Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hecate strolled through the town centre, peering in all the shop windows at the funny knickknacks in ordinary shops.
She smiled to herself after seeing her reflection in a shop called Doctors’s Antiques. Hecate was wrapped up warm in black velvet trousers, a thick black woollen jumper, under which a light grey t-shirt was set. Her hair was put in a low messy bun, there was a black and white striped scarf round her neck and a black beanie sat atop her head. On her feet were Black trainers, which she had bought last time she was in town, and she found them to be very comfortable. Her mothers pocket watch was around her neck, as it always was.

This was one of Hecate’s guilty pleasures. She loved going into an ordinary town and just being Hecate. When she was at cackles, she couldn’t really step down from her role as ‘Miss Hardbroom, Deputy Headmistress’. She had to be ready at any waking hour to tend to another exploded cauldron, or yet another midnight feast, and she couldn’t forget the time she had just settled herself on her pillow when a frantic knocking on the door pulled her upright once more. What happened was Beatrice Bunch had snuck in some itching powder and had poured it all over Sybil Hallow. It turned out poor Sybil was allergic and had to be rushed to the infirmary. Fun times.

Shaking her head to clear it of all thoughts of school, Hecate opened the door to her favourite café. She made it an aim to come here once a month and get her normal black coffee and carrot cake.
As she stepped out of the door into the cold after staying in the hustle and bustle of the café for a while, she heard a familiar voice… no it couldn’t could it?

Hecate slipped down an alleyway to avoid the rapidly approaching Hubbles. As they passed Hecate heard Mildred say, “Ooh mum can we go in here! I love this place!”

Julie Hubble smiled and replied, “Absolutely! We can do anything you want on your free weekend. Goodness knows you deserve it after that fright with the founding stone. Come on then Millie-Love, into the warm with you!”

Hecate took a deep breath after remembering what she had come into town to forget about. The founding stone. The magic ice. The cold. The bitter, bitter cold. She felt herself shivering just at the memory.

Hecate shook her head. “No.” She thought, “I am here to free myself a little, and Ada permitted me the day off. I won’t go ruining it in just a couple of hours!”

So, as Hecate walked on with her shoulders set and her head held high, she spotted a pink bobble hat in a shop window. Immediately her mind filled with images of Pippa. Sweet Pippa with her warm brown eyes, and beautiful blonde hair, and how Hecate just wanted to run her fingers through it, and grab Pippa, and pull her forwards, and kiss-
“No!” Hecate shook those thoughts from her mind. She couldn’t think of Pippa that way, their friendship had only just gotten back on track after Hecate left 30 years ago. She would not jeopardise it In this way, not with feelings she had kind of managed to squish down to nearly nothing.

Hecate stepped through the door to, ‘Knobbles and Bobbles Emporium’ she was greeted with the smell of incense and candles burning everywhere. She rounded the corner to the hat stand in the window, and her eyes once again fell on that pink hat. She could imagine Pippa wearing it as they walk hand in hand through the snow, the snowflakes collecting on the wool. Hecate picked it up. It was as soft as it looked.

“There is a matching scarf too dearie!” Came a cheerful voice from the back of the shop.
The voice made Hecate jump and she whirled around to face the origin of the sound.

“Whoa, whoa, calm your horses!” The voice said again, this time Hecate could see who it belonged to, a plump woman with rosy cheeks, wearing a floral print dress with a leather apron over top.
“Sorry,” Said Hecate, “You made me jump.”

“I could see that! I just thought, with the way you were looking at it, you were imagining someone wearing it. Thought you might want to get the matching set.” The woman turned and picked up a matching pink scarf off a rack. She offered it forwards.

“ Th- Thank you,” Hecate spluttered as she took the scarf from the lady. She was right, they were beautiful. There were gentle sparkles in the bobble and rim of the hat, and it matched the ends of the scarf. This would be the perfect gift for Pippa for Christmas!

Hecate sighed in relief. “This is brilliant, my friend will love them.”
“All handmade as well dearie! I’m Rosie by the way, I own the shop.”
“Hecate.” Hecate offered her hand to the woman and she shook it enthusiastically.

After Hecate had paid for her gifts, she left the shop. She carefully placed the hat and scarf in her bag and put her hands in her pockets. “Ah!” She exclaimed as her fingers fell on the mobile phone Pippa insisted she have, ‘In case of emergency,’ Hecate didn’t know what emergency might constitute having a weird beeping metal rectangle in her pocket, but it made Pippa happy, and that’s what mattered.

Also, apparently Hecate was now Pippa’s ‘Emergency Contact’ whatever that was.
Anyway, Hecate just might have forgotten it was there and it had surprised her when she felt it. She dug it out of her pocket and stared at it. Just looking at it reminded her of Pippa which, in turn, gave her a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest.

At some point Pippa had tried to show her how to use it, but Hecate had seen Mildred and Enid run across the castle grounds through her window half way through, which she of course had to check on. For once Mildred and Enid had been doing nothing wrong, but still Hecate didn’t know how to use her phone. “Oh well,” she thought, “when am I ever going to need it anyway?”

She shoved her phone back into her pocket and set off down the street. She stopped and picked up lunch from a little bakery called ‘Truffles’, and then sat on a bench in the park. She smiled as she watched dogs play and children run back and forth.
She cast a discreet lightening spell on her bag of goodies and started walking to the transfer point at the bottom of the hill.

Just as she rounded the corner, there was a horrifying screech of brakes, and Hecate turned just in time to see a large out of control truck careening right towards her.
She tried to jump out of the way, to cast a protections spell, anything!

But it was too late. The front right corner of the truck ploughed straight into her. Her bag flew out of her hand, and she felt a crack as multiple ribs broke.
A pain shot down her right side as her leg snapped. Hecate felt herself flying through the air, she felt the crash as she was thrown backwards through a shop window, glass pierced her all over, a particularly mean shard went straight through her left shoulder.

She tried her best to cushion her landing with a spell but it didn’t work, instead she felt a horrid emptiness where her magic should be. Where the hell was it? As she landed her head cracked back onto the concrete floor. Hecate’s vision blurred as she felt blood drip from her nose and flow from her shoulder.
Blood started pooling under her head, and Hecate succumbed to the darkness.

Pippa Pentangle was having a nice day. It was a Saturday so she woke up later than normal, went on a light jog around the Pentangle Academy grounds before breakfast, before returning just in time for a brunch of coffee and donuts.

After that, she did some paperwork, poor Harriet NightinGale had had another allergic reaction so Pippa mirrored her parents and let them know. She had another large mug of coffee before filing away that months expenses, up 3% of last month! Then there was a light lunch of fruit and, yup, you guessed it, another donut. What? It was Saturday! Pippa was in a fantastic mood.

Until her phone rang. Pippa had a mobile phone so she could communicate with ordinary parents, so she thought nothing of it, until she saw the caller id, H. Hardbroom. “Weird,” she thought to herself, “Hecate never calls, I didn’t think she knew how.” Pippa accepted the call with a smile, and said, “Hey Hiccup! To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Hello, my name is Phillip and I am calling from BakerBridge Hospital,” came the gruff reply from the other end of the line,”do you know a…” there was what sounded like the fumbling of paperwork, and then,” Do you know a He-kat-ee Hardbroom?”
Pippa was on edge the second the mans voice came through the phone. “Yes I do, she’s my best friend, whats going on?” The blonde witch was now pacing in front of her fireplace, bills long forgotten.

“Ok, so she was in an accident.”
“What? Is she ok?” Pippa held the phone to her ear with her shoulder, as she immediately started rushing around her office, gathering her travelling cloak and getting ready to summon her broom.
“She is in critical condition. She is in the ICU.” The mans voice had gained a slight tone of sympathy at the blonde’s obvious panic.

“Oh shit, shit, shit,” Pippa swore as she hurriedly sent her deputy a message via maglet that she would not be at the school for a while. “ Can I see her? She needs me right? Please tell me I can see her!”

“She is in a coma at the moment, and right now we don’t know if she will come out of it. We think you should be here as fast as possible.”
“I am on my way.”
Fuck.

Pippa leapt on her broom as fast as she could. She leant forwards as her hair plastered itself back. It was snowing quite heavily now, and the large flakes kept trying to knock her off balance.
She guessed it would take her about 4 hours to get to the hospital, but it wasn’t fast enough! Hiccup needed her now. Pippa leant forwards even more, flattening herself against her broom.

Her beautiful thick pink traveling cloak was an extremely thoughtful birthday gift from Hecate, and she could still see the light blush covering Hecate’s cheeks when Pippa opened the present. The way she stood awkwardly clutching her pocket watch as Pippa peeled back the wrapping. The shocked squeak that escaped her lips when Pippa tackled her in an enormous hug. The tentative arms that hugged her back after only a moments hesitation. Now, the cloak was doing its duty again, keeping Pippa warm when she needed it most.

After two and a half hours, Pippa guessed she could transfer from there, with minimal magical exhaustion. Taking a deep breath, Pippa said the incantation and disappeared, broom and all. Scattering oneself into atoms could never be a pleasant experience, but doing it over such a long distance was horrible.
After the disorientated witch reassembled herself, she vanished her broom and gorgeous traveling cloak, instead dressing herself in ordinary jeans, pastel pink sweatshirt and magenta raincoat.

She rushed into the hospital, following the signs showing the way to the ICU, only having to ask for directions once. When she got there, a burly looking nurse with a name tag that read ‘Amanda’ said, “Who are you here to see?”
“Um H-Hecate. Hecate Hardbroom,” Pippa fumbled over her words in her need to see Hecate.

“Ah.” The nurses face softened. “She is not is good shape, how much do you know?”
“N-not much, the guy on the phone, Phillip maybe? He said she’d been in an accident, what happened?”
“I think you’d better sit down.”

Pippa followed Amanda to a little room just down the hall.
“Ok,” Amanda began, “she was hit by a drunk driver, who thought it was a good idea to try and control his truck. She was hit while standing on the corner by Baker Street. She has broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, a broken leg, a broken nose, and superficial cuts more or less all over from being thrown through a shop window.”

Pippa gasped and tears began running down her face.
“Now, as Miss Hardbroom has now other family, she has named you as her next of kin. You will be responsible for Miss Hardbrooms treatment from now on.”
Pippa nodded as tears kept flowing down her face.

“We had to shave a little of her hair off to sew up the cuts on her scalp, and she has already been in surgery to remove most of the glass. There was a shard that went through Miss Hardbrooms shoulder which then broke while still embedded in her. She had a bag with her when she was hit, which we do have in possession for you. Now, would you like to see her?”

“Yes. I need to see her. Will she live?” Pippa gasped through sobs.
“We don’t know. Now follow me.”
Pippa followed Amanda through a maze of hallways before she stopped at a door, “Are you ready?”
“No. But I have to see her.”
Amanda opened the door and Pippa stepped inside. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, Pippa started to be able to make out a figure lying on the bed. The bed was in the centre of the left wall, and there was a sink set in the middle of the right hand wall. On the far wall was a table, and behind that was the fold out bed for relatives staying overnight. To the right of the big bed was a green hospital chair.
The sound of beeping filled the room from multiple glowing boxes connected to Hecate. Pippa gasped as she took in the sight of tubes coming out of her friends arms, connected to bags of fluid.

“Oh Hiccup… darling,” Hecate was dressed in a blue hospital gown, and Pippa thought, “I prefer her in black…”As Pippa stepped closer, she began to see the enormous cast of Hecate’s leg, the sling on Hecate’s arm, the thick bandage wrapped around her head where some of her long, luscious, beautiful hair had been removed.

More tears fell down Pippa’s cheeks as she looked closer at Hecate’s face. There were lots of cuts all over, as well as a large sticking plaster over her nose. Quite a few of them needed stitches.
“Hair growth potion,” Pippa muttered as she put it on her mental list of things to acquire soon.
There was a stitched up cut going through her left eyebrow, and secretly Pippa thought Hecate would suit a scar through her eyebrow, it would make her look all mysterious. Pippa shook the thought from her mind and carried on checking the scale of damage on Hecate.

“Anti-scar potion,” Pippa murmured, running her finger across the cut in Hecate’s eyebrow.
“Sorry did you say something?”
Pippa startled as Amanda spoke from the doorway, “No, no I- nothing.”

“Call if you need me,” Amanda shot Pippa a small sympathetic smile as she quietly closed the door. As soon as the nurse left Pippa sat in the chair by the bed and grasped Hecate’s hand in her own. Turning it over, the blonde cried out at the cuts all over her palm and fingers. It was obvious Hecate had either put her hands up or used them to absorb the impact. She ran her fingers over the lacerations, and permitted a small amount of magic to seep into Hecate’s hand. They had healed each other a million times before at school, so Pippa thought it would be simple enough to heal one little cut.

She was wrong, it seemed as her magic slammed back into her, throwing her halfway across the room, ten times more powerful than what she had let in to Hecate. She felt like she had been slapped, her breath removed from her body.
Pippa took a few deep breaths as she assessed her body for injuries, only a slightly bruised hip. She stood back up and went back over to Hecate.
She sat herself back on the edge of the bed, then checked the cut she had been trying to fix, and cried out at the fact it was now wider, deeper and bleeding.
Pippa couldn’t bring herself to try and stop the bleeding with magic so she found a tissue in her pocket and pressed it into Hecate’s hand.
Pippa grasped Hecate’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, wincing at the rough scabs.
“Oh Hiccup…” Pippa whispered, “please come back to me.”

Pippa eventually fell into a restless and uncomfortable sleep, stuck in an ordinary hospital with the woman she had loved for 35 years unconscious in the bed next to her.

Chapter Text

Pippa awoke with a start as she heard Hecate move next to her. “Hiccup!” She gasped as she blinked her eyes clear of sleep and sat up quickly from her position in the quite frankly horrible hospital chair. She had been too tired to get out the fold up bed the previous night, and besides, she wanted to be able to hold Hecate’s hand.

“Sorry love, not yet,” came the reply from a nurse who was gently cleaning the wounds on Hecate’s arms. Hecate was still in a coma. The clock on the wall said 6.30am. Pippa started crying again, and she didn’t know if it was the stress, the fact that she had to make the decisions, or how she might never see a shy little smile grace the beautiful bruised face currently lying in a hospital bed.
“Oh love,” the nurse came and wrapped her arms around Pippa as she started sobbing into her shoulder. “Do you have anyone who can come and support you? The nurse, her name tag read Alison, asked quietly.

Pippa sat bolt upright and swore. “Ada doesn’t know!” Pippa gasped, “no-one knows!”
“Ok, how about you give them a ring. Does Miss Hardbroom have any family that should know?”
Pippa sniffled, and said, “no, its just us. Always has been.”
“Would you like a tea, or a coffee?”
“Could I have a coffee please?”
“Coming right up poppet.”

After Pippa had quietly drunk her coffee over the course of two hours (normally coffee doesn’t last five minutes, but today she had to use a reheating spell twice), Pippa took a deep breath and went over to the mirror in the room.
She took a second to cast a spell on the door so no-one would bother her. If anyone tried to come this way they would have a very sudden urge to go to the toilet. Pippa looked at her reflection in the mirror, and sighed. She looked 10 years older than she normally does, with dark rings under her eyes and last nights clothes rumpled and stained with coffee. Her normally bouncy blonde ponytail was at the nape of her neck and was flat down her back.

After a long, drawn out sigh, and one last look at the frail figure in the bed, Pippa tapped the mirror 3 times and said clearly, “Ada Cackle.”
Slowly, Ada’s office swam into view and Pippa was surprised to see she was there, pacing in front of her desk. She spotted Pippa’s face in the mirror and rushed towards her. “Miss Pentangle! Is Hecate with you? She didn’t come home last night and I tried calling you and you didn’t pick up, so I thought she might have come to see you!”
Ada finally looked closely at Pippa, saw how tired she looked and the state she was in.
“Miss Pentangle?” She asked after a minutes silence.

Pippa looked up from the floor and her eyes swam with tears. “Oh Ada…” she said softly.
If Ada felt alarmed at the usage of her first name, it didn’t show. “What happened, Pippa?”
“Hecate’s been in an accident. A bad one. She was hit by a drunk driver, Oh Ada, they don’t know if she’ll make it and I think her magic is rejecting my healing magic, because I tried it on a cut and it made it worse, and I don’t know what to do!” Pippa was crying in earnest now, and Ada looked shocked.

“I will be right there Pippa. I will summon Dimity to come too.”
After a minute, Dimity knocked on the door and entered. Her face was creased in worry and she blurted out, “ Have you found HB?”
Ada filled her in on what happened while Pippa looked on from the mirror.
Dimity’s face went from worried, to concerned, to angry at the mention of the drunk driver, to sorrow when she heard about the coma. Eventually, she said, “HB needs us. And you need us Pippa. Maybe I can wake her up with some bad jokes?” Ada smiled at the humour but Pippa was still staring glumly at a spot on the wall just behind Dimity.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can Pippa.” Ada said sternly, “Is there-“
Dimity butted in and said “I’ll pack a bag of things HB might need, and I’ll bring Morgana. If anyone can wake that stubborn old boot up, it’ll be you or that damn cat.”
Pippa managed a small smile at this, and managed to reply, “ don’t let her hear you call her that!”

An hour later there was a knock on the hospital door. Pippa opened it and outside was Dimity, panting from running down the corridor, and wearing turquoise jogging bottoms and a black running t-shirt with a diamond on the front.
Ada was just behind her, wearing her customary pink cardigan over a light purple daisy print dress, and a small smile at the obvious relief on Pippa’s face. She stepped back to let them in, and Dimity took the concealment charm off of Morgana’s carrier, letting the cat out.
“Didn’t think they’d let us in if we had a cat,” Dimity shrugged as Morgana leapt up onto the bed and curled into her Mistresses side. Hecate still didn’t stir.

Ada sat on the edge of the bed and took in the battered state of her deputy. Dimity gasped as she saw how much of Hecate’s hair had been removed, and the bruises covering her body.
Pippa showed both of them what happened when she tried to mend a cut on Hecate’s hand, and they were both stumped at how wide the cut had become. At least it had stopped bleeding, Pippa thought.

Ada said that she would go back to the academy and tell all the staff what had happened, and find a temporary potions teacher. She wanted Dimity to stay with Pippa and Hecate, because she didn’t think it would do to leave Pippa alone with the unconscious brunette.
Ada would do some research in the library, and see what she could find. After staying in the the room for four and a half hours, Ada bid all three humans and one feline goodbye and whispered, “please get better Hecate,” in said woman’s ear, “I need you.”

Pippa and Dimity stayed in companionable silence for a while, with the occasional nurse popping in to check blood pressure, temperature and to see how Hecate’s stitches were holding up. Sometimes they shared memories of Hecate, like that time Mildred threw water all over Miss Hardbroom at a fire drill.

There was a lapse in conversation, the room quiet save the beeping of machines, until Dimity spoke.
“You love her.” Dimity stated when Pippa was staring wistfully as the unconscious figure in the bed.
She startled at the sound in the quiet room, and briefly considered denying it, but she just couldn’t. “Yes. I do.” Tears filled Pippa’s eyes again, “and I never told her.”

“I think she knows you care for her,” Dimity whispered. “She loves you.”
Pippa stared at Dimity. “She does?”
“She talks about you all the time. Not, like, a lot, but just little things. Like how your favourite colour is actually dark red, or how your favourite pizza toppings are mushrooms and spinach.”
Pippa laughed softly, “how did pizza toppings come up in conversation?”

Dimity smiled, “Gwen’s birthday last year. It was about a month after you reconciled at the spelling bee, and she imbibed in perhaps a little too much witches brew. She is a very chatty drunk, and was talking about you. It was my job to take her back to her room, and settle her in bed, and she kept spouting little facts about you. Don’t worry, she didn’t tell your deepest darkest secrets or anything, this is still HB we’re talking about!”
Pippa grinned at the figure in the bed, “oh Hecate.”
“Anyway, the most I got out of her is that you like red, you like mushrooms and spinach on pizza, and she thinks you are very pretty. She passed out after that.”
A blush made its way across Pippa’s cheeks and she smiled softly. “Hecate’s favourite colour is dark green, did you know that?”
Dimity shook her head.

“Everyone thinks its black, but it’s not.”
“Well,” Dimity laughed, “we have good reason to think its black!”
“And, she speaks very highly of you as well.”
“Does she?!” Now it was Dimity’s turn to blush, “I didn’t even think she liked me.”
“She does. She sees you as a little sister I think.”
“Funny old HB,” Dimity murmured, “never know whats happening in that head of hers.”

Time passed like this for an entire week, and there was still no change. Ada had popped in on the third day, and the sixth, but she still had very little information from the library. The most similar case she had found was from 1649, a witch called Hera Monsoon who got run over by a cow and no magic could fix her. She died from her injuries. There was no further information on this case, so Ada promised to keep on looking.

The biggest change happened on the seventh day, when Dimity had gone to get them both coffees, and Pippa was softly singing to Hecate whilst holding her hand.

Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath, every hour has come to this
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

As Pippa sang, tears rolled down her face. As she finished her song, she leant down and kissed Hecate softly on the cheek.
“Hiccup, don’t leave me, not now, please, don’t go anywhere I can’t follow. Please come back Hecate. I need you to come back…”

Pippa was dressed in an old pink t-shirt with holes under the arms, and dark pink sweatpants with paint splurges all over them from when she painted the mural in the big hall of Pentangles. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was basically surviving on vending machine sandwiches, shower spells, and coffee.

When Pippa sank back into the horrible hospital chair she had put multiple cushioning charms on, she heard a noise. Her head snapped up and she stood, immediately watching Hecate. There the noise was again, a groan, from Hecate! Pippa watched as one of Hecate’s fingers flexed, “Hiccup? Hecate its me, Its Pippa, I’m here darling, I’m here, NURSE!” Pippa shouted just as Dimity got back from her coffee run in the middle of a sentence, “… the machine was so slow, wait what?”

“NURSE!” Pippa shouted again as a Nurse (Pippa remembered her from the first day, Amanda?) arrived at the door. “she groaned! And her finger twitched!”
Amanda rushed over to Hecate and started looking her over as Hecate continued to groan and flex her hand. The nurse flicked her un casted foot and Hecate twitched. “Responsive to pain, good.” The nurse muttered as Pippa nervously hopped from foot to foot in the doorway. A hand on her arm grounded her, and she looked to the side to see Dimity chewing her bottom lip in anticipation.

The nurse shone a light in Hecate’s eyes and was apparently pleased with what she saw.
She turned to Pippa and Dimity with a smile, “she’s waking up.”
Those words seemed to hover in the air a moment before the two witches could take them in. Then suddenly they were hugging, and crying, and so, so happy. The nurse slipped out of the door as both the witches started towards Hecate.

Chapter Text

Light. That’s what Hecate saw. Bright light. It was so bright she groaned at it. She wanted to snap her fingers and extinguish it, but they didn’t seem to want to move. She groaned again, and suddenly there were voices, and pain, and more voices, before there was darkness again.

There it was again. Light, very bright light, but silence this time. Hecate groaned once more and tried to open her eyes but they seemed to be fused shut. This time Hecate heard more soft noises, a soft voice she recognised… Pippa? No, why would Pippa be here? Wherever here was…
“Hi-up?” That sounded like Pippa.

“Hi-p?” Was that Pippa?

“He-a-e!” What was she saying?

“Hec-te!” Ah, Hecate. That’s her name.

“I’m here darling!”

Hecate tried to reply with a ‘well met’ but her voice didn’t want to work, and all that came out was a kind of grunt.

“Hiccup!” Hecate’s mouth and throat were so dry they felt like the Sahara desert. She managed another grunt and a rough “wa-a,”
“Water? Oh yes of course darling, won’t be a mo,” there were some noises that sounded like someone rushing about, and then a straw was pressed to her mouth. It felt like her face didn’t move properly so it took a second to open her mouth. She sucked up a little water, pushing away the thought of “Merlin, this is embarrassing.” Once her mouth was wet again she tried to welcome Pippa again. “Well,” she took a breath, “met, Pippa,”

She was surprised to hear laughter coming from across the room. Who else was here? She managed to force her eyes open and blinked owlishly at the light. She had a right headache too.
“The, light,” she managed to say before the curtains were drawn and the room was comfortably dark.

“Hiya HB.” Came a voice from across the room, “trust you to wake up from an eight day coma and try and do a formal greeting to your oldest and best friend,”

Hecate’s mind was reeling from all the information in that sentence. Eight day coma? Oldest and best friend?
“Dimity! We weren’t going to tell her yet!” Pippa’s voice came from beside her,
“oh yeah, sorry HB.”

“Pipsqueak?”
“I am right here Hiccup, I have been here the whole time. You go back to sleep and we’ll talk more tomorrow, hey?”
“Stay… Pipsqueak… please,” Hecate managed to say the words before she fell asleep.
As she drifted, she heard Pippa say, “I am going nowhere Hiccup, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

And she was. Hecate went back to sleep for thirty six more hours, and Pippa was there the whole time. Dimity went back to Cackles the next day, thinking Hecate wouldn’t be too happy to wake up to an audience. Pippa had just accepted yet another cup of tea from a kindly nurse when Hecate began to stir again. She stretched, then winced at a pain in her shoulder.

“Evening Hiccup!” Came a cheerful voice from her left, “How did you sleep?”
Hecate opened her eyes and was glad to see it was early evening and the room was dim. Morgana was stretched out at the foot of the bed, blinking at her mistress.

“What happened?” She asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She saw Pippa cross the room and felt the bed dip as she sat down. “I’m afraid you were hit by a car, Hiccup.” Pippa replied quietly, “You have been unconscious for nine days, darling.”

Hecate’s mouth opened wide as she stared at Pippa. “B-But, the girls, Ada, the- the school?!”
“Are fine, and Ada is fine, and the school is still standing, I think?” Pippa tried to make a joke but quickly backtracked at the look of horror in Hecate’s eyes. “It is! Its all fine, sweetheart, sorry.”

Hecate tried to sit up a little, but was shocked as she discovered the cast on her leg, the sling on her arm, and the enormous amount of pain that shot from her ribs, to her shoulder, to her head. She gasped, shut her eyes and clapped her good hand to her face, shutting out as much light as possible.
Pippa called for the nurse, and after some very strong painkillers were administered, Hecate was feeling lots better. She was sat up with a little help, and was now drinking from a glass with a pink straw in it.

Suddenly, a thought struck Hecate. “Why am I here? Why haven’t you healed me with magic?”
Pippa sighed. “I tried, darling, but your body wouldn’t accept it. It turned my magic back against me.”

Hecate gasped, “are you ok? I didn’t hurt you did i?” Pippa saw that Hecate’s right hand was grasping at air by her side and Pippa quickly fetched her the pocket watch she had repaired 8 days ago, after it had cracked in the collision. She placed it over Hecate’s head so it sat where it should, right in the centre of Hecate’s chest.

Hecate grasped it quickly, the cool metal and familiar pattern hopefully calming her. “Thank you,” Hecate said quietly. Then the panic returned in her voice, “well? Are you ok?”

Quickly, Pippa said, “I’m alright, it just took my breath away, that’s all.” She didn’t want to mention the large bruise that flowered on her hip, the one that had now faded so it was barely there at all. “But the cut I tried to heal, well, it just got lots worse.”
She pulled Hecate’s hand from her watch and turned it over to see the large scab in the middle.
“This one,” Pippa pointed to it, “was one of the smallest at the start. Then, I put a little of my magic into it, but instead of knitting back together, it tore apart.”

Hecate stared at her hand. “I hurt you.” She said, barely audibly, “you shouldn’t be here.”
Pippa was taken aback. “Hiccup?” She asked.
There was a pause, then, “You should go.”

Pippa was saddened by the venom in Hecate’s tone. “But-” she tried to protest but was cut off by Hecate. “I don’t need you here Pippa. You should go.” Hecate repeated.
Pippa was standing now, “What if I don’t want to go? What if I want to stay here? I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU!”

“Leave me alone!” Hecate was shouting now, “I don’t need you here! I don’t even know why you are here! I don’t need you to baby me, I am a full grown woman who doesn’t need your help! You need to learn to stop meddling in other peoples business! GO. AWAY!”

Pippa stared at Hecate.

Hecate stared at Pippa.

Then, Pippa turned on her heel, and walked out.

Chapter Text

20 minutes earlier

Hecate was sat up in bed, drinking water out of a cup with a pink plastic straw. Inwardly, she smiled at the colour.

She was thinking about magic, and how soon she could attempt a simple summoning spell to get a packet of wotsits from the side table over in the corner, when a sudden thought entered her mind. Magic! Why is she here, in this pitiful grey room, letting Pippa sleep in that horrible hospital chair, when she could be up and about already with just some potions and spells?

“Why am I here? Why haven’t you healed me with magic?

Pippa let out a sigh that made Hecate worry. “I tried, darling, but your body wouldn’t accept it. It turned my magic back against me.”

Hecate gasped. ‘Oh no, oh no… oh no no no! I hurt her, I’m a monster, hurting your only friend, I could go to prison for that… I’m not suited for prison, what if my magic was taken away? What if Pippa was really hurt? What if I lost control again and killed her?!’ These thoughts all occurred in a split second before she anxiously said “are you ok? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”  

Hecate’s right hand was searching for her pocket watch, and then Hecate realised it must have been broken in the crash.

She flexed her hand and felt some of the scabs on her fingers pull open.

Pippa leapt up and rummaged in her bag, pulling out Hecate’s watch and placed it over her head.

Hecate felt relieved at the comforting weight it felt on her chest. She quickly held it in her hand, and ran her thumb over the raised constellations. The cool metal grounded her and she breathed in deeply. “Thank you,” she said softly before her anxiety kicked back in, “well? Are you ok?”

Quickly, Pippa said, “I’m alright, it just took my breath away, that’s all . But the cut I tried to heal, well, it just got lots worse.”

Hecate looked at her, confused, and also feeling like Pippa was not telling her everything. They had known everything about each other for years, she recognised the way Pippa’s eyes flicked from side to side and the way she picked at the cuticle of her thumb nails when she was keeping a secret.

Pippa reached forwards and took Hecate’s hand in her own. The feeling of Pippa’s hand in hers sent a shiver down Hecate’s spine. She turned her hand over and Pippa ran her thumb over the large scab in the middle.

“This one,” Pippa pointed to it, “was one of the smallest at the start. Then, I put a little of my magic into it, but instead of knitting back together, it tore apart.”

Hecate stared at her hand. Her mind was still reeling from the possibility of hurting Pippa. How could she? Her only friend, and she attacked her. There was only one answer, get Pippa away from her. She was a monster… and she was obviously unsafe to be friends with.

“I hurt you.”  She said, quietly, “you shouldn’t be here.”

Pippa looked confused and hurt. “Hiccup?”

The use of the nickname pulled at Hecate’s heart, at the very lining of her soul. But she couldn’t let that stop her. “You should go.” Hecate surprised herself with the anger in her voice, but it was too late.

Pippa visibly recoiled at that. Yes, it was working. But did she really want it to work?

Pippa tried to speak but Hecate cut her off. “I don’t need you here Pippa. You should go.” Hecate repeated.

