A Marauder's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter Twelve

Bert's timing couldn't have been more impeccable. He seemed to have a knack of catching Marlene off guard and she vaguely wondered whether he assumed she was naturally ungracefully all the time, or if he even failed to notice that each time they happened to run into each other she was always doing something clumsy or embarrassing.

The second week of school had started to pick up, and the hectic bustle of exam preparation, homework, and studying became an imminent thought on nearly every student's mind once again.

Marlene was having a particularly difficult morning trying to cram the last few sentences of her Ancient Runes essay while using her other hand to shove the remaining pieces of her toast into her mouth. In a hurry to finish before class, it took her a moment to notice the dark shadow that cast over her parchment. Startled, she knocked her pumpkin juice all over her open textbook.

"Lily!" she hissed rudely as she scrambled to collect her essay before the trickling juice made its way over and ruined her hard work. "How many times are you going to bug me about chapter thirteen? I'll get to it when I have a few moments!"

Lily had succumbed once more to the overwhelming workload that had been dished out the previous week. She had taken it upon herself to ensure her friends were equally absorbed in their studies and Marlene's patience was starting to wear thin.

"Sorry," an unfamiliar voice broke her train of thought. Marlene had begun mopping up the spilled juice with leftover parchment paper when a soft mutter from over her left shoulder produced an incantation that magically absorbed the seeping liquid from under her hand.

She mentally kicked herself for not thinking to use her wand that had been sitting on the table next to her before she turned her head around to meet the smiling face of Bert.

"Good morning," he said politely. "I thought I'd help you out, you seem a bit stressed today?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she suddenly realized that Lily was not the one to interrupt her and immediately felt embarrassment at her lack of manners in greeting him.

"Everything alright?" he tilted his head towards her unfinished essay and she quickly scrambled to roll up the parchment and shove it, along with her sopping wet textbook, into her book bag.

"It's great," she said hastily before quickly standing up beside him. He was a couple of inches taller than her and she had to tilt her head upwards to look into his eyes. "Good morning, sorry about that."

"It's Monday," he joked lightly with a small chuckle, "I suppose you're allowed to be a little disorganized."

Students had begun scattering the hall for first period and Marlene took a quick glance at the clock to confirm that she was running a bit behind.

"Sorry to dash," she said hurriedly, "but I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

"Potions?" he asked almost immediately and Marlene's face flickered slightly with surprise.

'I just assumed," he said quickly. He looked slightly embarrassed with the realization that his comment had sounded presumptuous as if he had studied her schedule.

"Potions always takes so long to get to," he added as an afterthought.

"Yes, actually," she replied with a small smile. "On both accounts."

"Do you mind if I walk you?" he asked as he started to walk beside her and out into the entrance hall. "I have History of Magic which isn't far from the basement."

"Sure," she said, trying hard not to sound too surprised.

The walk was slightly intimidating for Marlene at first as she struggled to start a conversation. She didn't need to dwell on it long as Bert was the first to break the awkward silence.