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“Oh darn!”. The weather had just taken a turn for the worse as Pippa was about to mount her broom in the gardens of the Cackle’s Academy. “Whoo! That was close, made it in the nick of time”. As Pippa turned at the swooshing sound made by a landing broom, she saw Dimity Drill just dismounting her broom. “Hey there, Miss P, where are you off to? Better get back inside, it only gets more turbulent post-midnight, has been that way this whole week”, she said pulling up her hood. “Oh” Pippa’s face twitched.
“It would be safer if you stayed back the night” she said shrugging at Pippa. “I can’t. Hecate must be asleep, I don’t want to go back in and wake her up, she needs her rest what with it being Monday tomorrow” Pippa said sympathetically. “Don’t be daft, it shouldn’t be a problem, it isn’t safe to fly in this weather”. She saw Pippa hesitating. She looked perplexedly at Pippa’s face. She paused for a bit pursing her lips and then said, “Alright, come on up to my chambers for a bit, have a cup of tea and let’s see if the weather improves. If it does, you can be on your way, if not, we will wake HB up. That sound ok to you?”. Pippa sighed and nodded.
Dimity’s room was bright and vibrant, it was warm with a fire alit. She sat on a cushiony armchair which altered its shape to make Pippa’s back more rested. Pippa looked astonished and pleased. “Designed that spell myself, to get enough lumbar support which is awfully lacking in the chairs of the staffroom”, she said looking quite proud of herself. “Need a strong spine, job requirement”, she joked as she put on the kettle. Pippa smiled at her “Indeed” she nodded in agreement.
“So, you and HB, how’s it going there? If you don’t mind my asking that is” Dimity asked handing Pippa some hot tea. “It’s going fine. So far so good” said Pippa politely smiling at Dimity as she sipped her tea. Dimity nodded and gave a thin smile. Pippa continued to look outside the window, with a tired look on her face, trying to see if the weather was showing any signs of improvement. Dimity observed the pink witch furtively.
“HB is quite unique, you know. She has her own way of doing things. She can take a bookish approach to doing things, including taking care of people around her. Just the other day she altered the unlocking spell to Ada’s larder, so that it could be accessed only if her blood sugar and cholesterol count met the prescribed numbers set by her. Ada was cranky for a week but she knew, Hecate had her best interests and didn’t complain” she chuckled looking at Pippa a little precariously. Pippa smiled and shook her head, that did sound like something Hecate would do.
“She seems happy now, more than ever. But she hasn’t done this kind of thing before, you know – relationships and stuff; not as long as I have known her. She is quite new to these things and can be ignorant at times, a little dense even on occasion, but she has her heart in the right place. She may take a little more time than others to figure things out and pick up on social cues and such”, she added sincerely, hoping she had not crossed any line.
Pippa was now a little piqued “Is there something you are trying to tell me Miss Drill?” she asked unsurely, squinting her eyes at Dimity. She had noticed Dimity trying to read her for quite some time.
The turquoise clad witch flushed in embarrassment. “I…I don’t mean to…to intrude in any way. I just saw you hesitate to go back to Hecate’s room. After all these months of getting to know each other, you should be able to stay over, I mean that is kind of implied… and I just assumed that it was Hecate being thick or… taking her own slow pace to learn the etiquette in such situations and…er… I didn’t want you to hold that against her, you know…she isn’t particularly good at picking up non-verbal cues”.
“Oh, dear Dimity!” the pink clad witch laughed when it dawned upon her what Dimity had been trying to do “I am well aware of Hecate’s nerdy ways. Not that you need to know but I have stayed overnight in Hecate’s quarters many times before. And she did ask me to stay tonight, but I have a staff meeting tomorrow first thing and since I am not a morning person at all, I wanted to reach tonight and be decently rested before the meeting tomorrow. I hate flying early mornings, Hecate knows that”. “Oh well, that’s a relief then” Dimity laughed looking at Pippa sheepishly.
“Pippa, why are you here?” a black fuzz materialized in the room. Hecate looked at Miss Drill with a raised eyebrow. “Relax HB, I was keeping your girlfriend company until the weather improved”. “It isn’t going to Miss Drill. It has been that way this whole week and it only worsens post-midnight. You should know that by now!”. “I did tell her the exact same thing you know” she said rolling her eyes at Hecate “but she wanted to wait and leave in case it got better. But how exactly did you find her here?” Dimity asked looking at Hecate curiously.
“I warned Miss Pentangle against flying in this weather but she was in a hurry. I simply placed a tracking spell on her broom which was supposed to send a ping to my maglet once she reached the Pentangle’s Academy. When the weather took a turn for the worse, I tracked her broom and found it here”, she said very matter-of-fact like, as if that were the established standard procedure of ensuring someone got home safe.
Dimity and Pippa exchanged amused, knowing smiles at each other. “Pippa it would be wise to stay back, and not keep the rest of Cackle’s staff awake at this hour”. Pippa nodded in agreement. “Good night Dimity, I am sorry for keeping you awake. Thank you for the tea and everything” she said as she collected her broom from the corner of Dimity’s room. “You are a good friend you know” she said beaming at Dimity. Glancing at Hecate who was standing near the door “she’s not as dense as she comes across you know”, she whispered as she winked at Dimity. Dimity smiled back embarrassedly “Good night Miss P and good night, you big nerd” she yelled as Hecate transferred herself and Pippa to her chambers.
“Did she just call me a nerd?” asked Hecate in a puzzled tone as they materialized in her room. In response, Pippa put her arms around the other witch’s neck “you are not just a nerd, you are my nerd”, she said as she kissed a rather flummoxed Hecate.