The blonde stood up to her full height and looked down on Hecate, “What if I don’t want to go? What if I want to stay here? I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU!”

Hecate flinched as Pippa shouted, but she was too far in to back out now.

“Leave me alone!” Hecate was shouting now and she just couldn’t seem to stop the words falling out of her mouth like rotten teeth.“I don’t need you here!” Hecate could hear blood rushing in her ears. She realised that she didn’t even want Pippa to go, but it was way too late. “I don’t even know why you are here! I don’t need you to baby me, I am a full grown woman who doesn’t need your help! You need to learn to stop meddling in other peoples business!  GO. AWAY!”

Pippa stared at Hecate.

The hurt in her face could kill anything with a heart. Including Hecate.

Hecate stared at Pippa.

The shouting had brought her headache back in full force. She wanted to stop Pippa from leaving, to say sorry, but her head was pounding and her mouth was unable to form the words. Her head was screaming, she was breathing heavily and her ribs ached on every inhale.

Pippa turned with tears in her eyes, and walked out.

************

Pippa turned on her heel, and walked out. She didn’t even know where she was going. How dare she? After everything Pippa did for her? She thought they were friends again! Pippa strode down the hallway, stormed down the stairs and threw the doors open, walking out into the late evening.

A chill spread through her body as she put her hand out to summon her traveling cloak. Her beautiful cloak. She wrapped it around her shoulders and breathed in the comforting smell. It smelt just a little of jasmine and mint, the smell of Hecate, having spent a week in Hecate’s wardrobe just before being gifted to her.

Pippa turned up the collar and set off back to Pentangles.

It was a cold, sad journey back to her quarters at Pentangles, and it took twice as long as Pippa accidentally got caught in a rogue rainstorm and had to detour around it. When she returned, she climbed into her pink cat patterned pyjamas and collapsed into bed.

The next morning, Pippa mirrored Ada to tell her what happened, and to ask her to send a member of staff to sit with Hecate. The woman might be an absolute ass at times, but Pippa still cared for her deeply.

Then, Pippa sat down on her bed with a bottle of witches brew, and began to cry.

*********

Hecate stared at the door as Pippa left. What the hell is wrong with her? The words all came out wrong, and now Pippa has left again. But didn’t she want Pippa to leave? Hecate continued staring at the door, as tears began rolling down her face. She mentally slapped herself, and told herself, “I survived last time. I’ll survive this time too. Its better this way.”

That was what Mistress Broomhead had told her. That she was undeserving of love, especially Pippa’s. Broomhead could always read Hecate like a book, so as soon as the crush on Pippa popped up, Broomhead knew. She constantly told Hecate that Pippa didn’t like her like that, or like her- full stop.

With her hanging off of Pippa’s arm, she would get in the way of Pippa reaching the fame she deserved.

Once her father had died and she had abandoned Pippa before the broomstick display, Broomhead moved onto phycological and physical punishments, because she was scared, alone, and had an abundance of raw power.

She also had no-one who cared for her, so she craved the attention she received from Broomhead in between punishments when she made a mistake or didn’t do something fast enough. “Good girls don’t get it wrong. Do they Hecate?” “No Mistress.” Hecate could still hear her, and if she thought about her too hard she could feel the long nails clawing up her back, tracing her shoulders and neck. She shivered.

“It’s better this way.”  Once Hecate had convinced herself of that last fact, she pressed the call button to ask a nurse for more meds, and tried to put Pippa out of her mind.

Which was difficult, considering Pippa had left little pink things all over the room. A pink hairband over there, a pink bar of soap by the sink, a chip of pink nail polish on the floor, the pink straw in her water glass. Hecate sighed.

**********

Early the next day, Dimity was on a mission. She was gonna pull that broomstick out of Hecate’s arse, and make her see sense. At least, that was the plan. She strode down the hospital corridor, and slammed open the door to Hecate’s room.

The witch was sitting up in bed, drinking a cup of tea and reading an ordinary newspaper. Morgana was lounging at the end of the bed, idly licking a paw. She jumped and ran under the table in the corner when the door opened with a bang.

Hecate jolted as Dimity entered, and winced as her ribs rearranged. “Dimity! What the-!” Hecate started, but Dimity cut her off, “Now you listen to me Hardbroom, and you listen good. Ok?” Dimity waved her hand and Morgana disappeared. “Morgana!” Hecate exclaimed, staring at the spot her familiar had abruptly vanished from. “She is back in your chambers at Cackles. You get her back when you fix your relationship with Pentangle. Got it?” Hecate nodded in shock. There was a fire in Dimity’s eyes she had never seen before, and in that moment, she realised she never wanted to see it again.

“I know what you said to Pippa, and we both know that that is all a load of bollocks Hecate.”

Hecate winced at the profanity. “You know, if it weren’t for her, we would have no idea where you were? She was your emergency contact and she was here the second she got a call from this hospital, and do you know why Hardbroom,” Dimity emphasised the syllables in Hecate’s last name with such venom that the woman in question was speechless. The injured witch shook her head.

“Because she wants to be your friend! She loves you Hecate did you know that? No, because you are too busy pretending not to have feelings for her! I’ve seen the way you light up when she walks into a room, that way you look at her, and the way she looks at you, but you don’t see it because you have your head stuck in the sand, like a great big gothic ostrich!”

If Hecate was offended at being compared to an enormous flightless bird, it didn’t show on her face. She was too busy thinking about the love bit, and the fact that Dimity had used her first name for the first time ever.

“Do you know who stayed in that horribly uncomfortable chair for two nights next to your unconscious arse? Pippa did, because she didn’t want to be so far away from you that she couldn’t hold your hand.” Hecate’s eyes widened. Her right hand grasped her pocket watch.

“Oh yeah, another point HB,” Dimity continued, “she fixed that damn watch for you after it cracked in your crash. Apparently it was still on you when they wheeled you in here, you had a death grip on that thing, even when you were in a coma. She fixed it for you on day 2, because she never lost faith that you were going to wake up.”

Hecate stared down at the watch in her palm and swallowed thickly around the lump that had appeared in her throat.

“Do you know who sang to you, read to you from potions textbooks and plant guides? She read you an entire book on spirit moss, and then she talked aloud about their properties for 3 hours! Who else would do that? Do you know who begged you, day after day, night after night to wake up? She was here from the start, right until you verbally kicked her arse out of the door.

We would all think you were dead without Pippa.

We wouldn’t have had the faintest clue as to where your arse had turned up!

Also, YOU named her as your next of kin, at some point, it seemed like if anything happened to you, you wanted her to be there!

When you woke up, who cried with joy?

When you went right back into your recovery sleep, who mirrored Ada to tell her the good news? Who, right at the beginning, made the horrid decision to make you an organ donor in case of your passing? At the beginning, she was so scared you were going to die, she slept in two hour increments and drank inhuman amounts of coffee. Can’t you see it Hecate?”

Hecate’s mouth was open and her eyes were filled with tears. She didn’t know any of that information. “She did all that? For me?”

Dimity rolled her eyes. “Obviously you idiot! Now, I’m going to ask Pippa to come back and visit you once. Once. Ok? If you fuck this one up, your friendship might be gone forever. I’ll let you know when she’ll be here. Ok HB?”

Dimity gave her a smile and a wink, and swept out of the door, leaving Hecate alone again with only her thoughts for company.

Chapter Text

Dimity touched her broom down on Pentangles lawn and set off for the main doors. When she reached them a 3rd year was sitting on the step, reading a potions textbook. “Hello Miss,” the lad said, standing up, “can I help you?” Dimity smiled at the polite young man before saying, “I’m here to see Miss Pentangle, can you show me the way to her office?”

The lad nodded before saying, “she hasn’t been very well today, we haven’t seen her at all since she got back late last night. She has shut herself into her quarters. Shall I take you there instead?”
Dimity paused for a second before saying, “alright,”

They walked up some stairs and along a corridor before stopping at a large wooden door.
“Here we are Miss.” Said the boy before he bid Dimity farewell and left her at the door.

Dimity knocked, and said, “Pippa? Its Dimity, can I come in?” There was no sound from inside the room, but the door clicked open so Dimity stepped inside. “Pippa?” She called. “In here,” came the quiet reply from a room to Dimity’s left. “Hey Pippa,” Dimity said, “you alright?”

The room was dark, and was obviously Pippa’s bedroom. The walls were a cream colour, and the accent colour was obviously pink. There was a lush cream rug on the floor, a walk in closet in the far wall, and a chest of drawers stood opposite the bed. Above the chest of drawers was a large mirror, and to the left of the door, against the wall, was a large vanity cabinet with a light up mirror and loads of little drawers where, presumably Pippa kept her makeup.

In the middle of the room, with the headboard in the centre of the wall to the left was a beautiful four poster bed, with one Miss Pippa Pentangle sprawled on top of the duvet surrounded by empty donut boxes. She was currently eating another one while tears ran down her face.

“Oh Pippa…” Dimity said softly, noticing an empty bottle of witches brew laying next to her.
Pippa looked up at Dimity and slurred, “I just don’t understand her Dimpty, I thought we were besties again.” Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and as she blinked they cascaded down her face. Dimity vanished the bottle and sat next to Pippa on the bed. Being this close to Pippa, she could smell the alcohol on her breath. “Well, how about we get you a sobering potion and we talk some more then?”

Pippa didn’t seem to hear her, as she carried on talking about Hecate. “She’s just so pretty Dimpty! And I thought,” she sniffed, “I thought she liked me too. I sang to her, and she woke up, but she didn’t even tell me my voice was pretty,” Pippa’s bottom lip wobbled, “I thought that’s what friends did, but instead she just went back to sleep.”

Pippa bit sadly into another donut she summoned from god knows where, and kept on talking. “I Just want to kiss her Dimpty, I want to grab her silly beautiful face and kiss her foreverrrrr,” Pippa moaned as crumbs sprayed everywhere.

Dimity didn’t want to deal with the aftermath of one too many donuts mixed with alcohol, so she vanished the half eaten one in Pippa’s hand, as well as all the empty boxes. She then summoned a sobering potion and offered it to Pippa. “Here you go love, drink this. It’ll help,” Dimity smiled as Pippa took the potion, but her face fell as the blonde witch sniffed it and promptly shoved it back into Dimity’s hand, her face contorted in disgust. “Nooo ew,” Pippa said, whining like a petulant child. The sports teacher sighed, “if you drink it I’ll give you a donut.”

Pippa seemed to study Dimity’s face for a moment, “promise?”

“I promise.” Dimity said as she twirled a finger and a pink sprinkle donut appeared in her hand.
Then, Pippa tried to grab the donut, but at the last second, Dimity swapped the positions of the donut and the vial of sobering potion. “Nuh uh uh,” Dimity wagged her finger at Pippa and offered the vial again, “this first please madam.”

Pippa reluctantly drank the potion and shook her head as her mind cleared. She opened her eyes to see Dimity smirking softly at her. “Oh my God, Dimity I am so sorry,” Pippa apologised, “no-one was meant to see that.”

“Its alright Pippa, no harm done.”
Pippa nodded, her cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment.
Dimity decided now was a great time to change the subject, and she said, “I’ve just been and seen The Wicked Witch of the West…”

Pippa’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Hecate. “Oh yes?” She replied cooly, “how is she?”
“Well, I didn’t really have much of a convo with her, it has to be said,” Dimity replied, scratching her neck. “I kind of just went in there, and told her to sort her shit out.”
Pippa smiled widely, “Did you really?”
Dimity nodded. “Yup. Oh, and I also stole Morgana. Told her she can’t have her back until she apologises.” The sports witch smirked.
“You didn’t!” Pippa laughed,
“Oh, I did.”

Dimity carried on, “She told me she wanted to see you but didn’t know how to go about it, after last time you spoke.” (Ok, maybe there was a little white lie in there, but Pippa didn’t need to know that.)
“I told her I would come and see you, and see how you would feel about going to visit at the hospital. I could be there as well if you like, in case she steps out of line again and you need someone to smack her in the face.”

Pippa laughed, and said, “I really want to go and see her, I just didn’t know if she would want to see me. Thank you for the offer Dimity, but I think it should just me me and her. I think I’ll go and see her this afternoon, after the witch-ball tryouts.”

“My pleasure,” Dimity said, “well, I’d better be off back to cackles, sports club won’t run itself!”

Pippa smiled, “of course. Thank you for the sobering potion as well, and I promise to talk to someone instead of drinking,” Pippa flushed again, “I really am sorry you saw that.”

“All forgotten Pippa,” Dimity smiled, “see ya ‘round Pentangle!”
“See ya ‘round Drill.”

********

It was late that afternoon when Hecate received a maglet message from Dimity.

She’ll be there at 18.30. You can do this HB, get your friend back. And maybe gain a girlfriend ;)
-D

Hecate took a deep breath and looked at the clock. 17.50. Ok, 40 minutes. She shifted in her bed, and the bandage around her shoulder scratched at her neck. Luckily, just before lunch the plaster on her nose and the bandage around her head had been removed, revealing a small shaved patch on the back of her head.
There were four or five stitched up cuts on the back there and they itched like HELL. But at least she was able to climb into a wheelchair with the help of a nurse and wash her face in the sink. That took quite a lot of effort, as it was the first time out of bed in over a week and a half, so she was proud of herself all the same.

After sending a quick message back to Dimity, She had a look at the cuts on her arms, torso and legs after avoiding them for over 48 hours. They were not as bad as they could have been, and anti-scar potion is always an option, but for now she wanted them covered up.

She had a look in the bag Dimity had packed for her and found a black and grey turtleneck sweater. She put it on with a struggle thanks to the awkward sling on her left arm, and then asked a nurse to comb her hair before tying it in a lose plait down her back.

The nurse said it wouldn’t be long before she could go home! But home to where? She didn’t know if cackles was the right place for rest and recuperation, so she would have a think. There was always the Hardbroom family mansion, bit it was a bitter cold place, and Hecate had not seen it since she was about 17. The memories tied to that house were not happy ones either.

The time was 18.15 now, so not long to go before she spoke to Pippa.
She practised what she wanted to say to Pippa for the remaining time, but then there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Hecate called, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

***

As Pippa set off from Pentangles at about two in the afternoon, and the whole journey was filled with trying to think of what to say to Hecate.
Eventually she reached Baker-bridge Hospital, dismounted her broom a little way away from the hospital, vanished it and her precious travelling cloak. As she walked along the road, she saw various arrays of Christmas lights. Of course, it was nearly Christmas. Only three more days of school left until the holidays, and she still hadn’t got Hecate a gift. That woman was extremely hard to buy gifts for, and at this point she didn’t even know if a gift would be welcome.

Pippa entered the hospital and walked the well known path through the winding hallways until she reached Hecate’s room. Standing up tall and squaring her shoulders, Pippa knocked on the door.

***

“Come in,” Hecate said, and, was that a hint of nervousness in her voice?
Pippa entered the room and immediately saw Hecate sitting up straight in the uncomfortable green chair. She also noticed that the bandage on her face had been removed, as well as the one around her head.

“How are you?”
“Well met Pippa,”

They spoke at the same time, and Pippa cleared her throat awkwardly.
Although Hecate looked perfectly calm and composed, Pippa knew her better than that, so could see the tension in her jaw and her white knuckle grip on her pocket watch. Hecate was staring a hole into the floor by Pippa’s foot, so Pippa spoke again, “Well met Hecate,” she said, bowing as low as she could as a sign of respect.

“You look a bit better.”
“Pipsqueak I’m so sorry,”

They spoke at the same time again. This time it was Hecate’s voice that helped them avoid another awkward silence,
“You see, what happened, was that I- I, well, I got so worried that I hurt you because I know that look in your eye when you aren’t telling me everything, and, and I was just so afraid that I might have really injured you, that all my words came out wrong, and I just couldn’t stop talking, and the thought that I did hurt you, made me a monster and you would be better off without me, and I really did want you there when I was in a coma, and I guess what I’m saying is that um, well, I LOVE YOU!”

Hecate was breathing very heavily at this point , and she hadn’t looked at Pippa once during her really awkward, not very well thought out, improvised speech. So she carried on staring at the floor, turning red in embarrassment.

She did have a speech planned, but all that flew out of the window, along with her ability to create proper sentences, apparently.

Pippa came and sat on the bed next to Hecate. The chair was slightly lower than the bed, so Pippa sat just above where Hecate sat, leaving them at eye level with each other.
“Hiccup, look at me darling,” Pippa asked quietly, before gently pulling Hecate’s chin up so she had no choice but to look into those big brown eyes she loved so much. Hecate blinked owlishly, and the words Dimity had said before echoed around her mind. “She loves you Hecate, did you know that?”

So, before her anxiety could get the better of her, she shut her eyes tight, leant forwards and captured Pippa’s lips in a soft kiss. It only lasted a moment, and Hecate was terrified to open her eyes, to see the disgust, the rejection, the horror in Pippa’s eyes, she didn’t want to hear the scolding words that were bound to crash into her, like cracks from a whip.
When she peeked through her eyelids, what she saw was a grin, wider than any she had ever seen from Pippa before.

“Do you know how long I have waited for you to do that?”

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, what?” Hecate blinked at Pippa, confusion etching lines across her face, eyebrows knitted together and mouth open.

“Thirty years, thirty bloody years I’ve been waiting for that!” Pippa beamed.

Hecate smiled softly before pulling Pippa into a hug. She rested her head into the blonde witches neck and breathed in deeply. Pippa smelled like lavender and roses, like sunshine and laughter… like home.

“Pippa, I’m so sorry for everything I said, I was just so afraid, and I thought you would be better off, i didn't mean even a word of it, I promise.” Hecate murmured into Pippa’s neck.
Pippa thought for a moment. “Is that what happened last time?” She asked quietly.
Hecate sat back from Pippa and started picking at a scab on her arm.

Finally, she whispered, “yes. I was in love with you, and Patricia Pennings found out, and told me she would tell you and our friendship would be ruined and you would hate me. And, I guess I would rather you hate me for leaving you, rather than you hate me for loving you.” Hecate tailed off at the end and the pair sat in silence for a while. Hecate wasn’t ready to open up about Mistress Broomhead quite yet. That would have to come later.

“Did you know that I loved you back?”

Hecate shook her head. “I let all those horrible girls get to me instead of opening up to you, and I’m really sorry Pipsqueak…”
Pippa was staring at her hands, before looking up at Hecate and saying, “I forgive you.”
Out of all the words in the english language, those three were not the ones Hecate expected. Her mouth opened and she looked up at Pippa with tears in her eyes once again. She wanted to say, what? Why was she forgiven for such a horrible thing? Why wasn’t Pippa running away from her, expecting her to leave at the first sign of trouble? But instead what came out of her mouth was a sharp, “Why?”
“Because I think you have punished yourself enough.” Pippa said simply. “And I believe, from here, we need to go on without this hanging over both our heads, as it has done for thirty years.”

Hecate smiled at Pippa, and Pippa smiled back. “But I need you to promise me one thing Hiccup,” Pippa began, and Hecate nodded, “anything.”
“We will talk about our feelings. If we are really doing this, we need to not keep things from each other, ok?”

Hecate took a deep breath, before cupping Pippa’s face with her good hand. “I will try my best. I promise.”

“I also heard that Dimity stole your cat…”
Hecate scowled. “Literally whisked her away! The audacity of that woman.” Hecate tried very hard to hide a fond smile, secretly she quite liked Dimity, and the humour she brought to a room. If asked, she would deny it to her last breath.

Then, Hecate had a thought. “Do you know if I can use my magic again? You see, when I was thrown though the window, I tried to use a cushioning charm.” Hecate paused, and Pippa nodded for her to continue. “But it didn't feel like I had any magic left. I felt hollow, and… cold like I was frozen in the magical ice again.”

Pippa knew of the events at Halloween, she had rushed over to Cackles the day after to comfort Hecate. She was unable to sleep without nightmares of freezing, but Pippa helped her through it all.
“Ok,” Pippa said, “and how do you feel now?”

Hecate focused on her magic, and there it was. Thrumming under her skin, aching to be set free. Hecate told Pippa this and Pippa said, “well I don’t see the harm in trying to summon something from the table over there.” Hecate focused on Pippa’s lipstick, and in a second it was in her hand. Hecate smiled, “I did it!” She gave the lipstick back to Pippa, and focused her magic at her now cold cup of tea. In a second it was boiling hot again, and she blew on it to cool it down.

All of a sudden, it was like a dam broke in Hecate, and all of her magic rushed forwards inside her, like she had swallowed a beehive. “Pip, whats happening?” Hecate shouted, “I DON’T KNOW!” Pippa yelled back, thankful for the quieting charm she had put on the outside of the room.
A loud buzzing filled the room, and there was a smell of sulphur in the air, a key indicator that Hecate had too much magic inside her body. Hecate heard her ears ringing, and her skin suddenly felt too small for her body. She felt like a too full balloon, as though she would pop at any moment.

Trying to keep all the magic in was proving to be an incredibly difficult task, and Hecate was gripping the arm of her chair with her good hand and clenching her jaw, her eyes screwed shut and posture rigid. “I don’t know how long I can hold it Pip,” Hecate panicked, and said through gritted teeth, “I can’t hurt you again! Get out Pippa, leave now!”

Pippa yelled back, “no fucking way, Hiccup!” Then she summoned a vial of green liquid, forced open Hecate’s mouth and then poured the liquid down Hecate’s throat. She watched with baited breath as Hecate loosened her grip on the chair and coughed at the foul taste. Hecate was breathing deeply in through her nose and out through her mouth, her eyes wide and scared. The potion kicked in, eventually the buzzing in the room died down, and Pippa opened the window to let out the smell.

There was silence for a moment, before Pippa exclaimed, “What. The. Hell. Was that?”
Hecate then murmured, “I have no idea…” She had her hand raised and was looking at it from all angles, turning it this way and that, holding it as far away from her as possible, like she was trying to disarm a bomb. “It was like all the magic I’ve not used in nine days tried to get out at once. Nice work with the magic dampener, though it really does taste awful.”

Pippa let out a small bark of nervous laughter, and covered Hecate’s raised hand in her own, pressing a kiss to their joined hands before placing Hecate’s hand back in her lap, but not letting go, her thumb tracing soothing circles on Hecate’s fingers. “Yeah, its disgusting. I really am sorry to dampen your magic, I know how awful it feels.”

Hecate shrugged, “anything to keep you safe, Pip.”

Pippa smiled softly, before saying, “its not just me, its for you too darling. I don’t want you to get hurt, love.”

Hecate flushed at the term of endearment before clearing her throat awkwardly. “How long should the dampener last?”
“About two days I think,” Pippa replied, “hopefully we will know how to fix it before something like this happens again.”

Just then, a buzzing came from Pippa’s handbag. She let go of Hecate’s hand, then went and dug out her handheld mirror, the screen said Ada Cackle.
“Its Ada!” She exclaimed as she accepted the call.
“Pippa, well met,” Ada bowed.
“Well met Ada,” Pippa returned the greeting, “Hecate is here too!” She turned the mirror so Ada could see Hecate. “Well met Ada,” Hecate greeted, lifting her hand to her forehead and bowing forwards in her chair slightly, hoping Ada would not be able to see the lingering blush on her cheeks.

“Its so great to see you! I am sorry I have not been able to visit, I’m afraid there have been multiple disasters by our favourite pupil.”
“Mildred Hubble.” Hecate hissed, slipping into her Miss Hardbroom persona at the mere mention of the girl.
“Now now Hecate, I seem to recall you are off sick so please, leave the worrying to me!”
Pippa propped her mirror up on the window ledge so they could all see each other.

“At least tell me what she has done this time,” Hecate asked, sniffing, wanting some normality to return to her otherwise chaotic state of life.

“If you insist,” Ada chuckled, “but first, I called you to tell you that I came across some rather interesting information. You see, there was a book right at the back of the library all about founding stones and what can go wrong with one, magical ice, how to create one, all of that fun stuff. Anyway, I had a read and found out that in the case of The Handel’s Academy freeze in 1704, a teacher there called Mabel Trist experienced magical fluctuations for months afterwards, cause unknown. Then, when another academy, the name escapes me, froze sometime in the early 1900’s a teacher there called Samuel Burros went through the same thing! After some research, it turned out that they were both the most powerful person at the school at the times of freezing!”

Hecate and Pippa were both leaning in towards the tiny mirror, both minds still absorbing the information. Pippa spoke first, “ok, so does that mean the same thing is happening with Hecate? She was obviously the most powerful witch in the Academy, right?”

Hecate blushed. “I’m not that powerful…” she mumbled, “oh yes you are!” Ada said quickly, smiling at the deepening blush across her deputy’s face, “my magic is pretty strong, but yours is about three times as powerful as mine! I couldn’t transfer from Cackles to Pentangles without a case of severe magical exhaustion, and you do it twice in quick succession to return one of Miss Pentangle’s slippers, without batting an eye!”
Hecate looked up at this, and muttered, “ok so maybe I am pretty powerful… you were saying, Ada?”
“Ah yes,” Ada looked pleased to be back on track, “as the most powerful witch, you felt the loss of your magic more deeply than any other,” she paused and Hecate nodded.

“Then, when it was returned to you, that means there was so much more to return to you than any other. It overwhelmed you. Have you experienced any magical mishaps recently Hecate?” Ada inquired.

Hecate had a think, and thought back to the failed cushioning charm. She relayed what happened then to Ada, and the events that happened five minutes ago, and Ada thought for a moment. “Im so sorry you have to dampen your magic, but it does sound like the safest option currently. Had you cast any spell prior to the cushioning charm?”

“Yes!” Hecate exclaimed “I cast a lightening charm on my bag!”

“Well there you are then,”Ada continued, “you used up your fluctuating magical reserves, so there was none left when you needed it. For now, Hecate, unless you have a large build up of magic, I think you should refrain from using it.”
Then Pippa came back to the conversation, “you said that woman,” she looked at Ada for the name,
“Mabel Trist.”
“Right, so Mabel Trist’s magic was up the creek for a couple of months?”
“Yes, and she needed magical therapy to correct it, as did Samuel Burros, so, I recommend it for you, Hecate.”
Hecate looked up and scoffed, “I don’t need therapy,” she hissed the word as if it had offended her.
Pippa rolled her eyes at Hecate, “I think you do,” she said, “ your magic is about as stable as a unicorn on roller skates!”
Hecate looked confused at the comparison, until she decided it was better to gloss over it. “My magic,” she emphasised the c, “is fine.” She lied.
Pippa scoffed, “ no its not.” She said, and her tone told Hecate not to argue. “We,” she pointed to herself and the sour faced brunette sitting next to her, “-are going to go to therapy. And that’s final.”
Ada was watching on like she was watching a particularly invigorating tennis match.
Hecate’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, before she said, in a higher pitch than normal, “We?”
Pippa nodded. “I am coming with you, and nothing you say is going to stop me. Alright?”
Pippa stared into Hecate’s eyes and tipped her head forwards in a nod.
She kept on looking right into Hecate’s soul until she broke and muttered, “fine,” under her breath.

Pippa clapped her hands together and said, “great! Ada, please can you have a research into magical therapists?”
Ada nodded and said, “I will find the very best for you Hecate, and it will help, just you wait and see.” She disconnected the call, and Hecate groaned, slumping in her chair,“I don’t want to go to therapy.” She stared grumpily at the floor, until she flicked her gaze towards Pippa, who was trying her best to hide a fond smile. Pippa’s smile was infectious, and soon Hecate was smiling too.

“The nurse said I could be discharged soon,” Hecate said suddenly, “but, in truth, I do not know where to go,” Pippa looked questioningly at her. “Well, I don’t know if Cackles would be restful enough, and as much as I want to get back to normal, I cannot deal with all the girls quite yet. And the family mansion, oh Pippa, what a bleak and miserable place.”
“You absolutely cannot stay there.” Pippa stated.

“But where else?”

“You, are going to come with me and stay, with me, in my cottage in the countryside. I bought it a few years ago for holidays and the like, but I think it would be the perfect place; fresh air, grounds to walk in, and there is a hot tub!”

Hecate looked worried, “I couldn’t possibly force my presence on you for a week or more Pippa!”

“But I offered, there is a difference Hiccup,” Pippa said, clasping Hecate’s hand in hers, “please Hecate, let me do this for you? Just think of it, our first Yule! It could even be fun!”
Hecate had quite forgotten about Yule, and subsequently Christmas. She hoped her bag full of presents was safe. “Pippa, my bag that I was carrying before, well… all of this,” she gestured down at herself, “do you know where it is?”

“I think the hospital has it in safe keeping, why? Do you need it?” Pippa asked.
“No, no, its just, well, all my Christmas presents are in there and I want them to be safe.” Hecate admitted.
“Im sure I could track it down for you Hiccup. Well, what do you say? Up for a Pentangle Christmas?” Pippa grinned and made jazz hands at Hecate. How could she say no?

“Alright,” Hecate smiled softly, “but no ugly sweaters!”
Pippa groaned, “but that’s half the fun!” Hecate raised an eyebrow.
“Fine, no sweaters.” The blonde witch grumbled.
Suddenly Morgana appeared in the middle of the bed, a note tied around her neck. Morgana batted it around, trying to remove the intrusion of her personal space. Hecate grabbed her gently and removed the note. She read it out loud,

“Nice job HB, don’t fuck it up. Heres your kitty, returned for good behaviour.
-D”

Pippa laughed as Hecate muttered, “insufferable woman,” and she tried and failed to hide a fond smile.

Chapter Text

The next day, Hecate was released from hospital. Pippa was very exited to take her to the cottage, and even though Hecate’s magic was still dampened, they both believed it would be a bad idea to transfer her all that way with volatile magic. So instead, Pippa ordered an ordinary taxi for the journey.

Hecate had never been in a car before, only the ambulance that took her to hospital and she was unconscious at that point, so she was very nervous.

“Deep breaths,” Pippa told her as Hecate was being wheeled down the hospital corridor in a wheelchair, looking like she had both swallowed a lemon and a hive of wasps.

She was grasping her bag of presents tightly on her lap having gotten them back that morning, and couldn’t tell if this buzzing feeling was her iffy magic or just nerves. She was still wearing the black and grey turtleneck, with black sweatpants on.
It had taken a lot of convincing from Pippa to try them on, but she decided she liked them a lot. She was also wearing a black headscarf as she was self conscious of the shaved patch on the back of her head, and she was wearing her black slippers on her feet, with pink socks Pippa had lent to her.

Pippa was wearing a pink hoodie with a unicorn on the front, blue jeans and a set of pink converse.
With a bit of help, Hecate was placed in the back seat of the taxi, and Pippa fastened her seatbelt. Hecate jumped at the belt across her bad shoulder, still in a sling and very sore, even though she was dosed up on meds, which Pippa had in her bag.

Pippa put all the bags into the boot of the car, except the bag of gifts which Hecate refused to let go of, and Morgana’s carrier. The cat hated it, but she had to be in one to be allowed in the taxi. Eventually Pippa sat into the seat next to Hecate, and weaved their hands together.
“We’ll be okay Hiccup, just you wait and see.”

