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August led the way down to the dungeons, pausing every so often to allow any still-awake children to gawk at the castle. He kept an eye to make sure everyone was keeping up, but left it mostly to Mallaidh to make sure no one was misbehaving or getting lost.

“You’ll have to take these stairs to class every day, so do make sure you have everything you need before beginning the ascent,” he indicated, waiting a little for any stragglers to catch up. There was one student that kept losing their shoe on the way down. “Here we also part ways with Hufflepuff students so follow close.”

In January, Duanaire and Harmony had started a 4-month campaign reorganizing the potions stores. They would sneak in once a week at some inconsistent time, and swap a few rows or bottles around, then turn every label facing outwards. They took meticulous care to make sure that everything was moved and nothing was left behind or put with other things. If something was missing when they got there, they’d leave a gap where it was moved to. There were no spills, no accidents, no misplaces. Then they snuck back out. If they were lucky, one of them would get to see a confused expression in their next class. The goal of all this, of course, was that by the end of the year, if you looked at the first letter of the label to the leftmost of the row, the letters spelled R-I-C-K-R-O-L-L-E-D.

She and Harmony had spent considerable time over the summer debating their next grand prank. But before classes started, Aire wanted to see if everything had been reset over the summer. With a whisper to Harmony and a quick glance around, Aire slipped away from the lines of returning students

She moved swiftly for the dungeon staircase, drew her wand and and simply leapt over the rail, plummeting down. An instant before she hit the ground, she pointed at the ground with a practiced "Cadamolleo."

Unfortunately, without a rope or broom, she didn't have any clever ways of getting back up.

Aire landed with a soft thump, the spell cushioning her feet. She tucked her wand away and headed off to the dungeon stores, flipping her hair back like this was a perfectly normal way to descend the stairs. She was halfway down the hall to the storeroom when she heard steps racing down the stairs. Immediately, she ducked into an alcove before a voice called out.

Not a professor...a prefect?!! Aire had been hoping all the professors and prefects were already at the feast. Most of the ghosts she wasn’t worried about tattling--Sir Cadogan was another story, but she was fairly sure she hadn’t crossed his unfortunate path. The voice called out, closer, that they’d seen her jump the stairs and that she was going to be in trouble...if she didn’t go back to the feast. Aire grinned despite the pounding in her chest. She just had to get back to the feast, right? And if she could do it without them knowing--why, that would be the grandest perfect crime. Challenge accepted.

Aire took stock of where she was. Maybe she could cut through the classrooms and stores, wait him out, and sneak over from the other side. Maybe she could cause a distraction and lure the prefect away from the stairs. Ooh, what if she could ...string a pulley system up to the top of the stairs! She was sure she could find something heavy enough to use as a counterweight…or maybe just...make a counterweight.

Welp, why not. Aire took her shoes and tie quietly off, tied them together, and took a deep breath. Maybe if she didn’t make a sound the prefect would continue on way. Maybe she could outwait him. Or maybe he’d come this way and she could just...dodge him. Alright prefect, your move.

Aire froze, eyes wide in panic. Firstly, she’d gotten caught? Secondly, she was caught! Thirdly, maybe it was just because there were no boys their age on the crew of the Solus and she was never this close to anyone, but this boy was really pretty. Hold up a minute--this was Austen Masters!

Generally, Duanaire was remarkably good at not knowing people’s names. But this was Austen Masters, son of the James Masters on the Montrose Magpies. Even with practice and yelling calls across the Pitch every week, it had taken a year and an accident for Aire to have a conversation with Maya. Of all the people in the school, Aire had known this boy’s face and name from the first time it was called in roll 8am Potions I. It had been a boasting point (and maybe like 40% of why she actually went to all her classes.) She saw him a few times when she went for Adventurer’s Guild one-shot nights, but generally Aire tried to be very forgettable.

Austen was smirking, and it felt for a second like she was being questioned by James Masters himself if she was going back to the Feast. Aire nodded rapidly, then shook her head: ”Nope! No, Not up to anything! Um. Feast. Right. Okay?” She squeaked. Another wide-eyed nod, but she didn’t move because he didn’t move and there was a light and she was still frozen with her tie and flats in one hand and her wand in the other. She glanced down before realizing he wasn’t wearing shoes either. Was this a thing now? What was she doing with her shoes again? After a bit of back and forth glancing between the face and the socks, Aire decided against putting on her own shoes and crept back the direction of the stairs.

”Um. Did you chase me down the stairs?” she asked nervously. She wasn't sure if he was going to take points away or something. Could third years even be prefects? That was just what happened when you were a Masters though, right? They were all pretty incredible. ”What were you doing in the hallway anyways?”

Better question: Whyintheworldwasshestilltalking??!! Shut up, shut up!

Not surprisingly, Austen didn’t buy her story. Usually Aire was much better thought out than this and would have a dozen excuses. That was a lie, she had two, and she’d never gotten caught to use the third. But all that had flown straight out the brain-hole.

”Uhm. Prank. Yes. Checking on a prank. Not preparing! Just. Checking? On the Potions Storeroom.” she replied, her already airy voice just above a whisper. He warned her not to prank Professor Whitethorne and Aire had to pause, wondering if Professor Whitethorne was their Professor Potions or the new one they had this year. Or another professor. Did it matter if the prank was already done? ”Why? Is Professor-- uhm, are they really mean? We didn’t get caught--at least I don’t think--”

Shutupshutup. She realized she’d just given away that she had a collaborator in this prank, and she didn’t know who Professor Whitethorne was, and good spirits of water drown me now, he must think I’m an idiot.

Still, Aire cracked a small grin when Austen sarcastically mentioned she’d been scared half to death by jumping off the railing. She got that a lot at home. Then he glared and she went back to being a fearful fish-faced. ”Oh, um, it’s okay really? I’ve done that jump a hundred times. Er. Maybe not a hundred. I only figured it out last year. It’s the fastest way to get down. Really it’s fine?”

She wasn’t sure yet if she would get in bigger trouble for being dishonest or talking too much, but at least thus far, Austen seemed more keen on talking than assigning detention or running off to get a teacher. She shifted nervously, when he said he’d followed only because it’d be faster than getting an authority figure. Then, after a pause, he asked for her name, and even apologized for not paying attention. ”Oh no, it’s okay! I have trouble with names too. I only know you because. um--” Aire looked shiftily away, unsure how to summarize the amount of celebration his parents got on the ship. There was the Quidditch thing, there was the publishing thing-- Aire had basically internalized that anyone called Masters was literally a celebrity. Just because she saw him in class every day and shared a common room with Maya didn’t mean it didn’t stop blowing her mind. ”Anyways! I’m Aire. Um. but the teachers know me as Duanaire.”

Ah, damnit. She shouldn’t have said that. If she hadn’t said anything he wouldn’t have been able to report her, right? She felt like points off or detention or whatever was inevitable now, which sucked, but she needed to keep Harmony out of trouble. Scarlet with embarrassment already, Aire stopped by the foot of the stairs with a deep breath, pointing up: ”Um... If I show you how I jumped down, can we not mention this to an...'authority figures'?”