Happy New Year.

I hope your Christmas has been wonderful and that this new year is brilliant and even better than this one.

Dedicated to my friend Hallow Sisters on My Mind.

Enjoy.

A Mother Figure.

Esmerelda sighed with relief that her job with getting the parents seen to and introduced to the Parents Evening was over. Every single year since she had become Head Girl, Esmerelda had been forced into the little 'honour,' but truthfully it was boring.

But Esmerelda was concerned about something. Her mother had been at the school, but instead of speaking to her, basking in the teachers accounts of how brilliant Esmerelda was, Ursula had just come and the elder Hallow girl at Cackles was bemused; she and Sybil knew Ursula was a cold woman who believed all of her children's achievements were a reflection of herself, whereas the truth was very different, and even if her mother was busy and needed to go to work quickly she would find a few seconds to get a fix for her ego.

But not tonight.

Esmerelda wasn't as close to her parents as they seemed to think she was, and sadly that included Ethel. But the middle Hallow had forgotten something very important; her mother had never taught her the ins and outs of potions, not the way that a traditional witch would do.

When a witch was young, their mothers would teach them the ins and the outs of basic potion brewing skills, and some advanced spell techniques. It was due to her lack of knowledge due to her coming from the non-magical world although it didn't stop her from working on her skills that Mildred Hubble was often in trouble with Miss Hardbroom because Mildred had never been taught the basics as a child although it wasn't really her fault since, like all Magical Schools, Cackles simply was ill-equipped to help Mildred develop those skills. And HB didn't have the time to really teach Mildred anything. And the Witches' Code prevented teachers from getting involved anyway, but Esmerelda also felt that Mildred could actually stop messing about and actually focus a little more by doing her lessons carefully.

Sadly the Witches' Code couldn't force a witch into taking responsibility for the education of her daughter, or daughters in this case.

Esmerelda had never been able to understand why her mother couldn't have taken time off from her work in the Magic Council to teach her daughters the basics they needed in order to excel at school. None of the other witches who worked in the Council would have done the same, in fact, Esmerelda hoped they would have been both horrified Ursula would just nonchalantly shrug off such an important magical tradition without a care in the world.

The most laughable thing was Ursula seemed to think her daughters would teach themselves. It didn't work that way.

Esmerelda was just lucky that her grandparents had taken her in to teach them, although they made sure her parents understood their displeasure at the slight against magical tradition, her parents seemed to think it was nothing to worry about.

Ethel and Sybil were given tutors, which did exist in case the parents were suddenly sick or if something happened which made it hard for them to do the teaching themselves.

Esmerelda couldn't work out why Ethel felt Ursula cared. For some reason Esmerelda had never worked out, Ethel had always been ignored and pushed to the sidelines, but unfortunately, Ethel continually tried so many times to gain the affection of their parents. Even worse, Ethel had developed an unhealthy idolisation of Ursula and was even beginning to copy her mother's attitude and behaviour.

While there was nothing wrong with a kid idolising their parents, Ursula and Triton were not the types of people to idolise.

They didn't have personalities. They were both cold, and they could be very cruel.

It was hardly the type of idol Ethel should have.

Esmerelda loved her sisters both equally with all of her heart and soul, but what she really wanted the most was for Ethel to wake up and see that nothing she did was going to make any difference.

Anyway, Esmerelda was hoping to find her sister and find out just how the Parent's Evening was going. She knew it was doubtful Ethel would be in her room, but the room was on her route in case Ethel had taken Ursula to her bedroom and telling her how things were going.

But as she approached she heard the sound of things impacting the walls and the door, and she also heard the shouting from Ethel's room. Esmerelda felt her heart sink. She knocked on the door loud enough to get Ethel's attention but also to remind her the teachers could get involved and that was the last thing her sister needed right now.

Esme heard a sound that sounded like a gasp or a snort from the other side. "Go away!"

Esmerelda braced herself and she went inside. She wasn't surprised to find Ethel's bedroom was now a shambles with books and clothes strewn everywhere. "This place needs to be tidy," she commented.

"Oh, don't tell me that, Miss Perfect!" Ethel spat.

Esmerelda narrowed her eyes, she was getting seriously tired and fed up with being her sisters cursing bag. She looked up and saw Ethel glaring at her heatedly. "What do you want?" Ethel snapped.

Esmerelda sighed. "What happened?" she asked.

"What's it to you? You'd probably laugh!"

Esmerelda narrowed her eyes at her. "Don't speak to me like that!" she snapped and flicked her hands to send out a wave of magic to hopefully remind Ethel of where she was and that she needed to get out of her temper tantrum. "I can't help you if you don't stop speaking in riddles!"

The wave slammed into Ethel and sent her staggering backwards but she quickly righted herself.

"What did she do, Ethel?" Esmerelda asked while her sister was still disoriented.

Ethel glared at her, but her eyes were watering as the anger left her and all she was left with was the acute and painful sadness.

"Oh, Merlin! What happened?" Esmerelda rushed over and held her sister in her arms. Ethel buried her face in her chest and cried her heart out. Esmerelda sighed and she sat herself down on the bed, taking Ethel with her.

Ethel sniffled. "Mother…she..," she sobbed.

"She did what, Ethel?" Esmerelda asked patiently, willing to stay here all night if she needed to. "Did she get angry with you because of your fights with Mildred?"

Ethel shook her head, still sobbing. She didn't want to admit what had happened because it hurt so much.

"She….she didn't bother coming."

"What? Ethel, I spoke to her-," Esmerelda looked confused.

"She sent a hologram of herself," Ethel looked into her sister's eyes, the sadness there piercing through the older sister's heart. "She…she couldn't be bothered with me, even when we were in Miss Cackle's office. She was at something of Sybil's, and even when she'd practically admitted it, she wasn't sorry."

Esmerelda closed her eyes, already wishing the stupid woman hadn't bothered to send a projection of herself, but even she was stunned by this new low. But…the coldness of the snub took Esmerelda by surprise since this was new even by their mother's standards. "I'm sorry, Ethel," she whispered. "I know how much you were looking forward to the parents evening."

"It doesn't matter now. You're probably going to defend her-."

"Do you want to know why?" Esmerelda pointedly interrupted her sister. "Its because I want you to try to be positive, but it's clear that was a mistake. Ethel, I wanted you to say to yourself she does care, but at the same time, I wanted you to get on with your own life. There's so much for you to learn, so much to discover, and yet I don't want you to spend your entire life getting hurt."

Esmerelda pulled Ethel closer to her chest and held her, murmuring a soft lullaby her sister had loved as a baby. She felt thanks to years of practice Ethel starting to relax in her embrace, but at the same time, her heart broke when she heard the utter pain in Ethel's voice.

"Why…why does she hate me so much? She hates me so much. I don't know why, and yet she loves you and Sybil!"

Esmerelda closed her eyes and she held onto her sister. She tried to tell Ethel whatever Ursula and Triton Hallow felt for them was not love, but Ethel was sobbing so much it was impossible to say anything.