IJAM 10

"I, erm, that's to say I...what?" What? What? What? Am I hallucinating? i could feel the tears pooling in my eyes. Professor Snape's face fell. My stomach plummeted in horror. Had he taken my shock as a negative? Oh Merlin no!

"I thought, perhaps, as you were opposed to sleeping in the Gryffindor dormitories this evening you may wish to stay in my quarters in the dungeons. Please forgive my assumption-"

"What? No, I'd love to! I was - um - just surprised is all. I, eh, was going to ask you if I could stay with you, actually, but I figured you wouldn't want me just assuming I could ask to stay down there." I stared at the Potions Professor's nose, waiting for his reply. The room was silent, and I felt my cheeks grow hot as I realised Hermione and Draco were still in the room. Severus allowed a small smile and he stood, offering his hand to help me up. i paid attention to what I was wearing for the first time and gave a sigh of relief upon discovering I was still in my school robes. Snape nodded in Hermione's direction, and gestured to Draco to follow. He stood and walked on ahead of us after saying a quick bye to Hermione.

"Night Hermione." I said quickly, before Snape made us leave.

"Night Harry" she offered a small smile which I returned, then left the Hospital Wing to go back to Gryffindor.

A surprisingly short walk found us in the dungeons. As we walked through the door, I failed to stifle a large yawn. Severus gently pushed me towards a mahogany door, which I stumbled through blindly. I collapsed onto the king-sized bed, head sinking into the soft pillow. Despite having been unconscious for four hours I was exhausted and barely noticed the spell which transfigured my robes into pajamas and threw a duvet over me. I heard the smile in his voice as Severus said farewell:

"Goodnight, son." I smiled to myself and closed my eyes, falling asleep straight away.

The following morning when i woke i was unable to lift my head, so I happily allowed it to sink back down onto the feather pillow, eyes fluttering closed. just as I was sure I would fall asleep again, the door opened noisily, and Professor Snape walked in. I blinked at him, bleary eyed, yet still manage to recognise the sparkle in his eyes and the timbre of his smirk. I threw myself off of the bed as quickly as possible, not wishing to be doused in freezing cold water again. The first time had been experience enough, though extremely funny. Especially when my pillow hit Snape full in the face. I laughed out loud, but was quickly silenced by the raised eyebrow on my potions professor.

"Morning Harry," He smiled, and I returned the greeting, although incoherently. "I don't feel like going up to the Great Hall for breakfast, and as it is the weekend I thought perhaps we could eat down here in my quarters?" Not awake enough to trust my speech further than "G'mornin", I just nodded my head vigorously and trailed Snape through to a room with two straight backed chairs and a table laden with breakfast items. As I sat, the plate in front of me filled with food, and I noticed a platter in the middle of the table loose the same amount of food from its surface. I love magic, I thought to myself. I picked up a fork and ate, whilst Professor Snape watched. As I drank a goblet of pumpkin juice and he a mug of coffee, there was a knock at the door to his quarters. Snape got up to answer it. When I heard him return with an extra set of footsteps, i glanced up, curiosity peaked. Severus stood there with Draco, who just smiled at me, eyebrow raised.

"Nice jammies, Potter." I felt my cheeks flare up red with embarrassment, but I couldn't help but snort at his choice of words.

"Jammies?" He just smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes. I suddenly realized that I had no other clothes. "Um, Professor? I didn't bring any clothes with me..." Draco just rolled his eyes and, before Severus had chance to open his mouth, a house-elf had appeared.

"What is Master Draco be needing?" The bat-eared creature asked, pillowcase spotless and bearing the Hogwarts emblem.

