"Miss Hardbroom?" Millie asked, peeking over her book. "I left you the last reindeer" she said hopefully. Sighing, Miss Hardbroom set down her book.
"I shall receive an excellent essay tomorrow" Miss Hardbroom reminded. Nodding, Millie pushed the plate with the reindeer on it towards her. Miss Hardbroom winced as the ceramic grated across the wood table.
"Come on, Miss Witchy its just a cookie it won't hurt ya" her mum called from the kitchen where she had been cleaning up. Miss Hardbroom scowled at that, and gingerly took the cookie inspecting it, then glancing at Mildred's rather artistic completed ones on the opposite rack. She raised an eyebrow.
"Did it not occur to you Mildred Hubble that reindeer are normally brown in color?" she remarked, frowning at the whimsy of Mildred's green and red striped reindeer.
"It's art, Miss Hardbroom- anything can be anything you want" Mildred said shrugging.
"So there are no…..rules?" Miss Hardbroom sputtered. Millie grinned.
"Nope" she said popping the P. Miss Hardbroom stared down at the cookie, glaring at it. It seemed to be mocking her. She couldn't recall the last time she had been asked to do something creative. Clearly she had blocked out the unnecessary memory. Hesitantly she grasped a spreading knife, choosing white frosting, "the most sensible color available" and began to spread the frosting evenly over the cookie. When she had finished she set it back on the plate and retrieved her book with an almost desperate air.
"That's it! That's a very sad reindeer Miss Hardbroom, he's got no face!" Mildred exclaimed.
"Absurd, cookies are not sad. They are cookies" Miss Hardbroom growled. All of a sudden, her mum, who had come up behind her teacher, was intently reading over her mentor's shoulder.
"Ooohh what's that, paprika I use that in the house…that's a potions ingredient" her mum said asked, winking at Millie.
"It's fairly common in many potions if you must know Ms. Hubble…." And suddenly Mildred had snatched the book out of her hands. "Mildred Hubble!" she cried. "Give me that book immediately" Millie tossed it to her mum, who quickly sat on it.
"Oh calm down, HB, you'll get it back when you finish the reindeer" Fuming, Miss Hardbroom snatched the cookie off the rack so hard, the others nearly went flying. After glaring at both of them for a few minutes, she sat down abruptly setting to work on the cookie, muttering curses as she did so. Her mum actually did start reading the book, mispronouncing all the names loudly from the corner chair, just to set her off, Millie giggling on her lap.
An hour later, it was time for bed, and as her mum made up Miss Hardbroom's room, Millie sleepily walked up to the kitchen table where Miss Hardbroom was still working furiously. The reindeer had, an albeit sloppy face- with golden sprinkle antlers and hooves. Around his neck, he wore a familiar timepiece necklace, complete with roman numerals and little icing hands.
"Wow, Miss Hardbroom that's amazing" Millie said, coming out of her daze and sitting down beside her. "Just like the one you have" Miss Hardbroom startled slightly, smiling a bit at Mildred. "It was my grandmothers. And since these reindeer will be flying around the world in one night, they will likely need very good time management skills" she said matter of factly. And as she was speaking she felt a weight fall onto her shoulder. A very sleepy Mildred Hubble, was now leaning her head on her shoulder, still blearily staring down at the cookie.
"It looks like the reindeer all the other reindeers are scared of" Mildred yawns. "S'the best cookie ever." Millie mumbled. Miss Hardbroom froze at first, but feeling Mildred's breathing even out began to panic just a bit. She wanted to call to Ms. Hubble, but she didn't want to wake the girl. She wanted to transfer to her rooms immediately, run away from the strangely maternal emotions that seemed to be bubbling up inside her lately. She raised her hand, but made the mistake of glancing back at Mildred. She sleepily nestled into her pale collarbone, and something in Hecate cracked ever so slightly. As gracefully as she could, she gently maneuvered Mildred into her arms, and transferred into her room.
Tabby was curled asleep on the foot of Mildred's bed, and looked up suspiciously as Miss Hardbroom came in. He gave a warning meow, and Hecate gave him a stern look. "Don't make me call Morgana" she said lowly, and Tabby gave her a quiet hiss, before settling back to sleep. It was a bit of an empty threat, since Morgana had refused to come out of her mistresses' rooms upon arrival.
She tucked Mildred into bed with a tenderness that surprised her, finding herself genuinely concerned with making sure her pupil was comfortable. Mildred's eyes blinked open just a bit.
"Good night mum" she breathed. Miss Hardbroom was somehow very rocked by this simple mistake, so much so that she instantly froze in the doorway to Mildred's room, watching her sleep in a terrified state of shock. She was so consumed by her own emotions that she didn't hear footsteps behind her until a familiar presence bumped into her back.
"Sorry Miss Hardbroom…is Millie…" Ms. Hubble said apologetically, peering around the frozen figure. "Oh, look at that…all tuckered out" She quietly brushed by the frozen Miss Hardbroom to give her daughter a little kiss on the forehead, before quietly shutting the door.
"I think I should retire as well" Miss Hardbroom said brusquely. "Good night" she said quickly, moving towards her room.
"Miss Hardbroom" Ms. Hubble said with a knowing smile. "Thank you"
"For what?" Miss Hardbroom asked puzzled.
"For tonight. Mildred had a great time with you" Ms. Hubble said playfully, in a "duh" kind of way. "So as a mum, I'm saying thank you for making her happy"
"Oh" Miss Hardbroom said awkwardly. "Well….you are welcome"