Black Blood | S. BLACK

02.

AUGUSTA WAS PANTING, feeling as if her lungs were being squeezed together. She had once joked that no one would ever see her run, even if death was chasing her, but it had been a joke.

Her feet felt numb as she sprinted through the corridors. Her throat was burning:

She did not care. She was late.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap..." She whispered to herself as she rounded a corner, nearly slipping over but managed to find her balance.

"This is fine." She tried to assure herself. "Yeah, this is fine. Maybe Slughorn won't even notice that I'm nearly twenty late —".

Suddenly, she slammed head-on into something, and gasped at the impact.

She was kicked back, as if she had run into something, and feeling startled raised her gaze to fade nothing. Only an empty corridor. There was not even a gust of wind.

Surely, she had not hit thin air?

Shaking her head, and ignoring the strange feeling of being watched, Augusta continued hr way, bolting through the hall without even a second glance.

Only when her footsteps had diminished did a voice pierce through the seemingly empty air: "Bloody hell, James, it took us a whole year to make that damn map. Use it."

"Relax." James hissed. "I didn't think someone would come bolting out of nowhere. People usually walk through the corridors, Padfoot."

Sirius rolled his eyes from where he stood closely behind James, clutching onto his friend's torso as they continued their way down the halls. They were suppose to be in detention, but had managed to trick professor Flitwick into having to use the bathroom. Remus was occupying him, in case the short man would notice their absence. They only had a short moment to finish their perfectly thought out plan.

"Watch out for Mrs. Norris." Sirius whispered as they rounded a corner. "I swear she can see through the cloak with her demon eyes..."

James snorted. "She can't. You just don't like cats."

"They're evil—"

"Shh!"

Footsteps could be heard in the distance and both boys held their breaths as they listened to the sound of someone passing by disappear. Stealing a glimpse over he corner, they noticed that it had only been some Ravenclaw student.

"Come on." James said. "We haven't got all day."

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The screaming could be heard throughout the whole castle as the students' turkey legs turned into slugs and their pumpkin juice into sour milk. Augusta, who had carelessly taken a sip nearly threw up at the horrible taste, and her friend, Damian Griffin, gagged as he spat out the slug he had taken a bite of. It was no mystery who had pulled the prank. Laughter ignited from the Gryffindor table.

She turned to look at them just as James Potter roared and clapped Sirius Black on the back, who was slamming his fists onto the table.

Augusta shook her, scowling at the milk in her glass cup that looked like porridge. They were idiots, but brilliant idiots. Students either glorified them or hated them, there was no in between.

Damian wiped his tongue with his sleeve. "Disgusting." He muttered before shaking his head, smiling. "But a little funny."

"Hm..." Augusta hummed, narrowing her eyes as she tried to catch a better glimpse at the boys. She only turned away when Sirius caught her staring. An idea struck her head, one that was both insane and tempting. "I think we should do something to get them back."

Damian startled at her words.

"Get them back?" He repeated, huffing out a breath. "Good luck with that."

"I don't need luck." She muttered, spitting out the milk as she took another sip, having forgotten that it was spoiled. "No, really, we should do something back."

Her friend tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Like what?"

She paused for a second, thinking of a perfect scheme that no one would be able to forget. "Something bad." She said, a mischievous grin stretching over her face. "For example... switching their shampoo to hair dye?"

Damian snorted. "You're gonna dare mess with Sirius Black's luscious mane?" he asked before bubbling out into a laughter. "I swear you're secretly a Slytherin in disguise."

Augusta grinned. "It's in my blood."