Hello fic I havn't touched in a while. That was a long week. My bad.
Edit: 16/3/22 Applogies for the re upload. I updated this last month but had no idea it had turned into html jargon. Thank you to guest user who let me know!
There was another beat, and still the tense silence. The disbelief still palatable.
But then someone nervously tittered. At the same time another person gave a low whistle and another swore. Well, said "Petrified Pumpkins". And then the crowd began to react. Slowly at first. Then the head girl peeking through her fingers gave a little whimper. And that tipped the scales. It was like the school exploded in volume.
"Mildred Hubble!" Miss Hardbroom shouted- nay bellowed, having finally found her voice. Not necessarily a good thing. But what she said was lost in the din. For example:
Ms Gullet started screaming.
There was a horrid gurgling that might have been the professor from the shadows burst out laughing, like a blocked drain.
Mr De Bloom startled awake, and started applauding thinking it was over.
Miss Nightingale cawed and squawked.
The third year that had rushed off to be sick hadn't made it to a bathroom, much to her classmates' glee and disgust. Girls with no decent view pushed and shoved and asked what was going on.
Some girls were hysterical and in tears, some girls thought it was hysterically funny.
On the ground the adult kebab was still having no joy, living dead or in-between. While Miss Cackle had a left gap of wriggle room for the other three pinned staff members; it did little else. The broom-stake had buried itself quite deep though the board.
Miss Drill tried again to push and pull their way out, still scrambling to get a purchase on both the cobbled and the handle. (she'd lost a trainer somewhere in the crash too.) The handle slipped again out her hand with a twang, sending Miss Gullet bouncing up and down and into a screeching rage on safety and violence; smacking Miss Drill with the clipboard she's somehow kept hold of.
"Get OFF me you-! you non-magical-! "
"I can't! My arm is in the way! And so is Frank's!" Miss Drill said, shoving her. "you're at the end!"
"What if we took the board down?" Mr Blossom offered, but wasn't heard. Or helped up.
Meanwhile the pupils were just as bad. Just.
"Mildred was cheating!" Ethel gloated, seeming un-bothered about having her life saved. Maud ignored her trying to fight the shield to run over to Mildred's crash site. "she's toast. She's on the next bus home you mark my words."
"How is that cheating?" Jadu shot back.
"There's nothing in the rules about it!" Ruby agreed.
"Wait, you were helping her?" Jennifer frowned.
"It's bad form." Ethel sneered. And turned to the other classmates, clear enough for the girls to hear not so much the teachers. There was a mix reaction, when she asked "why should Hubble bubble be allowed to pass when we all worked hard and did it fair and square."
"Yeah!"
"Why not leave Mildred alone."
"Oh, shut up Ethel!" Maud snapped.
Ethel flew at her. Literally. Jumping into the air and sped at Maud in a zip of fairy wings-! Only to be yanked off course by Izzy, snatching the fairy out the air. Which sparked a squabble in the class and chants of fight fight fight from older girls watching from above. Drucilla charged Izzy head low like, but tripping over both Gloria and Jadu's tails went sideways into Ruby who jumped back letting the satyr fall.
"Filthy human commoners shouldn't have even been allowed near here in the first place-!" Drusilla spat climbing back to her feet only to be pushed back over by Bryony.
"Don't you dare call her filthy," Gloria snapped and sat on her back. As did Jessica from class a. With a squelch.
There was a flash as Ethel fizzed and flashed in the troll's grasp. Nothing dangerous, just casting light spells, but it was enough to make Izzy drop Ethel like she'd been stung and trip over the footplate Harriet's chair. The mermaid almost spun out her chair if Ruby and Maud hadn't caught her, only for Maud to drop her and dash into the force field, as Ethel went for her again.
And then the fairy froze mid-air. They all froze mid action even.
"Stop that this instant! Detention for the entire class! Such a disgraceful display! Each of I will write out five hundred lines by tomorrow, 'we are young ladies and monsters, not beasts or hooligans.'- yes that includes you Ethel! I'm appalled at every one of you!" HB breaking them up with another wave, separating out the girls. Then rounding on Ruby Jadu and Maud.
"I should fail all three of you on principle! How dare you -!"
Around them other girls were being shushed or assisted. Teacher let loose the shields trying to help, but it only added to the palaver.
"First aider coming through!" Nurse Knighting-Gail yelled, pushing past everyone. And then ignoring the two teachers and handy man impaled on the board, made a bee line for Mildred. She came striding over the still spongy courtyard and made a start trying to scale the up the side of the bike shed as best she could, her own bandages unravelling as she went.
Frank Blossom finally stood up and with his boot pushing the board, dislocated his arm to reattach later. Not with any dignity. Much to every one's amusement, he crashed backwards one way. The board went the other, tipping the two teachers sideways with more yelling. He staggered up glumly bemoaning the begonia growing there at the elbow and started trying to be helpful. By doing things like trying to take down the board while they were attached or suggesting to go fetch his mallet and hammer it out. Other teachers fussed and flapped about them uselessly. And literally in Miss Nightingale's case.
