"Harry."

Harry froze at the sound of his name. He had been trying to get to his dorm room as quietly and as sneakily as he could. However, it seemed that he wasn't successful. Harry glanced over at the person who called his name and reluctantly trudged over. Harry stood in front of the third year student, who currently had his arms crossed across his chest.

"Do you know what time it is?" Tom asked calmly. Harry looked down at the ground.

"It's 12:30." Harry replied quietly, knowing he was in trouble.

"Correct. Do you know what time curfew is for first year students?" Tom asked patiently, staring at Harry's head that was looking at the floor.

"It's 9:45." Harry mumbled feebly. Tom nodded his head.

"So you knew what time curfew is, yet you still decided to disobey? Harry, this castle can be dangerous at night. What if you got caught in a trip step, or a couple of students decided to "have a little fun" and cursed you?" Tom asked. Harry felt guilty for making his brother worry and stay up, but he wanted to explore!

"I just wanted talk to the ghosts." Harry said faintly. Tom felt a brush of irritation that Harry was trying to lie to him. He knew that his brother wanted to explore the castle, like he had when he was a first year, but that was no excuse to do it at night, after curfew.

"Look at me." Tom commanded. Harry's emerald eyes looked into his, but he immediately looked down again. Tom grabbed his chin in his right hand and lifted his face to meet Tom's eyes. "Do not lie to me."

"Yes, Tom." Harry hesitated for a moment, before coming clean, "I wanted to see and explore around the castle." Harry knew that it wasn't wise to lie to the older student, but he didn't want to get punished. Somehow, Tom knew exactly when Harry was lying or not telling the entire truth. "And I'm sorry for lying to you." Tom nodded his head in approval and moved onto the dreaded part of the discussion.

"On Saturday, you'll have detention with Mr. Slughorn for two hours." Tom ordered. Harry closed his eyes as he waited for the next parts of the punishment. However, when Tom didn't say anything else, Harry peaked a look and saw that his brother was finished talking. Harry couldn't believe how light his punishment was. Just a detention? No grounding?

"Since this is the first time you've broken curfew, it's just a detention, but if you do it again, I'll be the one to punish you instead of Mr. Slughorn. " Tom warned. "Understand?"

Harry nodded his head, "Yes, Tom."

"Good, now go upstairs and go to bed." Tom commanded, giving him a small swat as he walked past. "And the next time you want to explore, go during the day." Harry gave Tom a silly grin and ascended up the stairs to his dorm room. After Tom watched Harry disappear up the stairs, he smiled a little to himself and went up to bed himself.