Archive of Our Own ^beta

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"Come on Mz Hubble, We have a dinner date to attend" Hecate or 'Catie" as Julie often referred to her, says in a soft tone as she tries desperately to ploy her girlfriend out of her flat. "Cattie love? When will you stop calling me Mzz Hubble? we've been together over three years, surely it's Julie by now?" the blonde says with a breathy laugh. "when you become Mrs Hardbroom" says the stern witch kneeling. Julie turns on her heels to find her girlfriend with a ring box in hand. she gasps "I-Hecate!" "Will you, Julie Hubble, marry me?" the brunette asks in a soft, almost whisper. "YES! yes! yes! yes! oh of course I will!" She takes the box, kisses the kneeling witch and spins around all in what seemed like the same second. "on two conditions..." she says with a mischievous smile. "those are?" Hecate asks with a smile. "one for god's sake call me Julie! and two... Hubble-Hardbroom" the taller woman chuckles "okay Julie I- I accept your conditions" with that the ring box was again opened and Julie tried her best not to gasp again. The ring! It was simply beautiful! a golden band with a swirl of black, green and red crystals, each to represent a member of their family. Black was obviously Hecate, dark and intimidating at first glance but mysterious and with layers as you looked closer. Green was Julie, because everything about the woman reminded Hecate of nature, the fact she smelt like spring, the floral print she liked to wear, the fact that she could sit in their shoebox garden and name every plant, know every flower by scent. Red represented Mildred, because she was a 'danger' as Hecate put it, to everyone including herself but she was also loving and caring, with a big heart and the aim to please.

"so when did Pippa say you should propose?" Julie asks, admiring her left hand. Hecate stares blankly "I-" she goes to explain before being cut off by the blonde "Don't tell me she 'ad nothing to do with it, this has Miss 'pretty in pink' all over it!" The taller woman smiles in defeat "well Pip may have suggested I propose at some point during this week..." she says innocently. Julie raises an eyebrow not at all convinced. "okay, okay she said if I didn't present the idea of marriage to you soon… she’d do it for me!” the potions mistress exclaimed. Julie just about suppresses the giggle caught in her throat. “Well I bet you're glad she didn't! I think I would have fainted if the likes of Pippa Pentangles proposed to me!” said the shorter woman making a mockery of how everyone in the witching world seemed to crush on Pippa, to this her fiancé groaned. “You are very lucky that you're so devastatingly attractive Mz Hubble” she purred softly earning a smirk from the blonde. “Am I Miss Hardbroom?” she replied with a certain glint in her eye and a suggestive expression on her face. Hecate blushed “Julie Hubble you might very well be the death of me!” she exclaims Julie opens her mouth to say something but is stopped by the black clad woman adding “we need to go, you moonsiren!” in an exasperated tone. At this Julie can’t help but laugh “moonsiren hm?” she says in between breaths of laughter, after a pointed and sharp look from Hecate she decides it better for her to finish getting ready.

A multitude of minutes later and she steps out of their bedroom in a forest green maxi dress with a v neckline and long sleeves, her hair has been tamed slightly so it hangs in soft ringlets instead of its usual messy, uncontrollable curls . her face was made up, but lightly with natural toned eyeshadow and a pale pink lip, she knew what Hecate thought about vanity. Hecate looks at her with a smile” well, well, well Missus not-so-magical, don’t you look ravishing? “ she says lightly. Julie is taken back for a moment, not just because of the compliment “did Miss Hecate ‘I’m so serious’ Hardbroom just give me a nickname?” she asks in mock shock with a teasing smile playing on her lips. “Yes I do believe I did, what ever have you done to me Mz Hubble?” the witch asks rhetorically, shaking her head. To this the blonde retorts “changed you for the better I’d imagine” again earning a sharp glance of intimidation from her fiancé. “Let's go you insufferable woman!” Hecate says with a laugh practically pulling the small blondes arm so they can transport to their date.

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They transported to the small park just beyond the restaurant, as Hecate knew it was Julie's favourite spot in town. “I really do love this part of town, it's so pretty and ya know it smells nice… but I thought we were late?” she says turning to the other woman confused. Hecate looks back at her “well… we are but I planned on taking you here before dinner anyway, you see, to propose but well, your comment earlier caught me off guard” she says stumbling on her words. “Oi! Are you saying I ruined your fancy proposal plans!”Julie asks with a teasing smile. “Yes that is exactly what I am saying! I had the perfect scene planned! But then again i suppose you have always been impatient, haven't you Mzz Hubble?” in a low, low purr. To this Julie blushes and tries to think of something else to rid herself of her violent red cheeks. “You know, I really need to paint you here one day” she says with sudden thought.

Hecate scoffs “do you not have enough portraits of me in your collection?” she had a point, Julie did find herself painting the endearing woman before her more than anything else. The first time she’d done it, it had been completely by accident. She was annoyed at the woman after their first meeting and wondered what the softer side to ‘Miss Hardbroom’ looked like. After that she painted Hecate everytime she was riled by her, “to remind herself she was not as intimidating as she believed” she’d convince herself. Then they became a couple and it became a tradition of Julie’s to draw or paint her lover whenever she’d left for a term at cackles, as a way of keeping her there. But right here, in this moment. With the moonlight framing her pale face and her long dark hair freed from its normal pristine bun, she looked like the embodiment of Artemis, ‘who's the moonsiren now?’ Julie thought to herself. “You can never have too much beauty in the world love” she said proudly as a blush grew on those pale cheeks making her look even more bewitching, in one sense of the word at least. “But for now, maybe you're right.” she adds leaning into the woman as they walk. Finally they seemed to make it to the restaurant with their reservation in tack, Hecate was certain that if anyone else but Julie Hubble walked in half an hour late, they'd be turned away. For Julie this would never be the case, she loved this restaurant and knew all the staff by name, she even brought them presents every christmas. All the staff loved her too, she had that effect on people.

“Sorry everyone! Thank you for saving our table! Apparently getting engaged takes some time” she says with mock innocence as congratulations bursts from everyone in the room. They finally sat at their table with a free bottle of red wine that the blonde had already opened and was inhaling her glass of. The brunette put a hand on her wrist, gently. “Don’t you think you should slow down a bit darling, you know how easily intoxicated you get” Julie in response slowly puts her glass to her lips and drains the deep red liquid, finishing it in that second “If it wasn’t for my ‘easy intoxication’ we might not of been where we are today” she takes the hand from her wrist and kisses it lightly “would we love?” Hecate smiles “fair point… but don’t you dare throw up on me while transferring home again” Julie blushes into her glass “it was not my fault Dimity got me drunk at the Cackles New Years party!” she exclaims embarrassed. “There wouldn't have been a New Years party if you hadn't insisted” Hecate reminded her. They were in a checkmate. Julie starts to laugh “lets just order before you drive me to chug the bottle!” she teases picking up her menu. Hecate does the same but stares at hers blankly, Julie notices. “You want me to order for you love?” she asks lovingly.

The menu was in italian, which Julie spoke fluently from her days of traveling in her early twenties, Hecate spoke many, many languages, italian was not one. “You think I would have, what's the saying ‘got the hang of it’ by now’” she says noding. The blonde smiles “look at you using a ‘non-magical’ reference correctly” the witch chuckles “its like i said earlier, what have you done to me?” she says lovingly “if i didn't know any better I'd say you have me bewitched, Do NOT wiggle your nose!” she adds with a laugh, she had to learn early on about Julie’s adoration for ‘witch fiction’ and after being made to watch Harry Potter, Hocus Pocus and many others on repeat every ‘Hubble movie marathon’ she’d learnt to deal with the constant reference to all and every witch film, tv show or book possible. “You're spoiling my fun!” the blonde says in a pretend sulk, until Claire, one of Julie's best friends and ‘the greatest waitress to ever live’ in Julie’s book at least, arrives to take their orders but mostly to get engagement gossip from the blonde and gush over the ring. “Ohmygod Jules! It's breathtaking!” She says as her best friend gladly gives her left hand to the excited redhead “whoever said chivalry is dead obviously hasn't met Hecate Hardbroom, the catch of the century!” she jokes. To this a light blush creeps upon Hecate’s cheeks. “You can joke but my gosh, it was dead romantic!” she goes into detail about the proposal and the ring and its meaning and even Hecate has to admit, the way Julie tells it, it sounds ‘dead romantic’

