"Severus, the portal thing is obviously not open. Again. Can I go to bed now?" Harry moaned, shivering in the cool air and pulling his cloak tighter around him.

"Give me one more minute," Severus muttered, still staring at the forest stream the way he had been for the past ten minutes.

"Alright," Harry sighed, digging the end of his trainer into the partially frozen ground.

Much of the snow had melted already, there hadn't been any for ages. Severus said it was a dry year, which in Harry's opinion was just as well considering he had to trek out to the forest so often. Harry would have been perfectly happy just to go down to the stream once after he had realised he was in a coma, but no, Severus was convinced it would open soon. So, this was their fourth trip out and still Harry did not feel anything remotely painful like when he had been sleepwalking. He began to dig the toe of his other trainer into the ground, only to find his leg had gone suddenly stiff.

"Severus, my legs are getting stiff, can we please go?"

"Alright ..." Severus frowned, pulling his eyes away from the stream.

"Do you really think the waking point will just open up one night?" Harry asked.

"I am really not sure, but I would hate for you to miss your chance," Severus told Harry, sounding slightly impatient as they made their way across the moonlit grounds and into the castle.

"Ahh, caught a pesky student wandering about, did you Severus?" came the rough voice of Argus Filch, the caretaker as he moved out of the shadows and began to follow the pair through the entrance hall. "What was the foolish brat up to this time?'

"That is none of your business Argus, unless you care to be hexed," hissed Severus, looking menacing in the dim light of the entrance hall.

"I was merely wondering if you required my assistance in ... punishment," Argus said coolly, displayed a row of crooked teeth. "As you know, I have a few things in my office that could keep the brat in line, Dumbledore need not know ...." Argus glanced over at Harry. "I'd wager you wouldn't object to Potter being out of your hair."

"Actually Argus, what I most desire is for you to be out of my hair," he growled back.

"Fine," snapped Filch, stalking away muttering that Severus was missing out.

"Sadistic creep," grimaced Severus.

"Yeah, can't say I like him much either ..." Harry said. "Has he always been this creepy?"

"Oh yes, he was here while I was at school and was just as much a bastard as he his now. Used to threaten us all with the usual 'you'll find yourself bound in chains from the ankles to your neck and hanging from the ceiling' bit. Of course, he hasn't used that one since I asked him if he chained students up because he couldn't find a woman to agree to instead," snickered Severus. "Shut him up quite nicely, course I got detention for a week ..."

"You actually said that?" Harry laughed incredulously. Severus nodded. "How old were you?"

"Seventeen," replied Severus. "Unfortunately I was both foolish and horrible at holding my tongue back then, probably would have saved me many nights of polishing floors and scrubbing cauldrons."

"He made you scrub cauldrons?" Harry snickered. "Is that why you leave so many of them for students to wash during detentions?"

"Yes actually, I certainly did more than my fair share while I was at school," Severus muttered unhappily, massaging his knuckles gingerly as though recalling the number of times they had been worked raw. "Filch thought it was especially funny considering I enjoyed potions so much, thought he'd try to take the joy out of my favourite subject."

"And you complain when I can't hold my tongue," Harry muttered rather bitterly after a moment or two.

"I suppose I forget sometimes what it is like to be young," he said thoughtfully. "Up until tonight it appears that I had forgotten what a, well, hellion I was when I was your age ... You have more sense than I had though, in some ways."

"What do I have more sense in?"

"Well, you have your priorities straight. You haven't let the past eat you up,"

"And you did?"

"I learned a few things too late, we'll just put it that way," Severus replied, sounding tired suddenly. "Here's your common room, better get some rest."

"Yeah, I guess so. G'night Severus."

"Goodnight Harry."

Harry entered the common room, which was empty. Considering it was eleven-o-clock on a Thursday night, Harry wasn't all that surprised. He was however surprised to find a note tied to the leg of large eagle owl, which was shuffling its feet upon his trunk. Harry was sure the sound of its talons clicking on the wood would wake the dead, and so me made quick work of untying the piece of parchment. It was from Draco.

