A/N: Today is a double upload as I missed uploading yesterday and I am going away at the end of the week so won't be able to write for two weeks. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty

Fighting

The Hallow family landed in the courtyard and the young girls followed their nan as she walked into the school, and started to head towards Miss Cackles office. As they walked the girls noticed some students staring at them but they tried to ignore it. Luckily they were soon outside the office and Jo had the brains to knock.

"Come in" the cheery voice of Miss Cackle said. Jo pushed open the door, seeing Miss Cackle beaming from ear to ear at how well her performance went. That smiled dropped as she saw who was in her doorway.

"Josephine Hallow!" the woman said in shock, she was the last person she expected to see.

"Hallow?" HB replied confused, stood next to the headteacher. Jo nodded, knowing exactly who she was.

"I went to school with Ada, You must be Miss Hardbottom" Jo said with a smirk. She knew full well her name was Hardbroom but she was messing with her, she was a Hallow after all, they all had a side of them that liked to mess with people.

"It is Hardbroom!" Hecate replied insulted. Ada shook her head but ignored her and turned to her old school student.

"How are you Josephine?" How is Australia?" Ada asked knowing the woman had moved there. Jo though was not there to talk about her life, she was there to talk about Esmie's.

"I did not come here today to talk about Australia, I want to know why my granddaughter has being left powerless for so long?" the woman asked, growing angry. Ada and Hecate eyed each other before replying.

"Esmerelda gave her magic to my sister Agatha, we had forgotten this fact when we locked her in that painting" Ada said standing up and walking to the painting of Agatha Cackle and Miss Gullet so Jo could see. "It is far to dangerous for us to release her again, even if it was to force her to give the magic back" Ada explained, explaining the exact reason Esmerelda Hallow was still powerless.

"Yes I have heard the story" Jo said turning up her nose in a creepily similar way to Ethel "But why does that matter? Esmerelda needs magic, whether it is the one she was born with or not" Jo replied. Not understanding why the teachers were so desperate for Esmerelda to have her own magic back, powers were powers, whether original or borrowed.

"Miss Hallow" Hecate said, not sure if the woman was married or not.

"MRS" Jo replied fiercely. Her poor husband might of died but in her mind her marriage had not ended by death, she was still his wife even if he wasn't there.

"Sorry Mrs Hallow, we have tried but thinking of a solution is not easy, magic doesn't grow on trees you know, if it did any old person could get as much magic as they wanted, that is why it is so protected" Hecate replied, not understanding why a woman who seemed wise did not realise that.

"Not a solution? What about magic transfers? Prisons do that..." Jo said before she was interrupted.

"Do you really want your granddaughter to have magic from a prisoner?" Ada asked rising her eyebrows surprised. Jo glared at her.

"You didn't let me finish!" the eldest Hallow replied."I was going to say Prisons do that, but that isn't an option as I wouldn't want Esmerelda to be using magic that had done evil things, but what about medical transfers?" Jo asked, wondering why there woman had not thought of it.

"Josephine, you know how it works, the magic is given to other family members" Ada replied, wondering how that helped.

When a witch or wizard was close to death, they were able to chose someone to give their magic too, a spouse, a partner, a child, a grandchild, because obviously they no longer needed it, not everyone chose to do this, some believed they would be scowled at death without magic, but a lot of them chose to and the sad reality was not everyone had family to give magic too, which is where the magic strangers come in, sometimes they looked for a donor to take the magic.

"We have not being able to find a suitable candidate" HB replied. The sisters looked at each other, wondering if the teachers had actually looked into it or they were pretending so they didn't get into trouble.

"Not able to find someone suitable? There is a list at any given time of fifty odd people who are waiting to give up their magic, how can none of them be suitable, please don't lie to me Miss Hardbottom, I am not stupid, I know you didn't look into this" Josephine replied annoyed, knowing they really had done nothing at all.

"It's HARDBROOM" Hecate shouted, the sisters looked at each other and smirked. They loved watching heir nan wind her up, it was an unusual sight.

"Look, alright we didn't think of that solution, we have being very busy this year, we are trying our best to think of something" Ada replied, annoyed at the woman for accusing them of not doing anything.

"And in the meantime, my granddaughter is powerless and away from her sisters because you are to lazy to do anything about it, This is Esmerelda's last compulsory year and she was meant to be doing the most important exams of her life, and yet you just leave her!, this isn't her second year where she might be able to scrape by and catch up, she needs them exams for college" Josephine yelled in disbelief. Esmerelda should be preparing for her exams, not wondering if or where she will be getting her magic from. Year five at Cackles was optional, an extra, higher mark, but they didn't need that.

"Look this isn't our fault, we didn't tell Esmerelda to give up her magic, we are trying to sort it, you have not even being here, so who is the one now leaving her to suffer?" Miss Hardbroom replied, not caring, or asking, why the woman had left the country. Everyone felt silent at that, knowing she had said something dangerous. Josephine glared at her in such a deadly way, it was suprising Hecate was still standing on her feet.

"How dare you!, My husband passed away four years ago, and I knew that I was not coping with it so I left to get away from the memories which were haunting me, I might not be here in person, but I always look out for the girls, your job is simple, look after your pupils and help them when they need it, this situation should of being sorted when it first happened, not left for me to come and pick up the pieces" Jo spoke in such a quiet, deadly voice it made her granddaughters flinch, Jo was no longer just angry, she was absolutely fuming, Miss Hardbroom had crossed the line with her comment.

"I am sorry Josephine, Hecate didn't mean that, she wasn't aware of the situation, and I am sorry about Esmerelda, I understand your concerns, but we have tried everything" Ada replied as if that was the end of it.

"Tried everything?" Josephine scoffed, wondering how they could believe that "You tried nothing, you let my granddaughter down" Josephine went on, angry.

"If you think we did that you see if you can think of something then" Hecate replied angrily. She was not happy this woman was coming to yell at them when she was no closer to finding a way forward than them.

"I already have, did you really expect me not to come here prepared?" Jo asked the woman. The sisters looked at each other wondering what Jo had up her sleeve. The woman opened her bag and pulled out a wooden box.

"What is that grandma?" Esmerelda asked curiously. Jo turned around opening the box as she did so, pulling out a small glass bottle with a stopper on.

"Something I have being holding on to, just in case of an emergency" Jo said. Ethel and Sybil stepped closer to their sister, to have a look at what it was. They looked closer at the bottle and recognised the name on it.

"Alatar Hallow" the girls looked at each other as they realised that what Jo was holding was from their deceased grandfather.