[b]“The Gargoyle Corridor”[/b]
[b]6:32 AM[/b]
[b]James MacFusty[/b]

The MacFusty heir was a tall blur of black, red and gold as he raced up the moving staircases three steps at a time, the bristles of his broomstick digging in to the precise beat of his racing heart. With his shirt half-buttoned, his tie knotted around his neck like a noose and his arms full of a garish Quiddich uniform, it was not a surprise that he could barely see where he was going – particularly with a sweat-slicked fringe matted over his eyes like a blindfold.

Thus, when he detoured into the third floor corridor, the one with the twisting statue of the gargoyle that he knew [i]intimately[/i] from his various punishments over the years, he only saw the Headmaster at the last minute and had to swerve to avoid him. Swerving, as it turned out, was nearly impossible with untied laces, leaving Jimmy as a tangle of limbs on the floor.

“Practicing my flying, sir! Got to make sure I'm at my best – can't have Slytherin winning, y'know?” he managed out in response to the Professor Gurgenhiem's question, trying desperately not to look him in the eye. The Headmaster was a great man, to be sure, and the Gryffindor felt particularly dishevelled in front of him after flying laps around the school and through the trees on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Jimmy discreetly pulled a few twigs out of his hair.

Jimmy's tortured breathing calmed down, thankful for the break from the exertion of climbing the stairs. “And there's a – a quick path up to the Gryffindor common room through this floor. If I went the... conventional way, I'd never make it before breakfast.” He tried to peer nervously around the Headmaster's frame and vibrant robes to see if the portrait was still empty. Once it was filled with its inhabitant – Lady Lerissa, a witch from the 14th century – the secret staircase would be blocked off... and she always returned from her wanderings at twenty to seven on the dot. “I... uh, am I in trouble?” he asked, sidling his way along the wall as if he were about to make a break for it.