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Later that evening Hecate is trying to walk herself and a sleepy, drunken Julie out of the restaurant. “Come on Julie we need to get you home!” she says in a voice just shy of her ‘teacher voice’ “uhm okay let's get home, to Hecate…” mumbles the blonde snuggling into the gap of where the taller woman's shoulder met her neck. it wasn’t unusual for Julie to be a forgetful drunk, at the Cakles Hallows Eve ball, she drank too much of the punch and cried when she found out Hecate was in a relationship… with her, But she had never been like this. The brunette decided to take slight advantage of the fact her fiance was clueless that she was right there. “T-to Hecate?” ask the witch with a smile, and a tone of false curiosity. “Oh yeah, Hecate’s my girl- Fiance!” Julie slurs proudly, this made the brunette chuckle. Julie was such a cute, clingy drunk. “Fiance hm? What’s she like?” the question seems to excite the smaller woman slightly “well she’s AMAZING! She is so smart, like incredibly so! She knows everything, about everything… well not everything, you know? And my god she’s beautiful! And just between us she's a phenomenal kisser. It's so weird, you know? We started off as enemies, can you believe? She didn’t like that I was non- different, that I was different. It reminded her of someone she once knew and cared about but eventually I grew on her”
Hecate feels her heart beat a little faster. Julie really cares about her. And she was right too, it was weird, and she really did used to hate this woman, when they first met, she was just a small woman with a mess of blonde curls who was a non-magical inconvenience and the mother of her most problem student, which meant that yes to begin with Julie Hubble was by no way, shape or form her favourite person but the Hubble's had their ways of making Hecate warm up to them. She hears a soft snore, knocking her out of her thoughts. She looks to her left to find the blonde is napping on her shoulder.
She smiles at her, she looks so calm in sleep, no signs of her stressful work life or the worries of being a mother of a witch, with limited knowledge of magic. So the fact her fiance was napping was not only cute but the perfect time to transfer them both to her flat without any possible way for her being sick well at least she hopes there was no way for her to be sick. She really should give Julie more credit, for a ‘no-mag’ as she called herself, she really handled transferation well and had only ever been sick once and that was 100% the fault of Dimity Drill. As far as Julie was concerned though, she would never live New Years down and if it stopped her from ever taking drinks from Miss Drill, Hecate could live with that. She could definitely live with that.
****
Once home, Julie is put in the baggy top and too short shorts she calls her ‘comfort pj’s’ and placed gently in bed. Hecate places a couple of aspirins and a glass of water which she had to enchante so it will stay cold, on the sleeping blondes bedside table and writes her a quick but careful note before transferring back to Cackles.

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"Urgh!” Julie groans after waking up the next morning to a dreadful headache and an empty bed. Two aspirins and half a glass of magically cold water later and she is stumbling into the kitchen with a craving for burnt toast, well she would of prefered normal toast but she had a habit of burning it and she didn't have Hecacate there to make her perfectly good toast, so burnt toast would have to do. She grumbled, burnt toast was not the best hangover food and made the bad taste in her mouth worse. She stopped for a moment, she couldn't believe she was complaining about toast! She got up and went to wash up her plate. Upon ambling by the kitchen counter she found Hecate's note:

Dearest Julie,

I hope you are not too troubled by my absence in your current state.                                                                                                  I have just gone back to Cackles to retrieve something for you and shan't be gone more than a day                                            (though I hope to be by your side, by this evening...) remember it's your day off! Take It easy, I do not under any given circumstance want to find you've cleaned the house top to bottom out of boredom.                                                                         Sit back, relax and maybe catch up on those 'soaps' you so fondly enjoy?                                                                                          I will be back as soon as possible, try not to miss me too sorely.                                                                                                                                      Hecate X

The blonde let out another groan, what good was a day off, when she had no one to spend it with? Hecate was suppose to be here for the whole two weeks of half term, considering Millie couldn't be as she had been punished to spend the whole break cleaning the kitchen, Julie didn't even know what her daughter had done, she’d stopped asking, but whatever it was, spending the whole half term in school cleaning a kitchen did not seem a fair punishment for a fifteen year old girl. Then again Cackles was never one to give out fair punishments, just look at what happened to a young Hecate! Imprisoned for life in that old drafty castle, if it wasn't for Julie's hard and very persuasive campaign to lift the spell on the poor woman, she might still be trapped there now. But no, no she was there by choice! And had abandoned the love of her life on one of only the full days off she’d had in a while. The hospital was a demanding place and Julie took on more than enough overtime, she had bills and a teenage daughter to pay for. She had taken the whole two weeks off to spend with Hecate but she worried about money half the time. Hecate had offered to help her more than enough times but Julie wouldn't hear of it. She didn’t want to have Hecate worrying about money, she did enough of that for the pair of them and Hecate wasn’t the best at ‘normal’ currency. The only time she’d ever really paid for something was last night's meal. Julie groaned again, all she wanted was for Hecate to be here, now with her, she knew it was selfish but she missed her presence, her smell, her hand in hers. ‘Get a grip Julie Mirabella Hubble, it's only been three hours, she will be back soon’ she thought to herself calmly. Though she hoped whatever had her witch away from her was difficult and hard and boring, just not dangerous. She couldn’t handle the thought of Hecate in danger, but she definitely thought that the woman deserved a difficult task for ditching her!

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Difficult was an understatement. How on earth was Hecate supposed to try and get Mildred Hubble out of a punishment she deserved? This was a question she asked herself frequently as she made her way to Ada’s office. Slowly She lifted her hand to knock on the door. A bright “come in” rings from inside, so she enters, straightening her back as she does so. “Hecate! What are you doing here, I thought you’d be celebrating your engagement by now” a bright smile extends from her lips as she greets her friend, Hecate stares at her in disbelief. “How...how did you know?-” she asks for a moment before putting two and two together “Pippa!” they say at the exact same time, Ada says it as a way of explanation, Hecate as an explanative . “don't be too annoyed at Miss Pentangle, in her defence I did ask” Ada says kindly “and you still haven't answered my question” she adds in a more serious tone. “Well… I was wondering if, as a ‘celebration of my engagement’ you’d perhaps… maybe… let Mildred come home for the remainder of half term?” If the headmistress didn’t know better she would have described Hecate’s eyes as ‘pleading’ but she did know better, at least she thinks she did. “Hecate You know as head teacher, I cannot allow that” she says seriously, but there is a glint in her eye that Hecate knows she is going to say more “but as one of your best friends I will not stop you from taking a young girl back to her mother.” she adds with a shrug, at this Hecate’s whole face seems to light up. “Thank you Ada, I- I don’t know how to repay you for this, Julie is going to be ecstatic!” just seeing the excitement that Hecate was in was enough to make the older witch smile, Julie Hubble was a brilliant influence on her. 
******
Mildred Hubble was sat scrubbing the various pots and pans, being stuck in school during half term had to be the worst punishment yet. She was punished to clean the entire kitchen, top to bottom with no magic. Which was entirely unfair. All Millie wanted to do was go home, Miss Tapioca had left for a bit which meant that she had a few minutes to rest before she came back. Then she hears the door squeak and  frantically tries to climb back on the side, spilling pots and pans filled with water over the floor in the process, Hecate enters the room and surveys the mess, if she wasn't certain before, she was now, a Hubble has definitely been here. On the counter with an expression of pure horror was Mildred. “What a mess. I doubt that Miss Tapioca will be happy when she gets back” says Hecate with a shake of her head. Mildred looks scared “she’s going to kill me! HB you have got to do something!” the girl might be practically shaking now. “She can’t kill you, not if she can’t find you” says the potions mistress with a mischievous grin. This earns a confused face from the girl, “are- are you breaking me out Miss H?” she asks in slight shock.” I’m taking you home” Hecate says holding out her hand which is taken gladly by the girl as she gets off the counter.
******
They find themselves in the corridor just outside Julie’s flat, Hecate turns to Milldred “Now Milldred, you are a surprise for your mother, okay? So shhh'' she says quietly.  “Okay HB'' she whispers back. This leads the potions mistress to wonder, will she still be HB to the students once she and Julie are married? Or will she be HHB? For some reason she hated that nickname even more, it made her sound more like an ordinary pencil. “Julie? I’m home?” there are a series of crashes, followed by some whispered curses and then a bright and surprisingly chirpy, given the conundrum, “Hecate love? Hold on, I'm just in the bath!” called from the bathroom. To this the brunette looks at the fifteen year old with a smile “perfect, go and hide in your room until you hear me ask your mother to set the table, okay?” and to her credit, Mildred goes without question. Hecate taps on the bathroom door, carrying Julie's favourite ‘dead posh ‘nd expensive pajamas’  that were a present from Pippa last Winter Solstice, they were an icy blue, that matched her eyes and made of a silky material. “I’ve bought your nightwear, may I come in?” she calls. A couple more crashes and a concerningly loud bang later  a “yeah sure, it isnt locked” is uttered. With that Hecate enters to find Julie sat on the floor with a grey cotton towel wrapped around her. This earns an eyebrow raise from the standing witch as she waits for an explanation. “I slipped on the floor mat!” Julie says grumbling at her fiance's sudden laughter. 'Like mother, like daughter’ Hecate thinks before saying  “Oh Julie! Never change!”  with another roll of laughter. Julie, now stood up and trying to run a comb through her damp tangle of curls, with little success, chuckles “no fear of that, the Hubble clumsiness is  one thing that will curse me forever” she says with comb still stuck in her hair. Hecate whispers some quick words of a spell and, to her delight, the blonde is fully dressed in blue silk, with dry and brushed hair. “Neat trick” she says gobsmacked. “ The Hubble clumsiness will be the only thing that curses you, while I’m around at least” says the taller woman with a grin. Julie smiles back at her and they walk to the kitchen, the smell of earlier toast still hanging in the air, “have you eaten? Besides the...toast?” the witch asks with a small sniff. The blonde shakes her head “I was just going to order in, but… since you're here, maybe you could cook for us?” she says with a bat of her eyelashes. “Yes, well it would be safer than letting you lose in the kitchen”  the potions mistress scoffs and starts getting out the ingredients for pasta in tomato and basil sauce, Mildred's favourite. “I can cook you know!” Julie says in mock offence, to this the witch gives her a pointed look “oh I’ll just set the table then!” she adds with a smile. “You might want to set a third place” the cooking woman adds absently. This confuses Julie, she looks at the cutlery, did she forget someone coming over for dinner? That wasn’t very likely. Did Hecate spontaneously invite someone? Also unlikely, unless it was Pippa, but somehow Julie imagined that the overly pink witch would have told her if she was coming round, secrets were not her strong point... “Are we expecting some one?” she asks finally.
“It’s for me mum!” says a small voice behind her, Julie spins round in a state somewhere between excitement and shock “Millie-love! What are you doing here?” she says happiness colouring her voice. She looks between her daughter, who has a look of pure mischief painted across her face, and her fiance, who avoids her eye but has a smile playing on her lips  “HB broke me out of Cackles!” exclaims a lively Mildred, acting as if Hecate were some sort of superhero. To this Hecate protests “it was only a simple transferation, really Mildred, it wasn't at all impressive!” but blushes all the same. “You broke a rule? You broke a rule for me? You- I- come here!” Julie pulls the taller woman to her and kisses her passionately, their lips collide and it seems as if all time has stopped until a series of “ewws” and “get a room” break them out of their trance. “Kids, ey?” Julie says while pulling away, waiting for the butterflies to leave her stomach. There was something about Hecate’s kisses that always turned her to complete mush, she was convinced it was magic, there was no other plausible explanation for why her stomach did somersaults everytime her lips came into contact with the burgundy painted ones of Hecate Hardbroom. It had to be magic.    

