Not even a full day into her stay at Hogwarts, the castle already seemed perfectly familiar. Like she was back home from somewhere strange. She knew these halls too well, she noted as she walked the corridor on her patrol. She'd hardly veered from the two closest floors to the Gryffindor common room so far. She couldn't imagine that there would be any real reason for worry on the first day back.

Her sneakers were about as close to silent as they could be. Surely, the bottoms were nearly worn smooth by now. As she cast a look down on them, she saw that they were no longer the bright maroon they'd been when she bought them, but rather a dusty, uneven burgundy. One of the laces was fraying a bit at the end. There was a hole worn through the right shoe, near her small toe.

She should probably consider getting a new pair. The thought was hard to grasp, considering that those shoes had been with her since she first walked into Hogwarts, and had ran the floors of the Ministry in fifth year when Death Eaters had broken in, and they'd been bloodied a few times as well. They'd soaked up tinged water when Draco had been hit with Sectumsempra, and picked up the blood that had been on the floor the night Dumbledore had died.

Those shoes were disgustingly sentimental.

The sound of approaching footsteps made her attention snap back, and her pace stutter for just a moment. She pulled her wand from her back pocket, just in case, and continued towards the corner of the corridor, where the noise was coming from.

She couldn't really say she was all that surprised when an overly familiar blonde stepped around the corner. She came to a stop and pursed her lips.

"What are you doing out?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Could ask you the same thing." He returned, moving towards her.

"I'm on patrol tonight." She replied simply, turning to head back down the hall. Draco fell into step beside her. "I guess it's in the job description."

"Snape wanted to speak to me about the specifics of my job this year, actually. I was heading back to the dungeons." He informed her. Of course, the staircase to the Headmaster's office was on that floor.

"I had that discussion earlier." She remarked.

"That's what he wanted, then?"

"More or less." She shrugged, unfolding her arms and slipping her wand back into her pocket. "I take it you don't have a patrol tonight."

"Remington, I highly doubt Snape will ever have us patrolling on the same night." He told her.

"Why not? Just because-" She began.

"I'm sure he assumes we'd end up a bit, ah- distracted." He breathed the last word into her ear.

She lightly pushed him away and rolled her eyes. "I think I'm a bit more professional than that, Malfoy."

"Snape obviously knows you better than you know yourself." He commented.

She shot him a look. "Who else do you suppose is on patrols tonight, then?"

"Pansy. She was leaving the common room the same time I was."

"Well I'm glad I haven't ran into her yet." Rem muttered.

"I don't think you'll need to worry about that." He said, "She's probably sticking close to the dungeons."

"Probably doesn't mean much." Rem murmured, looking up at the clock hanging at the end of the hall. She'd be out all night and it was still only a little before one. The first day of school would be hell to get through, that much was certain.

"Come on." He said quietly, veering slightly to push open the door to a disused classroom.

She ground to a halt and fixed her eyes on him. "Not this again, Draco- I have responsibilities right now."

"How many times did you interfere with my patrols in fifth year?" He shot back. "It's the first night, Rem. Nothing's going to happen."

"That's a terrible mindset." She stayed rooted to the spot, but after a couple moments of meeting his unwavering gaze, she gave in and slipped into the room. "Sometimes you have the worst ideas-" She started to say, folding her arms again and turning to look at him as the door swung shut.

"I don't want to hear it, Alvers." He cut her off. She felt his arms wrap around her waist, pulling her against him, and his lips brushed her temple.

"Please tell me you're not planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing." She mumbled.

His lips curved into a smile against her skin. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?" His mouth traveled to press beneath her ear.

She managed to unfold her arms from between them, still in half a mind to push him away. As if he could sense this, she could feel his arms loosen on her, but when she tried to take a step back, her ankle hit something solid and he in turn moved forward, effectively pinning her against a desk, his hands pressed flat on its surface on either of her sides.

"I could call you some very offensive names right now." She remarked, pressing back against the edge of the desk.

"Let's hear them." He murmured, but he was clearly being rhetorical, because he promptly caught her by the mouth, leaning into her.

There was no resisting Draco at that point. She pushed herself onto the desk, raising her hands to trail her fingers into his hair. Yes, this was going exactly where she knew he wanted it to.

"Of course it's you two."

Or not.

Remington turned her head sharply to the side, her hands falling to push against Draco's chest, more than simply embarrassed to be caught in such a position, no matter who by. He remained unmoved for a moment.

"God dammit, Pansy." He said, sounding annoyed, frustrated, and angry all at once, before he turned to glare at the girl who stood in the open doorway. Rem's sheepishness began to abate when Draco was no longer between her legs.

"I hope for your sakes that at least one of you is meant to be on patrol right now." Pansy remarked, twirling her wand in one hand. "It'd be a shame to get in trouble the first night of the year."

Draco looked very much like he wanted to tell her where to shove her threat, but Remington quickly interceded. "It's my night for patrols." She said, deciding that she'd upset either one or the other if she said anything more.

"Well then maybe you should be out here, Alvers." The dark-haired Slytherin ceased her wand-spinning and thrust a hand onto her hip. "I'm not any happier about walking in on you two than you are, so let's not let it happen again, hm?"

Rem merely rolled her eyes and slid off the desk, heading towards the door.

"You're full of it, Parkinson." Draco snapped as he passed her, clearly still not pleased about this turn of events.

"Better than what you're full of, Malfoy." Pansy replied, unshaken. "Now back to the dorms with you."

"You're in no position to tell me what to do." He shot at her.

"Just go," Remington told him, giving him a look. "It'd be hell if neither of us got any sleep before tomorrow."