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Chapter Text

Mildred left the two teachers with the news she would not be taking Miss Pentangle up on her offer of a scholarship. As she walked away to join her friends, Pippa and Hecate looked at each other and exchanged glances. "You've got yourself a great young witch there," Pippa said to her old friend. She was so pleased that only moments ago, she and her childhood friend had put aside their differences and made up.

Hecate nodded her agreement and turned to her friend. "I-I'm glad we've had this conversation… Pipsqueak." She managed to choke out.

Pippa leaned over and pecked her old friend on the cheek. She took her hand "I really must be leaving now Hiccup, it's such a long flight back to Pentangles." With that the pink witch transferred herself to join her students who were waiting in the courtyard.

Hecate was left with a rather unfamiliar pink tinge to her face, as she clutched her cheek where moments ago her friend's lips had been.

Hecate Hardbroom transferred into her chambers. She was greeted by the warmth of the fire she had magically ignited in the hearth moments ago. Despite the warmth, the usually stoic teacher was shaking.

Neat shelves of books decorated every wall, and her purple velvet armchair beckoned to her beside the fire. The draw to read one of her many familiar tomes on potions was strong, but the thoughts racing around her head were stronger. Hecate needed comfort. She also needed to calm down.

She walked slowly to the kettle. Tea, she needed tea. Still shaking, Hecate reached into her cupboards for a specific blend. Chamomile with lavender, to relieve her of stress and bring her calm. Once the water was boiled and added to the tea to brew, Hecate stirred in a teaspoon of honey. Watching the golden liquid dissolve into the drink as she stirred soothed her. She took a sip.

Hecate breathed out in a slow exhale, and relaxed her broomstick straight back. Of course, she was never truly relaxed. Her mind was racing a mile a minute. Pippa…The fuchsia clad witch was all she could think about. She touched her cheek again.

It wasn't just that the headmistress of a rival school was dominating her thoughts; every time Hecate thought about Pippa, her chest tightened and she felt breathless.

Hopefully lights out duty would distract her. Hecate had always enjoyed the solitary stroll around the castle before bed. It allowed her to decompress.

Hecate lit her lantern, gesturing to her familiar to join her on lights out duty. The sleek black cat meowed, sensing her mistress's uneasiness. She pushed herself against Hecate's ankles, and purred when her mistress pushed back affectionately.

The mistress and her cat transferred quickly out of her rooms to the first year's corridor. Over the years, Hecate had perfected the art of silently gliding past the rooms, listening intently for any sign of tomfoolery.

As Hecate paced slowly down the cold flagstone corridor, she seemed to see Pippa in every corner. Each shadow reminded the witch of her childhood friend, and it hurt. She felt a soft pang of longing as she recalled how the two young witches had once ran between bedrooms in the night to share sweets and spooky ghost stories. Hecate felt angered by these silly feelings. Where where they coming from? Hecate continued on, frustration building as she could not clear her mind.

As she rounded a bend, a yellow sliver of light reached lazily from under a door. A door that all too often had light coming from under it. Suddenly furious, the formidable witch threw open the door. "Mildred Hubble!" She bellowed. "It is long past lights out, and you still have your light on," the young girl jumped, and turned to face her form tutor. Hecate felt a touch of guilt as she noticed the young girl had been reading a textbook, but the rage fuelled her to reprimand the girl further. "I expect to see 600 lines on why an early bedtime is beneficial on my desk immediately after breakfast tomorrow, and you will be joining me in detention for a week" She said.

Mildred stared "Miss Hardbroom, I'm sorry, i-it's just that everything went so well today, with the spelling bee, I really enjoyed it… I can't sleep-" but she was interrupted by a cold stare from her teacher.

"I mean. Yes, Miss Hardbroom." Her teacher gave a curt nod and with that, she vanished.

Hecate finished the rest of her rounds without further incidents.

Back in her chambers, Hecate began to ready herself for bed. She used a soft navy flannel to wipe the dark red lipstick from her face and unwound her tight bun, removing hairpin after hairpin. One could never have too many hairpins. She placed them carefully in an ebony trinket box on her bedside table, ready to be used the next morning. As her loose curls began to frame her usually stony face, Pippa flashed into her mind again. Hecate smiled, then steeled herself. What was she thinking? She shook the remainder of her hair free, shaking her head once more to clear her head.

Not one to use magic for such activities, Hecate methodically changed from her long black teaching robes into her nightdress. Naturally, it was also black and floor length, but it was softer. As she slipped out of her teaching robes, Pippa's face again appeared in her thoughts. Enough. She chastised herself. Why could she not get this blonde haired witch out of her mind? She hadn't thought about her for years. Or at least, not with such intensity.

Hecate lay down on her wrought iron bed and sighed angrily. Pippa would not leave her thoughts. She tried to distract herself by mentally listing the ingredients in a complex protection potion she had discovered in an ancient book earlier that week. Rosemary for alertness, sage for healing… It was no use. She had to see Pippa's face.

Hecate sat up and swung her long legs gracefully over the side of her bed, landing her feet into her soft but sensible black slippers. She wrapped her black satin dressing gown around herself and walked over to her dressing table. Twirling her fingers elegantly, she transformed her long dark hair into an intricate updo. The deputy head teacher smiled slightly, Pippa had taught her this particular spell many years ago when they had still been friends.

A snap of her fingers and the candles on the dressing table lit with such intensity, Hecate found herself blinking to remove the sears of the bright flames from her eyes. A moment of doubt swept over her as she went to mirror her old friend. What if Pippa didn't want to speak to her? Hecate couldn't bear the thought of rejection. She groaned and leant forward using her fingers to support her temples, the mirror reflected the witch caught in her indecision.

The appearance of a face that was not her own in the mirror startled the witch out of her worries. She scrambled quickly to answer the mirror call, not used to being caught off guard.

Pippa's faced beamed back at her through the mirror. "Hiccup!" she exclaimed in delight. "You're still awake," The blonde witch continued to smile. Hecate gave a tight lipped smile and nodded. "I'm glad to see you made it back to Pentangle's safely," she said lamely. Now faced by the beautiful witch, she found herself rather spellbound.

Pippa laughed at her friend's rubbish attempt at conversation. "I was thinking, we have so much to catch up on - we really should meet again soon." She smiled again at her friend who suddenly looked quite pale in the candlelight. "That is… If you would like to?" She asked.

Chapter Text

Hecate arose earlier than usual, thoughts of Pippa Pentangle and their conversation had plagued her sleep. Why had she agreed for Pippa to come to tea at Cackle's tonight? She felt nervous even at the thought of it. She was still not sure what to make of their newly rekindled friendship, if you could call it that yet. Surely the glamorous, popular witch wouldn't really want to be friends with her? Hecate didn't have many friends. Her closest confident was her colleague and boss, Ada. In moments of self doubt, Hecate often wondered if Ada would still be her friend without the confines of the school forcing them to spend time together.

She quickly dressed in her usual dark robes, and put her hair in a practical tight bun. She glanced in the mirror, and satisfied with her appearance, the witch transferred herself to the dining hall.

A large cauldron of Miss Tapioca's signature porridge sat on a bench at the head of the otherwise empty hall. Upon finding that no one else was yet awake, she breathed a sigh of relief. After her angry outburst to Mildred the night before, she wasn't sure she was ready to deal with more students quite yet. She ladled herself a lumpy bowl of porridge and transferred with the bowl back to the comfort of her chambers.

Once back in her chambers, Hecate grimaced at the grey sludge in her bowl. Even after years of teaching at Cackle's Academy, she had still not gotten used to the appalling food. The witch took the offending porridge to her cupboards and attempted to make it edible. If only magical food had nutritional value, she mused. She added a generous helping of the honey from the previous evening's tea and used her magic to warm the porridge.

After her disappointing breakfast, Hecate transferred herself to the potions room. She had always taken pride in how orderly and well stocked her classroom was. Knowing that her students had access to high quality ingredients was of the utmost importance when teaching about their potency. Her upcoming meet with Pippa crossed her mind once more, alongside the feeling of trepidation in her stomach. Although maybe that was the porridge's doing.

She began to busy herself prepping the ingredients for this morning's lesson, beauty spells. This was a popular potion with the girls, who seemed to favour their looks over their academic achievement. Hecate snorted derisively at the thought. Of course there was always one student who added too much thyme and ended up with foot long eyebrows. Smiling at the image, Hecate had a quiet chuckle to herself. She already knew who that would be.

She started carefully but nimbly stripping thyme leaves from their stems, sorting the green leaves from those that had began to turn brown. She settled into a steady rhythm, enjoying the soothing repetition that allowed her to clear her mind. This was soon interrupted, and here was a knock at the classroom door.

"Come in," she waved her hand to open the door. Much to her surprise, Mildred Hubble stumbled in. "You're up early Miss Hubble," Hecate said. Mildred nodded shyly.

She placed a hand written document on her potions teacher's desk, which Hecate immediately recognised as the lines she had set the clumsy student the night before. At least the girl had taken her punishment on the chin. Mildred opened her mouth to apologise for being up after lights out. Hecate cut in "Mildred, you may think I am being harsh on you, but you know the rules. As you are here early, why don't we begin your first detention with you helping me to prepare potions ingredients."

Relieved that her teacher hadn't shouted at her again , Mildred agreed and moved next to her teacher. Hecate began to show her how to prepare each ingredient properly, telling her young student the properties of each, and how to get the best results from the array of magical plants on the table. She noted that the girl took much more care when she was learning in a one on one environment, and was surprised when the girl even began to ask questions to expand her knowledge further. Hecate loved to talk about potions, and not enough students were interested in the reasons behind the properties of the herbs. She began to deliberately steer the conversation towards the beauty potions the first years would be brewing later that morning to warn the young witch of the adverse affects of incorrect ingredient proportions, particularly thyme.

The learning moment was cut short by the loud clattering of a copper pot full of ragwort hitting the floor. Mildred yelped in surprise at her clumsiness and looked embarrassed. She hurried to scoop the golden flowers from the floor. "Sorry Miss Hardbroom, I didn't notice it was so close to the edge," Mildred apologised, annoyed at herself for ruining the first time Miss Hardbroom had not been angry with her. "No need to worry girl, no harm was done." The older witch snapped her fingers, and the pot and its contents returned to the table. Confused at this response, Mildred looked at her teacher with her eyes wide and bated breath. Surely her teacher had a quip for her careless student. Even Hecate was surprised at how calmly she had reacted to her student's clumsiness. Pippa's cheery influence was clearly rubbing off on her already. She shook her head at the thought.

Hecate quickly redirected Mildred's attention to some burdock root which required turning into a powder using a pestle and mortar. Sighing at her student's half heartened actions, she snatched the pestle and mortar back and began to grind the root with strong, precise movement. "It won't ever turn into a powder with such a pathetic attempt, Mildred," she said, enunciating Mildred's name with particular emphasis. "Here, try again, but this time with purpose." The older witch passed the half powdered root back to her student, and was pleased to see her take her advice on board. "Very good," she commented.

Mildred was almost disappointed to see her classmates arrive. "Getting extra help with your potions?" sneered Ethel as she took a seat, "You'll need it if you ever want to pass your end of term exams." Mildred looked at the ground embarrassed. Was it worse to admit she was stuck in early morning detention, or the fact that she very much would like extra help with her potions?

Luckily she didn't have to answer as Maud and Enid came in. "Millie! We missed you at breakfast this morning, where were you?" Maud exclaimed. Mildred left Miss Hardbroom with the finely powdered burdock root and a small smile. "Early morning detention, I was helping Miss Hardbroom with ingredient prep" she explained, gesturing almost proudly at the pile of fresh ingredients.

"Enough, girls," said their teacher. "Please take your places at your cauldrons, this morning we will be working on beauty spells." A wave of excitement spread through the girls, friends turning to each other in glee, wondering how a beauty spell would change their classmates. Ethel opened her mouth to make a callous comment towards Mildred, but was interrupted by her teacher. "Your ingredients and instructions are on page 89 of your potions textbooks, you may begin." Miss Hardbroom said.

Immediately the girls sprung from their seats, racing to gather enough ingredients for their potions.

Mildred, Maud and Enid returned to their bench with their arms full of magical ingredients. As they followed the recipe, Mildred noticed the recipe called for thyme. She racked her brain, wondering why thyme was flagging something up for her. Miss Hardbroom must have mentioned it in the morning, what did she say? It was something about too much… Or too little. Mildred puzzled over it for a moment and then remembered - too much will cause something bad to happen! She didn't catch what would happen as her teacher had been talking about it when the pot of ragwort had crashed onto the floor. Triumphant, Mildred returned her focus to the potion her friends were making, and noticed with disappointment that the pile of thyme had already been deposited into the potion. She hoped that Maud had been the one to add it in, she would have measured it correctly.

The potions turned a pretty lavender colour, and the excited class all rushed to grab spoons of their potions to try. Mildred breathed a sigh of relief that her group's potion was the same colour as everyone else's. As girls around the room took sips of their potions hot from the cauldron, their appearances started to ever so slightly change.

Miss Hardbroom watched amused from her desk as the girls started to look like airbrushed versions of themselves. Disappointed, Ethel looked at her reflection and exclaimed "I still look like me, but not real." Many other girls nodded their heads in agreement, they were still all recognisable as themselves, but something just didn't quite look real. It was as if their skin has been replaced by a thin layer of wax, and the quirks that made them them had been ironed out.

As with most spells covered in her classes, this was a great opportunity to offer the girls a life lesson. Hecate stood up to give her usual "Beauty comes from within and looks won't get you very far" speech, when giggles erupted from the middle of the classroom. Mildred, Maud and Enid had just tried their potion. Their eyebrows began to sprout long flowing hairs that came down to their shoulders.

"Enough!" Exclaimed Miss Hardbroom, looking for the cause of the commotion. The girls turned their heads to face their angry teacher, their eyebrows swinging around following the movement of their faces. The teacher clicked her fingers and everyone's faces returned to normal.

"Can anyone tell me the reason this happened?" Enquired Miss Hardbroom menacingly.

Mildred tentatively raised her hand. "Mildred Hubble," she said.

"Uhhh, I think, um it's, um too much thyme?" She said, grinning after she had said it, sure she was right.

"Correct," said her teacher, "and if you knew this, then why did you still add too much?" she asked, glaring at her young student. This girl was insufferable with the mistakes she made. Ethel stifled a laugh at the back of the classroom.

"I uh, must have missed that step?" Mildred offered, immediately knowing that was the wrong this to say to her teacher.

Miss Hardbroom's face angered and she said "So you admit you weren't paying attention to your potion? Pity. That will be another week of detention, Mildred Hubble." She stared at Mildred's disappointed face, she had so much potential, but made so many easy mistakes. "Class dismissed." Miss Hardbroom vanished before Mildred could respond.

Hecate appeared silently in the kitchen behind Miss Tapioca, The cook had been napping in her favourite chair next to the warm oven, but the arrival of the other witch caused her to jump up and spill soup onto the hob. "Don't you knock? Complained the witch in her Birmingham accent.

"I would like your assistance with something," Hecate said. "I am entertaining an old friend for tea this evening, and I would like to be able to offer her some food too. Would you be able to provide us with some cakes and sandwiches?"

"What's in it for me?" Replied the cook obstinately. Hecate frowned, why did everyone have to make things so difficult.

"What is in it for you, is that I don't tell Miss Cackle that you have been sleeping on the job" she replied bluntly.

The cook nodded, caught out. "Okay, okay, but you have to collect them from the kitchen later, I'm not bringing them to you." Hecate agreed, and transferred herself out of the kitchen.

Back in her classroom, Hecate had a free period. While Hecate usually enjoyed the quietness of a free period, she found she couldn't focus on her marking. She was too nervous for this evening. The potions teacher flitted between activities, finding for the first time in years, she had no focus at all. Sighing in resignation, the teacher transferred herself outside the door of Miss Cackle's office. Perhaps Ada could help quell her nerves. Hecate gave a sharp knock on the wooden door and entered when invited.

"Ah Hecate," smiled her colleague. "Do sit down, I've just brewed a pot of tea." Hecate sidled woodenly into the chair opposite her friend and accepted a freshly poured cup of tea. The two friends had been having tea together for many years, and Ada no longer felt the need to ask how her deputy head took her tea. She could tell by the mood of her colleague. Today was a three sugars day.

Ada didn't have to wait long to find out the root of Hecate's discomfort, Hecate opened her mouth and said matter of factly "I have invited Pippa Pentangle to tea tonight, I hope that is okay." Ada nodded, "I did hope that seeing each other again at the spelling bee would bring the two of you together," she smiled. "You used to be so close." Hecate shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"I was wondering if we might make use of the clearing in the woods, the evenings are becoming lighter now, and we are less likely to be disturbed by students..." Hecate stopped herself, tailing off into a whisper. She was embarrassed to admit she didn't want to be seen with Pippa by her students. They were just friends after all. It wasn't embarrassing to have friends. Ada gave a knowing smile. "Of course." she said. "why don't you take the rest of today off to prepare, I'm sure you will have lots to catch up on" she suggested to her tall colleague.

"I couldn't possibly-" protested Hecate, she had proudly never missed a single lesson's teaching in her whole career at Cackle's. As if reading her thoughts, Ada interrupted "All will be taken care of Hecate, an afternoon off will do you good, you never miss lessons."

Hecate finished her tea in silence and thanked her friend. Perhaps Ada really would want to be her friend outside of Cackle's she thought hopefully.

Back in her chambers again, Hecate set about feeding her familiar. Morgana meowed gratefully as her mistress placed a bowl of cat food on the floor by the fireplace.

She tidied a few items needlessly before realising she only had a few hours until Pippa's arrival. Hecate was surprised at how eager, yet on edge she felt for Pippa's impending arrival. She hardly dared think about it for too long, she couldn't admit to herself that perhaps what she felt for Pippa was more - no, she mustn't let herself think like that. Pippa was only an old school friend. Nothing more. She couldn't be anything more.

Trying to distract herself, Hecate moved into her bedroom. What was she going to wear? Hecate hadn't had to think about her outfit in such a long time. Every day she wore a long black robe, and when necessary a black flying cape cape and hat too. Perhaps too much black, she thought, remembering Pippa's comment about it being last century. Hecate opened her wardrobe and looked at her clothes, biting her lip in thought. Almost everything she owned was black. She reached in and pulled a few dresses to the side to reveal yet another black dress. This one, however had a layer of rich dark purple silk that showed through the black lace of the skirt when it caught the light. Realising she was now tight for time, Hecate snapped her fingers and the new dress replaced her usual teaching attire.

Now for her hair. Hecate was a big fan of a practical bun, but would Pippa think her stuffy? She moved her fingers around her hair, expertly using her magic to flick through multiple hairstyles until she found one she liked. She settled on a bun again, but this time with a neat braid encircling it.

She bid her cat farewell and transferred to the kitchen to collect the food she had requested earlier.

Chapter Text

The dark green carpet of ancient woodland parted way as Pippa Pentangle began her graceful descent to the castle. Call her old fashioned, but she wanted to fly over the walls of the castle on her broomstick rather than transfer to meet her friend. Pippa was also not certain she could transfer the whole distance from Pentangle's to Cackle's without needing a long nap immediately after. It was a very long way. Hecate had told her to be inconspicuous with her approach to the castle, but Pippa rarely did inconspicuous. Still, for her friend she had donned a dusky pink flying cape, rather than her usual bright pink one. Pippa supposed that as the teacher had her formidable reputation to uphold, she didn't want her students to think that she had friends.

As she flew closer to the boundary of the castle, she felt her heart leap with excitement. Hecate Hardbroom had been ignoring her for longer than she cared to think about, and now she had invited her to tea.

The skilled witch descended, and dismounted regally. Taking a deep breath and smoothing her dress, she stepped into the courtyard.

"WATCH OOOOUUUTTTT AAHHHHHHHHHH HELLLLLLLLPPPP!" came a loud cry as a young witch came wheeling past her. The young witch was barely clinging to a broomstick as it thrashed backwards and forwards through the sky in front of her. Her long brown plaits flying out behind her. Pippa immediately recognised her as the young witch who had impressed her so much at the spelling bee.

She took a deep breath and waved her hand. Instantly the broomstick stopped its wayward flying and steadied itself.

The girl descended, and dismounted shakily. Holding her broom, she turned to her saviour in shy gratitude, her eyes on her boots. "Thank you," she squeaked out, looking like she half expected to be reprimanded. She looked up "Miss Pentangle! What are you doing here?" Mildred asked the blonde witch in shock, surprised to see her so soon again after the spelling bee.

Pippa laughed. "I'm here for tea with Miss Hardbroom - after the spelling bee, we've decided to make up for lost time."

The girl gawped, she'd not expected this response from the older witch. She frowned. Tea with Miss Hardbroom? She couldn't imagine anything more awkward.

Pippa noticed the girl's shock and opened her mouth to explain further, but the sudden appearance of another witch cut her off. The air immediately cooled and the surroundings seemed to pale and shrink in comparison to the tall witch.

"Mildred Hubble," sneered the other witch. "Did I see you flinging yourself about the sky like a flea infested bat?"

"Miss Hardbroom, it wasn't my fault..." Mildred began, struggling to get her words out. She didn't want to get in trouble with her teacher for the second time that day.

Pippa came to Mildred's rescue, "There's no harm done Hecate. It looks like a spell may have been put on her broom anyway, from the way it was bucking through the sky." Hecate was speechless. She didn't like her discipline to be undermined by anyone. Especially not the headmistress of a rival school. She turned to face Mildred, "I will deal with you later."

Mildred nodded solemnly at her teacher and double took. She noticed that her teacher looked different. She was still the same formidable teacher in a black dress, and she still had the same hard face, but she looked softer somehow. She had changed her formal dress for something slightly prettier, her hair and makeup were slightly different too. Mildred even noted that her teacher had swapped out her signature black nail polish for a slightly more feminine dark purple nail polish, the colour of crushed black cherries.

Before Mildred had time to comment, Miss Hardbroom snapped her long, purple tipped fingers, and the two teachers disappeared. Mildred was left behind in the courtyard with her mouth agape.

Instantly the two women found themselves in Hecate's chambers. "You really shouldn't be so harsh on her," Pippa berated her friend. Hecate looked slightly taken aback, she wasn't used to being told off by anyone. "She reminds me a lot of you, you know," Pippa continued. "Although you were much less clumsy." She added with a giggle at her friends bemused face.

Quickly changing the subject before Hecate could muster a comeback, Pippa turned to survey her surroundings. She was pleasantly surprised by the wood panelled walls and crackling fire. The room was dark, but not imposing. Instead it looked cosy and warm. Books neatly lined every surface, but in true Hecate style, the room did not appear at all cluttered. In front of the fire, a comfortable looking armchair and sofa flanked a solid walnut coffee table. On top of the table sat a wicker picnic basket and neatly folded grey tartan picnic blanket.

"Your chambers really suit you," the blonde witch commented, folding her pink flying cape and placing it with her broom against the door to what she deduced was probably Hecate's bedroom. Hecate quirked an eyebrow. She hoped this was a compliment.

"I imagine the students think I live in a mausoleum," Hecate only half joked. She regularly overheard students in the corridor making comments about her sleeping in a coffin. Pippa laughed at the image. Her friend sometimes really did give off a gothic vampire vibe.

Suddenly embarrassed at seeing her friend in a tight and very flattering pink dress, Hecate lifted the picnic basket from the coffee table and jauntily offered her arm to her friend. Pippa promptly linked arms with her tall friend, and they transferred to the woods.

Pippa gasped at the beauty of the woodland. The clearing was carpeted with soft springy moss and was surrounded by pink foxgloves. Columns of late afternoon sunlight filtered through the canopies that surrounded the clearing, and cheerful birdsong could be heard in the distance. Hecate smiled triumphantly, she knew her friend appreciated beautiful things, and this clearing certainly was that.

Hecate shook out the woollen picnic blanket and lay it on the floor. She awkwardly took a seat on a corner and invited Pippa to sit down too. The blonde witch sat down and smiled.

The silence was pregnant.

"Tea?" Hecate opened the picnic basket and proffered a self heating teapot and two china teacups. Pippa noticed with amusement that they were all decorated with silhouettes of flying witches. Very Hecate, she thought. She accepted her tea, and Hecate pulled a plate of sandwiches and a plate of cakes from the basket.

Desperate to break the silence, Hecate said "This reminds me of our midnight feasts. You always brought the most amazing cakes, Pipsqueak." She took a bite out of a slice of cake.

Relieved, Pippa relaxed. She was so pleased that there seemed to be no hard feelings between Hecate and herself. "Remember that time we were caught after lights out with the box of exploding cupcakes?" She giggled, reaching for a sandwich. "I was washing pink buttercream out of my hair for weeks."

"Only because you didn't know the spell for removing it, besides, I thought pink was your colour." Hecate quipped jovially.

"You always refused to teach me," Pippa said, feigning sadness. Hecate gave a sharp exhale of air, almost like a laugh. "Speaking of buttercream," Pippa continued, licking her thumb. "You have some on your face." The blonde witch leaned forwards and wiped the buttercream from Hecate's face. Hecate turned a shade almost as pink as Pippa's dress.

As day turned to dusk, and dusk turned to nightfall, the two witches continued to laugh, recalling old school memories. Noticing the dark, Hecate waved her hand lazily and suddenly the glade was illuminated by fireflies, glittering amongst the trees.

"Beautiful," breathed Pippa. She lay back on the blanket and gazed up at the sky, now bordered by the fireflies. Hecate lay back uneasily to join her.

Pippa turned to face her friend and propped herself up on one elbow. "Beautiful just like you, Hiccup," she said quietly. Hecate's breath caught. She kept staring straight up at the newly starry sky, not quite knowing how to react.

Pippa thought she was beautiful? Hecate forced herself to take a breath. Friends compliment each other all the time, pull yourself together she told herself.

Pippa reached over with her free hand, and took Hecate's. "I've always thought you were beautiful Hiccup," she repeated, giving Hecate's hand a warm squeeze.

Hecate kept her gaze towards the stars. "Pipsqueak…" she said in barely a whisper. "I-I, y-you've always been the beautiful one, not me." Much to her frustration, a few tears gathered in her eyes. She turned to face Pippa and was surprised to see that the usually very put together witch was also crying. Hecate pulled her hand free from Pippa's grasp.