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“Miss Cackle's  either going to kill you, me or us both"

Julie says, playing with the dark hair of the witch whose head is on her lap, as she explains how she managed to get Mildred out of her punishment . “Probably just me, she can’t run the school without you” she adds. Hecate ‘hm’s’ in response “I would be scared of Miss Tapioca if I were you, Ada’s harmless compared to her, especially after the mess we left her kitchen in.” she says lightly. Julie snorts “you left somewhere a mess, in front of a student? How very un ‘HB’ of you” she says in mock. Hecate glowers at her. “There was a Hubble incident and I didn't have the time to clean it!” she says more defensively than she meant to. To this the blonde softens “aw poor love, you tend to get yourself caught up in a lot of Hubble incidents, whatever must people think?” she says soft as cotton into the brunette’s  hair. “That I have managed to associate myself with the most disastrous family alive?” Hecate offers, only half joking. moving from her current position to sit up “You take that back! We Hubbles are as respectable and proper as anyone else!” The blonde goes to hit the witch lightly with a cushion but manages to lean too far forward, tumbling off the sofa and landing in a heap on the floor. Hecate looks like the cat who got the cream “you were saying?” she says trying to hide the soft giggle escaping from her mouth. Hecate Hardbroom did NOT giggle! But oh she had and Julie heard. “Did- did you just- giggle?” comes a voice of disbelief from the floor. “No! Certainly not!” but she had, she hadn’t opened herself up like this to another person in… well ever. She wasn’t even sure she’d shown this much of herself to Pippa, her oldest friend who had known her for decades. Three short years, that's as long as she’s known this woman. Well properly known her anyway, three years and she already feels this sort of freedom, like the weight that was Hecate Hardbroom, had been taken from her shoulders. She liked this feeling, she wanted to feel it more, to feel more safe and Julie made her feel that. She felt she could finally open up to someone about her past.  “Joy” she says aloud. The blonde on the floor gives her a questioning look, “what was that love?” she asks only now climbing her way back onto the sofa. “My name, well my actual name, even though everyone calls me Hecate, is Joy” the dark haired woman says finally “ I just thought you should know... its not really something I people. Well apart- apart from-”

“Mildred'' Julie finishes for her. She remembered her Millie telling her the story of a little girl called Joy who made someone non- magical have magic and she knew the story of Hecate’s friend Indigo and what she had done but she never put the two together. “Yes, Mildred” Hecate says in agreement. “What- ummm- what made you what to- well urh tell me?” Julie asks, she was used to Hecate being closed off about her past, at Cackles or before. “I- I don't know” comes the answer. “I wanted to let you know I trust you” she almost says but by looking at the woman’s face it was clear Julie already knew that. “Thank… thank you” Julie stumbles on the words as they escape her lips, she is almost tearful. “Whatever for?” it was obvious to Julie that Hecate had no idea what she had just done but to her it felt like she’d opened the locked door no one else had a key for. “Trusting me” the words tumble off the blondes tongue, almost at their own accord. Hecate is taken aback for a moment, she wasn’t sure how to respond to this, she was used to having quick fire humorous conversation with the ordinary woman, she could do those or talking about work or her daughter, again she could handle those but this? Talking about herself? Her emotions? Her past? It was foreign to her. It wasn't as if they never spoke about themselves, she knew almost everything there was to know about Julie Mirabella Hubble, about how she grew up with her mother and sister somewhere in the country, near a farm, About how she went traveling as soon as she’d finished school and gained many skills, about how she’d met Mildred’s father while fixing up a house somewhere in Europe, about how she earned her medical degree in nursing in her early thirties. She knew about her mother's lack of acceptance towards her in her youth and how it had affected Julie terribly, she knew about her father's death when she was young. She knew practically everything, and yet she’d managed to give the woman so little knowledge on herself. It wasn’t as if Julie talked a lot,  Hecate stopped herself mid thought, this was a lie. Julie talked more than a lot, especially when nervous, she’d ramble on for hours about everything and anything when nervous. Hecate was the opposite, she closed off more when nerves hit, this is why having Julie around at times like that was perfect, she would fill the silence and all Hecate would have to do is nod or make some sort of noise to show she was listening.

  “I will always trust you Julie, I’m sorry that- That I haven’t made you feel trusted before” Hecate says awkwardly shifting in her seat. “Don’t-  there is no need to apologise, just because you know everything about me doesn’t mean you are expected to do the same… but I must say it's nice to hear and anytime you feel like telling me, anything, I’m here” the tears that she was holding on to build up  in the corners of those blue eyes, she knew Hecate’s past was not pretty, she learnt that when she found out that Hecate only knew that her birthday was ‘near Hallows eve’. Julie insisted they celebrate on the 29th of October so that was now when her ‘birthday’ was but it was not her official birthday. Julie couldn’t even imagine being a little girl and having no idea when her birthday was, in her family birthdays were always celebrated, mostly as an excuse to have massive parties and lots to drink. Hubbles were very social creatures. “I think I should be the one thanking you, for… letting me take my time with this, this ‘opening up’, it means more than you could ever imagine”  Hecate was almost threatened by tears too, but she would not let them show, she had been vulnerable enough for one night. “Joy suits you, I didn’t think it would but… it does” and in that moment it did, Hecate looks so relaxed with her hair down and in her “trust me I’m a witch” oversized black t-shirt dress which Julie bought her as a joke a couple years ago but she wears as pyjamas all the time now. “You think so?” she asks, tucking a stray dark hair behind her ear. Julie nods “ I won’t call you it obviously, if you don't want me to, I just thought you should know… it suits you” the witch smiles “ I would prefer it if I stayed Hecate, if that is okay” the blonde nods, Hecate hears a *ping!* And Julie reaches for her mobile, shaking her head with a laugh at the message. “It’s from Pippa, she says that if we don’t mirror her in the next ten minutes she's going to fly here, no matter what we’re doing… with a disconcerting winky face that makes me think that she thinks we’re ‘aving a saucy night in!” Julie says with shock, honestly them having a ‘saucy night in’ might of been more believable than what was actually happening, Julie thought it not best to mention this and just followed Hecate to their bedroom, which wouldn’t make Pippa’s assumptions less strong... 
  

