Ada asked concerned as she saw the family were all out in the corridor and saw Esmeralda was crying into her knees.
Ada walked up to her pupil and put her arm around her trying to comfort her.
"What happened?" Ada asked adjusting her glasses with her free hand.
Their parents did not reply they just watched through the window as their daughter was walked on.
"She's dying..." Esme whispered to Ada not wanting Sybil to hear because she would get really upset.
Ada took a breath knowing she could not upset the girl anymore by showing it affected her.
"Try not to worry, doctors are amazing these days they have ways of bringing people around." Ada told her confidently, wanting to offer reassurance.
"I feel sick." Esme replied and ran off to the toilets.
The young girl threw up in the toilets trying to prepare herself for life without Ethel if it came to it but she couldn't do it. She needed Ethel with her. She walked to the sinks and held onto one crying not wanting to go back to the ward and be told what she couldn't bare to think.
"Esme." someone said as they walked through the toilet doors. It was Grandma Josephine who had rushed there from Australia she had gotten the next flight.
"Grandma." Esme said falling on her and crying.
The woman wrapped her arms around her eldest granddaughter as she lost her balance and slid onto the floor.
"Try to keep calm darling, you will cause damage to yourself we don't want you in a hospital bed too." the woman said stroking her hair.
"I can't live without Ethie I can't." Esmeralda replied distraught. The girl had been at the hospital for hours and hours without sleeping or eating which just made her worse.
The woman stroked her hair trying to calm her down just a little bit.
Once the teenager had calmed down a little her grandma led her back to the ward with her arm around her by this point everyone had moved. Sybil was being looked after by Ada and their parents were sitting on the chairs both looking worried. The ward door opened and a doctor walked out. Everyone looked at him quickly.
"She is stable, but she is still very weak we can't say if this will happen again or not." he told them honestly.
"Thank you." Esmeralda said practically hugging the doctor.
"Can we see her?" Grandma Josephine asked calmly. She was always the calm one.
"Yes but only three at a time, she is weak so the less people the better." he told them not wanting it to be too o erwhelming.
Esmeralda walked in before he finished speaking and Ada stood up deciding it was time to go.
"Will you all be okay if I go? I really should be getting back to the school." Ada said happy to leave now everyone was there.
"Yes you have been a major help thank you." Grandma Josephine said as Ada left.
Mr and Mrs Hallow stood up deciding to go and see Ethel.
"We are going to see her." Mr Hallow said announcing they would go in first.
Grandma Josephine was surprised but pleased they were going to see her and nodded.
"Alright I will watch Sybil, take your time." Grandma Josephine replied happily that they were going to spend time with their middle daughter.
Mr and Mrs Hallow walked into the quiet ward where Esme was already sitting with Ethel holding her hand. The parents walked slowly to their daughter's bed seeing the red marks on her neck.
"Will it scar?" Mrs Hallow asked quietly. Esmeralda had not even noticed they had come in and jumped a little before replying.
"More than likely." Esmeralda replied simply.
"We have been bad parents haven't we?" Mr Hallow asked concerned.
"Yes, I am not going to lie, you treated Ethel really badly." Esmeralda replied needing them to know they were in the wrong. "What is your problem with her?" Esme asked asking what everyone had always wondered.
Her parents looked at each other as if trying to decide what and what not to tell her.
"Does it matter?" Mrs Hallow asked not seeing the point right now.
"Well yes, you clearly have never forgotten it so yes." Esmeralda replied knowing it did matter.
Esmeralda's parents sat down on the other side of Ethel falling quiet for a minute.
"There is something we never told you, we were going to have another child before Sybil." her father started admitting something they had always hid.
"What?" Esmeralda replied shocked at the idea she was supposed to have another sibling.
"I had a miscarriage." her mother replied quietly.
"Oh...sorry." Esme said suddenly feeling really guilty for making them talk about it. "I still don't see what that has to do with Ethie." Esmeralda then said not making a connection.
"Ethel was messing with magic that day and she hit your mother with a spell and...that was what caused it." her father said sadly.
"No...no...I am sure there is another reason." Esme said not wanting that to be true.
Mrs Hallow suddenly touched her head as if it was hurting.
"Mum?" Esme said looking at her concerned.
"Are you alright love?" her father asked looking at his wife.
"I feel light-headed." her mother said suddenly.
"Esmeralda go and get the nurse right now." Her father said worried about the sudden dizziness his wife was experiencing.
