“Poor old Gerry Stebbins looked heartbroken.” Mary smiled and even looked a little sadistic, and I wondered if the concept of annoying Gerry had any bearing on her decision to go off with Marcus in the first place. XXX Gerry Stebbins was looking around keenly, probably for Mary and probably in the hope she and Marcus had broken up. Even I was aware of it and had noticed his increasing tendency to hex people for no apparent good reason – with more than one student ending up with antennae or something similar – and it was putting it mildly to say I’d been rather preoccupied, what with my new boyfriend and all. (Or maybe that was just the array of fragrant soaps and potions that Martha kept in our bathroom that permeated the whole room.)
Bertram led me to one of the beds and parted the
