Summary: "I have prepared a little game, a scavenger hunt you might say, only instead of winning a prize, the winners will not get detention, whereas the losers will receive a week's worth of detention. In the dungeons. With Professor Snape."

Disclaimer: We don't own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling. We only own the plot!

Authors: DanishGirl (Kira) and Savage-Lilly (Sabrina).

Pairings: Draco/Harry, Hermione/Blaise, Ron/Pansy, and possibly more couples.

A/N: This story will contain slash, so if you do not like male/male, please hit the little X in the right corner or the back-button.

Now, all there is left to say is; "Enjoy!"

¤Pulls the red curtain up – giggles¤

This fic is x-posted on ImaginaryQueens at GreatestJournal(dot)com

SCAVENGER HUNT
CH. 1

Despite summer supposedly being in its dying throes, this particular day was warm and sunny. Grasshoppers chirruped softly, creating a gentle harmony to accompany the birds' many varied songs. Every now and then a gentle breeze would stir and the trees would sway enthusiastically in response, lifting their branches and spreading all the leaves so it could pass between. It was a whole other world, so vast and intriguing, but which humans so infrequently took the time to witness.

The Giant Squid would once in a while come to the surface of the lake and gaze around, as if looking for something, before disappearing again, down to the depths of the deep blue waters. Its freedom had been somewhat restricted since the start of term, due in no small part to the hot weather and, consequently, the numerous students seeking relief in the perpetually cool water of his home. But, for the moment at least, he had his domain back.

The first classes of the afternoon had just started, and whilst most students were already seated, writing down notes, there were others still waiting for their teachers to arrive.

Blaise Zabini, a sixth year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was sitting in the Potions classroom, waiting tiredly for Snape to arrive so he could separate the Golden trio of Potter, Weasley and Granger from Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Yet again...

Blaise looked at Malfoy and sighed. When would he stop fighting with the 'Boy-Who-Lived'? It was so obvious to everyone that their fights were merely suppressed hormones. How long was it going to take before they actually admitted it?

Blaise turned his attention to Granger. She still had that bushy hair, and right now it looked like a wind- ravaged bird's nest. Probably because Pansy had moments ago pulled it violently, making the Gryffindor girl scream. Granger had promptly twisted around and returned the favour, pulling at Pansy's hair as hard as she could. Blaise rolled his eyes at this childish behaviour. Wasn't it about time they grew up? It seemed to him at times that things were, in fact, getting worse!

"Get off me, you Weasel!" Draco yelled suddenly, getting everybody's attention in the room.

Blaise noticed Crabbe and Goyle sitting not far away, clearly confused about what they should do. Draco pushed Weasley away from him, making the red-haired Gryffindor stumble across the room. He fell against Blaise's desk. Blaise instinctively tried to catch him before he hit the ground, but Weasley, being a stubborn ass as always, tried to push Blaise away. Blaise, his fist bunched in Weasley's robes, toppled from his chair, and landed with a thump on top of Weasley.

'Why did I even bother?' he thought, sneering at the Gryffindor lying beneath him.

"Ron!" Granger was on the other side of the room, trying to reach her friend but being held back by Pansy.

Blaise saw how Draco and Potter were exchanging evil glares, completely oblivious of everyone else. They were too caught up in each other.

"You'll pay for that," threatened Harry, narrowing his eyes. Malfoy could have hurt Ron, pushing him like that. Harry wanted nothing more than to throttle him. He clenched his fingers repeatedly at his sides. His hands itched for some contact with Malfoy's neck.

"Get off me!" yelled Ron, trying desperately to get up. Blaise turned his eyes back to him. "Are you deaf?" Ron snarled, when the Slytherin didn't budge. "I said-" But Ron never finished. Blaise pushed away gracefully.

"Here, let me help you up," he said, holding out a hand, waiting for Weasley to take it. Ron narrowed his eyes and looked suspiciously at the dark-haired Slytherin for a few seconds before grasping his hand. Just as Ron found his feet again, the door burst open.

