a limited edition.

( cis woman | she/her | florence pugh ) —— isn’t that BERTHA JORKINS? yeah that is them, outside the three broomsticks! they used to be in GRYFFINDOR but apparently they now work as an SHOPKEEP at SPINWITCHES SPORTING NEEDS. sybill once said that they reminded her of carefully listening to conversations happening around her, late night telephone calls home, heart shaped golden lockets, fine chocolate imported from Belgium which seems about right. anyway i’ve heard they’re still a bit FRIENDLY, DITZY and NOSY, they’re TWENTY THREE now but some things never change! i wonder how being a HALFBLOOD is affecting them after hogwarts, especially now they’re NEUTRAL? i guess only time will tell…

𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 / 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄

tw :  none 

character influences :  shirley (  last night at the telegraph club  )  ,  alison dilaurentis (  pretty little liars  )  ,  sharpay evans (  high school musical  )  ,  louise grant (  girlmore girls )

“ -and that’s why the holyhead harpies are going to beat both the bats and wasps. you know what, i’ll bet money on it too. “ moira scoffed. “ look at him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “ she remarked to the person next to her – oh right, them. moira did tend to get carried away, even if that included getting into arguments with random strangers and apparently putting aside the current conversation she was having. it was all done now, so back to bussines. “ anyway, what were you saying? before we were so rudely interrupted. “ she said, as if it wasn’t equally her fault.

          quidditch  talk  reminded  bertha  of  work  and  she  was  eager  to  not  think  about  that  ,   and  the  heartbreak  of  everything  that  came  with  that  .   she  listened  to  the  man  pretending  that  he  knew  anything  about  a  sport  .   bertha  couldn’t  help  rolling  her  eyes  at  the  whole  situation  regardless  of  if  she  wanted  to  talk  about  the  sport  .   “ i  was  just  wondering  what  if  maybe  we  could  get  out  of  here  ? ”   personally  ,   she  didn’t  really  want  to  be  out  drinking  ,   out  with  people  who  clearly  wanted  to  talk  quidditch  .   “ i  need  career  advice  .   i’m  thinking  about  quitting  my  job  .   trying  to  secure  a  job  at  the  ministry  or  something  .   i  don’t  know  .   my  moms  are  right  .   a  shopkeeper  isn’t  a  career  . ”

@beforedawnstarters​

“I’d back up a little bit if I were you,” Pandora noted, looking over towards the other person with wide eyes behind her crooked frames and cracked lenses. An expert in disaster, she would consider herself and a delver into the curiosities of the world around her. Arcana was no exception. Just because a few words worked in theory and didn’t seem to backfire too poorly in tests, didn’t mean that it worked in practice. “But if you insist, you can continue to stand in the line of fire. Don’t ask me to pay any medical bills. I did warn you.”

          bertha took a step back, not really wanting to be in the line of fire of a rogue spell from someone she didn’t know that well. she’d learned that was apparently a thing she needed to be careful about these days. people seemed to insist on hurting each other for whatever reason and while bertha knew that likely she wasn’t going to get attacked right now, the other day was still fresh on her mind. “i’m curious to know what you’re doing, that’s all,” she said. “i don’t need another medical bill.” 

“Why do you assume I’m going to take the time out of my day to listen to you whine?” Seph shrugged, not particularly bothered by the implication of some lack of solidarity. “You’re a stranger. I have no obligation to you one way or the other, and I’ve certainly got no obligation to get involved in something between you and another stranger.”

          maybe she was just raised differently because bertha was never rude to strangers. she would have never been so rude to a random person. maybe she was just taught actual manners. “well... you’re wrong about that. mums always told me that women need to look out for other women. what kind of world do we live in where we hurt each other? and we’re not strangers. we went to school together.” 

“Bear!” Graeme sits up at once, forgetting about his cracked ribs and regretting it instantly. He inhales sharply, wrapping his arm around his middle as if to hold himself together. Fucking ow.

It takes him a moment to recover, slowly settling himself more comfortably against his pillows. “Well, that makes two of us,” he jokes weakly, the barest flicker of a smile crossing his features. Graeme’s eyes flit between the card on the table and Bertha herself, edging towards the door. “You’re not going already, are ye?”

          she flinches at the nickname. she’s still mad at him even if it’s not his fault. it’s just difficult to stay mad at him when something clearly happened. bertha stands close to the door, wondering if she’s making everything awkward or if it’s alright that she’s here at all. they haven’t spoken in what feels like forever. 

          “seems like for a reason though,” she comments, looking at him softly. bertha doesn’t know what she’s supposed to say and she’s never been at a loss for words her entire life. her mums both comment that she doesn’t really know when to shut up. she supposes that’s why she gets into so much trouble. “i don’t have to, but i... i’m helping with the cows. and i... was out all night. i just... i wanted to leave a card. so you didn’t think i didn’t care.” 