"This is the craziest day I have ever had." Esmeralda said as she sat with her sister and grandma. Not only had her sister been hospitalised her mother had come down with a mystery illness and was now being examined.
"Mrs Hallow have you suffered with any illness like this before?" A doctor asked while giving her a check up.
"Not that I recall." Mrs Hallow replied not knowing any other times she had been like this.
The doctor looked at her records and stopped at one.
"It says you experienced this say type of thing years ago, you suddenly felt ill?" the doctor asked seeing the records before him.
The woman did remember now it was the year of the miscarriage.
"Yes but I was pregnant at the time so I don't think it is related." Mrs Hallow replied at that not having any relevance today. The doctor shook his head looking at the records.
"A week after coming you miscarriaged, I think this illness caused it." the doctor told them.
"No the doctors said everything was fine." Mr Hallow replied shocked at that information.
"Actually it wasn't, the doctor put down a diagnosis of high blood pressure." he replied seeing what had been written at that time.
"Wait...they never told us that...are you saying it would not have happened if she had gotten treatment?" Mr Hallow asked upset.
"That is exactly what I am saying." the doctor told them.
"But Ethel...she hit me with a spell...we thought." Mrs Hallow said confused.
"How old was your daughter at the time?" the doctor asked wanting to know.
"Just over a year." Mr Hallow replied sharing her age with him.
"Not possible, a toddler's magic could not cause it, it is much to weak to cause any long term damage. I am sorry this should not have happened." he told them confused how they had not been informed of the cause.
The parents looked at each other. It really was not Ethel's fault at all.
The parents walked back into the room their daughter was in finding that Esmeralda had finally fallen asleep on a chair with Sybil next to her.
"Are you okay?" Grandma Josephine asked her daughter.
"Well..." She started telling her mum the whole story.
"Oh darling I am sorry, but I suppose it is good you fell ill. You can finally stop blaming Ethel." Grandma Josephine said happy that the blaming could be over, but heartbroken for her daughter.
"You're right." Mrs Hallow said walking to stand next to her mother and kneeling down to look at her middle daughter. The woman reached out her hand and touched her daughter's head gently stroking the hair away from her face.
Grandma Josephine smiled watching her knowing this was a big step.
"I am sorry darling, mummy is here now." the woman said stroking her head more.
"Maybe it is too late." Mr Hallow said sadly.
"No she is still young and all she has ever wanted is for you two to love her." Grandma Josephine replied knowingly. Mr Hallow smiled and started to stroke his daughter's hair as well finally treating her like real parents.
"Sorry sweetheart." Her father said apologising as they knew she could hear them.
An hour later everyone was starting to get sleepy so Grandma Josephine went to get coffee to keep everyone awake. Esmeralda woke up her neck hurting from sleeping in a hard chair. She sat up and saw her parents fussing over her sister and had to blink a few times to make sure she was actually awake. Once she realised she was she walked to stand next to her mother.
"Are you okay?" Esme asked remembering her not feeling well.
"Yes, high blood pressure, working too much and stressing too much don't worry, but darling about what we said before." Mrs Hallow said ready to share with their eldest daughter the truth.
"About the miscarriage?" Esmeralda asked to make sure they were talking about the same topic.
"Yes, it was not Ethel's fault, the doctor told us it was caused because I was ill and they did not treat it." Mrs Hallow said telling Esme what they had been informed of.
Esmeralda gasped shaking her head. It was not just the fact it could have been prevented it is the fact that that mistake caused her parents to miss twelve years of Ethel's life.
"Do you think she will ever forgive us?" Mr Hallow asked Esme as he stroked the younger girls head.
"Yes. She has always wanted your approval, she is more stubborn than mum though so maybe not straight away." Esmeralda told them.
"You are a good sister Esme, you have always loved Ethel even though we did not." Mrs Hallow told her.
"Of course I do, wait till you get to know her better, she will melt your heart, she is a right character." Esmeralda told them with a smile.
"Oh she is?" her father asked not really knowing anything about her.
"Oh yes, stubborn as a post, unreasonable, ignores whatever you tell her to do and drives you insane but that is only one side to her. She is also fun, loving, caring and brave too." Esmeralda replied affectionately.
"I can't wait to see it for myself." Mrs Hallow said excited to be able to get to know her daughter.
Two weeks later the whole family were at the hospital early on Saturday morning. They had been taking turns to stay at the hospital as the other person took the other two girls home for sleep and food. As she was getting stronger and breathing for herself now all the family was allowed in the ward.