"I have had ENOUGH!" yelled a very angry Snape. Everyone jumped, even Draco looked startled. Snape stood in the doorway, his eyes shining with pure malice.

"You lot," he seethed, his finger swinging from Potter and Draco, to Pansy and Granger before settling on Blaise and Weasley. "Go to Dumbledore's office, now!"

"But sir!" protested a confused Blaise. "I didn't do anything. I was only helping-"

"No buts!" Snape bellowed, his eyes glittering red with anger. "GO!"

"But-"

"Do you have a problem with your hearing, Mr. Zabini?" snarled Snape.

Blaise sighed. Great. Now he'd been dragged into all this, thanks to that Weasel.

Hermione saw Zabini sigh in defeat as she passed him. She wasn't sure if she should feel sorry for him or not. True, he hadn't done anything wrong. But he was a Slytherin, and they usually deserved what they got.

The six of them walked together to the staircase leading up to the Headmaster's office. For the whole way, they had to endure Harry and Draco arguing about whose fault it was. Naturally, they blamed each other. Hermione rolled her eyes. What did it matter whose fault it was? They may as well just face up to their punishment and get on with it.

Pansy overheard Ron mumbling something about Snape being the biggest git ever to walk the face of the earth. She pulled a face at him and then groaned. "I really don't have time for this today," she said. "I have more important things to do."

"What? Like painting your nails?" Ron sneered.

"Sod off, weasel boy," Pansy snapped back at him.

"Oh, my mistake princess. I'm sure finding a cure for cancer would be high on your list of priorities too," retorted Ron, sarcastically.

"Oh, would you all just shut up," said Hermione, who had finally had enough of all the fighting.

They continued in silence until they all came to a halt in front of the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"Um, guys... sorry for stating the obvious, but we don't have the password," said Harry, but no sooner had the words left his lips than the ugly creature sprang to life and leapt aside, revealing the revolving staircase. For a moment, the three Gryffindors and three Slytherins stared at the staircase, then they all jumped on. Albus Dumbledore opened the door to his office himself, beaming at them from behind his glasses as they came to a halt before him.

"I was expecting you. Please, come inside," he said, gesturing for them to enter his office. As Harry passed by him, he thought how funny it was that Dumbledore always seemed to have a faint scent of lemon drops around him.

"I hear from Professor Snape that once again you have been fighting." He peered at them with a solemn expression on his face. "A number of the teachers have complained of similar behaviour, Professor Snape in particular, and therefore I feel that I must take action to put an end to it."

"Snape, that arrogant git," said Ron under his breath, although everyone heard it and he received a number of glares from the gathered Slytherins.

"Thank you for that contribution, MrWeasley, but I must insist that you do not speak of a professor in that manner," said the Headmaster firmly. "At least not in my office," he added, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Throughout the years there has always been some house rivalry, but never has it gotten to the point where the Headmaster has been forced to intervene." Dumbledore cleared his throat and then continued. "After much deliberation, I have decided on a way to hopefully remedy your problems with each other."

The Headmaster appeared very serious, yet Harry thought that Dumbledore's crinkled eyes suggested that he was up to something. Dumbledore's quickly hidden half-smile confirmed Harry's suspicion.

"I have prepared a little game, a scavenger hunt you might call it. The winners shall escape punishment for their recent behaviour. However, the losers will receive a week's worth of detention." Now he smiled openly. "In the dungeons. With Professor Snape." The six students stood before him all burst into cries of dissatisfaction when Dumbledore added that last part.

"Now, now..." said the Headmaster, hushing them to silence. "You have my word that this game will not be at all boring. In fact, I am almost certain that you will find yourself having a good time, if you allow yourselves to that is. You will be divided into pairs – one from each house of course..." Again the cries of dissatisfaction, but this time Dumbledore ignored them. "Let's see... Mr Zabini, you can partner Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, you will be with Miss Parkinson, which leaves Mr Potter with Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore surveyed them all with a smile.

