A/N: I started writing this story to be a Imogen/Constance oneshot. However, after writing the first three sentences Constance Hardbroom decided that she wants to do things her way! Such a stubborn traditionalist she is! From that point on, the characters were doing what they wanted with me being the mere instrument to deliver their story. So here it is, with the premise of Drill/HB love ahead - that is once Constance finally sees how much she's attracted to the PE teacher. Tsk.

Enjoy the story and review to share the Hardbroom love! 3

Chapter One: For The Well Being Of The Girls

That day didn't start out good for Constance Hardbroom.

It wasn't that is was Monday – even though she did not particularly like them for reasons of having a morning potion class with Mildred Hubble which usually meant something would break, spill and surely go wrong with the student's potion. The girl was a walking disaster with no talent for potions at all. A morning class with a half-asleep student who couldn't tell a difference between Cumin Seeds and Damian even when she was wide awake always meant an unpleasant morning.

It wasn't even the fact that Constance woke up twenty minutes later than usual. She blamed Mildred Hubble for this as well– she always had to sleep with one eye open, in case the girl was up to no good again. Constance knew there was one more thought that kept her awake but she locked it out of her mind as she often did with what she considered to be useless thoughts. It was as if everything wanted to annoy her from the very moment she opened her eyes.

No, that was not the main reason why she felt that this day would be a nuisance, even though it had given her subtle hints. It was what happened later in the staff room.

Before meeting the other teachers for morning notices, Constance had made sure everything was in order. Her bed had been made up, she'd opened the window for morning air and she'd got dressed in her usual black gown. She'd straightened out her black skirt one last time and had checked her tight bun to make sure not a hair was out of place. There was a single annoying hair sticking out which she couldn't tie to her bun no matter how many times she'd tried. She even briefly considered cutting it off. It'd seemed that her hair decided to hate her that day as well, as if it had wanted to add to the annoyance of the day and make Constance moody even before she had walked out of her room.

Or de-materialized, for that matter.

For the past fourteen years, the teacher had a habit of materializing to the morning notices for reasons long forgotten. Mostly it was because it highly annoyed Davina Bat, which was something Constance took great delight in. However this morning, not even that cheered her up.

"Very well, let the day begin." she said to herself and a few moments later she dematerialized to the staff room, leaving her bedroom empty.

When Constance appeared in the staff room, Miss Bat let out a high pinched cry, looking very startled. A few years ago, she used to lock herself up in the cupboard every time this happened but now she just held the cupboard handle. The potions teacher smiled a little, pretending not to take notice of her colleague, and looked directly at the headmistress, Amelia Cackle. She greeted her first because she was the highest authority in the room. It was a tradition, after all.

"Good morning, Constance." Amelia replied with a sweet smile. "We were just discussing the unfortunate events of yesterday's Chanting Class." she added.

"I don't see what is so unfortunate about a small burn on Ethel's hand that it needs to be further discussed. Burns like that occur every day in my potion classes, Miss Cackle." Constance said while pouring herself a cup of her morning tea and greeting Miss Bat with a polite 'good morning'.

"Oh, but it was so dramatic!"

Miss Bat exclaimed, thrusting her hands in the air and then putting them together close to her heart to ensure a dramatic effect. "Ethel cried and screamed and the girls were shouting my name and wanted me to…" The gesture surprised Constance, who spilt her tea a little on her sleeve and the table. She let out a dangerous groan and gave the eccentric chanting teacher a glare only she could master. Davina stopped mid-sentence and bit her lower lip. Then she apologized, taking two steps back towards the cupboard.

"Yes, dear. We believe it must have been truly terrible for you, indeed," the headmistress agreed, encouraging the chanting teacher to stay out of the wooden cupboard.

"But the reason we are talking about the accident is not because of what happened, but how. Miss Ethel explained that she had found a lighter on the train here. It was a non-witch device and poor Ethel didn't know how to use it. And while she was figuring out what exactly it does, she accidentally burnt herself."

