At last it was summer, and I spent much of my week while Dad worked with either the Weasleys or Alaina. I still had one day a week as my own day to spend time just with Dad and the weekends belonged to Grandpa and sometimes Uncles Sirius and Moony.

I had been begging Dad for weeks now, it was the last week of June, to let me have a sleepover party with my friends. But when he finally said yes, Hermione had gone on holiday to France for two weeks, so it was just Ron and Lexy. I'd invited Blaise, but he'd gone to Italy to visit his cousins.

Coincidentally, the Saturday I was having my sleepover was also the same night Dad was taking Alaina to dinner and a play. Sirius was supposed to be watching us, but then Grandpa volunteered to help him, I think Dad asked him to, and now we had two babysitters.

Dad and Alaina left at 5:30, after reminding me and Lexy to behave and leaving some last minute instructions for Grandpa and Padfoot.

"Sirius, you know how to reach me on my mirror if one of the kids gets sick or there's an emergency. There's plenty of food in the house, so you can make what you want for dinner. We probably won't be home until midnight."

"Relax, Sev. We'll be fine. I've babysat before, you know."

"I know, but this is three of them and you know what mischief Harry and Ron can get up to."

"Go on, Sev. I'll keep the brats in line, so don't worry about anything. Have a good time with Alaina." Grandpa said, then they said goodbye and left.

Sirius turned to me and asked, "What time is Ron supposed to get here?"

"Six o'clock."

"Good. That gives us time to make dinner for you. Let's see what Sev's got in the freezer." He rummaged through the freezer. "How does hamburgers and chicken nuggets sound with a side of chips sound?"

"Great!"

"No vegetables?" asked Lexy.

"Nah. I don't like ‘em that much, so we can skip ‘em." Sirius said smirking. "We won't tell Sev. Okay?"

I grinned. Sirius knew of Dad's insistence on eating all four food groups. But no vegetables for that night sounded fine to me.

Just then we heard Grandpa call from the den, "Sirius, get in here! Something's wrong with the fireplace. The fire just turned a strange green color!"

"it's okay, Toby. That's only the Floo, remember? Ron should be coming through any minute." Sirius answered.

Sure enough, Ron's voice was heard a few minutes later. "Hi, Mr. Snape. Where's Harry?"

"Hello. Harry's in the kitchen with Sirius and Lexy. You're just in time for dinner."

Ron entered the kitchen a moment later, a rather worn yellow duffle in his hand and a pillow. "Hi, Harry, Lexy. Uh, where shall I put my stuff?"

"In my room," I answered.

"I'll take care of it, Ron," Padfoot said, then waved his wand and Ron's bag and pillow were magically transported to my room.

He looked at me and I smiled and said, "After we eat dinner, that's when the real part of the sleepover begins. We can play cards and Monopoly or Quidditch and then we can watch a movie on TV and eat popcorn and stay up half the night."

"Awesome!" Ron said. Then he looked at Sirius. "Uh, what's for dinner, Padfoot?"

• * * * * * *

We ate and then Grandpa said we could go play, so long as we didn't make a total disaster of my room or Inky's room. We spent a good hour playing tag with Inky all over the backyard, which Dad had warded so my panther couldn't jump the fence and run away anymore. When we were tired of that, Lexy said, "Let's play Monopoly."

"Okay, but you'd better not buy up Park Place and the Boardwalk this time," Ron said, for Lexy always managed to get at least one of those properties and then she could nail us both. Since Lexy had introduced Ron and I to the board game, we'd become addicted to it, and now we played it whenever we got the chance.

But after two hours, no one was winning, and we grew bored and decided to ask Grandpa to put a movie on for us, my TV had a VCR, and make popcorn.

"Fine with me, minnow, but after the movie, I want all of you in pajamas and you can stay up for another half-an-hour and then it's bedtime."

"Bedtime!" I cried, shaking my head frantically. "But Grandpa, it's a sleepover. That means you get to stay up extra late, like all night."

"Oh, no. You're not staying up all night till your father comes home, Harry. Not while I'm in charge." Grandpa shook his head firmly.

"Then Uncle Sirius can be in charge," I said, thinking quickly. Padfoot was so easygoing he wouldn't care what we did, so long as we didn't blow up the house or kill each other.

"No, I'm the commanding officer tonight, mister. That means you go to bed at nine-thirty."

"But Grandpa! Nine-thirty's too early. How about ten?"

"Harry, what's your normal bedtime?"

"Uh, eight o'clock. But Dad lets me stay up till eight-thirty sometimes."

"That's how it is in my house," said Ron.

"Mine too," added Lexy.

"Well, I'm letting you stay up a whole hour past your normal bedtime," said Grandpa. "So instead of whining and acting like a spoiled brat, you ought to say thank you, Harry Severus."