Hecate had her eyes tightly closed, but she still nodded, and said, “I trust you Pipsqueak.”
They went over a bump in the road and Hecate winced as her shoulder jolted. She held tightly onto Pippa’s hand, and Pippa rubbed soothing patterns on her knuckles, calming Hecate slightly.

After about two and a half hours in the taxi, Hecate had opened her eyes and was looking out of the window at the fields of cattle, sheep and pigs they passed.

This was Hecate’s first time going through the countryside, normally she flew overhead, or transferred and missed the scenic route completely. She wouldn’t have gone so far to say she was enjoying the journey, but it would do.

The road surface as they got closer to Pippa’s cottage was atrociously bumpy, it was filled with potholes and she informed Pippa as such. Pippa laughed and said, “hopefully we wont have to come this way too often when your magic is back under control.”

They talked about a variety of subjects, including finally having that debate on the effect of spirit moss in sleeping draughts. Hecate said that is was a valuable way of avoiding nightmares, but Pippa argued that it made the user groggy after waking up. Eventually they agreed to disagree, but with Hecate promising to look into alternative ways of ensuring dreamless sleep.

The taxi finally turned up a gravel driveway leading to a quaint little cottage. Hecate was surprised to see the cottage was not bright pink, but instead was a light mint green, with a thatched roof and a brick chimney.

There was a gravel path leading from the front door, through the garden to the top of the driveway. There were rose bushes either side of the path, and the garden was immaculate, with perfectly trimmed lawns, a garden table set with six chairs sitting in the middle, and there was a light dusting of snow over it all.

Hecate realised she was staring, and her mouth was open. “Its beautiful Pip,” Pippa blushed and rushed around the car to empty the boot of their bags. She got out the hospital provided crutch and handed it to Hecate, who looked disdainfully at it. She didn’t argue though, just accepted it quietly. After trying to walk without it in hospital and nearly re-breaking her nose, she realised it wasn’t worth being angry at it. Pippa helped her climb out of the car, payed the driver and watched as the car left down the driveway.

Hecate let Morgana out of her carrier and the cat immediately shot off to explore the gardens.
“Well, shall we get you inside?” Pippa asked, supporting Hecate with an arm around her waist. They left the bags in the driveway, Pippa could come and get them once Hecate was settled in a chair.
They slowly started working their way up the gravel path to the door. Pippa dug out her keys and let them into the cottage.

Hecate was once agin shocked at the lack of pink. The colour scheme in the cottage was dark green, grey and natural wood, with a beautiful fireplace taking pride of place in the far wall. In the entryway was a set of coat-hooks and a small wooden table, upon which was a little bowl where Pippa placed her keys, under the table was a shoe rack, with multiple sets of pink shoes.

Looking farther into the cottage, Hecate spotted large bookshelves absolutely crammed full of books along the walls either side of the fireplace. The left wall was taken up with a small kitchenette, with a coffee maker, microwave, small oven and stovetop with a counter on either side. In front of the kitchen was a wooden kitchen table with four chairs set around it.

There was a large L-shaped couch parallel to the fireplace, with lots of blankets and pillows. There was a massive comfy looking orange arm chair opposite the couch, next to the fireplace. There was a small coffee table between the fireplace and the couch, with some magazines, some coasters and a vase of magically preserved flowers on top.
Above the fireplace was a mantel, with some framed pictures, and a couple decorative paperweights.

Hecate hobbled further into the room to have a closer look at the pictures, and she picked one up that had a 15 year old Pippa Pentangle smiling while kissing a certain 16 year old Hecate Hardbroom on the cheek. Hecate was smiling very slightly, her cheeks tinged pink and her eyes downcast. It was the only picture Pippa had of them on display, and Hecate remembered the day like it was yesterday.

She had agreed to do the broomstick display with Pippa, and Pippa was so happy.
It was Pippa’s Dad who snapped the shot, having just turned up for parents evening.
Pippa put her hand on Hecate’s arm, bringing her back to the moment. “I love that picture,” she murmured, “I have never forgotten that day.”

Hecate turned, tears in her eyes, “Im sorry Pipsqueak.”
Pippa shook her head, “no darling, no more apologies.” She wiped Hecate’s tears away with the pad of her thumb.
Hecate stumbled suddenly, but Pippa caught her elbow and led her to the comfy armchair. With a wave of her hand the fire was lit, the cottage starting to warm immediately.

“Ok,” the blonde witch started, “there is only one bed in this cottage, so I will be sleeping on the sofa, no arguments.”
“Pippa!” Hecate exclaimed, “I wont let you give up your bed for me, its enough that you are letting me stay here, with you, for Yule, no, I will take the couch.” Pippa rolled her eyes. “I knew you would do this. Ok, either you sleep in the big bed, or we both sleep out here.”
Hecate’s eyes widened, “What? Pippa it is your house, and I will not take the bed. Why would you sleep out here?”
“Well,” Pippa crossed her arms, “either we are both uncomfortable or one of us is comfy. I don’t mind which you pick.”
“What if we shared the bed?” Hecate asked quickly, fiddling with her sling, “that way, we would both be comfy.”

Pippa looked a little taken aback, so Hecate quickly backtracked, “it was only a suggestion Pip, we don’t have to-”
Pippa cut in, “I mean, if that’s ok with you, it sounds like a good solution to me, I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want you to feel pressured.” She admitted.

“I don’t think you could ever pressure me into anything, Pip.” Hecate shot Pippa a small smile and Pippa beamed, “but if my cast scratches you, sorry.”

Later that night, after Pippa had made dinner, a delicious fish and chips, they decided they were both so tired they would go to bed straight away.
They slowly made their way to the bedroom, a simple room with a queen bed in the corner, and an en suite bathroom through a door in the right wall. There were dark green sheets on the bed, Pippa’s cat Elvis was curled up with Morgana between the pillows at the head of the bed, and a soft grey rug was underfoot. Pippa changed into her pink satin donut patterned pyjamas, brushed her teeth, and sat on the edge of the bed while Hecate went into the en suite. After a minute, she heard a quiet, “Pippa?”

“Yes darling? Are you alright?” Pippa asked, standing up from her seat on the bed.
“Um, I can’t get my turtleneck off…”
“Would you like some help?”
The reply came softly, “yes please Pip,”

Pippa entered the en suite to see Hecate sadly perched on the side of the bath, one arm out of the turtleneck, the injured left arm stuck in the sleeve.

Pippa helped ease Hecate’s arm out of the sleeve, and she pulled the jumper over her head gently, leaving the witch in just her bra and sweatpants. She gasped when she saw the mottled bruising still marbling Hecate’s torso and upper arms, as well as the small cuts, some of them still angry and red. Hecate looked down, before realising she had just exposed everything she had been trying so hard to hide for the last 3 days.
Her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, “They aren’t pretty…” she trailed of and sniffed. Pippa grasped her shoulders, looked directly into Hecate’s eyes and said seriously, “you are beautiful Hiccup. You have always been beautiful, and you will always be beautiful to me.” She finished by placing a firm kiss on Hecate’s forehead.

“Do you need any more help?” She asked quietly, and the potions mistress shook her head, “no, thank you Pipsqueak.” She smiled a little up at Pippa.
Pippa quietly left the bathroom, and she sat back on the edge of the bed. Hecate hobbled out of the bathroom wearing a black nightdress, so Pippa leapt up and supported Hecate on her shoulder. She helped ease Hecate down into the bed, and tucked her into the right side of the bed.
She stroked Hecate’s hair, kissed her cheek and told her, “if you need anything, anything at all in the night you tell me, ok?”
Hecate nodded and her eyes began to close. As she drifted off she murmured, “I love you Pip…”
Pippa slipped between the covers on the left side of the bed, said quietly back, “I love you too Hiccup.”

The next morning Hecate woke up to a weight across her chest. She initially panicked, but after looking, she saw a head of tousled blonde hair tucked up into the left side of her neck, and an arm across her chest.
Hecate shifted uncomfortably as her body ached and her shoulder throbbed, realising that she had put her good arm across Pippa at some time in the night, and their legs were entangled together.

Pippa began to stir, and she put her head up blinking blearily at Hecate. Realising the position they were in, she sat up and apologised, but Hecate shot it down.

“Its alright Pip, I think it was both of us, and I, well I didn’t entirely mind.” She blushed.
Pippa grinned, “Well, I didn’t entirely mind either, so that works out doesn’t it!”

Just then, there was a ringing around the room which Pippa raised her hand to stop. “8 o’clock Hiccup, time for meds!” Pippa sing songed as she curled her fingers and a tray appeared on Hecate’s bedside table with a glass of water and a small dish of pills. She took the pills before slouching back into bed beside Pippa.
“My magic should come back today, but we are no further into discovering how to fix it.” She sighed.
“You could dampen it again, but you know the risks, you could permanently lessen your powers with over-dampening.”

Hecate shook her head, “no. No more dampening, unless its an emergency.”
“Alright, but we need to mirror Ada to ask her about the magical therapy, and if she has found a good one yet.”

Hecate groaned at the mention of therapy, and pulled the covers up so far she disappeared from view. Pippa slid under the duvet with her and embraced her in a hug. “We’ll do it together Hiccup, and it’ll all be ok.” She pressed a kiss to Hecate’s lips before saying, “is it time for breakfast? I could make… pancakes!”

Hecate’s eyes opened and lit up, “pancakes!”
“Come on then you, lets get you out of bed.”

After Hecate sat up, Pippa handed her the crutch and supported her waist as she stood. After a quick detour to the bathroom where Pippa was stationed outside the door in case of catastrophe, they made their way downstairs to the kitchen table.

After a lovely breakfast of pancakes with fruit, Pippa helped put Hecate in a black short sleeved t-shirt and sweats, after applying the supplied balm to the remaining cuts. Hecate finally let Pippa help her, and together the tasks were done quickly. Pippa dressed into a long sleeved dark pink sweatshirt with pink jeans.

The day was spent with research in book after book about magical therapy. When Pippa left to go and make them a coffee, Ada mirrored, and Hecate called Pippa to accept the call as she didn’t have any magic to put into the mirror.

“Well met all!” Ada beamed, and she received two ‘well mets’ in return. “I have found a magical therapist who comes well recommended, her name is Evelyn Wyrmr, and she is the best of the best. The school will cover the expenses, of course, and the first opening she has is the seventh of January, 10:30am. Will that work?”

Pippa looked over to Hecate who looked like she was chewing on broken glass, staring ahead as if the idea of therapy had suddenly become real. “Yes, that will work,” Pippa spoke for them both because it seemed Hecate was indisposed. “Thank you so much Ada, I think this will have your Potions Mistress back to you in a jiffy.”
“I really hope so Pippa, good luck Hecate, see you at Christmas!” she smiled at them and disconnected the call. Pippa slipped her hand into Hecate’s and asked quietly, “are you alright Hiccup?”

The brunette was staring into space, and her left hand was clenched so hard that it was leaving crescent shaped imprints in her palm.
Just then, Hecate gasped as she felt a familiar weight in her chest, her magic was back.

Chapter Text

Even though her magic was back, Hecate didn’t use it.

The next couple days passed in much the same way, research, coffee, and then falling asleep in each others arms. Christmas was rapidly approaching, and Hecate was getting more exited with every passing day, as Pippa put up decorations, and they went and picked a tree from in town. Hecate was shocked to see that Pippa knew how to drive, and had a little pink Morris Minor which she could actually drive rather well.

The tree was set up in the corner of the living room, in front of one of the bookcases. They decorated it together, then kissed when the string lights turned on, as it bathed the dark room in dappled multicoloured light. Hecate managed to get Dimity to help her wrap her presents, thanking the Goddess none of them were broken in the crash.

It was Christmas eve in the blink of an eye, and Hecate and Pippa had selected the yule log they would burn. It had been decorated with herbs and leaves from outside, was set up in the fireplace, and lit with a piece of bark from Pippa’s yule log last year.

The two witches were cuddling on the big couch, watching the fire burn and kissing each other softly. Pippa’s parents had passed about eight years ago in a flying accident, so she normally spent the occasion with friends, or her brother Peter, but he was overseas at a year long foraging expedition and was unable to be there this year.

Pippa was spooning Hecate, who was already snoring softly, her eyes fluttering as she dreamed. Eventually, Pippa buried her head in Hecate’s neck, and fell asleep herself.

Before they knew it, it was Christmas morning, and Hecate and Pippa were once again tangled together, but this time on the sofa. Hecate took her meds, and they had a nice cup of tea sitting up and snuggling, talking about what the day had in store. Dimity, Ada, Gwen and Algernon were coming over for Christmas lunch, which was lovely but nerve wracking.

“I have something for you,” Hecate said, the tips of her ears blushing in excitement as she dug around under the tree, pulling out a present wrapped in sparkly pink paper. She shakily stood up and made her way back to the sofa.

The Christmas jumper that Pippa had persuaded her to put on had been charmed to have a reindeer on it that was constantly running around the hem, and Hecate secretly really liked it, certainly not because every time she looked at Pippa she would smile, leaving Hecate sporting a spectacular blush.

Her hair was brushed and down, flowing around her shoulders as a curl fell in front of her ear, framing her face. Pippa was wearing  a pink sweater that she had charmed to have falling snowflakes settle at the bottom. If she moved fast the snow would fly away, as if caught on a breeze.

Pippa grinned at Hecate, who looked quite the pretty picture, with a small awkward smile on her face, the adorable sweater and her beautiful hair, her hand out, offering the pink gift to Pippa. Pippa took the gift gently and placed it down in the couch.

“Hold on Hiccup!” Pippa exclaimed, leaping up before diving under the Christmas tree, revealing a large square gift wrapped in dark green reflective paper, pulling it across the floor until it sat on the floor in front of Hecate.

“Pippa!” Hecate exclaimed, “what is this? You didn’t have to-”

Her protests were cut short as Pippa butted in, “yes I did, now be quiet and open it” she sat beside Hecate on the sofa, enormous smile on her face, and hands wringing together in anticipation.

Hecate began carefully pulling away the wrapping, until before her sat a miniature greenhouse, with what looked like… “spirit moss!” Hecate nearly screeched, peering in the greenhouse from all sides, her face lit up in elation. Inside the greenhouse was a hillside looking space, with a small stream going through the middle, and the spirit moss on either side.

“You see, I know how hard it is to find, and even harder to cultivate, so I charmed this greenhouse to have just the right humidity level and temperature that drops below freezing for just one hour every day, to leave the perfect environment. It also has anti-fogging charms, and it can be open for about ten minutes without letting out the heat. The stream wasn’t necessary, but I added it so it would be pretty!”

Hecate was still admiring the moss on the inside as Pippa spoke. The moss glowed within, from gold, to blue, to green, and then back to gold. It seemed to pulse with colour, and it was beautiful.

“Oh Pipsqueak, thank you so much! The only place I know that has natural spirit moss is somewhere in Malaysia, so I have to special order it, which gets really expensive and I can only get enough for the school year, no extra. What this means is that I can experiment with potions that I couldn’t before! This will make life so much easier, Thank you!” She pulled Pippa into a tight hug and kissed her deeply. “Now open yours, I’m not sure I can wait much longer!”

She placed the pink wrapped gift into Pippa’s lap, who gently opened it up, laughing when the pink scarf and hat set fell out of the wrapping into her hand. “Oh Hiccup, I love them! Thank you so much!” She immediately put the hat on and wrapped the scarf around her neck. She felt the familiar tingle of a protection spell through the wool, and it comforted her. Pippa tackled Hecate in a hug, relishing in the comforting embrace, the smell of mint and jasmine, even with a sling, cast and bandages Hecate was Pippa’s safe space.

Pippa felt the familiar buzzing of Hecate’s magic around her head and neck so Pippa asked, “that is a strong protection spell, when did you do that?”

“What?” Hecate said, eyebrows knitting together, “I wanted to do that, but my magic is weird and I  couldn’t, you know that Pip.’

Pippa spoke again, “there is a protection spell literally incorporated into the wool of this hat, when did you do that?”

Hecate looked confused, “I didn’t?”

“Well, you did at some point. Its your magic, I’d recognise it anywhere.”

Everybody has a different magical signature which can be used to recognise different witches. For example, Hecate thinks that Pippa’s magic feels like getting in bed after a long day, or a comforting bubble bath, her magic pink and soft. Whilst Pippa thinks that Hecate’s magic feels like stepping into the shade after being out in the sun for too long, or like listening to a loud and comforting thunderstorm. Her magic seemed a little sharp and dark purple.

“That’s weird, I haven’t done magic since the crash, except that one time that ended in catastrophic disaster,” Hecate shivered at the memory. “I promise.”

“What about the other gifts in the bag? And the bag itself?” Pippa enquired, “what was the condition of those?”

“They were all fine.” Hecate answered, eyebrows still knitted in confusion.

“Hiccup, I think you protected the gifts just before you were hit. What was your last thought before you went unconscious?”

Hecate had a think, and eventually said, whilst looking down at the floor, “I think I thought about you, and how I would never see you receive those.” She pointed to the hat and scarf set still on Pippa.

Pippa smiled a little at how Hecate’s last thought before possible death was her, before carrying on. “I think, that when you thought that, your magic reached out and put a protective bubble around your bag, a pretty powerful one that you were not in control of. That might be why when you tried to cast the cushioning charm, your iffy magic had decided it would protect the gifts and had put all of its not quite right resources into that spell.”

“That… makes lots of sense. If all of my magic left me to protect my bag there was none left for me.”

Hecate’s eyes were tearing up and she whispered, “I want it to work again, Pip. I feel broken, like a part of me is incomplete.”

“I know darling, that’s why we are going to therapy, ok? We’ll be ok darling.”

Pippa pulled Hecate into a hug, and cradled her head against her chest, stroking her hair and whispering sweet nothings into her ear until the sniffling stopped.

They stayed like that for a while, until Hecate’s arm started protesting and she sat up, her hair tousled and tangled, wrapping around her face. She sneezed as it tickled her nose, and Pippa started laughing while trying to remove the spiders web of hair all over Hecate’s face. As she cleared the hair off, she revealed a very pink Hecate, who started laughing as well.

Suddenly, Pippa summoned a very small package from under the tree, and passed it to Hecate with a cheeky grin.

“Pipsqueak, we said one each!” Hecate chastised playfully, accepting the gift with a small smile as Pippa rolled her eyes. The brunette carefully pulled back the wrapping, revealing a set of two pins, one of a crescent moon, and one of the sun.

Hecate raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow, and Pippa explained, “these are called twin-pins. You have one,” she signalled the moon, “and I have the other.” She pointed at the sun. “If you need me, you rub it and the other warms up, or makes a noise, or flashes, you can change it to whatever you want. If you need to get to me, just hold it in your palm and think of the other pin, you will be transferred to me immediately!”

Hecate was in awe. She inspected the little moon pin from every angle, before saying, “this is serious magic Pippa!”

“Well,” the blonde woman blushed, “I am Headmistress of Englands most prestigious school of modern witchcraft,” Pippa gloated lightly, earning herself a smack on the arm from the other woman.

“And I did have a little help from my deputy, she is incredibly gifted in charms.”

“Can you make it so that I feel the touch of your magic if you need me? I would recognise it anywhere, and it makes it a bit more… inconspicuous than a flash.” Hecate smiled softly.

“Of course!” Pippa took the moon pin and held it in her hand, muttering a few words until the pin glowed pink lightly, then she passed it back to Hecate.

“Brilliant…” Hecate murmured, pinning the moon to her nightdress and signalling Pippa to rub hers. Pippa did as she was told, and immediately Hecate felt a small amount of pink goodness settle between her ribs. She noted how it felt in case of emergencies and grinned at Pippa, who smiled back at realising they worked.

“What does yours do?” Hecate enquired about the sun pin currently in Pippa’s hand.

“Mine pulses, like a heartbeat.” This fact was proven in a test, when Hecate rubbed her pin and Pippa’s pin throbbed in her hand.

The two would never be seen without the pins again.

Later in the day, Pippa and Hecate were in the kitchen, working on the Sunday lunch. Well, Hecate was sitting awkwardly on one of the wooden chairs, and Pippa was rushing about doing everything she was told. Eventually, after only one cauliflower related disaster, everything was done and put on the enlarged kitchen table. Hecate had put her hair up in a low bun with some help from Pippa, to avoid hair in the food.

There was a roast chicken, cauliflower cheese, green beans with carrots, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, a mound of roast potatoes (Hecate’s favourite!), a bowl of stuffing, and a gravy boat full of gravy. There was also a jar of cranberry sauce next to the chicken.

The food was put under a stasis charm, and then ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Hecate hobbled over and opened it, greeting Dimity and Ada on the doorstep.

“Hey HB, still behaving? Don’t want to have to confiscate your familiar again!” Morgana was currently curled up in front of the fire with Elvis, cleaning each other.

Hecate rolled her eyes, and Dimity said, “I missed you when you were doing your best broomstick impression. Nice to have you back, and nice pin!”

“Despite what the girls say, I am not made of wood, Miss Drill, and thankyou.” Hecate deadpanned before turning to Ada.

Dimity strolled further into the house, saw Pippa and launched into a hug. “She treating you right Pentangle?”

“She is,” Pippa showed off her pin and hat and scarf set.

“Well met Ada,” Hecate greeted as Dimity ran past her into the cottage.

“Well met Hecate.” Ada replied, gently pulling Hecate into a hug, “I really miss you at school.”

“I miss being at school,” The brunette admitted, “even if it is chaotic.” She stumbled a little while turning but Ada caught her elbow, “maybe we had better go in and sit down?”

“Good plan,” Hecate replied, already making her way to the large armchair by the fire.

“Gwen and Algernon must have got caught up. We left at the same time.” Ada spoke, and just then there was a knock on the door, so Dimity leapt up to let them in.

Gwen entered, wearing blue robes, chanting baton nestled behind her left ear and her hair in a plait that wrapped itself around the crown of her head. There was a pencil sticking out of the up-do, surprisingly still in place as she bent forwards, proudly showing off the necklace Algernon had gifted her that morning.

Hecate was propping herself up, preparing to stand and greet them, “No no, you stay there Hecate.” Gwen spoke as she gently pushed Hecate back into the chair. The chanting mistress could be very stern when she wanted to be, so Hecate obeyed  with a “well met, Gwen,” and a small smile while settling back into her chair.

Algernon entered the house, shaking snow off of his long emerald green robes and out of his beard. He kissed Gwen on the cheek and shook Hecate’s hand. Hecate rolled her eyes at the ordinary greeting, and Algernon laughed.

After some light conversation, they all went over to the kitchen table and happily ate dinner with some light banter between Hecate and Dimity, and Algernon sprinkling a heavy helping of dried flies on top of his.

You can take the man out of a frog, but you cannot take the frog out of a man, Hecate mused.

After dinner, they all returned to the couches around the fireplace, mugs of hot chocolate in all of their hands, Pippa and Hecate curled up together in the big orange chair.

The greenhouse Pippa had gifted Hecate sat on the coffee table, and all four witches and one wizard were enthralled by the gift, asking lots of questions about it. Hecate and Pippa answered them all happily, smiling at the compliments it received. 

They exchanged gifts, Hecate had bought Algernon and Gwen tickets to a month long cruise in the summer, stopping off on all the famous places Esper Vespatillio performed years ago. Gwen was very touched by the love put into the present, so gave Hecate a soft hug, and Pippa a kiss on the cheek after receiving a new chanting baton from her. 

Ada received a new soft lavender cardigan from Pippa, immediately exchanging her current pink cardigan for the new one and grasping Pippa’s hands in thanks.

Hecate gave Ada a new clock with ceramic owls either side, which Ada said would go pride of place on her office mantelpiece.

Soon, there was wrapping paper all over the floor, and Hecate and Pippa were bundled up in an enormous blue, green and black woollen blanket from Gwen and Algernon. The reasoning behind the gift was that because Hecate couldn’t really use her magic, she couldn’t do a warming charm. Hecate tried to ignore the reminder that her magic was up the creek, and thanked the pair profusely.

Dimity had received a VIP pass to a broomstick convention she really wanted to go to from Hecate and Pippa. Included in the pass was lunch, a drink, behind the scenes of how new broomsticks are created, and a test run of the latest broomstick, not even released in shops yet. “Whoa HB! This must have cost a pretty penny, thank you so much!”

“No problem,” Hecate replied, her ears turning red with happiness.

“Open mine!” Dimity summoned a red package absolutely covered in packing tape. Hecate raised an eyebrow, and then Dimity drew her arm back, and threw the gift across the room towards the witches in the orange chair. Pippa raised a hand, catching the incoming missile with magic just before it smacked Hecate square in the face.

“Dimity!” Ada chastised, putting on her best Headmistress voice, standing up and looking at Dimity over her glasses, hands on her hips. Dimity shrunk into the sofa, “sorry Miss Cackle.” She murmured, looking down at the carpet, thoroughly told off just with the use of her first name.

She was reminded of her days at school, and all the times she stood in front of Mrs Cackle’s desk being told off for flying her broom in the hallways, or skiving off class to learn a new trick on her broomstick the teachers deemed ‘dangerous’.

“Good! Now apologise to Hecate and Pippa.”

Dimity looked up, “sorry HB, sorry Pentangle.”

“I suppose i could forgive you this time Miss Drill, but only if you stop using that infernal nickname.” Hecate said, smirking.

“Never!” Dimity announced, to a joking scowl and a huff from the Potions Mistress curled up in the chair, lounging by the fire like a cat.

‘All forgiven Drill!” Pippa laughed.

Ada grinned, smacked Dimity on the arm, before returning to her seat next to Gwen. The two older woman shared a fist bump.

Dimity had given Hecate and Pippa matching silk purple pyjamas with bananas all over them.

After they slipped out of the wrapping into Hecate’s lap, she raised her eyebrows at Dimity, who said, “What? I thought they were nice. If you decide you don’t like them, I am sure Pentangle would be more than happy to remove them from your person for you.” She smiled sweetly, and Hecate looked confused before choking on the mouthful of hot chocolate she had just drunk, spraying it onto the carpet.

Pippa hid a snort behind a hand before rubbing circles on a still coughing Hecate’s back, vanishing the brown splatter from the rug. Ada, Gwen and Algernon were all looking amused at the scene unfolding in front of them.

“Merlin, Dimity!” Hecate eventually gasped once she could breathe again, looking at Dimity with wide eyes, who looked far too pleased with herself. Dimity started laughing, as did Pippa, then Ada, Gwen sniggered into a grinning Algernon’s shoulder, and eventually all seven of them were laughing until they cried. Every time there was a silent pause, a poorly disguised giggle from Gwen or Pippa started them all off again.

At this point, they all had no idea what they were even laughing at, the pyjamas having fallen off of Hecate’s lap, laying forgotten on the floor.

Pippa eventually stopped laughing, and she just admired Hecate’s face. Her hair was falling out of her bun in wisps, and there were some escaped locks framing her face. She had tear tracks down her cheeks, but her eyes were wide with joy, and her cheeks flushed from the laughter. Despite the cuts and scars littering her face, Pippa thought Hecate looked gorgeous.

Also, thanks to some very strong pain medication, she was able to laugh a proper full bellied guffaw.

Laughter like this was an incredibly rare occurrence from the normally formidable stature of the brunette woman, and only few were privy to this complete let down of Hecate’s walls. She was obviously comfortable in the presence of the others, and that was the best Christmas gift Pippa had ever received.

After a while, the laughter had died down, and Hecate noticed Pippa watching her. She wiped her top lip with a knuckle, and asked, “do I have something on my face?”

Pippa laughed, “no darling. You just look so beautiful right now.”

The other woman flushed, “oh. Right, thank you Pipsqueak.”

Pippa knew that it was going to take a long time for Hecate to believe her, but she was prepared to tell her at every opportunity. “Really Hiccup, you look beautiful.” She leant forwards and kissed her deeply, snuggling into her embrace.

“Oi! You two still have company!” Dimity spoke and the two woman broke apart, grinning sheepishly. They shared one last kiss before Pippa stood up, waved her hand and all the wrapping paper was gone.

Gwen and Algernon announced that it was about time for them to go as they had places to be on Boxing Day, so after lots of hugs, handshakes and cheek kisses, they disappeared out into the night.

“Anyone for scotch?” Dimity asked cheekily, summoning a bottle of Isle of Raasay Single Malt Scotch Whiskey to her hand.

“Sure, why not.” Hecate replied with a little cheeky smile, and soon all four witches had measures of whiskey in their hands.

She sipped it, rolling the liquid around in her mouth, enjoying the burn of the liquid as it slid down her throat. She could taste the tones of oak, lemon, vanilla and cherry with a slight hint of woodsmoke in the background. It was good, really good.

It was also Dimity who suggested a game of truth or dare when half of the bottle had disappeared. Hecate rolled her eyes at the childish suggestion, but went along with it anyway.

“Truth or dare, HB,” Dimity slurred just a little.

“Truth.” Hecate decided.

“How long have you been in love with Pentangle?”

“Thirty six years.” Hecate replied with a wistful smile.

“MY TURN!” Pippa shouted, she had had the most whiskey and was definitely drunk at this point.

Ada asked her, “truth or dare Pippa?”

“Dare.” Pippa smirked at Hecate.

“Hmm,” Ada hummed, before asking, “I dare you to roar like a lion!”

Pippa did as she was asked, letting forth a massive roar, before dissolving into giggles and curling into Hecate’s side as the other woman snickered.

“Dimity,” Hecate asked, “truth or dare?”

“Dare!” The sports teacher said eagerly.

“I dare you too…” Hecate had a think before deciding, “go outside and howl like a wolf!”

Dimity leapt up and immediately opened the door, howling into the darkness.

“Ada, truth or dare?” Dimity asked with a grin, her glass empty and forgotten on the floor.

“Hmm, truth!” Ada decided with a small smile.

“What is the worst lie you told your Mother?” Dimity smiled as Ada’s eyebrows raised.

“In my first year of being deputy head, I told her that me and Miss Ember were just friends, but we had routinely been sleeping with each other for over four months!” Ada giggled as all of her friends looked shocked, Ada had never really been one to lie, and she has never seemed to pursue workplace relationships. 

“Hiccup.” Pippa slurred, sloshing her whiskey around in the glass and fiddling with a lock of Hecate’s hair, “truth or dare?”

“…dare.” Hecate decided to leave her comfort zone for a minute.

“I dare you… to give Dimity a cuddle!”

“What?” Hecate spluttered, “I’m, I’m not doing that!”

“Come snuggle in HB!” Dimity opened her arms wide and flashed the taller woman a dazzling smile.

“Come on Hiccup, you have no qualms on cuddling me.” Pippa argued her point, and Hecate relented. She untangled herself from Pippa’s embrace, and the enormous woollen blanket, awkwardly settling her working arm around the smaller, sportier witch. Dimity hugged back ferociously, so Hecate quickly pulled back, right arm flat to her side, left arm supported in the sling, and a small blush coating her cheeks.

“You are quite the hugger HB! Though I don’t need to hear about your morning cuddle sessions…” Dimity waggled her eyebrows, and got an eye roll in return.

