Written for the QLFC Procrastination Thread Boot Camp.
Prompt: Paw Print (24)
Level: Hard
Character: Regulus Black
Word Count: 728
So far, being a prefect had been quite nice. Regulus was allowed to stay up late and claim that he was doing his prefect rounds, and he could dock points and give detentions to students without any punishment as long as he figured out a good enough excuse to explain his actions. He also got a bit of preferential treatment from the teachers, which was quite helpful when he'd forgotten to do Flitwick's essay.
Regulus checked his patrol timetable again. Prefects patrolled every other day with a partner for two hours in the night, and since Regulus hadn't done any patrol yesterday, he knew that today he would have to.
21 00 - 23 00 Regulus Black (Slytherin, fifth year) & Amanda Fawley (Ravenclaw, fifth year)
Oh, damn it. It was already eight forty five, and he was meant to start patrol on the seventh floor.
Regulus pinned his prefect badge to his robes neatly, and strode out of his dormitory and through the not-yet-empty Slytherin common room. He ran quickly up the stairs, making sure to skip the trick staircases, dashed through a hidden door that he'd found in his third year, climbed onto a moving staircase which took him to the fifth floor, crawled through a tunnel behind a rather large tapestry, scaled some more stairs, and finally reappeared on the seventh floor. He cast a Tempus, and was quite pleased (and impressed) to see that it was 20 58. It must've been a school record, to be able to get from the dungeons to the seventh floor in thirteen minutes.
Regulus looked around and saw no other student in sight yet. Deciding to simply start his patrol instead of waiting uselessly for Amanda Fawley, he strolled down the corridor confidently, his prefect's badge glittering on his chest.
Then, quite suddenly, he froze. His silver eyes narrowed.
Yes. There was the very disgusting sound of snogging coming from somewhere nearby. In an alcove, perhaps.
Regulus strode towards the nearest tapestry, which he knew hid an alcove, and peeked inside.
No one. Just a dark, dusty little room.
There was nothing in the next alcove, and the next. The sound was growing nearer, and more disgusting. Regulus considered all the hexes he could hurl at the unfortunate couple when he caught them.
He tore open another tapestry, and inside the alcove behind it was a pair of students, a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor by the looks of it, engaged in a furious snog. They looked like they were trying to eat each other's faces.
"Twenty points from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor each," Regulus said loudly, causing the couple to break apart reluctantly and turn to look at him.
"And get back to your common rooms," he added. "Or I'll be docking fifty each."
The couple nodded even more reluctantly, clearly thinking of a place that they could snog in peace. Ha! As if that was going to happen.
Regulus came back out of the alcove, and kept walking. It was silence, except for the sound of the couple scrambling towards their respective common rooms.
He walked a bit more, before heading towards a moving staircase to go to the sixth floor.
Then a burst of icy water landed on his hair, spattering his robes. Next came a waterfall of green slime, which smelled absolutely terrible.
Regulus clenched his fists, and easily removed the water and slime. He began to walk again, still fuming inside (knowing exactly who was responsible for this), but found his path blocked.
Four shapes hovered in midair, each large and black. The smallest one looked like it could have belonged to a rat. Another one looked like a wolf's print. He couldn't determine the third one, and the fourth one was the largest, in the shape of a paw...of a dog.
He slashed his wand through the paw print, but it didn't even move. It remained there, hovering in midair.
Damn it!
Then a voice came around the corridor. "Nice one, don't you think, Prongs?"
Regulus froze. He knew that voice. Sirius.
"Yeah," said another voice. "Hope someone's gotten caught in it already."
Then both Sirius and James Potter came around the corner, and Regulus experienced a sinking feeling in his gut, and his brain was screaming at him...
Run.