Running Rampant PV Ruby Cazares

The girl ran as fast as she could – which was a lot faster than most people – through the hallways, taking shortcuts and confusing turns, running up staircases right before they moved, and just generally doing everything she could to avoid the angry people pursuing her. She had caused mischief in the form of pranking someone. Again. However, this time had been different from her normal style in that she allowed herself to be seen and for her victims to know who she was and that she had done it right then.

When she finally let herself slow down slightly to check that she had lost them, she realized that the sound of heavy footsteps behind her had faded long ago. That wasn't a surprise – the girl hadn't met someone who could actually catch her, and she had a brilliant mental map of the school in her head. She came to a complete halt and replayed the scene of the prank in her imagination. Breathless from the long, continuous, fast run and laughing from the memory of the victims' faces, the girl was doubled over with a lack of breath which left her gasping for air.

When she heard a voice, she spun around to face it, hardly hearing the "hey there". A boy stood in front of her. She prided herself on being observant, how could she not have seen him? To be fair, she had only looked directly behind her when checking if anyone was still following her, but that wasn't a proper excuse! She quickly straightened her posture, returning to her normal stance with her typical perfectly straight back. However, it was hard to bring back the rest of her normal attitude when she was almost crying with laughter. She couldn't bring back the cold, calculating part right now. For once, she didn't feel like making her analyses and she clearly hadn't been nearly as observant as normal. She settled for the air that her posture brought, at least. An air of confidence and intelligence, ambition and determination, passion and power, all blended into one – that's what this was. Instead of the usual coldness masking the flame that burned deep in her light blue eyes because of these things, her eyes sparkled and gleamed with the passion and mirth created by the uncontrolled laughter and doing something she loved.

The rest of her appearance was also different. On a usual day, it was impeccable and clean, with not a speck of dirt anywhere or so much as a single hair or fiber out of place. However, at this particular moment, she was a mess compared to what she normally was. Tendrils of brown hair had torn themselves from the plait down her back while she had been running. Her robes were slightly crooked and creased, and completely out of place from the rush. Those things were only the beginnings…

Looking at the boy and starting to make a couple of observations, trying to calm down a bit, the girl considered how she might appear right now. For once, she realized that she didn't really care. This was something she hadn't experienced much, but then she decided to try and fix it a little bit. She attempted to tuck some of the hair back into the plait, and subtly straightened her robes, even as she continued to laugh, finishing up, but this time to cover her small actions. She brushed her robes off with a sweeping motion as her laughs finally ceased and were replaced by a smile.

This was so unlike her… who was this girl anyway – this mischief-making strange young girl with the unique air normally following her? Her name was Ruby Cazares, and she was a Slytherin pureblood first year who lived in England.

Ruby listened and waited while he asked the questions, before composing herself enough to reply. “Yep, everything's fine!” she began. Yep? Since when did she say yep? Whatever. Next question… “Oh, I'm running from a few students and teachers,” she replied truthfully with a small grin, her eyes still glittering. “I pulled a prank on them – got up to mischief. But, hey, they didn't and couldn't catch me in time!”