"Hecate, you have never seen your own beauty, and it is such a travesty," Pippa said, blinking away her tears. She moved herself closer to Hecate and replaced her hand on Hecate's waist. She pulled Hecate towards her, until the two witches' bodies were facing each other. "Please tell me if I'm wrong," her voice changed, nervous now. "I've always felt that we would have been something more than just friends…" She tailed off, and gently caressed Hecate's face. "Even all of these years later, when I heard the spelling bee final was to be held at Cackle's. I could hardly stand the thought of seeing you, but not spending time with you."

Hecate's eyes were wide in shock. This moment played itself out so many times in her mind since she had last seen Pippa, but in no scenario had the pink witch been the one to say those words.

Hecate opened her mouth to reply, but faltered. For once, she didn't know what to say. Instead, almost instinctively, she let her body do the talking. She leaned forward gingerly, and kissed Pippa on her perfect pink lips. Shocked at her own behaviour, she recoiled immediately, certain she had misunderstood Pippa's admission.

Laughing at the surprised witch's almost comical expression, Pippa pulled Hecate back towards her, and kissed her again. She pulled her closer, and closer until their bodies were pressed against each other.

The night grew darker and colder, but the two witches remained embraced. The kiss silently saying all of the things that had been left unsaid.

Their lips only parted when the blonde witch began to shiver in the cold. She had left her flying cape in Hecate's chambers, and cursed herself for the oversight. Hecate wrapped Pippa into a warm tight hug, breathing in the smell of her honeysuckle scented hair. "Stay the night," Hecate murmured into Pippa's neck.

As tempting as it was to spend all night wrapped in Hecate's warm arms, Pippa knew she had to return to Pentangle's. As headmistress, it was her responsibility to be present at the school overnight. "Another time, Hiccup," she said, kissing Hecate's forehead, seeing the disappointment in the other witch's eyes. "I've really enjoyed tonight, you must visit me at Pentangle's soon." She said, sitting up.

Hecate took her hand and transferred the two witches back to her chambers. "At least allow me to transfer you back to Pentangle's," Hecate offered. "It's a long flight back, and I don't want you to be in danger flying alone at night." She knew the reason Pippa preferred long distance broomstick journeys was not for the views.

Pippa hesitated. It was a long flight back, and suddenly back beside the warmth of the fire, she was feeling rather tired. She nodded, and kissed Hecate on the cheek. "Mirror me soon, Hiccup," she said with a smile.

Nervously, Hecate grabbed Pippa's hand, and kissed her one last time. "Goodnight, Pipsqueak," she whispered, and clicked her fingers.

Chapter Text

Alone again, Hecate smiled inwardly to herself. Had everything in the clearing really just happened? She hoped she hadn't been too forward, inviting Pippa Pentangle to stay the night.

The more she replayed the evening in her head, Hecate found herself suddenly feeling horrified at her own actions. The witch didn't know what had come over herself. She was usually so in control of her words and emotions, not a witch to casually invite someone to spend the night on a whim. She shuddered, feeling embarrassed. Pippa must think her such a fool, no wonder she'd been so desperate to get back to Pentangle's. How could she be so stupid?

Hecate turned the evenings events over in her mind as she tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep.

Hecate awoke with a jolt, still stunned by the previous night's events. She must have fallen asleep eventually. She had been tossing and turning all night, worried she had pushed Pippa away after only just getting her back. She felt a mixture of elation at the kiss, and unease at how the night had ended. Her chest hurt at the thought. She could have ruined everything by being so forward. Replaying the evening once more in her head, she recalled that the beautiful blonde witch had said to mirror her soon. She relaxed a little. Surely the witch would not have asked her to mirror soon if she hadn't wanted to speak to her again. Still, she thought, she would have to control herself more in the future.

Glancing at the clock on her oak bedside table, Hecate's eyes widened in shock. She had overslept. Hecate never overslept. Last night's events had quite clearly affected her sleep. Mentally chastising herself for her sloppiness, she quickly dressed, and with a spell, put her dark hair into a tight bun. She smoothed her already wrinkle-less dress and quickly, but precisely put on some red lipstick and black eyeliner. She frowned at her face in the mirror, the dark under eye circles did not suit her. She must get a better night's sleep tonight. Remembering how late she was, she gave a sharp click of her fingers, and left her chambers for the day.

As she materialised in the dining hall, the loud hustle and bustle of the students reminded her of the early morning detentions she had set for Mildred Hubble. Huffing at her own uncharacteristic disorganisation, she transferred to her classroom without getting any breakfast.

Hecate was surprised to see Mildred already waiting outside, ready to begin her early morning detention. "Come in, Mildred Hubble," she said slowly, drawing out every syllable. Mildred jumped. She always disliked how her teacher would appear without warning.

Hecate quickly set Mildred to work chopping mandrake roots into useable cubes for the good fortune potions the fourth years would be brewing that afternoon. "Very good," she commented as she noticed the care Mildred was putting in to make each cube the same size. Mildred smiled proudly.

Encouraged by her teacher's approval, Mildred asked cheerily "Did you have a nice tea with Miss Pentangle?" Hecate scowled. This girl was pushing her luck. "It was perfectly… Adequate, thank you Mildred." Hecate said quickly. She didn't want to divulge anything about her personal life to her students. Even the fact Mildred knew she had met with Pippa for tea was bad enough. "That reminds me," she carried on quickly, to avoid further questions. "We still have the matter of your punishment for your little flying display yesterday to discuss."

Mildred's face fell. "But Miss Hardbroooooom," she whined, "It really wasn't my fault. Someone must have jinxed my broom."

"Do you have any proof?" Hecate asked, her right eyebrow cocked skeptically.

"Well not exactly, but even I'm not that bad at flying…" Mildred began.

"Well Mildred, if you don't have any evidence, how am I expected to believe your little excuse?" Hecate said. "As you are already in detention with me for the next two weeks, I don't expect it would do either of us any favours for me to extend that." Mildred breathed a sigh of relief "Instead," Hecate continued, "I will be setting you extra potions work to do in your free time. We will use your morning detentions to go through your work."

Mildred opened her mouth in indignation, extra potions homework? On top of her normal schoolwork too? This wasn't fair! Before Mildred could say anything, her teacher continued. "Judging by your most recent grades, you could benefit from the extra revision, Mildred. I expect your work to be completed to the highest standard." Mildred's shoulders slumped, this was beyond unfair. "You shall finish preparing the mandrake root this morning, and I will create your first assignment."

The detention continued in silence, with Mildred sullenly chopping the mandrake root, and Hecate flicking through potions textbooks to find a suitable assignment for Mildred. With some annoyance, Hecate noticed the girl had begun to haphazardly chop the mandrake root into irregular shapes of different sizes. She snapped her fingers and vanished the mess her student had made. "You will start again with a fresh root," she said "and this time you will chop them into perfectly matching cubes." Mildred's face was a thunderstorm. "Miss Hubble, you must learn to keep your emotions under control. Just because something does not go your way, does not mean you can spoil your work." Hecate chided.

By the end of the detention, Mildred was glad to be given her homework and be out of the scrutiny of her strict teacher. She quickly scurried away to her first lesson of the day, chanting.

Hecate sat at her desk. Glad to be alone once more. She was very proud of the punishment she had just dished out to Mildred. She knew that if the girl actually tried with these additional assignments, she would be more than capable of passing her end of term exams. If only the girl would actually try.

The first assignment she had set Mildred was to identify and draw all of the ingredients used in a classic sleeping draught. She had seen the girl draw before, and knew it was something she enjoyed. Hopefully it would help the revision stick in her mind.

The potions teacher had a free period first thing, and was looking forward to catching up on her marking from yesterday. First, however, there was something more important for her to do. With a flick of her wrist, she conjured up a small ornate gold mirror, and balanced it precariously against a pile of textbooks. She frowned as she saw how tight her face looked. She tried to relax her muscles, but remained clenching her jaw in anxious anticipation. She couldn't wait any longer to call Pippa. She needed the certainty of knowing how she was feeling about the previous night's happenings.

As she waited for Pippa to pick up, she could hear her heart pounding. The longer she waited for her call to be answered, the louder it seemed to get.

Suddenly Pippa's face appeared in the mirror, smiling happily. "Hiccup! I'm so pleased to see you!" she exclaimed. "I did worry that I might have offended you by returning to my school. You didn't mirror after you transferred me." She pouted, a little crestfallen.

Hecate was taken aback, she hadn't imagined that confident Pippa would have worried about upsetting her. "I was concerned that I may have been too forward," she offered up by way of an explanation. "I do not want you to think that you are just some witch that I would cast aside after…" Hecate trailed off, embarrassed. "Pipsqueak, I value the time we are spending together. I do not want things to feel rushed or forced."

Pippa stifled a giggle. She couldn't imagine Hecate picking her up and dropping her like some kind of one night stand. "My darling Hiccup, of course you weren't too forward. I would have stayed forever if I didn't have the responsibility of my school to look after." She smiled, pleased that Hecate now looked much more relaxed.

Several moments passed in mutual quietness, with the two witches staring longingly at one another through the mirror. Somehow they didn't need words to convey the things they were feeling for one another.

"I've got to dash, Hecate darling." Pippa said sadly, noticing the time. "I have a meeting with the governors about building a new witchball stadium."

Hecate rolled her eyes, of course the blonde witch's school would have the investment for expensive new facilities. "Let's mirror again this evening," Pippa added the last sentence, hoping to confirm to the pale witch in the mirror that she did indeed want to see her again.

Once the mirror has returned to reflecting the room, Hecate smiled. She felt like a large weight had been magically vanished from her shoulders.

Before she had a chance to look at the rather large stack of papers that still needed marking, Hecate was made to jump by the appearance of the school's headmistress at her classroom door. Immediately the warm feeling from her mirror call with Pippa cooled. "Ada!" Said Hecate briskly. Not in the slightest impressed by her colleague's unannounced arrival. She hoped desperately that her older friend had not overheard her conversation with Pippa.

Ada smiled, not noticing her friend's brusque welcome. "Hecate, how was your tea with Miss Pentangle last night?" She asked. She had always been hopeful of a closer relationship between the two schools. It didn't do her girls any favours to not have any interaction with boys. Ethel Hallow's reaction to her male opposition at the spelling bee had been enough evidence of that.

Hecate felt annoyed. Why did everyone feel the need to poke their noses into her business today. "Adequate, I suppose." She replied dryly.

Ada grasped her hands together in jubilation. "Excellent!" She exclaimed. "I have hoped for quite some time to improve the relationship between Cackle's and Pentangle's Academies." She divulged to her deputy. "It would do our girls the world of good to interact with students from a more diverse background."

Hecate froze. Her lips pursed together in a tight horizontal line across her face. Allowing the girls from Cackle's to mix with the students from Pentangle's was a recipe for disaster. The girls had such little respect for traditional witching as it was. However, this would offer her an excuse to see Pippa in person a lot more frequently. She nodded curtly. "Quite." She said.

Hecate could hardly wait for the final lesson of the day to end. She even eschewed the opportunity to reprimand her fourth years when their potions were less than satisfactory.

At dinner, the usually uncompromising teacher didn't notice the raucous behaviour of some rowdy second years as a food fight broke out. This happened much to the intrigue of Miss Drill and Mr Rowan-Webb. They exchanged amused glances and chuckles as Hecate absentmindedly pushed her food around her plate.

Hecate startled, feeling the eyes of the two teachers burning into her neck She turned to face them. "I suppose you have nothing better to do than stare?" She accused. "Am I the only teacher to care about discipline in this school?" The teachers turned back to their plates, with feigned seriousness on their faces.

Rising from her seat, Hecate addressed the group of loud students as they continued flinging food between themselves. "Silence!" she bellowed. The dining hall all turned to face the angry teacher. "What is the meaning of this behaviour?" She exclaimed at the now sheepish second years. "You will be spending the rest of your evening scrubbing the floors clean of the mess you have made, and you will do it without magic." She said vindictively. Satisfied the poor behaviour had been stopped, she sat back down and attacked the food on her plate with her fork.

Relief waved over Hecate when the last students finally put their plates on the trolley to be taken to the kitchen. She set the second years to work with their punishment with the promise she would be back in two hours to check on their progress. The formidable mistress raised her hand and disappeared.

In her chambers, Hecate readied herself for her impending call with Pippa. She studied her face in the mirror, frowning. When had she become so old? All of a sudden, her tight bun started to give her a headache. She cast a complicated spell to create a more casual hairstyle. She settled for a half-up, half down style. Her long black waves cascaded down her back, with the top pieces of her hair twisted intricately into a plait at the back of her head. She hummed the school song as she made herself a cup of earl grey, and placed a bowl of pilchards on the floor for Morgana. Morgana purred and tucked in happily.

Satisfied that she was ready to see Pippa again, she sat down in front of her mirror.

"Pipsqueak," she breathed as her friend's face appeared in the mirror for the second time that day. "How did your meeting with the governors go?" She asked.

Pippa laughed, "Surely we have more exciting things to talk about than school business, Hiccup." She said. "But if you must know, it went really well. Perhaps once the stadium is built, we can host a joint Pentangles and Cackle's witchball tournament to commemorate its opening?" Pippa smiled hopefully, knowing Hecate's distaste for the students from the two schools mixing.

To Pippa's surprise, Hecate nodded. "Perhaps. Ada expressed similar wishes earlier today. She thinks that our students spending more time together would benefit them." Hecate continued, "She was very interested in how our little picnic went yesterday."

Pippa's mouth formed a circle. "Does Ada know, Hiccup?" She asked. She didn't imagine Hecate to be one to kiss and tell so soon.

Noting Pippa's shock, Hecate quirked an eyebrow. "Ada knows as much as she needs to know. She is aware we had tea together last night, and she knows that it was… adequate." Hecate said, wincing at the last word as she said it. Pippa giggled at this, she was used to Hecate struggling to share her emotions. "I thought that perhaps we might use the bringing together of the schools to spend some more time together." Hecate added quickly. "It would be less likely to raise suspicions if we were to be seen together."

"Of course, Hiccup," Pippa smiled. She was pleased to hear that Hecate wanted to spend more time with her. "You do realise that one day we will have to tell people about us." She added. From the pained look on Hecate's face, she wished she hadn't. "Of course, not right away. Let us work out what this is between us first. It's quite nice to have something just between the two of us. Just like the old days." She said, scrambling to get something that wasn't a frown out of Hecate.

Hecate nodded. "Yes, that does sound sensible." She desperately wanted to ask the other witch what she thought the current status of their relationship was, but didn't dare ask. Instead, she moved the subject to something she knew very well. Detention. Hecate could talk about detention for hours on end. "This morning, I gave Mildred Hubble her punishment for her poor attempt at flying," she began. "Don't worry, I think it might actually benefit the girl." She added as Pippa opened her mouth to defend Mildred. "I am setting her extra work with her potions. We will use her detention time to go through the material in great detail. I have noticed that the girl learns much better in a one to one learning situation."

"Oh Hecate," Pippa smiled, "I knew you really wanted to help the girl. Although, setting extra potions homework so close to end of term exams is slightly cruel."

"Exams she may not pass without extra tuition." Hecate countered. Pippa smiled, she loved that Hecate wanted the best out of all of her students. If only she wanted the best from herself too.

"I think it's wonderful that you want her to succeed, Hiccup." Pippa praised. "I so wish I was with you right now to give you a big hug." She said wistfully.

Hecate felt a pang of longing upon hearing the other witch's expression of want. "The summer holidays are coming up soon, Pips," she said, an idea forming in her head. "Does Pentangle's still break up for the end of term a week earlier than Cackle's?"

"I-I think so," said Pippa, unsure where her old friend was going with this.

"Would you like to come and stay at Cackle's for that week?" Hecate asked. "Of course, we can arrange separate chambers for you if you would prefer." She added quickly, conscious that she still did not want to appear forward. "It might be nice for the girls to see another teacher too…" She added, trying to take the pressure off her suggestion.

"Hecate, darling, that would be wonderful." Pippa beamed. "I would gladly give a few lessons on more modern witching too if you think that would give us some cover. Perhaps separate chambers may be a good idea to banish any suspicions, although I doubt I will be seeing much of them." Pippa winked, and started to giggle.

Warmth welled up inside Hecate. She had never expected this conversation to go so well with Pippa. Suddenly, the abrupt realisation that she had left the second years cleaning the dining hall unsupervised brought her back to her surroundings. "I'm sorry Pipsqueak, I left some second years in detention, and I really must check on their work." She said regretfully.

"Oh Hiccup, half the school must be in detention with you." Pippa joked. "Let's make these calls a nightly occurrence. I really have enjoyed speaking to you my darling. Goodnight Hiccup." The blonde witch blew her dark haired companion a kiss.

"Goodnight Pipsqueak." Sighed Hecate as the mirror returned to normal.

Chapter Text

If calls with Pippa every evening were turning Hecate softer, she certainly didn't want to let it show to her students. As she walked away triumphantly from quelling yet another loud conversation in the library, she remembered Pippa's comment about her putting half the school in detention. Hecate smiled, much to the surprise of Miss Bats who was walking in the opposite direction. The elderly teacher didn't think she had ever seen the deputy head smile before. It suited her, she thought with a chuckle as she carried on down the corridor.

Despite her apparent omnipresent abilities, her punishments given became slightly less extreme. Hecate had gone from dishing out detentions with zeal, to giving verbal warnings, and advice where possible. She saved the dentitions for the truly unruly. Perhaps the softness was showing ever so slightly.

Even Mildred Hubble benefitted from the teacher's new approach to punishment. Her morning detentions had become more like private tuition, and she had noticed with some excitement that her grades had improved. She was by no means the best witch, but was firmly no longer the worst witch in her year. One particular morning during detention, the two witches were covering colour changing spells. "Very good, Mildred, although slightly too strong" the teacher half praised, amused at the shock on the girl's face. Mildred had successfully turned both her own and her teacher's hair a shade of bubblegum pink. Hecate snapped her fingers, and her hair returned to its usual sensible dark colour. Mildred had burst out in a fit of laughter at the brief sight of her teacher with brightly coloured hair. "Silence girl," Miss Hardbroom hissed, "it is hardly a laughing matter to overcast a spell. Now," she tapped the textbook twice, "can you explain me exactly where you went wrong?"

"Bubblegum pink?" Pippa laughed uproariously as Hecate recounted the day's events later. "We could have made quite the pink pair!" She giggled at the thought of the usually uptight witch with a candy coloured updo. Hecate joined Pippa in her laughter, the pink hair had been rather comical.

Their laughter was cut short when Hecate's detection spells alerted her of some misbehaviour elsewhere in the castle. "Goodnight, Pipsqueak." Hecate said as she transferred away.

The following week and a half settled into a new routine for Hecate. Detentions in the morning with Mildred, and calls in the evening with Pippa.

"Well, Mildred Hubble," the potions teacher said, as Mildred mixed a satisfactory duplication spell. "It seems there is not much more we can cover before your end of term exams. Today is your final detention, and you have proved your dedication to your education. Hopefully you can replicate that in your exams." Mildred smiled triumphantly.

"Miss Hardbroom… I-I was wondering. As these detentions have been so good for my grades, and as I'm not from a magical family… Would you be able to tutor me next year?" She asked shyly. She had surprisingly come to enjoy the detentions with her teacher. Suddenly, working out a potion and spell wasn't just a random mixture of ingredients and words, it was a series of components that all had a purpose to fulfil.

Hecate was floored. One one hand, she had seen a great improvement in the student's grades. On the other, she wasn't a fan of giving special treatment to anyone. "I will discuss it with Miss Cackle." She finally replied. Mildred smiled hopefully. "But, Mildred Hubble. In order for me to consider it, you must get above 70 percent in your end of term exams. You must prove that you can work hard and apply your knowledge well."

Mildred pouted. Even with her detentions, she had only been getting a maximum of 67% in her mock exams. Knowing that there was no arguing with Miss Hardbroom, she thanked her teacher sullenly and left the detention to go to the library.

Hecate would almost miss the early morning detentions if she wasn't glad to have her mornings back. She loved seeing the delight of her students as they learned about potions for the the first time. It was almost as if she got to relive the wonderment of learning it afresh, one of her favourite things about being a teacher. However, she was still unsure whether or not tutoring would be a good idea. She could hardly wait to confide in Pippa and ask her for advice.

"What do you think Pipsqueak?" Hecate asked, later that day when the two witches mirrored. "I do not want to be seen as playing favourites." She added, thinking for a moment. Had she ever had a favourite? The closest a student had ever come to being favoured was Esmerelda Hallow, and look where she had ended up.

Pippa smiled, "I think it's a wonderful idea, Hiccup. I know you've been enjoying the detentions too." She was so glad her friend was embracing new ideas. It felt strange thinking of Hecate as only her friend, given everything that had happened between them, but she understood Hecate's desire to not be too forward. This was uncharted territory.

Shaking the thought from her mind she continued. "The girls really respect you, it's clear from how much they learn in your lessons. Isn't it fantastic that Mildred wants to spend even more time learning from you!" Hecate's cheeks turned pink in response.

"I would love to have you inspire my students the same way you have inspired Mildred Hubble. Why don't you come and visit my school and give a potions lesson on traditional potion making?" Pippa's voice went up at the end of the question in hope. Pippa couldn't wait to have an excuse to see Hecate again.

Hecate's cheeks turned ever pinker. She pursed her lips. "Are you sure, Pippa?" She couldn't imagine even her own students attending an extra potions lesson, let alone Pippa's students, who were used to a more modern way of learning.

Hecate shivered. Under her cool calm facade, Hecate was a bundle of nerves. They fluttered inside her stomach like a family of bats. She hadn't seen Pippa since the kiss.

Pentangles was a long way away and required a lot of effort to transfer to. Even for a witch of her power. She had made sure she had a big breakfast, and with Ada's permission, had taken the rest of the day off to charge her powers.

She took a deep breath and straightened her back, with a flick of her wrist, she transferred herself.

Hecate looked around at the beautiful entrance hall she found herself stood in. Pentangle's was light, bright and modern. Much like its stylish headmistress.

Freshly cut flowers adorned every surface, and the carpet that covered the clean white flagstone floor was of course a bright shade of pink.

Pentangles was just about as opposite to Cackle's Academy as it could be.

"Hecate, dear!" Pippa declared grandly, opening her arms to her newly arrived visitor. She enveloped her in a tight hug and gave her arm a squeeze. "I'm, so pleased you are here." She noticed with private amusement that the tall witch looked as out of place as a fly at a frog festival.

"I have arranged for you to give your lesson in the auditorium," she continued brightly. Hecate remained quiet, a feeling of apprehension wouldn't leave her. What if the students didn't enjoy her lesson? She quietly followed the blonde witch to the auditorium, watching her perfect ponytail bouncing in front of her, and nodding distractedly at the chirpy facts Pippa was telling her about the school.

"…and here is where you will be giving your lesson, Hecate." Pippa announced as they arrived at a door. She opened it with pride to reveal the large classroom inside.

Hecate stepped in, taking in the breathtaking room. It had state of the art cauldrons, and none of the desks had students' names carved into them. "I suppose this will do…" she trailed off, and summoned her own cauldron and ingredients from Cackle's.

"Oh Hecate!" Sighed Pippa in exasperation. "Anyway, my dear, I must run, I have a disciplinary matter to see to." She winked at Hecate, knowing her penchant for punishment. "I will try to make it back for some of your lesson. The students should be arriving any minute now." She said, and transferred herself away.

Hecate set about preparing the classroom for her lesson. She had pulled out all of the stops for this class. Even the girls at Cackle's didn't have the opportunity to try body swapping spells in her lessons. She smiled to herself, imaging the excitement of the students as they found out what she had planned for the lesson.

As she busied herself portioning out ingredients into carefully measured piles, she didn't notice the time pass. Finally when the neat sets of bee's wing, ivy leaf, powdered reindeer antler and wormwood were set out on her bench, she looked up at the classroom theatrically, expecting to see the room lined with faces eager to learn. Instead, she saw only empty tables and chairs.

Hecate smirked to herself, modern magic, she thought with derision, these students can hardly keep time. She chuckled to herself, and made a mental note to ask Pippa to teach her students a simple timekeeping spell later.

She took a seat at her bench and tapped away a little tune on the table. Seconds passed into minutes, and still no students arrived. Hecate stood up and opened the door of the auditorium, perhaps the students had lined up outside and were waiting to be invited to enter. She poked her head out of the door and looked left and right. No students to be seen.

A pained look crossed Hecate's face as she realised no students were coming. How could Pippa set her up for such embarrassment like this?

The witch's face darkened and angrily she waved her hand to vanish the ingredients she had so painstakingly laid out. Instead of disappearing, the mixture of powders and herbs exploded in a puff and scattered themselves about the classroom. She heard her own voice in her head, repeating a lesson she so often gave to her students. "Do not use your magic in anger." Hecate was too angry to wait for her magic to calm down, and instead stormed out of the auditorium door, slamming it behind her.

The dark haired witch stormed back down the corridors to the entrance hall and past a surprised looking Pippa Pentangle. She barely heard the witch call her name as she carried on marching out of the school, her face the picture of a curse.

Hecate carried on walking away from the school for what seemed like forever as she calmed down.

She daren't try to transfer back to Cackle's in her current emotional state, and instead walked towards the nearest village, a quaint stone built village of cottages tucked away on a lake's shore. Hecate knew this area well, it was where she had grown up, where she had first started broomstick skiing, and where she had first met Pippa. She felt sick. How could Pippa embarrass her like this? She felt so foolish for falling for it. Of course Pippa wasn't actually interested in her. This had all been an elaborate ruse to get a one up on her, as Pippa so frequently did.

Hecate stopped by the lake in a spot she used to frequent as a young witch. She picked up a stone and focussed all of her magic into it. She threw it into the water and the stone disappeared beneath the surface without a ripple in sight. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was no longer too angry to use her magic and could transfer herself home to Cackle's. As she realised her anger had left her, she felt a sharp pain in her chest where is had been replaced by hurt.

The witch transferred herself straight into her chambers and scooped up her familiar in her arms, uncharacteristic hot tears falling from her face. She buried her face in the cat's fur and sobbed.