The students all glared disapprovingly at their respective partner. But despite the fact that they were each stuck with the person they liked the least, they all seemed to share a common will to win this thing. After all, detention with Professor Snape was not exactly a favourite activity, even among Slytherins.

"Each pair will receive a clue," Dumbledore continued. "This clue will lead you to the next clue, and so on. For each clue you solve you will be given a letter. You must remember all the letters you acquire because you will need them later on. The first pair to reach the final destination will win, naturally."

Blaise had to admit to himself that he was quite impressed by Dumbledore's little game. In fact, he was kind of glad that he had been pulled into all this after all. 'The only down side,' he thought, 'is that I've been partnered with Weasley.' Blaise decided to try and make the best of it though. After all, he was not exactly eager to spend a week's worth of detention with Professor Snape. It wasn't that he didn't like Professor Snape, how could he not like him? He always favoured the Slytherins, but he never went easy on them. If anything, he was perhaps harder on the members of his own house because he expected so much of them.

"You will begin immediately. Find your partners please," Dumbledore said, smiling innocently. Hermione couldn't help but smile too at this comment. It sounded so much like they were expected to dance with each other.

Harry ignored the furious look that Malfoy bestowed on him, as if he was to blame for this whole escapade. "You'd better get over here Potter, 'cause I am not moving for you," muttered Malfoy darkly, his eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

"Yeah, yeah, Malfoy," said Harry, in a bored tone. He would not hit Malfoy in front of Dumbledore, although he couldn't be so certain once they were alone. He forced his arms to stay down at his sides, instead of reaching out to grip Malfoy round his neck, like they really, really itched to do.

He imagined his slender fingers, sunkissed from all the Quidditch practise he did, against the deliciously creamy white skin of his adversary...

As soon as the thought materialised in his head, he shuddered with disgust. What the heck had had made him think that! He looked swiftly around but no one seemed to have noticed the red flush in his cheeks. Harry shook his head to clear the unwelcome image and slowly crossed the room to stand beside the blonde.

Pansy smiled smugly and turned to Hermione. "You heard Draco, Granger. That goes for me too, so you'd better get your ass over here."

But while Hermione and Harry were both prepared to indulge their Slytherin partners' ideas of superiority, if only for the time being, Ron stayed firmly where he was, not moving at all. He looked at Zabini, his lips pressed so tightly together that they formed thin white lines.

"Jeez, Weasley," said Blaise, chuckling as he moved towards him.

"Okay, are you all ready to start?" Dumbledore asked. "Good... Then let's begin."

A folded piece of paper appeared in front of each pair. Harry quickly snatched his and Malfoy's out of the air, and couldn't resist sticking out his tongue when Draco scowled.

"Oh, that's very mature Potter," Malfoy sneered, before snatching the paper from Harry's hands.

"What did you do that for, you-!" demanded Harry, trying to get it back. Malfoy held it away from him.

"Ahem... Boys?"

Harry and Draco both turned to look at the Headmaster. "What?" Draco sneered.

"Maybe you should both make a concerted effort to get along. Or else you will lose. Take a look around," he added, when both Harry and Draco looked at him blankly. They looked around. The others had already left.

"Great Potter, just bloody great!" said Draco, opening the paper to read the first enigma.

"To solve the riddle from Snape,
You must access his private escape,
Once you're there, you need to find,
Something that Snape has left behind.
You have to look for something nice,
Something with a scent of sugar and spice.
It is not big, it is not small,
It is hidden behind a secret wall."

A/N: So, did you like it? Hate it? Review and let us know! A cookie to those who figure out the enigma ¤winks¤

Thanks to our wonderful Beta: Jenova, for helping us with our grammar and spelling mistakes.