Bat-Bogey Hexers

50

Ginny was walking down the hall to double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin when she heard a stifled crying noise. Ginny stopped in her tracks, one hand moving to where her wand was tucked into the waist of her skirt. She looked around, trying to find the source of the distressed noise.

It was the day after her arrival back to Hogwarts from school holiday. She had been about to head to class with her friends after breakfast, but then Grady McLaggen got in her way of doing that, literally. The others had left Ginny to listen to Grady tell her how much he had missed her. She'd listened for about three minutes before leaving with the excuse that she really needed to use the bathroom. She'd headed to the girl's room, and was currently on a detour towards class by herself.

Ginny crept cautiously around the corner, and was surprised by what she saw. Bertha Bulstrode was sitting against the wall, her head in her knees, and if Ginny was not mistaken, the wretched crying noises filling the air were coming from her.

Standing beside Bertha was a very disgruntled looking Morgana, who had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping her foot irritably.

Ginny cautiously approached. She didn't know these Slytherin girls very well, but what she did know about them was very true to the Slytherin stereotypes her brothers had always described. The very first thing Ginny had ever seen them do was try and push Viola into the black lake just after arriving to Hogwarts. They both seemed rather mean and spiteful.

But Ginny couldn't ignore the fact that Bertha was obviously upset, or that Morgana didn't seem to care about it.

"Is everything alright?" Ginny asked.

Morgana looked around sharply, while The Bertha lifted her large, tear-stained face out of her lap.

"No one asked you, you little blood traitor!" sneered Morgana.

"No, your right. I'm the one who asked," said Ginny coldly. She turned to Bertha, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, she's just being a baby," snapped Morgana, "She had a bad dream!"

"It wasn't a bad dream," choked Bertha, she looked at Ginny directly, "It was a boggart!"

"A boggart?" said Ginny. She felt her stomach sink as she remembered Ava crying and saying the very same thing.

"It ch-chased me!" sobbed Bertha, "Out of the c-common room!"

"How do you know it was a boggart?" asked Ginny.

"It t-took the sh-shape of a-a g-giant c-cockroach, which is what I'm most a-afraid of!" said Bertha, "What else could it be?"

"Your imagination running away with you?" said Morgana, "Honestly, you need to grow up Bertha!"

Ginny turned on Morgana angrily.

"You do realize your friend is upset, don't you?"

"Yes," said Morgana, "And its for a stupid reason-"

"It's for a perfectly good reason! She just saw her worst fear chasing after her!" said Ginny, "Are you saying you wouldn't be afraid?"

"Yes," said Morgana with a toss of her ponytail.

"Well if I were you and I was oh-so-brave, I would be making sure my friend was okay! I mean a bit of compassion would be nice!" said Ginny.