She was wrenched from her sorrow by the sound of a mirror call coming in. "Banished be" she muttered, and waved away the call. Immediately again, another mirror call came through. She glanced at the mirror, praying it was anyone but Pippa. To her disappointment, the blonde witch's face glimmered through the mirror. She waved her hand again to banish the attempt.

She flung herself onto her bed and cried herself to sleep.

Hecate awoke, embarrassed by her emotions. She was shocked at her lack of control over herself since she had started speaking to Pippa again. Pippa. Even thinking her name hurt.

Everything hurt. Her feet hurt from walking, (Hecate wasn't used to walking anywhere these days) her head hurt from crying, and her heart hurt from the betrayal of it all.

She transferred herself quickly to the dining hall, not even caring that she had slept in the same clothes she was still wearing.

As she ladled herself a bowl of grey gruel, she noticed a few eye raises from students at her abnormal appearance. She didn't care, she felt numb with pain.

"Miss Hardbroom," a student said, trying to gain her attention. "Miss Hardbroom!" They repeated again.

"Yes, girl." The fearsome teacher turned to address whoever had just spoken. Maud Spellbody stared up at her teacher anxiously.

"M-miss Cackle wants to see you." She spluttered, and ran away before the teacher could bite her head off.

Maud needn't have worried, the menacing deputy head teacher had already transferred herself outside of Ada Cackle's office. She lifted her hand to knock, and faltered. What was she going to say to her friend. She shrugged and forced herself to knock.

Ada opened the door and frowned worriedly at her colleague's disheveled appearance. "Hecate, please come in. I have someone here who very much wants to see you."

Hecate's face paled as her friend stepped aside to reveal Pippa's perfect face.

"Now I understand you have quite a lot to say to one another." Ada said in her most teacherly voice.

"You!" Roared Hecate. "How could you?" She said, her voice wavering. "I trusted you, and you embarrassed me."

Ada stepped in, clasping her hands together. "Now, now, Hecate. I think there must have been some misunderstanding. Miss Pentangle has told me you left her school in quite a hurry, with no explanation."

"She set me up!" Cried Hecate indignantly. "Nobody came to my lesson." She added gloomily.

"On the contrary," Ada replied. "Miss Pentangle said she had been rounding up students and was on her way to bring them to your lesson, when you left."

Hecate's mouth dropped open.

"I never wanted to embarrass you Hecate dear." Pippa apologised. "I wanted to showcase you. You're the best witch I know, and my students could learn so much from you. I wish I had made the lesson compulsory."

"Is that so?" Hecate asked. She hoped this was the truth, but hardly dared believe it.

"Yes, Hiccup darling, I wouldn't do anything to to hurt you." Overcome with emotion, Pippa pulled Hecate into a hug. Hecate's stiff body melted into Pippa's arms, as she processed the information.

Suddenly realising Ada was still in the room, Hecate pulled free, mortified. "Sorry, Ada." She mumbled, staring at her shoes.

"No harm done Hecate, now I imagine you two have quite the conversation to be had. I'll leave you to it." Ada smiled and left the room.

"Oh Hiccup, you must have thought me so cold hearted to think that I would purposely hurt you like that," Pippa sniffled. "I do hope this hasn't changed things between us." She added, on the verge of tears.

This time it was Hecate's turn to offer comfort. "Pipsqueak, it only hurt so much, because I care what you think of me." She whispered. "Nothing could ever change my feelings for you." She gently kissed the witch on her forehead and vanished her tears.

The two witches hugged, and stood revelling in the comfort the other brought.

"Hiccup, I really should be going back to my school again." Pippa said sadly, knowing that if she didn't leave now, she never would want to. She kissed Hecate lightly on the cheek. "I'll mirror you when I get back." She promised, as Hecate opened her mouth to protest.

"Fly safe, Pipsqueak." Hecate said, and silently placed a protection spell on the blonde witch. She couldn't bare the though of something happening to Pippa because she had had to travel to comfort Hecate.

Chapter Text

"Ada," Hecate said softly. She was still mortified by her uncharacteristic display of emotion in the headmistress's office last week. "I was wondering how you would feel if Pip-Miss Pentangle were to come to stay here for the last week of term. She could give some lessons in modern magic, and of course she would stay in her own chambers."

Ada's eyes glinted behind her glasses in glee. A few lessons on modern magic would be perfect for her girls. They all deserved some fun after their end of term exams. "Of course Hecate. What a marvellous idea," she crowed. "I'm so pleased you have made up from your little tiff."

Hecate gave a small smile, she was longing for Pippa to come and visit again. Not only to see the witch, but also to have the opportunity to cuddle her as she fell asleep. It been so long since she had shared her bed with another witch. She missed the comfort of company in the dark. She missed the feeling of another woman sleeping in her arms.

The past few nights, Pippa and Hecate had fallen asleep gazing at each other longingly through the mirror. Hecate could hardly wait for her to be there in person.

"Hecate!" Sang Pippa as she landed in the courtyard, her broomstick surrounded by a display of pink and purple fireworks. Students poked their heads out in windows in awe at the view below. Hecate gave the pink witch a nod and quirked her lips in a half smile. "Pippa." She said in acknowledgement, not wanting to lose face in front of the whole school.

She clicked her fingers and transferred Pippa to her room. It wasn't anywhere near as well furnished, or cosy as Hecate's room. Pippa grinned to herself, knowing that the dark haired witch clearly didn't expect her to be spending her nights in this room.

"I have arranged for us to eat together in my chambers tonight, Pippa." Hecate said matter of factly. "I thought it might be nicer than eating the school food."

Pippa smiled, it would be lovely to have some quality time with Hecate finally.

As Hecate prepared their dinner in her chambers, Pippa was overcome with fondness for the dark witch. She wrapped her arms around the her from behind and pressed her cheek against Hecate's straight back, breathing in her smell. She noted with a grin that Hecate smelled just like a potions classroom, but there was also something floral and clean about her scent.

Hecate turned and smiled questioningly at the blonder witch. She shook her hair out of her tight bun and pushed the dark cascade of hair behind her shoulders. "I hope you're hungry." She said.

Hecate waved her hand and transformed the coffee table into a small round dining table. She wavedi her hand once more, and the sofa and armchair became two comfortable dining chairs. She carefully placed the plates of food on the table and left to fetch cutlery from a drawer.

Pippa looked at the food eagerly. She was impressed to see that Hecate had made them a coq au vin with dauphinois potatoes. It looked delectable. When Hecate returned to the table with knives and forks, she was also carrying a candle. With a gentle flick of the wrist, she lit the candle and placed it in the the centre of the table. The candle's warm glow danced off the food, making it seem even more tasty than it had already looked.

"This is all delicious," Pippa gushed taking a bite, she could hardly believe her friend had so many talents. She took the witch's hand from across the table and looked into her eyes. Before she could say anything, there was a loud knock at Hecate's door. The two witches jumped apart.

Hecate opened the door slowly, using her tall form to block her chambers from view. She didn't want students gossiping about her having a private meal with Pippa Pentangle. She looked down to find a tearful student in front of her. "Miss Hardbroom…" sobbed Felicity Foxglove, "My familiar has gone missing. I've been looking for him for hours and he hasn't come back. What if something has happened to him?" Hecate stared at the forlorn girl, speechless.

Pippa joined her from inside the room, and cheerily interjected "He can't have gone too far, this castle isn't that big!"

Felicity's eyes lit up "Miss Pentangle!" She exclaimed in surprise. She has always admired the glamorous witch. "Will you help me find him?" She asked, visibly brightening. Her attention now on the pretty headmistress.

Pippa smiled regally and agreed. "Miss Hardbroom will help us too." She added. Hecate rolled her eyes, she knew Pippa couldn't say no to helping a student in need. She resigned herself to help in silence, but kept an ear out for tomfoolery. She knew the girls well enough to suspect a ruse every time she was distracted by something so trivial.

Pippa and Felicity strode off in front of Miss Hardbroom. Felicity was practically bouncing with every step. She was quizzing Miss Pentangle about her upcoming lessons, hoping to write something for the school newspaper. Hecate followed, she couldn't keep her eyes off Pippa's animated face as she cheerfully made conversation with the young student.

"Hecate, will one of your detection spells be able to locate the cat?" Pippa asked as they searched the corridors for the cat. Hecate nodded sharply and sent out her magical energies, trying to determine what trouble the cat had gotten into. She soon found the feline chasing mice in the kitchen. She waved her hand and the three witches appeared next to the startled cat in the kitchen.

"Pocus." Felicity exclaimed. She grabbed the cat and gave him an excited squeeze.

"Now, to bed." Said Hecate softly, and sent the young girl to her room with a wave of her hand. She added a dreamless sleep spell for good measure. "Shall we walk back?" Pippa nodded.

"Felicity really admires you," Hecate suggested, unsure how to restart the conversation after the student's interruption.

Pippa smiled. "But Hecate dear, it was your room she came to when she was in need, not mine." Pippa pointed out. She wished that Hecate would realise how brilliant she was. Hecate remained silent, but Pippa could tell she was silently pleased with the compliment Pippa had paid her.

After finally returning to their dinner, Pippa studied the books in Hecate's room. She was pleasantly surprised to see a small row of children's books tucked among the heavy academic textbooks. "I didn't think Beatrix Potter would be your thing, Hiccup." She commented, pulling an illustrated copy of The Tale of Miss Tiggy-Winkle from the shelf.

"There are many things that you don't know about me" Hecate replied softly. "Did you know that she was one of us?" She added. "She had a particular gift for speaking with animals."

Hecate also reached for a book from the shelf. Advanced Botany for the 19th Century Witch was her book of choice. Pippa raised an eyebrow at the very fitting book title. Hecate could sometimes get so wrapped up in traditions.

With a wave over her hand, Hecate returned the room to its cosy pre dinner state. Content in each other's company, each witch took a seat at either end of the sofa, and began to read.

Pippa wordlessly closed her book, and gently placed it on the coffee table. she didn't want to ruin the beautiful copy. In the non magical world, she was sure it would have been an antique. She glanced over to Hecate. The witch, still engrossed, was biting her lip in concentration. She had tucked her legs under herself and was curled over the book. Pippa grinned to herself. Hecate was so adorable in her moments of peace.

Not wanting to disturb her friend, Pippa carefully moved closer to her, tucking her head under the witch's arm so she could also read Hecate's book. She leant against Hecate's ribcage, feeling the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Hecate was reading a page about daisies and their uses. Pippa smiled to herself at the symbolism, daisies had once been said to represent innocence and a nervousness of confessing love.

Hecate looked down at Pippa's head against her chest. "Have you finished the page, Pipsqueak?" She asked gently. She was happy to share reading her book with the blonde witch. Pippa nodded, she was also enjoying the quiet companionship of reading together. She had always loved reading about flowers and their properties, both magical, and symbolic. She especially loved that a whole bouquet could have a conversation with no words needing to be uttered. The next page almost made her laugh out loud, red camellias. The symbol of desire. She snuggled up to the witch, revelling in the hilarity of the situation. Hecate hadn't yet appeared to cotton on.

After a few more pages, Hecate closed the book. She looked down at the beautiful witch nestling into her chest, and kissed the top of her head. Pippa sat up, bringing her face level with Hecate's. She gently kissed her on the lips and tucked a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. Hecate pulled her onto her lap with surprisingly strong arms and kissed her again. This time the kiss was different, it was clumsy, desperate and longing. Pippa wrapped her arms around Hecate's neck and deepened the embrace.

Suddenly the blonde witch froze. Hecate leaned back and looked at the blonde witch, concerned. "Is everything okay Pipsqueak?" She whispered.

The blonde witch nodded. "Hecate... you're the first witch I have ever kissed." She said shakily. "I didn't think it would matter, but I'm nervous. Could we take things slow please?"

Hecate was taken aback. She had always imagined that the confident blonde witch would be the more experienced out of the two. "Of course, Pipsqueak. We can go as slow as you like. I want you to be happy with everything we do."

They remained on the sofa, kissing for what seemed like an eternity for both witches. Despite her initial nerves, Pippa stood up, emboldened by her desire for Hecate. She could hardly take the wait any longer. Grabbing the taller witch's hand, she pulled her eagerly to the bedroom and kissed her again.

The two witches fell gracefully onto the bed together. Hecate glanced shyly at the blonde witch, making eye contact and nodded at the message of consent that the blonde witch sent in her smile back.

Their hands began excitedly exploring each other's bodies. They had coveted one another from a distance for so long. Pippa moved her mouth and began to kiss along Hecate's distinctive jawline, revelling in the goosebumps that appeared on her companion's arms.

Golden ribbons of light started to dance around the bedroom as the sun rose. The two witches lay together entangled, only they would have known who's limbs were whom's. Pippa snored lightly into Hecate's now bare arms.

Hecate awoke first, smiling at Pippa's perfect nose squished into her shoulder. The blonde witch was captivating, even in slumber. Hecate lay smiling, wondering how she could have been so lucky to finally have Pippa in her arms.

As she lay in Pippa's grasp, contented, her mind went back to their conversation on the sofa. Hecate was the first witch Pippa had ever kissed. Of course, Hecate had heard of Pippa Pentangle's many wizard suitors over the years, but she had assumed that there had been witches too. Hecate herself had tried to dabble with both witches and wizards in the past, but only witches had ever made it past the first dates.

She sighed gently, casting her mind back to a conversation they had had via mirror. Pippa had mentioned working out what it was between the two of them. Hecate wondered if today would be the day to finally have that discussion face to face.

Chapter Text

Hecate Hardbroom lay perfectly content with her bewitching bedfellow. She hardly wanted the day to begin if it meant being away from Pippa for even a second. Still slumbering, Pippa nuzzled into Hecate's shoulder. Hecate was surprised at how at home she felt cuddling with the witch who, until a few weeks ago had been someone she had treated with the utmost contempt.

Expelling the thoughts of their previous feud, Hecate pulled Pippa closer. She kissed the beautiful witch's forehead, and smiled as her long eyelashes fluttered awake. "Good morning Pipsqueak," she murmured dreamily into the blonde witch's forehead.

Pippa smiled and propped herself up on her elbows. She looked at Hecate gazing adoringly at her. "Oh Hecate, look at you. You look like the cat that's got the cream." She giggled at Hecate's raised eyebrow. "I certainly felt like that last night, anyway." She added hastily. Pippa felt her heart leap with joy as she recalled the previous evening's events. She marvelled at how gentle Hecate had been, but also at how much the usually very wooden witch had surprised her. "I really am so pleased at how things are going between us." She said, and stroked her pinky finger down Hecate's cheek.

No response came from Hecate. In that moment, she found herself speechless.

Pippa twirled her hand gracefully and a tray containing a teapot, two teacups and a jug of milk appeared in the bedroom, floating on a wave of pink flower petals and butterflies.

Hecate laughed at the display, it was very Pippa. She poured tea into both cups and keeping one for herself, handed a steaming brew to Pippa. "Your magic is very beautiful Pippa," she admitted, "I could never produce something so… feminine." Hecate had meant this as a compliment, but as the words left her lips, she realised how much this sounded like a slight towards the girly witch. She mentally chastised herself for what felt like the thousandth time that month. "Ahem, I mean, your magic holds a kind of beauty that I could never hope to replicate. There is something almost songlike about the spells you cast."

Used to Hecate's less than eloquent way of wording things, Pippa beamed at the compliment. "I have always imagined my magic as an extension of my soul, I am a lover of beautiful things, and endeavour to include them in my magic." She explained, proudly. "But Hecate, my magic does have its limitations. I'm sure you have noticed that I prefer to fly between the two schools. I'm not sure I could manage a successful transference over such a distance. I'm not as powerful as you." She paused for a moment. "Perhaps we could teach each other some of our own signature magic today, if you have time in between lessons?" She suggested.

Hecate's lips turned upwards. "I would like that very much Pippa. I actually have no lessons today as the girls are all busy revising for their end of term exams. What would you suggest we do?"

Pippa scrunched her button nose, deep in thought. There were so many options "I know what we can do today!" She said triumphantly. "Do you remember when we were at school, we used to play a game called transference tag? Where one of us would transfer elsewhere in the castle and the other had to detect where they had gone and transfer to them?" She grinned, knowing that Hecate loved any excuse to flex her magical muscles. "I could use the practise, I would love to be able to transfer between our two schools one day." She added hopefully.

Hecate gave a brisk nod. "That sounds like a most acceptable idea, it will certainly help to build your magical stamina. As will a large breakfast. I believe the girls will be excited to see you this morning in the dining hall, Pippa" she said, checking the time, displeased that they were running out of time to enjoy together before breakfast.

Pippa nodded, and then remembering the secrecy of their relationship, placed her teacup back on the still floating tray. "Oh, Hecate! I suppose I should go back to my room before breakfast." She said, dismayed that their early morning cuddle had to come to an end so soon.

Pippa Pentangle floated elegantly into the dining hall, garnering whispers of admiration from students as she glided towards the teacher's table. She had timed it so that Hecate would already be at breakfast and would see her entrance. Later, she thought with a sly smile, she would tell Hecate it was a way to dispel suspicion. Really, she just wanted to see the conflict on Hecate's face as she tried (and failed) to uphold her formidable expression as Pippa came in.

"Well met, Miss Cackle." She bowed to the cardigan clad headmistress.

"Well met, my dear" Miss Cackle nodded her head back. "I must express my gratitude to you for giving up the first week of your summer holidays to visit our little school." She smiled. "Coffee?" Miss Cackle offered, holding a mug of dull brown liquid for the graceful witch to take. Pippa accepted it with a polite smile, trying to avoid catching Hecate's eye. Hecate knew that the prim and proper witch was too nice to tell Miss Cackle that she couldn't stand coffee.

Feeling pressured by the stares of the other teachers, Pippa took a sip. "I trust that Miss Hardbroom has made you feel welcome," Miss Cackle enquired, a look of concern crossed her face when Pippa spat out her coffee. She quickly summoned a stack of napkins, which Pippa accepted gratefully.

"Of course, Hecate is a wonderful host." Pippa reassured as she mopped up the spilt coffee. Hecate smiled.

"Did you just see Miss Hardbroom smile?" hissed Enid to Maud and Mildred across their bowls of porridge. "I didn't even know her face could do that!" she laughed. Mildred turned around to look at the teacher's table and stared at her potions teacher.

"You know, HB isn't all that bad. She's really helped with my potions recently." Mildred said, still looking at the teachers table. The teachers were all listening intently to Miss Pentangle as she told a story. Everyone except for Miss Hardbroom, who surveyed the room sternly. "I'm glad Miss Pentangle is here to visit, I think they're old friends."

Enid snorted. "HB has friends?" She couldn't imagine Miss Hardbroom being friends with anyone. "Besides Millie, she only helped you with potions because you were in detention. It was a punishment, remember?"

"Yeah Millie, think of all of the mornings she took away from you. Although I agree it has helped your grades." Maud said.

"I suppose so, but at least I'm not the worst witch in the year anymore." Mildred smiled. Even if they were detentions, they had been very helpful. "I think it will be good to have Miss Pentangle here this week," she said chirpily as she finished her porridge.

A knock at Pippa's door interrupted her unpacking. She hadn't had a chance to unpack her things when she arrived yesterday. "Come in," she sang as she made the room more homely.

Hecate appeared in the doorway and stared at the newly decorated room. "It's.. very you." She commented, gesturing at the vases of flowers and pink accessories that had been scattered around the room. "I do apologise for taking you away from your things last night." Hecate said. "It was inconsiderate of me."

"Hecate, I was never under any illusion that I was going to be spending the night alone while I was here." Pippa told the taller witch. "I'm simply making the room look used in case anyone decides to check in on me. I have everything I need in here." She waved her hand at a pink suitcase. "I was wondering if I could put it in your chambers before we began our game of transference tag?"

Hecate's face brightened. How was Pippa so cocksure? Hecate wanted constant reassurance that everything was okay. Not that she would admit to it. "Excellent. We can begin the game by transferring to my rooms." She said with a smile and she was gone.

Pippa hurried to transfer after the dark haired witch.

After placing her suitcase in Hecate's bedroom, the game began properly. Hecate would transfer to somewhere in the castle, and Pippa had to use her magic to detect when she had gone and transfer to her new location.

It took a few minutes for Pippa to locate the queen of transference at first. After a few false starts and accidentally transferring into the middle of a witch ball game, she found could tune into Hecate's magical energy and accurately find Hecate in much quicker times.

Hecate snapped her long fingers and vanished to the kitchens. She stood waiting, silently counting the seconds before Pippa arrived in front of her, panting. "Very good, only 21 seconds this time." She praised as she vanished again.

Hecate appeared in the staff room, nearly knocking Mr Rowan-Webb out of his chair in shock. "I wish you wouldn't do that, Miss Hardbroom." He muttered. Pippa followed shortly after, landing on top of Hecate. The two witches giggled joyfully and Hecate transferred away again, followed by an amused Pippa. "Well I'll be blown" Mr Rowan-Webb said to a still napping Miss Bats. He goggled at the purple sparkles that hung in the air where the two laughing witches had just been.

Both witches arrived on the roof in fits of laughter. "Got you! Did you see Algernon's face?" Pippa cried in mirth, trying to catch her breath. Collapsing onto Hecate in a fit of exhausted giggles, she wrapped her arms around her neck and placed a big sloppy wet kiss on her lips.

The two witches sat in the turrets, still giggling and looked out onto the view over the school. Hecate put her arm around a tired Pippa and gave her a squeeze. "I think that's quite enough fun for one day," she said sensibly. She knew that Pippa would be drained from the many transference spells she had performed. Giving Pippa one more squish for good measure, she kissed the blonde witch on the cheek.

Pippa's beauty was breathtaking. Oh how Hecate wanted to be hers and hers only. Not too quickly Hecate thought, she remembered Pippa's admission of inexperience the night before. However, Hecate couldn't take being in a state of limbo any longer. She steeled herself "I have been giving much thought to a conversation we had via mirror," she opened haltingly. She was embarrassed to find she was shaking lightly. "About what it is that we have between us…" she trailed off, hoping that Pippa would follow where she was leading the conversation.

Wide eyed, Pippa focused on Hecate. "I remember." She said softly. "It's very clear to me how much I care for you. You are the witchiest witch, the only person I want to be with." She continued. "What are your feelings, my darling?"

Hecate hated being put on the spot. Even though she had been the one to initiate the conversation. She shuddered at the embarrassment of sharing her emotions. "Pippa, all I want is… you." She said finally, her voice betraying her as it wobbled. Frustrated, she noticed that even her eyes had started to prick with tears. Pippa leaned forward and wiped them away with a conjured up pale pink handkerchief.

The two witches shared a tender kiss, relishing in their new found relationship. "Pippa Pentangle, my girlfriend." Hecate tried out, delighting at the way the word tasted in her mouth. Pippa grinned. It sounded perfect.

Chapter Text

The two witches sat side by side on the roof, feet dangling over the edge of the turrets where they sat. The wind whistled gently around them and the sun smiled down.

Pippa swished her hand gracefully and a shower of delicate pastel coloured petals floated down upon them, drifting through the air as if they were weightless. As Hecate shook the foliage out of her hair, Pippa suggested she try.

Hecate gave a wave of her long fingers and a multitude of heavy deep purple rose petals rained down. Whilst not as delicate as Pippa's magic, it was hard for either of the witches to deny the beauty of the petals as they rained down. The iridescent purple shone through the almost black of the petals as they settled on Hecate and Pippa's hair.

Hecate held her hand out to Pippa's and entwined their fingers together. "I wonder, what would a combination of our magic look like?" she mused.

Together they focused on floral beauty, closing their eyes as they held hands and pressed their foreheads together in a silent spell. When they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by a deep pink flurry of flowers.

When Hecate and Pippa walked down from the roof of the castle arm in arm, Pippa felt her heart swell with happiness to recall the morning they had had. Finally Hecate was opening up to her. As the pair reached the corridors, they drifted apart. Falling back into the pretence that they were simply friends.

Almost as suddenly as they had settled into their friendship facade, Hecate returned to her usual teaching ways. She cast out a detection spell, and her lip curled in disgust. With an apologetic glance at Pippa, she transferred to the source of disruption, leaving Pippa looking rather downcast.

Hecate appeared outside the broomstick store in a flash of purple mist. Her head remained faced forward but her eyes moved quickly to the side to survey a slightly ajar door.

"Ethel Hallow. Come out from your hiding place." Hecate said, her tone turned icy as she addressed the hidden student.

"Secrecy is not a becoming characteristic for a young witch." She said slowly, pronouncing each word precisely.

Ethel appeared from behind the heavy wooden door. "I wasn't doing anything wrong, Miss Hardbroom." She asserted confidently, using the sickly sweet voice she reserved for when she needed to get herself out of trouble.

"Then, pray tell, what were you doing sequestered in a store cupboard?" questioned Hecate. She cast a further detection spell, and with a flick of her wrist opened the door to uncover a half brewed potion and an open potions textbook. Ethel shifted her feet guiltily.

"A befuddlement spell, Miss Hallow, using stolen potions ingredients." Hecate said with disgust. "And quite a potent one at that. I cannot think why you would be brewing such a spell in secret. It is not required as part of your end of term exams." Hecate vanished the cauldron and book. "I imagine Miss Cackle will be very interested indeed to hear your excuses." She waved her hand lazily.

Ethel opened her mouth to retort, but suddenly found herself in Miss Cackle's office. She scowled when a cross Miss Hardbroom also appeared.

Miss Cackle, who had just been tidying her desk, eyeballed the two sour faced witches who has just appeared in her office. "Miss Hardbroom, is everything alright?"

"I found Miss Hallow brewing a strong befuddlement potion." Hecate said, indicating the cauldron and open textbook she had just summoned. "I dread to think who the intended recipient would be so close to exams."

"I think we can all a take a guess at that." Miss Cackle said. "Ethel, was this potion intended for Mildred Hubble?" she asked gently.

Ethel sulked. "Mildred Hubble has suddenly improved her grades, she used to be the worst witch, and now she's passing things." she said accusingly. "It's ridiculous, I think she must be cheating. I only wanted to return things to where they should be."

"Are you quite finished?" Miss Hardbroom said angrily, surprised to find herself leaping to Mildred Hubble's defence. "Cackle's witches do not demonstrate such behaviour. You know from the Witches' Code that tampering with another witch's cognitive ability is strictly forbidden."