"Please go to the Gryffindor Sixth Year Dormitory and get some casual day clothes for Harry." He requested, and the house-elf disappeared with a pop. Out of curiosity I glanced down at the pajamas I was wearing and felt the blood leave my head. A strangled cry of disbelief escaped my lips. The pajamas were white, but they were covered in tiny green snakes wiggling all over the fabric, occasionally positioning themselves to spell the words 'Slytherin Rules'. I narrowed my eyes at them, causing Snape to simply step forward and ruffle my hair. I scowled at him, but thankfully at that moment the house-elf reappeared carrying a bundle of clothes, which she handed to me. I thanked her and spun on my heel, marching back into the room in which I had spent the night. I tried to sweep away in a dignified manner, but tripped up my feet on the second step I took, thus ruining any hopes of maintaining that feeble image. I heard the snorts from the Slytherins in the next room as I slammed the door shut.

I reentered what I had labeled in my mind 'the breakfast room', feeling much more comfortable in my own clothes. I sent Severus a querying look as he handed me a thick cloak.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend; I assumed you would want to go? And it is not particularly warm outside today." I could remember now, the date had been written on a notice board in the Gryffindor common room all week. Thanking Severus, I turned to Draco and asked if he would join Hermione and I. He accepted, so we made our way up to the Entrance Hall to meet her.

We strolled casually up the street to Honeydukes, battling through the crowds of people to reach the sweet shop. As the warmth engulfed us we were greeted by the strong smell of chocolate - they were having a taster session. Draco and I ran straight to the little floating chunks of chocolate being handed to our classmates. A smiling witch behind the counter gave Draco one covered in red swirls and I one covered in green. Hermione, behind us, joined in our laughter at the irony of it. An amazing sense of happiness swept through me as i placed the sweet on my tongue. I noticed similar expressions of happiness on Draco and Hermione's faces, the latter of whom had picked up a purple chocolate.

"What makes them do that?" Hermione asked, eyes shining in delight. Ah, good old Hermione, always wanting to learn new stuff. The witch grinned at us, tapping her nose.

"You'll have to find out for yourselves. They're on that shelf over there, next to the acne clearing toffee." Here she pointed to an aisle nearby. Thanking the witch, the three of us hurried to where she had pointed, collecting several boxes of the stuff.

"Well that's just cheating," Hermione scoffed, jokingly, "Half the ingredients in this comprise an Elixir of Euphoria. Nicely done, though." Draco gave me an odd look as I ruffled Hermione's hair, leaving it messier than usual. She scowled at me, turning and storming off down the next aisle to pick up some more Toothflossing Stringmints - turned out her parents loved them. I pretended to run after her in distress, throwing myself at her knees and begging for forgiveness. Unfortunately the large crowds in the shop left me stuck, and an elderly witch presumably shopping for her grandchildren almost tripped up me. I wrestled myself off the ground and apologised profusely, offering to pay for her shopping in penance. She refused to allow me, but she left the shop with a smile on her face.

Our next stop was Gladrags Wizardwear, as we all wanted some casual robes for outside of lesson times. We left the store carrying large parcels, trekking back up the main street to the Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer. To our surprise Draco ordered Gillywater, favouring this plain drink to the warmth of our beverages. Hermione and I simply shrugged, personally I felt that it was nice someone deviated from the norm. Our final stop was to the Shrieking Shack, after a good ten minutes of our convincing him it wasn't haunted. Strangely, it was my saying "If you get scared I'll hold your hand." to him that seemed to be the decider. He had blushed then stormed off ahead of us. I exchanged a confused look with Hermione before we set off, following him.

"You know what I think?" My companions jumped at the sound of my voice. We had been silent as we stared at the dilapidated building, Hermione and I remembering our escapade inside, and Sirius. I felt a pang in my chest when I thought of his name. I imagine Draco didn't talk because he had nothing to say, and could sense something about our silence. I laughed at the pair's reaction. "I think that we should go inside." They both shot me startled looks.

"Are you mad, Potter? It may not be haunted but it's hardly safe!" Unfortunately he had a point. Unfortunately for him, that was part of my idea.

"I reckon we should go in and fix it up. Y'know, redecorate, make it safe. Leave the outside as it is so no-one wants to go in, it can be our secret." Here I grinned. Hermione's disapproving look was slightly ruined by the excitement sparkling in her eyes - it was times like these that showed just why she was a Gryffindor. Draco's eyes were beginning to take on a similar shine, and my grin just widened. If we didn't get caught, this would be fantastic.

