Chapter 14
Authors Note: Rayne is pronounced Rain. HB was a little whimsical in her youth.
Constance watched as the girls entered the Great Hall, occasionally she would glance up to where Lily sat with Celeste to make sure Lily was handling the sudden commotion well. She was not. Amelia followed Constance's uneasy glance toward Lily who was holding on to Celeste as if her life depended on it.
"Perhaps you should go sit with her Constance, calm her down a little before we get any further." Amelia said quietly, Constance nodded and made her way toward the frightened girl. Amelia sighed, Constance did say Lily was not happy once she learned she had to stand up among a group of witches, Celeste also voiced her concerns about the meeting, saying that Lily can get unpredictable when she gets uncomfortable. Amelia didn't quite know what she meant but she was hoping she wouldn't soon find out. As soon as the girls settled into their spots and quieted down she made her way up to the platform, where Miss Drill and Miss Bat joined her, Miss Hardbroom sat in the front row next to Celeste with the terrified looking child in her arms. Amelia smiled warmly and began her speech.
Lily peered over her mothers shoulder about the room examining everything, unsure about what was going to happen. Her knowledge of witches and wizards was limited, her only experience was with her grandparents, which didn't help any. She knew her Auntie was a witch and her Mam was a witch and everyone else in the whole school was a witch, and she didn't like being surrounded by so many at one time. Usually when this much attention was on her she was in trouble or about to receive a severe punishment. Looking at the faces of students behind her she glimpsed Tails, Speccy and Enid. Tails noticed her too and smiled at her, Lily felt somewhat reassured and meekly smiled back.
"Lily would you like to come up with me?" Lily blinked and looked up at her Mam then up at Miss Cackle who was still addressing the student body. "You won't have to do or say anything you don't want." Constance assured her, "But I would like for you to come up with me." Lily thought about this for a moment but her time ran out when Miss Cackle announced her Mam's name, her heart froze in mid beat, and Mam stood up. It wasn't until she stood before the entire school until she realized she had followed, slowly she shrunk back clutching a mixture of her Mam's cloak and hand.
"Poor Lily she looks terrified." Mildred whispered to Maud.
"I know, who would have thought a Hardbroom could be so scared." Maud whispered back not daring to move her eyes from the front of the room.
In the back a few girls giggled as Lily shrunk back, but were immediately silenced by the infamous death glare HB shot their way.
"This is my daughter Lilith Rayne Hardbroom," Constance looked down at Lily and smiled, "or Lily for short." Chattering's erupted from all over the room, which were quickly silenced as Constance glared about the room. "She will be staying here at Cackle's with me and will be treated with the same respect you would treat a member of the faculty. Keep in mind she will not be attending classes like the rest of you, she is only eleven and is still a few years off from attending Cackle's officially." Constance paused for only a brief moment but in that moment the doors leading into the Great Hall were flung open. Annoyed Constance looked up at the cause of the disturbance half expecting Mildred to be there with some hair brained tale about how the sky is falling, instead her face went pale and her jaw dropped, her knees felt like jelly, and honestly she could count the seconds before her heart started to beat once again, for standing in the doorway was none other than Mistress Heckity Broomhead.
After the assembly all but Miss Drill gathered in the staff room with Mistress Broomhead. Constance was the first to enter the room and quickly she took up her place by the window pulling her cloak closed in front, Celeste was not far behind and sat in a chair near her sister. Miss Bat entered and promptly closed herself off in the stationary cupboard as Miss Cackle and Mistress Broomhead entered the room.
"We are all here?" Heckity asked peering about the room, her eyes stopping at Celeste.
"All but Miss Drill, she had other duties to attend to." Miss Cackle said as she sat down behind her desk.
"All the better. Now then I suppose you are wondering why I dropped in on you this afternoon." Heckity paused and gave Celeste a warning glare. 'Should've dropped a little harder you old coot.' Celeste thought to herself, she couldn't help but smile at the image of Heckity falling from her broomstick.
"We are a little surprised at the unannounced visit." Miss Cackle said trying to hide her nervousness, quickly she glanced over at Constance then back at Heckity.
"I came for a certain little girls welfare." Heckity said a slight menacing smile crept over her face. Constance turned her attention back to the goings on of the room, "I have come to take Lilith to Pentangles to learn witchcraft with me as her personal mentor."
"You wouldn't dare." Constance threatened.
"Oh yes indeed, arrangements have already been made for her stay and," Constance cut her off.
"You didn't want anything to do with us after Kiernan died, you gave me no choice but to return home to continue my schooling through correspondence. Why is it after all these years you finally decide to be a part of Lily's life?" Constance wanted to scream and slap the woman before her but somehow she managed to control her temper.
"I have always wanted to be a part of Lilith's life, it was you who took her away from me." Heckity said trying to sound hurt. This enraged Constance further but she was stopped short from doing anything by Celeste standing up to break the tension between them.
"Hell if I'll be damned, how the blazes did you find out about Lily turning up here?" Celeste asked sarcastically, "But your accusation stands to be argued further before we get into that." Celeste smiled just as wickedly as Heckity had done.
"What on Earth are you talking about Miss Hardbroom." Heckity shot out.
"It's Mrs Malachite, Broomweed, now listen up. You knew Lily wasn't staying with Constance up until recently, how you figured that out," Celeste raised her hand, "I don't care. Anyway it stands to reason that you are further trying to punish my dear sister for loving that God awful son of yours and producing said child. You could have taken Lily at any given time throughout the past nine years and raised her in that flying rodent infested school of yours, but instead you waited until Constance and Lily were reunited."
"I have to agree with Celeste, Heckity." Miss Cackle said standing up from behind her desk, "She proves a powerful point." Celeste smiled triumphantly at her former form teacher who stood stuttering out a response, how she loved to get under her skin. Suddenly Celeste felt a hand firmly grip her arm, smiling Celeste turned around, she knew how Constance hated it when she would pick fights with Mistress Broomhead, but her smile quickly disappeared when she saw her sister doubled over, one arm wrapped around her stomach while the other griping Celeste's arm.
"Dear are you alright?" Celeste asked turning around to help her sister. Miss Cackle stopped in the middle of her sentence and turned toward the sisters, just in time to see Constance fall to her knees in pain.