The thirty-first of December found Harry and I walking through the school grounds and up to the castle dressed, oddly enough, in muggle clothing.

I wore a dark grey jumper along with a rather worn pair of blue-jeans, something I was accustomed to wearing during the summer. Harry’s knitted jumper shone brightly in the soggy grounds. He also wore jeans, but unlike mine, they were new. The other day I had noticed the fact that Harry’s clothing, besides school attire, was horribly too big for him. So, I had made him chuck all of his cousin’s horrible clothes and we had gone to Muggle London, shopping for new ones. It was a rather interesting experience for the both of us. Draco, of course, had stayed home. Today however, we had been in London for an entirely different reason.

"Congratulations Harry, you’re officially my problem now," I said warmly, slapping him across the back. "I’d say we celebrate."

"Definitely," Harry said through a stupid grin he had been wearing since we left the adoption agency.

"Why don’t we go down to the kitchens for something hot to drink?" I suggested, shivering slightly in the nippy air.

"Sounds great."

And with that we set off, through the almost deserted hallways of Hogwarts, not bothering to change as majority of students were still on holiday. We did however drop by my quarters to see if Draco was around, but he was not. I was not worried, nor surprised, seeing as he had said he might wander the castle a little. I hastily scribbled a note to him revealing our whereabouts should he wish to join us. After setting the note on the table, Harry and I set off once again through the corridors.

I was really looking forward to a nice warm drink in the toasty kitchens. Though the temperature had risen considerably since the storm, it was still quite chilly out.

By the time we reached the kitchen entrance, Harry and I were in the middle of an interesting conversation regarding a new species of carnivorous plant (which had nearly taken a chunk out of Umbridge) Pomona Sprout was growing. But no sooner had I pulled the door open than Harry fell deathly silent, mouth gaping wide open. I soon saw why.

Draco Malfoy, wearing a dress, drinking tea and eating biscuits. His back was turned to us, but there was no mistaking his blonde hair, which had pink bows tied haphazardly about his head.

Hermione sat opposite him, and saw us immediately. She grinned, whereas when Draco turned around, he looked mortified.

"What in Merlin’s name are you doing?" I asked, lip twitching as Harry keeled over laughing beside me.

"Why don’t you ask her," Draco moaned, gesturing at Hermione, who was also dressed up.

I looked at her pointedly.

"Well, Draco still had to play tea party with me; he did keep his promise with Harry after all," she said calmly as she thrust a plate at me. "Biscuit?"

"No thank you," I said, taking a seat. "What are you doing back? The rest of the students still haven’t returned."

"Oh, I missed you lot so I dropped by for a quick visit, we’re connected to the floo network now you know. When I arrived Draco was the only one there, and after he told me about playing Quidditch with Harry yesterday, I thought it would be a marvellous time for him to fulfill his promise to me," she snickered, taking a sip of tea.

"I like your dress Draco; it makes you look oh so pretty," Harry snorted, taking the biscuit Hermione offered him.

"Shut it or else," Draco warned.

"Or else you’ll do what?" Harry grinned.

"Wave my pretty pink ribbons at you!" he mock threatened, shaking his head slightly and causing the bows in his hair to flop about feebly. This resulted in a wave of laughter from the two of them.

"Hermione, where on earth did you find the clothes?" Harry asked once he had recovered.

"Severus' closet," she replied simply.

"WHAT?!" I spluttered, nearly spitting tea on Draco and feeling utterly confused. Did Minerva screw around with my wardrobe as a joke again?

"I’m joking," Hermione laughed, patting my hand. "The look on your face …"

"Could you joke less Hermione? I just about got sprayed!" Draco grimaced, looking at me warily.

"I got the clothes from the Room of Requirement," Hermione answered Harry's question, ignoring Draco's comment. She covered her mouth as soon as she said it.

Harry looked at me, horrified.

Draco looked confused.

The two Gryffindors needn’t have worried, I knew all about their little group called Dumbledore’s army, and the room as well. I actually approved of their little defense group, not that I would admit it.

"So that’s what you call it," I stated.

"You know about the room?" Hermione asked, looking relieved she hadn’t let the secret out after all.

"I do, stumbled upon it in my second year, I needed a place to hide from ... a few students that weren’t particularly happy with me," I said, recovering myself quickly. I had nearly said James Potter.

Harry didn’t suspect a thing. And I was glad of this, I didn’t want him to know the details of the hatred that shared between his father and I. That was another reason I had been reluctant to teach him occlumency; if he were to break into my thoughts accidentally, what would he see? I was shaken out of my thoughts by Draco’s irritated voice.

"What in the blue blazes are you talking about? And what on earth is the Room of Requirement? Not that silly costume room we found?"

"Oh yes, that was it. Tell you what, I’ll show you what else the room can do sometime. But only if you keep it a secret!" Hermione said to him. Draco shook his head as if she were raving mad. "Speaking of clothing actually, why are you two dressed like Muggles?"

Harry grinned stupidly.

"We took the papers in today," I told her.

"That’s wonderful! So you have guardianship over Harry now?" she asked me.

"Yes," I said, lips curling into a slight smile. It was a good day for both of us.

***

The four of us went back to my quarters after a while, where Draco gratefully changed into something that didn’t damage his dignity.

"Come over here Draco," I said from the rug by the fireplace, where I was having a game of wizard chess with Harry. Hermione sat nearby, curled up with a book I had lent her.

"What?" he asked as he emerged from his room, now clad in jeans and a blue jumper.

"Bend over a bit." I told him.

"Er, ok."

I untied a pink bow from his hair and thrust it into his hand.

"You missed one," I laughed.

"Oh, that’s real funny Severus. How would you like it if we tied bows in your hair and made you wear a dress?" Draco told me rather grouchily.

"That can be arranged!" Hermione spouted from overtop her book.

"If you even think about it Miss Granger you will be disembowelling toads for weeks on end," I said with my most frightening glare.

"Ooh, I’m so scared," she said dryly, turning a page.

Who knew that one day I would be taking such cheek from students and finding it amusing …

***

In time Hermione departed with a cheery goodbye, leaving Draco, Harry and I to do our own thing. Harry and Draco chose to go outside and fly around the Quidditch pitch; I however, was quite behind in marking papers, as most of my holiday had been preoccupied with four year olds and a certain Slytherin. So I took a seat at the kitchen table, where I would be able to look out the small window if I wanted to. And with that I began marking papers.

The students got off a little easier on their assignments that day; for once I was more helpful than sarcastic. I just felt different that usual, but I wasn’t quite sure why. Perhaps it was the nice sunny weather outside, or maybe the little picture with the macaroni covered frame that hung nearby, or even the woolly socks Albus had given me for Christmas. But the most likely reason, I thought, was that even though my quarters were quiet and empty at the moment, two laughing boys would return to me. And that made all the difference.