At this point, they were all used to the euphemisms and innuendos Dimity was so fond of, deciding to not comment, and snuggling back under the blanket with her Pipsqueak.

After a while, the game morphed into never have I ever, with shots of the whiskey as the forfeit.

“Never have I ever, been skinny dipping!” Hecate giggled, the whiskey had definitely loosened her up. To no-ones surprise, Dimity took a shot, but then Ada did as well!

“Never have I ever, laughed so hard I spat out my drink.” Ada said, remembering earlier that day when Hecate spat her hot chocolate everywhere. They all took shots that time.

“Never have I ever, pleasured myself over someone in this room!” It took a moment, but then Dimity guffawed as both Hecate and Pippa drank on that one, blushing furiously and refusing to meet the others eye.

It was much later that night when all the whiskey was gone and Dimity and Ada had both passed out on the sofa. Hecate and Pippa eventually made it to bed, nearly falling over each other on the way there, Hecate, having lost her crutch, leant heavily on Pippa before they both collapsed on top of the sheets and passed out.

Chapter Text

The pair woke up the next day at eight in the morning to the blaring tone of Pippa’s magical alarm.

“Merlin’s balls…” Hecate groaned, covering her eyes, “how much bloody whiskey did we drink?!”

She looked over at Pippa, who waved her hand and the noise stopped, yesterdays makeup still smeared across her face, travelling across to her pillow.

A perfect pink lipstick print was still visible on the duvet from when they collapsed face first onto it late last night. “My head…” Pippa moaned, holding her head in both her hands, “I think the whole bottle was gone at the end.”

Hecate rubbed her face through her own pounding headache. She instinctively waved her hand to summon her tray of water, tea for two, painkillers, and a green vial of hangover potion for Pippa. To her surprise, it appeared on her lap looking perfectly intact.

Her hungover brain decided that all was fine, so she offered Pippa the potion and swallowed her pills. She gulped down her tea, curled back into Pippa and the pair went back to sleep.

At midday she awoke to the sound of her stomach digesting itself, so she decided to disentangle herself from the other woman’s embrace, “Merlin, she can hold on tight…” Hecate thought lovingly, prising Pippa’s arm from her waist and rising.

She found her crutch on the bathroom floor, and slowly made her way to the kitchen. There was no sign of Ada, but Dimity was sitting at the table, head in her hands, staring down at a plate of very burnt scrambled eggs.

She looked up as Hecate entered, and sent her a small smile, “What a party HB, Merry Christmas.” She raised her cup of tea towards Hecate in a ‘cheers’ and Hecate raised her empty cup back.

She put her mug in the sink, and managed to make two plates of beans on toast. She placed them on a tray with two cups of coffee and made her way back to the bedroom. She placed the tray down on the bed and gently awoke Pippa.

The blonde witch groaned and rolled onto her back. She sat up and immediately clapped her hand to her mouth, leaping out of bed and running towards the bathroom.

By the time Hecate had made her way up from the bed and into the en suite, Pippa was sitting against the bathtub, wiping her mouth and flushing the toilet.

“You did give me a hangover potion earlier right?” The younger woman asked, “only I think I may have dreamt it.” She leaned over and pressed her forehead to the cool ceramic of the toilet bowl. Hecate was confused, she had, hadn’t she?

“Yes I did, but…” she paused and thought for a moment, “oh Morgana, I summoned it! How could I have been so STUPID! It could have been anything! I could have…” now it was Hecates turn to clap her hand to her mouth, but this time it was in horror. “Oh Merlin, I could have poisoned you!”

“Luckily, you didn’t.” Pippa stood up, cast a breath freshening spell and hugged Hecate. “Its alright darling, I’m ok, see?” She pressed Hecate’s hand to her chest, so the anxious woman could feel her heartbeat.

Once Hecate’s breathing had evened out, Pippa summoned an actual hangover potion from her personal stores.

Dimity had given her a sobering potion before, but those only worked just after the consumption of the alcohol. The next day, it was a job for a hangover potion.

“Now, shall we go and see what you did give me?” Hecate nodded, and together they went over to the empty green vial on Pippa’s bedside table. Hecate sniffed it, and said in surprise, “its not even a potion, its ordinary bubble mixture! Pipsqueak, you basically just drank soap, no wonder it made you ill. I’m so sorry Pip,” Hecate chewed her bottom lip anxiously.

“No harm done Hiccup,” Pippa promised, “it could have been so much worse.” Pippa could see that Hecate was having a fight inside her head, and said, “please don’t push me away again Hiccup, it was an accident and everyone has them. Its ok, I promise.”

Hecate took a deep breath, summoning all of her courage, she decided it was about time to open up to Pippa about the abuse she suffered under the tutorage of Mistress Wilhelmina Broomhead.

“Pipsqueak, can I tell you something please?” She asked quietly, part of her wishing Pippa would say no, but knowing now she had started she had to follow through, or she never will.

“Yes darling, you can tell me anything.” Pippa laid a comforting hand on Hecate’s shoulder, as the other witch screwed her eyes shut, willing herself to talk.

“I wasn’t allowed to have accidents.” She paused, took a deep breath and opened her eyes before continuing, “She made me get it right first try or she would hurt me. Leave the injury overnight, let it hurt, stop me from sleeping, then heal it the next morning so it left no scars.” Hecate started picking a scab on her hand, as her pocket watch was still on her bedside table.

Pippa summoned the watch and pressed it into Hecate’s hand, looking shocked, “who? Who did?”

Hecate held on tight to the watch, “Broomhead. Mistress Wilhelmina Broomhead. She got arrested long ago now, but I was one of her students. Her favourite. It was not a good thing to be, she liked me because she saw potential in me. She pushed me harder than anyone else, yet she always wanted more.”

“I read it in the newspaper when she was arrested, but i didn’t know you were one of hers, oh Hiccup I am so sorry.”

She guided them both until they were sitting on the edge of the bed but not wanting to disrupt Hecate’s vulnerability, she stayed quiet after that until Hecate spoke again, “my greatest fear, is that I end up like her…” she spoke so softly that Pippa only just heard her.

“No, Hecate Hardbroom, you are not her and you never will be her. Remember a couple months ago, when you cried in my arms because you said some mean words to Sybil Hallow?”

Hecate sniffed, at the time she had thought it rather embarrassing and nodded, so Pippa continued, “you care for them Hiccup, even if you don’t show it the way I do. You look after them, and it kills you to see them hurt. You care, and that is the biggest difference between you two. She never cared. Ok Hiccup?”

“It was her.” Hecate spoke suddenly, and Pippa squeezed her good hand, as a signal that she could carry on if she wanted to.

“It wasn’t Patricia Pennings, Pipsqueak, it was her. She told me she would tell you and you would hate me. It was all her.” Hecate was crying now, this seemed to be happening often at the moment. “She said if you had me hanging of your arm you would get no where in life, you would be stuck with me and it would make you miserable, and I couldn’t face the fact that you might not get to become Headmistress of your own Academy if I was there.”

Pippa pulled the crying woman into a tight embrace, whispering in her ear and stroking her hair to comfort her. “I wanted to do it together, Hiccup. With you, like we talked about. But the past is the past and we are here now.”

“She cost us thirty years Pippa.” Hecate whispered, before she sat up suddenly and stared into Pippa’s big brown eyes, “but its ok, because we got there in the end, right?”

“Absolutely. Now, is that enough crying before breakfast?”

“Definitely.” Hecate wiped her eyes, “Do you feel up for beans on toast?”

“I really would.” With a wave of a hand with pink fingernails, the food was piping hot again, and they sat back against the pillows to eat it.

Once all the food was gone, the pair dressed, Hecate in black slacks and a grey long-sleeved t-shirt, her pocket watch back around her neck, and Pippa in a pink sweatshirt that said, ‘I won’t die without coffee, but you might,’ and light blue jeans. Both had their twin-pins on their chests.

They wandered back into the living room to see Dimity and Ada doing yoga on the rug in front of the fireplace. They had both taken hangover potions, and despite not planning on staying overnight, they both looked happy.

“Good morning you two,” Ada smiled at them as Hecate gingerly sat down in the big orange chair and Pippa cleaned the plates with magic, then vanished them out of her hands and back into the cupboard.  “Morning Ada!” Pippa grinned back, “nice hangover potion?”

“Not likely Pentangle, you know that stuff tastes like drain cleaner.” Dimity grimaced at the memory, and Ada chuckled, saying, “chased it down with a nice cup of tea. You?”

Pippa glanced at Hecate, who was looking down at her hands and absentmindedly fiddling with the chain of her pocket watch. “Yes, in the end. But we had a little mishap.”

Hecate winced as Pippa recounted the events of the morning. Luckily, she left out the conversation about Mistress Broomhead, that was a conversation for Hecate to have with Ada another day, and probably without Dimity present.

Ada and Dimity were now sitting on the sofa next to Pippa, listening to the story.

After Pippa had finished, there was a silence. It was filled when Dimity said quietly, “well, it could have been worse?”

Hecate’s head shot up so hard she nearly got whiplash. Her shoulder jolted with the movement but she didn’t even notice.

Somehow when Pippa said those words they were comforting, but coming from Dimity they just felt infuriating.

“It could have been worse?” She started off quietly, but her volume was increasing. “It could have been worse!? I know how much worse it could have been! I could have killed you! I could have killed you all with my magic while drunk! What if I had tried to transfer us all? What then? I could have left us as atoms, scattered all over the world!” Hecate was nearly shouting and she couldn’t seem to stop.

“Yes, you could.” Ada stated simply, “but you didn’t.”

“That’s not the FUCKING POINT Ada!” Hecate finally yelled, breathing hard.

Everyone in the room was taken aback by the rare profanity that escaped the brunette witches mouth. Even Dimity was stunned into silence by Hecate’s outburst.

“I could have killed you all. Oh Merlin, I could have killed all of you.” Hecate whispered, sitting up straight in her chair, eyes screwed shut and hands squeezed up so tight her fingernails were carving crescents into the palms of both of her hands. “I could never live with myself if I hurt any of you…”

There was silence.

“Hiccup?” Pippa asked quietly, walking over to the woman in the chair and placing a hand on her shoulder. Hecate opened her eyes and looked up at Pippa, who sat down on the arm of the chair and put an arm around her shoulders. Pippa took Hecates hands into hers and looked at the marks left by her fingernails. She rubbed them softly with a thumb as Hecate broke down and started sobbing into Pippa’s lap. Dimity and Ada were looking on with shocked expressions on their faces. Ada had seen Hecate cry before, but that was only a single tear running down her face, not the heart breaking display happening in front of her.

It was Dimity’s first time seeing the formidable Potions Mistress break down so completely, so she didn’t quite know what to do, she never knew that HB experienced emotions so strongly, as she hid them so far away from the surface.

“Who needs emotions when you have intellect?” Dimity remembered Hecate saying something like that when she was reeling from a rough breakup in her third year of teaching. They were in the staff room when the sports witch saw something that reminded her of her ex, Marianna Spindle, and she broke down, not realising Miss Hardbroom had entered the room until she was behind her, rubbing her back, guiding her to a chair and passing her a strong cup of tea.

It was the first time the pair had a conversation without sending jabs at each other every other sentence, and it was then that Dimity realised she liked the stiff witches company. She was not afraid to tell it how it was, and she always spoke her mind, a trait Dimity admired. Their petty squabbling seemed to increase after that interaction, but it seemed less hateful and more sisterly somehow.

Eventually, Hecate’s breathing evened out, and she apologised to Ada. “I’m sorry for shouting Ada, I don’t know what came over me.” The injured witch shakily stood up, grabbed her crutch and slowly crossed the room to Ada. She opened her arm, and in a very uncharacteristic show of affection, initiated a hug towards Ada.

The older woman stood up and embraced Hecate as the taller woman whispered in her hair, “I’m sorry, Ada, I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, its alright honey, its ok.” Ada whispered back, wrapping her arms around Hecate. “I know, but it’ll all be ok, I promise.” She pulled back from the hug and grasped Hecate’s upper arms while looking up into her eyes. “It’ll all be ok.” She repeated and Hecate took a deep breath.

“Thank you, Ada, for being so supportive. You really are my most dearest friend.”

Ada blinked away tears at that statement, it meant a lot from a witch who found it difficult to give, and receive, praise.

“Oi!” Dimity was suddenly back in the conversation, “what am I then? An acquaintance who, every so often, gives you life advice?”

Hecate turned to Dimity, “No, Dimity, you are an incredibly valued friend.”

Dimity was shocked. In all the time she had known the formidable Potions Mistress she could count the times her first name had been spoken on one hand. And a compliment in the same sentence?

She was sure she had had a brain aneurysm, or HB had been replaced by aliens, or maybe robots…

Her shock must have shown on her face, because Hecate gave her a small smile, followed by, “no, Miss Drill, I will not allow you the funds to buy you that expensive new broom shed just because you decide we are suddenly ‘best pals’. Alright?”

Dimity flashed her a big grin before wrapping her arms around the austere woman and squeezing her tight, as Hecate nearly overbalanced with the sudden force.

“High praise indeed, HB! If it helps you feel better, I would say that you are an incredibly valued friend to me too. Also, as the Acting Deputy Head I could allow myself the funds!” She grinned cheekily.

Hecate rolled her eyes, but shot back a grateful smile. “And, thank you for making me see sense in hospital. You really helped me there, although you really didn’t need to catnap Morgana, she must have been terrified! You traumatised the poor feline.” Dimity had a look at Morgana, who was contentedly asleep in front of the fire with Elvis.

“Yeah HB, traumatised.” Dimity smirked, and Pippa bit back a grin.

After those intense displays of affection, Hecate decided it was time for a rest. She excused herself back to the bedroom, and slipped between the sheets. She shut her eyes and was just drifting off when the door ticked open and Pippa entered the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

“Hey Hiccup,” she said quietly, “are you alright?”

“I’m ok Pip, just tired.” Hecate stifled a yawn and beckoned Pippa to lay down next to her. Pippa did as she was told, and cuddled up next to the exhausted teacher. Hecate snuggled deeper into Pippa’s embrace, before her shoulder twinged and she had to back up a little.

“Hecate?” Pippa questioned as Hecate sat up in bed.

“My damn shoulder,” Hecate answered, moving  her shoulder and wincing at a sharp pain down her arm.

There was a pause before, “What happened to you when you tried to fix my hand?” Hecate was looking at the large scar in the middle of her right palm, the one that Pippa couldn’t fix.

Pippa shifted uncomfortably, before realising that she owed Hecate the truth about what happened. “Well darling, your magic reacted as if I was a threat, increasing the magical energy I put into your hand tenfold. Your magic threw me halfway across the room, and in the process ripped the wound open.”

Hecate looked appalled at her own hand. “I just really want my shoulder to be better…” she groaned, “I don’t even mind the cast on my leg, but I want my arm back! Ordinary medicine is so slow.” She said, frustrated.

“I could, try to fix your shoulder, if you like?” Pippa asked cautiously.

“I don’t know Pip, what if trying to fix something bigger hurt you more? If you could fix it it would be amazing, but not at risk to your health.” Hecate replied sensibly, and Pippa said, “what if I tried something smaller? Like this bruise? She pointed to a small bruise on Hecate’s wrist.

“If you’re sure Pip, I still don’t know.”

“Let me try? Please?”

“Alright, but if it goes wrong, I did try to stop you.”

Pippa gently placed two fingers just above the bruise, hovering above the pale skin, and let out a little bit of magic. To both their surprise, the bruise faded away almost immediately, Hecate let out a small squeak, and Pippa squealed in delight at the sight of the green mark disappearing.

With a long finger, Hecate prodded where the bruise was not a moment before, poking around about ten times before her face broke out into a wide smile and she kissed Pippa deeply. Pippa pulled away, breathless, and said, “what about your magic? How does it feel?”

Hecate closed her eyes and reached for it. There it was, bright and strong, but just a little bit off somehow, like it had been since she was frozen. It was like putting a drop of coffee into a cup of tea, the tea would just be slightly wrong but you couldn’t quite pinpoint what was wrong with it.

“It feels… fine. Its fine!” Hecate opened her eyes and smiled.

“Shall I try your shoulder now?” Pippa asked gently and Hecate nodded, “yes please Pip.”

Pippa moved around until she was kneeling on the bed beside Hecate’s left shoulder. She put the palms of both her hands onto Hecate’s skin and, closing her eyes, she let some magic flow out of her and into Hecate’s shoulder and collarbone.

She imagined the bones healing, the bruising going away completely, the muscles knitting back together, and the scars fading away. Hecate let out a gasp as she felt Pippa’s familiar magic flow into her body, and she gasped again as she felt her shoulder becoming whole once more.

After a couple of minutes, Pippa let her hands fall to her sides, her breathing ragged from the exhaustion of fixing the joint. Healing potions were faster and a little more effective than healing spells, but Pippa had performed a perfect rendition, so it would just take her a while to recover from the expenditure of magic.

She flopped back onto the bed as Hecate removed the sling from her arm, and flexed her hand, elbow and then her shoulder. It ached a little, but that was perfectly normal for a healing spell.

As soon as she had tested it a couple of times, she tackled Pippa in an enormous hug, peppering her entire face with kisses.

“You,” kiss, “are,” kiss, “a,” kiss, “bloody,” kiss, “marvel!” She punctuated each word with a kiss to the end of Pippa’s nose and Pippa laughed, pulling Hecate down next to her. “I love you.” Hecate whispered, kissing her again.

“That’s funny, because you know what? I love you too.” Came the reply from the smiling pink witch.

Chapter Text

It was now the first of January, and Hecate was getting increasingly agitated waiting for the therapy appointment.

After a lovely New Years Eve of cuddles in bed with Pippa and a snowball fight which Pippa won, (Hecate thought this very unfair, she was incapacitated with her cast!) they woke up just before twelve, sharing a kiss as the new year began and then promptly going back to sleep.

Hecate was getting snippy with anyone who tried to talk to her.

As dawn broke on the seventh of January, Hecate was already lying awake staring at the ceiling. She took her pills after the alarm rang, pulling Pippa out of her sleep. The pink witch was trying very hard to be upbeat and optimistic, but with Hecate’s sour attitude, her efforts fell on deaf ears.

They had breakfast, with Hecate checking her pocket watch every couple of minutes, the time seemed to crawl by. After a second cup of coffee, Pippa bundled Hecate into her little car and set off on the hour long car ride down the bumpy road towards the city.

Pippa was wearing a long pink coat with her twin pin on the right breast, white fur trim on the hood and cuffs, and white jeans. Under her coat was a pink t-shirt that said, ‘Cats get me. People don’t.’ She had a the pink hat and scarf set Hecate gifted her on as well as a pair of pink converse. Hecate was wearing a plain black tee and grey sweats, with a black denim jacket with her side of the twin pin on her left breast, scarf, hat and flat black trainers. While she found she missed her thick long dresses, wide leather belt and 6 inch heeled boots she always wore at Cackles, they just weren’t practical in her current position.

Since the taller witch now had the use of her left arm back, she had both hands grasping her pocket watch in a vice grip, her knee jiggling up and down, and she was taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth.

Pippa expertly parked her tiny pink car and turned to Hecate, “ready?”

Hecate closed her eyes, held her breath for a count of ten before slowly letting it out and saying, “yes.”

Pippa went round to the other side of the car, opening Hecate’s door and handing her the crutch as the brunette witch climbed out.

She supported herself on Pippa’s shoulder as she straightened up, her face settling into a hard mask.

Pippa knew she had built her walls up, and hidden behind the familiar safety of ‘Miss Hardbroom’, as she always did when faced with uncertainty or change. They made their way to an alleyway, and stopped at a closed door. Pippa knocked three times, and said, “Hecate Hardbroom, for Evelyn Wyrmr?”

The door clicked open and the pair went inside, the door shutting behind them with a slam, making Hecate jump.

As they walked down the corridor, they passed a row of chairs, presumably for waiting patients.

As they walked past, a little voice piped up, “Miss Hardbroom! Miss Pentangle!” Just Hecate’s luck, Mildred Hubble was sitting on a chair next to her mother, who was asleep in her chair, and snoring loudly.

Mildred leapt off her chair and jogged towards the pair of witches.

“Hi Millie!” Pippa greeted cheerfully.

“Good morning Miss Hubble,” Hecate said quietly, “how’s school?”

“Its ok, but I don’t like the temporary potions mistress. When will you be back? We all miss you.”

Hecate was taken aback, she didn’t expect to be missed. “Hopefully soon Mildred.”

The potions Mistress was all too aware she was in ordinary clothing, with no makeup on, had an enormous cast on her leg, scabbed over cuts all over her face and that she was also currently clutching onto Pippa Pentangles arm.

“I hope so,” the girl grinned, before noticing the cast, and a look of worry crossed her face, “are you alright?”

“I am, I just had a little accident, nothing to worry about.” Hecate only hoped her smile was convincing.

“I bet Miss Pentangle is taking good care of you!”

“That she is, Mildred.”

“Can I sign your cast?!” Mildred asked excitedly, digging in her pocket and pulling out a pen. Hecate was going to say no, but she made the mistake of glancing up at Pippa who shot her a smile, so she relented and said, “Alright, but nothing rude!”

Mildred grinned and replied, “of course not Miss!”

In a second she was bent down by Hecate’s cast, pen whirring as her hand moved quickly across the plaster, her bottom lip between her teeth in concentration.

After a minute she stopped, inspecting her work, before she stood up and shot her teacher a dazzling smile.

Hecate had stood awkwardly while Mildred worked, exchanging glances with Pippa as the young witch muttered under her breath.

Now, as the younger witch in question stood infront of her, Hecate got slightly worried at what Mildred had drawn for her, so as she turned to look at the black artwork on her cast, she took a deep breath ready to put on a pretend smile and say, “its lovely,” while working to keep some levity in her voice.

As it turned out, she would have to fake nothing because as soon as she saw a caricature of a black cat in a nurse hat, with ‘Mildred’ signed underneath it, Hecate’s face broke into a soft smile, and she said, “thank you Mildred, I like it a lot.”

Pippa took a look at the art and beamed at Mildred, “its brilliant Millie!”

The student blushed and said, “thank you Miss Pentangle! I take it you are taking care of our HB?”

Hecate scowled slightly at the nickname, before deciding to let it pass, just this once.

Pippa grinned and said, “I am, thank you for your concern Mildred. What are you doing here?”

Mildred scuffed the toe of her boot on the ground and said, “I’m here for magical therapy with Adrula Phillips. Miss Cackle suggested it, because my magic had been weird since we got frozen.”

Hecate froze just for a moment, before she recovered herself and said, “I hope it helps Mildred. Give my regards to your class, but no mention of anything else.” She gave a small intimidating glare, but she was well aware that they had stopped working on Mildred in year two.

Mildred saluted her and answered, “of course Miss, it was really nice to see you, and you Miss Pentangle!” She ran back to her seat and sat back down, digging out a sketchbook and pencils.

They carried on walking along the well lit corridor before stopping at a door at the other end. Pippa raised her fist to knock again when the door opened, and a voice called through, “Hecate Hardbroom and Pippa Pentangle! A Hardbroom and a Pentangle at the same time… strange, but I have seen stranger. Enter you two, can’t have the session with you out there!”  

Hecate seemed frozen to the spot, so Pippa gently pushed her into the room, with a, “come on Hiccup, we can do this,” murmured into her ear. She grasped Pippa’s hand like a dying man would grasp a life raft in the middle of the ocean. “Thank you Pipsqueak, for being here with me.”

“No problem Hiccup, you know I would do anything for you. Now come on, we don’t want to keep Miss Wyrmr waiting, I bet she is a very busy woman.”

The pair stepped into the room, still holding hands, and looked around the space.

The room was quite large, with a big oak desk at one end, two comfy looking arm chairs in front of it and a big grey wing-backed chair behind the desk.

The walls of the room were bright yellow, and Hecate thought she might have a brain aneurysm from the abundance of colour in the room.  

Looking the other way, there was a fire pit in the middle of the floor, with six brightly coloured bean bags surrounding it. The smoke from the fire gradually disappeared as it rose, and the flames were cycling through the colours of the rainbow.  There was quiet violin music playing in the background from a record player in the corner.

Sitting atop a green beanbag was a woman, probably about two or three feet tall, with long ginger hair tied into a French plait down her back. She had thick glasses on covering her big brown eyes, and freckles danced across her cheeks and nose. The way she dressed reminded Hecate of Julie Hubble, in clashing colours, dungarees and shawls.

She stood up as the pair entered the room, bowing as she said, “well met, Miss Hardbroom, Miss Pentangle. Welcome to magical therapy. First, I would like you to pick a beanbag to sit on.” She small woman walked back over to the fire pit and the beanbags, elegantly sitting back on the green one from the start.

Hecate was a bit confused, a beanbag? A beanbag!? She’s not six years old!

Her skepticism must have shown on her face because Pippa led her over to the variety of beanbags and placed herself onto a pink one, gesturing for Hecate to sit next to her on a yellow beanbag.

Hecate opened her eyes wide in a desperate plea for help, and Pippa rolled her eyes before waving her hand, turning the yellow beanbag black. Hecate silently prayed to any ancient deity that may have been listening at that point for strength, before lowering herself gently onto the now black beanbag, turning to the short woman opposite who started talking.

“Now, my name is Evelyn Wyrmr. Ada told me of your predicament, and you have had volatile magic since being frozen. Correct?”

Hecate nodded stiffly, and Miss Wyrmr continued, “I am here to help you rediscover your power. What I have gathered since you knocked on the door outside, is that you, Miss Hardbroom, like things a certain way.” She gestured vaguely at the black beanbag the tall woman was awkwardly perched on, like a hawk trying to settle in the branches of a very small tree.

“You have separation or abandonment issues, with the way you keep glancing at Miss Pentangle, either for reassurance, or just to make sure she is still there. Your watch was given to you by someone very special, as you hold it tightly when anxious, which you are currently… It looks like you have had it for a long time, maybe it was your grandmother’s? Or your mother’s.”

Hecate’s mouth was open and she was staring at Miss Wyrmr, eyes wide.

Evelyn continued, “you two have known each other for a very long time, with the nicknames, and they way you look to each other for reassurance. Miss Pentangle is the more outgoing of you two, with Miss Hardbroom as the more reserved and quiet one. A perfect pairing.

But, there is some slight tension there, perhaps you had a break from this friendship, but while you missed each other desperately, the friendship must be back on track.”

She pointed to the twin pins on each woman’s chest.

Hecate and Pippa were shocked, the woman was scarily perceptive. If the therapist could tell that much from just being in the same room as them for five minutes, what else would she find out? They held the others hand tightly, it was a comfort to them both.

“And you, Miss Pentangle, also have some abandonment issues, we might have to make you your own appointment…” Miss Wyrmr mused, watching Pippa switch her gaze to the floor, biting her cheek in embarrassment.

“Now, Miss Hardbroom, I am going to ask you to perform a simple spell for me.”

Hecate shifted awkwardly on her beanbag, before saying, “it could go very wrong, last time-”

“I know what happened last time.” Evelyn interrupted, “I still want you to try. There are wards up in this room, you will damage nothing if there is an accident. Come on please, summon my quill from my desk. Chop chop!”

Hecate was shocked into action by the woman’s audacity. She removed her hand from Pippa’s, stuck her right hand out and imagined the quill appearing there. She tried for ten seconds or so with no results, until the cup of coffee on the desk exploded, showering coffee everywhere, making herself and Pippa jump, but Miss Wyrmr seemed unfazed.

“Oh Merlin, I am so sorry,” Hecate started apologising, but the therapist cut her off, “quite alright, I don’t like coffee anyway. Interesting. What did you feel when you tried to do that?”

Hecate thought for a moment, looking to Pippa who nodded and smiled in encouragement, before she said, “I felt nothing at the start, so I tried a little harder, and a bit harder again, like I was pushing against something… and then suddenly lots more magic than intended flowed out, all of a sudden.” She cursed her lack of eloquence, but the therapist didn’t seem to mind. She muttered under her breath, “hmm… sounds like a channeling problem.”

 Evelyn waved her hand and the firepit disappeared, in its place looked like an empty lantern. “What I am going to do, is fill this lantern with magic. Not light created by magic, but just pure magic. I am going to point my hand towards it, and imagine my magic flowing from my fingertips and filling it up. Got it?” Hecate and Pippa both nodded, confused.

The therapist held her hand out towards the lantern and closed her eyes. Within a second, the lantern looked three quarters full of a shimmering green liquid. It swirled with a million different greens for a moment, before Evelyn closed her hand and the liquid disappeared.

“Whoa.” Pippa voiced what they were both thinking before seeing the scared expression on Hecate’s face and asking, “may i?” The therapist nodded, so Pippa extended her hand, eyes squeezed shut tight in concentration. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to replicate what the therapist had done so easily a moment before.

After a minute, there it was! Pink liquid half filling the lantern, glistening and shining, the colour changing as they all watched it. Swirls of a hundred shades of pink, purple and gold moving around behind the glass. Pippa let out a deep breath, and lowered her hand, the liquid gone as quick as it appeared.

Pippa leaned back into her beanbag, “blimey, that is tiring. How about you Hiccup? Its your turn, you can do it. I believe in you.” She smiled at the scared looking woman on the black beanbag.

Hecate sat up straight, summoned all of her courage and stuck her hand out towards the lantern. She imagined her magic streaming out of her fingers and filling up the receptacle in the middle of the floor. Her eyes closed in concentration as she focused all of her energy on visualising her magic. It took a couple of minutes, but then Pippa gasped as the lantern filled right to the top with dark purple, midnight blue, forest green and black swirls.

Hecate winced as she felt her magic being drawn from her body. The therapist fell onto her knees and crawled across the floor until she was right next to the lantern, peering in all sides, seemingly looking for something. “That’s it, keep this going!” She exclaimed, as a singular swirl of light blue showed up in the darkness of all the other colours.

Miss Wyrmr kept inspecting the magic until Hecate couldn’t keep the channel open any longer.

“What was that light swirl?” Pippa asked as Hecate flopped back against her beanbag, the liquid draining from the lantern.

“I think, it was a tiny piece of your magic that has gotten possessed by the magic ice.” The therapist sat back onto her green beanbag. “This is why your magic has been volatile, there is magical ice infused into a singular strand of your magic.”

“Think of your magic as…” she thought for a moment, before her face lit up and she continued, “…spaghetti. There is one piece of black spaghetti. You barely notice it in your full bowl, but if you take a bite with the black spaghetti in it, you ruin the whole bite. If left for too long, the black spaghetti falls apart, joining with other spaghettis, and contaminating them with its blackness. The whole bowl is then ruined. This is like your magic. It would have taken about a month and a half for just one strand to be… infected, if you like, but now it has started taking over, it will just get faster. This singular strand has been wreaking havoc with your magic, not all of the time at the moment, if you use uncontaminated magic. But if you use the iffy magic, it will mess up everything. Witches magic is like a well. It is not bottomless, hence magical exhaustion after overexertion, but when you reach for your magic you have about a twenty percent chance of getting the frozen strand. This percentage will only increase in time, left too long it will eventually take over all of your magic with magic ice, and you will freeze all over again, permanently. The magical ice chooses the strongest person in its vicinity to latch onto, hence why it has infected you.”  

