Written for Midnight Challenge and 10 Characters, 10 Prompts - Challenge.
Bertha shivered as Professor McGonagall glared at her.
"Miss Jorkins, Mr. Pettigrew, what were you thinking?"
Bertha looked at the ground as Pettigrew stammered something out. Bertha appreciated him trying to explain the situation, but she knew that nothing he said could excuse the fact that Professor McGonagall had caught them skinny-dipping in the Great Lake after midnight on a Wednesday. Bertha knew that it would easier to say nothing, to just be voiceless in this discussion. She would accept her punishment meekly and silently, and then never listen to a word that a Marauder said again, especially the one called Wormtail.
"I want you two to report immediately for detention after class for the next two weeks. You will not be working," Professor McGonagall said. Bertha nodded, her eyes still stuck on the ground. She wasn't brave enough nor proud enough to look into Professor McGonagall's eyes. There was a reason she hadn't been Sorted into Gryffindor, but instead "into Hufflepuff with all the rest" as the Sorting Hat put it.
"Now please leave my sight and go back to your common rooms," Professor McGonagall said before she turned and left Bertha and Pettigrew standing in the Great Hall, dripping wet in their uniforms because "they should learn that actions have consequences" and so Professor McGonagall hadn't used the drying spell.
Pettigrew had convinced her to do this, and foolishly, Bertha had accepted. Pettigrew wasn't the handsomest Marauder (that was Black), the smartest Marauder (that was Potter), or the kindest Marauder (that was Lupin). He sometimes seemed to be the tangent dangling off the trifecta that was the other three, but he also seemed to be the only boy in Hogwarts who had any interest in her. Bertha really didn't want to do it at first, but Pettigrew mentioned that Black had done this with a few of his girlfriend's and they had never gotten caught, Potter did it a couple of times, and "even Mooney did it once!" It made Bertha wonder if this was a common Hogwarts experience that she had just never heard of for some reason, but she should have experienced already. Though it would make sense if Bertha hadn't heard of it. She didn't really have any friends.
She was going to be eighteen years old in a month, and she never had any friends, let alone boyfriends, which is why she let some chubby, ugly fifth-year Gryffindor talk her into doing this ridiculous, insane idea that had led them to be caught by Hagrid and lectured by Professor McGonagall.
Pettigrew was chatting something into her ear as she walked towards the Hufflepuff Common Room, but she wasn't paying attention. She didn't want too. She debated saying something, but she found she really didn't care to do so. She didn't really care about much anymore.
They arrived at the Common Room and Pettigrew still hadn't stopped talking. She ignored him as she continued walking towards her dormitory and left him behind.
She never wanted to see Peter Pettigrew again.