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“It’s about time! I was about to send out an AmberAlert!” comes the bright and delicate voice of Pippa 'Pipsqueak’ Pentangle from the gold framed mirror that hung above Julie’s makeup table. Pippa was the only witch Julie knew who would use ‘AmberAlert’ in a sentence. “Sorry love, we were just having a drink and forgot to check our messages” The blonde jumps into a quick apology at which she is dismissed “oh don’t worry! I was only teasing, glad to see my engagement plans worked out perfectly.” she says, noticing the ring. “They were definitely something…” Hecate says with a soft grumble. At this the witch in the mirror notices her attire, “Oh my Hiccup, you actually wear that? Julie Hubble really has you wrapped around her little finger!” she says with a laugh. This leads the brunette to protest “that's not exactly true” she says looking at the curly haired woman to her left for help. Unfortunately the two blondes agree on the matter “its kinda true love, I mean you broke a school rule for me today!” Julie says. “So you could be with your daughter!” Hecate fires back. “Our daughter.” Julie says quietly “she has alway in a way been our daughter, even before there was an us, you were like her witching mum and I the clueless ordinary one.” This leaves the brunette taken more than aback. “You two are the cutest!” comes an exclamation from the mirror, leading both women to jump, they’d forgotten PIppa was even there. “Now I hate to ruin this ultra-cute 'Hubblebroom' moment but if I don't tell you what I called to tell you I’ll forget to tell  you all together.” says the blonde witch, with an excited smile. “Oh go on then Pipsqueak, then you can leave up in peace, hm?” Hecate was supposed to sound sarcastic but her voice still carries emotion caused by Julie's earlier comment. “Oh Hiccup” comes the laughy reply “ I need to tell you that your engagement party is at 7:30 next friday evening in Pentangle’s grand hall, and make sure you both ready by 7:30 as I’ve set a spell to bring you both there then, even if you're not.” this earns a very low grumble from her best friend. “Really Pippa? You better not have invited the whole witching world”  Hecate warns but the look on the other witch’s face suggested she had. “Oh come on Catie-love, I’m sure it’ll be a hoot” says Julie rather excitedly. The brunette was about to protest again but, seeing the look on her fiance’s face made her stop. “Fine, we’ll be there.” she says finally. “Great! See you then!”
*******
It was 7:15 Friday evening and Julie found herself stuck between two dresses, one a white top with a long skirt covered in pink, blue and orange patterns, the other a cream dress with a black mesh overlay. “Julie darling, we have 15 minutes” Hecate Calls from wherever she was in the flat. “I know! I know! I’m almost ready” she calls back, she goes for the cream, matching it with a pair of tan open toe heels and some light make-up. She goes for a hunt for the dark haired woman. “Hecate?” she calls, walking into the kitchen-living room area. “Yes?” say the witch in question, who is doing her hair in an elegant french twist in the hallway mirror, she is wearing a long black dress with long sleeves and silver embellishments, on the cuffs of her sleeves and in a belt like pattern across her middle. She has more eyeliner on than usual, with dark cat eyes framing her chocolate eyes, her lips a dark red, rather than their normal burgundy. “I-wow!” exclaims the blonde in pleasant shock. “Oh shush, you look better than I ever could!” Hecate says dismissing the compliment completely. It was 7:28, Julie notices looking at the little golden clock that hangs from  a chain around the brunette’s neck. “Hold my hand, you need to hold my hand” she says in sudden fear of transferring alone. “That’s not how the spell works, you will get there perfectly fine without holding my hand” says the witch, noticing her fear, but misplacing it. “No you daft bat! I know how the spell works but transfers scare me so hold my hand!” says Julie with a small chuckle. “Oh, very well then” Hecate takes the shaky hand of the shorter woman intertwining it with hers and stroking it lightly in an attempt to calm her down. The clock goes half past seven and they disappear from the shabby but homely living room of Julie's flat.

Chapter Text

The Pentangle grand hall is bigger than Julie expected and very nicely decorated. That was the first thing she noticed. The second was that she was suddenly aware of how tightly she was gripping Hecate's hand and how many people were in the room, she loosens her grip. “Sorry about that.” she says in a whisper. “It's okay, I didn’t even notice” says the brown eyed witch with a smile, but the grimace she pulls when moving her hand would say different. “Hiccup! Julie! You’re here!” the pair are suddenly aware of the blur of pink coming towards them. “Well, we didn’t ‘ave much of a choice, couldn’t miss our own party!” Julie says with light mock. “Very true, it would be tremendously rude to miss out when all these people have come to congratulate you” with that the pink figure of Pippa is gone as quick and swiftly as she arrived. Hecate doubts everyone is here for ‘congratulations’. Julie has gone to dazzle the crowds and soak up the festivities, which she does to a tee, leaving Hecate to stand awkwardly by a wall of candles.

“Hecate! Dear, hello!” as her luck would have it Ursula Hallow is right in front of her.  She smiles “Hello Mrs Hallow, how nice of you to come congratulate my engagement” she says trying to hide the shake in her voice, like most of the witching world, the Hallow woman terrified her. “Oh I would… But I don’t believe that an ordinary woman is an achievement” Ursula says the word 'woman' as if it burned on her tongue. Hecate goes to say something but words seem to fail her. The whole room stops, Julie is there in an instant, looking at the platinum blonde witch politely and extending a hand, to everyone's surprise it is shook.

“Hiya, Ursula is it?” she says, nothing but smiles and cheer. “Yes” comes the answer with a tone of disgust. Julie keeps the smile on her face “I’m Julie Hubble, the ordinary woman in question and this is my engagement party, so if you have a problem with me being ordinary or a woman for that matter, you remember where the door is, yeah?” Her voice is calm as soft ocean waves, this makes Ursula laugh cruelly.  Julie keeps her composure “oh and if you have any other problems, despite the views of my fiancé and nearly everyone else here, I am not one bit afraid of you , so you can take them up with me rather than tormenting all these poor witch folk” she takes in a breath. “I don’t see how someone like yourself thinks you are anywhere near my level… you’re powerless”  this comment makes Julie look the woman before her in the eye, making sure they are on the same level of eye contact before saying “I wouldn’t be so sure of that” and turning on her heels. She feels the tell-tale shiver of an agitated spell ricochet off her back. She turns back to the stunned witch “one more thing Mrs Hallow” she says the name as if the woman is a sour taste in her mouth “I may have no magic, but I am far from ordinary, I come from a long line of witches. So that spell you used just then? Won’t work, nor will any others for that matter, so unless you want to fight this out without your magic, which I really hope you don't as this dress cost a fortune, I would leave now” her voice rises slightly at the mention of her lineage, pride colouring her voice slightly. To this the witch everyone seems to fear backs down, scared off by a ‘powerless ordinary woman’ as she said so herself. “Just as I thought, you're a toothless tiger or dragon as the witching saying goes, so feared and scary but when you get up close? Harmless! Have a safe flight Mrs Hallow!” with a smile and a wave Julie turns back to the crowd who all look as if their jaws may hit the floor.

 She blushes at the sudden attention. Hecate takes Julie’s hand and pulls her away from attention. “My lioness” she says proudly. “It was nothing, honestly everyone is overreacting. I barely did anything” the blonde says modestly.  “That was not nothing Ms Hubble” says Ada Cackle “in fact that was incredible, my students could really learn a thing or two from you.” She smiles nicely at the blonde. Julie’s cheeks redden “so could mine” says Pippa finding her way to the front of the crowd. “Stop it! Guys you're making me blush like a fool at my own party!” Hecate scoffs, Julie really couldn’t see what she had just done! Ursula Hallow had terrified witches and wizards for the longest of time and finally someone was brave enough to stand up to her. It made pride seep through the tall, dark witch to know that it was her Julie that had done it. “Let's get back to the party everyone, please” save me from my embarrassment” Julie says and everyone goes back to how they were, well aside from a couple glances and whispers aimed at the blonde, whose blush seems to of lightened now.

 “And Miss Cackle, please there is no need for such formalities, it’s Julie” she says smiling at one of Hecate’s best friends with a sudden sense of pure joy. “Well if I’m to call you Julie, then it's only right you call me Amelia or Ada, if you prefer, and I meant what I said about students having something to learn from you, if you ever want a change of career you’d be welcomed at Cackles” Julie thought about it, if she took a job at the school it would mean more time with her family. “I might hold you up on that Ada” she says only half joking. 

They stand in silence for a couple of seconds until a loud “Jules!” is called and the blonde finds herself explaining to Dimity Drill that she will not be taking any punch from her, no matter what the occasion is. “Come on it's your party, surely you can have one drink?” Dimity is hopeful  but Julie refuses “you might do to it whatever it was you did in January!”  she says pushing the glass away, “that spell was just a bit of fun I wouldn't do it again, HB yelled at me enough!” Miss Drill added sounding very much like a student. “Darling you can have at least one drink.” Hecate says coming up from behind her fiancé and putting a hand around her waist. “But last time!-” Julie starts but Hecate cuts her off “you are the saviour of the evening, enjoy it!” Julie takes the glass from Dimity and takes a tentative sip. It was just champagne, learning this she drank some more and soon enough her glass seemed to refill itself, everyone wanted to thank her for her face off with the Hallow woman , she told them to stop, every time, it was nothing and she also wasn’t sure that would be the last time they saw her. She didn’t want them getting their hopes up, especially not on her account. After all she was just an ordinary woman surrounded by witches. 

