Blaise and Hermione quickly ran into the issue of finding a house neutral place to play their board game. They had decided on Wizard's Chess as it was a game that both of them knew how to play (even if it wasn't Hermione's favorite), but after Blaise had fetched his set from the Slytherin Common room, they had just stood awkwardly in front of the blank stretch of wall that concealed its entrance.

"I've always found it strange," Hermione said after a minute of searching her mind for a place where they could go, and coming up blank. "That all of the common rooms have such different doors." Blaise cocked his head to the side and looked at her with interest.

"What makes you say that?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "Just something to do with the fact that we're standing outside of your common room and it is so different from mine. We have a portrait, which perhaps gives us away, particularly in comparison to this." She gestures to the wall. "How would you know where it was if you hadn't had someone to tell you?"

"I don't know which portrait your common room is behind," Blaise protested. "There are thousands of portraits in this castle."

"I suppose."

"Wait," Blaise said. "Something's coming back to me. It's a portrait of a fat lady. I have a vague recollection of someone saying that she was missing after that attack on the Gryffindor Common room in third year. But I don't know which fat lady." Hermione laughed.

"I could show you," she said. "Of course, then I would have to swear you to secrecy."

"Would we be able to play chess in the Gryffindor Common room, do you think?" Blaise asked. Hermione thought about it for a moment and then shook her head.

"Should we just go back to our little pod then?"

"I suppose." She didn't really want to go back there, but they were rather short on options. Then inspiration hit. "What about the Room of Requirement?" Blaise slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Of course! I can't believe I didn't think of that. I'm such a ninny." Hermione giggled. She felt oddly light and she supposed it was the feeling that came with having no more responsibilities for the day while everyone else was still working. She liked the feeling, but she couldn't help thinking that being around Blaise had something to do with it.

She couldn't deny that they had some sort of chemistry. Thus far, they had worked remarkably well together with their potion. Although she could not see any of the others', she was almost certain their was among the best. And it did not hurt that he was devastatingly attractive, with his sharp cheekbones and milky coffee skin.

"So have you thought about your halloween costume yet?" Hermione asked as they started to make their way up the stairs. Her conversation with the Gryffindors this morning felt like it had taken place yesterday, though she realized it had only been that morning.

"Of course," Blaise said almost immediately. "Pansy wouldn't invite me to the Halloween party until I had a costume picked out."

"You're going to the party with Pansy?" Hermione asked. She was careful to keep her tone casual, but this was the first she had heard of Pansy and Blaise having any sort of relationship and she was surprised to find the idea painful.

"Ah, crap," Blaise said. "You probably don't know about the Slytherin Halloween party, do you?" Hermione frowned and shook her head. "Well, the cat's out of the bag now. Why don't you come as my plus one?" A thrill of excitement blossomed in the pit of Hermione's stomach.

"That would be lovely."

"Wonderful." They reached the marble staircase. It was quiet as most students were still in lessons. Hermione's stomach grumbled. She looked towards the Great Hall and noticed that there was a table still spread with food.

"By any chance, would you like to get some lunch?" she asked. She glanced down at her watch. "I know it's a little past lunch time, but it looks like the house elves have a table spread for stragglers."

"Lunch would be brilliant." He started quickly towards the Great Hall as if worried the food would suddenly disappear. "I was prepared to be starving until dinner, but this is clearly much preferable." Hermione laughed. They sat down at the end of the table and Blaise immediately began to pile food onto his plate in a way that reminded Hermione of Ron. She reflected, not for the first time, how different Blaise seemed to be when he was away from his peers. Gone was the aloof and pretentious Blaise that she had grown used to, and in his place was this interesting and thoughtful young man. She wondered how the Gryffindors must appear to other people.

"So tell me more about this party," she said. Blaise looked up, his mouth full of the sandwich he had just bitten into. He clapped a hand over his mouth, a guilty look in his eyes.

"Mmm srrreee," he mumbled, his mouth still somewhat full. Her mouth twisted in amusement. It was so far removed from the perfection he tried to exude most of the time that she found it oddly hilarious. She said nothing while he finished his mouthful. "I'm sorry," he clarified once he was done.

"Don't worry," she said. "People always seem to ask questions as soon as you can't answer them. Honestly, I think some waiters do it on purpose so that all you can say when they ask 'How is the meal?', is," she paused and covered her mouth. "Mmm, great." Blaise burst out laughing.

"I think you may be on to something," he said. "But, back to your original question. The Annual Slytherin Halloween party is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. After everyone has been at the school Halloween party for about an hour, we all sneak off to the Room of Requirement for the real party."

"And by real party, I assume you mean something that as a prefect I would normally have to turn a blind eye to?"

"Possibly?" He grinned and his eyes sparkled. Hermione found herself blushing and she glanced down at her plate.

"I'll be there," she said. She looked up again and returned his smile which in the time it had taken her to glance down had gone from mischievous to shy. "It sounds like it will be a lot of fun."

"I can assure you that it will be," he said. "And if it's not, you may address all complaints to Pansy."

…

"Well, that could have gone better," Harry said after a long moment of silence. Draco sniggered.

"That's an understatement." He moved towards their desk and peered down at his notes. Harry sat immobilized on the sofa, still clutching the pillow over his lap. When it appeared as though Draco had forgotten he was there, Harry gave a small cough. Draco looked over at him.

"What?"

"Uh, I still need to put my trousers back on."

"So put your trousers back on." Draco began to read again.

"Erm, could you, perhaps, I don't know, stand in the corner or something? So that you can't see?"