Ethel went bright red. She knew the Witches' Code well, but Miss Hardbroom knew it better. Ethel hated having it used against her. Miss Cackle took over the scolding, her face serious. "Now, you have almost committed a rather serious misdemeanour today, Ethel. As we are so close to the end of term, it gives me no pleasure to say that we will have to begin your second year with a series of detentions, and you will miss out on any end of term festivities this year. I hope that will be enough to deter you from any further dreadful behaviour this term." She said briskly. "You are lucky that you are not facing exclusion for tampering with another student's grade." Ethel nodded glumly.

Waiting until Ethel had disappeared, Ada shut the door.

"Aren't you hosting Miss Pentangle, Hecate?" Ada questioned. "While I appreciate your on duty attitude, I do wonder if you are keeping the correct work-life balance." She turned to neaten some paperwork.

Hecate stood awkwardly. She had never had an excuse to miss her duties as deputy head before. While it seemed perfectly reasonable to neglect them whilst playing host, it hadn't occurred to her that that was what she should have been doing. "I didn't think it would be acceptable to allow the school to run riot on Miss Pentangle's account."

Still organising her desk, Ada smiled at how predictable Hecate could be. "And where is Miss Pentangle now?"

Hecate froze, she didn't actually know where Pippa had gone after she'd transferred away. She had been so wrapped up in upholding school rules, and the Witches' Code, she'd completely disregarded Pippa. Guiltily, she sighed. Ada's questioning was relentless. "Once I had uncovered Ethel Hallow's scheme and transferred her to you, I left Pippa in the corridor near the roof. I imagine she'll be in her rooms by now."

"If I may, Miss Pentangle will bring out the best in you Hecate. You only have to let her." Ada looked at Hecate, hoping she hadn't overstepped. She knew that opening up about her private life was not something that came naturally to the deputy head, but Hecate's soft side for Miss Pentangle hadn't gone unnoticed.

She wasn't quite sure of the nature of their relationship, but she knew that Miss Pentangle would be a great influence on the usually very solitary witch. "I'm so pleased to see you becoming more like yourself after all of those years of wallowing in set pity for the events of your past. Does Miss Pentangle know why you shut yourself away and threw yourself into the Witches' Code all of those years ago?"

Hecate's face was taut.

She made a strangled squeaking noise that sounded like a mixture between a choked sob and the word "No.".

"I see. I also hear you've been giving Mildred private tuition, her grades are certainly reflecting the benefit of your involvement." Ada hurriedly continued, she wanted to remove the strained look from Hecate's face. "Clearly Miss Pentangle is having a good influence on your teaching too."

"Detention." corrected Hecate haughtily, regaining her composure. She didn't appreciate being told that her teaching style needed a good influence. "Although, Mildred Hubble did ask if we can begin private tuition next year." Hecate added, glad to have a change of subject.

"Oh?" Ada peered at her colleague through her spectacles. "And what did you tell her?"

"I told her I would discuss the matter with you. But only if she achieved greater than 70% in all of her end of term exams. I intended to wait until the exams were complete before broaching the subject with you. I do not want to be seen to be giving special treatment to any student. Especially not Mildred Hubble."

Ada nodded. "I think it would be a wonderful opportunity. Mildred clearly looks up to you Hecate." With that she dismissed her deputy and bid her to rejoin Pippa for the day.

Chapter Text

Pippa stared at the spot where her girlfriend had just been standing. Hecate seemed to have a habit of disappearing without warning.

There were still so many things left undiscussed between the two witches. Pippa had enjoyed having Hecate back so much, she'd almost forgotten the betrayal of Hecate cutting her out of her life all of those years ago. Carefree, joyful Hecate. A witch who was not only the top of her year, but a great sports witch and friend. Why had she changed so drastically? The more she thought, the more the hurt from years past bubbled to the surface. For some reason, the memories seemed fuzzy, she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

Pippa pushed the renewed feelings of abandonment away and continued her musing as she walked back through the castle. Almost as if by second nature, she found her feet taking her to not her own bedroom from her time at Cackle's, but Hecate's. She knocked, hoping that a friendly student might greet her and point her in the direction of where Hecate usually transferred to when she disappeared.

Mildred Hubble opened the door beaming. "Miss Pentangle! Can I help you?"

Pippa was taken aback, in that moment, surrounded by revision and textbooks, with her hair in two neater than normal plaits, Mildred looked very much like the room's previous occupant. "Mildred! What a surprise. I'm a bit lost, the castle seems to have changed a lot since my day." Pippa glanced about the room, it was much more decorated than when Hecate had lived there. "How is your revision going?"

Mildred smiled. "It's going really well. HB, I mean, Miss Hardbroom really helped me to understand potions. She taught me to illustrate anything I thought I might forget and I um, I really like art, so it's made me understand a lot more. Although, she told me I need to get over 70% in the end of term exams. I don't even know if that's possible!" she rushed to tell the glamorous teacher. Mildred pulled some intricate drawings of herbs from a stack of papers next to her. "These are the ones I'm proudest of. I had to do them for one of my first detentions, and even Miss Hardbroom said they were good. Well… she said they were adequate, and I guess that's HB speak for good. Right?"

Mildred handed Pippa the sketches of the herbs found in a sleeping draught. She looked at them enthralled by the detail and care that Mildred had clearly put into them. Before she could comment, Mildred spoke again. "I'm so glad you're here this week too, Miss Pentangle. It must be nice for Miss Hardbroom to have a friend visit. She doesn't usually socialise with the other teachers."

Pippa raised her eyebrows at how outspoken Mildred was. She was right of course, casting her mind back to breakfast, Pippa realised Hecate was not a part of any of the teacher chats at the table. Instead, she'd busied herself with observing the students. "I'm glad to hear your revision is going well Mildred. These are truly wonderful. Do let me or Miss Hardbroom know if you'd like any extra help. You're working so hard, and I know that Miss Hardbroom is so impressed with your improved grades."

The smile that appeared from Mildred's face radiated out into the room. "Do you think Miss Hardbroom is actually impressed?" she asked earnestly. "I learned so much from her in detention, she's a really great teacher when she doesn't worry about the stuffy Witches' Code."

Pippa struggled to keep a straight face. There had once been a time when Hecate couldn't care less about the Witches' Code. She recalled Hecate's obsession with it beginning shortly after the fated broomstick water skiing display, and made a mental note to discover why it had become such a big part of the tall witch's life. "Of course she is! Actually Mildred, I'm looking for Miss Hardbroom at the moment. She disappeared while we were walking, and I have no idea where she has gone. Do you have any ideas?"

Mildred was more than happy to help. "When HB disappears, it's usually because someone is breaking a rule." she explained. "I swear she has a sixth sense or something, she can just tell when people are up to no good."

"Miss Hardbroom is very good at detection spells," Pippa agreed.

"Could you use one to find her, Miss Pentangle?" Mildred said hopefully.

It had been a few hours since Pippa and Hecate had played transference tag. Pippa closed her eyes for a moment and examined her inner magic, hoping she had recuperated enough to transfer again. She felt it coursing through her veins and extending through her body. She was surprised to notice that entangled with her own usual golden magical glow, she could almost detect a silvery glow running through it. She smiled as she realised that when Hecate and she had shared their magic earlier to create the floral rain, Hecate must have donated some energy to her. It was very Hecate to be so protective, she thought.

Pippa nodded at Mildred. "I think that's a very good idea Mildred. Now, I won't disturb your revision any longer, but if you do need any help, remember that Miss Hardbroom or I would be happy to oblige."

She shut Mildred's door behind her, leaving the happy girl to her studies, and cast out a slow detection spell. It searched high and low until it discovered its mark. Hecate was in the heart of the castle, one of the most magical rooms in the entire school. Miss Cackle's office.

Realising that Mildred might be right, and Hecate had a good reason to abandon her without a word, Pippa resigned herself to return to her room.

As Pippa walked down the stairs, she saw a familiar face from the teachers' table. "Miss Drill, was it?" She asked politely as the other teacher walked past.

Dimity Drill stopped and turned to face the blonde witch. "Dimity, please." she said. "How are you finding our school? We're having a small teachers' get together tonight in the staff room, a sort of end of term party. I know the other teachers would be pleased to see you there if you're interested?" She offered with a smile. Dimity was famous amongst the teachers for her parties.

Pippa was surprised at how welcome she made to feel at Cackle's. Even when her own girlfriend wasn't particularly making her feel that way. "Hecate didn't mention anything about a party, but I'm sure she just forgot. I'll have to remind her."

Dimity's face faltered. "Miss Hardbroom doesn't usually attend the end of term parties ..." she said sheepishly. "But if she wants to come... you could... invite her?" She shuffled her feet and quickly continued. "The theme is glamorous, so I'm sure you will have plenty of outfits to choose from." With an embarrassed smile, she carried on up the stairs.

Pippa twinkled. She knew exactly which dress she would wear, and exactly which dress she would make Hecate wear. If only Hecate would open up to her first.

Hecate appeared outside Pippa's bedroom door. She sighed at herself before raising her hand to knock. There was so much still unsaid between herself and Pippa, Ada's words of advice rang loudly in her ears. Why was it so difficult to just talk about her past?

She rapped her knuckles against the thick oak of the door, but to her surprise, there was no answer. She knocked again, still nothing.

Unsure if it was the right thing to do, but cajoled by a need to see Pippa, she curled her long fingers around the doorknob and gingerly opened the door.

The room was empty. It was just as they had left it that morning. Her shoulders slumped as she peered into the girly room, realising just how many home comforts Pippa had brought with her. She noticed a beautiful handmade quilt folded on the unused bed. She thought perhaps, that she recognised it from their school days. Even then, Pippa had decorated her bedroom with bright floral displays and beautiful accessories.

"Hiccup! I've been looking for you!" came Pippa's bright voice from behind her.

Hecate stood up straight and turned to see where the cheerful voice had come from.

"Dimity has invited us to a party tonight. Isn't that wonderful?" Pippa said, continuing in her sparkling voice. She walked into her room and shut the door. "The dress code is glamorous and I know the perfect outfits for us." she continued, her smile growing bigger as she kept talking. "Do you remember your silver dress? From school? And my golden dress? I thought you had worn it to upstage me, but I think actually you looked quite witchy in it." Pippa babbled on.

Hecate felt a twinge of sadness as she listened to Pippa chatter about the outfit plans for the evening. Of course Pippa would get them invited to a party. A party that Hecate would only usually hear about days later when one of the teachers accidentally let slip about it. Wallowing in self pity, she almost forgot how downcast Pippa had looked when she'd arrived. "I was not aware of a party. I suppose this means that it will be down to me again to uphold school rules in the meantime." she said bitterly.

"Don't be silly Hiccup. I only said I'd go if you did." Pippa took her hand. "Do you want to go darling? It would be lovely for the other teachers to see you the way I do."

In truth, Hecate really did want to go. She had longed for a day when the other teachers wanted to include her, to be her friend. The fact that they were only begrudgingly inviting her so that Pippa would go did not escape her. "I suppose it would be acceptable to attend." Was all she could muster.

"Oh Hecate! I'm so pleased." gushed Pippa. "It will be lovely to get the know the other teachers more."

Hecate smiled, happy to see Pippa's cheery disposition, her charm was infectious.

"Pipsqueak," she said, "I believe I must apologise for leaving you alone earlier. I detected a student misbehaving, and against my better judgement, decided that discipline was more important than spending time with you. I should have told you where I was going, or even taken you along with me. I was just afraid of the questions it would raise, and I-I was wrong." she was surprised to notice that yet again, she was shaking.

Wide eyed, Pippa gazed at the dark haired witch. She looked even paler than usual. While she wanted to tell Hecate everything about her worries, about how she was still hurt about the abandonment both today and in the past, Pippa couldn't bring herself to distress Hecate any more at this moment in time. Instead, she pushed them to the back of her mind and pulled Hecate into a hug and kissed her cheek. It took all of Pippa's energy not to wrap the dark haired witch in her arms and cast a cheering charm over her. Of course, Pippa knew that a charm wouldn't actually resolve whatever was worrying her girlfriend. She was determined to find out what it was. "My darling, it's okay, these things happen and we learn from them. I bumped into Mildred Hubble on my way back to the room. She's working really hard with her revision and she couldn't tell me enough about how much you have helped her. I think she really looks up to you." She hoped this would be enough to bring a smile back to Hecate's face, but to no avail.

Hecate looked away, avoiding Pippa's eye contact. If she had seen Pippa's eyes, she would have noticed that she mirrored her downcast expression. "I suppose I must return to my duties as deputy head. The other girls will most likely be running riot. Especially if I am to be otherwise occupied this evening." Then, remembering her earlier mistake of leaving Pippa behind, "Would you like to come with me? I am sure the girls would like to see you. We can do a tour of the school on the way, I am sure it has changed quite spectacularly since your time here." She turned on her heels and gestured to Pippa to follow her out of the room.

Pippa skipped after her girlfriend eagerly. Despite everything unsaid between the two of them, she was delighted that Hecate wanted her to join her in her work.

First, the two witches paid a visit to the library. Pippa was pleasantly surprised to see the array of magical books on offer. She hadn't spent much time in the library when she was at Cackle's. She noticed that the comfortable chairs and tasseled lampshades made the library seem cosy and inviting, and made a mental note to add some homely touches to the much more modern library back at Pentangle's.

Once Hecate was sufficiently satisfied that the behaviour in the library was exemplary, the two witches started checking the corridors. They knocked and checked in many rooms with silent students, lost in their revision. Clearly Hecate's strict ways had a great influence on the girls' behaviour, thought Pippa.

Even Ethel Hallow had abandoned her plans of sabotage and had started following her ambitious revision schedule.

Many of the girls were quite pleased to show the progress they had made with their revision, and some even offered the two teachers to test them. Hecate always picked the hardest questions, but despite the challenge, the girls were delighted when they found they could answer them. Pippa picked easier questions, and showered praise onto the less confident girls.

The next room they came to was Maud's room. She was joined in her studies by Enid, and the two girls were deep in revising for their potion's exam. "Your hard work is paying off, Maud Spellbody." said Hecate slowly, noting a complex potion Maud was revising. She was in much higher spirits now, and even the young girl looked surprised at the compliment. "However, Enid Nightshade, can you tell me the five ingredients that make up a calming potion?"

Enid sulked, HB always had it in for her. Noticing the young pupil's contempt, Pippa intervened before things could escalate. "Enid, I'm sure you can work it out. Think of the properties you would need from each ingredient." she offered.

Enid smiled in gratitude, and thinking out loud, she said "Umm okay, so first you would need something to remove stress, so umm lavender? And then, something to balance emotions so, uh, feather of dove? and then you would need something to reduce it, so powdered chicory root? How many is that? Three. Okay, two more. Something to reduce blood pressure, so the oil of an evening primrose, collected in the evening? And then cloves to add some warmth." She grinned triumphantly.

"Correct, Enid." commended Miss Hardbroom. "Cloves are used in particular for calming nervousness. Turmeric or ginger would also be acceptable for the warmth, depending on the witch's need. Turmeric is better for calming overexcitement, and ginger is preferable for calming after a fright. Perhaps all hope is not lost for your examinations tomorrow."

Pippa smiled at Hecate, she loved watching her girlfriend teach. She knew that she truly loved her subject of potions.

The two teachers left the girls to their studies and carried on along the corridor. "I believe this used to be your room, did it not?" Hecate said, pointing to a closed door.

Pippa giggled. "How could you forget Hecate? You used to spend enough time sneaking into it for midnight feasts every night." she smiled wistfully at the memory of the carefree and happy Hecate. Again she felt like she couldn't quite remember something, but shook off her worries. "Shall we knock? I'd love to know who has my old room." Hecate nodded and rapped on the door.

Felicity Foxglove opened the door. "Miss Hardbroom- Miss Pentangle!" she cried in excitement as she spotted the other witch. Pippa laughed, of course the star struck young witch would be the one to have inherited her room.

"You know, Felicity," Pippa said. "This used to be my bedroom back when I was a young witch at Cackle's. Do you mind if I see what it looks like now?"

Felicity was delighted to hear this. Moreover, she was more than happy to show the glamorous witch around her room, pointing out designer coats and the latest witching fashion magazines that covered every surface. "I'm going to write for one of these one day." she boasted.

Hecate hovered, uncomfortably in the doorway. She could never replicate how Pippa seemed to charm the students with such ease. She watched her girlfriend praise the young witch for her revision, and watched as Felicity glowed back.

With a flick of her wrist, Hecate unlocked the door to the potions laboratory. After so many escapades of students stealing ingredients, she felt locking the door was a necessary precaution.

Pippa exhaled in wonder at the well stocked and very orderly potions laboratory. She walked along the shelves, peering admiringly at each neatly hand labeled ingredient. "Hecate, this is wonderful. It's such an improvement on the potions room from when we were here." She pulled a notebook from the shelf and flicked through the pages. Inside were detailed plans for lessons, seating plans and write ups of assessments. She noticed with a smile that Hecate added little notes to her future self, covering what had and hadn't worked in lessons.

Noticing Hecate's watching eyes, she put the notebook back and swapped it for a well worn textbook. It was so well worn that from the spine, she couldn't tell what it was. She turned it so she could see the front cover - The Witches' Code. Of course, even Hecate wouldn't be able to learn the Witches' Code fully on only one read. She thumbed quickly through the pages and noticed more annotations in Hecate's handwriting. With a wry smile, she said "I remember a time when you said this was silly and restrictive. You were going to write to the Great Wizard himself to bring the code more up to date. Do you remember, darling?"

Hecate stood straight as a ramrod. Her lips pursed and eyes narrowed. "I grew up." she snapped.

Pippa's face fell. "I sometimes wish you hadn't, Hecate." her voice wavered. "We used to have so much fun. We used to break the rules, not badly of course, but just for fun. We used to share everything. But then you shut me out. What did I do that so badly changed things between us?"

Hecate extended and scrunched her long fingers by her side, her face tight and collar stiff. "Pippa, I-I-I feel I must clarify, the events in the past that changed things between us, it was never your fault. None of it was ever your fault."

Pippa gazed back at Hecate in wonder, was she about to tell her what had happened to her? "Hiccup, why did you shut me out all of those years ago?"

But try as she might, Hecate couldn't do it, it was too much for the closed book of a witch. Instead, she did the thing she best knew how, and transferred away.

Pippa was left alone in the classroom exasperated. Using the additional reserves of magical energy, gifted to her by Hecate, she followed.

In a burst of purple mist, they both appeared in the kitchen. "Hecate-" Pippa began as the dark haired witch disappeared again.

They reappeared in the broom store "Why-"

The staff room "Do you-"

Back to the potions lab "Always avoid talking to-"

The cattery "Me?"

Hecate transferred away again leaving a tearful and exhausted Pippa amongst the kittens. She picked up a small bundle of black fur and cupped him to her cheek, he mewed gently as he licked at her salt stained face. Feeling the warmth of the kitten as he comforted her reminded Pippa of her own familiar, Willow. She had just had her own kittens, and was staying at Pentangle's for the week to nurse them. She missed her dearly, and wondered if coming to Cackle's this week was entirely the right decision.

Using the last ounces of magical energy left in her, she cast one last detection spell, and transferred to where Hecate was.

Chapter Text

The clearing in the woods was less vibrant than Pippa remembered. Her ears rang, and golden sparks blurred her vision as she stumbled towards Hecate. Shaking her head, Pippa cleared the sparks from her eyes. When things came back into focus, she realised they were in an entirely different area of the woods altogether.

Hecate was stood, as still as a statue. She seemed to be looking at another person who was stood like a statue. Or was she actually a statue? Pippa couldn't be sure. Her head was still spinning, and she felt sick. She had so little energy left in her, and it took all of her might to push through the pain to get to Hecate.

She walked closer slowly, as if wading through treacle. "Hiccup..." she called out weakly. Hecate startled, looking horror stricken by Pippa's fragility. She quickly reached to Pippa so she could support her.

A tear trickled down Hecate's cheek, betraying her face yet again. "Pipsqueak, I am so sorry, I forgot- I did not think that you would struggle to follow me. I needed to leave- i-it is difficult for me to talk about the things that happened in my past." She held Pippa close, trying desperately to share the warmth of her magic with Pippa's languishing body. She placed a warming kiss on Pippa's forehead and sighed.

"Let me tell you a story about a girl named Joy." she began. Something stirred in Pippa's memory. Again, it was almost as if it was obscured by something, but she couldn't tell whether it was the brain fog from her fatigue, or the fuzziness she had noticed earlier. The warmth from Hecate's magic radiated into her and she started to feel more like herself.

"Hiccup isn't short for Hecate. You started calling me that due to the many bouts of hiccups I had after our midnight feasts. You also thought that it would be funny due to its Viking meaning of little one. Especially as I was so much taller. Tall and gangly, I believe was the phrase. Do you remember that Pipsqueak?" Hecate's voice turned into a whisper. Pippa shook her head, intrigued and confused. "My first name is actually Joy. Joy Hecate Hardbroom." she didn't wait for Pippa to respond, and instead carried on "When you started spending more time with the popular witches, I felt rather alone. Very alone. I could never understand why you would spend time with them when they called me such foul names. I started to believe that you also thought those things about me too."

Hecate stopped. Memories of taunts about her looks, height, sexuality and intelligence flooded back. The only hard broom she'll ever know is her last name. She choked back a sob as she remembered her school work being destroyed by the girls, her bedroom being vandalised, the taunts of tall and gangly as she walked past.

Pippa wiped at the tears running down her face. "Hecate, I-I was stupid to think of those witches as my friends. I tried to defend you in front of them so many times when they called you names, but it was never enough. When you shut me out, I was silly to start to believe them. I was weak. I can see why you didn't want to spend time with me anymore."

"I always wanted to spend time with you Pipsqueak!" Hecate wailed. "There is more, however. In my solitude, I started to venture further and further from the academy on my broomstick, and soon discovered the wonders of the non magical world. I discovered music, and dancing. I discovered the beauty of living without magic. I also discovered that no one could see me, and began to feel I was invisible everywhere I went. That is, until one person could see me." she paused for a moment to allow Pippa to process her story. "I met a non magical girl, the same age as I was. She could see me, she believed in magic. I felt seen and vibrant again. I was too sure of myself, and soon was caught by the teachers at Cackle's. My punishment was confinement to the Castle, but I was so alone. I could not bear to see you spending more time with the pretty popular witches, and I missed my non magical friend. The lonelier I felt, the more I had to do it. I had to bring her to me, and so I did." Hecate paused again. She had never recounted this story to anyone. "I will spare you the details, but this statue is all that remains of that non magical girl who was my friend."

Pippa was silent. Tears streamed down her face. "I-I don't understand Hiccup. What happened to the girl? Why can't I remember that your name was Joy?"

Hecate grimaced. "I gave the girl the very best gift of all. Magic. It was wonderful at first, but it soon consumed and destroyed her. The teachers at the time thought it was best to protect me from the consequences of my actions. They removed all memory of my misconduct from the witching population using a particularly potent forgetting powder. My punishment was to suffer alone with the outcome of my misuse of magic. It was really rather kind, given the circumstances. As part of this, I assumed a new identity, and was confined the the castle unless I had explicit permission to leave. The name Joy was a constant reminder of the pain I had inflicted on this girl, and the risk I had put upon the magical world. I could no longer be Joy if I could not feel joyous. Hecate felt more appropriate as I continued my life."

A wave of self pity crushed Hecate, and she collapsed into a pile of sobs. Pippa gazed at her in shock. She desperately wanted to comfort her girlfriend, but the weight of the revelation was weighing heavily on her too. While it was clear Hecate blamed only herself for the fate of the statue girl, Pippa knew that she too had played her part in this tragedy. She wondered whether they would both be crying in the clearing right now if she'd had more conviction in her friendship with Hecate.

Guiltily, Pippa pulled Hecate into a tight embrace. "Hecate, you are not solely to blame." she whispered. "What you did was perfectly understandable given the circumstances, and I only wish I could have done more to prevent it. I should have stuck by you, I only ever wanted you, and instead, I foolishly pushed you away. All these years I thought it was you who shut me out, but I was doing that to you long before. This poor girl, if I had been there for you... Oh Hecate, I'm so sorry!" she nuzzled her nose into Hecate's warm shoulder.

Hecate was stunned. How, after hearing how dreadfully Hecate had disobeyed the Witches' Code, had Pippa reached the conclusion that it was her fault?

"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Pippa asked. She felt Hecate stiffen, and knew the answer before the dark haired witch could even respond.

"It is something that is both not allowed and not possible." Hecate said matter of factly, regaining her stoic composure. She was regretting her decision to tell Pippa. "Pippa, I must live the rest of my life under the weight of my actions. It was not fair of me to drag you into this. I would understand completely if you were to choose to walk away."

Pippa shook her head in wonder at her girlfriend. Hecate was so determined to deal with her demons on her own, she wondered if Hecate had been alone for so long that it almost gave her comfort to feel like this. "Hecate, I am so pleased you told me. I hate to think of you dealing with this alone all of these years. I wish you had told me, I wish I could have made it easier for you." she stroked Hecate's cheek, and wiped away her smudged eyeliner. "You don't have to deal with this alone any more. Together we can find a way to help you move on. You have suffered long enough." She took Hecate's hand and stroked it in small circles with her thumb.

Hecate sat silently beside her. She was stunned at how accepting Pippa was. In that moment, there was nothing left for her to say.

Chapter Text

By the time the two witches made it back to the entrance hall of the castle, the night was drawing in. A silent unspoken agreement fell between them to not discuss the conversation in the woods any further that day.

Hecate held the golden timepiece from around her neck up in front of her face. She peered at the time and snapped the watch shut. "We are going to be late to dinner." she said matter of factly. Pippa stifled a giggle, Hecate was so quick to return to the comfort of rules and routine. No wonder though, she mused, given everything Hecate had been through. She quickly performed a silent spell to return their makeup to a pre-tearful state, she didn't think Hecate would want to be seen with smudged makeup and tear stained cheeks. Hecate gave her a grateful look, and they made their way to the dining hall solemnly. Both still processing everything that had happened between them.