Chapter Text

Half term ended as quickly as it began and both Millie and Hecate had to go back to Cackles for the new spring term. Mildred couldn't wait to go back, she wanted to make sure everyone knew what her mum had done, especially Ethel Hallow. Ethel had definitely heard and she made as much known as she walked across the school yard “if it isn’t Mildred Hubble!” says the blonde with a sadistic smirk. “What do you want, Ethel?” Mildred asked back, trying to copy her mum's technique of staying calm. “I want you to tell that sorry excuse of a mother of yours that this was only the battle and she’ll be sure to lose the war, my mother would never let our name be tarnished by an ordinary woman who gets drunk most nights and struggles to pay her bills” unfortunately for Ethel, Mildred had not mastered her mother's technique in the slightest, without time to think of a spell she grabs the blonde by the collar of her robe. “You take that back you newt!” she roars. “Or what? It’s not as if you have enough wit to hex me” Ethel fires back, this is a mistake and it leads Mildred to punch her. It was a square hit to her nose that ends in a concerning crack. “MILDRED HUBBLE! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!” bellows the voice of Miss Hardbroom, running towards the scene “get off Miss Hallow this instant!” and Mildred does,”you-” she points at two spectators “-take Ethel to the infirmary” Ethel's nose is bleeding at a very dangerous rate and Hecate is sure it's broken. “Mildred come with me!” She takes the girl’s arm gently, looking as if she is pulling her at a fierce force. “W-where are we going Miss Hardbroom?” asks the young girl confused, she looks so like Julie when she pulls that expression that Hecate almost lets her go, almost. “Miss Cackle’s office” she answers in a voice like scraping metal.

****

“Mildred what were you thinking? Punching Ethel like that?” Miss Cackle asks calmly. Mildred looks at her shoes. “You weren’t there Miss Cackle! You didn’t hear!” she starts but gets too angry and stops. “Didn’t hear what Millie? What did Ethel say?” Hecate asks, wondering if the blonde would dare insult Julie. “She- she said that mum was just some ordinary, alcoholic who couldn’t make ends meet, she called her a ‘sorry excuse for a mother’ which isn’t true! My mother hardly drinks, only socially and she’s the best mum ever! You know that HB!” Hecate feels her own blood boil, ‘How dare Ethel Hallow even mention Julie, let alone spread lies about her!’ before she even knows what she is doing, she is on her feet. “Hecate” Ada warns “what are you going to do?” she adds. Hecate doesn’t think, just responds “I’m going to talk with Miss Hallow, don’t worry Ada, just routine” she says calmly. “Are you certain that’s wise?” What sort of question was that? Of course it wasn’t wise. “Absolutely not, but I will not have my daughter or fiancé threatened by a Hallow” she says shaking slightly. “ your daughter?” Mildred asks with a mix of shock and honour. “My daughter” Hecate confirms with the same tone, she hadn’t meant to say those words but, she was happy she did.“ I will mirror Julie and inform her of what is happening and then we can discuss how to move forward?” Ada says letting her deputy go.

Hecate walks, she needs to calm down before even seeing the Hallow girl. “She’s just a child” Hecate reminds herself. “Miss Hardbroom! What a surprise we were expecting Miss Cackle” says the nurse “are you sure you are the right person to do this?” she whispers. Hecate ignores her and walks over to Ethel’s bed. “Hello Miss Hallow, I’m here to get your version of events from earlier” she says in a flat voice, the blonde lets out a sharp breath as if she meant to scoff but couldn’t due to her pain. “Why should I talk to you? You’re sleeping with the enemy. Literally!” the student exclaims. ‘Keep calm. Keep calm. Keep calm.’ Hecate chants to herself. “Interesting, why do you perceive the Hubble’s as enemies, or at least Mz Hubble?” her voice thickens at mention of Julie. “They do not belong! Especially Mz Hubble, I know she has you and Miss Cackle convinced she belongs but she is no witch!” The girl's anger grows in her voice.

Hecate slows her breathing “I can assure you Mz Hubble is a witch, as far as DNA is concerned. She has no magic because her ancestor gave her magic to the founding stone and it took thirteen generations of magic from the Hubble’s, which is why magic appeared in Mildred. Look Ethel, you are not your mother, you are not your family and you do not have to agree with them on everything.” her voice is serious ‘I know this more than anyone.’ she almost adds, to her surprise Ethel looks remorseful “Everyone expects me to be like them, everyone thinks I am!... How do I break the cycle? How do I become different?” she looks at Hecate as if she has all the answers. “You could always start by giving someone a chance before you decide you are worth more than them, I used to be just like you, Xenophobic, scared, scared of Mz Hubble of all people, because she was so different and I guess I held on to past prejudiced. Which was foolish, but I changed so you can too, okay? There is hope for you Ethel, you just need to open yourself up for new experience” with that Hecate transfers out of the room before she says too much.

She finds herself back in Ada’s office with Mildred and...Julie? “Oh there you are love! We were getting so worried, how… did it go?” The curly haired woman asks twirling a hair around her finger. “I- I think it went well, I don’t believe Ethel Hallow will follow her mother's silly beliefs about the amazing Hubble women any longer.” she says sitting in the leather chair beside Julie and tangling their fingers together. “That's the most wonderful news. Hecate, now Ms-Julie and I were just discussing what could be done to help the girls adapt their beliefs on people without magic and their world.” says Ada looking at Julie as if wanting her to explain. “Okay, what did we come up with?” Julie senses Hecate’s hand tense slightly in hers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      “Well love, we thought that maybe… I could start teaching here!”

Chapter Text

“Have you gone completely mad!” Hecate exclaims and then thinks about it “what I am trying to say is that, Julie, darling have you thought this through? Ethel Hallow is not the only witch who thinks that she is better than the ‘ordinarys’ and I know you are not ordinary, but to them you are.” she says softly looking at Julie with concern. “I know you have your concerns, I get it, but I am not some inexperienced mortal! I have witches' blood running through my veins and if anything happens I can either defend myself or call for help, it's only an idea, I will be doing a trial period next week but I just thought it would help, we would have more time together! Just think Catie, we could actually see each other more than a couple of hours a day, please say you'll support me!” Julie says pulling a face much like Mildred when she wants to get out of a detention. “I will always support you, I am just worried that's all, but you make a good point. It would be nice to see you!” Hecate answers thinking it through. To this Julie hugs her tightly “I can’t wait! I’ll call the hospital now!” she goes out of the room to get a better signal. “You are not at all convinced that  this is a good idea, are you?” Ada says lightly. “If any of the girls so much as hurt her feelings, they will wish they’d never been born!” Hecate announces. Ada taps her hand. “You might want to hold off on the protectiveness, Julie Hubble can protect herself” she says in a more serious tone. “Oh I have no doubt about that but, I happen to be a lot more scary than she is”                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ada couldn’t argue there. 
*****
It’s the second week of the spring term and Julie is walking into Cackles with a box of art supplies and some books on ordinary things like, the telephone and cars that she thought she could teach the girls about while getting them into art, she had been given five days from the hospital to decide if she was coming back and she had this feeling of excitement bubbling in her stomach. She walks down the corridor by Hecate's rooms, she woke up and got here extra early to surprise the brunette. *knock* her knuckle collides with the door. “Who is it?” asks the voice of ‘Miss Hardbroom’ the intimidating potions mistress. Julie tries the door, it is not locked, “it's only me!” she says as she enters to find Hecate with a look of horror at the thought of someone being in her room. At discovering that it is in fact Julie and not a bolshy student or nosey staff member, she relaxes “Wh- your early” she says once her heartbeat slows. “I am, it’s great isn’t it” her voice is so excited and happy that the brunette smiles. “Oh Catie-love could you do something for me?” Julie asks suddenly. Hecate looks up from the research she was doing “that depends, what did you want?” she says, though they both know that she would do whatever it was Julie asked. “ I wondered if you could write a list of all the ordinary things you didn’t know about before you met me? I thought I could combine my art lessons with teaching them about my world. I have books on modern electrics and another couple on cars and transport but I wondered if you could help me with some more ideas?” Julie pouts slightly, as if pleading. “You are extraordinary! You are aware of that right? Of course I will help, if you go and set up your class I will have my list transferred to you when it's done. That is such a nice idea, really darling, I’m sure the girls will love it”  ‘if they don’t I will scare them until they do’ she thinks bitterly. “It was just an idea I got from Mildred. She is a smart cookie, who is very proud to be called your daughter by the way” the blonde says with a small smile. Hecate blushes, “she.... Told you about that?” she asks embarrassed. “More than once, it was all she could talk about, she idolises the hell out of you!” Hecate is branded with pride, she was so lucky to have the Hubbles and she couldn’t wait for the rest of the Cackles to see how amazing one ‘ordinary’ woman could be.  “Oh my is that the time!” Julie exclaims looking at Hecate’s necklace. “Could you do the thing?”  she adds. “You want me to transfer you to your class? Are you sure? I could go with you and come back?” the witch is suddenly worried, she knows how much Julie hates transferation. “You’d look like my guard dog! No I’ll be fine, honestly” with that Hecate flicks her wrist and suddenly she is aware of how alone she is. Her room is now scattered with her fiance’s belongings and no where near its normal neat perfection. Hecate, for some reason, prefers it like this. Selfish as it was, she hoped Julie would stay at Cackles forever, just to fill her loneliness when term time hit. 

