A HUGE thank you goes to smrtijedka who helped me to finish the chapter a lot.:D Also I apologize to all the Twilight fans - I mean no harm, I am only writing what HB would think!:P Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review! xoxo
Ten Reasons Why Miss Hardbroom Doesn't Like Mildred Hubble (and one why she does)
Reason #3: Low Self-esteem
There are many joys of being a teacher.
There is the joy of seeing young people positively affected by the your influence, joy of seeing talented students using the opportunities to learn and to put their abilities to use, the joy of hearing a simple 'thank you' from a former rebel of the class and the feeling of achievement when seeing the excited young souls graduate and go on with their lives, knowing a part of you will always live on in them.
Sitting in her chair and marking the latest homework assignment, Constance Hardbroom briefly wondered why on earth did she chose to be a teacher because at that moment, the only joy she could think of was a bullet in the head to end her suffering.
You could see the sitting woman was tall simply by the way she had to bend down to read the papers -an action during which she sighed and groaned, occasionally emitting a sound that suspiciously sounded like a growl. Her dark brown hair was let down, a hairstyle very unusual for the witch unless it was a Halloween night – thinking about it, the paper grading was like the worst nightmare so it might as well been a night worth of a Halloween hair-do. She wasn't wearing any make up, not even her famous Death Glare eyeliner and the the lack of Killer Red lipstick was also surprising. Even though the woman was sitting in Constance Hardbroom's chamber and behind Hardbroom's table you could easily mistake her for someone else – especially when wearing a dark-green silk pyjamas that not only were not black (gasps!) but also looked comfortable. Comfortable clothes and the potions mistress were terms rarely used in one sentence by the girls of Cackle's Academy and if so then the sentence probably was: "HB magiced away all my comfortable clothes again this year!" and was probably uttered by Fenella Feverfew who was trying to start a new fashion of wearing colorful, comfy jumpers over her school uniform in winter months. Needless to say, Constance Hardbroom did not approve of such vulgarity.
"Good heavens!" she suddenly shrieked while reading one of the papers she was grading. The feather pen in her hand looked like a sword when she wrote on the paper with it, almost stabbing it, the red ink not being that different from blood.
Who would have ever thought that a simple assignment like the one she had assigned earlier would make her wince in disgust and gasp in surprise when grading the works of her students. Who would have ever thought that 'Write a five hundred words essay on your favorite book, including a brief summary and a personal opinion' would turn out to be almost a heart-stopping experience for Constance. After all, the logic behind it made perfect sense: girls needed to read more and be able to reflect back on the books they have read and form a well-thought over opinion about them. The only thing the deputy did not think of was the kind of literature her students were reading nowadays. It seemed that the times when Jane Austin was the most erotic story and the greatest adventure of all times was when Alice discovered Wonderland were long gone. Instead, Constance read about stories filled with bad romance (even though that was a bit biased because the witch considered any romance involving men a bad one), violence, silly high school problems or American brats discovering they are princesses.
She put Drusilla's essay about some zombie apocalypse aside (the sentence 'I think the most important lesson I learnt from this book is to shoot zombies in the head, not the neck,' earned the girl a low C) and fearing what might come next, she moved on to Enid's homework.
At first, she was pleasantly surprised. Unlike Drusilla's book, this one did not start in a laboratory from which a dangerous virus leaked but as any other normal book: a girl moving to a new town. Being an outcast, clumsy and somewhat full of poetic thoughts...yes, a girl like any other. Constance was ready to write a B plus on the paper (the highest grade anyone could get from her) when she read one sentence where her eyebrows shot up and her mouth opened in surprise.
"He is a WHAT and he does WHAT in sunlight?"
