Music & Letters

Bertie listened to what Molly had to say. So she hadn't done much writing either. It appeared that the two didn't have much in common at all, apart from the fact that they were both shy and tended to keep themselves to themselves.

'Hmm.' Bertie thought for a moment, maybe it would be best not to ask for her help in writing a letter to Daily Prophet if she hadn't done much writing besides school work, then he could be losing an opportunity to step inside a new mind. 'Could you perhaps help me write this letter? It's to the Daily Prophet.' Bertie exclaimed, 'You see I want to ask them if I can do some sort of work experience over the summer, the only thing is I wouldn't be able to get there so I was thinking I could just write letters in. What do you think? Do you suppose I should send a parcel with all my written work in first? Hmm. The thing is it isn't really experience working within the actual paper if I stay at home. Do you know of any way I could stay close by? You see with my Mum being a squib she doesn't have floo powder and I'm not a fan of flying. There is the knight bus I suppose but...' Bertie finally paused, not realising that he'd entered into a verbal frenzy regarding his dilemma.

Molly listened to Bertie. He wanted work experience of sorts at the Daily Prophet. This was one thing Molly thought she actually may be able to help out with. Her father was very work-focused and had helped her to write her application to the Ministry. He had spent ages, criticizing it so much that at points Molly wondered if she would ever finish it. She did though, and despite the endless critiques, she thought she actually learnt something from her Dad, for once in her life.

"I can try and help." she offered, "I may not be like the best, but I wrote an application for an internship at the Ministry, my Dad helped me, and so I know a bit about writing for jobs and stuff." she elaborated, not wanting to ramble on or anything.

"I think it would be good to attach some writing samples, like a portfolio of sorts, but not too much. They're not going to want to spend forever reading everything you've ever written." Molly answered his second question, not 100% sure if she was right, but it made sense to her. Bertie then started talking about where he was going to stay and how he was going to do it.

"Erm, I'm sure you could ask to have your fireplace to be connected to the floo network and then you could just buy some floo powder." she suggested, not sure how hard it was to connect fireplaces to it. "Or you could find a relative or friend to stay with? Where is the Daily Prophet's main office?" she asked, realizing she actually had no idea where it was.

Bertie wore a serious, intent look as he listened to what Molly had to say. So she had written to employers before meaning she was a lot more experienced when it came to this kind of writing. Bertie felt as though he needed to sell himself, but not over do it. 'I'll go through all the things I have written and attach the best to the letter.' He nodded, hoping that this would be good enough. The only problem would be is that would take forever. 'Or... Perhaps I wont. Maybe I shouldn't do this? I'm only thirteen.' Bertie added, rather disheartened with a loss of confidence.

Now the subject came round to how he would get there. Molly had her mind in the right place, they could connect his Mother's fireplace to The Prophet's in Diagon Alley, although it would be highly impractical. 'We don't have a fireplace that you can walk into if that makes sense?' He began to tell her. 'It's a muggle fireplace and it isn't a real coal burning one.' Hopefully Molly could grasp an image of what a muggle fireplace would be like, however if she had never been in a muggle building chances are she wouldn't. 'And Diagon Alley is where they are based.'

Molly nodded as he said he may attach just one sample. She hoped she could help him, it was rare that she was able to help others with much, so enjoyed doing it.

"Yeah, maybe one or two things would be good. If you had like two different types of samples, you could attach both, to show you could do different things. But not two samples that are too similar." Molly agreed with him, hoping he understood what she meant. If he attached lots of similar samples, it may look like he could only do one thing, she thought.

Then he was wondering, loosing confidence. Molly knew that feeling completely, she'd felt it many a time before. She wanted to encourage him, but she wasn't quite sure how. This was the first year she she had considered getting experience, after all.

"I'm sure you can do it if you want to." she told Bertie, "There's nothing wrong with wanting to get experience at any age." She added, hoping she was doing alright. She was never very good at encouraging people, or comforting for that matter. She was more of a say-what-you-think kind of person.