Chapter Text

Julie appeared in the art room with a *poof* luckily there were no students yet, she didn't want them getting the wrong impression, she set up for her first lesson, she was going to teach her first years how electricity works and get them to draw a lamp. She hoped that since Cackles had its own electricity that this wouldn't be too tricky. It turned out wonderfully, the girls were all so intrigued but the lamp Julie had set up. “Ms Hubble! Ms Hubble?” one little girl with red hair exclaimed from the front row, her hand raised high in the air.  “Yes, little one? Sorry, what is your name?” Julie says in a soft voice, she decided was her ‘teacher voice’. “Ophelia, Ophelia Firewood” she says. “What was your question Ophelia?” Julie says trying not to break out into a Hamlet reference, Witches didn't know Shakespeare. “How does it work? the … lamp?” Julie smiled “I am going to explain that to you now but you're going to have to listen to me and because this is an art lesson, try drawing the lamp too, if that is okay with everyone?” It seemed perfectly okay with everyone, so Julie started to explain what wires were and how they carried ‘little yellow balls of energy’ called electricity from the wall to the glass bulb of the lamp. 
She didn’t have another lesson next period and then it was break time, her time table was, all too conveniently, just the same as Hecate’s. After the success of her lamp lesson she finds herself wondering down the corridors in search of the potions classroom. When she gets there she finds Hecate nose deep in her book, she knocks. “Ah Mz Hubble, what a pleasant surprise” says the brunette, without looking up. “You’ve missed it, haven’t you? Mz Hubbleing!” Julie asks with a shake of her head. “I might have, so I am going to take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts. Mz Hubble” she says follows with such an expression it leads Julie to blush. “Ho- how was your class?” the blonde asks, looking around the room with interest. “Fine, I’d ask how yours went but I hear it went down amazingly with the girls” Julie looks at her watch “How? It’s only been ten minutes!” she asks in disbelief. Hecate gives her a mysterious look “word travels fast” she says with a shrug “But so do witches” she adds with a grin. “Were you snooping!” Julie asks in mock horror. “I wouldn’t dare! A little girl from my form, who happened to be in your art class, forgot her quill and so came to retrieve it” the truth was that the student had not forgotten the quill but it had been ‘mysteriously missing’ when she went to look for it before her lesson with Julie. “Hm,okay. It would be okay for you to admit you’re checking up on me ya know, I wouldn’t mind” says the art teacher with a soft smile but it was obvious to her that Hecate would never admit it. She actually found it kind of sweet that the witch had gone to such a length to make sure she had a good first lesson, she didn’t buy the ‘missing quill’ story one bit. “Do you usually sit in here for your breaks?” she asks the witch, who looks as if she has no intention of moving. “Most of the time? Yes, but I am partial in going to the staff room. If you’d like” Hecate says looking up at the blonde, which is a weird experience as she is used to being taller than the woman. “Yes I think I would”
*****
The staff room is surprisingly lively for the group of people it contains. The room's atmosphere seems to change as Julie walks in, though she isn’t entirely sure why. She sits at a table with Dimity and Ada one side and she and Hecate the other. “How was your first lesson Julie?” Ada asks with a kind smile. Julie smiles back “the girls seemed to love it but, they were only first years, I’m sure the older girl will cause some trouble” she says honestly, she had no doubt that her third year class would be trouble, Ethel Hallow was in that class and Julie was weary of her. “Nah I’m sure they’ll love you, what are you going to do with them?” Dimity asks with peak interest. “Well I had a little bit of magical intervention on this… Catie? if you wouldn't mind?” As soon as Julie asks, Hecate flicks her wrist and a small model of Julie's car appears. It is a small, beat-up, cherry red convertible that had definitely seen better days. The pair on the other side of the table gasp. “So… this is my car and well…” a mini Julie appears who, at least she thinks, is too pretty and shows Hecate’s obvious bias to her looks. “This is a more ‘supermodel’ looking me” she adds, looking accusingly at the witch on her right. “I think she looks highly accurate” Hecate says with a shrug. “Oh of course you do” Julie laughs “anyway..” She explains how the car works and what she plans on teaching the girls. When she’s finished the table aplaudes. She hopes it goes down as well with her students as it did with her friends, but honestly? She was dreading it.  The bell for third period sounds and everyone but Julie poofs out of the room “lucky” Julie mutters before taking to ‘jogging’ to her classroom. To her displeasure, the room is full of students. “Sorry I’m late everyone, hallways are longer than I remembered!” she says with a huff. She spots Millie on the back row with her pals. “Now some of you may know me as Mildred’s mum, but I’m Ms Hubble and I’ll be teaching you both about art and … the ordinary world!” as soon as she finishes speaking the model she left in the staff room appears, ‘thank god or the high wizard or whoever for Hecate’ she thinks. “So today I thought we could start the topic on ‘ordinary transport’ much like you lot and your brooms, we have ways we like to travel, this is one of them” she motions to the model car. “Now I hope you don’t mind that I had a spot of magical help to get you this model...But I thought it would be an easy way to show you how it works.” a hand is raised in the air, it belongs to Ethel Hallow. “Ethel, right?” the high ponytailed blonde nods “shoot, what's the question?”Julie asks in a soft voice. “I’m just wondering, if this is a class all about not having magic, why have you had magic used to help show us?” it was a reasonable question. “Well the point of this lesson isn’t to not use magic, your magic is a part of you and I will make sure to include ways in which you can embrace it... this lesson is on teaching you about the world just outside your own, oh and turning you into mini artists of course!” This seems like a good enough answer and so Julie sets them on the task of creating a piece of artwork based on the car in however they see fit.  This is when the middle Hallow seems to present a problem. Instead of painting, drawing or creating a piece of work herself, she'd cast a spell that painted it for her. “Now Ethel that's not exactly what I meant, I wanted the art to come from you, not your magic” she says quietly so that only the girl can hear. “You just said to embrace our magic, and now you are reprimanding me for using it? You act so nice and sugar sweet but it's probably just to hide the fact you're a jealous old toad who wishes she had magic but doesn't, so instead she tries to make herself fit in the world of magic, where she has no  place” this was not the reaction Julie had hoped for. Mildred goes to say something in her mother's defence but she is stopped by a look.  “Would you mind coming with me?” the art teacher says in a voice that makes it seem like a request, but they both know there's not much choice in the matter.  
Julie leads Ethel to the art cupboard that connects to her class. “What are you going to do? Shut me in?” the girl says in a false ‘don't care’ attitude that hides her fear. Julie is both slightly frightened and concerned by this.”no- I- Ethel do you think it would be normal for me to shut you in a cupboard?” she asks, not quite knowing how to address the situation in hand. “If you were annoyed at me, then yes” Julie tenses slightly, what has this poor girl been through? “Okay, firstly I am not annoyed, at all. Secondly, no one, I repeat not a single person should ever. Ever, shut you in a cupboard”  the girl looks up and her but doesn’t say anything. “I thought that maybe you and I should just have a little chat about what just happened, is that okay?” Julie's whole approach to the situation had suddenly changed, this girl needed care and support, not someone yelling at her. “I… I guess so” Ethel's approach had also changed, she was used to being told off and then let go but Ms Hubble was different, she might actually care. “I want to start off by saying that I was not reprimanding you earlier, you are a very gifted witch and it’s amazing that you can cast a spell like that from memory, so it was definitely not reprimanding and you are in no trouble” Julie’s tone is too serious, she sounds like her mother, this what not what she wants. so she adds “even for calling me old!” to add some humour to her voice.  “I simply wanted you to approach the task creativity instead of magically, now that may not be your strong suit and that's fine, if you ever need any help or extra support or you just want a chat, you can come and find me. My door here is always open or I’ll be in HB’s potion room, the staff room, or if it's after school hours? Somewhere in Miss Hardbroom’s tower, Just be careful if you're walking around there at night, ‘don’t know what you might find!”  she finishes with a chuckle and surprisingly, Ethel lets out a shaky laugh too. “You really mean it? That I can come and talk to you? About… anything?” The words are slow and uncertain. Julie nods “anything, anywhere, anytime, within reason of course” she smiles comfortingly, she might have actually got through to Ethel Hallow! “Ms Hubble?” Julie crashed out of her thoughts, “thank you, and… sorry about what I said, it was unfair and uncalled for, there really is more that we can learn from you” with that Julie dismisses her and goes to look at all the brilliant work the rest of her class had been doing. She praised everyone on their good work and promised popcorn next lesson, of course only Millie knew what that was, she decided it was the perfect excuse to teach them how to use the microwave. 
Julie walked out of her classroom for the end of the day feeling the same bubble of excitement in her tummy. Maybe she could actually make this work? Hecate spots Julie grinning as she walks up to her. “You look happy” she remarks surprised, third years were not easy and seconds were probably harder still.”I am but I think I need to have a talk with you and Ada. Officially” Hecate feels as if her heart has dropped in her chest. This couldn’t be good. 