Heads turned to stare as the two witches walked to the teachers' table. Miss Hardbroom was never late to anything. The two witches kept their heads up as they glided through the dining hall. Miss Pentangle elegantly smiled and nodded in a friendly manner at the students as she walked past. Miss Hardbroom on the other hand kept her gaze fixed ahead.

"Where do you reckon HB and Pentangle have been?" Maud whispered to Enid and Mildred. "Miss Drill isn't here either. That's weird." she also noticed.

"I bet they were setting more work for us all, they were properly quizzing us on potions earlier." Enid explained to Mildred, frowning at the recollection. Mildred felt bad at the thought of usually confident Enid struggling to answer a question from the formidable Miss Hardbroom. "But Miss Pentangle helped me. I wish she taught here, she's way better than HB."

"Miss Pentangle is great, but HB isn't that bad either." Mildred said, shocked to find herself thinking positively about the cold teacher. "I think the strictness is partly an act." Maud and Enid snorted with laughter.

"Oh Mildred," Maud giggled, "You're so silly! HB's strictness is not an act at all. If it was an act, she'd at least smile once in a while." she pointed at the hard faced teacher at the end of the hall. "It's only a few days from the end of term, and if what you said is true, she even has Miss Pentangle as an old friend here to visit. She still looks as angry as ever." Maud wasn't wrong, Miss Hardbroom looked particularly vexed as she stabbed her fork into a boiled new potato. "I bet she's annoyed that she won't be able to give us detentions over the summer-"

Maud was cut off by the tall teacher appearing suddenly behind her. "Why don't I write to your parents and test that theory Maud Spellbody." she threatened. Maud responded by way of a mumbled apology.

Miss Hardbroom returned to the teachers table in a puff of purple mist. Her sudden reappearance at Miss Pentangle's elbow caused her to jump and she let out a small squeak. "Oh Hecate, you know I hate it when you do that." she teased playfully with a wink and tapped Hecate's nose with her finger. She laughed at Hecate's raised eyebrows and mortified expression. The other teachers exchanged glances at Miss Pentangle's boldness. No one ever talked to Miss Hardbroom like that, joke or not.

Mildred gasped, still looking at the teacher's table. "I think I just saw Miss Pentangle wink at HB! And HB let her get away with it." she looked pointedly at Maud and Enid as if that proved that Miss Hardbroom wasn't always strict.

Felicity leaned across the table to join in the conversation too. Felicity loved nothing more than to gossip, especially about Miss Pentangle. "They're always spending time together too, you know! When I lost Pocus, Miss Pentangle was in HB's room. You don't think that they're more than friends do you? My readers would love to read about Miss Pentangle and HB's secret romance!" she pulled out her maglet and started excitedly scribbling the outline of a story.

Ethel looked repulsed. "No one would want to read that rubbish!" she criticised, much to Felicity's dismay. Ethel snatched the maglet and made a sickened face as she read what Felicity had written. "Don't be so disgusting, it's not witchy to like other witches. Maybe Miss Hardbroom might, although I can't imagine her liking anyone, but Miss Pentangle is far too respectable to date another witch. She's from a really old witching family and even knows my mum. She dates wizards, not witches." She screwed her face up in horror at the thought of two witches together.

The girls around Ethel all looked shocked at the outdated views she held.

"Ethel, you know it's okay for witches to date witches, and wizards to date wizards, right?" Mildred asked. She actually wasn't sure if being gay was generally accepted in the magical world, but hoped that despite some of their backwards ways, witches weren't in the habit of being homophobic. The other girls all nodded their agreement with Mildred, staring at Ethel.

The young blonde witch went bright red. "But my mum says it's wrong. Witches aren't supposed to like other witches. They are supposed to like wizards. It isn't traditional." she spluttered.

"Don't be silly Ethel, that's so old fashioned to think like that." Enid said. "My uncle is dating a wizard and they are so perfect for each other. There's no way that he would be as happy if he was dating a witch. It just wouldn't work for him."

Ethel glowered.

"My mum has a lesbian friend, and her relationship with her wife is so sweet," said Mildred brightly. "Besides, we don't even know if they are a couple. I don't think we should be gossiping about something that might not even be true." Again, she was surprised to hear herself coming to Miss Hardbroom's defence.

The girls looked towards the teachers' table, half expecting to see the two teachers doing something a couple would. They sighed in disappointment. Miss Hardbroom was deep in conversation with Miss Cackle about the merits of teaching the girls proper broomstick maintenance, and Miss Pentangle appeared to be telling a joke to Mr Rowan-Webb. "Maybe we could ask them?" offered Enid. The girls, with the exception of Ethel who was still sulking, burst into peals of laughter. It was one thing to speculate about the two teachers' relationship, but no one would ever dare to actually ask their very private potions teacher. The sudden outburst of noise earned them all a very stern look from Miss Hardbroom.

Dimity stood back and smiled at her handiwork. All evening she had been preparing the staff room for her annual end of year party. She'd even missed dinner to prepare. The walls were decorated with paper chains, and candles in glass jars lit the room with a warming glow.

This year, the guest list had expanded. Not only were the usual teachers invited, but she had also opened up the invite to Pippa Pentangle, and by proxy, Hecate Hardbroom. Dimity was curious to see if the stuffy witch would actually let her hair down, both figuratively and literally.

She picked up a jug, and with a spell, summoned a bottle of slimeade. She poured the gloopy green liquid into the jug with satisfaction as she watched it glug out of the bottle. Slimeade always reminded her of childhood parties, and she wanted to make sure all guests were catered for. She didn't know what Miss Hardbroom or Miss Pentangle liked to drink. She placed it down on the table next to some other bottles, and some plates of food kindly donated by Miss Tapioca. She hoped the array of food and drink would help to avoid any awkwardness with her new guests.

Noticing the time, Dimity quickly ran to her room to change into something nicer than her sports robes. She returned a while later in a teal one shoulder jumpsuit and a pair of strappy heels.

The first party goer to arrive was Ada Cackle. The kindly headmistress had substituted her comfortable knitted cardigan for a glitzy sequinned jacket and was sporting a matching sequinned hat. She clapped her hands together in delight as she saw the festive decorations and buffet the sports witch had laid out. "Dimity, this is wonderful, I always find myself looking forward to your parties." She uncorked a bottle of elderflower wine and poured herself a generous glass. She took a sip. "It feels so good to finally celebrate after the year we've had."

Next to arrive were a very dressed up Algernon Rowan-Webb and Gwen Bat. "Great spread you've put on here Dimity!" Algernon croaked as he eyes up the plates greedily. "I even spy some flies, ribbit." He shot out his tongue to pick up an insect. They quickly poured themselves tankards of slimeade and settled into two comfortable armchairs in the corner.

Miss Tapioca arrived with a cauldron of leftover soup in her arms, and was wearing a simple dress in place of her cooks clothes. The teachers all politely feigned gratefulness as she set it in the centre of the buffet with a grin.

"Is this everyone?" Ada asked. She didn't expect to see Hecate making an appearance, and couldn't imagine Pippa coming without her.

"I did invite Miss Pentangle and by extension Hecate. I suppose we will have to see if they turn up." Dimity responded hopefully.

"Pipsqueak, I have absolutely nothing to wear." Hecate cried out, her head buried inside her wardrobe.

Pippa floated across the room in a full length golden gown, her golden hair was in a bouncy ponytail, and it bobbed on and off her shoulders as she walked. She lightly touched Hecate's back as she joined her in looking at her clothes. "Your wardrobe really is rather monochromatic Hiccup. You must let me take you shopping in the summer." she commented. Hecate raised her eyebrows. Shopping with Pippa would certainly be an experience.

Pippa reached into the wardrobe and bit her lip in concentration as she flicked through the array of black dresses. "What's in this box?" She asked, reaching up to a shelf above the rail and pulled it down.

It had been so long since Hecate had accessed anything on the top shelf of her wardrobe, she didn't actually know. Before she let Pippa open the box, she vanished the thin layer of dust on top of it. She didn't want to let the dust ruin whatever the contents were, just in case.

Pippa gasped in wonder when she opened the lid. Of course it was Hecate's famed silver ball gown from their time at Cackle's. Hecate must be much more sentimental than she lets on, Pippa thought to herself. The dress itself was like liquid moonlight, and Pippa recalled how wonderful Hecate had looked the last time she had seen her wear it. "Hecate you must wear this! Just as I imagined it earlier, we can recreate our leavers' ball. Just this time without the animosity and trying to upstage one another." she jostled the taller witch with her elbow.

Hecate's eyes narrowed. She wasn't even sure if the dress would fit anymore, and no one at Cackle's had ever seen her in anything other than black. She ran her hand gently through the silky fabric, surprised at how soft it was all these years later. "I suppose I can try it on." she said, suddenly feeing very shy. She scooped the dress up into her arms and transferred to the bathroom to try it on in private.

After waiting for what seemed like an age, Pippa impatiently knocked on the bathroom door. "Hecate, at this rate we won't even get to Dimity's party."

"I am still of the opinion that it is rather inappropriate to celebrate the end of term before examinations are complete!" came the retort from behind the bathroom door.

The bathroom door slowly opened, Pippa's mouth dropped open in awe. "Hecate..." she breathed, speechless. The brunette witch had never looked quite so witchy.

Her long dark hair fell glossily over her shoulders. Without the tight bun, her face seemed happier somehow. The harsh red lipstick the witch usually chose to wear had been replaced by a paler pink. It softened her lips. The silver dress made the witch appear to glow as she shyly looked through her eyelashes at her girlfriend. She twirled around hesitantly in a circle to show off the back of the dress, a small smile crept across her face for how ridiculous she felt. Her posture was different too, almost as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Pippa realised it probably had.

"Hecate," she tried again, "you look even more beautiful than I imagined." It was taking a lot of self control for her to not rip the beautiful dress off of its wearer. She pulled the witch toward her and twirled her in another circle. Hecate scrunched her nose up in happiness as she spun. Pippa noticed that the dark haired witch did this a lot, rather than betraying her strict facade by smiling. She pulled Hecate into a tight hug. 

"Whilst I cannot wait to take this dress off you later, we really must be getting to Dimity's party." Pippa grinned triumphantly as Hecate's eyes lit up.

Hecate took the blonde's arm hesitantly. "Are you quite sure that this outfit is acceptable? I feel ridiculous." Pippa reassured her that the dress was more than acceptable, and she clung to Hecate as the dark haired witch transferred them to outside the staff room.

Chapter Text

The chatter of the teachers fell to silence as the door to the staff room opened. Each and every occupant of the room was surprised at the sight that met them. Pippa and Hecate strode loftily into the room, a stream of gold and silver sparks followed their feet. They both knew how to make an entrance.

Pippa's excitement had radiated into Hecate, and both witches looked pleased to be at the party. Together, glowing, they looked like the sun and the moon.

"Hecate, Pippa, well met!" crowed Miss Cackle as the two witches walked in. "You look simply wonderful."

The sparks subsided and Hecate and Pippa bowed their heads with their hands on their foreheads. "Well met Miss Cackle." They chorused in unison. The headteacher laughed, the two witches in front of her reminded her very much of the same two witches 30 years ago.

Dimity tottered over from the buffet table with a large grin on her face and an even larger glass in her hand. "I'm so glad you could make it!" she told Pippa. Then, remembering Hecate was also standing there, "and you too Miss-uh-sorry-Hecate. I don't think I've ever seen you look so relaxed. You look... very different." The imposing witch had always made Dimity feel on edge, but stood slightly tipsy in her heels and almost at the same height as Hecate, Dimity felt a lot more confident.

Dimity wasn't usually bossy, but to ensure the enjoyment of her guests, she liked her parties to run just so. "Now that everyone is here, shall we get some games started? Let's get to know everyone properly!" she led Hecate and Pippa over to the table to get some drinks, and indicated to everyone else to find a seat. Pippa poured herself and Hecate generous glasses of gin and tonic, she was so excited to get to know the Cackle's teachers more.

Once all witches and wizard were seated, Dimity explained the first game they would play. "When I studied sports at witching university, we had to do a semester in a non-witching uni to learn about non magical sports. As part of my studies, I also endeavoured to learn more about non magical culture. In particular drinking games." the group of teachers laughed, they could quite imagine Dimity throwing herself into the social side of university. Even Hecate turned her lips up in a slight smile.

"One of these games was called 'Never Have I Ever.' I have updated it slightly to incorporate magic, but idea is we will go around the circle each making a statement about something we have never done. For example, I would state never have I ever lost a broomstick race. Everyone in the circle who has lost a broomstick race then needs to drink. It's a great way to learn things about everyone else in the room that they wouldn't necessarily tell you." she paused to allow the teachers time to understand the premise of the game. Hecate and Pippa exchanged worried glances, this seemed like a recipe for disaster.

"Of course, I completely expect some of you to be too shy to drink for everything they have done," she stared directly at Hecate. "And as such I have enchanted your drinks to knock against your face until you do drink if you have done the statement. Does everyone understand?" she looked around the room. Hecate looked positively paralysed at the idea of the teachers finding out her secrets. She stood to leave, but Pippa pulled her back down into the chair next to her. The other teachers all nodded. "Be grateful I haven't spiked your drinks with truth potions this year." Dimity said jovially.

"Now that was a fun party!" Algernon reminisced.

"I'll start with an easy one," Dimity continued. "Never have I ever studied at Cackle's academy." Ada and Pippa both took enthusiastic gulps of their drinks. Hecate pursed her lips with her arms folded, still not convinced by the premise of the game. She was terrified of what it would reveal. Her glass levitated off the table and gently started nudging her face. Defeated, she took a sip.

"Hecate, that was an easy one! How on earth are you going to cope with the difficult questions later on?" Dimity laughed. "Okay, Ada's turn!" she said, keen to get the game going and the drinks flowing. Hecate looked outraged. 

Ada thought for a second. "Never have I ever stolen food from the kitchen." Everyone around the table took a drink, much to the indignation of Miss Tapioca.

"No wonder I'm always short on supplies." she grumbled. "These are about as exciting as a chanting lesson. Sorry Gwen. Let's get into the interesting questions. Never have I ever crashed my broomstick." She eyed the group. To her surprise, only Dimity took a sip. She looked quite melancholy at the memory.

"Only once, and it ended my flying career," Dimity explained, putting on a smile.

Algernon swiftly changed the topic, "Never have I ever taken a personality altering potion on purpose." Ada, Gwen and Miss Tapioca drank. They stared at the other teachers. "Surely you've taken one at some point?" Miss Tapioca asked Hecate "I'm sure I've seen you outside of your usual... uh, character at least once?"

Hecate clenched her teeth, as potions teacher and deputy head, she regularly fell victim to her students. "Unfortunately, the only personality potions I have ever been subject to have been as a result of a prank or a poorly brewed student's potion." Pippa felt sympathy for her girlfriend. Being the school's strictest teacher must make her a target. Still, she made a mental note to ask Miss Tapioca to tell her more later, she thought it would be quite interesting to hear about Hecate with a different personality. She wondered if she was more like the Hecate she remembered from school. More like... Joy?

Next, it was Hecate's turn. She thought for a moment, considering what she wanted to find out about her colleagues. She settled on "Never have I ever handed in my homework late." this was met by raucous laughter from the group as they all took a swig. She tried again, "Never have I ever taught a lesson hungover." Ada, Algernon, Dimity, Gwen and Pippa all drank again. Hecate frowned at the lack of professionalism of them all.

Dimity chortled as she took another sip, "Don't worry Hecate, we'll have you drinking to that one by the end of tonight!" Hecate bristled. This was exactly the inappropriate behaviour she didn't condone.

Miss Tapioca opened her mouth to ask a juicy question about anyone ever breaking the Witches' Code, but noticed Pippa gently brush her hand against Hecate's thigh to calm her. She also noticed how Hecate uncharacteristically seemed to melt into the touch. Suddenly, remembering seeing the witches spending a lot of time together recently, she changed tack and speculatively said "Never have I ever kissed someone in this room." Algernon and Gwen whooped and cheered as they clinked glasses and drank.

Pippa and Hecate sat horrified, as their glasses hovered around their heads, lightly bumping into their reddening cheeks. Embarrassed, they quickly took tiny sips, hoping everyone was paying attention to Algernon and Gwen.

"Oooh Pippa and Hecate, who have you kissed in this room?" asked Dimity before realising. She smacked her hand across her mouth at the revelation. "You two! Oh my goodness. No wonder you've been spending so much time together recently, I did think you had become nicer Hecate."

Miss Tapioca grinned triumphantly. The other teachers quickly offered their congratulations to the new couple. Hecate looked like she wanted to be vanished, but despite her discomfort, she resisted transferring away. She knew that Pippa wouldn't cope with her leaving again.

Pippa giggled bashfully. "You've caught us! We're still very early days though, so we're trying to keep it private, aren't we Hecate dear?" Hecate grimaced, this didn't feel at all private to her. She nodded her agreement. She was not pleased to have the other teachers knowing about her relationship status, but the truth was out now.

Eager to take the pressure off her red faced girlfriend and avoid any prying questions, Pippa said "Well, now the cat's off the broom, I think that's quite enough of that game. How about a dance, we're all dressed up for it!"

Dimity opened her mouth to protest, there were so many more questions she wanted answered. She hadn't ever even imagined that Hecate was emotionally capable of being with another person, and wanted to find out more. Besides, Dimity loved nothing more than to gossip.

"Excellent idea!" Ada said quickly. She too had noticed how uncomfortable Hecate was, and didn't want to anger her deputy. She hurried to find a record to start playing.

Hecate threw herself out of her chair and walked to the buffet table, she needed a moment to herself. She faced the plates of food and slowly clenched and unclenched her fists.

There was a light tap on her shoulder, and Hecate turned to be enveloped in a hug by Ada. Hecate coughed, she didn't take too kindly to being hugged by anyone. Apart from Pippa, it would seem. "Hecate, I'm so pleased for you. You and Pippa make a beautiful pair." Hecate relaxed slightly. "I am however, slightly confused," Ada continued. "You requested separate chambers for Miss Pentangle for the duration of her visit?"

Any relaxation Hecate had felt left her body. "I thought it would be best." Hecate said curtly. "After all it is only very early days for Pippa and I." she stopped, too embarrassed to continue.

Ada gave a knowing smile. "I understand. I suppose it will still be necessary for you to keep the extra room if you are to keep this a secret from the students." Hecate shuddered at the idea of any of her students knowing about something so personal to her.

The initial awkwardness caused by Dimity's drinking game fell away as the teachers danced and chatted.

With the pressure no longer focused solely on the new couple, Hecate found she could converse with her colleagues in a manner she would normally find far too trivial. Always a stickler for sensibility, she made sure to monitor what she was drinking. Despite a lot of change recently, control of her inhibitions was not something she could easily cast aside.

In conversation, she found that she could even tolerate Gwen Bat regaling her with a tale of old. She actually learned something from the elderly witch as she described the moonlit ingredient collecting escapades of her youth.

Hecate surprised even herself when she told Algernon Rowan-Webb a frog themed joke she thought he might enjoy. She had heard it many years ago during her escapades in the non magical world. Until now she had repressed the memory of non magical culture, but she was finding herself more comfortable coming to terms with her past since telling Pippa. "Why are frogs always so happy?" she asked the wizard. He professed that he didn't know. "Because they eat everything that bugs them!" she proudly delivered the punchline.

Algernon let out a mighty guffaw. "That we do Miss Hardbroom, that we do." He chuckled to himself, thinking of all of the bugs he had eaten.

When it came to dancing, Hecate moved everyone by showing off her magical waltz skills. She took Pippa in her arms and levitated them both above the floor so they floated as they danced around, almost as if they were in a fairytale. Even Pippa found herself bewitched by the enchanting dance moves her girlfriend was leading with. The teachers applauded them as they gently touched back down to the ground.

A slightly drunk Dimity pulled Hecate away from Pippa as they landed, and slurred "You know, Hec-Hecate, you're not as scary as I thought you were. You're actually pretty nor-normal. Where did you learn to dance like that?" Dimity asked. Her terrifying superior was surprising her a lot this evening.

Hecate glanced perturbed at her drunken colleague. She didn't know how to react to the nosey witch. She tried to catch Pippa's eye to come and save her to no avail. Pippa was listening intently to a story Miss Cackle was telling her. "Miss Drill." she snapped. "There are many aspects of my life that I would prefer to remain private. Unfortunately you have robbed me of the choice to keep my relationship private, and as such, I will choose to keep the origins of my dancing expertise to myself." she transferred herself to Pippa's side to avoid spending any more time under Dimity's scrutiny. Dimity was left staring at the empty space in front of her.

"Hecate!" Pippa smiled as her girlfriend appeared beside her. "I was just telling Ada how pleased I am to be here, and how pleased I am that we were invited tonight. It's so lovely to get to know the teachers here at Cackle's. I imagine we'll be working together a lot in the future."

Before Hecate could agree, a loud crash followed by a sloshing sound echoed throughout the staffroom.

In all of his excitement to catch a fly with his amphibian tongue, Algernon had leapt across the table and onto the cauldron of leftover soup. He crouched sheepishly in the green goo and shot out his tongue again. "Got it!" he croaked.

Hecate set down her still mostly full glass of gin and vanished the soupy mess from the floor. "It is getting very late." she stated to no one in particular. "We all have examinations to invigilate in the morning with the exception of Pippa and Miss Tapioca, I suggest that we tidy up and get some sleep."

Surprisingly, none of the teachers disagreed. This year at Cackle's had been exhausting, and everyone was feeling the effects of the late night.

Pippa clutched Hecate's hand tightly as they walked along the corridors to get to Hecate's rooms. Fuchsia tipped fingers interlaced with purple.

Ever the sensible witch, Hecate's preferred method of transference had been off the table as soon as she had taken a sip of gin. She'd read about the dangers of intoxicated transferring.

Despite having to resort to using her legs, Hecate did not want to waste any time getting back to her rooms. She daren't even entertain the idea of a student catching a glimpse of her dressed as she was. Nor did she want to think about a student seeing a merry Pippa clinging to her as they walked. She remembered how some of the girls had pointed and stared at her and Pippa at dinner. The pair seemed to be garnering enough attention as it was.

Hecate hurtled forward like a broom through the sky, Pippa half skipped beside her to keep up.

In her hurry to keep up with Hecate's long strides, Pippa stumbled against an ancient vase that proudly stood below a window. The shards of dusty pottery clattered down the corridor, echoing throughout the school.

Hecate tensed. She hoped that all of the students were asleep, or at the very least, buried in last minute revision. She tried to chivvy Pippa along, but the blonde witch collapsed to the ground in a fit of silent giggles, holding her side as it hurt so much from laughing. She took her heels from her aching feet and tried to vanish them silently. When the spell didn't work, she burst into louder giggles.

"Pipsqueak, must you really sit in the corridor and laugh over something so trivial? Can we please return to my rooms in silence?" she implored of her girlfriend. This caused Pippa to laugh even more. Her laughter rang throughout the corridor.

"Pipsqueak, I must insist." Hecate tried to be strict with her girlfriend, but the delicious sound was infectious. Against her best will, she smiled and started to laugh. She joined her girlfriend sitting on the cool stone floor and together they guffawed.

More loud crashes deafened the occupants of the corridor. Hecate and Pippa sprung apart and their laughter halted. They hoped that the crashes were just another party goer struggling to make their way back to their chambers.

"Sorry!" came a disheveled squeak as a scruffy student came into view followed by a ghostly grey cat.

Hecate stood up, clenching her fists. The loud noises had sobered her completely. "Mildred Hubble!" she exclaimed sharply. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

Mildred looked done in. "I was doing some last minute revision and I heard a loud smashing noise. I came to see what it was but then tripped over this." She offered up a section of the pottery Pippa had destroyed.

Hecate looked horror stricken. What if Mildred had fallen and landed on a sharp fragment of the pottery? She admonished herself for not considering the safety of her students and almost forgot about the fact that Mildred had stumbled across her and Pippa in their drunken mirth. "Are you... okay?" she asked Mildred.

Surprise coloured Mildred's face at her teacher's question. "I think so."

"I am glad," the teacher vanished the offending pottery before it could cause any more commotions. "Mildred, it is very late. I do not think you will gain anything from further revision. The best thing you can do now is sleep."

"But Miss Hardbroom, I need to get seventy percent for you to tutor me next year. I need to keep revising." The girl's usually cheery face was hollow and gaunt.

Guilt pulled at Hecate's heartstrings as she realised she was the likely cause of her student's stress. There was also something else mixed into Hecate's feelings. A touch of hope lit her heart as she realised Mildred was studying in order to spend more time learning from her.

Also much more sober, Pippa put a hand on Mildred's arm. "Hecate is right, Mildred. Sleep will help you much more in your exams than reading a few more pages."

The young witch reluctantly agreed, and the two teachers accompanied her along the corridor to her bedroom.

Mildred's bedroom was coated from floor to ceiling in revision material. Even her bed was piled high with papers. Hecate bit her tongue from chiding her student for her messy room and instead waved her fingers and the papers from the bed formed neat piles on the only portion of the room that was clear, the desk.

Mildred lethargically climbed into bed, still fully dressed in her school uniform. Tabby leapt up to join her and nuzzled into his tired mistress's arms. With another wave of Hecate's hand, the girl was wearing a fresh set of pyjamas.

Pippa smoothed Mildred's unkempt hair and pulled her duvet over her. She placed a small kiss on Tabby's head and the cat mewed affectionately. "You've worked so hard Millie, it's time to sleep now." she told the weary witch.

Hecate stood awkwardly, feeling she should also say something to put Mildred's mind at ease before she slept. She cleared her throat. "Mildred Hubble, however well you do in your examinations tomorrow, please know that you have improved as a witch tremendously since beginning your studies at Cackle's." she gently touched Mildred's shoulder and then pulled her hand away. "Your hard work of late has not gone unnoticed, and I will always be available to offer advice should you need it."

Mildred visibly relaxed. "Thank you Miss Hardbroom." her eyelids drooped. "You both look really pretty tonight. I'm pleased you're friends again, you seem happier. Goodnight." she mumbled sleepily.

