Chapter 1 - How to Get a Roommate Without Really Trying

"How did I got myself into this?" Mildred Hubble asked a rather pertinent question as she dragged a blackout drunk Ethel Hallow back to her ridiculously big apartment near Weirdsisters'. Propping her up against the elevator wall, finally breathing easy for the first time since she had to save her long time rival from a predicament created by no one, but the middle Hallow herself.

"Ethel, where are your keys?" Mildred asked as she patted for the other woman's pockets, trying to find anything even vaguely key shaped or sounding, until she finally found it in the pocket of her jacket and pulled it out with a triumphant; "Aha!"

Ethel giggled a little, staring at her and Millie side eyed her for as long as she could until the elevator doors opened and she once again picked up the blonde and went towards the apartment.

All things considered, Mildred was rather thankful for Ethel being a frequent user of the restaurant she used to work to and had to make deliveries for, since trying to coax the address, floor, and apartment number from her in that state didn't seem likely. But there it was, the 13 floor, apartment 1307, two very lucky numbers if you were a witch, also a floor that only witches knew about and lived in anyway.

"Come on Ethel!" Mildred said, and dragged her inside, patting for the light switch and turning it on, only to be met by Nightstar, sitting on top of the kitchen table, staring at them with judgement in her eyes. "Hey Nightstar, nice to see you..." The brown haired witch said, kicked the door closed behind her and finally lost her patience,hoisting Ethel over her shoulder quite easily so she could walk more freely, towards what she assume was her bedroom.

"There!" She said, unloading the girl onto the bed and standing to stretch herself out when she felt someone grabbing her. "Ethel, no! Let me go! You'll won't think this was a good idea tomorrow."

~0~

If Nightstar could do it, she would have sighed and rolled her eyes as she observed her witch moaning in pain from her hangover, but instead she just stared judgementaly for a few minutes, as cats are known to do, before going to the bedside table and opening the first drawer by biting the loose metal handle with her teeth. Standing on her hind legs she looked into the drawer, sniffing until she found a small green flask and picked it up with her mouth.

She jumped onto the bed and walked over Mildred's face and chest without a second thought and put the flask right by Ethel's face, before walking away, curling up on top of a shelf, going back to her previous judgemental look upon her witch.

Ethel groaned, but let go of the slim, yet nicely muscled arm she was clinging to and reached for the potion in a well trained motion, opening the flask and drinking all of it in one go, frowning at the horrible taste. It was worth it, however, since as soon as she drank it, her headache and hangover where gone and she sat up on her bed, stretching out, noticing in the deep darkness of her room the form laying beside her and groaning.

'Oh god! I can't believe I got some guy home with me...' She admonished herself, rubbing her face roughly and then kicked the covers off, determined to open the curtains and tell him that whatever happened, he should leave.

"Wakey, wakey, time to go home!" She said, loudly, in her usual sardonic tone .

Millie groaned and pulled the covers more tightly over herself, whining back; "Oh, come on Mum, let me sleep just a little more..."

Never in her life had color drained so quickly from her face as when Ethel Hallow turned around to find, a THANKFULLY FULLY DRESSED, Mildred Hubble lying in her bed, curled up under her covers and snuggling her pillow!

She was speechless, cold, scared, shocked, and, deep down, a little aroused, until, from the depths of her throat, a hoarse, deep scream that could only come from someone that had just woken up erupted;

"MILDRED HUBBLE?"

Millie jumped from the bed and shot up, standing on her feet; "I AM UP MISS HARDBROOM! Sorry I called you mum!" she looked around, lost, looking for her Cackles uniform, slowly taking in her surroundings till she saw Ethel standing there, staring at her. "Oh… It's just you." She groaned, rubbing her face.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Ethel asked between gritted teeth, giving her a murderous look.