Chapter Text

Julie was sat once again in the leather chair of Miss Cackle’s office,  she hated that chair, it made her feel like a student in trouble or a parent having to deal with the consequences of said student and she’d been that parent many times but she was never sat as comfortable as this on those occasions, her were feet tucked under her and she had a a mug of tea in hand. She looked  concerned as she waited. Ada sat on the opposite side of the desk, intrigued, Hecate was a mix of both emotions and that made her very uncomfortable. “Well I’m not really sure how to go about this and I dunno, I guess I’m scared you’ll think I'm making it up but...I think the Hallow children are being abused, or I have a pretty good idea that’s what’s happening anyway” Julie says finally filling the uneasy silence. To her surprise, neither witch looked shocked. “What gave you that idea?” Ada asks calmly. Julie lanches into retelling the story of the cupboard and what Ethel had said. “But I’m not entirely sure that right now is the right time to take action, if you don't mind me saying, I feel like I am getting somewhere with Ethel and I don’t want her trust in me to recoil, if you give me sometime I think I could probably get her to tell you on her own” Julie says after some thought, she really would like the chance to gain Ethel’s trust properly, in some ways the girl reminded her of Hecate, or the Hecate she first met at least. “I think that might be a great idea Julie, Hecate what do you think?” they both turned to the brunette, “I… have had my suspicions about the Hallow’s for a while now and I think it’s really great Ethel is warming up to you, but I feel the need to remind you to tread carefully, you have a bigger heart than you know what to do with” Hecate comments honestly. Julie had an accidental knack for attracting broken things and trying her best to fix them, that is why, at least Hecate thinks anyway, She had made such a great nurse and why she will also make a brilliant teacher. It was a great strength but it could also be considered her biggest weakness, the witch thought she needed to be wary of it. Julie knew why Hecate was worried and she had concerns of her own but Ethel was just a child, one that needed Julie’s help and that was something she couldn’t overlook. 
*****
Juile loved Hecate, she really did but she had to admit that her tower was not the most comfortable place in the castle. “I miss my flat” she mutters sadly, she was three days into her ‘trial’ and honestly she loved Cackles, it was obvious to her that she was going to stay. This left the question of her flat, what was she going to do with her flat? “I may have a solution to that” muses Hecate when she brings up her concerns with her. The taller woman takes her hand and leads her to the biggest room at the top of the tower. “Catie? What’s this?” she asks, turning to the woman with curiosity. “Why don’t you open the door and take a look?” so she opens the door, carefully, to find an exact replica of her flat inside. “Bloody hell it's like a Tardis in here!” the blonde exclaims in surprise, she looks around in a mix of wonder and pure adoration. “Is… is it okay?” Hecate asks a sudden fear of overstepping in her tone. “Okay? Okay? This has got to be the sweetest and most romantic thing you've ever done!” Hecate scoffs “I literally proposed to you last week! But no, making a simple copy of your flat is the most romantic thing I have ever done?” Hecate was baffled. “And your proposal was very sweet but the fact you can copy my entire flat? From memory? you even included that chip in the kitchen table! Sorry I went off track...what was I saying? Oh yeah, the flat! The fact you know every single small detail of my home? That shows me you care more than any gold ring ever could.” it seemed as if Julie was having a complete conversation with herself but the last thing she said rang through Hecate’s mind ‘the fact you know every single detail of my home shows me you care more than a gold ring ever could’ she thinks for a moment ‘maybe I should of proposed with a house?’ she thinks to herself with a laugh. “Oi ground control to Major Tom, what's the joke?” Julie's sudden voice snaps her back into reality. “Ground-what?” Hecate says with sudden confusion, Julie laughs. It was so easy for her to forget that the poor woman wasn’t from her world, Hecate did such a good job getting almost every reference or saying she threw at her. “It’s just a saying...doesn’t matter. Anyway what had you chuckling there?”  to this the brunette smiles. “I was just thinking that maybe I should of proposed with a house” Julie laughs brightly “don’t you try to take the ring back now! She’s mine!” she says in exaggerated defence pulling her hand away protectively. It still absolutely blew her mind that five years ago, she was hated by this woman and She would never say she hated the witch, but she definitely wasn’t her biggest fan either. 

Chapter Text

*five years ago*

Julie looked at the unfamiliar surroundings of the office, or at least she thinks it’s an office, in a sense of confusion. The ceiling was high and the whole design of the room was years out of date, it didn't look like anywhere near her flat compound, especially not with its fancy mirrors and golden candlestick holders, How on earth had she got here? Where even was here? One minute she was cleaning the bathroom and then *poof* here she was, upon reminding herself she had previously been cleaning she looks down to find that she still had the toilet brush in her rubber gloved hand. She looks around, suddenly aware yet again of her alien surroundings,  her eyes meeting those of her ten year old, Mildred. “Millie-love? I was just cleaning the toilet!” she says in an embarrassed whisper. “That's quite alright Miss Hubble, this shouldn’t take too long.” comes a voice from behind her. She spins around to find two women who look like polar opposites of each other. One a kindly looking woman with a white-blonde bob, in a print dress and hot-pink cardigan. The other a strict looking woman with long black-brown hair that was coiled up in a tight bun at the top of her head, she was in a straight-laced black dress and was stood up so tensely that Julie worried about the state of her back. The kind looking woman. Miss Cackle, goes on to explain how she is in a school for witches and that Mildred shows signs of being a witch. “Magic is..real? I- I just” she turns to her daughter in shock “It’s okay mum” she says brightly, touching the blondes shoulder lightly as if to remind her that this is, in fact not some weird fever dream, and she was in fact in the presence of witches, not fainted on the bathroom floor as she might of believed. “If you need more proof I will happily turn you into a pumpkin” the strict and by the book teacher says in a bored tone. “Hecate” Miss Cackle warns ‘Hecate’  Julie thinks to herself, ‘what an exotic name, shame such a pretty name was wasted on such a cow’  “Okay hold on Miss Cackle, let me get this right. You're all magic? All the students are magic, the teachers are magic and you all learn...magic?” she says trying to get her head round the idea. “I see where Mildred gets her quick wits Mistress Hubble” she said ‘Hubble’ in such a way that Julie almost found it endearing, almost. ‘Game on Cinderella’ Julie thinks, still not quite over the ‘pumpkin’ comment.  “Oh alright Missus I'm-so-magical! If you think you’re so much better than me, how about conjuring up some manners?” She snaps back, removing one of her yellow rubber gloves as she does so. To her shock the intimidating woman seems to be taken aback, she smiles at this, “and it’s Ms Hubble” she adds proudly. Julie gets so proud of herself for winning the first ‘jab’ at  Missus ‘oh so serious’ when she relives this day, she almost forgets the heartbreak of realising she’d be losing Millie for weeks on end that the memories  also contain and then there was the paperwork to fill out, she hated paperwork.
*****
“What an awful lot of black” she says looking at the uniform requirements. Of course this led to another snide remark from ‘strict and serious’ Hardbroom “witches don’t tend to do…” Her brown eyes look Julie up and down, causing her to blush slightly, the feeling much similar, she imagined,  as to being examined under a microscope  “pink” she adds upon eyeing up the random bursts of colour in the knitted cardie Julie was wearing, this  was a ridiculous thing to say considering the headmistress’ bright PINK jumper, but Julie didn’t have the energy to argue. “Should I transport you home Mz Hubble?” there she was again with her strange pronunciation of Hubble that seemed to just roll off her tongue and she hm’s her ‘z’ in such a way Julie forgets the question “yes-” she says at first and the realises she hadn’t got to say a proper goodbye to Millie “no! Wait!” but it was too late she was already back in her flat before the ‘t’ in “wait” had left her lips. Who did that woman think she was! She was so snotty and condescending and it made Julie so angry she decided to try to draw out her emotion, grabbing a pen and paper she tries to put what she’s feeling into a single drawing. Soon enough she loses herself in the pen and paper, only snapping out of her emotive trance to look at the sheet in her hand. ‘Oh for god sake’ she thinks. She’d drawn a surprisingly accurate, considering the little amount of time they’d spent together, Miss Hardbroom but also not quite. It was definitely the strict witch but Julie had drawn something in her facial features that made her look less intimidating and, she hated herself for even thinking it but, attractive.  She had also made her hair free of that god awful bun and instead imagined she had wild curls that reached her waist, like a black maned lioness, ‘only a woman with a lion's mane could be that ferocious’ was her excuse. ‘This is perfectly normal, totally 100% the normal thing to do when meeting a witch, she was just...starstruck! Yes that was it, there was no way she found this woman at all... attractive’ her mind raced and she was beginning to feel a little light headed, must be the side effects of transferation. She couldn’t have been more wrong…

Chapter Text

*present*
 Julie is sat on the sofa in her ‘cackles’ flat, reading one of the soppy, overpriced romance novels she enjoys, a cup of long gone cold and forgotten about tea on the table. Hecate had back to back meetings that day, leaving  Julie to her own devices. It was her first weekend as an ‘official’ teacher, she had rang the hospital yesterday evening to tell them her choice, she was sad to leave but spending more time with her family would be worth it. With her actually flat stripped of all her personal belongings and put on the market she felt like she only had one worry now. Ethel and the other Hallow girls. As if her thoughts had caught up with her, a timind *knock* is tapped on the door.