"Ah ok, that makes sense." Molly responded in regards to the fireplace. At home they had a big fireplace downstairs, but they also had a couple of smaller ones around the house. Muggles didn't need big fireplaces, so it was no wonder that they didn't have them. She had never thought of it before, but it made sense.

"Maybe if the Daily Prophet like you, they would be able to set you up somewhere, like the Leaky Cauldron or somewhere? Or maybe there is someone who lives near you or something who you could use their fireplace." Molly suggested, trying to be helpful. She had no idea if any of them were any good, she didn't have much experience on staying in other places, but she just wanted to help.

Bertie thought about what Molly was saying, taking every word in. The more he thought about it the more he was coming to terms with the fact that he didn't want to go. The travel was a problem and he didn't like the idea of staying away from his Mum over the summer in the Leaky Cauldron, especially seeing as Summer would be the only time he'd get to see her before Christmas.

'I will wait until I'm older.' He began to say, his eyes cloudy as he stared ahead over towards the piano. 'When I'm more mature and ready. Besides,' now turning to face Molly. 'It'll give me time to improve.'

It made more sense to wait, and he wasn't fully decided upon if he wanted to even work as a journalist. It was true that he loved to write novels, poems, music and newsletters - he had now mastered how to provoke a response in readers so he was certain to make a great journalist, but... Did he want to turn his hobby into a career? In addition his cousins and aunts had all gone to work for the ministry of magic or St Mungos - all well respected careers. Working for a newspaper wouldn't match that. Not that he wanted to work for the Ministry or St Mungo's, he felt that he had to. To prove himself.

'In all honesty.' He whispered, 'I'd much rather work at Hogwarts as a teacher.' His cheeks flushing pink. Hoping that Molly didn't laugh. Nobody he'd met wanted to be a teacher and stay at Hogwarts forever - it suggested he was a teachers pet, a geek. Yet, he loved to help people learn and enhance their knowledge. Teaching was as fun as writing for Bertie.

Molly listened, nodding towards Bertie. There was no rush for him to do anything now, he was only a third year, after all. She was hoping to get an internship this summer, but she was two years older than Bertie. Plus her family didn't live to far away from London, her Dad worked in the Ministry as well, so it would be really easy for Molly to get there. She was just waiting to hear back now, which was making her nervous.

"Yeah, I mean, there's no rush on anything at the moment." Molly agreed, "I'm hoping to do an internship this summer, but if I don't get it it won't be the end of the world or anything." she told Bertie, though partly trying to convince herself as well as him.

Molly knew what she wanted to do. Or at least, what area she wanted to work in. Care of Magical Creatures was the only subject she enjoyed really at Hogwarts, and she loved animals, so it made sense for her to work with them. She wanted to travel the world and work with exotic beasts worldwide, but they didn't let just anyone do that. She would have to work in the Ministry first for a bit or something. Plus she might have to work in Britain part-time and part-time elsewhere. Still, she knew where she wanted to be.

When Bertie said he wanted to be a teacher, Molly was somewhat surprised, it seemed quite different from working at the Daily Prophet, which he had been talking about just a few minutes ago.

"Well a teacher would be a cool thing." Molly said, not really knowing much about it. She wasn't nearly clever enough to even consider it, so hadn't ever put much thought into it. "Though you'd probably have to do something first - they don't seem to hire graduates straight out of Hogwarts to stay and teach, since they're so close in age to us, I guess."

Bertie nodded in response to Molly. 'Yes. I don't know what I want to do yet.' He admitted. Bertie always came up with different career ideas and he always changed his mind the next day. Being indecisive when it came to life making decisions was what he was gifted in. Sure he could give quick decisive answers in lessons and when it was a test of knowledge but in reality he was always unsure.

'I think I may sleep on it.' He added, giving a yawn. The high windows on the wall behind them were now dark. The black curtains of nightfall with silver stars sewn into them had been drawn, it really was time for bed. Another yawn escaped Bertie. He wanted to continue to play music, it was therapeutic and allowed him to escape from making tough decisions. Then again so did his dreams. He knew in the morning he would feel completely relaxed and as though a huge weight had been lifted from him. 'Is your common room far from here?' He asked, unsure whether Molly would have to traipse across the castle to collapse onto her comfy bed.

