I don't own any part of the worst witch!

A/N at the end of the chapter!

This story starts in the summer holiday before Mildreds second year at Cackles!

It was the name on the letter that caught Hecate Hardbroom's attention.

'Ms Julie Hubble,' it said, lying on top of the pile in the staff room. The annual letters with dates and lists for the upper years were on one side of the table, the letters for the first years – twice as thick because they also included a witches code and further information – were on the other side and they were all waiting to be send out.

Hecate was not sure what exactly it was but something about those letters kept nagging on her thoughts. She was just about to leave the room again when it hit her. Ms Hubble, Mildred's mother, had claimed that she had read the code in preparation for the parents evening – but she also claimed not to be a witch. And only witches could read the witches code. (Well, and wizards could but that was beside the point.)

Coming to think of it, Hecate recalled that Julie Hubble hadn't shown any reaction that first time Miss Cackle had transferred her into her office. Back then, something about the blonde woman seemed eerily strange but what exactly, Hecate could not say. This weird feeling had become even stronger after the parents evening though with everything that happened afterwards, there really had been no time to think about the woman.
Only now, seeing the name on the letter, the nagging feeling returned and Hecate couldn't help but think that something about Julie Hubble was familiar. But what?

It wasn't until the evening when she was writing a letter to Pippa Pentangle that Hecate suddenly realised who Julie Hubble reminded her of.

'Julieta Hubbard,' she whispered. 'The girl who had just disappeared.'

Her letter forgotten, Hecate got up to fetch the old photo that had been taken on her first day at Mistress Broomhead's Witch Training College. It showed all the 13 girls in her class, smiling at the photographer and totally unaware of what would soon happen. There, in the back row on the left was she herself. And right in the middle stood Julie Hubble. Or at least a young woman who looked remarkably like her. Wilde, blonde curls, freckles and a wide smile – yes, that was the Julieta she remembered.

They had never been close – no one at the College had – but she would never forget the young woman. Not after what happened to her – not that anyone really knew what happened, they had all been too afraid to ask but some the theories had been crazy. Though they all agreed on one thing: It was not something pleasant. That was just impossible. One day, everything was fine and the next day, Julieta didn't show up for any of her lessons. Nobody dared to ask about her and even though all her things were gone everybody knew that she had not just left. Still, that was what everyone had pretended and after a while, the topic was left alone and slowly forgotten.

Now though, Hecate began to wonder again. What had happened to Julieta? Could Julie Hubble be Julieta Hubbard? If she was, had she recognised her? And why had she kept her daughter away from magic?

There was only one way to get answers. Hecate Hardbroom would deliver this one letter personally.

Julie Hubble was surprised when a knock on the door interrupted her reading. She didn't have the slightest idea who could visit her at this time of the day – almost night, actually. Maybe something was wrong with Millie? But no, the Spellbodys would not knock; they would probably just appear in the sitting room if that was the case.
There was another knock and with a sigh, Julie got up to open the door.

'Miss Hardbroom?! What…To what do I owe this pleasure?' It was obvious that Julie tried to hide her surprise when she saw her daughter's potion teacher standing in front of her but she was failing miserably.

'Miss Hubble. For once, this is not about your daughter. May I come in?' Hecate knew that she and Miss Hubble were not on the best terms but apparently something in her voice had been convincing enough for the other woman to step aside and let her in. As soon as the door was shut again, Julie turned around and fixed her eyes on Miss Hardbroom.

'So if this is not about Mildred, then why are you her? I thought after everything she did for your school you would –'

'Actually,' interrupted Hecate, 'my visit has nothing to do with Mildred. I am here because of you.'

'Excuse me?' Julie couldn't help but stare at the teacher.

'I am here to talk about you, Miss Hubble. I found something I thought you might find interesting.'

'What…Excuse me but what exactly is this? Are you trying to trick me or something?' Suddenly, Julie seemed more alert, as if the idea of being pranked made her more careful. Also she seemed to have concluded that the presence of the potions teacher was probably a bad omen.

Realising the same, Hecate sighed and pulled the photography from her bag. She wordlessly handed it to Julie who gave her a confused look. Only after Hecate pointed at the woman in the middle the blonde's eyes widened before a frown appeared on her face.

'That looks like me – but it can't be! I am not a witch, Miss Hardbroom, as you know quite well yourself. This girl can't possibly be me,' Julie explained seriously before looking at Hecate again.
'I don't have the faintest idea what you want from me but I think it would be better if you left now.'

Now it was Hecate's turn to frown. Either Miss Hubble was an amazingly good actress or she really had no memory whatsoever of being a witch. That her theory was wrong was something she did not even consider, so she started one last attempt to get Julie to listen.

'Miss Hubble, I know this all seems to be very strange but this woman disappeared about 25 years ago from her school and up to today no one knows what has happened to her.' Julie merely glared at her.

'That is all very well but I still don't see what that has to do wi –'

'Julieta Hubbard.' At this, Julie froze.

'What?' she asked, her frown deepened.

'Her name was Julieta Hubbard. Do you know that name?'

'No…yes…I don't know.' She shrugged. 'It sounds familiar – but I have no idea why.'

For a moment there was silence in the hallway both women deep in thoughts, but then Julie spoke up again.

'Well, Miss Hardbroom, is there anything else I can help you with?'

The teacher sighed.

'No, I suppose not. I was just hoping you would remember something…'

'Now wait a minute – you really think that that girl there –' Julie pointed at the picture, 'is me?' The look she gave Hecate showed clearly that she wasn't sure whether to laugh or take this serious. She swallowed when Hecate simply nodded at her question but then sighed and simply pointed towards the kitchen.

'Would you like a cup of tea, Miss Hardbroom?'

Hey everyone!

Welcome introduction to my latest ff-idea! Since I watched the remake of my favourite childhood TV-show last week, I couldn't get this one question out of my head. Where do Mildred's powers come from? And then I re-watched some episodes from the original show and well, this is what my head made of it.

This story will probably not have too many chapters but the chapters themselves will most likely be longer than this one.

I hope some of you enjoyed this little introduction and leave me a review :)

Any mistakes are my own, so if you find any, please let me know!

Thank you! ^^