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Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Meeting
The next week the girls returned to Cackles. The sisters wee actually disappointed, they liked living with Julie now, normally they were not upset to leave home but this time they were leaving a proper mother and it was hard for them. Julie drove them back to school not wanting Ethel to fly in her condition and helped them take their bags to their rooms. She hugged each girl and smiled.
"Don't worry, I will see you when you have your scan" Julie told the girls seeing the looks on their faces. Julie kissed each girls cheek before she told them she had to go, she did not tell them she was going to see Miss Cackle though as she thought it might upset them. Julie made her way to the office and knocked.
"Come in" Ada said and Julie walked in smiling slightly.
"Ahh Miss Hubble...what do we owe this..pleasure?" Miss Hardbroom asked saying the last word like she had something stuck in her throat.
"I need to talk to you about the Hallow sisters" Julie told the girls. Ada nodded and monitored for her to sit.
"The placement went badly?" Ada asked not sounding surprised as if she had expected it to.
"Actually it went brilliantly, they are amazing girls but I need to make sure they will be getting the support they need here" Julie replied not caring what reaction the two women had to this.
"What do you mean?" Hecate asked finding it hard to keep the anger out of her voice.
"Well from what I have heard you two think very highly of Esmerelda, which I do as well, she is amazing but she does have sisters you know, you should not be comparing them against one another they are different people" Julie responded her voice becoming angry as she spoke.
"We do no such thing!" Hecate said refusing to believe they do that.
"You told Ethel BEFORE her entrance exam not to bother trying as she will never be as good as Esmerelda, what kind of prep talk is that?" Julie asked the two woman who glanced at each other awkwardly.
"We didn't mean it like that, it wasn't like that" Ada told Julie thinking she was thinking to much into this.
"Well it was like that to Ethel, look Ethel is going to be a mother soon, she needs support, to be told she can do it and will go far, not told she will never be as successful as Esmerelda" Julie told the women knowing now it was more important than ever to know Ethel had a solid support network. It was going to be difficult for Ethel to raise a baby, heck it was difficult for Julie and she was an adult.
"Ethel has being complaining about us?" Miss Cackle asked upset the girl had been talking about them behind their back.
"Actually it was Esmerelda, she is really upset, you know she hates it when you shove her sisters aside like they are a waste of space? She hates when you talk about her successes at their suspense, you know nothing about Esmerelda clearly if you can't see that" Julie told them and she watched the look of amazement that crossed their features. Clearly they were shocked Esmerelda did not like being spoke about like she is the best thing since sliced bread.
"The girl is talented" Hecate told Julie "You want us to lie to her about that?" Hecate asked in a way that said she was shocked.
"No of course not, but you should be telling Ethel and Sybil that through determination and hard work they can achieve just as much as their sister but of course the stupid code does not make that possible" Julie sighed in response. She could not believe witches still lived in the stone ages where they were ruled by a set of rules.
"The code is NOT stupid" Hecate said highly insulted as she defended her precious code.
"Oh yes it is, the eldest child receives everything, what kind of rubbish is that? I mean you think there is only one person like Agatha in this world, should an older sibling like her be given everything? No of course not, it is a flawed code and if you can't see that it makes me realise how blind you are, well you must be anyway, I have had Esmerelda for two weeks and discovered she has being self-harming for more than a year, how you failed to notice baffles me, the signs were obvious" Julie went on. She honestly was not happy with the treatment the blondes had received. Ada had favourites, one of who was Mildred and Julie was glad she liked her daughter so much but she had to realise she had a whole school of pupils not just a few pupils she liked.
At the revelation Esmie self-harmed Ada and Hecate both gasped out loud. They could not believe someone as in control as Esmerelda would do that. She always seemed to be coping.
"Esmerelda hurts herself?" Ada asked shocked to hear that.
"Yes, if you spent more time trying to bother to look into the girls instead of your results in lessons you would know that" Julie responded. She knew it was not that fair to blame them entirely. Esmie was good at hiding secrets and she had not being at school when she started doing it. Still Julie had never seen such a sad child in all her life, it was clear as day something was bothering her but no-one had tried to find out what.
"We have happy children here" Ada replied proudly knowing her pupils were happy and healthy and Julie knew she was wrong. She suspected most of the students pretended to be happy like Esmerelda but she wasn't going to say that. She had come to talk to the teachers about something much more important.
"Well right now that can wait, I need to talk to you about how to report an incident" Julie asked them. She had no idea how this worked in this world and she needed to know how.
"Report what type of incident?" Hecate asked her eyeing her suspiciously.
Julie didn't want to tell them. She wanted to deal with this herself but she didn't know how to go about it, and her being a non-witch would probably not being taken seriously.
"Esmerelda was being hit by her parents when she was still at home" Julie told the women expecting them to gasp and be shocked but they didn't. They didn't seem to react much.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" Julie asked them as if they were stupid.
"We heard but we can't do anything about it" Hecate replied seriously as she looked at the curly-haired woman like she was annoying her now.
"What? How can you not do anything?" Julie asked in amazement at what she had just being told.
"Discipline is very different in our world to yours" Ada replied simply, giving her a reason and Julie felt sick at what she had said.
"Wait...you are saying in your world it is okay for parents to hit their children?" Julie asked feeling disgusted as she even asked the question.
"Well of course we don't condon it" Ada replied trying to explain to Julie "But it is a rule in the witches code" Ada explained to her.
"There is a rule that parents are allowed to hit their children?" Julie asked not understanding at all.
"No, not quite" Hecate told her rolling her eyes.
"Then what are you talking about?" Julie asked feeling herself becoming frustrated.
"There is a rule that other witches are not to interfere with other witches affairs, families are not to be judged by other people" Ada explained with a sympathetic smile.
Julie scoffed. She couldn't help it. So according to the code these people could hit Esmerelda, mentally abuse their children and abandon their pregnant daughter but no-one could do anything because it will be 'interfering' with the way they chose to parent their children? Julie had never heard anything so ridiculous in her entire life and not for the first time she was glad Mildred had been raised in the non-magical world and did not have this stupid code hanging over her at all times like other witches. Julie felt so sad to think how many children were abused or killed by their caregivers but because it would be 'interfering' no-one does anything. It made her feel physically sick. Julie stood up and smiled as politely as she could.
"Well I can't overthrow the code" Julie said with a small smile even if she wanted to shake these women and tell them to stop being controlled by a code. "But I will be talking to Esmerelda and Mildred, I don't want to hear anymore of the sisters being upset because of something you said" Julie told the women not caring how threatening she sounded.
"Miss Hubble….you do realise you are only fostering them right? They are not yours?" Ada said worried the woman was becoming way to attached.
"My job as a foster carer is to make sure they are happy and healthy and that is what I am going to do, goodbye" Julie said leaving the office fuming inside at what had happened in the office.
She knew she couldn't do anything but she was not going to let Mr and Mrs Hallow hurt their daughters anymore, she was going to protect them now no matter what, the girls needed a mother and she was going to fill that role.