Constance suppressed the urge to roll her eyes on the curios spirit of young girls and instead fixed her gaze on the fireplace, thinking about whether Ethel deserved a detention for her ignorance. Then she decided against it – after all, those non-witch devices were tricky and even she didn't know how to use many of them.

"This was our warning, ladies." Amelia said in a very serious tone, looking at them over her glasses. All the teachers (including Miss Drill who Constance decided to fully ignore) were listening carefully.

"As Miss Drill noted, the girls know nothing about the non-witch world," the headmistress continued. "A few of them come from a non-magical family but most of the girls - such as Ethel - are not so lucky."

"Lucky!" Constance exclaimed, raising her eyebrows. "I would hardly consider being a non-witch 'lucky'!"

At this point, Miss Drill shot her an angry look, deciding to protect her status' name. It was one thing to have subtle (well, nothing was truly subtle when it came to Miss Hardbroom) comments about her own non-witch status but she wouldn't have the witch insulting everyone who was not a witch like them!

"Not all of us are born with spells and magic books, Miss Hardbroom, we actually have to think to invent devices to help us and we learn to operate them!" Miss Drill said in a loud voice.

This took Miss Hardbroom aback. She was used to arguing with Miss Drill about their teaching methods, however this was personal now. The tone of voice her colleague used surprised her, for not many people dared to talk to her like that.

"You have to learn because there is not a bit a magic in you! I don't see why our girls should be considered lucky to be exposed to such useless devices and filling their heads with non-witch technologies instead of spells and potions." she responded, putting her tea cup on the table and crossing her arms.

"Obviously, Ethel's case proves you wrong! Had she known what a lighter was, she would not have burnt herself. The girls cannot rely on magic all the time - that alone will not get them through their lives. They need to know more about the world around them, the non-witch world, especially since many of them are isolated here for years. It was a lighter this time but it might be a gun the next time!"

Miss Drill stood up while speaking, as she often did when she was arguing with a sitting Miss Hardbroom. That was the only situation where she could look down at the woman. It made her feel less terrified of the witch – of course, everybody in their right mind had to be terrified of Miss Hardbroom and she was no exception. Her fear, however, did not get in the way of expressing her opinions to the stubborn traditionalist.

The disapproval of every word the PE teacher uttered was very visible on Constance's face.

"I have never had to learn what the non-witch devices were used for and I am getting though my life just fine, thank you very much, Miss Drill." The cold tone of her voice made Miss Bat look at Miss Cackle with anxiety and then back-and-forth at the arguing teachers.

"Oh, you can hardly use yourself as an example – you've never even left the walls of this castle and probably never will, considering how you are unable to build any relationships with people! You might not need the skills to survive in a normal world but our girls do!" shouted Miss Drill, putting her hands on her hips and leaning to a close proximity of Miss Hardbroom's face.

Right after she stopped speaking, she realized that she had never been so close to the deputy Headmistress before. Feeling strangely intimidated by it, she straightened up and took two steps back, watching Miss Hardbroom's reaction. To her surprise, the witch was quiet for a moment and Miss Drill dared to think that she saw sadness reflect in her collage's unreadable expression. Then Miss Hardbroom stood up to her full height and with her arms crossed, looked down at the other women. Her brown eyes met Miss Drill's green eyes, the intensity of their looks making them both feel a strange connection. Perhaps it was pure hatred. Perhaps, Imogen thought, something else.

"Our girls need to learn discipline and magic, not fool around with devices that are useless to every capable witch. This is an academy for witches, not your usual college, Miss Drill!"

At that point, right when Miss Drill opened her mouth to reply, the headmistress intervened.

"That is enough, ladies. You are both professionals and I suggest you act like it. Now, sit down – both of you."