[[OOC: Sorry was away b/c of exams. Am back now!]]

Molly nodded when Bertie said he would sleep on it. She always found it useful to sleep on things. Then again, she knew what she wanted to do. Some people thought she was lucky, that she knew what she wanted to do. They didn't realize it was mainly because she couldn't do much. She could try to be a Professional Quidditch player, but she doubted if it would be a proper full time job or anything, it didn't pay that much. Maybe she could play Quidditch and look after Creatures, she thought.

"Yeah, it's always good to sleep on things." she agreed, not really adding much.

Then Bertie asked Molly about the common room. She hesitated before answering him, not really sure what to say. You weren't supposed to tell anyone outside of your house where your common room was. It was one of those things, nobody did it. A vague location wouldn't be so bad...or would it?

"Erm, not too far. Close enough." she responded, deliberately being vague. "You?" she deflected the question back at him, curious as to how Bertie would respond to it.

Bertie nodded in agreement as Molly confirmed that sleeping on the idea would probably be the best thing to do. The Ravenclaw always felt refreshed from thought in the morning, perhaps because he entered a world at dreams where he simply 'watched' what was going on his imaginative mind.

'It's on the west side of the castle in Ravenclaw Tower although you probably wont have been there seeing as your not a Ravenclaw!' Bertie giggled, slightly stupifed at his own momentary lack of common sense. He wasn't sure whether he was allowed to tell Molly about his common room but either way it was guarded by the enchanted door that asks a question and usually only Ravenclaws, students who think outside the box can usually solve the question or the riddle. It required a certain mindset to it, something that Ravenclaw's possessed. Not that anyone outside of Ravenclaw couldn't solve the puzzle...

'I think I will need to head off, it'll take about five or ten minutes to walk there.' Bertie added, slightly crestfallen that their meeting had come to an end as the sun had almost set outside of the high windows by the brass instruments and an old set of bongo drums. 'Thank you.' He added as he began to collect the scattered pieces of parchment; sorting them into his bag all for one. The last piece was the notes for Mary Had A Little Lamb. Instead he gave this to Molly. 'Just in case.' He grinned before bidding her farewell and leaving Molly alone.

On his way back to the Ravenclaw tower the daily prophet debate continued to rage on inside his bed. A decent nights sleep would solve the problem, although how long it would take Bertie to fall asleep was another thing. He was turning into an insomniac with that thought addicted mind he had.

/Exit Bertie

(OOC: It is okay, don't worry about it. Btw Can Molly and Bertie RP again in the future do you reckon?)

[[OOC: Don't see why not, I'm sure we could create a situation in which they'd run into each other, don't you think?]]

Ravenclaw had a tower, just like Gryffindor. Molly wondered if the other houses had towers, though it seemed unlikely, since the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins always headed downstairs towards their common rooms, whereas Ravenclaws always seemed to go further upstairs, along with the Gryffindors. Molly was slightly curious as to the other common rooms - did they all have portraits to get in through, and could anyone get in with the password?

"Ah, ok." Molly said, not knowing how to respond to the Ravenclaw. "It probably is time to head off." she added, agreeing with the boy. She was a bit tired, and had to work lots and lots for all of her exams. She tried to push the thought of those out her mind, not wanting to think about them at the moment.

Molly helped Bertie clear up his things, then he handed her the sheet music for the tune that they had been playing, saying 'just in case'. She muttered her thanks as she looked at it, trying to work out all of the notes on the page. It looked confusing, but she wanted to know what it all meant. She had the tune written out on paper, so she could match the letters to the keys to the notes on the page. Smiling, she put the papers in her bag.

As Bertie left, Molly took a look around the room. She had never considered herself a musician of any sorts. She had liked singing, but that was about it. Now she was wondering what this meant - there weren't many things she was talented at, so was thrilled to have potentially found another one. Molly hoped to come back here and play some more. She had really enjoyed and surprised herself today.