In amongst it all, Mildred sat there sprawled out, still too stunned to even burst into tears. What had happened? One minute she was doing so well and now? Now everything hurt, she nearly killed the vamp and gravely hurt someone else. And she'd not even finished the course…
"Are you alright dearie?" Nurse asked, breaking her chain of thought. The mummy's out of puff face head appeared over the edge of the roof.
Mildred opened her mouth but no sound came out.
Or if it did it wasn't heard over Gullet yelling, "What about us!?"
"Oh, in a minute!" Nurse Knighting-Gail snapped back. "You'll be fine! You're just bones!"
This only seemed to enrage the red-haired skeleton further, and rage she did. But she only succeeded in tipping forward so fast she flipped over, like an angry animated dress hung up to dry. And almost losing her skull in the process.
"Serves her right." Fenella said to Griselda.
"Hmm couldn't have happened to a better bone head." Griselda agreed.
"Shame about Drilly's shirt."
"yeah, no, I don't think even magic can fix that."
"Hope Mildred is okay."
Gris nodded, giving Fenella a comforting squeeze. One that was returned. "She'll be fine. Two toffees she'll stay at cackles on a technicality."
Mildred wasn't okay. Or fine. Or anywhere near those two adjectives. She was badly grazed and bruised all over. With knees in an even worse state than Drucilla's, having taken the skin off both them and her palms. Worse had a bitten tongue and was nursing a split lip. However, the matron cured up those with a few cleaning spells, a health potion and the good old-fashioned cold damp blue paper towel.
Mildred's pride however was more hurt. And no number of spells could fix that right now.
She tried to clamber off the shed but Nurse pushed her down. Tried to cover her ears to the din but it didn't work to stop the noise.
"Will you all be quiet-!"
That did though. It was spoken. Quite quietly even. Not bellowed, more… projected. But it worked. And the headmistress stood at the centre of it all, hands out in a calming gesture, as she might settle down a chatty assembly rather than a mob, cutting off the pandemonium.
"Thank you. If you could all return to your seats and perches, and listen." Miss Cackle asked.
Everyone did as they were told. Behind her, the vampire's glower so deep it was like laser swept over the pupils. No one dared argue. The teachers returned to their posts, some soaring back up to the battlements. Bar two.
Then with an irritated flick of the wrist she could have possibly done earlier, Miss Hardbroom 'cut them loose' as it were. With a squawk and a yelp, Misses' Gullet and Drill vanished. Leaving Mildred's broom handle turned spear still hanging out the chalkboard. With a bump on the floor they reappeared standing two feet away, Mr Blossom's arm in tow.
Nurse patted Mildred on a bruise sympathetically. Then scuttled back over to the other crash zone and dealt out more blue paper towels; finally letting Mildred sit up on the shed roof and get a better look at the damage she'd caused. The course was a wreck. Miss drill looked worse for the magic then getting hit but then was out of sight as the nurse fussed over them. Mildred could see everyone one watching her or watching the teachers. Could see her friends and classmates, all stood in separate ranks and lines away from one another. Sad, shocked, angry, crying. Gleeful in Ethel's case. Then she made eye contact with HB. It was like stepping into the iciest of baths, as if the vampire was only feet away not across the yard. Suddenly she was. Looking up at her from right in front of the broom shed. With a hash sneer that showed a hint of fang. Eyes normally dark burning like red coals. For the first time since the first day Mildred worried Miss Hardbroom would bite her after all. Instead HB turned away on her sensible heel.
"And that, girls, I'm afraid, is the End of That!" Miss Hardbroom announced in disgust and disappointment with another long hard sweeping glare at the lot of them. And strode back across the now stone yard.
Miss Cackle sighed and shook her head in agreement. Then looked to Mildred.
It was like roman death penalty. A deep long look. Then another sad achingly sad shake of the head.
No words, but everyone just knew. The end. Over. Finite. Done.
Mildred had, in the eyes of the headmistress, officially failed.
"No," Mildred breathed, tears finally prickling her eyes. Even as her body healed up, even as Miss Cackle also turned away. Not like this. She'd been convinced she wouldn't pass. And then had hope she would. But it was the humiliation that stung. The disappointment. It was the thought of everything she'd worked for, all the friends she'd made, slipping away
"No." She said again. Adding a please.
Precisely at the same time as someone yelled "NO!"
Not sure when the next update will be. I'm debating cutting this whole story in two, Mildred's first day arch and the flying plot for ease of access. theres also some art to follow once i update it and scan them all.
another thing I am looking at, is making oneshots set in this AU and Monster 'moments' . I don't have the energy, time or need to re wite evey whole episode. I mean this first episode is nearly six years since publishing, plus a while just as an idea and in the making. But I still have lots of snippets and scenes I'd love to share with you dear readers.
Anyway, thank you far reading this far be you new or here from the begining. I very much appriate it, and every like/kudos follow, comment and review. TC and TTFN