Mrs Hallow was sat with her mother on one side and Mr Hallow was sat with his girls on the other side. The family spoke quietly as they stayed with Ethel when suddenly she moved the hand her mother was holding.
"She moved." Mr Hallow stated happily.
Suddenly her eyelids started to flutter and the whole family broke into smiles.
"She is waking up!" Sybil said happily
Ethel opened her eyelids slowly and squinted as she tried to get used to the brightness of the hospital as the world came into focus the first thing she saw was her mother looking at her with a smile. Ethel was confused she didn't get what her mother was smiling at her for. Her mother would not be there when she woke up she thought she must be dreaming and blinked trying to wake herself up.
"Ethel sweetie?" Mrs Hallow said softly. Ethel kept her eyes on her mother trying to focus was she really there?
"Mum?" she asked thinking she was seeing things.
"Yes darling it is me, I am sorry for not treating you very nice in the past but things are going to change." her mother said stroking her cheek.
Tears fell out at Ethel's eyes at that statement. The words she never thought she would hear came true.
"Me too darling, we are here now can you forgive us?" Mr Hallow asked wanting to start the clean slate right away.
Ethel nodded. She did not want to stay mad at them she just wanted their love.
"I will go, if I leave it to your father he would probably come back with dish-soap." Mrs Hallow said causing her daughters to laugh at the comment. Ethel had been awake for a week and was moving around and walking a lot and this morning her mother was going to get her things from home and she was going to wash her hair.
"I won't be long my darlings." She said kissing each of her children in turn with a smile.
After she had washed her hair her mother played with her hair putting it up in two plaits.
"You look like Mildred." Sybil said with a laugh.
"Mum can you do something else I really don't want to look like Mildred." Ethel complained never wanting to have the same hairstyle Mildred had.
"Mildred is not that bad, she was asking after you yesterday." Esmeralda told her as her and Sybil had just gone back to school.
"And here I was thinking Mildred threw a party." Ethel replied sarcastically.
Everyone laughed at her comment.
"Ethie, don't think so badly about yourself." Esme replied. Her father thought of something and smiled.
"Do you know how you got that nickname?" her father asked wanting to share the story with her.
"Actually no, how did I get that nickname?" Ethel asked really curious now.
Her father looked at her mother and they both laughed before replying.
"Esmeralda could not say Ethel, when we introduced you we told her your name was Ethel but she just started saying Ethie." her mother smiled retelling the story.
"It was quite amusing actually, she used to tell strangers she had a sister named Ethie and they never realised it was a nickname I don't think." her father finished with a smile at the memory.
"Then it stuck, she always called you it after that." her mother said happily.
"Yes well it is cute." Esme replied happily.
Ethel smiled enjoying the time with her family but her smile faded when she caught sight of herself in the mirror and saw the burns.
"You are still beautiful baby." her father told her honestly.
"Yes, no-one would even notice and if they do and say anything well they are just shallow." Her mother told her.
A month later Ethel was allowed out of hospital and returned to school. Surprisedly no-one mentioned her burns and the girl was a lot happier. For once she was actually looking forward to parents evening. That evening she went down the stairs and saw both her parents there.
"Mum, dad." Ethel said running up to them not really caring if anyone laughed at her for running to her mother and father like that. She had only just started experiencing their love.
She hugged her mother first who lifted her off the floor slightly kissing her head and then hugged her father who hugged her tightly. Her parents had really changed.
"Right HB first let's get her out the way." Ethel said with a smile as they went to see the woman.
"Her grades are still not up to Esmeralda's level." Hecate told them harshly.
"Yes well she is not her sister in case you didn't realise Miss Hardbroom, you really should work on treating them like individuals." Mrs Hallow said not wanting to hear a comparison of the two girls. Ethel coughed hiding a smirk.
"Plus she has been in hospital for three months, if she is falling behind isn't it up to you to offer her more help?" Mr Hallow asked as Hecate sat there with a forced smile.
"Of course I would be happy to help her." Hecate said embarrassed.
The rest of the evening went smoothly. Her parents fussed over her and after they had said goodbye to her sisters Ethel stood watching as her parents left her heart happy with love. She was glad things had changed, finally her life was full of happiness. Her dreams of being wanted, being loved, being enough and being accepted were coming true and she was cherishing every moment of it finally having the life she'd always dreamt of.