"Thank you Mildred. Goodnight." came the blushing response from her teacher. Wordlessly, Hecate placed her thumb against Mildred's forehead and cast a dreamless sleep upon her. She looked down at the sleeping girl, "I am sorry for causing you to lose sleep." she whispered. As much as she disliked admitting when she was wrong, there were occasions where she had been unnecessarily harsh on the girl. She knew that she hadn't always treated Mildred fairly, but hoped that she could make it up to her.

Pippa looked adoringly at her girlfriend as she helped the girl to sleep. Seeing Hecate's slightly maternal side made her despair for their lost years and missed opportunities. She privately hoped there would still be time for them to have children of their own one day.

As the two teachers picked their way through the mounds of paper, Pippa pointed out Mildred's potion textbook to Hecate. It was open to a level 8 potion and she had crossed out several steps in the spells and written her own notes "HB does it better by adding in the bats tooth after the pondweed rather than before" and "HB taught me to crush the root rather than to powder it to get milder results".

"She really is a mini you Hiccup." Pippa told her girlfriend. For once, Hecate couldn't think of a reason to disagree. 

Chapter Text

In Hecate's chambers, the two tired witches took turns drinking from a large glass of water. Hecate had been very careful with her drinking at the teachers' party, and had deliberately made sure that both witches were fully rehydrated upon hers and Pippa's return to her rooms. End of term exams were to begin in the morning, and Hecate wanted to ensure order was upheld. She expected nothing but the best from her girls.

The night's events seemed like a blur after the busy day they had spent together, and too tired to even talk, the two witches collapsed exhausted into each other's arms in bed.

Unsurprisingly, the sensible witch awoke feeling fairly refreshed. She found she was also sleeping much better recently, snuggled into the beautiful witch that somehow wanted Hecate just as much as Hecate wanted her. Hecate buried herself into Pippa's comforting arms, and winced as her hip touched Pippa's. She could feel a bruise from sitting and laughing on the hard stone floor. She lay all of a sudden rigid in Pippa's arms, remembering that Mildred Hubble had seen them laughing in those ridiculous ballgowns in the corridor.

That girl and her plaits were always turning up when she wasn't needed.

Although, thought Hecate with surprising fondness. Without Mildred, Pippa and Hecate would likely still abhor one another. She furrowed her brow. It was becoming hard for Hecate to deny how much the unruly student had grown on her. Sometimes when she found a particularly interesting spell or novel potion brewing method, she even found herself planning some tutor sessions for Mildred's second year at Cackle's. She desperately hoped the girl would take on board her recent teachings and succeed in her end of year examinations.

Pippa stirred, and feeling how stiff her girlfriend was, pulled Hecate into a tighter embrace until she loosened up. "Good morning my darling," she murmured, her usually flawless blonde hair swooped down across her cheek as she spoke. "How do you feel?" she asked groggily.

"How does my head feel? Or how do I feel about yesterday?" Hecate queried as she gently tucked Pippa's hair back behind her ear.

"Both I suppose?" Pippa said.

So much had changed for the two witches in the last 24 hours, Hecate was struggling to process it. She thought for a moment. "My head feels perfectly normal, as expected, the water seems to have served its purpose." She ordered the days events in her head so she could address them. "I also feel somewhat relieved after our discussion yesterday afternoon, I am aware there is much more for us to discuss, but overall I am glad I could explain some of my past behaviour. As a result I find myself feeling more at ease this morning."

Pippa lovingly stroked Hecate's back as she spoke. She was pleased her girlfriend wasn't having second thoughts about telling her about the teenage misadventures that had lead to their untimely split. "Thank you for telling me Hiccup. I feel terrible for not being there for you back then. I just wish I could have done something to reach out to you earlier." she placed a delicate kiss on Hecate's lips. "How about last night? How are you feeling about the other teachers knowing about us?"

"The gathering last night was better than I expected in many ways. I feel like I have a better appreciation of my colleagues, and it was... nice to be included." Hecate paused, unsure how to phrase her thoughts without offending Pippa. "However, I am displeased about that particular event last night. I did not imagine that we would have to disclose the nature of our relationship quite so trivially."

Pippa agreed, privacy was a privilege that she wished they still had. The world of dating witches was so new to her and despite the carefree and composed persona she projected out to the world, she would have preferred to have control over when and how people found out. She supposed she was quite similar to Hecate in that regard. She wished that she and Hecate had been given the time to just enjoy each other before being thrown into the limelight. "Yes, it was rather unfortunate that we were put on the spot like that. It rather takes the fun out of having a secret relationship when it's no longer secret." She cringed at her own attempt to make light of the situation. "Not that that's why I'm with you Hecate dear, it's just it is fun to sneak around, isn't it? Still, now the bat's off its perch, I suppose we will have to deal with the situation we find ourselves in. We have the whole summer to ourselves darling, there will be no prying teachers or snooping students to ask us awkward questions!"

Pippa made a face at the volume of her excited voice. Unfortunately for her, a glass of water had not been enough to save her from a hangover. She carried on, "I feel dreadful, my head is pounding, it's as if I can still feel the smashing of that vase in my ears." She dramatically swept her hand across her face. Hecate smiled at her theatrical girlfriend, Pippa did like to put on a show. Pippa continued "I'm so unwell, I'll have to spend all day in bed with you to help me recover." she giggled at her bedfellow's raised eyebrows.

"As much as you know I would enjoy that," Hecate smirked at the thought of spending all day in bed with Pippa, "I have examinations to invigilate."

Pippa pouted. "Yes, I suppose you do Hiccup. Why don't you get ready for breakfast and I'll join you later? If I'm feeling better, I might even help you invigilate." The blonde witch rolled over and to Hecate's amusement, promptly fell back to sleep.

As she made her way to the bathroom to shower, Hecate opened the curtains. Pippa groaned in her sleep as the light hit her face. "Ouch, my head." she moaned and covered her face with a dark silk covered pillow.

When Hecate returned from the bathroom, Pippa was still hiding from the sunlight under the pillow.

Content that her girlfriend would probably remain there for quite some time, and with a smug smile, Hecate transferred herself to her potions lab and set about brewing a hangover cure.

Quickly and deftly she chopped fresh hibiscus, crushed snail shell and juiced dandelion stems. She twisted her clean hair together into a rope, and tucked it into the raised collar of her dress. It felt nice to give her scalp a long needed rest from her usual tight bun.

The witch reminisced as she lit a flame under a cauldron. It had been a long time since Hecate had invented this potion, and almost as long since she'd needed to use it herself. The potion was from a very different era of Hecate's life.

During the early days of teaching at Cackle's, Miss Cackle had been very lenient with allowing a younger Hecate to leave the castle in the evenings. Hecate had taken small advantage of her newfound freedom, and had occasionally observed the student lifestyle of her peers. Of course, having teaching responsibilities and the weight of the Witches' Code weighing heavily on her shoulders, Hecate had never been too reckless. There had only been a handful of occasions where a hangover cure had been required.

As Hecate grew older, the draw of socialising became less and less. Memories of what happened to Indigo Moon prevented Hecate from ever feeling fully free, and she felt guilty for enjoying herself. Dancing, music, even laughter reminded her of opportunities she had stolen from her friend, and instead she found comfort in solitude and her own self pity. The pretty blonde witches whom she used to court moved away and settled into jobs and family life. Until eventually, the witch found no reason to leave the academy in the evenings. She found herself almost voluntarily confined to the thick stone walls of the castle again. She realised with regret, that she had become so engrossed in upholding the Witches' Code and order in the school, she had been the one to impose her punishment on herself, not the teachers that had originally decided it.

At least things were changing, she thought optimistically. Visiting Pippa's school was the first time Hecate had ventured away from the academy in decades. While that particular visit had not been as positive as she would have liked to say the least, she hoped that she would have many more opportunities to leave Cackle's with Pippa. Her stomach did a backflip at the thought. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have Pippa. How lucky she was to have a girlfriend that had accepted her past and wanted to help her move on from it.

The thought of her girlfriend reminded Hecate why she was brewing the potion. She stirred the ingredients into the cauldron. The cool herbs hissed as they hit the hot metal sides.

Hecate made sure to brew enough for all of the teachers. Regardless of the unfair exposure of her relationship, most of them had really ingratiated themselves with her last night. Begrudgingly, she even decided she would offer a dose to Dimity, to whom she still felt a slight bit of hostility towards. She felt she owed it to her colleagues after so many years of aversion.

Hecate crumbled honeycomb, and added some sprigs of mint into the cauldron to change the flavour profile of the potion. "Liquorice root and rosewood light, remove the headaches from last night." she uttered the spell, rolling the "r"s and pronouncing the "t"s with emphasis. The potion bubbled violently and turned from a bright blue to a refreshing pale green colour. Satisfied that it would serve its purpose, she bottled the green liquid and transferred into her living room.

Her cat, Morgana was lounging on the armchair in front of the fire. The cat was so used to her mistress appearing and disappearing she didn't even startle upon her sudden materialisation. Hecate affectionately smoothed the cats sleek black fur and scooped her into her arms. Morgana had been with her for so long, and it felt reassuring to know her cat loved her despite everything. She kissed the feline on her head and summoned a bowl. Morgana leapt down from Hecate's arms and sat in hungry anticipation as her mistress spooned pilchards into the bowl.

"Hopefully you will be able to see Willow soon," Hecate told Morgana as she placed the bowl on the floor. Hecate hoped very much to be able to spend lots of time with Pippa and her cat, Willow, in the future. "You do remember Willow, don't you? Pippa's cat?" she asked. Morgana meowed with her mouth full. Hecate smiled, "You two used to get into such mischief while we were in lessons. I can only imagine the things you have seen in this school."

"I do often wonder what the familiars get up to during lessons." Pippa chimed in from the doorway to the bedroom. She was clutching the wrought iron door handle as if it were an out of control broomstick. "Hiccup, the room is spinning." She whimpered.

Hecate smiled, "Luckily for you, I have something to help with that." She uncorked the bottle and poured some of the potion into a spoon. "Hungover teachers and teaching do not mix." she explained as she offered the concoction to a skeptical Pippa.

Pippa scrunched up her face and took the spoon from Hecate and drank the potion. Immediately the nausea and dizziness evaporated and she felt refreshed.

"Much better!" She exclaimed. "Shall we get breakfast Hecate dear? I'm all of a sudden starving."

To keep the rumours of their relationship away from the students, the two witches arrived separately to the dining hall for breakfast. It was still very early in the morning, and the they hoped that there would be minimal attendance from the other teachers and students.

Hecate strode into the room, expecting the usual stares from her students. Mildred surprised Hecate with her presence at one of the otherwise empty student tables. After her late night, it would not have been unexpected for the disorganised student to sleep through breakfast. Instead she was there alone. It appeared that the other students were using breakfast time to get in some last minute revision, or perhaps last minute sleep.

Mildred's messy hair hung over an open textbook as she hurriedly spooned porridge into her mouth. She grinned at her teacher and gestured proudly at her textbook, "I thought I'd get up early and do some last minute potions revision. Did you know that there are eight different types of colour changing potion?"

Hecate tried to hide how impressed she was with Mildred's revision, colour changing potions ranged from level 6 to level 8, and were usually only understood by the top students in first year. "Yes, I did know that. Mildred Hubble." She didn't want to appear to favour the girl and added "Whilst your commitment to your examinations is commendable, your hair looks like a family of bats have made their home in it. A good witch not only pays attention to her studies, but to how she presents herself too." Hecate chided. Mildred's face fell, she looked like she was about to cry.

Pippa appeared at the table and immediately leapt to Mildred's defence. "Hecate, don't be so mean. Poor Mildred is probably still tired after her late night revising. Don't you remember when you would stay up all night to read an exciting textbook and come to breakfast in your pyjamas?" Hecate looked aghast at the memory. Unable to think of a retort, she walked over to the porridge cauldron to ladle two bowls of porridge.

Pippa took a seat next to Mildred, and gently finger combed the knots out of her hair. "It's okay Mildred, Hecate just doesn't like giving compliments." She soothed the girl as she twisted strands of her hair together into two much neater than normal plaits. "Witching exams aren't the be all and end all, as much as they might seem it." This was met by a loud snort of derision from Hecate who had returned with breakfast for her and Pippa.

Mildred gratefully smiled at the blonde witch, but tears began to fall from her face. "I'm so worried that they'll go as bad as my broomstick proficiency exam at the beginning of the year, or that time I had to transform a mouse into a frog," she wiped her face with an ink stained hand. "You always said I wasn't good enough for this school." She accused Hecate.

Hecate sat down on Mildred's other side, clutching her porridge close to her as if for protection from Mildred's words. "Mildred, I expect the best from all of my students. Cackle's witches are the future of the craft. You are from a non magical background and as such, I had my reservations about your abilities. Rightly so at times, especially at the beginning of the year. Despite my initial misgivings, you have proven again and again that you have a right to study at Cackle's. I meant what I said last night when I told you your improvements have been noted."

Overcome with relief, Mildred threw her arms around Hecate. The wooden witch was not impressed with the amount of hugs she was receiving recently, and hissed "By the name of the Great Wizard I command you to desist." Mildred hugged her tighter for a few moments longer before letting go with a grin.

"Now, do you have any questions Mildred?" Hecate asked, regaining composure, and edging herself along the bench away from Mildred's reach.

"Yes, if it's the Witches' Code, why are we ruled the by Great Wizard?"

Hecate sighed in exasperation. "About the examinations Mildred Hubble."

Mildred blinked, "What if I don't pass?" she whispered.

"Don't be silly Mildred," Pippa took her hand and gave it a warm squeeze. "Everyone can see how hard you've worked, I'm sure you will do just fine."

Mildred tried to smile, but failed. She looked at Hecate. "Miss Hardbroom, if I do fail, can I retake first year? I really don't want to leave Cackle's, I really do love being here."

Hecate knew for a fact that any witch who failed all of their exams at Cackle's would be expelled immediately. However, even she knew that this was not what Mildred needed to hear about at the moment in time. "As Miss Pentangle said, you have worked very hard. If the situation arises, we can look at alternative options for your future as a witch." Mildred looked slightly calmer. "Now, Mildred, I am certain that you would prefer to sit with your friends for breakfast when they arrive, rather than two teachers. We will see you later for your examinations." Hecate stood up and strode towards the teachers' table before Mildred could hug her again.

Pippa gave Mildred's hand one last squeeze. "Good luck Mildred. Have confidence in yourself, you proved your abilities to us all at the Spelling Bee, and you can prove them again." She floated across the hall after Hecate.

Hecate and Pippa sat together at the teachers' table and poked at their tepid porridge. "Not that I expect it to happen at all darling, but if Mildred does fail her exams, the offer of a scholarship at Pentangle's still stands Hecate." Pippa told the potions teacher. "It would be a terrible shame for the witching world to lose someone with so much potential."

Hecate sat very still. "Pippa, the girl would be facing immediate expulsion, surely Pentangle's would not offer a scholarship in such a scenario." Hecate stared at the star shaped pendant around Pippa's neck, the 5 pointed symbol of her name and her school.

"I can change the rules Hecate. It's my school after all. What would be the point in running a school if I can't pull a few strings every now and then?" she winked. "I know you care for the girl, even if you don't acknowledge it yourself. You could still tutor her if she were to study at Pentangle's."

"Pippa, the girl is merely a student. I give every student of mine the tools to succeed. However, I expect this offer would come as a great comfort to Mildred should the need arise. Although, after she turned down your offer of a scholarship after the Spelling Bee, I am surprised you want to have her." Hecate looked down at her now cold porridge.

"It would be a loss to witchcraft to oust her Hecate, but I really don't imagine it will come to that." Pippa cast a quick warming spell, which only marginally improved the taste and texture of the food. "You must have breakfast with me at Pentangle's next year Hecate dear," she said wistfully, it was strange to spend so long away from her school. Everything was so different at Cackle's. "We have a continental selection and a cooked option every morning. On the weekends, we also have doughnuts." She salivated at the thought.

"I think that would be acceptable," Hecate said, prodding the porridge with dissatisfaction.

"Morning." Came a croak from across the table. Algernon Rowan-Webb and Gwen Bat slumped into the seats opposite them. "How are you both feeling? I've never felt worse." He groaned.

In fact, as more teachers joined them at the table, they all looked rather grey faced and tired. The dining hall was full of students now, and the sound of students' conversations reverberated around the hall and pounded loudly in the teachers' ears.

Hecate waited until all of the teachers had arrived and distributed the potion she had brewed earlier. It was gratefully received by all, and they seemed brighter for it.

"Well Hecate, not for the first time this week, you have surprised us all." Dimity said. "Where did you find this spell? I've never seen such an effective hangover cure. You should sell it!"

Hecate pursed her lips. "I am a master potioneer Miss Drill. I instil knowledge of the craft in the future generation of witches. Do you think I would be worthy of my teaching position if I could not create such a spell when required?" she glared at the PE teacher. "Regardless, I could hardly allow you to get away with invigilating examinations with a hangover."

Chapter Text

It was oddly chilly for a July morning. The girls shivered as they stood in a line waiting for their turn to take the flying exam. Several girls wrapped their flying capes around them like a shawl to warm them from the breeze. Many had also pulled their hats down over their ears to insulate them from the whistling wind. They chatted among themselves to pass the time in the cold.

Mildred clung onto Tabby as he struggled to escape her arms. "Tabby please," she begged him. "Just this flight and then I promise you don't have to go on another broomstick until second year."

"Quiet, girls!" barked the deputy head. "Miss Drill will explain what is expected of you in this examination only once, and I anticipate that you will want to listen."

Miss Hardbroom, Miss Cackle, Miss Pentangle and Miss Drill stood in front of the girls. If Hecate was feeling the cold, she did not show it. She stood as tall as ever in a long quilted black dress, its upturned collar standing tall against her neck. Her hair was returned to its signature style, piled tightly on top of her head. Her colleagues however, were wrapped in thick woollen capes. Pippa was wearing a flowing pink cape that looked more fashionable than functional.

Miss Drill cleared her throat and began to outline how the assessment would go. She shouted over the wind "Okay girls, you will each fly one at a time over the castle wall, loop around the Medusa tree." She pointed to a tree that had twisted and gnarled branches that slithered downwards around the trunk like serpents. It did indeed look like the venomous hair of the Gorgon.

"Rumour has it that if you touch the tree you will turn to stone." Maud told Mildred in a whisper. "That's why there's that spooky statue in the woods. Of course I don't believe that, I think they put the statue there to scare us." Mildred wanted to ask Maud more about the statue, but didn't dare miss any information about the exam.

"You will return over the wall and dive down in a controlled manner. Finally, you will pick a sprig of rosemary from the herb garden and fly back to this spot and dismount. You will be using the rosemary in your potions exam later, so pick your plant wisely." The girls turned to each other, trying to work out which potions included rosemary in their ingredients.

The PE teacher pulled out a whistle and a clipboard from under her cape. "We will go down the list in alphabetical order. Eleanora Burdock, it looks like you're up first."

The girls watched as their classmates completed the course one by one with varying levels of success. Mildred looked at the teachers, they were intently writing down their observations about the girls' flights, there was no room for the girls to make any mistakes.

Naturally, Ethel navigated the course with perfection. Her dismount was textbook, and she smugly glanced down her nose at her classmates as she placed the rosemary sprig in Miss Hardbroom's hand and rejoined the group. Nightstar followed his mistress with the same sense of superiority.

Next along the alphabet was Mildred Hubble. Ethel stuck out her broomstick in front of Mildred as she walked past to the take off point. She smirked when she stumbled. "What a clumsy giraffe." She mocked.

Mildred cried out as Tabby managed to wriggle out of her arms during her momentary lapse of concentration and made a bid for freedom towards the teachers. "Tabby! Come back!" she rushed after him.

"Mildred Hubble." Miss Hardbroom materialised in front of her holding the cat. "How many times have I told you to keep your cat under control?" she held Tabby awkwardly in front of her as if he were a deflated witchball ball.

"Sorry, he just still really hates flying." Mildred said sheepishly. She took Tabby back into her arms and tucked him into her backpack.

Ethel tutted. She turned to complain to the line of teachers. "Surely Mildred can't be allowed to still fly with tabby in her backpack, she's had a whole year to teach him to fly."

"Now, now, Ethel. It may be unconventional, but we have all agreed that Mildred is indeed flying with Tabby on her broomstick." Miss Cackle said gently.

Ethel turned to the deputy head, Miss Hardbroom usually shared her disdain for Mildred. Disappointingly for Ethel, Miss Hardbroom gave a curt nod of agreement that the backpack was acceptable.

Mildred sent a grateful smile in the direction of the headmistress and deputy head, and with the backpack on her back, mounted her broom. "Sidesaddle please Mildred, not astride." Miss Drill said. Mildred couldn't see what difference the way she sat on her broomstick made to her flight. However, she obliged. She didn't want anything to get in the way of her getting a good grade in her exams. Miss Drill blew her whistle and the young witch took off. She sailed through the wind smoothly to begin with, gaining height a good speed, before an updraft at the castle wall sent her wheeling sideways through the sky.

Hecate pursed her lips as she watched her student flailing. Trust Mildred to lose composure on exam day.

Somehow Mildred managed to quickly regain control of her broom, and with a very focused look on her face, she swerved to rejoin the route. She leaned forward and sailed steadily towards the tree that looked like Medusa. Tabby yowled his displeasure at the flight. "Not now Tabby, I'm concentrating." Mildred whispered under her breath. Her hands were gripping the broom so tightly, her knuckles were turning white. She reached the tree and expertly manoeuvred her broomstick around it in an effortless arc. Smiling with the confidence the small success had given her, she willed her broom to move faster, and swooped into a rapid dive towards the rosemary plants. Her black flying cape flapped behind her in the wind.

Mildred focused her aim on a sprig that had an even distribution of green needle-like leaves around its stem. She knew that Miss Hardbroom would approve of her selection, she had always emphasised the importance of symmetrical foliage in potion making. The ground was quickly drawing nearer, and she levelled out of the descent sharply. Mildred hoped that it had looked intentional, and not like a last minute change of direction. She cast the doubt from her mind, and deftly plucked the stalk from the plant. Grinning she manoeuvred the broomstick back to the takeoff point. She hovered the broomstick above the ground and gently stepped off. The teachers scribbled notes on their clipboards. Mildred grinned, she was surprised at how well the flight had gone. She skipped towards her potions teacher, and presented the rosemary sprig.

"Thank you, Mildred." Miss Hardbroom said to her student. The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, so only Mildred would notice her approval.

"Yes, thank you Mildred, you may rejoin your friends." Miss Cackle said. Miss Pentangle gave her glowing smile and a thumbs up. Mildred smiled politely at her examiners and walked towards her classmates. Despite the path to her friends being obstacle free, she managed to stumble again.

"It is a good thing that this examination only focuses on the students' conduct in the air." Hecate whispered to Pippa. Pippa responded by giving Hecate an amused elbow in the ribs.

Maud and Enid beamed at Mildred. "Millie, that was the best I've ever seen you fly!" Enid exclaimed. Mildred smiled and hugged her friends. She was grateful the flying exam was over. Now she could focus her thoughts on the topics she had revised, and cheering on her friends.

Once the first years had all finished their flying exams, the weather miraculously changed from miserable to beautifully clear and sunny. The girls muttered in annoyance, looking at their teachers. "Trust HB to make our exam harder by performing a weather spell," said Ethel, just loud enough for the teachers to hear. "I'm just glad I already had experience flying in all weathers, unlike some people." She cast a cruel look at Mildred.

"Well actually girls, it was my idea to test you in adverse weather conditions," Pippa chimed in, approaching the group of disgruntled students. "At Pentangle's we ensure that our pupils can fly in all weathers, and I mentioned this to Miss Drill this morning. I must say, for those of you who have only had experience flying in fair weather, you did very well." She smiled at all of the girls, but avoided eye contact with Ethel. "High pent Felicity! I don't think I have ever seen such a fashionable flying style. I've no doubt that the Broomstick Magazine will be scouting you to model the latest broomstick couture some day in the future." Felicity beamed and gently tapped her hand against the glamorous witch's outstretched palm. Hecate raised her eyebrows at the display. Pippa continued "And Enid, I have never seen such a speedy completion of a broomstick course. Of course, your landing was a little... unusual, but I enjoyed watching your flight. High pent!" Enid rolled her eyes at the teacher's self named catchphrase, but nether-the-less found herself excited to high five the blonde witch. Hecate's eyebrows raised higher still at the frivolity, but her mouth upturned slightly. Pippa did make things more fun.

Pippa addressed the group as a whole. "If it were up to me, I would give you all full marks for your pointy work!" This was met by a loud huff from Hecate. "But of course, you will have a combination of the other teachers' marks too. Shall we make our way inside for your next exam?"

The first years filed into the dining hall. After the time stood outside in the cold wind, they were grateful for the warmth of the room. The long benches and dining tables had been replaced with individual exam tables and chairs. A blackboard with the words "Witch History", and the start and end time of the exam written in chalk was propped up at the front of the room. A large iron clock, the kind you would see in an olden times train station, levitated above it. It ominously started ticking down the seconds until the exam was to begin.

"Girls, your names are written on the desks, you may find your seats." said Miss Hardbroom, gesturing at the empty desks.

The girls fell silent and rushed to find their desks. The teachers took their positions as invigilators around the room.

"Now remember girls, everything in this paper has been covered in your lessons this year." Miss Bat said. The girls looked around the hall blankly, Miss Bat's advice was useful to exactly no one. "You may begin." she said.

Ethel almost tore the exam paper in half in her rush to begin. She mouthed the words she was writing as she furiously scribbled her answers down. Every day in her life had lead her to this moment, and she was desperate to pour the culmination of her knowledge out onto the page. She had to prove she was brighter than her older sister, Esmeralda.

Felicity opened the paper and pouted. The young witch had been so excited to see Miss Pentangle arrive at Cackle's for the week, she had only revised modern and cool witching. She flicked through the pages crestfallen, all of the questions covered boring elements of witching history.

Maud read through the entire paper first, planning out her time for each questions. She smiled to herself, witch history was easy, and she'd covered everything in the paper in her revision. She wondered how her friends were doing. In between questions she quickly glanced at them. Enid was chewing her pencil, deep in thought. Her brow was furrowed and she looked worried. Maud knew that Enid found witchory boring, but she hoped her friend had done enough to pass the exam.