Hecate and Pippa were both reeling from this barrage of information. Eventually Hecate squeaked, “spaghetti?”

Pippa breathed out of her nose sharply, before concealing her laugh with an unconvincing fake cough, and then becoming serious and asking, “can it be fixed?”

Evelyn smiled, and said, “yes. We can sort it out, but you will need to be well rested, well fed and you will have to keep the jar filled for as long as you can. I’m afraid your magic will still need time to recover after the procedure, perhaps two weeks? But I can perform the extraction next week for you if you would like. What about the eleventh, at two in the afternoon?”

Hecate was staring at the empty lantern, so Pippa said, “we can do that, right Hiccup?”

Hecate nodded stiffly, her mind going 100 miles an hour at all the new information she had learned.

“And in the meantime?” Pippa asked.

Evelyn got up off of her beanbag and scuttled across the room, opening a draw in her desk and grabbing a box, “have you ever used a wand before?”

Hecate nodded, she had used one to help her channel her uncontrollable magic before Broomhead had told her she was weak and just had to try harder. “Hiccup?” Pippa gently shook her shoulder, and Hecate realised her eyes had glazed over and she was staring off into the distance.  

“Yes, I have but… my tutor broke it.” Hecate trailed off, remembering the beautiful crystal wand her mother had crafted at age eighteen, and had passed along to her when Hecate was losing control of her magic far too often to be healthy.

In her first session with Broomhead, the woman had taken it from her and snapped it in front of her, before vanishing the pieces and hissing, “proper witches don’t need silly things like wands, do they Hecate?” Hecate had shaken her head and said, “no Mistress, they don’t,” while blinking away tears.

“No worries, try this one.” The therapist held out a Hawthorne wand, and Hecate took it tentatively before weighing it in her hand.

She gave it a little wave and it immediately started snowing.

Hecate smiled, “that’s what I wanted to happen,” she said quietly, in awe of the stick in her hand. It would take some getting used too, it had been engrained in her soul that wands and staffs were wrong, and were just for show, but Hecate knows better than that old toad, now she has Pippa nothing could ever go wrong again.

It was a little while later, and our favourite monochromatic witches had relocated to a little coffee shop, just down the road from the therapists office.

They had walked in silence for a while, the wand in Hecate’s pocket, an oddly comforting object. The only sound had been Hecate’s crutch on the pavement, and the racing of her thoughts. Magic ice? Infecting her magic? Refreezing… permanently?

Her inner turmoil must have been apparent, because Pippa had placed a hand on her arm, and led her into ‘Bean There Done That’, a quaint little café just off the street, placed her in a booth and ordered them both a coffee. When the coffees arrived, Pippa sipped hers while Hecate took a couple gulps, the burning in her mouth and throat a welcome distraction. There was silence as they both thought about all the information they had received.

Eventually, Hecate spoke, “sometimes I wish I wasn’t a Hardbroom.”

Pippa stayed quiet, but put her hand on Hecate’s in a silent show of affection.

“When I was young,” Hecate continued in a low voice, “being a Hardbroom was about being the best. After Motherdied, and all those rumours were circulating about Father killing her with dark magic, he made it his goal to make me the greatest witch England had ever seen. To show that the Hardbrooms were ancient, and powerful, and everything Father wanted me to be. He pushed me way too hard from an early age, and the house was… cold. And empty. I was seven years old when Mother died, and I witnessed madness take over a man first hand as my Father couldn’t accept she was gone. He may have been old fashioned and uptight, but he did love her. Like he loved me, in his own twisted way.”

“I heard the rumours when she died, that the great Dionysus Hardbroom was dabbling in dark magic and had struck his wife in a fit of anger. But that’s not what happened, is it Hiccup?” Pippa asked gently, rubbing her fingers over Hecate’s knuckles, and casting a discreet silencing spell over them both.

“No. It was Heksen fever that took her. She picked it up travelling in Peru, but she didn’t realise until it was too late.”

“I’m so sorry Hiccup, you always told me she was a lovely woman.”

“She was.” Hecate’s eyes shone with tears as she told Pippa more about her mother than she had ever told anyone. “She used to take me on picnics down to the beach, and we would swim together in the sea, and we would go looking for seashells between the pebbles. I had such a collection, but my Father got rid of it all the day after she died. Her favourite flower was a foxglove, and she would tell me all about them when we were in her greenhouse. She loved the colour purple, and it was always the accent colour on her ceremonial robes… she got married to my father wearing purple.”

“What happened to your father in the end?” Pippa asked, knowing the answer wouldn’t be a nice one, but it might help Hecate to talk about it.

The tall woman froze for a second, before she closed her eyes and said, “after I left you at the broomstick display, Father pulled me out of school, and put me under full time tutoring from Mistress Broomhead. She pushed me further than she ever had before, and it was then that I realised she was training me up on behalf of my father.”

“What for?” Pippa blurted out the question, covering her runaway mouth with her hands and willing Hecate to continue.

“Necromancy.”

Pippa gasped loudly, her eyes wide and disbelieving. “No!”

“Yes.” Hecate sighed. “After all the rumours of dark magic had dispelled, the man only went and got involved in it. He never recovered from losing my Mother, and it drove him mad. He stopped eating, sleeping and only ever pored over old banned textbooks in his dusty old basement. He apparently started his journey in dark magic when I was twelve years old, with raw untamed power. Broomhead’s job was to get me ready for his final attempt to get her back.”

Pippa was in shock, “what happened then?”

“He killed himself." Hecate paused and took a sip of coffee, before looking up a Pippa for a moment before her gaze flicked back down and she said, "I like to think he was sparing me the pain of doing his horrible spell, but I think he did it to go back to her.”

“I’m sorry Hiccup, I should have been there for you.” Pippa was crying silently now at the sorrowful tale.

“It’s alright Pip, I survived.” The brunette witch was fiddling with a scab on her wrist, and staring down at the table.

“Sometimes, I just wish sometimes I was someone else. Someone like you, who had lovely parents, and a proper childhood. Someone less uptight, old fashioned, grouchy, and just… horrid.”

Hecate had a tear running down her cheek at this point, so Pippa wiped it away with her thumb as she continued, “someone who knows social cues, someone who is in tune with her emotions so they don’t sneak up on her and scare her. I wish I could just person better! Its like I never learnt to be a human… and… I don’t know how to fix it Pippa.”

Pippa looked deep into Hecate’s eyes, and said solemnly, “I will help you learn to be a person, Hiccup. We will do this together, and it will be ok.”

“Thank you Pipsqueak,” Hecate flashed a brief smile at Pippa, who said, “now come on, drink up!”

Chapter Text

It was on the morning of the eighth of January, they were sitting up in bed and drinking their morning tea when Pippa broke the news that she had to go back to Pentangles Academy the next day, for a very important meeting in the afternoon.

“Alright,” Hecate began, stopping short, but Pippa held her hand and said, “go on, ask your question Hiccup.”

Hecate began again, “where will I go? It would feel weird to be here without you, so I guess I could go back to Cackles, but…” she stopped again, fiddling with the sheets of the bed.

“Idon’twanttobefarawayfromyou.” She rushed out eventually.

Pippa smiled softly, and said, “I’m sorry Hiccup, I missed that. Could you repeat it a little slower please?”

“I don’t want to be far away from you.” Hecate spoke quietly, “I have just grown used to you being there all the time, and cuddles at night and I think I’ll miss it.”

The statements were greeted with a large grin from Pippa, who replied happily, “well, isn’t it fortunate that I was going to ask you to accompany me back to Pentangles then!”

“Really?” Hecate asked eyes wide, as she looked up at Pippa from her place on the pillows.

“Really.” Pippa beamed, “unless you don’t want to, I mean-”

“I do! I really do, thankyou Pip,” Hecate smiled, and gave Pippa a little kiss on the end of her nose.

“Yay! We better pack our bags up, ready for transfer. I think, you might be ok with a transfer now, but what do you think? When I bought this cottage I made sure it was within a transferable distance, and I have done it before.”

“Sounds good to me, but will it be ok? With me there, I wouldn’t want to get in the way…” Hecate trailed off.

“You could never, ever be in the way Hiccup. Unless you were between me and a donut, then you would, but with your enormous intellect and quick wit, I doubt that would ever happen.”

“I would end up in a coma again if I did that.” Hecate remarked dryly, earning herself a playful smack on her behind as she climbed out of bed.

The next day, Hecate and Pippa prepared for the transfer. Pippa had sent the bags on ahead, and was looking in the mirror fussing with the cuffs of her jumper as Hecate stood in the middle of the room, crutch in one hand, the other ready to hold onto Pippa with. Pippa was wearing a pastel pink jumper with her twin pin pinned above a cartoon cup of coffee, white jeans, her pink hat and scarf set and her favourite pink converse.

Hecate was wearing a calf length black dress with black leggings underneath, one leg had been cut off short so her cast was exposed, it was less stiff than her usual black dresses, and a bit shorter with short sleeves. Over the top was a long black denim jacket with her twin pin pinned over her left breast. There was a narrow leather belt around her middle, making her feel a little more like her old self, and she was wearing black leather boots made by a lovely chap called Doctor Martin.

“Are you ready?” Pippa asked, grasping Hecate’s hand and kissing her on the cheek.

“Yes, lets do it.” Hecate took a deep breath as a familiar swirl of pink magic surrounded them both, whisking them off to Pentangles front lawn.

As they reappeared, Hecate stumbled into Pippa, dropping her crutch on the floor with a clatter, grasping Pippa’s arm for stability and  collapsing into her chest, with the blonde woman grabbing both her elbows to keep her upright.

“Whoa, whoa, Hiccup, we made it, are you ok?”

“Yes… I’m fine.” came the muffled reply from the brunette head of hair against Pippa’s chest.

“Are you sure?”

Hecate swallowed down the bout of nausea that had appeared with the assisted transfer, and stood up straight. Pippa handed her her crutch and she leant on it heavily, breathing fast.

“Yes, thankyou Pipsqueak, I’ve just always hated side along transference, it makes me feel ill.”

“Of course it does, I’m sorry Hiccup,” Pippa instantly summoned a chair, helping settle Hecate into it.

Pentangles Academy was a beautiful building. It had been built from the ground up by Pippa and some trusted friends, so she had planned it all just to her liking. It was a large white castle, with stained glass windows letting coloured light into the hallways, and with dark pink turrets at every corner, Hecate was always surprised at Pippa’s display of restraint at the application of her signature colour.

The gardens were vast, with lots of open lawns and woodland areas. There were stables around the corner where some horses and donkeys were kept, including Jared, Pippa’s prize stallion. She rode him every so often, but some students were very keen on equine therapy, so they looked after him and all the other horses as part of that.

The whole academy was open and light, with lots of quiet nooks and crannies for students to hide away in. The library was vast, with lots of cosy armchairs and sofas to read books on, with the array of books one of the best in England. There were books upon books, on cooking, archery, foraging, potions, magical creatures, chanting, sports (ordinary as well as magical), even an ordinary living section. Hecate may have shed a happy tear when she first saw the library, but she would deny it if anyone asked.

The first time Hecate went to Pentangles after their reconciliation, she remarked on all these things to Pippa, getting a reply of, “I wanted my academy to be better than Amulets, giving students a better academic experience than you and I received.”

“I would have loved to have come here…” Hecate had murmured, in awe of the building they were walking around.

“I did it for you, Hiccup.”

“You did?” Hecate had asked with wide eyes, turning to look a Pippa.

“You were my inspiration in all of it, Hecate, I know how uncomfortable you were in the cramped, dark hallways, and how there was never really anywhere to go when the people were overwhelming, except the roof, where we met.”

It took all of Hecate’s restraint to not grab Pippa’s face and kiss her all over her face right then, but she was still in her ‘I’m not ruining our friendship with my silly feelings’ phase, and didn’t.

Instead she engulfed Pippa in a hug, the blonde woman letting out a squeak of surprise as the tall woman wrapped her arms around her and whispered into her ear, “thankyou, Pipsqueak.”

As Hecate deeply breathed away the lingering nausea from the transfer, Pippa lengthened the chair into a bench and sat next to her, so if any students walked past it would just be two people on a bench, knowing Hecate wouldn’t want any more questions than necessary about her personal life. She laid a hand on Hecate’s arm, and they both just watched the hustle and bustle of the gardens for a while, until they were approached by a student.

“Miss Pentangle, Miss Hardbroom, well met.” The student bowed, and Pippa replied with a polite smile, “well met Larissa, how are you?”

“I’m alright Miss, we all just wanted to pass on our well wishes to you and Miss Hardbroom, we heard what happened over Christmas.” Larissa gestured to a small group of students standing a little way away from the pair on the bench.

“That is incredibly kind of you Larissa, Isn’t it Miss Hardbroom?”

With a little nudge, Hecate managed to grit out, “thankyou, Miss…?”

“Rootburn, Miss. Larissa Rootburn.”

“Thank you Miss Rootburn.” Hecate ground out, trying to force her face into something resembling pleasant.

“See you later!” Larissa ran off back to her group, and Pippa said, “that was lovely, wasn’t it!”

“Yes, marvellous.”

“Shall we head to our rooms? I’m up for a small nap after that long distance transfer.”

The two witches rose and made their way up to Pippa’s rooms, seeing Morgana and Elvis batting around a moonstone flower on the floor.

Hecate had been quiet on the way up, and as soon as they were settled in bed, Pippa asked why.

“I just didn’t realise I was the subject of gossip at your school, Pip.”

“That’s what happens when one of the most formidable potions mistresses in England gets into an ordinary accident and disappears from the witching world for three weeks, I’m afraid darling. Me and Ada did try to stop rumours, but you know Felicity Foxglove had put it on her blog the day you didn’t turn up for class, and when we realised that we did take the post down, but I think the damage was already done. The cast doesn’t help either, Hiccup.”

Pippa gestured vaguely at the large cast on Hecate’s left leg, with Mildred’s black pen drawing a stark contrast against the white of the plaster.

“I guess I should have expected that…” Hecate trailed off, rubbing a hand over tired eyes. “I’m sorry Pipsqueak, you know how much I hate confrontation. Maybe we could work on that, as part of my ‘become a human being’ training?”

“Of course darling, now come here and give me a cuddle.”

Hecate scooted towards Pippa, and laid her head on her chest, breathing deeply and closing her eyes.

And that was how Pippa’s deputy, Frida Durne, found them fast asleep four hours later, when Pippa didn’t turn up for her very important meeting.

Chapter Text

Being at Pentangles had been a very good idea. It gave Hecate a chance to start integrating to being surrounded by students again, while Pippa was able to work properly, and get back into teaching chanting a couple of times a week. In the evenings, they would share how their day went over some paperwork Pippa had to do, which Hecate helped her with to get back into the flow of school life.

Hecate was left alone when Pippa had to reschedule her important meeting, so she went on a small walk, being able to bark, “No running in the corridors!” At a child in a hallway, stifling a small smile as the student went, “sorry Miss Hardbroom,” and walked the rest of the way. The whole school had accepted her presence with ease, and she received lots of well wishes from students and teachers alike.

She found she really liked Frida Durne, Pippa’s deputy, she was very personable and charming. A woman slightly shorter than Pippa, with dark skin, brown eyes, a large smile and hair up in two buns, much like Enid Nightshade, Hecate mused, watching the woman laughing while teaching her flying class. She and Pippa also had nicknames for each other, with Frida being called ‘Eggy’ after a mistake where Pippa called her ‘Fried’ multiple times. Pippa was ‘Pinky’ which needed no explanation.

Mrs Durne was the sports teacher, with a lean body, normally wearing green. She was married to the charms teacher, Mr Harold Nevine, who was also rather nice, a tall black man with a moustache and goatee, nearly always seen in long, flowing yellow robes.

There was also Miss Gretchen Hitch, the elderly potions teacher, whom Hecate thought was a bit lacking in the discipline department, but the woman was likeable enough, with long grey hair in a ponytail down her back, and half moon glasses always balanced on her nose.

Mr Louis Link was the spell science teacher, a short, clean shaven man, who always wore back robes and a frown on his face. While a bit stunted personality wise, he was a good enough teacher.

Miss Harriet Rendle, with long black hair in a ponytail, a fringe and thick black framed glasses was the resident student therapist who supervised the equine therapy, and always tried to be available for the students to talk to.

It was now the evening of the tenth of January, and Hecate and Pippa were playing a game of chess. Hecate had always been the better player, but Pippa was catching up, and really making Hecate work for her win. Pippa had just managed to capture Hecate’s rook, but Hecate immediately picked off her bishop with a triumphant smirk.

After the game was finished, with Pippa winning for the first time ever and taking every moment to gloat about it, earning herself an exasperated, “honestly, sometimes you are worse than Miss Drill!” they were cuddling in bed and chatting about anything and everything.

“I have taken the afternoon off to be there for you at your appointment, if you still want me there, of course?” Pippa questioned, to a quiet reply from Hecate, “yes please Pip, after some research, I might be very weak, and act a little intoxicated apparently… I might need you to keep me in line.”

Pippa visibly relaxed at that, “I’m glad, I wouldn’t want you to have to do it alone.”

“Thankyou for being there, Pipsqueak.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Hiccup.”

Hecate was walking along the street in town with a bag over her shoulder, just approaching Baker Street, when there was a screeching of brakes. Hecate turned immediately, seeing the speeding truck approaching too fast to do anything about it. The truck hit her head on with a sickening crunch, and suddenly all was black.

But then there was a voice… suspiciously like her father. “Hit by a car? No daughter of mine would have anything to do with anything ordinary, it’s disgusting!” He suddenly appeared and spat the words out, towering over her, eyes wide and manic, his clothes ripped and torn, face red and twitching in anger.

Hecate felt twelve years old again, getting shouted at by him for trying to take him dinner in his basement.

“Broomhead will fix you right up. Make you nice and strong for me.” Dionysus Hardbroom hissed down at her, flecks of his spit landing on her face and in her hair, and all of a sudden there was a taloned hand on her shoulder, pressing so hard Hecate was surprised she wasn’t being pushed down into the floor.

“Come with me, child, I’ll fix you up in no time.” Broomhead whispered in her ear, sending a shiver down Hecate’s spine. Broomhead waved a hand, and her mothers crystal wand appeared in the air. Broomhead grabbed it lightly and, while Hecate protested, she snapped it, throwing the halves down onto the ground.

But when Hecate looked down at the broken pieces, she saw Pippa, torn in half, screaming on the floor as she lay in a puddle of her own blood.

Hecate tried to help, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t scream, she couldn’t do anything but watch as Pippa slowly bled out and died on the floor.

Broomhead and her father were both laughing maniacally as Hecate struggled against her magical bonds, but her father suddenly fell silent, his face growing gaunt and pale, before he started rotting right before her eyes, folding in half before flopping at her feet like a fish on dry land.

Staring up at her with his wide, grey, dead eyes.

“Now that he’s out of the way… I have you all to myself, child. You. Are. Mine.” Broomhead hissed right next to her ear, before pulling a hand back and slapping Hecate hard across the face, long nails creating wide cuts across her cheek.

“You. Are. MINE!” Broomhead cackled as she led young Hecate out of the room, leaving behind the remains of her father and her girlfriend, the door shutting with a SLAM.

Hecate was suddenly aware of screaming, before realising it was her, her mouth was wide open and her entire body was slick with sweat. Pippa was bent over her, blonde hair falling ever her shoulder in a lose ponytail, and she was saying urgently, “Hiccup, its just a dream, wake up! Please, Hecate, wake up!”

Hecate sat bolt upright all of a sudden, and Pippa put a hand on her arm, only for a string of rogue magic to fly from Hecate’s skin and hit her in the face, slamming her back into the pillows.

With her hair plastered to her face with sweat, Hecate jumped as her runaway magic shot from her, smacking Pippa back.

“Fuck,” Hecate swore, before untangling herself from the bedsheets, realising she had bright red nail marks up and down each arm, presumably from her agitation in the dream. She leant over to Pippa, who was still laid back and nursing a bloody lip on her pillow.

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry Pippa, are you alright?”

“I’m ok, are you?” Pippa asked, summoning a healing potion in a yellow vial and gently dabbing it onto her split lip, deciding not to comment on the rare profanity escaping the other woman’s mouth.

The image of her fathers rotting corpse and her partners halved body were still stuck in Hecate’s mind, so she shook her head, biting back a sob, before she curled into a ball in the middle of the bed.

Pippa checked the time, half two in the morning, before wrapping Hecate in a tight hug, not even thinking about runaway magic this time. “Do you want to talk about it?”

No reply, except a whimper.

Time for the big guns. “Do you want a hot chocolate…?”

Within ten minutes, they were both sitting up in bed, nursing hot chocolates with whipped cream and marshmallows.

After some silent sipping, Hecate spoke. “It was the accident, and my father, and Broomhead, and you were dead, and it was all my fault… all my worst nightmares at once Pip…” Hecate spoke through her tears.

“Well. I’m not dead, Broomhead is gone, and so is your father, Hiccup. They cannot hurt you anymore, not while I’m around, anyway.”

“Thankyou Pip. I’m so sorry about your lip…” Hecate spoke almost inaudibly.

“No harm done, it’ll all be fixed by the morning, darling.”

“I hate how she can still scare me, just like she did when I was thirteen. She is gone, but she visits me when I’m stressed. I can normally foresee her visits, and take dreamless sleep potions to avoid her, but she snuck up on me tonight.”

“I wish I could help, Hiccup.”

“You do help.” Hecate managed a small smile up at Pippa. “She visited almost every night after the founding stone froze, but she stopped when I was with you at the cottage, I think she only broke though tonight because of the extraction later on today.”

There was silence for a while, until Hecate whispered almost inaudibly, “I hate her, Pipsqueak.” All the muscles in her neck were tense and she was squaring her jaw to try and keep a handle on her runaway emotions.

“I hate her too.”

They managed to get back to sleep after talking of ways they could torture Broomhead to death, waking up again at eight for Hecate’s meds and their morning cup of tea.

The morning passed far too slowly, and yet way too fast at the same time. Before they knew it, it was time for Hecate and Pippa to leave.

Hecate was dressed in a loose fitting blouse, with her favourite black denim jacket over the top, and her twin pin had pride of place above her left breast. She was wearing black slacks, and her black bobble hat. Pippa was wearing a long pink overcoat, her half of the twin pin on the left pocket. Under her coat was a pastel pink sweater and light blue jeans.

Pippa’s pink Morris minor had been transferred to school, so they both climbed in and set off. It was only a half hour drive from the academy, and Hecate was getting more anxious with every mile they drove.

Pippa sensed Hecate’s unease by the way she way grasping her watch, the muscles in her jaw tight and tensioned, her teeth audibly grinding as she stared out of the window.

“It’ll be okay, Hiccup, I promise.”

“I hope so Pip...”

The rest of the trip passed in silence, Pippa focused on the road, and Hecate focused on remembering to breathe. In, out. In, out. She repeated to herself, breathing in through her nose, and out through her mouth until they arrived.

Pippa circled around the car, handing Hecate her crutch as the other woman rose out of the vehicle. Hecate grasped Pippa’s hand tightly as they walked down the alleyway, and knocked thrice on the door. “Hecate Hardbroom, to see Evelyn Wyrmr.” Pippa spoke clearly at the closed door, and it clicked open, permitting the witches entrance.

They walked down the corridor, and sat on the uncomfortable waiting chairs.

“Hardbroom?” A voice echoed around the waiting area, making both witches jump. A door down the corridor and to the left clicked open, so Pippa stood, helped Hecate up, and started towards the door.

It was a different door from last time, and as they approached Hecate slowed down, needing to take a couple of deep breaths. “Come on Hiccup, sooner we do this, sooner you get your magic back.”

Pippa placed her hand in the small of Hecate’s back and gently guided her into the room. It was more clinical this time, a blinding white in every direction, and not a garish beanbag in sight.

There was a hospital bed in the corner, sparking some unpleasant memories for both witches, and a large cushioned space took up about half of the floor, with a small wooden table in the middle, and the lantern used last time for collecting magic on top.

“Well met, Misses Hardbroom and Pentangle, glad you could make it today!” Evelyn Wyrmr was already talking as she transferred into the middle of the room, her coloured shawls replaced with a pristine white doctors coat over a crisp white blouse. Hecate and Pippa stood out like sore thumbs in the almost completely white room.

“Well met,” they both replied and bowed to the short woman in front of them.

“Today, we will be extracting your contaminated string of magic. I will need some help from a magical nurse, shall I summon him?”

Hecate nodded stiffly, wanting this to be over and done with as soon as possible so she could go home. Home. When had she started think of Pentangles as home? She didn’t know, but she decided home was wherever Pippa was, and that was where she wanted to stay.

With a wave of a hand, Evelyn summoned a man in blue scrubs, with a light beard and kind eyes. “Hello all!” He said with a smile, “my name is Jacob Winters, and I will be assisting in your magical extraction. Have you had lunch?” Hecate nodded, she had forced down a sandwich before they left.

“Good. If we could settle on the cushions?” He gestured to the cushioned space on the floor, before he and Miss Wyrmr both walked over and settled cross-legged either side of the lantern.

“Come on Hiccup. You can do this.” Pippa whispered into Hecate’s ear, pulling her gently towards the lantern. Hecate stiffly sat down next to Mr Winters, and Pippa kneeled down next to her, still holding her hand tightly.

“To begin, you will need to get into the most comfortable position you can, Miss Hardbroom, perhaps lying down?” Evelyn spoke, disrupting the silence.

Hecate was a little taken aback, laying down? In front of these people?

Pippa sensed Hecate’s unease, “How about you lay down with your head in my lap, Hiccup,” She murmured into Hecate’s ear, and the tall woman nodded slightly in assent, before settling down with her head settled on Pippa’s lap, with Pippa stroking her hair.

“Now, would some music help? We want you the most relaxed you can possibly be.” Mr Winters smiled.

Hecate looked up at Pippa, slight panic in her eyes, so Pippa said, “I think if we could just begin, maybe later.”

“Now, if you could fill the lantern with your magic, it might take a lot of energy, which is why it was imperative that you had lunch, and a full nights sleep.”

At the mention of sleep, Hecate once again looked up at Pippa, eyes wide. Pippa said, “We did have a little bit of a disrupted night, nightmares and the like. Will that be ok?”

The two opposite shared a look, before Evelyn spoke, “it will probably be fine, but we would like you to take a wide-awake potion, just to make sure. Is that alright?” She summoned a vial and handed it to Hecate, who sat up a little, nodded, and tipped the vial into her mouth, drinking it like a shot, before settling into Pippa again.

“If you could reach your hand out, and fill the lantern please.”

Hecate did as she was told, imagining her magic flowing from her fingertips and filling the lantern. Most of her magic came willingly, but as she reached the end, there was some that just did not want to leave her body. Hecate squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force the magic out of her body. It felt like someone was pulling thorny vines out of the ends of her fingers.

“That’s it, that is the one we want!” Evelyn spoke excitedly, watching the lantern fill with swirls of blue, green, purple and black. After a moment of struggling, the strand relented and left Hecate, mixing into the lantern.

As Pippa watched, she saw that the quantity of bright, ice blue swirls had increased since last week. There was just one last time, but now there were at least ten, maybe more.

Mr Winters summoned an empty vial, placing it on the table next to the lantern.

The therapist opened the top of the lantern, reaching in with her small hand and pulling out a hand full of magic. It ran out from between her fingers, but she quickly picked out a strand of blue with her other hand, before dropping the rest back into itself.

She was holding the icy blue strand between a thumb and forefinger, but it was fizzing around the edges, twisting all over itself and writhing in Evelyn’s grip. The woman hissed in pain as the angry worm she was holding wrapped itself tightly around her thumb and held on. She quickly shook it off into the empty vial, where the strand twisted itself into a ball and started bouncing off of the walls of the vial.

Pippa watched in awe as the nurse and the therapist took turns taking handfuls of Hecate’s magic and picking out the corrupt bits. The vial was filling up with little angry blue balls of magic, she could hear them colliding with the walls of the vial, and each other.

It was incredibly straining on Hecate for her magic to be outside of her body for so long, and she started writhing around in Pippa’s lap, hand still stretched out, holding her magic in the lantern. Her forehead shone with a sheen of sweat, her teeth were clenched, and her entire body was rigid with the exertion of keeping her magic apart from her. Tears ran down her face and her toes curled.

It was only Pippa’s hand in her hair, and her other hand pressing Hecate back into the floor that stopped her from rolling off of Pippa to writhe on the cushions.

Hecate’s face was twisted in pain, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts, her chest was heaving, and she was whimpering every time her magic was touched by a foreign hand.

Hecate felt empty again. She was burning all over, her magic wasn’t her normal comfort, a gentle weight between her ribs, instead it was angry and spiked and she could feel it trying to get back into her body from its prison in the lantern, but she couldn’t let it.

The extraction wasn’t done yet, and Hecate knew as soon as she let her magic back into her body, it would be impossible to coerce it back into the lantern.

So, she stuck it out, endured the emptiness, ignored the burning, the pain, instead choosing to focus on the feel of Pippa’s hand stroking her hair, the smell of Pippa’s shampoo, the feel of her lap under Hecate’s head.

It had been about an hour and a half of sorting through Hecate’s magic, and Jacob was struggling with a particularly fierce strand of corrupt magic. It was fighting back, and was thicker and brighter than all of the other ones. “Evelyn!” He called out as he tried to pull the blue sting out of the lantern. One half of the strand was wrapped around Jacob’s hand, acting as leverage, but the other half was still in the lantern, holding on with all its might to the rest of the magic.

The therapist immediately sprung into action, grabbing onto Jacob and helping him pull.

The strand stretched, and then, with a sickening pop! It was sucked out of the lantern. Jacob was thrown backwards, the strand was about as long as his arm, and 1cm thickness. It wrapped around Jacob’s shoulder, squeezing tightly as Miss Wyrmr tried to prize the worm off of the man. Eventually, she shot it with a jolt of magic, briefly rendering it immobile, though it was still twisting slightly. She yanked the pulsing blue strand from her friends body, shoving it into the the vial.

“That was the primary strand,” Evelyn quickly told Pippa, who had watched the scene unfold in horror, “it was the original strand, meaning it was not Hecate’s magic, it was completely magical ice that had established in her magical core, hence why it was so difficult to remove.”

After Mr Winters had recovered, and with one more quick sieve of Hecate’s magic, the nurse deemed it safe to return to Hecate.

“You can let it back in now Miss Hardbroom!”

Hecate didn’t seem to hear him, there was a thrumming in her ears, and she could hear her pulse pounding. It was Pippa’s voice that broke through, “HICCUP! Let it back IN!”

Hecate shakily lowered her hand, body convulsing one last time as her magic disappeared from the lantern and slammed back into her, angry and sharp, but completely hers.