"How exactly would we get in without being seen? And when exactly do you plan on doing this? There aren't many times in the day when we won't be missed, Potter." I took him by the arm and led him away from the building, Hermione trailing behind.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. I see you have not yet become acquainted with the awesome that is known as an Invisibility Cloak. But do not worry, my beautiful assistant Ms Granger and I shall set upon rectifying this dilemma immediately." We strolled back to the castle, laughing.

We put away our purchases in our respective dorms, making the wise decision to leave our sweets until after dinner. I however, had a mission, and brought along a packet of Droobles Best Blowing Gum. Meeting each other once more just outside the Great Hall, I instructed my comrades to take a piece each and chew. Dinner would not be for about twenty minutes, so we entered early, beginning to blow our bubbles. Soon the room was full of floating blue spheres. I looked at our handiwork and nodded in satisfaction, settling down in my usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Draco went to the other side of the hall, to the Slytherin table, and I waved, blowing up a few more bubbles. The strange expression crossed his face again, and he blushed slightly. My forehead wrinkled in confusion, but his pink cheeks faded and I just mentally shrugged it off.

The staff arrived soon after, and I watched their faces, eagerly anticipating their reactions. Dumbledore chuckled at the infestation, but I was more interested in the other teachers. Upon noticing Hermione and I, I could see Professor McGonagall trying to restrain a smile. Flitwick giggled, clapping his hands in glee and trying to reach a few bubbles in an attempt to pop them. Surprisingly, only Snape (and most likely Dumbledore) seemed to know what had caused them. I grinned at the man who had taken me in, and he smiled back. Then I remembered the pajamas and glared at him instead. This caused him to alarm the other staff members present as he let out a loud bark of laughter at my expense. Draco snorted as he realized what we were thinking of. Hermione instantly questioned me as to their behaviour.

"Snape played a trick on me." I ground out from between my teeth. But soon I couldn't help but chuckle a little myself. It had been rather funny. The students arrived and we all settled down to enjoy the meal. As we ate, I told Hermione the full story of the pajama incident, and she too burst out laughing.

We traipsed up to the Common Room, bellies full, and collapsed into chairs before the fire. Not long after we had settled down, an owl tapped at the window. Everyone looked on, confused. It was rare for any post to arrive at a student's common room, usually they waited until the morning post. Eventually a fourth year scurried to the window and let the bird in, taking its letter and – even more strangely – giving it money. Usually only Newspaper delivery owls were paid. Upon opening and glancing through the letter, the student dashed up the Boys' staircase into the fourth year dorms. A few moments later normalcy resumed, but the boy didn't reappear.

Growing tired, I meandered off to bed. I fumbled in my trunk for my pajamas, which I seemed to have misplaced. Eventually I felt a scrap of the fabric at the bottom of my trunk. I pulled, causing the entire contents of the box to spill onto the floor. Pajamas secured, I repacked the trunk, only then looking at the garments. My stomach plummeted in surprise. They weren't my usual pajamas. These were white, with little green snakes wriggling across the fabric. And yes, they occasionally formed the words 'Slytherin Rules'. Snape had replaced my pajamas with his trick ones! I searched my belongings once more, just to be sure, and then sighed in defeat. I tugged the hangings of my four poster bed shut before changing into them, grumbling as I settled down to sleep. Stupid Snape. Stupid Draco. Fathers aren't supposed to be mean like that!

Hi! So, eventually, chapter ten! What? Ten chapters? Seems like hardly any in comparison to some fics that I've read, but wow! I have, myself, on my own, written ten chapters to a story! And I'm coming up with more and more ideas for this story! I apologize for the long delays in chapters, I'm afraid it will always be the case. I'm either busy, too tired, or have writers block/lack of motivation. Sometimes I just can't be bothered to write D: I hope you enjoyed, please read and review, those things are in fact amazing motivators! See you in chapter 11, eventually XD Also, in desperation to get this posted, it is unbeta'd. I shall make it so and repost, most likely later tonight.