I pouted. I really wanted to stay up till ten o'clock, like I used to when I'd lived with him and he worked nights. Of course he never knew that, but I had. Still, I knew better than to argue with him now, he'd only get mad at me and then I'd be in trouble. I was half-hoping to convince him otherwise later.

"Okay. We'll go to bed at nine-thirty, sir."

"That's my good soldier," he praised and rumpled my hair.

Ron was looking at me like I'd just said I was going to jump off of London Bridge. I knew he thought I should've argued some more, but he didn't know Tobias Snape. My grandfather was not the arguing kind. It was his way or else you ended up in time-out or over his knee. It had been a long time since he'd punished me that way, though, but since Dad left him in charge, I knew it also meant he could punish me and maybe even my friends a little, if we misbehaved.

"All right, troops. Who wants popcorn?"

"ME!" we all shouted at the top of our lungs, and Grandpa winced.

Ten minutes later we were all watching The Jungle Book and singing along with Mowgli, Baloo, and Bagheera. We ate the whole bowl of popcorn Grandpa made and drank a glass each of soda too. Dad would've had a fit that we were eating too much sugar before bedtime, but our babysitters didn't mind, and neither did we.

Grandpa and Sirius went into the kitchen to play cards while we watched the movie, and when it was over, Grandpa came back in to get the bowl and cups and reminded me that we had a half-an-hour before our bedtime. Then he told us to get into our pajamas and do something quiet.

So we got into pajamas, and Lexy was already yawning. "M'sorry, Harry. I'm just so sleepy." Her eyes looked all droopy and she was leaning up against Inky on the panther's bed.

"That's okay, Lexy. You can go to sleep if you want to." I told her, for she looked like she was going to anyway.

"Thanks, Harry," she said, and yawned again. Then she snuggled into Inky's side and my panther curled up around her, he did that to me sometimes, and began to purr.

Lexy smiled. "Aww, you're a sweet boy, aren't you, Inky?" Then her eyes shut and she was asleep.

Ron and I glanced at each other. "Whatcha want to do now, Harry?" he asked. "We can't play Quidditch now, since we gotta go to bed at nine-thirty. How come you didn't try harder to convince your grandpa to let you stay up?"

I huffed. "Ron, d'you know my grandpa? You don't argue with him, you just do what he says. ‘Specially if you're only little and his grandson."

"What if you, uh, pitched a fit?"

I snorted. "Then he'd of spanked me for acting like a brat."

"Oh. Like my mum does," Ron said. Then he sighed. "I really wanted to play Quidditch, and make ice cream sundaes too. I never thought they'd make us go to bed like we still had school."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled. " I wish there was a way we could stay up later, but there isn't, unless Grandpa and Sirius change their minds."

"Or they fall asleep before us."

"Like that'll ever happen. They're grown-ups, they can stay up till midnight."

Ron looked very thoughtful . . .and sneaky. "What if I told you there was a way we could make them fall asleep for an hour and then we could stay up till ten-thirty?"

"Get real, Ron! That would take a miracle. Or a powerful magic spell."

"Maybe." He went over to his duffle and opened it, rummaging inside until he found what he was looking for, a small back box with a red ribbon on it. "Ah ha! I knew this would come in handy when I snitched it from the twins' joke cabinet."

"What is it?"

He undid the ribbon and opened the lid. Inside were six delicious looking chocolate truffles. My mouth watered, I loved chocolate. "Mmm. Those look great. Can I have one?" I reached out a hand to take one.

Ron grabbed my arm. "Don't, Harry! They're not for you to eat, unless you want to end up sleeping for an hour. The twins made them, they're called Bedtime Bonbons, and they said they're for when you want to prank your parents or a babysitter."

"How?"

"I dunno. They made some kind of potion and put it inside the truffle somehow. Then when a grown-up eats it, they fall asleep for an hour. Want to try it?"

I hesitated. Pranking my grandfather could be dangerous. He wasn't the kind of man who found practical jokes real funny. Then I thought of how much I wanted to stay up late on my first ever sleepover. It wasn't like it would hurt them or anything, just make them sleep for an hour, and let us stay up and play Quidditch and eat ice cream or whatever. And they wouldn't even know what happened, they'd just think they had fallen asleep.

"All right. You sure that's all this candy does?"

"Positive. Fred and George just invented it."

"Let's do it."

Ron carried the box into the den and set it on the table. Then he took two truffles out of the box and called, "Hey, Mr. Snape and Padfoot. Want some chocolate?"

"Sure, kid," called back Grandpa. "Leave it on the table, we'll eat it after we finish this hand and I win all Siri's money for the third time in a row."

"I'll beat you yet, Toby. Just wait and see."

"Oh sure you will! Keep dreaming, mate!"