All Hecate wanted to do was sleep. Even with the Wide-Awake potion, the extraction had left her exhausted and she was just so comfortable, cuddled up with Pippa nestled between cushions, so she did. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she drifted off to comforting murmurs from her perfect, pink girlfriend.

**

When Hecate woke up, she took a deep breath, and the first thing she noted was the comforting smell of coconuts and roses, the smell of Pippa.

She could hear Mr Winters and Miss Wyrmr having a conversation in low tones, with Miss Wyrmr saying, “she’s been out for three hours, is that normal?”

“Yes, yes. Quite normal for a witch with such power. She’ll wake up soon.”
Then Pippa joined quietly, “will she be alright when she wakes? You said she would be weak, and act a little intoxicated?”

“Yes, that is also normal.” Mr Winters reassured Pippa, “we had to dig through all of her magic, while she was keeping it in the lantern. The effort would have been monumental, and the rummaging does affect the amount of ethanol in the blood, causing a drunk-like state. You have a car?”

“Yes I do, and we are not too far away either. Is there anything else I should know?”

Evelyn replied this time, “she might be rather nauseous for a while after she comes to. We’ll have a bowl on the side if necessary.”

Hecate’s eyes were stuck shut with sleep, so she raised a weary arm to wipe it away, alerting Pippa that she was conscious.

“Hiya Hiccup, how are you doing?” Pippa asked gently, stroking Hecate’s hair.

“…comfy…” Hecate snuggled into Pippa even further, and wrapped heavy arms around Pippa’s middle, holding on tight.

“We are going to go back to Pentangles, where I am going to tuck you into bed. How does that sound?” Pippa spoke like she was talking to a toddler, to which Hecate replied slowly, “…comfy here.”

Pippa looked up at the therapist for help, who said, “she’ll be like this for a couple of hours, but we really would like it if you could go home, she would be more comfortable there. Do you need any assistance?”

Pippa shook her head, “no thankyou, I think I can manage.” She put her arms in Hecate’s armpits and hoisted her upright, getting a surprised squeal from the now standing brunette witch.

“Now, we want her to do these magic strengthening exercises every morning and evening for the next week and a half, or until her magic feels normal again. We would like to see her again in two weeks, just to see how she is getting on. And no transference until we have seen her again. Magic like that is taxing, and we do not want a case of magical exhaustion on top of everything else.” Evelyn summoned a sheet of paper, and put it in Pippa’s hand, along with the promised sick bowl. 

Mr Winters waved his hand and summoned a wheelchair, so Pippa guided a protesting Hecate into it, placing the supplied bowl on her lap, even when the witch in question tried to throw it away, so in the end Pippa had to place a sticking charm on it that even Hecate couldn’t dislodge. After many thanks to the therapist and nurse, Pippa led the witch in the wheelchair out the door, down the corridor, back up the alleyway, to Pippa’s car.

It was only once they were in the car -after a small struggle with Hecate’s legs when she kept saying she had too many - where Hecate turned a bit green around the gills, and said to Pippa, “Pipsqueak, I think I’m going to be sick-” before she emptied her meagre lunch into the bowl that was still thankfully stuck to her lap. Once she was done, Pippa waved a hand and the sick disappeared from the bowl, leaving it empty again.

Dimity was correct, Hecate was indeed a very chatty drunk, even though she was not technically drunk. She did not stop talking for the whole car ride once she felt better, “Pip, I love you.” She said decisively, and before the pink witch could answer, Hecate started talking again, “you are just so HOT! I love your smile, and your smell, and the way your nose crinkles when you concentrate in a way that just makes me want to kiss you!”

Pippa stifled a snort of laughter, before saying, “that is very kind of you to say Hiccup, I love you too.”

“And, I think you look very fetching in the pyjamas Dimity gifted us, but I really do want to take them off you, for a different reason. You have a very nice body and I want to see it.” Hecate confessed, before dissolving into giggles at her own cheek.

“Maybe later, Hiccup, you need a rest! Once your magic is fixed, we can mend your leg and ribs, then perhaps we can engage in some… fornication,” Pippa smirked at how Hecate immediately blushed bright red, a small smile gracing its way onto her face as she turned and stared out of the window.

They made it back to Pentangles at eight ‘o’ clock in the evening, meaning there were barely any students around. Pippa had accepted Frida’s help in getting Hecate back to their room, so together they wheeled the potions mistress up to the Headmistresses quarters, settling her into bed.

Pippa and Frida had a quick chat in the doorway, before there was a distressed, “PIPSQUEAK!” From the bedroom, and Pippa ran in to see Hecate crying, arms outstretched towards her, “cuddles, Pip!”

Frida and Pippa shared a look, before the pentangles deputy shook her head with a smile, and said, “goodnight Pinky, goodnight Hecate, sweet dreams.” Then she swept out of the door, leaving her colleague with a very snuggly Hecate Hardbroom in her bed.

Pippa woke up at seven the next morning to find no Hecate in her bed, instead the bed beside her was stone cold.

Hecate hadn’t been there for quite some time.

She sat bolt upright, disturbing Elvis and Morgana, who were bathing each other at the end of the bed, and looked around the room, seeing nothing amiss. She got out of bed quickly, and went into the sitting room.

What she found in there replaced her previous panic with a wide, soppy smile.

Hecate was laying asleep on the sofa wrapped in a fluffy pink throw, her head tilted back, mouth open wide and snoring loudly. A book on magical plants and fungi had fallen out of her hand onto the floor, and there was a half finished mug of hot chocolate on the end table.

Pippa’s presence in the room had awakened Hecate, who snorted herself awake, and as she coughed she sat up and noticed Pippa in the room.

She started speaking quickly, “Pip, I woke up at four in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I didn’t want to disturb you by having a light on, so I came out here, but I got cold, so I made myself a hot chocolate and wrapped myself up in one of your blankets with a book, but I must have fallen asleep again, sorry!” She rushed out and shut her eyes, as if expecting Pippa to shout at her.

Instead, Pippa replied incredulously, “you mean to tell me, that you made your hot chocolate, the literal liquid of the Gods, at four in the morning -prime time for night time hot chocolate, might I add- and you didn’t wake me up for a cup?!”

Hecate smiled tentatively until Pippa started laughing, and soon they were both laughing while cuddling on the sofa. At eight when the magical alarm went off, they both had large cups of hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows as Hecate took her pills.

Over the next week, Hecate felt her magic return to normal, slowly but surely. She did all the exercises provided, including summoning and vanishing a grain of rice five times in the morning and the evening for the first two days, steadily moving up in size to Pippa’s lipstick, her hairbrush, Morgana, until eventually she could vanish and summon her wardrobe with ease.

To Hecate’s disappointment, she was told not to attempt transference until she had been back to see the therapist and get her magic checked, making her moody.

She was indeed weak for about four days, her body protesting nearly every movement, and having a nap for a couple of hours every afternoon, sometimes with Pippa.

In the evenings, they played a game of chess before cuddling together in bed and reminiscing on memories.

Young fourteen-year-old Hecate Hardbroom stood over a cauldron, angrily hiccuping every couple of seconds, while young fourteen-year-old Pippa stood off to the side, trying not to laugh at Hecate’s misfortune.

Marline Juxseed had hexed her in the corridor the last day before half term, causing incurable hiccups that had, so far, lasted three days. The hiccups stopped her from being able to chant a counter spell, so Pippa had been doing the chanting, but nothing had worked yet. Both of them were staying at Cackles for half term, as Pippa’s parents were away in Austria and Hecate’s father had not contacted her at all, making her think that he didn’t want her there. Hecate thought that he might have forgotten he even had a daughter, with all of his work in the old basement.

Hecate had stuck herself in her room, avoiding everyone, even Pippa, before the stubborn blonde threatened to get her broom and ride in her window if she wasn’t let in.

Outside of the hiccuping witches room was a very annoyed Pippa Pentangle, banging on the warded door. “Hecate Hardbroom, I swear on Merlin’s saggy left nut, if you do not let me in right this second, I will not hesitate to grab my broom and throw myself in through your window. You know I will!”

Hecate was angrily leafing through a potions book at her desk, listening to the racket outside her door. Pippa had been trying to get her to let her in for over an hour at this point, so Hecate finally relented, setting down the wards and waving a hand to open her door. Pippa landed with a hard ‘oof’ on the floor, having just thrown herself at the door when it had opened. She stood up quickly, rushing over to Hecate, who was trying her best to hold her hiccups in, but failing.

‘Hic,’ she hiccuped, still bent over her book.

“You shut me out because you have the hiccups?” Pippa asked, confused, trying to read her friends face, but it was an unreadable mask, and she was still bent over the book.

“Marline, ‘hic’ goddamn Juxseed, ‘hic’ has put a ‘hic’ hiccuping hex ‘hic’ on me! And I cannot ‘hic’ do any ‘hic’ counter spells, ‘hic’ because there are ‘hic’ no long enough breaks between these stupid  ‘hic’ hiccups to chant in.” Hecate talked angrily, turning to face Pippa, who could finally see the single tear track running down her emotionally challenged friends cheek.

Pippa engulfed Hecate in a hug, and said, “how about I’ll do the words, and we work together to fix it?”

Hecate nodded at that, before saying, “yes please ‘hic’ Pip, shall we, ‘hic’ go to the ‘hic’ library?”

That was now three days ago, and both of them were not sleeping very well, Hecate because of her unrelenting hiccups, and Pippa because she insisted on staying with Hecate in her room, “so you won’t be alone and sad!”

As she was already a whizz at potions, Hecate was stood over a bubbling cauldron, angrily hiccuping every couple of seconds as she counted how many times she had stirred it, and while Pippa stood off to the side by the ingredients trying not to smile at Hecate’s misfortune.

She knew it sucked, and was in no way funny, but the way Hecate’s face cycled through shock, anger and then annoyance and her brow furrowed adorably every time she hiccoughed was just so sweet.

They had been trying every single reversal spell they could find, plus a potion, and now they were trying a second potion they had found in a textbook.

“Can I have ‘hic’ a ravens feather please ‘hic’ Pip?” Broke Pippa out of her thoughts, and she rummaged for the black feather before passing it to Hecate. The potion turned bright green after the feather was added, and Hecate took a deep breath, ladling some of the liquid into a vial.

“Good luck, Hiccup!” Pippa said cheerfully, making Hecate pause and lower the vial as her eyes widened. “What did you ‘hic’ just call me?”

“I think three and a half days straight of hiccups calls for a nickname, hey Hiccup!” Pippa grinned cheekily, “what do you think?”

Hecate paused for a moment, and with a hiccup, she said, “if you ‘hic’ must. But I get to ‘hic’ choose one for you as well.”

“Deal. Now take the damn potion!”

Hecate drank the potion back like a shot, grimacing slightly as the bitter taste graced her tongue. “That, is disgusting! Like I licked a mud covered boot that had also trodden on a bog toad.” She wiped her tongue on the back of her hand to try and remove the taste.

When that didn’t work, she summoned a small piece of cheese from the school kitchens and popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before she swallowed, “hmm. A bit better, I guess. It needs to have worked, otherwise I might just feel inclined to scream.”

Pippa smirked at her, and Hecate realised the hiccups were gone. In a rare show of affection, she leapt forwards, grabbed Pippa in a hug, with the smaller witch letting out a high-pitched squeak as Hecate grabbed onto her tight, picked her up by her waist, span her around and buried her head in the blonde witch's neck, saying, “thankyou, thankyou so much, Pipsqueak!” 

Pippa stood back, her face one of humorous distaste, “Pipsqueak?!”

Hecate shrugged. “You always were short.”

“RUDE!” Pippa swatted playfully at Hecate’s arm, and they both laughed.   

Chapter Text

“Pip,” Hecate asked quietly on the morning of the eighteenth of January, as she was sitting up in bed and Pippa was doing her hair while looking at her reflection in the mirror on the wall.

“Yes darling?” Pippa span around to face Hecate, who was nervously fiddling with the duvet.

“Could we perhaps, make a code for our twin pins?”

“What do you mean?” Pippa asked, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Hecate.

“Well, if something were to go wrong, we could send five bursts of magic through them, but if we just wanted, say, a mirror call, we could do two, and just to check the other one was there, we could send one… its ok if you think it’s silly.” Hecate trailed off, but Pippa spoke up, “you clever witch! That, is a brilliant idea.”

They workshopped the idea for a while, until Pippa had to go. What they ended up with was as follows:

One pulse: Are you there?

Returned singular pulse: Yes!

Another pulse: Up for a mirror call?

Singular pulse: Yes

Two returned pulses: No

Two pulses: Are you ok?

Returned Singular pulse: yes

Two returned pulses: No

Three pulses: In danger, come now!

Four pulses: In danger, get help and then come, the threat is large.

Hecate was in lighter spirits after they had worked this out, but it may have something to do with the fact that Pippa had promised to remove her cast and mend her leg later that evening.

The day passed much faster as Hecate mirror called Ada and got an update on the (thankfully still standing) school. Mildred Hubble was working hard in her studies, and had only two mishaps in the last week, and only one of them included Ethel Hallow mysteriously disappearing, but she turned up in the confiscation cupboard in the end, even though she had been turned into a dog toy.

After a lovely catchup with Ada, and only a brief appearance from Dimity when someone had sprinkled dancing powder on her broom, the sports mistress was running all throughout the school trying to catch it, Hecate decided to transfer across the room. It had been over a month since her last transfer into town, and she was itching for the familiar sensation. She knew she should wait until her cast was off and until she had been back to the therapist, but she really could not wait any longer, it was like her insides were itchy.

She put her hand up, twisting her fingers in her trademark pattern and, to her joy, she faded from the room. Once she was scattered into atoms, the feeling much akin to pins and needles, she focused on reassembly, visualising the patch of carpet across the room she wanted to see under her feet.

As she reappeared, she flickered slightly, her lungs gasping for air, her cast heavy on her leg and affecting her balance, for when she popped into view again she rocked to the left, instinctively waving her hand to summon a chair to the spot she was going to fall towards.

It was with a satisfied smile on her face that she flumped into the black armchair, laughing through the exhaustion. She was so exhausted after her busy morning that she fell asleep right there in her summoned chair, and that was how Pippa found her when it was time for lunch.

When Hecate woke up she was tucked in under a pink blanket, with a note next to her that said in Pippa’s elegant scrawl, “nice armchair! You missed lunch, so when you wake up there will be a plate for you on the table. Xx”

Hecate smiled at the note, before rising from the armchair she had decided to ask Pippa to keep, it was just so comfy. She ate the provided lunch, and then sent a pulse through her twin pin, letting Pippa know she was awake.

She received one back, and spent the rest of the afternoon reading ‘Potions Weekly’ the only magazine Hecate was subscribed too, and the only one she believed was necessary, not believing Pippa needed the twenty magazines on various topics she received every week were entirely needed. There was a very interesting section on monksroot that she wanted to tell Pippa about that evening.

When the dinner bell rang, Hecate was already on her way to the great hall. When she reached it, she took her spot at the teachers table between Mrs Durne and Pippa’s empty seat but across the table from Mrs Hitch. Waiting patiently for her girlfriend to arrive, she struck up a conversation with Mrs Hitch about the properties of hawk talon in language translation potions.

After a minute or two, Pippa transferred to the teachers table with her usual flutter of pink, but with a slightly forlorn expression that no-one else noticed as she sat down, her normal polite smile plastered on her face. Hecate was different, she had always been able to spot the lack of sparkle in the woman’s eyes, the tension in her neck and the tiredness in the muscles in her cheeks.

“Hello darling, sorry I’m late, there was a small problem in chanting.”

Before Hecate could ask, Pippa said, “I’ll tell you later. How was your afternoon?” 

 Hecate told her about the study on monksroot. “Did you know that monksroot can be used in replacement of knotweed? That could be very useful in emergencies, as monksroot is much easier to find, and much less expensive than knotweed. What do you think?” She glanced up at Pippa, who was turned away and staring into the distance with unfocused eyes, not listening to Hecate at all. “Pip?”

Pippa jumped in her seat slightly, turning to Hecate quickly, before she said, “I am rather tired tonight, I might retire to my rooms, if that’s alright…” she stood up slowly after the staff had bid her goodnight, and walked out of the room.

As soon as the Headmistress left, the hall erupted in a buzz of whispered conversation.

Hecate took note that Pippa said ‘my rooms’ instead of theirs, the fact that she barely ate any dinner, and the fact that she walked out of the room instead of transference. All of this added up to a very confused and worried Hecate Hardbroom.

Frida was sitting on Hecate’s right, and elbowed the austere woman in the still slightly broken ribs, making her wince, “oi, go after her, please?”

Hecate looked at her with confusion, and Frida gave her a look. “You may be her girlfriend, but I helped her build this school when you were nowhere to be seen, and I know when she is hiding something bad. Please, go and find her?”

Hecate nodded, cringing slightly at the reminder of her absence, before also bidding the table goodnight, and walking to Pippa’s chambers, taking her time and thinking all the way, “what happened in chanting?”

She entered the rooms slowly, noticing the curtains were all shut, leaving the rooms in nearly complete darkness. “Pip?” She asked quietly, but there was no reply. Hecate opened the door to their bedroom, and after her eyes adjusted to the darkness she took in the sight before her.

Pippa was laying on top of the covers on the bed, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling while still wearing her crisp pink dress suit she saved for teaching days. Hecate gently laid down next to her on the bed, taking Pippa’s hand in her own and squeezing it as a sign that she was there, and willing to listen to anything the blonde witch wanted to tell her.

“What happened, Pip?”

Pippa sniffed, and Hecate realised she was crying softly. Hecate propped herself up on her elbow so she was looking at Pippa, who now had her eyes shut, and her face was turning red with the effort of not crying. There was a small window of silence, before Pippa said almost inaudibly, “the words came out wrong…”

Hecate was silent for a moment, before she answered almost as inaudibly, “in your chant?”

Pippa nodded, burying her face in Hecate’s shoulder, wetting the fabric with her tears.

“And, what happened then?”

Pippa shook her head, pressing further into Hecate’s neck as the tall woman wrapped her arms around her shaking frame.

After Pippa’s sobs had lessened a bit, and she had removed her reddened face from Hecate’s neck, smiling slightly at the immediate offer of a black handkerchief, she spoke again.

“Preston Davies sneezed while I was in the middle of my cleaning chant, you know the one, ‘eye of toad, milk of thistle,’ blah, blah, blah, and I got distracted and messed up the words…”

Hecate stroked her hair comfortingly as Pippa took a deep breath, rallying herself to continue. “The plates I was trying to tidy away… they started to spin on the table, and as we all laughed at my slip-up, they flew in all directions…”

Pippa’s eyes filled with fresh tears, as she cuddled closer to Hecate, breathing in the smell of jasmine and mint that always brought her great comfort in times of stress.

“…I managed to turn four of them into harmless piles of sand, but one of them was heading right towards Anastasia Williamson’s face. I couldn’t reach it with magic, not from where I was at the front of the classroom, I did try…”

“What happened then, Pipsqueak?” Hecate probed gently, knowing the blonde would feel better after recounting the events.

“I transferred in front of her and wrapped her up in my arms… So, the plate hit me instead…” Pippa whispered.

Hecate was instantly on high alert, “it hit you Pippa?!”

Pippa nodded. “It smashed against my right shoulder. But Anastasia is ok!”

“I don’t care about Anastasia! I care about you!” Hecate went to pull Pippa into a tighter hug, but the blonde tensed when her shoulder was squeezed, and she let out a small whimper of pain.

Pippa stood at a table at the front of her classroom, wearing a pink dress suit. “Hello second years! Today we will be learning a cleaning chant of my own invention, and if you master it, I might allow you to clean your rooms with it!” She winked at the class.

On the table in front of her was a stack of five pink plates and a box, the words of the chant were on the board behind her,

‘Eye of toad, Milk of thistle,

Words of mouth and special whistle,

Hear my words and see my wish,

Mother’s vase and birthday dish,

See this room in disarray,

Put items back into their place!’

“I will be doing a demonstration before you attempt this, and hopefully these plates will end up in the box. For the chant to work, you need to imagine what you want to happen. I find that it helps to shut my eyes and focus on the plates ending up in the box. After doing this a few times you might be able to tidy a whole room!”

The students chattered excitedly at the prospect of cleaning their rooms with magic, and Pippa chuckled. “Right! Shall we begin?”

There was a chorus of “yes Miss!” So Pippa began.

“Eye of toad, Milk of thistle, words of mouth and special whistle,” as she sang, a student called Preston Davies sneezed, and in a bout of accidental magic he made the lightbulb explode, temporarily distracting Pippa, but as she had started the chant she could not stop in the middle without consequences.

She rushed out the rest of the chant, but with the distraction she mixed up the words and ended up saying,  “See my words and hear my wish, Mothers place and birthday dish, see the disarray, put items back into their place!’

There was silence for a moment as Pippa waved a hand and fixed the lightbulb, before she thought about the words that she had just said and smiled, “that went a bit wrong, didn’t it!” As their teacher laughed at herself, the class giggled along, unaware of the plates starting to rattle on the table.

“Shall we try that again?” Pippa asked the class, who nodded, so Pippa went to start her chant again, but then she noticed the plates beginning to spin. She reached out with her magic, but somehow it made the plates spin faster, and now they were rising off the table like demon frisbees, emitting a high pitched scream with the speed they were rotating.

Just after the plates shot off in all directions Pippa shot pink bolts of magic at the plates, transfiguring them into sand which just fell to the floor, to be easily cleaned up.

She pointed at the last plate, now halfway across the room, but her magic missed it twice, and now the spinning missile was heading directly for Anastasia Williamson, who was frozen in place, mouth open but not screaming, with her eyes tracking the rapidly approaching plate.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, Pippa immediately transferred into the path of the projectile without a hazy pink mist, as was her usual style. No, this was a transfer out of desperation.

Pippa reappeared directly in front of Anastasia and wrapped the student up in her arms, managing to cast a very weak protection spell with her remaining magic. Then she felt a blinding pain in her shoulder as the protection spell she had only just managed to cast shattered and the plate exploded against her, clattering to the floor in shards, with gasps of shock and horror from all the other students.

Miss Pentangle stood up straight with only slight difficulty, and quickly asked the girl infront of her, “are you alright?”

Anastasia was as white as a sheet, and was shaking a little. She stood up tall despite her anxiety, and spat at the woman who may have just saved her life, “you could have killed me!”

Pippa was shocked. “What?” She managed to stutter.

“I am going to tell my father that this school is dangerous. He’ll have you shut down!” With that, the student grabbed her bag and stormed out of the room. Pippa could feel a bruise blooming under her dress and, although she couldn’t tell the extent of the damage, she knew it was pretty severe.

She turned her attention back to the remaining students, and said, “class dismissed, use the remaining time to study. Off you go!”

The students quietly gathered their belongings and started to leave the room.

“Are you alright Miss Pentangle?” Preston Davies had approached her with a scared and anxious look on his face. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you!”

“It’s alright Preston,” Pippa reassured the boy, “everyone has accidental magic, it’s my job to help you learn to control it. You will get there, I am sure of it.”

“I hope so Miss, I really am sorry!” With that, the boy left the room.

After the worried students had filed out of the door, Pippa vanished the piles of sand and sharp shards of plate from the floor and flumped into her chair, reliving the events of the last ten minutes in her head for over forty-five minutes until she received a maglet message from Frida that said,

‘Late for dinner? Are you alright Pinky?’

With that, Pippa magically cleared her face of the running mascara below red rimmed eyes, and transferred to dinner.

Hecate propped herself up further and pushed Pippa’s dress down off her shoulder, stifling a gasp as a large purple and blue bruise was revealed, along with a small cut just above Pippa’s shoulder blade. Looking further up Pippa’s neck, Hecate spotted lots of little cuts that had previously been covered by a mass of blonde hair.

“I pretended it didn’t hurt… but it did, and it does… please can you try to fix it Hiccup?”

Hecate squared her jaw and nodded. It had been a while since she had attempted healing magic, but she would do it. For Pipsqueak.

“I will try my best Pip, relax as much as you can.” Hecate placed both her hands on Pippa’s shoulder, flooding her fingers with magic and gently releasing it into Pippa’s skin. She shut her eyes and imagined the bruise fading away, the skin stitching back together, and the pain disappearing completely.

“Thankyou Hiccup…” came a whispered voice from under Hecate, as the last of the bruise faded away. “Anytime, Pips.” She replied, laying back down next to Pippa and spooning her from behind.

Pippa snuggled in, before stopping, a small gasp of horror making its way out of her mouth. “Miss Williamson is the daughter of Diana and Godfrey Williamson, who are the school's biggest donors. If word gets back to them about their daughter being in danger at my school… Hiccup, they might stop donating!”

(Mr and Mrs Williamson owned one of the largest magical care home lots in England. They provided care to the elderly and frail, while letting them live in their own little houses. It was known that their business was rotten, the homes were occupied with more than one elderly person, sometimes more than six, and they skimped on expenses while buying lots of things for themselves. All in all, not very nice people.)

Hecate was a little bit stumped, so said what she hoped was comforting. “We will just tell them the truth. That you put yourself in harms way to save their daughter without hesitation, and would do so for any of your students in a heart beat. If they believe otherwise, they don’t know you at all.”

“I hope so, I really do… but I didn’t even think of who her parents were when she told me she would tell her father about this, Hiccup, they are going to know.”

“We can deal with it together, and Frida will be there, and it will all be ok. Now, is it time for bed?”

After a quick wave of a black fingernailed hand, both woman were in pyjamas, Pippa in her pink silk cat print ones, and Hecate in a simple black nightgown. They cuddled into bed, having both forgotten Pippa’s promise to remove Hecate’s cast. Oh well, it can wait until tomorrow.

The next morning, Pippa awoke to a head of dark hair on her chest, and soft snores from the woman cuddled up to her. After checking the time, half past seven, Pippa laid in silence, remembering the events of yesterday. The ache in her shoulder didn’t help, and neither did a maglet message from Frida, her deputy head, that said,

‘Couldn’t keep them away for long, Diana and Godfrey Williamson will be here at nine sharp, and they want to talk to you. I will be there too, but I am sorry.’  Eggy x

An audible groan from the blonde witch made Hecate stir, and the potions mistress stretched before looking up at Pippa, who had her head in her hands. “Pip?” Hecate questioned, and Pippa gave her the maglet, showing the message. “Ah.”

At ten to nine, Pippa stood at the window in her office wearing a crisp pink dress with a high neck and a modest length, not wanting another reason for points against her. She was staring out at the Pentangles grounds, admiring the flower garden the third years had been working on with Mr Nevine.

Her office was one of her favourite rooms in the whole castle, with high ceilings and pink decorative beams. The room was comforting with its colour scheme of dark purple and cream, and accents of bright pink.

Her large oak desk stood in the middle of the oval room and faced the door, with a high backed purple chair behind it, and two wooden chairs with purple cushions in front of it. Behind the desk was the fireplace, with a small coffee table which a marble chess set sat atop, and a pink chaise lounge was adjacent to the table.

There were also two squishy purple armchairs opposite the chaise lounge, which Pippa loved to collapse in after a long day.

This setup held a special place in her heart, for it was where she and Hecate played chess every Thursday while reconnecting after the spelling bee.

Frida transferred into the room at five to nine, while saying, “they are already outside, are you ready?”

“I felt the wards fluctuate. And no, I don’t think I am, but I’ll have to, won’t I?”

“I’m afraid you will. Shall I let them in?”

“I think you had better. Don’t want them to add ‘punctuality’ to their list of woes about me, do we.” Pippa turned away from the window, managing a small smile for Frida, and steeled herself for the arrival of Mr and Mrs Williamson, pasting a polite smile on her face.

The door banged open, and a very large bald man in a slightly too small pinstripe suit entered the room. His bulk strained against the seams of the suit, stretched tight over his stomach and shoulders. He was easily six feet tall, and he nearly had a hard time getting in through the door, but the speed at which he barged past Mrs Durne made sure he didn’t stick in the gap. Every step he took seemed to echo with a heavy thud, the weight of his stature almost leaving indentations of his leather shoes in Pippa’s wooden floor.

Mr Williamson had a very round head, it looked like he was balancing a bowling ball on his enormous shoulders. His face consisted of an upturned nose, with a deep set eyes, round cheeks and thick eyebrows. His eyes were dark and beady, angrily surveying the room with contempt, and veins in his neck and face were pulsing with every beat of his furious heart.

He slammed a large hand down on Pippa’s desk, not even offering a ‘well met’. The pink woman somehow kept composure, and offered a greeting while bending down as low as she could as a sign of respect.

Behind Mr Williamson, a grim looking woman with a sour face and impossibly thin eyebrows followed him through the door. She had sharp cheekbones and small hooked nose below her own set of small beady eyes that were sharp, calculating and dark like polished onyx.

She was only just shorter than her husband, and held an air of thinking she was better than everyone else around her.

She stood tall, her angular frame cloaked in a dark, sombre attire that matched the grim expression on her face. She moved with a graceful, almost haunting gait, and she wore clunky high heels that Pippa couldn’t see but could hear as the woman stalked in through the door and across the wooden floor. Her short black hair hung straight just past her ears, framing her face like a veil, and she was starting to grey from the roots.

“You could have killed my girl.” The man growled, literally growled, at Pippa, hand still stuck on her desk and piggy eyes searching her face.

“If you could sit down, maybe we could discuss.” Pippa said politely, gesturing at the chairs in front of her desk. The Williamsons sat down, albeit stiffly, in the provided chairs, with Godfrey nearly breaking his with his enormous figure.

Pippa circled the desk and prayed to any ancient deity that may have been listening for strength, sharing a look with Frida who was standing just on the left behind her chair, before she sat down in her chair and faced the highest paying donors of her school.

“You could have killed my girl.” Mr Williamson repeated, still staring into Pippa’s soul.

“It was simply a bit of misfiring magic that distracted me and made me say the words in my chant wrong. The plates I had been trying to tidy went a little haywire, I managed to turn four of them into sand, but I missed the one that was heading straight for your daughter twice-”

“Well maybe your aim should be better.” Mrs Williamson cut in haughtily, sneering at Pippa.

“Well Ma’am,” Pippa continued carefully, like she was explaining to a child, “the plates were shooting across the room at a very high speed. It may have been a miracle I could take out four of them on my own.”

The woman let out a noise very similar to a ‘harrumph’ and Mr Williamson seemed to grumble under his breath.

Pippa breathed deeply, and remembered that Hecate was waiting for her back in their rooms.

They had agreed that Hecate shouldn’t be there is person, but she was watching and listening in from a spell that projected a view of the room from a top corner onto a wall. It was a comfort that possibly the worlds most powerful witch (who also happened to be her girlfriend!) was watching over her from afar.

“As I was saying, I missed the last plate twice, so I transferred into the way of the plate, and wrapped your daughter in my arms-”

Mrs Williamson interrupted again, “you also touched her without her consent?!”

‘It did feel like an emergency, Ma’am, the plate was spinning at an alarming speed.” Pippa was just starting to lose patience, but Frida’s grounding hand on her arm pulled her back to earth, so she took a deep breath. “The plate cracked into my shoulder instead of your daughters face, so I asked her if she was alright but she just shouted at me and ran off.”