Mildred stuck her tongue out in concentration. She tried to recall the classes she taught as Miss Darkside, and much to her surprise found she could remember many of the witch history topics covered in the paper. She had spent most of her revision energy on potions, but she'd made sure to flick through a witchory textbook over the week. After all, she needed to get over seventy percent in every exam to continue tutoring with Miss Hardbroom. She hoped that her answers would be enough to get such a good grade. One question in particular made her smile, it was a question about the artistic witches of the 20th century. Mildred remembered reading the chapter on their artwork and daydreaming longingly that she was secretly descended from them. She wrote a long and detailed answer about the Coven of Craftiness, and even included a sketch of the witches from memory.

The girls were so lost in concentration for the exam, they hardly noticed when Miss Bat called out that there were seven minutes left. However, when Miss Hardbroom's voice cut through the silence to notify them that the exam was over, the girls all jumped. "Time is up, first years." she announced. The exam papers disappeared from under the girls' pens. With a snap of Hecate's fingers, the exam desks turned back into dining tables. "You have an hour to eat your lunch, and then I expect to see you all in the potions laboratory for your potions examination. Latecomers will be given an automatic zero percent."

Pippa and Hecate chose to spend their lunchtime away from the throng of the dining hall. Instead, they decided to take a walk around the grounds of Cackle's.

"Your suggestion to change the weather to challenge the girls was a good one." Hecate told Pippa with admiration as they walked through the herb garden. She plucked a dead stem from a thyme plant and crumbled it between her fingers. "Perhaps Pentangle's students do learn something at your school."

Pippa pretended not to be offended by the second statement. She lifted a sprig of mint to her face and inhaled its refreshing scent deeply. "Yes, we like to produce students that are prepared for anything and everything at Pentangle's. That's why the curriculum is so broad. We want to give all of our students an equal start to life." she said proudly. "Although, the Great Wizard disapproves of my policy to accept and teach students from all backgrounds. Did you know that we offer several after school clubs too? We have a botany club-oh Hiccup! You would love it! We have Dahlia Meadow, a local expert. She's retired now, but I expect you've read her books. She comes in on a Tuesday evening and takes a group of students out into the woods to learn best potion ingredient collecting practice. Once a month she takes them out under the full moon to collect pond weed and moon water. At weekends she has them weeding the potion garden. After all, potion ingredients don't just grow on their own!" She gestured at chives, basil and parsley to illustrate her point.

Pippa gushed about the other various clubs on offer. She described the stargazing club, the cloak making club, the alchemy club, and the broomstick chanting choir. Hecate felt a pang of jealousy as her girlfriend described the extra curricular activities at her school. Cackle's was a non fee paying school, and as such didn't have the budget for such clubs. Instead the school relied on the limited resources that were freely available, and on teachers to volunteer their time. She could hardly imagine any students spending time tending to the academy's gardens with her unless it was in the form of a detention.

The two witches walked out of the herb garden and past a crab apple tree which, due to a misfired spell, happened to grow crabs instead of apples. "...and that's why I was so excited for you to come and give a lesson on potions my darling. We don't have anyone with your in depth knowledge of potions at Pentangle's. You will come back and actually deliver that class one day, Hiccup, won't you? I was desperately sad when you left in such a hurry last time."

Pippa's call back to the failed excursion away from Cackle's brought Hecate abruptly away from her thoughts. She shuddered with embarrassment at the memory. "I am sorry I ever doubted your intentions Pipsqueak. I would like that very much. Perhaps I could deliver a class after breakfast at Pentangle's?" Hecate said, suddenly reminded that it was lunch time. A wicked smile crossed her usually serious face, she checked the time on her pendant, there were still twenty minutes left of lunch. "Speaking of food, shall we pay a visit to the kitchens?"

"I thought you would never ask!" Pippa giggled. She stepped forward and took Hecate's hand. Together, the two witches transferred into the kitchens.

The kitchens were empty. Miss Tapioca was likely still dishing up soup in the dining hall, so the two witches took full advantage of the well stocked cupboards. Knowing they had used up most of the lunch hour strolling through the grounds, they opted to eat the easy option. Cake. They just had the small matter of finding it. Miss Tapioca was wise to the thieving ways of the students (and teachers), and had taken to hiding anything remotely edible.

Hecate cast out a simple detection spell, and found herself drawn to a toolbox on the windowsill above the sink. She opened the rusted lid and smiled. A freshly baked Victoria sponge was sitting in its glorious entirety inside, wrapped in parchment. She took the cake out, cut two generous slices, and handed one to Pippa. Pippa giggled with glee at the sight of the cake.

Hecate delicately picked at her slice, taking small bites and savouring the taste. Miss Tapioca was a terrible chef, but she was a wonderful baker. "I see nothing has changed since we were young witches, Pippa," she said, as Pippa took a large mouthful of cake and icing sugar cascaded down the front of her fuchsia dress. Hecate damped a washcloth under the tap and dabbed at the witch's dress. She revelled in the intimacy of the simple action while Pippa cut them each another slice of cake.

"How we didn't end up the size of trolls at school, I will never know." Pippa laughed, her mouth full. "I suppose we did have to walk everywhere in this castle. I forgot how many stairs there are."

Hecate laughed. A proper laugh. Something about Pippa made her feel like she could lose control a little bit. She put her arms around Pippa and pulled her in for a kiss. Pippa eagerly kissed her back, enjoying any opportunity to be with Hecate. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's neck, and with an elegant leap, wrapped her legs around Hecate's hips. The tall witch deftly caught her girlfriend and pushed her against the worktop, kissing her hungrily. Suddenly Pippa erupted into laughter, and Hecate sprung backwards disheartened. Surely she wasn't that bad at kissing?

Pippa continued laughing, Hecate's confused face made the matter all the more hilarious to her. In between gasps for air she managed to say "I'm not laughing at you, Hiccup. It's just that you pushed me into the cake. Look, I'm covered in jam and buttercream!" She stood up and showed Hecate her cake coated dress and legs.

Hecate's eyes widened and she pressed her lips together, embarrassed. "Pippa, I must apologise."

"It's okay, nothing a quick laundry spell won't fix. I was so enjoying kissing you my dear, and we have a few moments before lunch ends, why don't we pick up where we left off?"

Hecate didn't need to hear anything more to entice her back to her girlfriend's delicious lips. She pulled the still cake covered Pippa back towards her and kissed her with passion. Her hands wrapped themselves in the witch's golden hair, pulling her even closer.

As often seemed to be the case at Cackle's Academy, the witches didn't have long before they were again interrupted. This time, they were interrupted by the dull tones of the school's cook, returning to the kitchen. "If you two want to keep your relationship private, perhaps find somewhere other than my kitchen to snog in."

The canoodling witches jumped apart, startled. Hecate froze. Usually in contentious moments, she would stick out her chin and intimidate her opponent. However, Miss Tapioca had the upper hand here. Before Hecate could muster even the weakest of responses, Miss Tapioca cried out again in anger. "Is that my sponge cake all over the worktop? I was saving that for a special occasion."

Sheepishly, Pippa mumbled an apology and promised to replace the food they had taken. Keeping her cake covered backside pointed firmly away from the irritable chef, she grabbed Hecate's hand and dragged her out of the kitchen. As soon as the kitchen door was closed behind them, she burst out in giggles. "This really is exactly like when we were at school Hiccup."

Hecate smiled. "I suppose it is. Although, now we are the teachers, and should really know better than to steal cake. If one of my girls was caught stealing cake, they would not be leaving the kitchens laughing. Still, it has been nice to let loose with you." She hooked her arm around Pippa's waist, and immediately recoiled as her hand landed on a patch of icing. "We should really be at the potions laboratory by now. Will you allow me to vanish this cake? I don't suppose you ever learned the incantation to remove buttercream, did you?"

Chapter Text

Hecate stood austerely in front of the class. Her pale face held a stern expression. Beside her, Pippa was spotless, not a speck of buttercream in sight. The blonde witch tried to emulate the strict nature of her girlfriend, but even her best attempt came across as warm and open.

The potions teacher stared at the first years in front of her. It always surprised her how much the young witches grew up in their first year. Before her, the girls were no longer the spellbound children from selection day, instead they were the young witches that represented the future of the craft. "Now girls, there will be a written section and a practical section to your examination this afternoon," she paused for effect.

Ethel's hand shot into the air. "Yes, Ethel Hallow." Hecate said, irritation tainting her tone.

"Miss Hardbroom, I haven't heard of any other years having to do two parts to their potion exam. Why can't we just do the written exam like everyone else?" Ethel complained.

"What, prey tell, would be character building about that?" Hecate sneered. "This examination is designed to test not only your potions knowledge, but also your abilities in potion making. Your written examination will cover all of the aspects of potion making that you have covered in lessons this year. This will be followed by the practical examination. I have selected suitably challenging potions. To ensure that no one is found to be copying their classmate, you will each be allocated a different level five potion, and you will be awarded higher marks if you manage to brew it from memory." Hecate waved her hand nonchalantly, and exam papers and pens appeared in front of the girls. "You may begin."

Mildred opened the paper with bated breath. She wanted to prove to Miss Hardbroom just how much she had learned from her. The first question read:

Name and describe the function of the ingredients found in a classic sleeping draught.

Mildred breathed a sigh of relief, she could easily answer that. She set to work, adding details about each ingredient.

Another question asked for labelled sketches of the ingredients in a beauty potion, she drew detailed images of the ingredients used and labelled them. The next question asked for the correct incantation for a weather spell. Mildred smiled, remember the Spelling Bee, and wrote her answer. She raced through the paper, expecting to be caught out by a difficult question. Instead, she was surprised to find she had covered almost everything in the exam. She excitedly wrote her answers, adding in extra details she had covered in her detentions with Miss Hardbroom, or had read in textbooks during her late night revision.

Hecate walked up the aisle between the desks, she noticed that most of the girls seemed to be struggling to answer the questions. Of course, there were the usual students, like Ethel Hallow, who regurgitated the contents of their potions textbooks back onto the page, but most of the girls seemed suitably challenged. She walked past Mildred and was delighted to see the number of pages the girl had filled with her spidery writing.

Hecate glanced at Pippa. The blonde witch was standing at the front of the classroom. She was supposed to be assisting with invigilating, but every time Hecate looked at her, she found the witch's brown eyes met her own. They smiled at one another.

The only sounds in the room were the scratching sounds of pens drawing out answers, and the flutter of pages being turned. Mildred flipped over her exam paper. The back page consisted of two questions. The first asked:

What is the responsibility of a witch when brewing potions?

Mildred's heart sank, she had never read anything about the responsibilities of a witch. The student eagerly tried to recall if anything had been mentioned in her detentions or lessons, but to her frustration, she couldn't remember any mention of it. She decided to leave that question until last, and instead focus on the second question which asked:

List the possible potions that could be brewed in the practical examination.

She thought of the rosemary from the broomstick exam and thought of all of the level five potions that incorporated rosemary. She recalled that Miss Hardbroom had said that each student would have to brew a different potion. Mildred counted her classmates. Fifteen including her. So that meant at least fifteen different potions. She scribbled down the numbers in a list and tried to remember potion names and ingredients. Satisfied she had adequately answered that question, she turned her focus to the previous question, still at a loss of how to answer it.

"You have five minutes remaining." Hecate called out, not looking up from the timepiece around her neck. She returned to the front of the classroom and stood at Pippa's side. Hecate's hands fiddled agitatedly with the pendant, the last five minutes of the exam always felt like an age to her.

The girls rushed to add last minute details into their answers. In what seemed like seconds to them, the exam was over and their papers had magically relocated themselves to a neat pile on the potions teacher's desk.

"You may have a thirty minute break, after which, I expect to see you all at your desks for the practical examination. Do not be late." Hecate told her first years. They sprung from their seats at once and scuttled out of the door.

When the girls were settled into their seats, Hecate drew their attention to a cauldron containing the sprigs of rosemary each with one of fifteen potion names written on neatly cut out strips of paper wrapped around the stem.

"You will each retrieve your rosemary. There will be no swapping of potions once you have read them, and there will be no opportunity to alter the magic that will be expected of you once the potion has been brewed." She carried the cauldron around the desks to allow each student to be reunited with their herbs.

Felicity carefully unfolded her paper and groaned. Written in her teacher's familiar rigid handwriting, it read:

Strength Potion - You must be able to lift a stone taken from the castle wall.

"Strength potions aren't very fashionable, Miss Hardbroom. Are you sure I can't swap with someone else? Like maybe Drusilla?" she complained.

A stern stare from the potions teacher told her that this was not an option.

Enid ripped open her paper and frowned at its contents.

Grow Legs Potion - You must make a potato grow a minimum of four legs. They school record is twelve legs.

Ethel was next, and received:

Silencing Potion - You must brew a potion to silence every noise you make for twenty four hours.

"I have to be silent for a whole day? Miss Hardbroom, that's not fair! Can't I give my potion to a frog?"

Whilst the potion assignments were typically random, Hecate had specifically assigned the silencing potion to Ethel after her attempted sabotage of Mildred's grade. The spiteful student had certainly fallen from grace in the deputy head's opinion. "As I made clear earlier, there will be no debate around your potion assignment, Miss Hallow. It will do you good to learn to listen to others, rather than talk over them."

Ethel scowled.

Stony faced, Hecate turned and offered the cauldron to Maud. The head of first year pushed her glasses up her nose and ceremoniously took her rosemary sprig.

Finding Potion - You must find a lost desk lamp in this classroom.

She smiled, finding potions were something you frequently practiced when you were friends with Enid and Mildred.

Hecate walked along the desks, students picked their potions. She finally arrived in front of Mildred. The girl gulped nervously, and took her rosemary from the cauldron.

Portal Potion - You must open two portals, one at each side of the classroom, and step through them.

Mildred stared at her teacher with wide eyes. A portal potion had only briefly been touched upon in lessons, but the first years had never had a chance to brew one. She had read about them in her revision, and they seemed no more complex than any other level five potion, but Mildred would have preferred to pick a potion she knew she could brew. Still, at least this was an opportunity to brew this potion. Mildred knew that Ethel would be seething to have not been given a new potion to brew. Hecate gave Mildred an encouraging nod, and returned to Pippa's side at the front of the classroom. She clicked her fingers and clean cauldrons appeared in front of the girls.

"You have access to the full range of base herbs and a selection of specialist ingredients. You may or may not need to use all of them. The potions textbooks are on the shelf, however you will lose marks if you use them. You have forty five minutes, you may begin."

"Out of my way! I need that." Ethel jostled her way to the front of the class and pried a jar of salamander scales from Drusilla's hands. "Sorry Drusilla, it's just you know how important it is that I come top of the class, and, well, you know that it's not like you would ever get a good grade anyway." She turned back towards her desk, and flicked Drusilla in the face with her ponytail.

"Silence girls! No conferring." Miss Hardbroom commanded.

Enid ran straight to the potions textbooks. She didn't care about coming top of the class, but she did care about passing. It made sense to her to get the potion right, rather than risk getting zero percent for not managing to brew the correct potion at all.

While the other girls settled back into their desks and began preparing the ingredients for their potions. Mildred remained at the ingredients bench, a concentrated look on her face. She brushed her hand gently over daffodil stems, feeling for their energy.

In one of her detentions, she had asked her teacher how she selected the best ingredients. Miss Hardbroom had gladly obliged and shown her, despite the fact that it was magic way beyond Mildred's years. The girl had shown a natural aptitude for selecting well balanced ingredients, and Hecate had been left wondering what other untapped talents Mildred might have.

Mildred plucked a stem from the centre of the pile, and added it to her small collection of ingredients. She followed the same approach to select her remaining herbs and hurried back to her desk, tripping up the steps as she went.

Hecate made eye contact with Pippa and raised her eyebrows, trying hard to keep her face serious. Some things about Mildred would never change.

Both teachers wandered around the room, watching the potion preparation and making notes. Hecate cringed as she watched a student carelessly tear the rosemary leaves off of the stem and throw them into her cauldron. She hoped at least some of the girls had better understanding of the ingredients.

By the end of the forty five minutes, the room had transformed into a colourful mess. A rainbow of glowing cauldrons lit the benches in front of the exhausted looking first years.

"Your time is up, first years. Stop stirring." Hecate addressed the room. "Now we will see how successful you have been in proving your potion making skills."

The tall witch waved her hand and a large grey stone from the castle wall appeared in the centre of the room. It glistened with the magical traces of Hecate's summoning spell. "Felicity Foxglove, you may demonstrate your strength potion."

Felicity carried her cauldron to her teacher's bench and softly set it down. She stared at it for a moment, as if looking at it would mean she wouldn't have to perform the strength spell. Then, remembering that Miss Pentangle was in the room, she carefully ladled its pink contents into a pewter mug and took a sip. The young witch glanced at the blonde teacher to see if she was watching. Satisfied that she was paying attention, Felicity resolved to perform the spell.

She turned to face the large stone and recited "Rosehip wild, and bumble bees, give me the strength of Hercules." She took a step towards the stone and placed her hands under its cool, rough edge. Effortlessly, she scooped it up as if it were a large balloon. She grinned triumphantly "I did it!" Immediately she turned back to face Miss Pentangle, looking for her approval. Pippa smiled warmly at the jubilant girl.

Felicity dropped the stone to the ground, forgetting its weight. A large crack spread out across the classroom floor and up the stairs, causing the rest of the girls to scream.

"Thank you, Miss Foxglove, that will be sufficient." Hecate vanished the stone and fixing the floor in one wave of her hand. She indicated for the subdued girl to return to her desk.

Hecate surveyed the room. For once in her teaching career, she looked beyond the cauldrons and at her students' faces. Mildred looked like she was going to be sick, Drusilla looked on the verge of tears, in fact, most of the students looked incredibly worried. Hecate wondered if this was down to usual examination nerves, or whether she had become so fearsome to her students, she was perhaps more frightening than the exam. She called upon each student one by one, many students left the centre of the classroom downcast and humiliated from their failed potion attempts. There were a few acceptable potions attempts, but nothing stood out to Hecate at the standard she expected.

At the back of the classroom, there was one student who didn't seem so concerned. Enid appeared to be daydreaming.

"Enid Nightshade," Hecate's curt voice made Enid jump out of her chair.

"Yes, Miss Hardbroom?" Enid asked, scrambling to look like she was paying attention.

"This is your opportunity to showcase your potions prowess. Please bring your cauldron to the front of the room." Hecate motioned at the table, on which a potato sat. "Remember, your potato must grow a minimum of four legs."

Enid abruptly placed her cauldron on the table, causing the blue liquid to slosh out and over the potato. Shrugging with her usual charm, Enid laughed nervously and joked "I guess at least I don't have to put the potion on the potato now?"

Hecate pursed her lips.

Enid quickly regained composure. "Uh, tail of mouse and spiders eggs, please potato, grow some legs?"

The potato rocked gently from side to side before settling, still without legs. Exasperated, Enid shouted "Posion ivy collected on a whim, you must sprout at least four limbs!"

The potato began to rock again. Four leafy legs sprouted from one side of it, causing it to lose balance and roll over the side of the table onto the floor. Enid rushed to pick up the potato.

Hecate's eyebrows almost met her bun. "Are you finished, Enid?"

Enid shrugged, and presented the lopsided spud. "It has four legs, so I guess that's a pass right?"

"I expect better from my first years," Hecate sneered, vanishing the offending root vegetable with a look. "Miss Hallow, if you would be so kind as to bring your potion to the front next. Perhaps you can restore some faith in the future of the craft."

Ethel looked innocently at her teacher to appeal the spell choice one last time. Hecate simply motioned at the front of the classroom. With a scowl on her face, Ethel carried her potion to the table. She aggressively pushed her shoulder against Enid as she passed her, causing her classmate to almost over balance.

She placed her pale orange potion on the table, drank it from a small teaspoon, and quickly chanted "Broomstick cleaned with elbow grease, for the next twenty four hours there will be peace."

Hecate felt smug, it was often discussed among the teachers how much the know it all student liked to talk and she was pleased to have found a way to teach her to listen. "Thank you Ethel, now please read aloud this passage from the Potions Encyclopaedia to demonstrate your silence." She passed Ethel a large book open to a page on the magical uses of frogspawn.

Ethel's face immediately went red, remembering her frogspawn faux pas in front of Zac Hawthorn from Pentangle's. She turned to her potions teacher with her face indignant. Hecate nodded at the page. Defeated, Ethel tried to speak the first sentence. No audible sound came out of her mouth.

"Thank you Ethel, that was an exemplary example of a silencing spell. You may return to your seat."

Surprised at the rare compliment, Ethel ran back to her seat smiling.

"Maud Spellbody, it is your turn to show us what you have learned this year. Somewhere in this classroom, I have concealed a desk lamp. You must use your potion to find it."

Maud took a deep breath and straightened her back. She gently ladled some of her bright green potion into a pewter tankard and took a sip. She cleared her throat and bellowed "Fire dry, algae damp, reveal to me now this forgotten lamp."

Immediately, a chartreuse glow illuminated the location of the concealed lamp. A stone in a column supporting the heavy ceilings disappeared, showing a tasseled table lamp within. She reached into the column and held the lamp up in front of her. "It was hidden behind a concealment spell!" she cried.

"Congratulations Maud, a textbook example of a finding spell. Thank you."

Maud practically skipped back to her seat in glee. Enid leaned forward and patted her friend on the back, smiling at her success.

Hecate looked at the classroom of tired looking girls. One full cauldron remained. "And last, but perhaps, no longer least. Mildred Hubble, bring your cauldron to the front of the classroom."

Mildred was trembling, she picked up her cauldron, and slowly walked to the front of the classroom. She desperately didn't want to spill it, and knowing Ethel's penchant for tripping her, she decided to take the long route around the desks to the front of the classroom.

"Any time today Mildred." Hecate quipped.

Mildred finally reached the table and placed her cauldron carefully in the centre. She froze, unable to find the confidence to even ladle her potion. Her face was pale and she looked as anxious as she had at breakfast when she had expressed concern for her future as a witch.

"Go on Millie! You can do it!" Enid shouted from the back of the classroom.

Whilst Hecate would usually punish such an inappropriate outburst, Enid had shouted exactly what she was thinking.

Mildred slowly filled her ladle, watching the steam swirl and curl downwards. It had always mesmerised her that magical steam seemed to go down, rather than up. She tentatively sipped the lavender coloured liquid, and looked at her feet. "Uh-um I..." Her voice wobbled and broke as she tried to enunciate the spell. She glanced embarrassed through her eyelashes at her usually formidable teacher. Although she couldn't be certain, it seemed that Miss Hardbroom was silently willing her to succeed.

Mildred cleared her throat, tossed her plaits behind her shoulders and tried again, mustering as much confidence and power as she could. "Lemon balm and lavender bloom, open two portals, one each end of the room."

She waited with bated breath.

Two piercingly bright rings of light appeared, small at first, before growing to a few metres in height. The light emitted from the ebbed and flowed like a tide.

Mildred stood tall. The young witch exuded a new confidence in front of her peers. "I did it! I did it!" She cried.

Hecate used all of her best efforts to not smile. "You have indeed produced two portals." Mildred's face fell. "Now it is time for you to test their connection Mildred. Step through."

Mildred gulped. Gingerly she walked towards the nearest portal. She reached out her hand and gently pushed it through the glowing magical window. She grinned when she saw her hand appear through the portal at the other side of the room. Mildred paced a few steps back, and hurtling forward at full speed jumped into the portal.

Before the end of her last plait could enter the first portal, Mildred charged through the second. The girl waved her arms, flying towards a towering bookshelf laden with ancient tomes and jars of ingredients.

Hecate curled her fingers into a fist and Mildred was suspended in the air mid fall.

The formidable teacher opened her hand again, allowing Mildred to fall directly onto the ground, instead of into the ingredients shelf. The other students stifled their laughter at Mildred laying crumpled on the floor. "I may usually be able to repair most damage you cause, Mildred, but I cannot as easily replace some of my ingredients."

Mildred looked at her teacher apologetically. "Sorry Miss Hardbroom."

Hecate snapped her fingers, vanishing the portals. "Fortunately, no harm was done." She turned to address the room. "Thank you, first years, you have each shown shown somewhat adequate potion making ability today." Several woebegone girls visibly cheered up at this. causing Hecate to smile slightly. "I am sure that you would like to have some free time to rest before dinner. You may take your things and leave."

The chatter of the first years rose in volume as they began to leave and talk about the exams. Hecate watched them go, relieved that they didn't look too deflated.

"Miss Hardbroom," a small voice behind Hecate startled her.

"Yes," she drawled, she didn't need to turn to know who it was.

"I-I just wanted to say uh thank you. For turning my detentions into a positive experience and taking a chance on my learning." Mildred shifted from one foot to another, clutching her backpack. "I really hope I do pass my exams. I've decided that even if I don't get a high enough grade for you to tutor me next year, I still hopefully get to have you as a teacher, and that's good enough." She looked up at the tall woman. "I wanted to give you this, as a thank you, if that's alright? I haven't seen any of the other girls give teachers gifts before so I don't know if it's against the witches code or anything, but I just wanted to say thanks." Mildred blushed as she handed her teacher a rolled up piece of paper tied in a lopsided bow by an amethyst ribbon.

Hecate gingerly took the scroll as if it were more fragile than the rare ingredients she had saved moments ago. "Thank you, Mildred."

"Could you wait until I'm gone until you open it?" Mildred asked.

Hecate nodded.

"Thanks Miss Hardbroom, and thank you Miss Pentangle for being so positive today. See you at dinner!" Mildred scurried out of the classroom, clumsily banging the door behind her.

"Well Hecate, are you going to open it?"

I took Hecate a moment to draw her eyes away from the scroll in her hands and register what Pippa was saying.

"I- what if it's a joke, Pipsqueak?" Hecate trembled. "No student has ever thanked me for teaching them, what if it's just an end of term prank?" She turned the paper roll between her fingers like a baton.

Pippa put her arm around Hecate's waist. "My darling, I don't think Mildred is the type to be so cruel. Why don't you open it and see?"

Delicately, Hecate undid the bow. She took a deep breath and unrolled the paper.

She gasped.

