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Chapter Fourteen
Esmerelda only realised once she got over her shock the pain in her arm. It was very true that she had landed on a soft surface, thanks to Miss Drill's quick thinking, but she had landed on top of her arm in a funny way. She hissed and held it as Miss Drill yelled at Delilah, Millicent, Wendy and Gretel, rushing all the students inside to saying the lesson was over, once she had send the students inside and had taken the girls to Miss Cackles office, she came back to find Esmerelda who was still clutching her arm.
"Esmerelda, are you alright?" Miss Drill asked touching the girl on the back in a worried way, not noticing the way she was holding her arm in her panic.
"Yes mainly, but I think I have done something to my arm" Esmerelda told the woman as she hissed, trying to refrain from letting herself cry. It really hurt but she knew she had to be strong and brave.
"Come on let's get you to the nurse" Miss Drill said leading the girl down the corridor to get her medical help.
"Miss...what is going to happen to them?" Esmerelda asked, afraid now after what they had done to her, she knew now they would stop at nothing.
"Miss Cackle will decide that, try not to worry" Miss Drill told her as she led her into the hospital wing.
The nurse looked at Esmerelda's arm and did some tests to determine why it was painful. It didn't necessarily mean it was broken, it could have been sprained or fractured but when she came back she told Esmerelda it was indeed broken but it was nothing to worry about as it was easy enough to heal.
"AHH" Esmerelda screamed out as the nurse cast a spell and she felt her broken bone snap back into place, she honestly felt the healing was worse than the bone breaking, that had really hurt. She blinked back tears in her eyes from the pain that went through her body.
"Sorry sorry" the nurse said not liking the girl to be in pain "It can't be helped" the woman told her as she kept working on her arm.
Even though Esmerelda was a witch and lived in the magical world so she did not have to go through the whole process of having a cast on her arm for six weeks and the nurse had just healed it, the bone was still weak. It was now at the stage it was when the bone was healed but it was fragile. She therefore put a bandage on the girl's arm and a sling to keep her arm straight and have the bone heal. She would have to have it on for around a week and then she would be home free.
"Lucky it isn't my writing hand" Esmerelda joked trying to make light of the situation. Miss Drill and the nurse exchanged glances, looking at each other seriously. It wasn't time for jokes, not with the way Esmerelda had ended up in this situation.
After she was slinged up and ready the nurse gave the girl a small bottle of potion, she told her that it would help with any pain she might have as the bone became strong again. Esmie smiled and thanked her before she left and she was immediately taken to Miss Cackle's office. Miss Cackle wanted to hear from her and Miss Drill exactly what had happened because Miss Drill had had to rush of to check on Esmerelda before and hadn't had a chance to tell her what she had seen.
"Miss Drill, please explain exactly what happened" Miss Cackle asked looking more grave than Esmerelda had ever seen the woman look before.
"I was overseeing flying class and I noticed that the four girls were flying towards Esmerelda, she didn't notice because she appeared to be daydreaming. I didn't like the way they were flying towards her and I knew they had all had trouble with each other in the past so I decided it would be safest to fly up to stop the situation. As I was getting close to the girls I saw them push Esmerelda of her broomstick. Luckily, I realised and managed to cast a spell to break her fall, she still injured herself as you can see she has a broken arm, but she properly would have been killed so she got of lucky" Miss Drill explained talking professionally as she explained what had happened and why she had gone to help the situation.
"Miss Drill did you see who exactly it was who pushed Esmerelda?" Miss Cackle asked wondering who it was who had done the deed itself. There was after all four girls.
"No sorry Ada, I didn't happen to see because I was worried about breaking up the situation" Miss Drill explained wishing she had seen. Miss Cackle nodded, satisfied.
"Thank you Miss Drill" Ada said before turning to the girls
"In all my time at this school I have never, playing silly pranks and spreading rumours is one thing but pushing a student of their broomstick, that is a whole other level" Ada said annoyed. "You are lucky Esmerelda was not killed, I don't think any of you understand how serious this is" Ada told them glaring at them.