As she read on, Constance Hardbroom disapproved of almost all the storylines in the book: first, everyone knew that vampires did not sparkle in the light. They even avoided light – not because it would burn them, as other silly vampire literature tried to tell us – but because vampires were directly connected to mosquitoes and during the day they preferred mating in the shadows. Second – why would that silly Bella fall for someone as ignorant as Edward? Constance wondered how come these books did not make young girls go lesbian after reading about all the stalking and bossing around from pathetic sparkling vampire guys. The potions mistress looked at the pile of papers she had just read and put Enid's on the top with a heavy, overly dramatic sigh. For a moment she considered a quick memory-erasing spell to save her from her desperate realization that no, there really was no way the girls would grow up to be a well-educated ladies as she wanted them to be – but then she just shook her head and stood up, her back cracking from sitting down for too long.
The witch quietly slipped in her bed and snapped her fingers. The burning candle turned dark.
/
"Please let it be a B, let it be a B…" Enid repeated in her seat, eyes fixed on the graded papers Miss Hardbroom was holding. The teacher did not seem amused by the essays and everyone was eager to know their grade. And prepared to cry and curse.
"Enid Nightshade – C minus!"
"C MINUS? But…why?" the girl protested before the self-preservation instinct that would tell her to shut up kicked in.
"Since the choice of your reading was so poetic and romantic, I said to myself I would reward you with an equally poetic grade. Since E as in Edward was not possible, I had to settle for a C as in Cullen. Hopefully that will please your heart which very much desires to find a vampire to love one day," Constance smirked.
"Ruby Cherrytree – B! Even though I am not keen on such nonsense as witches with wands and both sexes attending the same school, your essay had some good points about what the book teaches us in the often gray moral area. Good work there, Ruby."
The girl smiled. Miss Hardbroom, however, was not smiling. "Mildred Hubble. It seems that I am missing your essay. It would be for the first time in fourteen years that I would misplace someone's paper therefore I am assuming you did not turn it in. Is that correct?"
"No, Miss Hardbroom. I mean, yes Miss Hardbroom. Well…yes, I did not turn it in and no, you are correct. Ehm, wait, no…I didn't and yes you are. Correct, I mean." Mildred stuttered, fearing the consequences of her foolish act. Not giving the essay to Miss Hardbroom was not very smart on her part but she couldn't help herself. The witch made it clear that Mildred's story about ogres that got her accepted in Cackle's was not good enough and from that moment on, the young girl feared to show any creative work to the potions teacher. But now, she was regretting her earlier decision.
"Do you think it is acceptable not to turn in an essay you had to write for you homework?"
"No, Miss."
"You know what that means, Mildred. F as in 'For next time, I will remember to hand in my homework.'"
Maud Moonshine cut in their conversation (a very brave act, coming from the shy girl). "But Miss, the school policy states that when a piece of work that is longer than one page is supposed to be turned in, the pupil can turn it in later and get a 10% lower grade than she would get, had she turned it in on time."
Mildred gulped and looked as if she saw a kitten being torn to pieces by wild dogs. Maud felt like the kitten and Miss Hardbroom certainly shared a few characteristic of the wild dogs. After a few moments (when Mildred swore Miss Hardbroom was considering what would be the most painful way how to kill them and planning her alibi) the teacher sighed.
"Alright, yes, you are right. Mildred, I want your essay on my table. Now."
/
Back in her room, Miss Hardbroom had only one paper to grade. All day she was putting off the unpleasant action but it had to be done.
To her surprise, the young witch chose one of her favorite books: the Chronicles of Narnia by C.. The way she described the characters and the main thought of the book was well written, without any grammatical mistakes and much to Constance's delight, Mildred explained the philosophy and annotations hidden in the story. It was certainly the best piece of writing she had read in a long time (considering it came from a fourteen year old) and she was inclined to put an A on the paper. Realizing that would be unfair to the other girls, her red ink pen traced the letter B.
The witch put the paper away and blew the candle out (in a normal, non-witch way for a change), shaking her head. It was frustrating that a girl who obviously had a talent for writing (if not for anything else) did not have enough confidence to present the homework. If there was a virtue Constance hated, it was low self-esteem.
Such a waste of talent, she thought and closed her eyes, ready to get her usual three hours of sleep.