"You do hate me?"
Mildred Hubble, otherwise known to some of her worst critics as the Worst Witch disliked the question. In many ways Miss Hardbroom had hit the nail on the head; there were many things she both admired and yet despised about the woman. Indeed, Mildred was stunned to find herself confronting the feared deputy headmistress, the true power behind the thrown, and all-around most powerful witch in the school, finding her so vulnerable.
Rumours abounded in the school. Mildred had come across her fair share of rumours, but the rumour Miss Hardbroom had resigned from the staff in answer to Mr Hallow's proposal to renovate and rebuild the castle had a lot of proof backing it up.
Mildred remembered how HB had been when Mr Hallow had installed computers in the Potions lab; if she didn't need any more proof the woman hated technology, she had it in spades then, and this was probably too much for her.
Mildred could understand HB's points of view. The woman didn't like change. To her, the castle was her home, and it was like someone was bulldozing through her comfortable world and destroying everything about it.
But at the same time, there was a lot about Cackles she didn't like with its stone walls and cold stone floors and how there weren't carpets, rugs, or windowpanes to keep the warmth in.
She hated the cold bedrooms.
She hated the terrible food.
She wished there were more
And yet…Mildred did not want HB to leave. It was weird since most would think she would want the woman gone. Mildred had felt sorry for HB when she'd found her here, down in the dungeons, alone. It made sense since few came down here.
Mildred could see Hardbroom expected her answer to be a resounding yes. "I hate it when you jump out at us from nowhere," she took a second to reflect on all the times she and her friends had been chatting, only for Hardbroom to pop out of nowhere. "It's like you're there all the time, listening to us." She had especially hated that since some things should have been private. "Are you?"
Hardbroom's face was typically blank, but it twitched a little bit, hiding her emotions. "It's a professional secret," she replied making Mildred sigh under her breath, she should have known better than to expect a clear answer. "What else do you hate?"
Mildred shifted sheepishly and more than a little nervously. She didn't know how Hardbroom would react to this one. But at the same time, she wondered why she cared so much now. "And when you shout at us."
"I do not shout!" There was a sheer offence in Hardbroom's voice as she glared back at Mildred.
"Well, it sounds like it to us," Mildred let Hardbroom take that before she added, "and when you pick on me."
"I-," Hardbroom spluttered a little, staring at Mildred like she wanted to come up with a smart, witty answer. "Oh, yes, well, it's just-."
"I know I must irritate you," Mildred was about to say more, but Hardbroom turning her head took the wind out of her sails.
"It's the way you wander around in a dream Mildred and always get away with everything, always coming up smelling of roses, always saving the school from wicked witches," As Hardbroom went on in a long unbroken sentence, Mildred sighed under her breath, asking herself if the woman was proud of her instead of mocking her as it seemed, "or rescuing some wizard from being a frog…and never doing up your bootlaces."
Mildred realised Hardbroom was looking down at her boots, and typically how they were unlaced. Mildred quickly bent down to tie them; the problem with these boots was they weren't made to her size so she usually didn't bother.
"Oh, forget it Mildred, forget it!" Hardbroom sighed. "It doesn't matter now."
"Why are you leaving, Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred decided to get to the heart of the situation.
Hardbroom looked calm as always but there was something in her expression and posture Mildred couldn't identify since HB wasn't the type to show off her feelings. "Because I only know one tune, Mildred Hubble, and I can't dance to any other."
"You mean the plans Mr Hallow has for the place?"
"What do you know about that?"
"Only a few basics," Mildred shrugged. "I know Mr Hallow wants to expand the school and rebuild it. That's why you want to leave, it will be too different?"
Hardbroom closed her eyes and nodded, and Mildred felt more pity for the woman. Her earlier thoughts the school was home had just come true.
"Yes," Hardbroom replied.