"She is lying miss" Wendy said looking at Miss Drill "She doesn't like us so she is making it up, Esmerelda clearly lost her balance and fell" Wendy said, trying to get out of trouble. Miss Cackle decided to play along.
"All right Miss Hardbroom, can you bring some of the first years to me please?" the woman said as Miss Drill looked at her hurt and confused that she believed the pupils, but when she saw the bespectacled woman smile at her out of the corner of her mouth and she realised she was just playing along with the girls games.
Miss Hardbroom returned with four other first years. The girls all looked a bit on edge, clearly scared of being in the office, and from what they had witnessed.
"Girls I just want to know if any of you saw what happened to Miss Hallow, did any of you see her be pushed?" Miss Cackle asked.
The first girl shook her head and so did the second, once they had locked eyes with the four accused girls, clearly fearing them after what they had seen. The third girl though didn't look at them and nodded.
"I saw them push her, they all did it together and helped each other" the third girl said. Miss Cackle looked at her and wondered if the girl had any reason to lie, as far as she was aware she was not friendly with the four girls and she was not their enemy, she was just neutral towards her.
"Thank you Lily" Miss Cackle said before asking the first years Miss Hardbroom had brought to leave, she had got the information she needed, she then tuned to the four accused girls who looked horrified after what Lily had said. Esmerelda did not know Lily to well but she promised herself to thank her later.
"Pushing a student of their broomstick, accusing a teacher of lying about it to get you in trouble, scaring pupils into keeping quiet, don't think I didn't see the look you gave them just then" Miss Cackle said to them. She had seen the way the girls had glared at the other ones Miss Hardbroom had brought and how they had being to scared to speak.
"It is clear to me now that I can't have you four in my school anymore, you are a danger to my pupils lives, please go upstairs all of you and pack your things, you are expelled from my school" the woman told them, giving out the hardest punishment she could. She knew some people said she was to soft but this case was different, Esmerelda would very likely be dead now If Miss Drill had not sensed trouble. She couldn't have pupils like that in her school.
"What? You can't expel us!" Gretel replied horrified
"Gretel you are lucky I am not contacting the Great Wizard about this, but I will do if you continue to disobey me, now you have half an hour to pack your things and then I want you gone, I will use that time to inform your parents" Miss Cackle said.
The four girls looked at each other but still did not seem able to accept their headteacher's decision.
"Miss Cackle...Esmerelda has being bullying us we had to do something" Delilah said trying to turn this back to the blonde.
"Miss Cackle, I caught the four girls bullying Esmerelda in the lunch hall a week ago, which is why I gave them detention, I think it is Esmerelda who has been the victim here" Miss Drill said wishing the girls would just give up and realise they had lost.
"And I have reports from other people which say the same thing, I know what has being happening here" Miss Cackle said. She saw Gretel make to open her mouth in response but HB beat her to it.
"You girls have two minutes to leave to go and start packing or we will contact the Great Wizard" she told the girls just wishing they would go.
"My mum is on the council" Millicent replied as if it made a difference.
"Exactly, so I am sure she will be highly disappointed, now leave I won't tell you again!" Miss Cackle said.
Finally the girls realised they had lost and it was hopeless, they stood up and left to go and pack as Miss Cackle turned to Esmerelda.
"I am sorry about this Esmerelda, I need to inform the girls parents but we can talk things though properly later" she told the blonde.
Esmerelda nodded and turned to Miss Drill.
"Thank you Miss, for rescuing me" she told her with a smile before she left herself. She doubted Miss Cackle would remember to talk to her but it didn't really matter, finally the bullies were leaving and couldn't torment her anymore and as she caught sight of the time she smiled. It was mirroring time and her punishment was now over. Her punishment had ended today but with all the stuff in the last few hours that had happened she had forgotten.
She ran to the mirror room, knowing she could speak to her sisters finally, beaming despite the pain in her arm. She was finally going to see Ethel and Sybil.