Millie, however, was quite unmoved by it all, as she rubbed her face and groaned; "I told you this would happen yesterday," she stretched "I brought you home after you got drunk and got on a table, loudly singing the Cackles' school song and someone called the Witch Cops on you." She moved her neck around. "So yeah, to put it briefly; You got drunk and almost got arrested for violating the Code and revealing our existence… Fortunately everybody was pretty drunk," Then mutters, under her breath. "especially you," at normal volume once more, "so I doubt anyone will even remember it."

The explanation made Ethel's anger subside a little; "We didn't…?" she let the words hang in air, side eyeing Millie who frowned deeply and wrinkled her nose before responding;

"No, Ethel, we didn't. We just slept..."

"Why were you in my bed?"

"Because you clung to me like a baby koala and wouldn't let me go!" Millie explained with an exaggerated shrug.

The blonde blushed deeply at that. This whole thing was very embarrassing, it involving Mildred Hubble of all people only made it worse. Still, she had to admit, what Mildred did was both kind and life-saving. If the police had taken her, chances are that Ursula and Ulises Hallow would had been called, who knows, Weirdsisters might even have expelled her, but due to Millie's quick thinking, while the Cackles song could had been a clue, it wouldn't count as conclusive evidence.

After all, being caught disobeying the Code was the last thing that a student of Witch Code Law needed.

"I guess I owe you one." Ethel rubbed her own arm, looking down "How about we have some breakfast… Then we can forget about all of this and move on."

"Alright, I suppose..." Millie responded; "What do you have?"

"There is a cafe I love nearby," Ethel said. "Come on, I'll pay."

"Actually, if you're talking about Mama Joanna's, it's closed." She paused, adding; "It's Sunday and she is Catholic."

"Shit..." Ethel mumbled under her breath, rubbing her forehead.

Millie sighed, but smiled a little; "I'll see what I can put together from what is in your fridge." She walked out of the room into the open plan kitchen, starting to look in the cabinets and fridge.

Ethel soon followed, sitting down on the kitchen table while yawning, still sleepy, putting her elbow on the table hand under her chin to observe Mildred; "I can't cook so there isn't much there."

"I used to deliver you food at least five times a week, I know." Mildred responded, but continued looking, surprised by some findings; "Hey, there is some flour and baking powder here. I thought you said you couldn't cook?"

"Oh yeah… That was Esmie… She sends a care package every few weeks, mostly stuff she knows I'll eat, but sometimes she sends those and tells me I should learn how to cook." Ethel rolled her eyes at the thought.

Mildred rolled her eyes; "Ethel Hallow? Cooking? Madness."

The blonde frowned, as Nightstar came to curl on her lap; "When did you got so cheeky, Hubble?"

"College does things to a woman." Millie said with a crooked grin as she started to whip some pancake batter together, a small smile came to her lips as she worked and even her tongue poked out as she worked the batter with a wooden spoon. Ethel was rather entranced by it, to the point when she had to force a dead panned sarcastic comment out to break her out of it.

"You know, if you had the ability to remember potions ingredients like you can remember the pancake ones, HB would have liked you far more."

To her surprise, Mildred laughed; "I am better I remembering things I enjoy. Hard for HB to compete with me making breakfast for my mum by being terrifying." She started pouring the batter in the frying pan, smiling openly at some fond memories; "Sometimes she would have the night shift at the hospital and only get back home around eight am. I learned how to make these so she would eat something before getting some sleep. I made them so much I know all the ingredients by heart."

Ethel frowned to herself a little at that, trying to pretend that deep down she wasn't feeling, frankly, jealous of that relationship.

She had seen Julie Hubble with Mildred both in Cackles and in the first day at Weirdsisters; how they hugged and cried when they said goodbye, how close they were to the point they spoke frankly and openly, even a bit conspiratorial in a good way, how they seemed to have their own inside jokes and a shared sense of humor, things that Ethel never had had with Ursula… Hell, things Esmeralda and Sybil never had with Ursula, much less her.

"Why were you even at the bar anyway?" The middle Hallow suddenly asked, sounding more annoyed and confrontational than she intended, remembering the bar because those thoughts honestly made her want a drink.