“Come in!” she calls brightly, putting her book down,  confused at who would be visiting her. Ethel Hallow enters looking at the floor “sorry to bother you Ms Hubble but you said-” she trails off. “You’re not bothering me and I said ‘anytime, anywhere, anyplace’ and I meant it. Come! Sit!” she motions to the empty space next to her. The girl lingers slightly, “I don’t bite!” Julie says as a form of encouragement. To this Ethel decides to sit. “So… what brings you to my...flat?” it had to be something important, she’d walked to Hecate’s tower, not many people, especially students, did that. “I… I need to talk to someone, preferably you, about something...but I don’t know where to begin” there was a hit of confusion and anger in her voice. “Okay… first of all, you can take your time with whatever it is, if it’s me you want to talk to then you're in luck because I have literally all  day” Julie smiles, she tries to radiate an energy of comfort and reassurance. “Well you remember that first lesson? And the...cupboard? And you said that-that it was not okay… to be… you know” Ethel’s lips tremble on her words, Julie fights the impulse to hug her or even place a hand on her shoulder, like she would if it were Millie, they were not quite there yet.”I remember” she says calmly. “Well… My mother...she sometimes… gets sick of the sight of me, she says and she would put me in rooms and lock the doors, well it started out as rooms  and then... changed” the girls haunting words seem to float in the air for a second. Julie tries to make sense of what she’d been told. “I- am I okay to ask you a question or two? Would you be comfortable with that?” she wasn’t shocked at the behaviour of Urshula, she was shocked at the fact this poor girl, the same age as her Millie, had been through so much. “Uh...okay?” with this confirmation she tries to think of the best way to word what she wants to say. “Now this is hard but I need you to tell me what has been going on at home, what does your mother do, does he do anything beyond the cupboards?” Julie's voice is so gentle it’s almost a whisper, she doesn’t want to hear whatever the poor girl is going to say, she doesn’t want to have to make her relive it, but she needs to know what she’s dealing with. “She’ll call us, all of us names, horrible names that make Sybil cry, she says she tries to push us to be our best, that's why” there is a pause while Ethel tries to regain control of her voice. “Then there's the ‘Cupboard’, it used to be a small servants bedroom but now it’s a place that I go to if I am being...difficult” hearing this breaks the art teacher's heart. ”you do not deserve to be locked up, no matter how ‘difficult’ you are being“ the words stick to the back of her throat. “Just another couple of questions, you are doing exceptionally!” the small words of kindness make the young girl smile slightly. “How long, if you can tell me, are you usually in  the cupboard?” a look of thought and then discomfort crosses the teenagers face. “It depends sometimes an hour, sometimes a whole day, maybe two if she thinks I've deserved it.” ‘two days? Two days! That is awful!’  Julie thinks in a sense of anger. “Last question, I promise, then maybe we could have some ice cream, as a treat?” to this Ethel looks confused. “I’ll explain what ‘ice cream’ is in just a tick.” she adds “just first I wondered would you be comfortable speaking to Miss Cackle about this?” She is cautious about how she handles this, not wanting to scare the small child. “if... you promise… promise to come with me” there was no way Julie could say no to that. “Of course I will, now let's get you introduced to the wonders of ice cream!” she says walking to the freezer.
*****
Two makeshift strawberry sundies later and Julie is once again in Miss Cackle’s office. “Ms Hubble and Ethel, what a nice surprise, what can I do for you?” Miss Cackle asks, looking from teacher to student. Julie looks at Ethel with a big smile and a thumbs-up. “Miss Cackle… I need some help” says Ethel, whose face has whitened slightly. Miss Cackle waits, letting her take her time. “I need to be taken away from my parents, I’m being abused…” she looks at her art teacher as if to see if she’d done the right thing. Julie decides that this symbolizes them being close enough, she places a hand on the girl's shoulder “well done love, well done” she whispers. Miss  Cackle says she will get right on to sorting it and ask the pair to leave as she makes some calls. “What happens now?” Ethel asks looking up at Julie lost. “Well… Miss Cackle will have to call whatever the witch equivalent of social services is, they will find you and Sybil  a new home or homes... and then the witch-police will talk to your parents and hopefully take them away” she had to explain what ‘social service’ and ‘police’ were but beyond that she is actually kind of chuffed at herself for the explanation. She had done it, she’d helped the Hallow girls.

Chapter Text

The next couple days were  a blur of people asking questions, Ethel had asked that Julie be present during all the question-asking and various meetings as her ‘adult presence’ and Julie was more than happy to be there, how could she say no? How could anyone ever refuse this poor girl of anything she wanted after all she’d been through? In truth, she had actually grown quite fond of this certain Hallow. All of this considered it shouldn't have come as a shock to her when Ethel asked her to adopt her but it did, she hadn’t even considered that she had made that much  of an impression on her. If Hecate was there she could imagine the woman raising an eyebrow and tutting at the fact Julie was clueless to her effect on people. She was sat with the girl and her ‘magic counsellor’, which was actually what they were called and not a term she’d made up. Julie was proud of this. “Uh” she was speechless, totally utterly speechless. “Hold on, Miss Rosewood could you pause the meeting for a second?” it was paused. “Now Ethel, I would love to adopt you, but would it be okay for me to ask HB and Mille first?” she says softly. The teen nods with a soft smile, Julie looks at the counsellor “would you mind, transferring  me to Miss Hardbroom's potion lab? I’ll be back in a tick” and with a *poof* She was outside Hecate’s lab, thanking her lucky stars that she had Mildred’s class. She knocks making the brunette jump. “ Well met Mz Hubble...what can I do for you?” she asks in pleasant shock, trying her best not to smile at the blonde, she had a reputation to uphold  “Well met Miss Hardbroom, I wonder could I perhaps borrow both yourself and Mildred Hubble, for a couple of minutes?” 
****
After getting Mildred and setting a small independent task for the rest of the class, Hecate stood outside the lab listening to Julie explain her reason for disrupting the pair. “So I wondered what you would both say to… adopting Ethel Hallow?” Hecate can feel Mildred's scowl before turning to her. “Ethel Hallow? The one who insulted you to me and then to your face in the same week? That Ethel Hallow?” Millie’s sarcasm is a mask for her confusion. “Well a lot can change in a couple of days Millie-love, Ethel has had a very difficult time at home and I thought that maybe we could show her what a loving family looks like, hm?” Julie’s smile is wide, with hope. “But Ethel hates us, she hates you and bullies me!” She protests. This time it’s Hecate whose tongue works by itself to defend the Hallow. “And what did I used to do? Hm? Your mother is very good at turning enemies to friends Mildred. Surely you know that by now?” Julie mouths a quick ‘thanks’ at her and Hecate can finally see why Ethel means so much to her. She’s just like Hecate was and in some ways still is, a confused and lonely soul who's had an awful lot of bad experience’s and just needs some love. “HB! Whose side are you on!” Mildred complains. “My own” says the potions mistress with a chuckle. “Fine Ethel can come and live with us, I’ll even share a bedroom  if I have too” says Mille, with a roll of her eyes that makes her look older than she is. Julie can tell she is warming up to the idea “Thanks Millie-love, Catie, is it okay with you?” She was quick to come to Ethel’s defence but Julie wasn’t sure that qualified as a ‘yes’. “Am I prepared to invite another teenager into our home, no matter how insane that makes us sound? If it is what you want, then yes” Julie practically glows with happiness. “Now, I’d better let you get back to your lesson.. If you could just poof me back to the spare office room please?” She says at Hecate, honestly getting tired of the fact she can’t transfer herself, even if she hates it. With yet another *poof*  She is back with Ethel and Miss Rosewood, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “I guess I’ve  got some paperwork to do, right?” she says grimacing at the thick glasses wearing woman. “Really!”  Just seeing the smile on The blonde teens face made all the paperwork worth it. “Yup, you’re now part of the Hubble-Hardbroom family”  not that they even were the ‘Hubble-Hardbroom’s’ yet but Julie was determined. She finished the last of the paperwork and went to go talk to Miss Cackle about the fact that she was now Ethel’s legal guardian. 
****
“Julie, how is it going with Ethel?” Ada asks in her normal, calm tone. "that's actually why I’m here Ada, to change Ethel’s school paperwork” and for the second time that day she found herself involved with paperwork. ‘Still worth it, totally worth it’ she thinks gritting her teeth. “Ah so you’ve found her a home then? Is the adult nearby?” Ada asks with a certain smile that makes Julie think she already knows. “Uh yeah funny that… I’m now her par- legal guardian” she had almost said ‘parent’ but it was much too soon for that. “Are you now? What a surprise” the headmistress says as if it was the exact opposite. “It came as a bloody-well shock to me, but I suppose I'm not great at noticing what’s right in front of me… anyway I just wondered if you could change all her emergency contacts and what not? Because I wouldn’t even know where to begin!” She wasn't even sure where to start with witching paperwork and how you’d even change a witches state of affair, she should probably change that, being engaged and  being responsible for the care of witches. It felt like she had done the impossible, she finally felt as if she belonged to both worlds, and wasn’t just a spectator watching everything whirl past her, she had proved that you didn’t need magic to belong in the witching world. It really felt something of make believe, but then again there was a time Julie thought that about witches.