#bertha001

The Gryffindor common room was abuzz since the day they arrived. No one missed the absence of four prominent Gryffindors once they all alighted the train. Especially not Bertram who was always looking behind his back for a Marauder aimed with another illegal jinx. Then the whispers started happening. There were flyers that said that they were actually Dark Wizards, the source of the terror the has been experiencing since the beginning of the term. Was it just some sick prank? If so, where were they to clarify? 

There was truly only one person Bertram really wanted to talk to about the matter but unfortunately, he didn’t find her right away. The girl was never really in one place for too long. It makes her slightly knowledgeable of everything that’s going around. It makes her harder to find as well.

Fortunately, the young Gryffindor finally bumped into her after his final class during that Tuesday. “Bertha!” He called for her attention. “I need to talk to you.” Bertram didn’t even wait for a reply before grabbing the girl’s elbow and pulling her towards a quieter section of the hallway. “What do you know?”

The horrid weekend before Valentine’s was creeping in and Barty had no reason to be excited. In fact, he dreaded. No doubt, his peers would drown themselves with the festivities without even knowing the history behind what evolved to be a very vapid holiday. Hallways would be clogged with couples, strolling as if they were at the beach. The Gret Hall will be filled with incessant chatter about anonymous love letters or gifts. The sad thing is, Barty can’t even escape to his own dorm room. Gilderoy’s peacocking and pathetic attempts to hide the fact that he was writing to himself was far too distracting. And so Barty gathered all of his parchments, quills, and ink bottles and decided to camp out in the Library.

In no time at all, Barty has set all of his paraphernalia down on the table and started revising for an upcoming quiz. Unfortunately for him, an hour hasn’t even passed when someone sat on the table opposite of him and decided to start chatting with their seatmate away. At first, Barty tried to ignore it. He simply prayed that the librarian would hear the commotion and put a stop to her yabbering. When his prayers were left unanswered, Barty stood up from his chair and ambled towards the loud person. 

“Excuse me,” Barty flashed her a convincingly genuine smile. The Ravenclaw has learned early in life that charm can go along way. “Jorkins. Hi. Would you mind toning it down a little bit? I was hoping to get some studying done, you see,” he gestured towards his table.