Constance woke up early and smiled when she saw that Nick decided he would try to fit himself in a comfortable position in the chair on Mildred her room so that he wouldn't have to sleep alone. He'd always been like that, making sure Constance and Milly wouldn't wake up and still finding a way to be with them, mainly to be with Constance. Mildred was still fast asleep. 'Perhaps a bit my own fault that she's sleeping for so long', she thaught, 'It was me who'd been keeping her awake for so long last night'. She stood op, careful not to wake Mildred. She smiled at the thought of what they've been talking about last night. Despite the fact that Mildred had already questioned her about 218 times (Constance might have counted the number) about the marriage, Mildred still wanted to know more. She really had to find the pictures and the movie during summerbreak, she thought. This week was too short to get used to each other, let alone to find pictures and a movie. Still carefull not to wake her family, she walked to the kitchen. She was glad she and Mildred had already packed all their stuff the day before. This allowed her to let Mildred sleep for a little while longer and make her a proper breakfast before she had to live of that Tapioca… stuff.

Mildred woke up to the smell of fried eggs, bacon, sausages, and really strong coffee. She sat up while her stomach made a sound of a hungry horse. "Well, you woke up because of the same reason I did, I think.", she heard her father say next to her. Mildred looked gave her father a suprised look. "What are you doing here?", she asked him. "Well, last night I wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't find your mother anywhere. Turned out you both fell asleep in your bed. I just decided to watch you for a bit, since you both looked quite adorable, and then I must've fell asleep as well.", he answerd. "Breakfast is ready, and if I'm called adorable one more time I'll turn the person who called me that in a frog!", they heard Constance yell from downstairs. Mildred giggled. "She's just acting as if she's angry. She'll never change me into a frog.", Nick whisperd to Mildred. "No, a pig will be more fun perhaps!".

After breakfast, Constance and Mildred put everything on their broomsticks, and said their goodbye's to Nick. Constance felt her throat go thick for a second when she saw Mildred in his arms, asking how much he would write to them. It was just the way she always wanted it to be, she noticed. When she met Nick, she just hoped for a loving family. Nick and Mildred fitted perfect in that picture. They loved her, and even more importantly, she had a family to love, a family to take care of, and a family to go home to. 'Strange', she thought, 'That it takes a goodbye to realise how lucky I am.'

Frankly enough, the flight back to Cackles went quite smoothly for Mildred, Constance noticed. She looked more confident. 'Let's just hope she stays this confident', Constance thought. She wouldn't want Mildred to fall of her broom in front of Ethel Hallow. Luckily, this didn't happen. Mildred made a nice, smooth landing, next to her. Mildred didn't even have her feet on the ground for 2 seconds when Constance heard 2 very familiar voices call out for Mildred. "Milly! Finally! It has been quite boring when you weren't around! Hello, miss Hardbroom.", Enid Nightshade said. "Boring?", Constance said while she raised an eyebrow. "Eh, well, yes… I just wanted to say I missed Mildred.", Enid answered with a nervous face. Constance started to laugh. "Luckily it's still quite easy to make you nervous. I think I won't be bored for the next couple of weeks!". Mildred and Maud giggled at the expression on the face of their friend. Enid turned around, trying to look angry. "Are you two laughing at me?", she said loudly. "It appears so, doesn't it?", Constance answered her question, even before Mildred or Maud could answer the question. "Come on girls, let's go inside. It's still quite cold.".

When they entered the entrence hall, both Mildred and Constance were shocked. "Ah… Yes. Miss Bat and Miss Tapioca organised a Mongolian party for you…", Maud said slowly. "I see…", Constance answered just as slowly. "…But perhaps they were a bit overenthousiastic. Especially miss Bat. You know miss Bat and her ethousiasm for the Mongolian culture, right?". Mildred looked around. The whole hall was decorated in a mongolian style, and she wouldn't be suprised if the whole school was decorated in the same way. There were 'welcome back' signs everywhere. "Come on. Let's go to the great hall.", Mildred mumbled to her mother. Constance didn't say a thing. She just nodded.

When they entered the Great Hall, Mildred noticed her mother had to sit down for a moment. Mildred started to giggle. She couldn't blame her. There was a group of people who made Mongolian music –something which was supposed to sound like music- , and miss Bat was dancing happily on the music and she kind of forced miss Drill to dance along with her. Miss Drill obviously didn't look to happy and when she noticed Mildred and Constance, she called out for them in the most relieved kind of way you could ever imagine. "Mildred! Constance! You're back!", she said. Miss Bat turned around quickly. "Oh, you're back!", she also said. "I hope you don't mind we already started the party?", she said. Constance, who was able of feeling her legs again, stood up and said. "N-No, of course not. It looks… Fun!", she said, trying to be enthousiastic. "Really?", said miss Bat. "Miss Tapioca and I have been working on this all week! We already hoped you'd love it!". Constance tried to smile. When miss Bat went to the tables with the food, Mildred moved closer to her mother. "You hate it, don't you?", she asked, giggling. "I think 'hate' isn't the right word. I think I just have to… find my way into it.", Constance answered.

After a while, Constance heard a familiar voice behind her. "Constance, you're back! How was your week of with Mildred and Nick?". Constance turned around and smiled. "It was wonderfull, thank you, Amelia. It was amazing to finally realise I have a family." "I'm glad to hear so. You haven't heard from Mistress Broomhead, now, have you?", Amelia asked again. "I've recieved an apologyletter from her. I do think it will take some time before I can completaly forgive her, though. I now she did everything with the best intentions, but if I just knew everything she did earlier, I wouldn't have to be in all that pain for all those years.". Amelia smiled. "I know. I think she knows too.". Constance smiled. "Yeah. I'm glad I found out she didn't do everything because she hated me. She cared. All That time I thought she hated me.". Constance looked down. "I think it was a sacrifice for her as well. No one would want to be hated, right?", she said.

To be continued :)