The truth was Miss Cackle rarely settled arguments using her authority. Usually she preferred to appeal to people's emotions and common sense – however in case of her deputy headmistress and the argumentative PE teacher, she didn't have any other choice. She had never seen two people with such an opposing point of views, each passionate to defend her opinion.

"Very well," Miss Cackle began when her employees sat down, clearly biting their tongues not to say anything.

"I believe we were not meant to discuss the usefulness of non-witch devices to witches this morning. I mentioned the topic because of what had happened yesterday in Miss Bat's class and because I believe we have to make sure nothing even remotely similar happens in this Academy ever again."

Miss Bat nodded. She didn't want to see any more burnt hands in her class that was for sure.

"I agree with you, Constance, that the main priority of this school is and always will be magic. However, Imogen is right when she says that it will be in our girl's best interest to know more about the commonly used devices in the non-witch world. After all, they might eventually have to learn to live in one. Of course, that doesn't apply to all the pupils – I suppose most of them will marry into a magical family and live in one of the many magic cities. But I firmly believe that the quality of any academy is measured by the knowledge of their weakest student and I shall make sure every girl such as Ethel knows how to safely operate a non-witch device. I hope you agree, Constance, that it is our duty to make sure our girls are safe at all times."

Even though Miss Hardbroom didn't fully agree with anything the headmistress said, she had to agree with the last sentence. She suspected Miss Cackle formed her speech like that on purpose. Manipulation was a delicate skill but Miss Cackle knew how to use it.

"Naturally, the safety of the girls is our priority." Miss Harbroom agreed.

"Then we all agree that something must be done to prevent any more accidents." Miss Cackle looked around the staff room. "Any suggestions?"

Miss Bat raised her hand as if she was scared to talk without permission. Miss Hardbroom rolled her eyes at that gesture, Miss Drill quietly sighed and Miss Cackle smiled at her sweetly: "Go ahead, Davina. We're listening."

"I think we should educate the girls about the devices by bringing them here and showing them. I guess Imogen could tell us what the things do and how to safely operate them, right Imogen? And then the girls could try it out themselves – that would be so much fun! We could have helium balloons, too, and electric lights and those blowing things that help you dry your hair and we could decorate the hall and maybe compose a song about it…! Oh, that would be splendid, wouldn't it?"

As always, Miss Bat got carried away with her ideas, already planning who will sing what. Oh, how that annoyed Miss Hardbroom! The never ending blabbing!

"Splendid indeed," she remarked with an obvious annoyance in her voice.

"I agree with Davina - that way the girls would be interested in actually learning to work with the devices and we would have to only spend one afternoon doing it," Miss Drill stated.

Miss Hardbroom didn't protest this time. She could cope with one afternoon - for the well being of the girls. The headmistress thought about it for a few moments and then her face lit up. She got an idea.

"I don't think the girls would be eager to learn anything if we made them dedicate their free afternoon time to it, would they? I suggest we do it during classes, as soon as possible. Actually, we could even do it today!"

"Today?" the deputy headmistress raised her eyebrows. She had a potions class to teach and with the end of semester in four weeks…poor students such as Mildred Hubble needed every single potion class to pass the exams.

"Works for me," Miss Drill said in a delighted voice. Miss Bat just nodded with excitement and turned around two times, humming her favorite song.

"I certainly don't ag---," Miss Hardbroom started but the headmistress cut her off.

"I am happy to see we came to an agreement then! We will start in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, please make sure all the students are present."

Before Constance had the chance to protest again, Miss Bat run out of the staff room to tell her students to gather in the Great Hall and Miss Drill went to her room to find something she could show to the girls.

The headmistress and her deputy stayed alone in the staff room. Miss Hardbroom glared at her boss. She didn't approve of any of this, yet it was not her place to protest. Miss Cackle wanted to say something but Miss Hardbroom de-materialized before she had the chance to speak.

Constance Hardbroom would take a day of potion classes with the clumsy Mildred Hubble any time over this. That Monday certainly hadn't started out good and it seemed it would not improve any time soon.