Black Blood | S. BLACK

07.

AUGUSTA DIDN'T KNOW she could sweat from her feet, but as she silently slipped past curfew, she noted that she indeed could. There was something about the feeling– the rush– of breaking the rules that made things all the more exciting. She felt like she could live life that way until the day she'd die.

It was fairly easy to sneak through the castle. Occasionally, she did spot the looming shadows of Filch, but aside from that she made it to the Astronomy Tower within fifteen minutes, which ,in her case, was rather impressive.

The tower was silent and dark; kind of lonely looking when she entered it. The moon illuminated through the room, being the only source of light. The mist-like rays streamed through the glass windows; making it seem as if the room was glowing. It was pretty. Peaceful.

She had never been inside of an empty classroom before. Thinking about it, she had never gotten detention before, which was the reason for that. Augusta had to bite down the urge to touch all the equipments in there, telescopes and neatly stacked papers; but instead she approached one of the windows, which was wide open.

Her hands did not shake as she leaned over, poking her head out as she peeked down onto the castle grounds. The wind swept through her hair. It was cold and biting, but it felt nice.

What would happen were she to jump? Would she fly or fall? She closed her eyes, breathed in the crisp air and—

Suddenly, she felt two hands slam onto either side of her shoulders, jolting her back into consciousness. She screamed, loudly, only to be quickly silenced by a hand that swept over her mouth.

Her heart hammered against her chest as she turned to meet the grey gaze of Sirius Black. There was mischief in his eyes, and he was already bubbling with laughter. Much to her own surprise, she found herself laughing as well.

"Easy there." His voice was a whisper against her ear. "We don't want to wake up the entire castle, do we?"

She shook her head, tried to stop smiling but found herself unable to, and so turned away so that she could pretend to be gazing outside again, "your fault. Sneaking up on people like that. Of course I'm gonna get startled!"

Sirius smiled, "well, then my plan worked," he strolled past her only to hop onto the window seat so that one of his legs dangled down. His eyes mirrored the moon. Augusta frowned and furrowed her eyebrows as she approached Sirius:

"You mean to tell me you forced me to sneak out past curfew, risk getting caught and be given detention, made me walk up all those stairs just so you could scare me?" She asked. Sirius did not turn to look at her but she could still see him grinning.

"Maybe."

She could only laugh, "brilliant." Hopping onto the seat so that she could join him. She did not stick one leg out, though, not finding herself dauntless enough to do so. The night was still. There were no clouds to veil over it; only the stars and moon. It was as if she was caught in another world.

"You're not angry with me?" He asked.

"I would've done the same," she shrugged, turning to meet his gaze, "fair play."

He grinned, his smile slightly crooked to the side, and then held out his hand, "are we even now?" She thought for a moment.

"We're even," she said, taking his hand, "no more pranks?" she asked. He smiled.

"No more pranks," they shook on it.

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"And?" Damian asked, his eyebrows almost touching his hairline. Of course Augusta told him, she told him everything. They were best friends, after all.