Harry,

Care to go flying with me tonight around eleven-thirty or so? I know you're probably thinking it would be crazy to go down to the Quidditch pitch on a night with the moon so bright; that's what I was thinking too, which is why I have a better idea. Bring your broom and meet me in the big storage cupboard on the seventh floor, the one with the scorch marks on it. Send my owl back with your answer. And yes, I know we have school tomorrow but this way it's more likely that fewer teachers will be patrolling. Hope to see you soon.

- Draco

A part of Harry really wanted to go, but another part told him that it was not only really stupid to be wandering off in the middle of the night, but that he shouldn't be so trusting of Draco. Then again, if Draco had really wanted him gone he would have just let him get crushed. Not to mention he had the invisibility cloak, and the Marauder's Map. But it was still risky. He glanced over to Ron, who was sound asleep in his bed, the rest of his dorm mates were as well. Harry fidgeted a moment, staring at Draco's owl. At last, making up his mind, he grabbed a quill and scribbled his repy.

See you at eleven thirty.

***

Harry ducked behind a suit of armour to avoid getting caught by Filch, who had come around the corner and proceeded to wheeze and grumble about Peeves all the way down the narrow corridor. Once he had disappeared from sight, Harry shuffled his broom in his hand and checked the Marauder's Map to make sure he had gone for sure. But he became distracted, and instead of finding Filch, he caught sight of a little dot labelled Severus Snape, pacing away in the dungeons. Harry felt a surge of guilt. This was stupid. If he got caught or hurt ... Severus would be terribly disappointed. Somehow the threat of scrubbing cauldrons and disembowelling toads had never really managed to make him feel remorse for what he had done. But now, Harry didn't think he could bear the look of disappointment from Severus, it was far worse than a scowl or an angry remark. He was quite tempted to go back, forgetting how near he was to his goal until he saw Draco up ahead. Harry watched as he slipped out of the shadows, broom over his shoulder as he crept into the supply cupboard to wait.

Excitement overtook guilt, forgetting both Filch and Snape Harry folded the map and put it in his pocket. This would be a lot of fun.

"Psst, Draco, it's me!" Harry whispered, opening the cupboard door and slipping in.

"Are you wearing your invisibility cloak or something?" Draco said, looking in the wrong direction.

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"Follow me," Draco whispered back.

"Get under the cloak first," Harry told him, lifting up the edge for Draco to get under. "We'll have to duck a bit to keep our ankles from showing."

The two snuck down the corridor, Draco stopped near a tapestry, grinning like an idiot. Harry recognised the tapestry immediately: this was where the Room of Requirement was. Throwing caution to the winds, Draco stepped out from under the cloak and walked back and forth in front of the stone wall three times, yanking the door handle open as soon as it appeared and slipping inside.

"Wow," whispered Harry, pulling the cloak off and stuffing it in his pocket. "Brilliant."

Before Harry's eyes lay an enormous room with an extremely high ceiling which, like the Great Hall, was charmed to look like the sky. Unlike the Great Hall however, it was not night. It was daytime here. The light from the charmed sun illuminated the Quidditch pitch spread out before them. The ground was made of some sort of artificial grass. Harry supposed that the room could not create real grass due to magical restrictions. Nevertheless, the Quidditch pitch was quite complete, the three golden hoops on both ends included. A crate of balls was set to one side as well, along with a rack of broomsticks, though none as impressive as Harry or Draco's.

"Wicked, isn't it?" Draco said to Harry. "I found it the other day when I wandering about, must have been thinking of Quidditch, because when I opened the door, this is what I found."

"Well, come on!" Harry said, leaping onto his broomstick and taking off like a rocket.

For a long time the two just enjoyed being able to fly at such an hour and in such a grand room, but after a while Draco pulled out a Snitch from the crate of balls.

"Let's see who gets it first," Draco told Harry, throwing the little golden ball into the air and watching as it spread it's feathery wings and sped away.

They gave the Snitch some time to get away, but soon began the search. Time progressed, bringing along two marvellous catches by Harry, and one by Draco. It was growing later, but the boys were too busy having fun to notice the time, each looking forward to the moment when they would once more see a flash of gold flutter before their eyes.

"Come on ... almost!" Harry said, pulling out of a dive and getting ready to swipe the Snitch out of the air, beside him Draco attempting the same. "Oh no."

