"What's going on?" Jill rubbed her eyes tiredly as they were escorted out of the Hufflepuff common room, in the middle of the night. "Sirius Black's in the castle." A younger Hufflepuff student told them.
"He was spotted outside of the Gryffindor common-room, did a number on the Fat Lady." He explained. "Oh, dear! So where are we going?" Jill frowned. "Dunno?" The Hufflepuff shrugged. "I know!" His friend interrupted.
"We're going to spend the night in the Great Hall, the whole school!" The small boy beamed. "Oh- And.." He looked up at Sage, who was smiling kindly at the younger student. "You're very pretty, miss." He flushed red.
"Oh- Thank you very much." She nodded at the boy, unsure of how to respond to the compliment. "You're very pretty too."
The boy frowned slightly at this. "Why do boys not like being called pretty?" Sage laughed when the younger students were gone. "It's a girls compliment." Harper answered. "It is not." Sage rolled her eyes. "Compliments shouldn't be restricted by gender. Did you know women used to be called handsome, just read any older book and you'll see." She scoffed.
"I wouldn't mind being called pretty. I think it's sweet." Harper shrugged, and Sage felt a blush crawl up her face, had he called her sweet? "Thank you, Harper." She smiled, and they entered the Great Hall.
"Wow." All of the furniture had been pushed to the walls, and sleeping bags had been positioned everywhere. "Where are we going?" Olive scanned the hall, and the group found a quiet little corner to sleep in.
Sage immediately noticed Cedric claim the sleeping bag beside hers, and she was giddy over his wanting to sleep beside her. "Do you think we'll sleep here tomorrow?" Cedric asked her. "I hope not. I much prefer my bed." She laughed.
"Me too." He smiled. "Goodnight Sage." He laid back on the ground, and Sage watched him for a moment longer. "Goodnight Cedric."
----
The next morning, Sage awoke with a very sore neck, her body had not enjoyed the comfort of sleeping on the ground. The rest of her friends also seemed to have similar problems, and they found it much more difficult to get up than usual, they were exhausted.
"Are we sure it's 8am?" Olive frowned. "It feels like 4am." She groaned. "Do you think they found Sirius Black?" Sage bit her lip. "Probably not, or we would've been told by now." Harper glanced up at the end of the hall, where the teachers were speaking quietly with one another.
They had been up for about ten minutes, and still no word on Sirius. "I think i'll spontaneously combust if I have to spend another night on the floor." Sage frowned. "And it's stone, too. Why couldn't we sleep somewhere carpeted?"
"We have potions." Cedric frowned. "Two great starts to the day." Harper grinned sarcastically. "Come on." Cedric got up, grabbing Sage's hands and pulling her to her feet.
----
"Professor, have they found Sirius Black yet?" A Slytherin boy called from the back of the class. "No. I'm afraid he's still out and about." Snape frowned. Something told Sage that Snape was the least happy about the escaped prisoner.
"Professor, why is he here?" Another Slytherin asked. "Back to your potions. Now." He spun around, flipping his cape dramatically as he wrote 'QUIET' on the chalkboard. "He's so creepy." Sage whispered to Cedric, who nodded.
"You know what'd be funny." Cedric grinned, looking down at their Polyjuice potion which they were halfway through brewing. (It takes a month, so they were about two weeks in.)
"If we found one of Sirius Black's hairs around the school, and turned into him for the day." He grinned. "That's a terrible idea." Sage giggled. "We'd be arrested, or sent to the Dementors." She laughed.
