Chapter Text
Mildred was out of breath. Running from her mothers room and then all the way to her room without stopping will do that to you it seems.
Miss Hardbroom and her mum! Dear gods, her mum is dating Miss Hardbroom! Out of everyone her mother could have chosen she landed on Miss Hardbroom.
To say she was in shock did not suffice. This was her mum, and she was dating the one teacher in this school who has wanted them both out since the beginning. It felt like the highest betrayal and it was done by her own mother. Maybe HB doesn’t quite want them both out now, but she did back then and that is the principal.
Picking up tabby she forgoes revising or sleeping and instead decides to try to piece together a proper timeline of the whole thing.
After about two hours she still has nothing and it’s a bit after midnight. Her thoughts are interrupted when she hears a knock. Without even approaching the door it is opened by none other than the older witch she had just been thinking about.
“Ah good you’ve returned in one piece, lights out and to bed.” In the next second the door is shut again and Mildred is left alone with her thoughts once more
“Ok” she sighs.
It’s not like she can be given any answers laying here, she’s going to have to investigate this. For her mum of course.
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The next morning is a bit easier to get answers. She knows what to look for now.
Before when her mum and Miss Hardbroom would argue, it was normal. No one really batted an eye because it occurred so often. It used to annoy her deeply but now. Now as Mildred sees the brief looks of amusement and small smiles when they think no one is looking. She finds she doesn’t mind as much that her teacher is being “rude” to her mum.
Quite frankly she’s beginning to suspect that this is how they flirt. Her mum once told her the boy in the upstairs flat would annoy her because he liked her. She never liked him back but maybe this was that.
Her mum would annoy Miss Hardbroom because she liked her and in return Miss Hardbroom did the same.
She would never understand adults.
.
As the day progresses she starts to notice all the changes she never saw before. During her afternoon catch up with her mum she kept asking about her potions class and Miss Hardbrooms name was mentioned several times. In the past Mildred would think nothing of it but now she knows, and it takes everything in her not to demand answers from her mum.
She leaves shortly before supper and on her way out sees Miss Hardbroom on her way. With nowhere to go and certainly not wanting to face her teacher right now she ducks into the corridor and gets a glimpse of the witch looking around before entering her mothers room.
That confused her even more, she didn’t transfer. Why she didn’t transfer was beyond her. Mildred hates transfers, hates them even more when they happen out of nowhere but Miss Hardbroom is known to only use transfers. It’s odd but she doesn’t question it more, just continues on her way to her room.
At supper it’s much the same. right after Miss Hardbroom takes her leave, her mother takes off soon after.
She doesn’t have detention today so there’s not much else she could investigate and she’s certainly not going to her mothers quarters unannounced any time soon.
Choosing to cut her losses she decides its best to study and makes her way to the library. Maud and Enid were busy doing their own activities, so it was just her today.
Making her way to a quiet corner away from everyone else she begins to really think about the past 24 hours.
She’s not fond of her mum dating her teacher. She knows that much but she doesn't think she has it in her to tell her mum to stop seeing her.
She frankly likes Miss Hardbroom. She’s the only teacher that seems to genuinely want Mildred to succeed and pushes her, even though she acts like she doesn’t.
She helps her out in detention, nods at her when she sees her revising, checks up on her after her lantern duty, she even ensures she eats her meals, constantly looking down at her from the teachers table. That one shocked her the most. Her mother would never betray her trust and tell someone about her eating struggles, she knows she wouldn’t so somehow Miss Hardbroom pieced it together.
She wasn’t even aware she knew until shortly after the start of last term.
~~~~~
Mildred wasn’t eating most, if any of her food during meal times. Typically one wasn’t allowed to leave until your plate was finished and everyone excused but some of the older girls had taught the younger ones a spell to magic the food away. She wasn’t the only one who used it but she was the only one who used it for nearly all her meals regardless of what it was.
It was after maybe the second week of this that she was cornered by the tall witch and told to stay. As everyone exits for their first time block of the day, she stays behind and hears a couple people whispering and gossiping as they leave.
As soon as everyone is gone she turns to the older witch and is met with a banana in her face.
“Eat it” she says
“Oh I’m not really hungry. We just ate breakfast after all.” Mildred says sheepishly
“Mildred, you have not eaten in 2 days and before that it was 3. I can sense when pupils are using magic. Eat the banana”
Sensing the younger witch’s discomfort she continues, “I can turn away if you need?”
At the slight nod from Mildred she does exactly that and reluctantly Mildred eats it. She remembers resenting her teacher so much at that moment. Now looking back she helped a lot more than she once thought. It wasn’t the last banana incident, it happened 2 more times until Miss Hardbroom threatened to give her an early morning detention if she didn’t stop using magic to make all her food go away.
She didn't exactly appreciate the tough love but after that it got a bit easier. A fruit bowl was placed in each table to ensure the girls ate at least a piece of fruit if they wouldn’t eat Miss Tapiocas porridge.
She wonders back now if that was Miss Hardbrooms doing.
Okay maybe it’s not the end of the world if her mum and teacher are dating. They do a lot for her. The least she could do is try to be supportive.
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The following days go much the same. She sees them flirt when no one is looking, hears her mother go on and on about HB. And during her detentions she sees the deputy headmistress stare at her pocket watch more times than not. As if counting down the time.
.
It’s roughly after two weeks that she realises they really aren’t so bad together. Her mother was slightly injured by one of Ethel Hallow's pranks and the look of worry and anger on Miss Hardbroom's face could not be faked. It was quickly schooled to mild anger at Ethel but Mildred had seen it.
Later that afternoon when she went to check on her mum she found her asleep and Miss Hardbroom lying next to her. They seemed to genuinely care and worry over each other. As far as Mildred was concerned, so long as her mother and teacher were happy, she’d accept them. She closed the door quietly and decided she would be supportive whenever they decided to tell her.
She just didn’t know it’d take them two more months to actually tell her!