Ron set the two chocolates down on the plate then we left and went back into my room, where Lexy and Inky were still sleeping. About three minutes later we heard Sirius cry, "Bloody hell, Tobias! I don't believe it. I had a three of a kind."

"A full house will beat that every time. Read ‘em and weep, Padfoot."

"That does it, Snape. If I didn't know better, I'd say you spelled those cards," muttered Sirius angrily.

"Nope. Just Lady Luck smiling on me."

"Well, I'm going to eat that chocolate Ron left us. Molly probably gave it to him for us, she knows what a sweet tooth we all have."

"I'll join you after I go out and have a smoke," Grandpa said, and then he went out into the backyard.

Sirius went into the den and sat down in the recliner, the truffle held in one hand. Ron and I watched from around the corner. He bit into it and sighed happily. "Oh, Merlin, but these are fantastic. Best truffles I've ever eaten." He ate the rest of it.

But he didn't fall asleep.

Ron and I waited for him to just keel over. But he was still awake.

"What happened? Why isn't it working?"

"I dunno. Maybe it takes awhile," Ron said.

It sure was, and I wondered if the prank would even work at all.

Grandpa came back into the den and took his truffle. "How are they?"

"Taste it and find out."

Grandpa did so, and he had nearly the same reaction as Padfoot.

"Godalmighty! This truffle is incredible."

"I know. Too bad we don't have anymore." Sirius said wistfully. Then he started yawning.

"Tired, Black?"

"No . . .not really. Except . . .all of a sudden I just want to close my eyes and sleep."

"All those hours as an Auror is probably catching up to you," Grandpa said knowingly.

But Sirius was already snoring.

Ron and I smirked in delight. The prank was working!

We waited for five or ten minutes.

Soon enough, Grandpa started to yawn too. "Huh? I'm never sleepy at this time of night. Gotta . . .keep awake . . .put the kids to bed . . ."

But the twins spelled candy was too much for even Tobias Snape, and soon he fell asleep as well.

"Yes!" Ron gave me a high five. "We're geniuses, Harry!"

"C'mon. Before they wake up." I urged Ron into the backyard, where we kept the Quidditch set I'd gotten from Uncle Matt for my birthday.

We played Quidditch until we nearly crashed into a tree, then we called it quits, and flew back down. I raced back inside and looked at the clock in the kitchen. It was ten o'clock. We still had a half-an-hour.

I got out the ice cream, hot fudge sauce, and cherries and whipped topping. Then we made huge sundaes and nearly got sick from eating all the ice cream. I looked up at the clock. It was almost ten-thirty.

"Quick, Ron! Let's go into my room. They'll be waking up soon."

We were so scared of getting caught that we left the kitchen table a mess and just went into my room. We got into bed and pretended to sleep, waiting to hear sounds of the two men waking up. But five and then ten minutes went by and we heard nothing.

"That's strange," I said. "They should've woken up by now."

Ron shrugged. "Maybe it takes longer to wake them up."

"Maybe I'd better go check on them." I had only wanted to play a prank, not get them sick.

"Go ahead. It's your behind."

I gulped. Why'd you have to remind me, Ron? Then I crept out of my bed and into the den.

Grandpa and Uncle Sirius were sleeping still, and they showed no signs of waking up soon. I shook Sirius's shoulder. "Padfoot? Hey, can you wake up now?"

He snored on peacefully. I moved over to Grandpa and called and shook him too. He too wouldn't wake up. "Ron, are you sure they only made them fall asleep for an hour?"

"Yes, they told me like a hundred times. Why?"

"Because it's been an hour-and-a-half, and they're still sleeping"

"Oh." He came over and looked at them too. "It'll wear off eventually. He looks real peaceful, doesn't he?"

I nodded.

"All right then. Let's go and have a party, because now we're in charge."

"Yippee!" I shouted. Now we were talking! I ran to get more soda and Ron found the cupcakes in the pantry and we had another feast and then we played Exploding Snap and indoor Quidditch, just because we could.

Only thing was, we forgot we couldn't hit the Bludgers too hard and we knocked over a chair. Then Ron flew too low and knocked a lamp over by mistake, luckily it didn't break. But we were having too much fun to worry about that now. Once we got tired of playing Quidditch, we found my play wands and pretended to have a wizard's duel.

We had so much sugar that night that we couldn't stand still and were so hyper we couldn't have fallen asleep if we'd wanted to. Before long it was eleven o'clock, and our two babysitters were still asleep, snoring loudly.

"You tired yet, Ron?"

"Nope," my friend said. "How about you?"

I shook my head. "Maybe a little. Let's stay up till eleven-thirty."

So we did, though by then we were so tired we couldn't really enjoy it and soon we headed back into my room and fell upon our beds, forgetting all about the mess we'd left behind. It had been a great sleepover.