“As she should, good girl.” The woman spoke again, looking pleased and smug.

“I have yet to find her today, but she should be joining us in just a moment to discuss her punishment.”

“Punishment?!” Mrs Williamson asked incredulously, thin eyebrows rising impossibly high on her face.

“She did shout at a teacher, as well as leave in the middle of a lesson. Those are grounds for detention with any other student, your daughter is not special, and will not get special treatment from this school.”

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and before Pippa could even say, “enter!” The door opened and Anastasia Williamson entered, ignoring her headmistress and instead running to her parents with a loud, “Daddy! Mama!”

The man said with a small smile, “hello Pumpkin. Sit down.”

Whereas the woman said with a sneer, “for Morgana’s sake, pull yourself together child and sit.”

Pippa waved a hand and another wooden chair with a purple cushion appeared, but Anastasia strutted past it and sat down in one of the squishy armchairs by the fire.

Frida was all set to tell the child off, but a small shake of the head from Pippa made her stop.

The Headmistress set her face into a straight line and looked over her glasses at the Williamsons in front of her. “Your daughter is going to be in detention for the next week, every evening, with me. We are going to go over her charms work she hasn’t done.”

Mr Williamson drew himself up to his full height and puffed out his chest. “My daughter has done nothing wrong, you will not be giving her a punishment.” His voice boomed throughout the room, and Pippa sighed internally.

“Your daughter refuses to do work, bullies other pupils, shouts at teachers, and she left in the middle of a lesson. I have let her get away with too much, and it is about time she was punished for it, I am sorry, but this is the way I am choosing to deal with this situation, this is my damn school, I’ll beg you to remember!” Pippa finished on a definite note, finding that she was stood up and leaning over the desk, looking Mr Williamson straight in the eye. His piggy little eye twitched in anger.

Now he was also standing up, towering over Pippa by over a foot. “You. Will. Not punish my daughter.” He said slowly, punctuating every word with a thick finger poking Pippa in the chest.

“If you punish my daughter, I will stop funding this school.” He threatened, and Mrs Williamson was suddenly standing as well, both of them looking down on the Headmistress.

Pippa had had enough. “Maybe I don’t want your rotten money!” She said loudly, “maybe I want to expel your daughter and never see any of your smug little faces ever again!”

Mr and Mrs Williamson gasped, and Pippa felt a hand on her shoulder, Frida’s hand. “Pip…” she whispered in warning, but Pippa was too far in. She transferred Anastasia out of the room before she absolutely tore her parents apart (verbally, of course.).

“You get your money from the poor people who live in your ‘homes’, but they are no more than glorified caravans! Your money is dirty.” Pippa spat, and Diana Williamson was quick to say, “we will never donate to your school again.”

Diana was pointing a finger at Frida and Pippa in turn, before she shot a bolt of blue light out of her finger which hit Frida square in the chest, throwing her against the wall.

Before Pippa could say a thing except gasp, both the angry parents in her office were magically throwing items at her, lamps, chairs, ornamental paperweights, and even Pippa’s desk was rising off the ground. Bolts of multicoloured lights flew all around the room as Pippa desperately tried to defend herself against two very talented duellists, plus tonnes of flying furniture.

She struggled to keep up a protection spell as well as fight back, as the married couple had their duelling routine down like clockwork, working together to back Pippa into a corner.

“HICCUP!” She screamed as a cutting curse flew past her leg and nicked her calf, sending a bolt of pain through her. She was caught in a fast paced duel with Mrs Williamson, so she was unable to keep her eye on the other figure in the room. Then suddenly there was a very large man behind her, meaty hand wrapped around her throat, choking her where she stood. As she scrabbled at the fingers grasped around her neck, Godfrey held her up off the ground and Diana kept shooting small cutting hexes and stinging curses at every bit of Pippa she could reach.

Pippa was unable to reach her twin pin which was placed on her collar, as it was stuck behind the giant hand holding her up off the floor.

Godfrey briefly loosened his hold, not wanting to kill Pippa quite yet, so she gulped in a big breath but used it all up in a second by screaming as loud as she could, before her vision started blackening around the edges and the sounds in the room sounded like she was underwater. As the last of her senses faded away, she was vaguely aware of a crack resounding around the room, but then she was unconscious.

**

Hecate was marking some of Pippa’s papers for her while the image of Pippa’s office was projected onto the wall beside her. She watched intently for a while, but then it got just a little bit boring, so she just marked and marked, until she dropped off into her stack of terribly boring exam papers. She was awakened briefly by Pippa saying, “Hiccup!” But she thought she imagined it, so shut her eyes and went back to sleep.

“AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!”

She was definitely awake that time. Her head shot up with an exam paper stuck to her cheek, and she turned so she was looking at the image projected beside her. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as she took in the image she saw; Pippa was being choked by Mr Williamson as Mrs Williamson shot curses at her.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She muttered repeatedly under her breath, Pippa was in trouble, so Hecate began to see red.

Rage grew inside her like an inferno, and the only thought in her mind was saving Pippa. With an angry wave of her hand, she disappeared into nothing.

Hecate appeared in the middle of Pippa’s office with a resounding crack, a huge black whirlwind accompanied her dramatic entrance, swirling papers off the desk onto the floor and whipping her hair around her face. Where she had landed, cracks spiderwebbed out across the floor. She realised that she must look quite the picture right now, she was wearing one of her long dresses she wore for teaching (conveniently covering up her cast), pocket watch around her neck (like always), and her wide leather belt was around her waist.

Her hair had been up in a low bun, but in her haste to transfer she had knocked it loose, strands flying all around her. Her hands were on her hips, and the black whirlwind around her was accentuating her visible anger. Her face was set into a mask of stone, eyes narrowed and darker than normal, with her usually stern expression replaced with a fierce scowl. Her shoulders were tense, the tendons in her neck were taught and visible, and her voice, normally composed and commanding, trembled with barely contained fury as she yelled at the top of her lungs, “what the HELL is going on here?!”

Her breath was coming in short sharp bursts as she fought to regain some composure, but Mrs Williamson just shot her a snide look and sneered, “come to save your little girlfriend have you Hardbroom? I don’t know why you bother with her at all, pink and modern, surely she is just a little blemish on your reputation?”

Despite her efforts to remain focused, Hecate’s mind was still clouded by the intensity of her anger, so she threw a hex at the woman, who just moved a little to the left and laughed haughtily at her.

“That all you got, Hardbroom? This’ll be a breeze.” She taunted as she shot her own string of curses at Hecate, who was trying to keep an eye on Pippa, while avoiding being struck with any beams of light.

After a moment she was suddenly engaged in a duelling match with Mrs Williamson. “Why are you doing this?!” She yelled over the din of the room, things were flying in every direction.

“I keep up with the gossip, you and Pentangle are a couple and it is disgusting. If we made Anastasia curse the plates so they attacked her, we knew that we would get called in and if we attacked your precious little Miss Pentangle,” the woman spoke her name in a mock baby voice which just angered Hecate more. “We knew you would appear to protect her, the chivalrous knight in shining armour, and then we could finish you both off.” Mrs Williamson sneered as she kept shooting curse after curse at Hecate. 

She was ducking and rolling across the floor to avoid hexes and curses, but somehow Diana managed to shoot an exploding hex at her witch hit her pocket watch, which did just that, exploding as pieces of the chain and the watch itself flew across the room, metallic sounds happened all around her as the bits of watch hit the floor. Hecate knew that was the last straw, she was so blinded by rage that she gave no second thought to her incredibly powerful stunning curse, shooting the woman in the stomach, making her fly across the room.

She then turned to Mr Williamson, who still held her darling Pippa in a choke hold. Hecate could not attempt a duel with the man and risk hurting Pippa, so she sent a jolt through the floor, making Godfrey lose balance and fall onto his rather large behind, losing his grip on Pippa in the process, who looked unconscious as she fell to the floor like a rag doll.

“Get. Your. Disgusting. Piggy. Hands. Off. My. Girlfriend.” Hecate growled as she stalked across the floor, even with a cast she was fast, and she was simultaneously shooting various curses at the man on the floor, punctuating every word with a stamp on the floor, sending a small tremor through the floor with every one.

She was also hurling insults at the man, calling him all sorts of vile names that would make a sailor scared.

Eventually, Hecate was screaming into his face, hoping that her volume would bring some other teachers to the room, but also because she was just so angry with him that she had to attack him in any way she could. It took all of her wavering restraint to not tear the fat man limb from limb. It was like Hecate was watching her own actions on a red screen, she was not entirely aware of what she was doing, sending curses and hexes at him at a rapid pace, working down his protective spell.

Finally, she stunned him as well, before dropping to the floor beside Pippa, cradling the limp woman to her chest, and whispering, “wake up my love, please, Pippa, wake up, please…” she begged the woman to open her eyes, mind blanking on where the infirmary even was in Pentangles, and brain fuzzy from using up so much magic in a small space of time.

“What the fuck has happened in here?!” Miss Harriet Rendle had transferred into the room, followed closely by Mr Harold Nevine, who immediately ran over inspect his unconscious wife.

“The donors went mad…” Hecate managed to say as she finally looked up from Pippa and surveyed the damage to the room. The windows were broken, the desk was on its side and on the opposite side of the room than it should be, it also had char marks on it, the floor was burned and cracked from where Hecate had appeared in an angry inferno, there were four, nearly five, unconscious people in the room and there was blood on the floor near Pippa, who was still unmoving in Hecate’s arms. The marble chess set had been knocked off the table, and a couple of pieces were broken, bringing a tear to Hecate’s eye, even though they could fix it.

Mr Williamson was slumped beside Pippa’s desk, Mrs Williamson was against the far wall from where she had been thrown, and Frida was flat on her back beside the coffee table with Harold cradling her head before he transferred them both away.

“Miss Hardbroom, we need the nurse to look at her, come on, I’ll transfer you both.” Miss Rendle was beside her holding her hand, and all Hecate could do was nod dumbly as they disappeared.

Reappearing in the middle of the infirmary floor, a nurse was already tending to Frida, who was laid across her husband’s lap a little way away. “Help!” Miss Rendle called from the floor, and immediately there were two, no, three, nurses surrounding them, prising Pippa from Hecate’s grip, who could only sit on the cold floor and watch as medi-witches cast spells on Pippa, before closing the curtains around her bed, shutting her out of view from the couple of students in the other beds, leaving Hecate on the floor, frozen in place, staring at the spot where precious Pippa had just disappeared from her vision.

 Her hand went to her pocket watch, but then she remembered her watch was broken, and her hand closed on empty space. She felt hollow without it, confused and unable to work out what to do with her hand, not knowing how to calm her anxiety without the only piece of her mother she had ever really had. She dug her long fingernails into the palms of her hands instead, leaving four crescent shaped cuts on each hand.

“Come on, Miss Hardbroom, up off the floor, that’s it,” then Harriet was holding onto her arm, and guiding her into a chair. Hecate was shaking and her vision was blurring, the signature signs of magical exhaustion. “Tell…” she started, taking a deep breath as slipped into unconsciousness, “tell Pip I love her…” was all she managed to say before she slumped into the chair and her vision turned black.

**

Harriet Rendle had helped get Miss Hardbroom into a bed after the woman used up all of her magical reserves against those fools. She sat at her bedside and updated her on all the silly things around the castle, including Miss Pentangle, who was going to be ok, all she needed was a good rest and a couple of potions.

Miss Hardbroom on the other hand, was going to be unconscious for a while while her magical reserves refilled. Pippa was able to come and see her after just a day and she sat there, holding her hand tightly, while kissing her on the forehead and calling her a “stupid, sentimental sod.”

Chapter Text

Hecate once again woke up in a hospital bed, blinking away the sleep from her eyes and noticing that Pippa was tucked up in bed with her. The bed seemed to have been extended into a double, but Pippa was still cuddled right up next to her, leaving an expanse of empty bed. Her vision was still blurry and her throat was scratchy, either from the sleep, or from screaming at Mr Williamson. After a moment, she lifted up a heavy hand and patted Pippa’s pink clad shoulder with it.

“Hmm?” Pippa opened her eyes slowly and stretched, before she realised Hecate was awake.

“Oh Merlin, Hiccup you’re alright!” Pippa sat up and looked down at Hecate, who was still blinking blearily. “Do you need some water?” She asked, and Hecate nodded stiffly, within a moment a straw was pressed to her lips.

After she had drunk some water, Pippa moved so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. “What do you remember, Hiccup?” She asked carefully, running her fingers over the scar in the middle of Hecate’s right hand.

Hecate was stumped briefly, digging into the back of her mind for the events before unconsciousness. “…I was marking. And you were… in a meeting. With those donors… the Williamsons?”

Pippa nodded, so Hecate continued, “oh, the view of the room was projected on the wall, so I could watch over you, right, because they were a bit scary?”

“Yup,” Pippa said, shooting Hecate a small smile.

“And then… oh Merlin, I fell asleep, and when I woke up, they had gone insane, the… office was a mess and… Morgana, you were being choked! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am, I had some potions and spells to fix all the damage they had done. What happened then?” Pippa asked gently, holding Hecate’s hand tightly.

“I... I transferred in… and duelled them both… but she broke my watch Pip…” Hecate looked up from where her other hand was picking at the duvet, eyes wide and filled with tears.

“I don’t know if it can be fixed this time… Pip.” Hecate said in a small voice, “it was an exploding hex.”

“I am so sorry, Hiccup…” Pippa whispered as she wrapped the other woman up in a hug. After a while, Hecate had stopped crying, and was just staring across the room.

“I will try my best to fix it, but my office has already been set to rights and I don’t know if all the pieces will be there. But I will try my best, I promise.” She vowed, and Hecate whispered, “thank you Pip…”

“I stunned them both, after shouting at them.” Hecate said after a while, “but Pip… I narrowly avoided two killing curses from Mrs Williamson.” She finished almost inaudibly, avoiding Pippa’s gaze.

“You what?” Pippa sat up straight and moved Hecate’s chin so the other woman looked her in the eye, checking for any signs of deceit, but, of course, there were none.

“I avoided two killing curses.” Hecate repeated again.

“Fucking hell.” Pippa slumped back onto the bed, before sitting up straight and smacking Hecate on the arm with every word, “don’t, you, dare, ever, be a, chivalrous, girlfriend, again! Alright?”

“I might struggle with that.” Hecate replied honestly, a small smile gracing her lips.

“The Great Wizard has sent some police wizards to sit outside your door until you wake up, you will need to talk to them and probably testify in court with me…” Pippa said quietly after a while.

“Alright, in a bit.” Hecate cuddled back into her girlfriend.

**

Hecate talked with the police, giving them her account of the events. Pippa had already done the same, so she sat next to Hecate on the bed as she spoke.

After the police had left, Hecate spent one more night in the infirmary, before Nurse Mary let her out, back to Pippa’s rooms, where she was to use no magic for at least three more days, and no transference for another week. Hecate was reminded of another time she couldn’t use magic, and was grouchy and nasty to anyone who spoke to her for a day, until Ada mirrored her and told her to stop being an arse, so she did.

**

Pippa returned to their rooms and entered the bedroom, seeing Hecate sat up in bed with a cup of tea and a book on ordinary houseplants, with both cats curled up next to her.

“Hey Hiccup, ordinary houseplants eh?.” She said quietly as she waved a hand to put herself in pyjamas even though it was the middle of the day, sitting herself down on the edge of the bed.

“I find them fascinating, look at this one!” Hecate showed Pippa a page on a Philodendron Imperial Red and Pippa looked it over quickly, nodding and saying softly, “that’s lovely.”

“Are you alright Pipsqueak?” Hecate asked in concern, setting down her book and laying a hand on Pippa’s shoulder.

“I will be, but my office is back to normal, with no sign of your pocket watch. I have tried to summon the pieces, but they are gone. I am so sorry, Hecate.” Pippa said sadly, turning to see Hecate looking down at the bed.

“Never mind.” She whispered eventually, “it’s amazing I hadn’t broken it before. I guess it was about time. I’ll miss it.”

“I’m sorry…” Pippa said again, sitting at the head of the bed and letting Hecate curl into her side.

Hecate rolled over, expressing discomfort with the cast that was still weighing down her leg.

“Oh Merlin, I told you I’d remove that for you days ago! Why didn’t you remind me?” Pippa fussed after she noticed the wince cross Hecate’s face.

“You were busy.” Hecate shrugged, and Pippa smacked her playfully on the arm. “I told you I’d do it! I’m going to do it now, alright?”

Hecate nodded, “only if you are sure-” she started to say but received a stern look from the blonde in the bed with her and fell silent.

Pippa moved so that she was sitting next to the cast. She held her hands over it and vanished the plaster, holding Hecate’s ankle still with one hand so that she didn’t shift the bones out of place. The leg looked even paler than the rest of Hecate, the skin was dry and flaky, and her muscles were weak and atrophied from lack of use. There was a scar going from the knee to halfway down her cast from where the doctors had to surgically set the bones back into place with metal plates.

“Bones broken, bones out of place,

By tooth of bat and pinch of mace,

Reset this skeleton now unaligned,

Leave this leg once more defined.”

As Pippa sang, pink and purple magic streamed out of her raised hand, landing on Hecate’s leg and sinking beneath the pale skin. Hecate’s face set into a grimace as the magic worked, knitting her bones back together. “Do you want me to remove the metal?” Pippa spoke through gritted teeth, a side effect of her concentration, and Hecate looked spooked, “they put metal in me?!?”

Pippa nodded, “to hold your bones in place. You had quite the nasty break.”

“Yes please… I don’t think I’ll need them any more.” Hecate let out a small nervous laugh.

Pippa nodded and released her hold on Hecate’s ankle, holding it out flat as four metal plates fell into her palm, as well as sixteen small screws.

“Those were in my bone?” Hecate looked slightly ill as she looked at the hardware that she had been lugging around with her for a month, so Pippa vanished them. “Yup.”

Pippa finished healing Hecate’s leg, and with a gasp she slumped back onto the pillows. “Are you ok?” Hecate asked, placing a hand on Pippa’s shoulder as the other woman closed her eyes.

“I will be. Healing magic takes a lot out of me.” She said quietly, motioning for Hecate to give her a cuddle. “Won’t the ordinaries want me to go back and have it removed?” Hecate asked after a moment, wrapping her arms around Pippa and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Nope, because patient Hecate Hardbroom has been moved to Pentangles Private Practice.” Pippa smirked, and Hecate laughed. “Well done.”

Suddenly Pippa remembered something, so she sat up and turned to Hecate. “Would you like me to get some scar fading potion for the one on your leg, and the ones elsewhere?”

Hecate looked in thought for a moment, fingers running across the scars on her arms and hands absent-mindedly. “Yes please, just for the ones on my arms, legs and face. I quite like the one on my shoulder, it looks like a spiderweb.” She smiled, before her face fell slightly and her eyebrows knitted together in concern, “Unless, you want me to get rid of all of them?”

“No, no Hiccup of course not. Whatever you are comfortable with.” Pippa’s eyes flicked up to the scar in Hecate’s eyebrow, so Hecate raised a hand to run her finger over it. Her face changed as she realised something, lips curling into a seductive smile.

She raised her scarred eyebrow at Pippa, who nearly fainted, she didn’t think she had ever seen anything so attractive in her life. Pippa knew she was staring, she just hoped she wasn’t drooling. She was also glad she was sitting down, as her knees felt weak and wobbly. Hecate leaned towards her and whispered huskily in her ear, “would you, perhaps, like me to leave that one?”

“Yes, please, Hiccup, it makes you look all mysterious and sexy...” Pippa gasped, leaning sideways to slam her lips into Hecate’s.

Pippa’s hands were both in Hecate’s hair, dislodging the strands but not caring in the slightest. Hecate’s right hand was on Pippa’s waist, and the left one was cupping Pippa’s cheek gently.

She prodded at Hecate’s mouth with her tongue and was allowed entrance, swirling her tongue around Hecate’s mouth who tasted like black coffee, a taste matching her personality to perfection. After the intense kissing, they both pulled back for air, pressing their foreheads together and staring into each other’s eyes.

“We’d better do this before we get carried away.” Pippa said, winking, as she summoned a small purple vial from the school's medical cupboard, as well as a cotton swab.

She uncorked the vial and spent an hour carefully giving each scar a kiss before dabbing the potion onto each and every raised mark on Hecate’s body. The ones on her legs, arms, face (excluding the eyebrow!), torso, chest and hands.

“Would you like me to remove this one?” Pippa asked carefully, looking at the wide scar in the centre of Hecate’s right hand, from where Hecate’s explosive magic had lashed out in defence of Pippa’s magic, ripping the wound wide open.

“Would you like me to leave it?” Hecate asked back, and they locked eyes.

“I quite like running my fingers over it…” Pippa murmured and Hecate smiled softly at her. “You can leave it then.”

Pippa had a quick look at the one on Hecate’s shoulder, letting out a bark of laughter as the scar came into view. “It does look like a spider web! A perfect spider web…” suddenly a thought struck her and she asked loudly, “did you magically alter your scar to look cool?”

“It was Dimity’s idea, and I have to say, I quite like it.” Hecate grinned and Pippa rolled her eyes with a smile, giving the scar a quick kiss.

Once all the scars were gone, with the exception of two or three, the pair flopped back into bed and embraced, with Hecate as the small spoon.

“Oh yes,” Pippa propped herself up on an elbow and waved a hand, with the drawing Mildred had done on Hecate’s cast appearing, framed, in her right hand. Hecate started to ask a question, but Pippa got there first. “Don’t lie, you liked the drawing, and you like the girl.”

“I-I do not!” Hecate spluttered, as if liking a student was a crime.

“You do. You have only started to like her more since she put us back together. I am going to put this on the wall of the cottage, alright?”

Hecate knew there was no use arguing so she just nodded.

“The girl has grown on you since she first saved your ass at Cackles, and you know that it’s the truth, Hiccup.”

Hecate scoffed playfully, “Like a fungus.”

Pippa playfully smacked her on the leg, before kissing her and snuggling back into her shoulder.

**

The morning after fixing Hecate’s broken leg, they were sitting up in bed and drinking tea, when Pippa spoke into the silence, “I’ve lost sixty percent of my funding, with the loss of the Williamsons. I hate them… but I don’t see how Pentangles can carry on without it…”

Hecate was at a little bit of a loss. “How much money was that?” She asked eventually, but there was quiet for a moment while Pippa figured it out.

“Well, they donated 140 thousand pounds every six months… so every year that’s 280 thousand pounds lost.”

Hecate was shocked. The only thing her early morning brain managed to compute was, “that’s a lot of money…”

Pippa turned to her with watery eyes, “it really is, isn’t it? How am I going to keep going without it?”

Hecate wrapped Pippa up in her arms as the other woman weeped quietly into her shoulder.  Suddenly, she was struck with a thought. “Pip…” she started, and Pippa raised her head, blinking up at Hecate with red rimmed eyes.

“When my father died… he gave me all the money he had. I do not remember the exact sum… but it was a lot, more than the Williamsons would donate in five years.”

“Blimey, what happened to it?” Pippa asked from where she was now gently resting her head on Hecate’s shoulder.

“Well, Mistress Broomhead made me lock it away behind a biometric seal, take three guesses whose biometric seal all of my money was behind.”

“Hers.” Pippa growled, and Hecate nodded. “As well as mine. That meant she couldn’t take the money without me there, but I also couldn't get to it without her there. Meaning, I never took any out because she didn’t let me.”

”What an arse.” Pippa muttered, and Hecate nodded in agreement, a rare smile gracing her face, knowing that Pippa was on her side.

“But… I’ve just had a thought.” She paused for a second to gather her thoughts, and Pippa waited patiently. “She’s dead.”

“She is. Good riddance I say.” Pippa said under her breath and Hecate stifled a small smile.

“Her biometric seal doesn’t matter anymore.” Hecate whispered, and Pippa gasped.

“You think you can access all the money she kept from you?”

“I-I think so… it's been so many years since I even thought about that money… because I knew I couldn’t get to it. But with her dead, her seal would have broken! I can get to my money, Pipsqueak! After thirty bloody years we can have that money, I’ll donate to your school and everything will be fine!” Hecate was so overcome with joy that she started crying, a grin plastered on her face as Pippa joined in, until they were both cuddling and crying and laughing, cups of cold tea and losses of funding long forgotten as they made plans to go to Vempler’s Bank.

Only when Hecate was allowed to get out of bed, of course.

**

It was the day where they were meant to go and see Evelyn Wyrmr, but as Hecate was under strict orders to stay in bed, Evelyn was going to come and see her.

Pippa helped her do her hair and she put on a blouse, still feeling the absence of her pocket watch in her very soul. Hecate ended up in black slacks and a black blouse with her twin pin pinned to the collar of the blouse.  

After a while she got cold so pulled on the first thing she could find, which just so happened to be a knitted pastel pink jumper of Pippa’s. After a brief moment of hesitation, Hecate pulled it on and was surprised at how soft and comfy it was. Waving a hand, the jumper was turned jet black. Hecate pressed her nose into the thick wool, breathing in the comforting smell of coconuts and roses, the smell of Pippa.

After a while Pippa entered the room mid sentence, “-and that’s how Jeremy Smarts broke the window in the great hall! Can you believe it darling? I don’t even know how he got the tree up there. Anyway, I was just looking for my jumper, have you seen it? You know, the light pink knitted one. I could have sworn I had it in here last night when I was reading that book on curses and hexes for the modern witch.” Hecate looked on as Pippa looked under other clothes and rummaged in all the drawers in the dresser, a sheepish look crossing her face.

Eventually, Pippa looked up and noticed Hecate’s expression, eyes travelling down until she realised what the tall woman was wearing. “Hiccup, is that my jumper?” She asked quietly, a smile forcing its way onto her face as she took in the sight of Hecate Hardbroom, England’s most powerful witch, formidable Potions Mistress and deputy head of Cackles Academy, wrapped up in a black knitted sweater. “Mayyyyyybe” Hecate said meekly, a childish grin crossing her face and arms crossing across her chest, hugging herself tightly.

“Did you turn it black?!” Pippa exclaimed in mock outrage, “how dare you!”

Hecate giggled. Then, she stopped in her tracks, eyes widening in horror.

“Hiccup?” Pippa asked in a worried tone, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Hecate. “Hecate!”

“I just giggled. Merlin, Pip, when did I become a giggler?!” Hecate’s visible shock was possibly the funniest thing Pippa had ever seen, so she couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter, which turned into a hysterical laughing fit before Pippa could even attempt to keep it under control.

“It was you! You made me into a giggler! You will pay for this, Pentangle!” Hecate leant forwards and grasped Pippa’s arms, pulling her until she was laying in the bed beside Hecate. A tickle fight ensued, only ending when Hecate’s leg started to twinge, and when Pippa had laughed so hard her sides hurt.

Pippa rolled her eyes, “You can keep the jumper.”

Hecate pumped her fist, “yes!”

**

Pippa was wearing a pink dress with a floral print and round collar, with a different pink knitted jumper over the top. Her twin pin was also pinned to her collar, and she was wearing a couple of different silver necklaces and bracelets.

After a little bit of back and forth, Hecate managed to persuade her girlfriend to help her into her big black armchair in the living room, not wanting to have to let the therapist into the bedroom. After that, Pippa’s magnet pinged, the message was from Frida and it read,

“Therapist is here, I’m bringing her up now.

E”

Pippa quickly penned a message back, and let Hecate know.

“You know Pip… I get the distinct feeling I’m going to get told off like a child.” Hecate said just as there was a knock on the door. Pippa stood up to let Evelyn in and agreed, “I think you are, and for good reason.” She shot Hecate a playful glare before she left the room.

A minute later, Pippa walked back into the room with Evelyn Wyrmr in tow. The short woman was wearing blue overalls over a bright green shirt, with her hair up in a headscarf, and her thick framed glasses rested on her nose. On her feet, she had large brown leather boots that made a loud thunk every time they hit the floor, and a clipboard was set on her hip.

“Well met, Miss Hardbroom. I am sorry to hear of what happened to you.” The therapist bowed and said politely, levitating herself up until she was sitting in the chair opposite Hecate, feet a long way off the ground.                                                      

“Well met, Miss Wyrmr, and thank you.” Hecate returned, watching the woman’s face carefully.

“Now. I am told that you transferred from these rooms all the way to Miss Pentangle’s office, is that correct?”

Hecate was determined not to turn red and stutter like a child, so she said in a definite tone, “I did.”

“And did you use up all of your recovering magical reserves even though we specially told you not to?” Miss Wyrmr looked at Hecate over her glasses, an eyebrow raised in question.

Hecate paused for a second, fingers itching to reach for her pocket watch but knowing her hand would close on empty air. She deflated a little at Evelyn’s curt tone. “I did.”

“So, you transferred too soon, and you used too much magic too soon, and look where you ended up. I am not going to shout at at you, but I am a little disappointed in you, if I am honest, Miss Hardbroom.” Evelyn continued in an even tone, making Hecate want to squirm in her chair, but she resisted, Hecate Hardbroom did not squirm. She may have fallen so low that she giggled occasionally, but she would never, ever be a squirmer. 

“In my defence, Miss Wyrmr, I did feel it was an emergency, Pippa was in trouble.” Hecate replied calmly, not wanting to start shouting at the woman, making sure to keep her voice level and controlled.

“That as it may have been, you could have just called for help instead of going in there yourself. But it is done now, and I am here to check up on how you are doing.”

“I could have done that… but the only thought in my mind was saving Pippa.” Hecate was a little confused. Why wasn’t Evelyn shouting at her? Telling her off like a misbehaving child?

“Naturally. How have you been? Did you do the exercises we provided?” Evelyn asked, now taking notes on the clip board as she spoke to Hecate.

“Y-yes, I have… wait, why are you not angry at me? I disobeyed you!” Hecate shared a confused look with Pippa, who was sitting on the sofa, a little way away from the chairs both other women were sitting in.

“That as it may be, it is in the past now. I never look into the past darling, it distracts from the now.” Evelyn punctuated the last word with a dramatic wave of her hand. She looked up from her clipboard, meeting Hecate’s eyes, who still looked scared and confused.

The therapist lowered her clip board to her lap, and sighed. “You are used to being punished. I am not going to punish you for something you did on a whim.” Hecate started to speak, but she raised her hand and the tall woman fell quiet again.

“I think you have deep set trauma, Hecate.”

Hecate started spluttering, “wha- no- not- no I do not!”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, and Hecate stopped talking, her hand raising of its own accord to find her pocket watch, but of course, there was nothing. As her hand closed on thin air, tears filled her eyes and her chin fell to her chest.

“Did something happen to your watch?” Evelyn asked quietly, noticing the reaction.

Hecate nodded, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling. Pippa stood up from the sofa and sat on the arm of Hecate’s chair, placing a hand on the other woman’s arm.

“It… it got broken beyond repair in the duel.” Hecate spoke softly, willing herself not to fall apart.

The therapist scribbled down some notes on her clipboard, now reinstated on her hip. “And how do you feel without it?”