Harry stopped accelerating, and sat on his broom as still as a statue, hovering twenty feet in the air and staring in the direction of the doorway. Ahead Draco had captured the Snitch, but his cry of triumph died in his throat as he caught sight of what Harry saw.

Severus Snape was standing in front of the door, arms crossed and looking murderous.

"Oh shit ..." gulped Draco.

Harry was unable to speak; he felt like he was falling, though he hadn't moved an inch. Draco had gone as white as the fluffy clouds that still drifted across the enchanted sky. He glanced over at Harry with the expression of someone who was about to meet their death.

Severus stiffly pointed to the ground, stony expression not shifting a bit. Meekly, the boys complied, both without the heart to even wish they had stayed in bed.

They landed, all the excitement of the escapade long gone, having been replaced with what felt like a cold, heavy lead weight pressing in on their chests. Harry couldn't bear to look at Severus, and see his disappointed face. He wished Severus would say something, but he remained painfully silent. Harry could feel tears prickling his eyes as he examined the artificial grass beneath his feet.

"Come," Severus said, voice cold as ice.

Harry and Draco followed blindly, not knowing where they were being taken, hardly caring. After a few minutes of walking, Harry heard Draco sniffle quietly beside him. With a jolt he remembered hearing that Severus was Draco's godfather, surely this was worse for him.

Why, why didn't I turn back when he still could? Harry asked himself this question over and over as numbness and guilt washed over him in great waves. Why couldn't it have been Filch to catch them, or McGonagall even?

Severus halted suddenly, they were at his office. He opened the door expectantly. Harry glanced up at him momentarily, but looked away when he saw the look on Severus' face; a look that suggested that Harry had caused him all the disappointment in the world.

Severus moved behind his desk, but remained standing. Before him, stood Harry and Draco, brooms still in hand.

"I am not going to lecture you on what you have done, which was very foolish. You know what you did wrong, you know that you should not have done it," Severus said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, but could be heard in the deathly silence of the room. "Right now, I would like the both of you to hand over you broomsticks to me, and Potter,'-Harry flinched- "your invisibility cloak and map."

They didn't hesitate.

"Because I would like to get some sleep tonight, and I do not feel that you deserve any more of my time right now anyway, we will discuss your punishment tomorrow," drawled Severus, letting the sentence hang in the air a moment before proceeding. "You will come to my office immediately after classes; do not bother dropping off your books. Am I clear?"

The two nodded, finding it hard to speak.

"Am I clear?" repeated Severus, voice dangerously quiet.

"Yes sir," they choked.

"Potter, you will stay here while I escort Mr. Malfoy to his dormitory, I will be back for you shortly," and with that he swept out of the room, Draco behind him, still clutching the Snitch.

Harry wished he would have yelled at them, for this had been far worse: the quiet voice, the disappointment in his eyes. And calling him Potter. That was the worst. Severus saying they didn't deserve his time ... he was right too. Or at least Harry though so, his mind racing in the silence of the office.

It was agony, waiting for Severus to return, standing stock still in the middle of his office, the place where he had come so often this year to seek comfort or reassurance. But this place held no comfort for him now, painfully recalling the time he'd spent here with Severus, who had been like a friend. Well, more than a friend, someone who looked out for him actually gave a damn about him. But that's all gone now, Harry lamented, all because of one stupid act. He hated himself to the very core of his being for making one of the few people who actually cared about him so disappointed. Harry couldn't blame Severus if he hated him from now on. He deserved it didn't he?

The door creaked open, Severus stood there. Harry walked over to him, and the two set off down the silent corridors and up stairs.

It was a long walk to Gryffindor tower, and all they way they were silent. Harry tried to apologise a few times, but every time he opened his mouth he couldn't make a sound. After a while he felt it was no use anyway, and apology was not going to stop Severus from hating his guts if he wanted to. He immerged from his thoughts when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry didn't move, he stood, looking down at the cracks in the stone floor, Severus facing him.

"So this is how you repay me."

Harry looked up into Severus' eyes, the tone in his voice hurt terribly. He still could not speak to say he was sorry. Tears stung at his eyes once more, and he looked away.

Severus muttered the password, and the portrait swung open with a dull moan.

"Get to bed," he told Harry, who numbly stepped through the portrait hole, glancing back just as the painting shut behind him.

Harry didn't sleep that night.