Inside was a portrait of the striking teacher. It differed greatly from the harshly outlined drawing of a strict Miss Hardbroom that Mildred had exchanged with Maud via maglet at the beginning to the year. Instead, this detailed drawing depicted a passionate and knowledgeable witch, sharing her wisdom with an engaged class. At the bottom a scrawled message read:

Thank you for making potions so magical! Mildred H

Hecate blinked away the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes. "It's me," was all she could choke out before the teardrops fell thick and fast.

"It is you. You at your best." Pippa smiled.

Knowing that that last thing Hecate would want is for the focus to be on her, Pippa picked up an exam paper and flicked through it. She looked at her girlfriend with admiration. "Goodness Hecate, you cover so much with your first years. I wouldn't even know where to begin with brewing some of these potions, let alone teaching them. I would even need a reminder before brewing some of the potions from their practical exam."

Hecate felt her heart swell with pride. She had spent years curating her first year syllabus, ensuring it gave a broad, but technically sound base for the girls to progress their potion making skills off. "It's not like you to be so humble, Pippa. Maybe I will have to give you a private potions lesson while you are staying at Cackle's." She rolled the portrait up carefully, not wanting to crease the precious artwork. With a silent spell, she transferred the gift to her chambers to be framed and hung up later.

Pippa waved her hand, locking the door with a spell. "We have a few hours until dinner, what can we brew in that time?"

Hecate's eyes opened wide and doe-like. "Are you serious?" She tried to hide her enthusiasm.

Pippa nodded. "Of course Hecate dear. Why wouldn't I be?"

Hecate could think of many reasons. Years of being teased for being bookish had not been kind to her confidence. She shook off the memories and straightened her back. "No reason at all. Pippa. I have been working on one particular potion for a while, I would very much like to show it to you."

Pippa nodded keenly. "I'd love to see it!"

Hecate quickly gathered ingredients and began showing Pippa how she determined which ingredients had the best magical potency. A different energy seemed to radiate from Hecate as she spoke. Instead of being very calculated with her words, she spoke with more sincerity, changing between topics excitedly. Her voice rose and fell with her excitement and Pippa listened intently. She noticed how her girlfriend seemed to become more animated as she talked, almost as if she was becoming more comfortable to express herself. Yet again, Pippa felt a tinge of sadness for the person Hecate could have been, had she not been outcast by her peers at such a young age.

"So what does this potion do, Hiccup?"

Hecate smiled. "I'm surprised you haven't guessed already, Pipsqueak. You always had a talent for combining ingredients." She gently took Pippa's soft hands in her own and showed her how to get the most scales from snakeskin by scraping it against the bark of a hickory tree. Together they added the scales into a warm cauldron with the other ingredients and Pippa diligently stirred them until they dissolved into a pale grey liquid.

As the potion bubbled merrily, Hecate carefully delivered an incantation. "Animals grow, take your form softly, float up into the air become high and lofty."

Pippa tilted her head to see the cauldron better, wondering what the potion would do.

Hecate took her hand again and gently stroked it with her thumb. "This potion should cause the bubbles to become small animals as they rise to the surface. Any moment now, some should appear."

Both witches peered into the cauldron, hardly daring to blink in case they missed them.

Gradually, the tiny fizz of the simmering potion began to swell and grow. They slowly joined together with other neighbouring bubbles, merging to form shapes akin to balloon animals. Gently, the little bubble animals freed themselves from the potion and danced into the steam above.

Bubble ducks, pigs, bats and cats frolicked out of the cauldron in a parade to rival any zoo.

Pippa gasped at the beauty of a bubble giraffe as it floated out of the cauldron and into the air. It bowed its long neck towards her and galloped mischievously towards her outstretched hand. Just before it reached her, it burst into iridescent water droplets which showered onto her palm. Her mouth opened in wonderment.

"Hiccup, how on earth did you think of this? It's perfect." Pippa whispered, worried that if she spoke to loudly all of the bubbles would pop.

Hecate smiled at her girlfriend's admiration. "It came to me when I was in the bath, I was trying to think of a way to make bath time more interesting. Bubble animals seemed like a harmless way to introduce some... fun." She stumbled over the last word as if it were unfamiliar and uncomfortable to say. "It is such a simple potion, but it serves no function. I have been trying to find a way to teach it for years. Alas, it does not particularly align with the syllabus we teach at Cackle's. You are the first witch apart from me to ever see it in action."

Pippa goggled at her girlfriend. "Oh Hiccup! I can see so many uses for this potion. So many parents of young witches and wizards could benefit from making bath time more exciting! It could be used to teach children the names of animals, and even show them how delicate animals can be. It would be a great potion to teach students how fun and versatile potion making can be. I would certainly love to be surrounded by bubble animals in the bath too, it's just so inspiring!" Pippa smiled at her humble girlfriend. "If you are struggling to find a way to fit it into your lesson plans, why don't you teach it at a potions club? Or as a fun end of term activity? You could teach it tomorrow after I have taught a modern witching workshop!"

She reached out to a tiny bubble mouse and popped it with her little finger. The glittering liquid splashed back into the cauldron. "If we ever have children, I know they would love this just as much as I do!" She faltered, wondering if she had been perhaps a little too hopeful with her last statement.

Hecate quirked an eyebrow at her girlfriend. "I didn't know you wanted children, Pippa." she said, stirring the potion and sending another zoo's worth of bubble animals soaring into the classroom.

Pippa's breath caught. "As a matter of fact, I do." She hung her head, hiding behind a curtain of her hair. At least Hecate wouldn't be able to see the hurt on her face when she gave the opposite in response.

Surprised at her suddenly dispirited stature, the brunette witch scooped Pippa into her arms. She kissed Pippa's forehead gently, and smiled at the perfect lipstick imprint of her lips that remained. Hecate licked her thumb and carefully wiped it away. "Pipsqueak, I do too - one day." she whispered into her hair. "However, a future home full of little Pippa Pentangles and Hecate Hardbrooms would be quite the handful. I also think we have several other matters to deal with first."

Pippa nodded, "I think you would make a great mother, Hecate. You are just wonderful with the girls. Especially Mildred." She was trying hard to contain the warmth she felt in her heart. Instead it bubbled up inside her, spilling out of her in the form of the words "I love you, Hiccup."

Hecate froze. The last time anyone had told her they loved her was her great aunt Hyacinth before she had even enrolled at Cackle's. She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes. "I-I I love you too, Pipsqueak."

Chapter Text

Pippa squeezed Hecate's hand. "This is not how I imagined us saying it, my love," she shut her eyes for a moment, "But I really do. I always have."

Hecate silently vanished the tears from her eyes. "I always have too. I believe that is why our distance over the years has hurt so much." She said. "What matters is that we have each other now."

Two bubble doves fluttered between the two witches, swooping up around their heads and diving down before combining into an iridescent spherical bubble that floated delicately to the ground.

"And we'll still have each other in the future." Pippa said with hope in her voice.

"Indeed, we will have each other now and forever." Hecate whispered.

Dinner after exam day was always a subdued affair at Cackle's Academy. Students were exhausted after weeks of revision and a long day of challenging exams. Teachers were weary after the months spent planning the exams and the long day on their feet invigilating. Not to mention the anticipation of an incredibly long night marking exam papers and cross referencing grades.

After Miss Tapioca's usual disappointing special of watery soup for dinner, the girls were sent to bed early. For once, there were no complaints, the girls were glad to fall asleep on beds that were not surrounded by revision papers. After lights out checks, the teachers congregated in the staff room to begin the long and arduous process of marking the exams.

Ada welcomed the tired teachers with open arms. "Thank you all for yet another exemplary examination day at Cackle's. We have seen the hard work the girls have put in, even if their results may not reflect that."

Hecate harrumphed. Exam results were everything. Especially for a specific student who had poured so much work into her revision. She felt her emotions running high with the fear that she had failed to help Mildred.

"Thank you Hecate," Ada continued, dismissing Hecate's interruption. "I think we can all agree that not every student is capable of one hundred percent, but can still demonstrate their learning."

"I do feel for the less academically inclined..." Algernon started, but a strong look of disapproval from Hecate cut him short.

"This is an academy. What else do we have if we do not have academia?" Hecate snapped.

Pippa softly placed her hand on Hecate's shoulder. "It's okay Hecate, I know these exam results mean a lot to you. They mean a lot to everyone else here too," she gently affirmed. "Everyone at Cackle's has worked so hard, let's do this one last task together and get it over with. Then we can relax and celebrate!" She clapped her hands and beamed at the other teachers.

"Thank you Miss Pentangle," Ada said. "I wish we all had your energy and enthusiasm for marking."

The group of teachers tittered.

"As Miss Pentangle says, let's get started!" Ada said, taking a seat next to a precarious stack of exam papers.

"Why don't you two lovebirds sit together?" Dimity suggested, eyeing Hecate for her reaction. To her delight, Hecate turned such a dark shade of crimson, that her faced matched her rouged lips.

Unperturbed, Pippa pulled her girlfriend to a threadbare but comfortable looking beige armchair trimmed with fraying tassels. The worry in Hecate's eyes had not gone unnoticed by the perceptive witch. Pippa sat on the arm of the armchair with her legs hooked over Hecate's. Absent-mindedly, she stroked her girlfriends lace covered arm, feeling the texture of the black weblike threads beneath her fingertips.

"Where do you normally begin with marking?" she asked the room.

The teachers began to offer up contrasting advice, making it clear that no one was at all aligned with their approach.

Dimity surrounded herself with papers, haphazardly picking up pages and assigning a score based on the teacher's flying notes. She scrawled the final score on the back of a scrap piece of paper.

Gwen was already halfway to dozing off into a pile of Witch History papers. Algernon prodded her to keep her awake.

Pippa grimaced. "Please let me know if I'm being too bossy, but I do think we could do this in a better way. If we pair up, we can get each subject done quickly. In our pairs we can cross reference results to make sure no student is subjected to any unconscious bias."

Hecate's eyes widened at her girlfriend. Since the Spelling Bee, where Pippa had called out paragraph four clause five of the rule book, Hecate had a sneaking suspicion Pippa preferred rules and order much more than she would ever care to admit.

"I'll pair up with Hecate, we can mark potions and witch history. Dimity, could you and Gwen take chanting? That leaves Algernon and Ada to cover spell science and broomstick flying. If you finish early, you can help the rest of us with anything we have left."

The teachers gawked, taken aback by Pippa's authority. Hecate looked at her girlfriend in awe.

"I'm so sorry Ada. Please don't think I'm trying to tread on your toes." Pippa apologised to the elderly headmisstress, blushing. She realised she might have indeed been too bossy.

Ada smiled a charming smile. "Not at all dear I think it's a good idea."

The teachers moved to sit in their marking pairs and divvied up the papers.

"Here you go Hecate," Pippa passed Hecate a witch history paper to mark, and took one for herself. She made sure to not use the pet name of Hiccup to address her girlfriend, she wasn't sure Hecate would survive any more teasing from Dimity.

They silently worked through the exams, swapping them once marked to check that nothing had been missed. "I concur with your marking." Hecate told Pippa, encircling the grade with green ink, and noting it next to the student's name on her list. Realising that they had finished marking the witch history papers, she took the first paper off the pile of unmarked potions exams.

Hecate stalled. In rushed inky handwriting, the name Mildred Hubble was scribbled across the top. She hardly dared to open it, Mildred had a habit of crumbling under pressure. She breathed a sigh of relief when Mildred got the first few questions correct. Curious of her mentee's answer to a specific question, Hecate rushed through the remainder of the paper, surprised at how much Mildred had managed to pick up in her studies. Finally, she turned to the last page.

"The responsibility of a witch is to brew potions using her head and not her heart. She must make sure that the potions she brews are not intended to harm or cause any lasting inconvenience for other witches. When I brew a potion, I always think what would Miss Hardbroom do because she would make sure she was being responsible."

Hecate closed the exam paper weakly and wrote a number neatly on the front page.

"Is everything okay?" Pippa whispered, glancing at the name on the front page.

Hecate closed her eyes, "I think Mildred Hubble might just succeed as a witch after all." She said this softly so the other teachers wouldn't hear.

Pippa grinned. Keeping her voice low, she said "Does this mean she's done well? I'm so pleased Hecate! I knew you would come round to the idea of her being a great witch the moment I saw your face when she won the Spelling Bee for Cackle's."

Hecate scrunched up her face. "Mildred is more difficult than any witch I have ever taught, and her fundamental magical knowledge is lacking if at all present. However, there is something undeniably intuitive about her magic, almost as if she has power beyond her years." She frowned, complementing students did not come easily to her.

Pippa squeezed her hand knowingly.

Hecate pushed the paper towards Pippa. "Can you check my marking? I don't trust myself to mark it fairly. I want her to succeed too much." She said this under her breath, hardly daring to speak it out loud. Pippa accepted the paper without question, swapping it with Ethel Hallow's script. Hecate rolled her eyes at how obnoxious the girl could be, even in her writing.

Using Pippa's paired up method, it didn't take much longer for the marking to be completed. Too tired to even celebrate finishing marking, the teachers made their weary way to bed.

Always an early riser, Hecate awoke with the sun. She lazily traced the lines between the smattering of freckles between Pippa's shoulder blades, creating a her own version of a dot to dot. She marvelled at how soft Pippa's skin was. "I like it when you do that Hiccup." Pippa sighed contently. "It tickles, but it strangely feels really nice."

Hecate arched her eyebrows curiously, "Are you ticklish?" she asked, a hit of mischief in her voice.

Pippa shook her head, pressing her lips together in an attempt to hide from Hecate that she was in fact incredibly ticklish.

This was fruitless and Hecate launched an attack on her ribs, causing Pippa to cry out in breathless laughter. She shrieked, but this only made Hecate tickle her more. Pippa squirmed under her girlfriend's hands before managing to locate Hecate's ribs with her fingertips, gently brushing them across Hecate's pale body. Hecate gasped, arching her body away from her girlfriend and bringing her lips close to Pippa's neck. "So you are ticklish then?" She whispered into Pippa's ear, relishing that the hairs on her neck stood on end.

Pippa laughed "I'm only ticklish when you tickle me, my love." She pulled Hecate into a kiss. "And I think you might be just as ticklish as I am."

Hecate huffed. "I am not ticklish. You just took me by surprise."

"Is that so?" Pippa arched an eyebrow playfully. "It's a shame we have to go to breakfast soon, if not I would be testing that."

At breakfast, Ada stood at the front of the dining hall, wearing a particularly lumpy red cardigan. It was wrapped around her tightly, despite the warm weather. She clinked her teaspoon against her coffee cup and coughed gently. The whole school turned away from their bowls of flavourless grey porridge to give her their undivided attention. "Good morning everyone. I would like to say a big well done for completing your examinations yesterday. Please give yourselves a round of applause."

The girls politely clapped at one another, cringing at the action.

"You will receive your results tomorrow before you go home for the summer, but first, today will be a day of fun."

Mildred grinned at Maud and Enid. A fun day was exactly what they needed to recover from the long weeks of revision. She couldn't wait to find out what the teachers had in store for them.

"Miss Pentangle will be running some modern witching workshops today, and I believe Miss Hardbroom will also be running a creative potion making class too."

Pippa smiled grandly at the students. "I look forward to seeing all of you on the witchball field after breakfast. Bring hats and gloves and something warm."

Whispers rose among the girls. Warm clothes? It was July after all, how much of the warm summer weather was Miss Pentangle going to spoil with her spells this week?

The girls soon found out. Decked in warm woolly jumpers and pointed hats, they stood sweltering under the hot July sun. The group stared expectantly at the field, waiting for an explantation from Miss Pentangle.

As if on cue, a pink figure in a rose coloured leotard and tutu appeared at the other end of the witch ball pitch. She seemed to float effortlessly over the field on a stream of silvery blue magic emanating from her fuchsia fingertips. Pippa glided closer and it became apparent to the girls the activity they would be undertaking. A delicate pair of pale pink ice skates adorned the end of her tights clad legs. Elegantly, she cast a glittering pathway of ice in front of her, forging a route across the grass pitch. The ice melted the instant she skated over it, leaving behind no trace of the frozen magic. She smiled pleasantly at the crowd.

The girls cheered. Ice skating seemed fun, but magical ice skating? That looked much more exciting!

Pippa stopped in front of the girls, the last of the ice melting below her skates, causing her to sink onto the dry cracked earth below. She rested her hands on top of her hips, smoothing the fabric of her leotard where it met the tutu.

"As I'm sure you have worked out, we will be doing magical ice skating this morning," she said. "Before we begin, there are a few safety rules I would like to run through." Pippa glanced at Hecate with a coy smile, she knew how much the dark haired witch enjoyed rules and regulations.

"Firstly, as I imagine this is your first time skating magically, we will only be skating forward. You must be able to see the ice at all times, I don't want to see anyone attempt backwards skating for now, it is very complex."

The girls stared in awe. Most of the girls had never even tried regular ice skating and were trying to work out how they would be able to balance on the tiny silver blades, let alone move in any direction.

"Secondly, you must look out for your fellow witches. Please try to skate away from other skaters to avoid any collisions."

The girls nodded in unison.

"Lastly - and this is the most important rule - you must have fun!"

Pippa snapped her fingers and a pair of ice skates appeared at each student's feet.

"Once you have your skates on, the incantation really is very simple. Crystals form and fade away, let me forge my icy way. Then you must simply channel the ice from your fingertips in the direction you wish to skate."

Pippa demonstrated effortlessly.

Ethel was first to pull on her skates. She chanted the spell and pushed her hand forward. A sputter of hailstones and blue sparks showered onto the floor. Disappointed, she tried again, creating a thin icy path through which the grass of the field could still be seen. It cracked and melted before she could skate on it. She stared moodily at the ground, unused to failure.

"Oh Ethel," Pippa said kindly, noticing the girl's glumness. "You have to visualise a continuous stream of ice, really picture it leaving your hand and forming on the ground."

Ethel did as she was told and managed to cast a semi-satisfactory ice path. She swung her free arm wildly in the air to try to keep her balance as she gingerly attempted to travel along the ice. The field was soon awash with stripes of silvery ice as the students wobbled their way along. To everyone's surprise, including Mildred's, Mildred was actually very good. It took her no time to work out how to cast the ice so she could change direction, and she was soon skating rings around her friends. She mentally thanked her mum for taking her ice skating at the Christmas market the year before.

"Great job Mildred!" Pippa praised. With a touch of jealously, Hecate noticed that Mildred practically glowed in response to Pippa's words. Pippa seemed to effortlessly win over every student. Pippa skated cheerfully over to her girlfriend dangling a pair of onyx coloured skates by their laces. "Come on Hecate dear, show us your skills." However, her attempts to entice Hecate onto the ice were futile.

The deputy head pursed her lips and checked her pocket watch. "I do not think it would be suitable for me to join in with such frivolities."

Overhearing the conversation, Mildred caught Pippa's eye. Pippa smiled knowingly, Mildred was thinking exactly the same thing as she was.

The student stealthily skated behind Hecate, a cheeky grin across her face. She hooked her hand under the chain of the watch's pendant and deftly slipped it over her teacher's head. Mildred skated backwards, keeping her eyes on her furious teacher with a huge smile. In one hand she dangled Hecate's prized timepiece, and from the other she cast the ice crystals behind her into a jagged path.

Hecate took the ice skates from Pippa's outstretched hand and laced them with a spell. She cast a pathway of glacier blue ice towards Mildred and threw herself onto the ice after the impertinent student. She skated elegantly after the girl, finding that the smooth glides from each foot came naturally to her long legs. Surprised, Hecate discovered that she was enjoying herself, and a small smile appeared on her lips.

Pippa joined the raven witch on the field, pushing her skates forward quickly to keep up with her. She giggled as Hecate successfully attempted a loop, the icy magic glinting a reflection of the sun.

Hecate skated parallel to Mildred, "How dare you steal my jewellery," she shouted, causing the girl to break concentration from her ice casting. Hecate snatched the pocket watch back and secured it around her neck. In shock, Mildred's hand moved from directing the ice downwards at the floor to casting a sheet of frozen water behind her. 

Mildred's face turned white in fear as the ice piled up high behind her and formed a treacherous slope. Unable to stop due to the momentum she had built up, she flew up the gradient. At the end of which, she lost contact with the ice and tumbled through the air, trying in vain to cast an icy platform to arrest her fall. She screamed in terror as she crashed to the ground.

"Watch out!" Felicity shouted as she hurtled past, barely missing Mildred's plaits with her skates.

Transfixed, Hecate found herself unable to save her student. "Mildred Hubble!" she cried in panic. The older witch skated to Mildred's curled up body with a concerned look in her eyes. She snapped her fingers, transferring herself and a still fallen Mildred to the edge of the field, away from the danger of any other unwieldy skaters. "Are you hurt?" Hecate asked. Her face was tense with concern. Usually Hecate would chastise the girl for disobeying the rules laid out at the beginning of the class, but for some reason, rules didn't seem as important as Mildred's well-being did.

Mildred attempted to push herself up into a seated position, but whimpered in pain. Hecate put a protective arm around her shoulder. "I think I'll be okay," Mildred said bravely.

Hecate lifted an eyebrow, still cradling the girl. "Mildred, you cannot even sit up, you are not okay."

"I'm fine Miss Hardbroom. I think I've just winded myself, and my wrist is a bit sore, but I'm okay." She held out her arm for her teacher to inspect.

Gently, Hecate examined the injury. "I think you are correct, Mildred Hubble. It seems you have just landed on it strangely. I imagine you will be recovered by the end of the day." She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Regardless, I will cast a simple healing spell on it to ensure that it heals well." She closed her eyes and hovered her hands above the wrist. Mildred felt a warm tingling as the pain subsided. "Perhaps I will have to teach you this particular spell, young lady. I hope you do not cause me this much worry in this afternoon's potion class."

Mildred gazed at her teacher. "You're worried about me?"

Pink tinged Hecate's cheeks. "Yes Mildred. I care for all of my students, and that fall was spectacularly dangerous. Of course I was worried."

"I'm sorry I took your watch, I just thought maybe you would enjoy skating when you were on the ice." Mildred apologised.

Silence fell between the two witches for a moment.

Hecate pensively plucked at a strand of grass. "Mildred, it takes a very perceptive witch to understand what another witch may need. You were correct in your thinking that I might enjoy today's activity. As the best witch in the school, and quite possibly the country, it is very rare that I am granted the opportunity to learn something new. You have taught me many things since you enrolled at Cackle's Academy. I thank you for that."

Mildred leaned against her teacher affectionately. "Are you saying I have taught the teacher?" She teased. "I feel a lot better now, thank you for looking after me. I'll race you back to everyone else if you like?"

She stood up, using her uninjured wrist to support herself. Brushing blades of grass from her school uniform, she cast out some fresh ice and started skating towards the hive of activity of her classmates. "Come on Miss Hardbroom, don't be such a spoilsport!"

Hecate soon overtook Mildred, and the two witches raced across the field. Pippa beamed at them, and the other students stopped skating to watch the race. It was a strange sight, seeing the two gangly witches flying so effortlessly forward on the ice. Hecate's usually strict and uptight demeanour had been replaced by a determined competitive streak. She had an almost smile on her face. Mildred had seemed to shrug off her injuries completely and was almost elegant in her movements.

"Go on Millie!" Enid shouted, "You've nearly overtaken her." She started to chant "Millie! Millie!" encouraging her classmates to join in. Even Ethel found herself taken up in the excitement and joined the cheers.

The girls clapped and whistled as the two witches skated closer, Mildred had drawn herself level with the potions teacher and it looked like it was neck and neck. Suddenly, Hecate appeared to have an issue with her ice skates, and Mildred soared forwards to victory.

"Congratulations Mildred!" Pippa said. "Now girls, it is nearly lunchtime, so unfortunately we must end our lesson here. While you unlace your skates, I'd like to have a brief discussion about everything we have learned today."

The girls crowded around the teacher to hear what she had to say.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you on how well you have all picked up magical ice skating. It takes lots of skill and practise to be able to do it well. Can anyone tell me something that they learned?"

Felicity's hand shot into the air. "I learned that glamorous skating is really difficult, it's actually really difficult to skate at all."

Pippa laughed, "Yes, for magical skating to look truly effortless, it takes years of practise and honing of magical talent. Anyone else?"

Maud shyly lifted her hand. "I learned that when you cast the ice further in front of you, you can go faster."

"Very good Maud!" Pippa exclaimed. "And by that logic, how do you slow down?"

"By casting the ice closer to you?"

"Exactly, very pointy work." Pippa smiled. "Mildred, you certainly surprised us all with you skating skills. Did you learn anything?"

Mildred blushed. "I learned that skating backwards is really dangerous if you aren't focusing on the ice."

Pippa nodded solemnly. "It is one of the reasons I forbade it at the beginning of our class. However, luckily no damage seems to have been done. In the future, you must ensure that all of your focus is on the magic you are using, not just with ice, but with any spells you use. Distracted spell casting is a recipe for disaster. You are all dismissed for lunch."

A sea of smiling girls rushed towards the castle. Skating had built up their appetites hugely and they were excited for lunch. As they left the ice behind, they removed their extra layers, it was far too hot to be wearing hats under the sun. Mildred turned and shot a grateful smile and a thumbs up at the two witches.

Hecate waited until it was just her and Pippa on the field, and turned to her girlfriend. "Pippa, I was skeptical about the concept of this class. However, I was wrong. Magical ice skating is a remarkable way to bring in many teaching moments. I should not have called it frivolous. The way you brought in serious learning points and related it to the activities was exceptional. The tutu is also certainly something." She eyed Pippa's skating outfit with a smirk. "I even found myself having... fun. It seems that there are many things I am learning this term."

Surprised at her girlfriend's revelation, Pippa was momentarily speechless. She giggled. "Thank you, Hecate. You were wonderful responding how you did when Mildred was injured, and I saw what you did in the race, it was very sweet of you. Is she alright now?"

"She has some minor injuries, but nothing outside of the norm for her usual ungainly self. I do not know what you mean about the race, Mildred won on her own merit." Hecate attempted a wink which sent Pippa into peals of laughter. Hecate felt her stomach rumble. "Shall we join the girls for lunch, Pipsqueak?"

With Pippa's hungry agreement, Hecate transferred the two witches to the door of the dining hall. "I can't wait for your lesson this afternoon Hiccup." Pippa said excitedly.