"Uh…" Mildred started, blushing deeply. "My roommate had a guest and" she paused "I just rather not be there."

"Guest huh?" Ethel rose an eyebrow. "Was she shagging that guest?"

Millie groaned.

The blonde wanted to laugh."You're such a prude, Hubble."

"I have to share a ROOM with her! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that is? Trying to sleep while two people fuck the next bed over?" She said, blushing hard at the swear word.

"Yeah, especially when you're obviously not getting any." Ethel teased and Mildred side-eyed her as she stacked the pancakes up. "What? I never seen you with a guy ever!" Ethel added.

"And you never will." Millie said, blushing slightly, pouring honey she found on the back of cabinet on the stacks and brings her the plate.

The blonde frowned, thinking for a second; "Oh, I see… Alright, but I never seen you with a girl either."

Mildred sighed; "I rather be with someone in a more permanent basis; You know, find a girl, date her, cook for her…"

"No offence Hubble, thanks for the pancakes, but I am not interested." Ethel said, eliciting a humorless "haha" from Mildred, just as she started eating the first bite of her pancakes, and sweet god, it was like heaven, the best pancake she'd ever eaten. "Oh, god, this is amazing!" She took another bite. "I actually might be slightly interested now."

Millie ignored her and started eating her own pancakes; "I have nothing against people having sex, the problem is that I don't feel comfortable in my own room." She explained. "Makes me miss Cackles, at least I had a room all of my own there." Still, as soon as she said that, she realized she missed Cackles for many reasons actually, Enid and Maud being around and not in a college all the way in Scotland, for instance.

Ethel looked at her for sometime, licking her lips to clean some of the honey in them; "Why don't you move in with me then?"

The brunette looked at her, pancake hanging on the fork half way to her mouth that was agape; "W-what?"

Hallow sighed and spoke slowly; "Why don't you move with me then?" And after huffing, she added; "I know you pay for your dorm and I need extra cash… Plus, you can cook."

Mildred put her fork down. "Don't your parents pay for this place?"

Ethel looked away, hiding her frowning slightly; "My parents said that if I wanted to be here I would have to pay the same rate as anyone else renting in this building, which they take from my allowance, which will be diminished if my grades go down even by one tenth, that's why I don't want to get a job"

"Because you're spending so much money on takeout?" Mildred asked sarcastically, but when Ethel spoke next her voice was absolutely serious;

"I charge the same as you pay for your dorm bed, my room has a private bathroom so you'll have the common bathroom practically all to yourself, we split the bills, we each clean up after ourselves and I'll pay for the food if you'll cook. How is that?"

Mildred stared at her, fork full of pancakes still hanging in the air, putting together everything she spent over a month.

One of the first things Millie did when she moved to Oxford was get a job. Even having met her dad two years before and him offering to help her mother pay for her, even giving her an old, beat up motorcycle, that belonged to an uncle, for transportation, since brooms were not exactly ideal for a big city setting. She still felt she should, since neither of her parents were rich and she liked being able to send money back if she didn't need it.

She looked around the apartment for a second; It was big, very big, most of the people living on that floor where witches and wizards from what she heard and it was much calmer than her dorm and more comfortable than the library it seemed.

Still, this was Ethel Hallow she was talking about; someone she never liked and that never liked her. In fact, all of their conversations that didn't end in a screaming match could be counted on one hand, if you included this one, and Mildred couldn't help, but ask herself why Ethel would even offer that to her? Was it because they were the only two Cackles students from the same year in Weirdsister… Was Ethel missing-

"I made you a proposal, Mildred!" Ethel cut off her thoughts sharply, looking annoyed; "Are you going to say something or are you going to stare at me with that stupid expression?"

"Yes!" Mildred responded suddenly and then groaned and closed her eyes. "I mean… Yes, I would like to be your roommate."

"Oh finally!" Ethel stood up. "Come on, I'll show you your room."

(tbc)