“Like I’m the one that’s broken.” Hecate whispered, fingernails digging into her palms, leaving crescent shaped indents in the pale skin.

“And why you think you feel like that?”

Hecate blinked away the prickle in her eyes and tried to formulate a reply. “Because… I-I... maybe…” she trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut again.

“May I?” Pippa asked her quietly, and Hecate nodded slowly.

“I think Hecate feels lost without it because it was the only thing she ever had from her mother. She received it from her mother just before she died at seven years old, which was against custom as all Hardbroom children received a new personalised watch on their twenty-first birthday. She wore that watch every day from the age of eleven, when she felt she could look after it properly.”

“So, you feel like an unmoored ship because you do not have your only coping mechanism anymore, leaving you to be consumed by your anxiety.” Evelyn stated, and Hecate put her head up slowly. “I think so…” she whispered.

“Do you have any other coping mechanisms?” Evelyn asked, looking up from her clipboard and staring forwards to Hecate, crossing her legs.

“Um, I have bad ones that I started when I was with my tutor…” Hecate whispered, picking at a thread on the arm of the chair.

“Do you want to talk about that?”

“Well…” Hecate looked up to Pippa who still had a hand on Hecate’s shoulder.

“Would you like me to go? I am not offended, Hiccup I promise.” Pippa said earnestly, and Hecate spoke quietly, “yes please Pip… sorry.”

“Not at all. Touch your pin if you need me, I’ll be in the gardens.” Pippa smiled before standing up, kissing Hecate on the head and leaving the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

“What did you used to do, Hecate?” Evelyn asked carefully, knowing this was an enormous and difficult step forward for the brunette witch.

“I…. Used to cut myself with magic after I had failed my tutor. She would harm me if I did it wrong… but I felt I needed to harm myself as well… to punish myself properly. She would injure me if I did it wrong…” Tears started to roll down her cheeks and she laughed self-deprecatingly, “and why am I crying so damn much! Since I got out of hospital, it’s like I do nothing else.” She scrubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands.

Hecate shut her eyes and, just like that, she was back in that room with Broomhead.

**

Hecate stood over a cauldron, trying her best to brew the drought of living death. It was a level ten difficulty, and she was only meant to be at level six, but Broomhead needed her to do it correctly. She was standing in a small room in the Cackles basement, with no windows, one large desk and one small desk.

As she added crushed thistle, she counted how many times she had stirred it. When she reached thirteen, she stepped back to let it steep for ten minutes. Within a moment, there was a fluctuation in the magic behind her and Broomhead was suddenly there, whispering in her ear, “doing it correctly, Miss Hardbroom?”

“Yes, Mistress Broomhead.” Hecate replied automatically, going over and over the instructions in her head, seeing as she was not allowed to refer to any textbook as she brewed.

Broomhead placed a hand on her shoulder, long, sharp fingernails pressing through the thick school uniform and leaving indents in the pale skin beneath.

“Are you sure…” Broomhead hissed, flecks of her spit handing in Hecate’s pristine bun.

“Yes, Mistress, I am.” Hecate replied with more confidence than she felt, knowing if she came across scared, she would get punished.

“Good.” Broomhead vanished and Hecate let out a small sigh of relief. As her alarm bat let out a squawk, she approached the cauldron and added a pinch of powdered nettle.

She realised she must have done something wrong when the potion turned green, not blue. Anxiety rose in her chest and settled in her stomach like she had swallowed a handful of gravel, and a bead of sweat ran down her spine as she desperately thought back through the instructions. Heat rose through her face, and she started breathing fast as she imagined what would happen to her when Broomhead found out.

Her hands started shaking as she ran a hand over her face, willing herself not to lose control, maybe just for once Broomhead would say, “that’s alright Hecate, dear, lets have a look in the book, and find out what went wrong, shall we?”

But Hecate knew she was kidding herself, it would turn out as it always did; painfully.

“A mistake? How stupid of you! What are you, a first year?” Broomhead voice boomed throughout the room, making Hecate jump. “No wonder that Pentangle girl hates you now, if you cannot even do this simple potion.”

Hecate flinched, the broomstick water skiing display was still raw in her mind, and she was still mourning the loss of the only friend she had really ever had.

“Come here child. You know what happens when you get it wrong.”

Hecate didn’t want to, but she knew it would only be worse if she resisted. Her legs moved forwards, towards the large desk. Broomhead put her hands together and pulled them apart like she was pulling a measuring tape, but what appeared was worse.

A whip.

Hecate winced at the sight of it alone. She knew firsthand what that length of leather was capable of, so braced herself against she desk and awaited her fate.

Broomhead stood behind her and brought the whip down across Hecate’s shoulders, making the girl cry out in pain.

“Silence!” Broomhead shouted, “noise equals lashings, you should know this, Girl!”

“Sorry Mistress.” Hecate said though gritted teeth, clamping her jaw shut.

“Twenty will do nicely, I think. Next week you will get it right, or I will get out The Rack.”

The rack was a nasty piece of kit, with the victim strapped into leather holds on the wrists and ankles, before being turned upside down for an allotted amount of time. Hecate had been placed on ‘The Rack’ once before, and just the mention of the device was enough to get her to behave, or to abandon her best friend at their broomstick display.

Twenty lashings later, Hecate was transferred directly up to her room so no one she encountered in the hallways could ask why her face was red and tear stained, or why the back of her uniform was wrinkled and stained red. Her back was battered and bruised, and she was so angry at herself.

“You idiot!” She shouted angrily as she appeared in her room. She kicked her iron bed frame, startling Morgana who was having a nap under it. The cat hid in the bottom of the wardrobe as Hecate continued berating herself. “It was not nettle, it was wolf tooth, goddammit, you should have known that, why didn’t you know it? You FOOL!”

She was still muttering as she undressed, avoiding the mirror as it would just confirm her fears that she was a mess. She forced some magic into the tip of her pointer finger on her left hand and pointed it at the expanse of pale leg that was exposed into the cool night air. She watched as she moved her finger downwards, creating a cut in the previously unmarked thigh. She hissed at the initial burn, before it dulled down to a throb. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She repeated, carving more and more cuts into her legs.

When she finally felt punished enough, she waved a hand to dress in the school pyjamas, cringing as the rough fabric moved against her bruises, grazes and cuts. Laying down awkwardly on her front, Hecate resigned herself to a night of horribly disrupted and uncomfortable sleep.

“Hecate.” Who was that?

“HECATE!” Suddenly Hecate was back in her forty-five year old body, sitting in the big black armchair, with Evelyn Wyrmr standing in front of her, tiny hand on hers and concerned look on her face. “Miss Hardbroom?” She asked carefully, but all Hecate could focus on was how vivid the flashback was. She could still feel the burn of the whip on her back, the sting of the cuts all over her thighs, the anxiety that felt like a bouncing ball in her insides.

Her chest felt tight, with each shuddering breath she took feeling like a struggle against an invisible weight in her lungs. Hecate’s heart was pounding in her ears, all she could hear were Broomhead’s scathing words resounding around her head like the ringing of a bell.

Sweat was beading on her brow as she moved a hand up to where her watch should have been. The absence of it struck her again like the force of an incoming train. The world felt like it was collapsing around her as she fought against her body for every breath she took. Her vision was blurring, wether with tears or anxiety she could not tell. Evelyn was still beside her, talking slowly and calmly, but everything she said was distorted and distant, like they were communicating through a thick glass window.

Nausea churned in the pit of her stomach, and she swallowed hard but it did nothing to dispel the lump that had formed in her throat, or the sense of dread that filled every neuron in her mind. Time seemed to warp, going too fast and too slow at the same time, with every second stretching an eternity, every minute feeling like years, yet feeling like it was flying by all the same.

It felt like she was being crushed from all sides from a danger she could not foresee. Words Broomhead had spat at her repeated in her mind, and all Hecate could think was, “danger.”

Raising a shaking hand, Hecate sent three pulses through her twin pin, really hoping Pippa could come and save her from whatever horror her mind was putting her through.

Chapter Text

Pippa was admiring a particularly pink rose bush in the Pentangles gardens when her pin pulsed. She raised a hand to transfer back to her rooms, but then it pulsed again, and again. Three pulses… what was that one? She had to think for a moment, but it came back to her as quickly as if she had been slapped. ‘Danger! Come now!’

Shit.

Pippa readied her magic for what could be waiting for her in her chambers and transferred away. When she reappeared she held both her hands out, her fingers sparkling with pink energy, ready to take on an intruder. What she didn’t expect to see was Hecate sitting in her chair, rocking back and forth, eyes glazed over and sweat beading on her face, with the therapist desperately trying to break her out of whatever haze she was trapped in.

“Hiccup!” Pippa leapt forwards, “what the hell happened?”

“She was telling me about her tutor, and then she seemed to get trapped in a flash back. I don’t know what to do!” Evelyn stressed, stepping back.

“Broomhead?”

“Yes, yes it was.” Miss Wyrmr confirmed and Pippa grimaced.

“That woman has tormented her for far too long.” She crouched down beside Hecate and grasped a trembling hand. She noticed that Hecate’s right hand was at her chest, opening and closing on nothing, where her watch should have been. “Dammit…” Pippa muttered, before she waved a hand and summoned a rock she had seen in the gardens. The pebble was smooth and round, and could possibly become a watch substitute in the moment. Pippa pressed the rock into Hecate’s right hand, which closed around it immediately, finding comfort in the weight and coolness. Hecate was whispering under her breath, so Pippa leaned closer to hear what she was saying, “no… please, don’t hurt her… not Pippa, I’ll do anything… please!”

Hecate’s left hand was holding Pippa’s so tight that her fingers were starting to tingle. Pippa was confused by the words coming out of Hecate’s mouth, was she reminiscing another flashback or was her anxiety riddled mind creating hallucinations?

“Hiccup, it’s me Pippa, Hecate, she can’t hurt me, I promise.” She whispered, looking into Hecate’s manic eyes. Suddenly Hecate turned towards her, eyes eerily clear and focused. Quietly, she stated, “she would have killed you Pip… and no one would have ever known…”

The clarity with which she spoke scared Pippa, who tried to back away, but she was being held fast. Just then, the familiar feel of Hecate’s magic surrounded her, so Pippa held her breath to accept the sudden transfer, but the feeling of being split into atoms never happened. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of a sixteen-year-old Hecate Hardbroom standing before a tall thin woman who was talking inaudibly, but the look on her face was one of pure anger. The tendons in her neck were bulging and the veins in her face were popping, spit flying at Hecate who was stood completely still, just accepting the verbal lashings. It didn’t take a genius to work out who the woman was, it was Mistress Wilhelmina Broomhead.

The scene changed; it was now completely dark except for the voice of a woman echoing around… wherever she was.

“Pippa Pentangle? Why would she ever want to be friends with you?” The voice hissed, putting a shiver down Pippa’s neck.

“She is only friends with you so that she can be the witch who fixed Hecate Hardbroom. She has a penchant for taking in strays, you know that, you are just the last in a long, long line. Sooner or later she’ll tire of you. Kick you to the curb like she has done so many times before.” Pippa could hear the smile in the woman’s voice; it was sugary sweet and silky, making Pippa felt like she was stuck in a sticky fly trap. Listening as the big bad spider approached, getting ready to liquify her insides and suck them out through a straw.

“She hates you, Hecate… if she knew how you felt? Oh, she would run away, tell the whole school and laugh at you with them. Gay as well as useless? No wonder your father wants nothing to do with you.” There was a horrid cackle, and then the scene changed again, with a small dark room coming into view.

The woman in pink was reeling from the words she had just heard, did Broomhead really say those things? Pippa wouldn’t put it past her.

Pippa watched from the corner of the room as Hecate made a mistake while brewing a strong pain relief potion, a level ten even though they were only on level sixes at the time she believed this had happened.

She watched as Hecate had a panic attack at her mistake, and she watched when Broomhead brought out what she called, ‘The Rack.’

Trying her best to block out Hecate’s scream as her limbs were tied to the torture device, Pippa was aware of the tears running down her face. Hecate was left there, upside down, for three hours, until Broomhead came back and released her. Hecate didn’t even argue, just started packing up her cauldron and books while the blood rushed painfully back into her limbs.

“You will come back tomorrow, and you will do that potion correctly.” Broomhead said as Hecate started towards the door. Pippa didn’t even need to know the woman to know that was a thinly veiled insult, but it made Hecate stop in her tracks.

The girl took a deep breath and turned back so she was facing the formidable woman in the room. Broomhead raised an eyebrow and, had Pippa not been so nauseous already, she would have laughed at how similar Broomhead’s and Hecate’s eyebrow raises were.

“Yes, child?” Broomhead murmured, and it made Pippa shiver.

“It’s just, tomorrow is the broomstick water skiing display, and Pippa and I have been practising for months…” she trailed off and shut her eyes, waiting for Broomhead to shout.

It was then that Pippa realised when this clip was from. Year five, the day before the display. She wanted to tear her eyes away, to give Hecate this little bit of privacy, but she couldn’t, her gaze was locked onto the horror of the past.

“You and ‘Pippa’,” Broomhead mocked Hecate’s tone, “are not doing anything. You are going to be here, and you are going to do that potion. If you had gotten it right the first time, I wouldn’t have to do this to you, Hecate.” It infuriated Pippa how Broomhead made it all out to be Hecate’s fault, like she was the one who did something wrong by making a mistake on a potion four levels above her range.

Hecate seemed to deflate at that, slumping slightly, but a bark from Broomhead corrected her posture like she had an iron rod attached to her spine.

“Please, Mistress.” She said quietly, so Broomhead transferred directly infront of her and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.

“What did you say?” The woman hissed, staring down at her pupil, who seemed to have shrunk in fear.

“Mistress, please…” Hecate whispered, blinking away the prickle of tears in her eyes that were brought on by the terror her tutor created inside her head.

“Are you begging me, Hecate Hardbroom?

“No, I mean… yes.” Hecate managed to say, eyes locked onto Broomhead’s intimidating face.

“Begging doesn’t suit you.” The woman said sharply, when she paused and stared down at Hecate, “just for that, you are not allowed to speak to that Pentangle girl ever again.”

Hecate stared up at her tutor in horror, who stared back with malice in her gaze.

“Mistress?” Hecate asked, tears filling her eyes.

“If you ever speak to that girl again, I will nail you both to the rack overnight, and I will make sure she never gets to build her stupid school.” A smirk crossed the woman’s face as she realised that she had just struck gold. Hecate looked up at her tutor in horror.

“It’s her dream, isn’t it? Well, I will use my contacts at the council to make sure her permit never goes through, and I will find her entire family, and I will get them. Get them… like I…got… you.” She spoke the last three words menacingly slowly, grinning an evil smile down at the girl infront of her.

“How will pretty, proper, Little Miss Pentangle react when she finds out it was her ‘Best Friend In The Whole Wide World’ that stopped her achieving her dream? She would hate you forever.” Broomhead spoke in a mocking baby voice and stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout, as Hecate struggled not to cry.

“She would tell the whole world how it was Hecate Hardbroom’s fault as to why her whole family were gone, and why she could never hold down a job. Being friends with you would ruin her.”

Finally, tears started running down Hecate’s face, and Broomhead laughed down at her. “Poor friendless Hecate Hardbroom. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.” With that, Broomhead waved a hand and transferred Hecate away, before sitting in her chair behind her desk and laughing evilly.

Pippa suddenly felt like she had been doused with ice cold water, so she sat up and started spluttering.

**

“She would have killed you Pip… and no one would have ever known…” Hecate said clearly, and Evelyn watched as extremely emotionally charged magic surrounded the pair, shrouding them in darkness. As she looked on, the cloud dissipated, revealing Hecate and Pippa both staring off into the distance, eyes glassy and unfocused, hands still pressed together.

“Miss Pentangle? Miss Hardbroom?” She said carefully, then with more urgency when neither of them stirred. She leapt forwards as Pippa’s eyes started flickering around the room like she was tracking an invisible fly, she put both of her small hands on Pippa’s knee and shook hard, but there was no response. Hecate’s right hand was still wrapped tightly around the rock, knuckles turning white with the force of the grip. She summoned her maglet and sent a hurried message to Frida Durne, as they had exchanged numbers when she arrived in case of emergency. She was pretty sure that this constituted an emergency.

Frida transferred directly into the rooms, hands raised and ready to fight, just like Pippa had been not too long ago. “What the hell?” She said, moving forwards to look at Hecate and Pippa, who were now both sweating and breathing heavily, as though they were running, or crying.

Evelyn caught Frida up on the events of the last hour, and they both didn’t know what to do. Pippa was shaking at this point, so Frida gently grasped her and laid her down on the floor. She tried to prise apart Hecate and Pippa’s conjoined hands but she couldn’t, so she gently laid Hecate down next to her. Both sets of eyes were rolling back in their heads, and still, they couldn’t wake them. After shaking, shouting, magic, pain stimulation and prodding, Frida had the bright idea to splash them with cold water.

Evelyn shot her a questioning look, but Frida just shrugged, “always worked to wake someone up if they had a hangover.”

With that, Frida summoned a bucket of ice water, and emptied it over Pippa’s head.

The effect was immediate, with Pippa sitting up and coughing, swearing loudly. “What the fuck, was that?!” She shouted, eyes wide and scared.

“Hey, hey, Pip, Pinky, it’s me, its me and Evelyn Wyrmr, it’s just us. You’re gonna be okay, it’s alright, babe.” Frida said carefully but quickly, sitting beside Pippa and drying her with a spell before handing her a thick blanket, wrapping it gently around her shoulders. “Hiccup?” Pippa asked, looking down to see Hecate was still in whatever trance they had been trapped in, eyes wide and terrified.

Frida summoned another bucket of water, immediately emptying it over Hecate’s face, who did much the same as Pippa, swearing, spluttering and sitting up, dropping the rock to the carpet with a thump.

“What was that?” She looked around the room, relieved to see Pippa sitting beside her.

“We have no idea, what happened?” Evelyn asked, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of Hecate, Frida and Pippa, casting a drying spell over the shivering Potions Mistress.

“It was a flash back… it was Broomhead when she told me to stop being friends with you…” Hecate said quietly, body shivering but not with the cold.

“I saw that…” Pippa whispered, “did that actually happen?”

“What did you see?” Hecate asked sharply, turning to look Pippa directly in the eye.

“Well, it was Broomhead, you had made a mistake in a potion, and she tied you to the rack for three hours, and then told you you had to go in the next day to do it properly. You told her it was our broomstick display the day after, and she forbid you to speak to me or she would tie us both to the rack, stop me from building my school and kill my family.” Pippa got quieter as she spoke, seeing the horror rise in Hecate’s face.

“Oh Merlin, that actually happened?” Pippa clapped her hands to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears.

“It did… that day in particular, it haunts me everyday.” Hecate spoke under her breath, trying to hide the tremor in her voice, but being unsuccessful. Pippa immediate wrapped her in a hug. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Hiccup… I’m sorry…” she said again and again, as Hecate rested her head on Pippa’s shoulder.

“I was reliving that from my point of view… and it was horrible…”

“You shouldn’t have lived it in the first place.” Pippa murmured into her ear.

Pippa picked the rock up off the carpet and handed it back to Hecate, who looked down at it in confusion.

“Why are you handing me a rock?”

“I thought it might help, just take the damn pebble!” With that, Pippa manually closed Hecate’s fingers around the rock. The tall witch shot Pippa a lopsided soppy smile and Pippa grinned back, pulling Hecate into another hug, staying there, where they both felt safest.

“So, why did I get pulled into your flashback?” Pippa asked after a while, “is that normal?”

“It definitely is not.” Miss Wyrmr spoke up from where she was hovering by a window, staring out into the Pentangles grounds.

“Then why did it happen?” Frida asked, watching as Pippa and Hecate embraced on the floor.

“I think… and I am not sure, but I think that because Pippa’s magic is so familiar, your magic felt comfortable to share one of the worst experiences of your life with her. Sometimes your magic has a mind of its own, doing what it feels is best for the person it belongs to. It may have been that your magic knew that Pippa would understand and comfort you if she knew exactly what was worrying you, as Mistress Broomhead seems to have been in your mind a lot recently.” Evelyn lowered herself from the window and walked back over to the three people on the floor.

“My magic decided to show Pippa that horrible memory?” Hecate asked, lifting her head from Pippa’s neck and looking up at the therapist.

“I believe so. Like I said, I think it thought it would be beneficial for Pippa to know what horrible events happened all those years ago. Her magic was recognised from when you were at school, gaining immediate trust.”

“Your magic trusts me, do you know how much of a big deal that is, Hiccup?” Pippa said quietly, but Hecate just looked a little confused.

“Do you remember at school how volatile your magic was? It was react as if everything was the biggest threat it had ever seen, and it didn’t trust anyone. For your magic to have that with me means everything to me, Hiccup.” Pippa said seriously, and Hecate smiled softly.

“If there was anyone I’d want my magic to inexplicably trust, I’d want it to be you.” She said sincerely, so Pippa kissed her deeply as Frida pretended to throw up behind them.

“That’s enough of this soppy shit.” She said, pulling her face into a grimace. Pippa just raised a hand and shot her a rude gesture, and Frida dramatically gasped, both hands raising to cover her heart.

“Do you see what I deal with?!” She asked the therapist, who just rolled her eyes.

“You would get on with Dimity Drill.” Hecate mused, and Pippa laughed, “oh yes! They are basically the same person!”

Frida and Evelyn looked on in confusion and both the other women in the room started laughing.

“If we could get back to business,” Evelyn said, coughing to gain Hecate and Pippa’s attention, who immediately sat up straight, poker faces engaged.

Frida’s head popped up, as though she had heard something, and she closed her eyes, honing in on the sound. “Ah, someone’s broken into the greenhouses, probably a student. Will you be alright if I go?” Frida stood up from the floor.

“Of course, thank you so much Eggy.” Pippa smiled gratefully, as did Hecate and the therapist. “I’ll come and find you when we’re done, alright?”

“Alright. See you in a while Pinky, take care, Batty!” Frida grinned at Hecate, who started spluttering and protesting, so Frida ducked out of the door and cackled before transferring away.

Hecate was in shock.

 “BATTY?!” She exclaimed incredulously, and Pippa sniggered through a poorly disguised coughing fit. “Batty?! That’s what we call Gwen, but only because she really is one book short of a library, if you know what I mean, and her last name is Bat, it just fits! I’m not batty, right? I do not think I am. I am not batty, I do not deserve that as a nickname! Batty?!” Hecate may have sounded like she was just trying to convince herself, and she was also aware she sounded a little like a petulant child, but in the moment she didn’t really care.

“Well, you do look a bit like a bat when you are dressed in all black, and you tend to stay up until late at night. That means you are nearly nocturnal, does that remind you of a specific small flying mammal?” Pippa smiled sweetly at the woman beside her.

Hecate just grumbled, “I do not look like a bat. I just don’t like colour, it jars the senses.” She put her head up and sniffed dramatically. “Lots of people feel the same as me!”

“Oi! I thought you were a fan of the pink.” Pippa put on a pretend sad face and stuck out her bottom lip, blinking owlishly up at her girlfriend.

After a minute of this, the brunette couldn’t take it any longer, “The pink is lovely.” Hecate mumbled, knowing she was backed into a corner.

“Thank you darling. Well, it could have been worse!” Pippa smiled, rubbing Hecate on the back as the other woman buried her head in her knees. “It could have been…” the blonde stopped to think, but it didn’t seem to get her very far. “Well, actually I cannot think of anything worse. But, isn’t it nice to have a nickname?”

“I already have two nicknames! Two is enough for me, thank you very much, especially since one of them was against my will and has been passed down through generations of students. I also probably have loads of them I don't know about! I don’t need any more.” Hecate said grumpily.

“Yeah, but three nicknames are better than one! You have been accepted into the gang! Come on, its fine, Batty.” Pippa playfully punched Hecate on the arm.

Putting up her head just long enough to roll her eyes and stick out her tongue, Hecate groaned, “If not Hiccup, I would even prefer HB. Batty?! Is that how low I’ve fallen, that I’m picking and choosing nicknames?”

“It would seem so.” Evelyn cut in, and Hecate’s head shot up as she was reminded of the therapist's presence.

“Sorry, Miss Wyrmr, for the unnecessary tangent.” Hecate looked pointedly at Pippa on the last word, who smirked.

“These flashbacks, have you experienced them before?” Evelyn asked, clipboard reinstated on her hip, pen in hand.

“I had them a lot for years, but they reduced as I grew older.” Hecate said, getting some help from Pippa to sit them both back on the sofa.

“And the panic attacks?”

Hecate looked slightly troubled for a moment, “I used to take potions to stop them, but after my stay in the hospital, I haven’t been able to.”

“What did you used to take?” Evelyn noted something down on her clipboard.

“I created it myself, it was a clear nightmare, anxiety reducing and pain dulling potion all in one.”

“Pain dulling?”

“Yes… for the… self harm.” Hecate whispered the last two words, as if she were ashamed of them. Pippa didn’t say anything then, but the conversation would have to happen later. She held Hecate’s hand even tighter, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“Would you say that you are suffering without it?”

Hecate paused, “it’s not as bad as it has been before, I think being with Pippa has a lot to do with that.” She shot Pippa a tentative smile, and it was returned. “But I still think I was better while on it, I have been way too emotional since the accident, it’s like I’m crying all the time.”

“And did you experience any side effects from this potion you created?”

“Only the occasional headache, and nausea if I forgot to take it with food.” Hecate looked pleased with herself for creating such a great potion, but one look from over Evelyn’s clipboard wiped the smile off her face.

There was a moment of silence while the therapist scribbled on her clipboard, a look of extreme concentration on her face. “Hecate, I think the anxiety reducer combined with the pain duller may have been affecting your Limbic System, which is the part of the mind that controls emotions, hence why you have been so different since your accident. It may actually be your real personality shining through, not the persona you had forced yourself into for so many years.”

“You mean, by trying to fix my anxiety I shut out all the important emotions?” Hecate whispered, squeezing the rock so tightly her fingers hurt.

“Yes, I believe that may have been the outcome. For how many years were you taking the potion?”

The question stumped Hecate slightly, it had turned into a habit to shoot back a vial of red liquid with her morning tea so long ago, she couldn’t really remember where it had started. “Probably about twenty-four years, everyday.”

“Ah, so you became dependant on it. You didn’t realise you had changed, and you had no one close enough tell you either.” Evelyn looked up from her notes and turned to Hecate, who was staring off into the distance. Pippa squeezed her hand soothingly, and after a moment she spoke. “I was pleased that I had changed. Mistress Broomhead was pleased with my progress as well, she always told me I was too emotional and that no one would want me if I cried so much. I was proud…” Hecate trailed off and wiped her eyes with a black handkerchief.

“That was her fault. She made you feel worthless, Hiccup, and that was so goddamn unfair I cannot even begin to say it.” Pippa spoke quickly and angrily, rage growing inside her every time she learnt something new about Mistress Wilhelmina Broomhead.

“It’s alright Pip, I’ll be okay.” Hecate rested a hand on Pippa’s shoulder, whose small frame was shaking with anger. “Calm down Pipsqueak, she’s gone now, she cannot hurt us anymore.”

“But she is! She still hurts you everyday!” Pippa exclaimed, eyes flitting around the room restlessly, hands balled tightly into fists.

Hecate didn’t quite know what to do, so she pressed the rock into Pippa’s hand, now warm from her body heat. Pippa’s hand grasped Hecate’s, with the rock squished between them.

“That as it may be, I might be able to start recovering now we know it’s just my personality coming back.” She said quietly, kissing Pippa sweetly on the cheek.

Suddenly Hecate groaned and buried her head in the crook of Pippa’s neck. “Hiccup?!” Pippa asked in alarm, realising Hecate’s shoulders were shaking. When the tall woman raised her head, it became clear that she was laughing not crying, but Pippa still didn’t know why. “Hecate?” Evelyn asked, leaning forward to see Hecate clearer.

“It’s just, Dimity made fun of me all the time for having no personality, and to learn that it’s true… it’s just sort of funny because she was correct all along!” Hecate started laughing loudly, and Pippa couldn’t help but join in, letting out a snort of laughter as she said, “she will never let you live that down, you know that right?”

“Absolutely!”

They laughed for a while longer, until Evelyn said, “I’m afraid that’s three hours, and our session is over. You know to keep doing the exercises I have assigned to you until your magic is back. And absolutely no transference!”

The laughter stopped abruptly and Hecate slumped a little on the sofa and Pippa smiled, Hiccup really did have a special personality. She knew that Hecate had been different from when they were at school, but she just credited it to growing up. Turns out she really was different! But now that the potion was gone, Hecate was becoming much more like how she was at school. Pippa knew she would never wear colour, or break the rules as often as they did back then, but it was lovely to see her be a little more carefree.

**

Later that night, they were laying on a blanket on Pippa’s balcony and looking up at the stars in the sky. It had been cloudy, but a little weather spell sorted that right out. The rock was laying between them, and they had named it Fred. Well, Pippa had named the rock Fred, Hecate just went along with it because it made Pippa laugh.

“Remember when we used to do this at school? You thought me all the proper names for them. We spent hours on that roof…” Pippa trailed off, absorbed in memories of young Pippa and Hecate laying in the Cackles roof, sharing a pint of stolen ice cream as Hecate tested Pippa on various constellations.

“We really did! Do you remember any of them?”

“I think I remember all of them. In our gap, I used to stargaze to feel close to you.” She mumbled the last bit, but it made Hecate smile.

“Aww, I love you.” Hecate whispered, and Pippa whispered back, “I love you too, Hiccup.”

There was a while of silence, where they were just enjoying each other’s company. “Did you notice that I was weird?” Hecate asked quietly, staring up at the stars,

“Not… weird, exactly. I saw that you were much more reserved and serious, but I just thought it was your tutoring and growing up that did it. I still loved you, and I still love you now.”

“Still? Even though I seem to be crying all the time?”

Pippa propped herself up on an elbow to look Hecate in the eye. “Absolutely. I think you are the best person I’ve ever known, and I am blessed to call you my girlfriend.” She picked up Fred and pressed it into Hecate’s hand.

“You big sap.” Hecate said softly, and Pippa laughed. “I’m the sap? Who nearly got herself killed to save me?”

“That was nothing. You are still friends with me, even after everything, I think that counts for something.” Hecate smiled, and Pippa smiled back.

“What about… the fact that you make me smile everyday. That’s important.” Pippa said defensively, and Hecate laughed.

“True, but you do the same for me. I dread to think what a miserable old woman I would have become if we had stayed apart. I would have died angry and alone.” Hecate put her hand to her forehead dramatically and mock swooned towards Pippa.

“Shut up, you big silly.” Pippa knew she had a sappy grin on her face, and Hecate damn well knew it too. “Well… who was there, and refused to leave, when I was in a coma?”

“I- but… dammit. You got me there.” Pippa said grumpily and Hecate leaned up to press a kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you for being my reason to live, Pipsqueak.” Hecate said sincerely, looking Pippa directly in the eye to convey her sincerity.

“And thank you for being mine, Hiccup.”