@beforedawnstarters​

Never in his wildest dreams had Graeme thought he’d end up back in this bed. It’s a different ward, of course, but the hospital still feels just as it did five years ago - somehow simultaneously too loud and too quiet. It sets his nerves jangling, so when he realises there’s somebody standing next to his bed, he stirs, looking hopeful beneath his injuries. “Can I go home yet?”

          bertha had come in to st mungo’s for a checkup after being found outside a random pub in the morning. she didn’t even remember being there that’s how drunk she’d ended up. there weren’t gaps in her memory, just alcohol making everything fuzzy. she was on her way out and back home to the farm when she spotted a familiar face in one of the rooms. the strawberry blonde snuck off to get a get well card and planned on just... leaving it but apparently she’s louder than she expected. “i donno. i don’t even know why you’re here.” she set the card down on the table and backs up to the door. “i left you a card.” 

arden was having a rough couple of weeks but she had done her best to keep that to herself considering that she needed to keep up a cool front especially lately due to her engagement being announced and having to do all the things that entails an engagement announcement. and if she were being honest? she felt alone in this whole thing. she didn’t know who she could talk to in fear that she were annoying them or that they wouldn’t understand. she had briefly thought of finn but tried to push that out of their head because they knew that it would cause her to spiral and she didn’t need that right now. which is why in fact she was about to do something for her, watching the other girl smile and dance with her, feeling the music and alcohol throughout her body had made her feel something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “why not?” she says, with a smirk, “it’s fun showing people what they can’t have,” she says in a whisper, she pulls the other closer towards her, lifting her chin up and she cups her hands around her cheek and pulls her closer and presses her lips against her, their breath smells of alcohol and something she can’t quite name but in her drunken state it’s enticing and for a moment, just a single moment, she feels wanted and desired.  

.

for a long moment (it really … seemed to go on for a hellish eternity) mina had no idea what to do. she didn’t know what she’d walked into to begin with, no idea what the fight was about, but, clearly, bertha was not done. it took a lot of work – and especially when she was as drunk as she was, though, a case could be made that less effort was necessary for as drunk as bertha was – to keep a completely neutral look on her face, not a peep escaping her further until graeme had left. “what the hell was that all about, ya bloody bam? what’d graeme do to you to deserve that, bert? that’s uncalled for, and I know you know it.” her disapproval was stern, but nonetheless, the teariness melted mina, and she coddled her drunken mate, deserved or not.

“I think we’ve had enough. I know I have, and i’ve only been back a few minutes. you’re being …  we’ve had enough fighting for the night,” she said, though, she wasn’t truly very concerned about it as a possibility at this point; bertha was dissolving very rapidly into the kind of tears you just couldn’t bounce back from in a pub (or in public at all) so she nodded her head in agreement, smoothing a hand over bertha’s hair and down the girl’s back. “you don’t want to hear this sugarplum, but silas hasn’t done anything. and he doesn’t have anybody, not like that. what he has is a few new friends, though, clearly, there’s one less than graeme and I had hoped to be able to drum up for silas.” again, though, mina chose to put her chiding tone away, and with a sigh, she dropped a kiss on her friend’s head. “alright, i’ll get you home to your mums, okay? we’re gonna go from right here, yeah? don’t even have to go anywhere take a deep breath, you ready?” mina had no idea, truthfully how well the tab was paid up at that point, but it wasn’t going to be any trouble to settle it up in the morning, she knew, so she got a firm grip of her friend (and gave bertha a warning first) and apparated them directly into the living room of bertha’s mums’ home. “I know it’s late, and i’m so sorry we had to travel like that babes, are you okay? are you dizzy? do you need the loo?”

          she didn’t feel like she’d had enough yet. there was still fight in her, still pissed off at the situation and her own stupidity. but she couldn’t leave without getting the last word in, so now that she had, she relaxed a bit more. let him be angry at her all he wanted. bertha wasn’t at fault for her feeling when she’d been obvious about her feelings, even if she denied them that one time to mina. “it wasn’t uncalled for. he hurt my feelings.” she wiped the tears from her face, stepping down off the chair she was standing on. “it wasn’t uncalled for. i’m allowed to feel my feelings.” no one could make her feel bad about her feelings, even if maybe she was being a tad bit rude about them tonight. her best friend had hurt her and she always felt like second best. 

          “i want to go home.” she wanted her parents, not her empty apartment filled with happy photos of her friends and memories she didn’t care to think about now. she wanted the farm and her mums to hold her and tell her it would all be okay, even if maybe it wouldn’t be okay. she was drunk and she was angry. even in this state she knew it wasn’t a good idea to start a literal fight right now. bertha didn’t want to get banned from the bar. “what’s so special about him anyways?” she asked, wiping another tear out of her face. betha nodded at mina, just wanting to be home without leaving the pub. “i’m fine.” she hugged onto mina. “will you stay with me this evening? i’ll let you pet the cows in the morning.”