Before Ethie and Sybie - Esmerelda's First Years Chapter 5, a worst witch fanfic

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Chapter Five

After talking to her sisters Esmerelda was more miserable than ever, seeing them but not being able to hug them was torture for her. The group of bullies were going out of their way to make her unwelcome at Cackles.

"It must be nice, being Miss Hardbroom's favourite pupil" Delilah said loudly as she smiled at Esmie who glared at her. She was trying to ignore the girl because she didn't want to get in trouble again and she was not worth the hassle.

The thing was HB and the other teachers only made things more difficult for her because they kept going on about how brilliant she was. Esmerelda wished they wouldn't, making her look like a teacher's pet was only making people despise her. She sometimes even tried to fail tests, but she never quite managed it.

Ada had finally signed her up for a club. Flying club. Esmerelda was a great flier and enjoyed it but the idea of this club terrified her, she did after all have most of the school despising her, it wouldn't surprise her if she got pushed of the broom to her death but Ada wouldn't listen, she said flying club would help her meet other pupils, because all year groups were welcome. Great. She thought to herself, fifth years would have free reign to injure her.

She tried not to think to much of the negatives as she walked to the grounds that Wednesday afternoon for the club. Miss Drill was in charge of it and she saw a whole bunch of girls already gathered around talking to one another.

"Girls" Miss Drill shouted to get their attention. They stopped talking and looked at the woman.

"Flying is much more than a tradition, it is something you can do to feel free and enter a different world, when I am upset I go flying and it helps clear my mind, in flying club it doesn't matter how good you are at flying, this is about escaping for an hour and having fun. So are you all ready to fly? Miss Drill asked them. Some girls said yes, others said nothing. Miss Drill smiled taking that to mean yes. She blew her whistle and the girls gathered around mounting their broomsticks. Esmerelda joined them and took of flying into the sky.

Esmerelda loved flying. Her and Ethel sometimes went flying together at home, Sybil didn't go with them as she despised flying so it had become the older two's thing. It was always relaxing to be able to fly and look at the beautiful scenery, she truly did love it.

But Ethel was not at school so she was flying as far away from the other students as possible, not trusting any of them at all. Most of the students didn't even glance at her, at least they hadn't noticed her, she thought to herself.

Esmie flew slowly, trying to clear her head. Cackles was so different than she thought it would be, she didn't know what she expected but she thought it would be different. She missed Ethel and Sybil and let a few tears fall, safe in the air from prying eyes.

She didn't know if they had spoke to her grandmother yet but she was so worried about her girls. What if they were suffering badly and they were just trying to hide it? She knew they would not want her to worry about them and they were probably less fine than they said they were, but being Hallows they were good at hiding things.

She was so lost in thought se didn't notice the group of second years flying fast towards her. One of the girls gasped, nearly colliding with her but she managed to move out of the way. Esmie zoned back in and gasped as she felt herself nearly fall of the broom from the contact. She steadied herself shaken up.

"Sorry" Esmerelda said with a sigh. She knew they were going to try and blame her for being in the way. She flew off before any of them could respond, hoping this hour would go quickly.

Nothing else happened during the hour and the girl was grateful when she was told they could now land. She landed swiftly, wanting to get to her room as quick as possible.

"Esmerelda" she heard Miss Drill said. She closed her eyes just wanting to leave but turned to look at her.

"Yes miss?" Esmerelda said politely as the girls around them walked into the castle.

"I saw them girls nearly crash into you, are you okay?" Miss Drill asked concerned. "I was getting ready to come up but then I saw the crash didn't happen" she went on explaining to Esmerelda.

"I am fine Miss" Esmerelda replied. She was a little shaken but she was okay really.

"Are you sure?" Miss Drill asked. Esmie nodded hoping she was looking okay.

"Good I am glad, How is your homesickness now?" Miss Drill asked remembering how upset the girl had been in her lesson.

"Fine, it is gone" Esmerelda lied not wanting her to make a fuss about it.

"Are you sure about that?" Miss Drill asked not believing her

"Yes, I mirrored my sisters so I am happy now" Esmeralda replied. Dimity nodded and told her she could talk to her if she needed to before sending the first year on her way.

A monthly staff meeting was held at Cackles. It was always held on a Friday, after the girls had gone to bed, that way they didn't have anyone who was watching the girls absent. Normally these meetings were boring. Hecate would suggest something, no-one else would like it and she would be annoyed for the rest of the meeting.

However staff meetings were important, they were the time the teachers could speak about any concerns they had about pupils or in general. Dimity could tell the young blonde was still suffering and she was not sure if anyone else had noticed, if so she thought the girl needed some help to settle properly.

"Ada I do want to talk about Esmerelda Hallow" Dimity said as they settled down for their monthly staff meeting.

"Yes the girl is exceptionally bright for her age, I wouldn't be surprised if she was moved up a year" Miss Hardbroom said, complimenting the girl, not realising Miss Drill was talking about something else.

"I am not talking about her grades, I am concerned about her, she is homesick and doesn't appear to have made any friends, I have seen some of the other pupils being harsh on her" Dimity said hoping this would be taking seriously.

"I have already spoken to the girl Dimity, and her lack of friends is why I put her in your flying club" Ada replied and Dimity sighed.

"Well it isn't helping, she is still not talking to anyone, she spends the time flying alone, I think we need to do something else" Dimity replied as she looked at the other teachers.

"Like what? Bring her sisters here as students earlier than we are supposed to so she is not homesick? You know it is not possible Miss Drill" Hecate replied again, thinking her suggestion was ridiculous and shooting it down straight away.

"I obviously know that, I just think we should keep an eye on the girl, she will not enjoy school if she never settles, maybe give her extra mirroring time for now, as she learns to deal with her homesickness" Dimity suggested. She knew HB would say it wasn't fair on the rest of the pupils but the fact of the matter is some pupils needed to speak to their family more.

"I for one think that is a good idea, obviously we don't have to tell the other pupils about it" Miss Bat said, thinking of a solution to the problem.

"Mirroring might just make her more homesick" Ada replied worried it would do more harm than good.

"Yes but it might help her more, I think we should at least try it, there is no harm in it" Miss Drill said and Ada nodded.

"Alright I agree, but only until she settles in more, I will talk to her about it tomorrow morning" Ada replied with a smile.

"Great, but how will we help the girl to socialise more?" Miss Bat asked, worried about that too. School was lonely when you had no-one to spend it with.

"I don't know, there is not much we can do, we can push her together with some other girls but you can't force them to be friends" Ada told them all logically.

Everyone nodded knowing she was right. They had to let Esmie deal with that by herself, but they could help her with her homesickness. Once she was feeling more settled she would make more friends, everyone just knew it.