"I can't really see you here."

"Please?"

With a sigh, Draco relented. He picked up the notes he was reading and took them over to the corder of the room. As soon as Harry was sure he was not looking, he put the pillow down and eased his trousers back on. In the surprise and embarrassment of Snape walking into the room, his erection had gone away - a fact for which he was grateful. He quickly re-buckled his belt and then made his way over to the table.

"Right then," he said. "Let's get cracking, shall we?"

"I'll try to keep the sexual tension to a minimum," Draco said with a smirk as he joined Harry at the table.

"I think if we just avoid making out, that should work."

"So I can still flirt with you?"

"Do you call knocking me over and sending all my papers flying flirting?"

"No, I called that covering up our covert affair."

"Covert affair? You make it sound like we're spies or something."

"We could be," Draco said. "I mean, we're sneaking around and being all secretive." Harry frowned at him. "OK, so we're not spies, and perhaps we're not really sneaking anywhere." He paused and then said, "Oh, Potter, you ruin everything." Harry shrugged.

"Would you like to sneak over to the storeroom and get the top secret ingredients of sweet grass and lemongrass while I look at how to weave them together?" he asked. "See if you can do it with no one spotting you." Draco's eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly. He had recently watched Mission: Impossible and wondered if he could come up with an excuse to hang down from the ceiling on a string.

"I'm on it," he said and he stole out of the room. Harry rolled his eyes at his retreating back.

But for some reason, the idea of pretending to be spies stuck and they spent the next few hours keeping up the charade. It made it feel less like work and more like a game, though, they both agreed that it was a very serious game. They were serious spies and this was a serious potion, so they had to get it perfect. Somewhere along the way they gave each other code names, and then began giving codenames to their friends, even though they weren't in the room.

"What about Beaver for Granger?" Draco asked. Harry, who was busy trying to weave snow drop flowers into their Rune, did not look up but shook his head. "Why not?"

"Well, one: it's a bit rude. And two: I know why you want to call her that, and I am pleased to inform you that her teeth are perfectly normal sized now. And really, that's all thanks to you."

"Oh?"

"Yes, after you hit her with that teeth growing curse in fourth year, she had Madame Pomfrey fix them."

"Oh. I hadn't noticed."

"Well, in all fairness, I didn't notice either." He frowned and wound the last flower into the rune.

"Capital job, Spaniel," Draco said. He set the rune gently down onto the table.

"Thank you, Blond Unicorn."

"I still feel like you're mocking me with that name. "

"Only a little bit." Harry smirked as Draco glared at him. "Oh, don't look at me like that."

"I'll look at you however I want to."

"How very assertive of you." At this, Draco winked.

"Did you want to have Professor Thistle check our Rune before we drop it in?" They had decided that since Snape could be quite a prickly fellow, this name suited him.

"That probably couldn't hurt," Harry said. Draco nodded. He raised his wrist to his mouth.

"Ten four. Copy that."

"Draco, you're not even wearing a watch," Harry pointed out. Draco waved his comment away and went to go get Snape. Harry paced the room while he was gone and stretched his arms over his head. His shoulders felt tight from the stress of holding his hands steady for so long. His stomach gurgled and he checked his watch, which he was wearing, unlike Draco. It was gone two thirty, so he was not surprised that he felt hungry, though he was amazed at how quickly the time had gone.

"Right," Snape said as he entered the room. "Let's see what you've managed to produce." He swept over to the table and peered down at the Rune that was sitting there. After staring at it for a moment, he straightened up, crossed his arms and looked back and forth between Harry and Draco with suspicion. "Who helped you with this?" he asked after a long moment spent glaring at them.

"N-no one," Harry stammered. This was not how he had envisioned this conversation going. He hadn't really envisioned the conversation at all, to be honest. He had just thought Snape would come in, sneer at the Rune and tell them to get on with it.

"This is excellent work, and you are by far the most efficient pair today. Even in spite of your earlier mischief," he paused and watched with amusement as Harry's face flushed. "You are the second pair to finish your Rune." Snape unfolded his arms and his face softened. "Well done, Potter. Perhaps you're not a complete dolt after all."

"I helped," Draco piped up.

"Of course you did. But I would expect nothing short of good work from you, Draco. Perhaps you are rubbing off on him." That's not the only rubbing Draco wants to do with you, came Seamus's voice in Harry's head.

Harry was glad that Snape could not hear his thoughts, but then froze when he remembered his Occlumency classes from the year before. He quickly thought about brick walls, just in case. Was he imagining it, or was Snape now scowling at him again? It was hard tell as Harry rarely saw Snape look at him with anything other than dislike. (That or he had resting bitch face - Harry wasn't sure.)

"So we can add this to our potion?" Harry asked.

"You may." Snape studied Harry's face for a moment, and Harry saw an emotion flit across his professor's features that he had never seen before. "Perhaps you do take after your mother after all." Then Snape seemed to snap out of whatever reverie he had been in with a small shake of his head. He nodded curtly at both Draco and Harry and then was gone in a billow of robes.

"What was that about?" Draco asked once he had left.

"I don't know." Harry was frowning at the door which had just closed behind the potions professor.

"Well, shall we add our Rune then?"

"Yes," Harry said. He nodded, more to himself than to Draco, and held out his hand. Draco took it and together they lifted up the Rune and lowered it slowly into the potion. The potion emitted a shower of lime green and neon pink sparks as the Rune sank down into the liquid.

"And now we stir fifty times counterclockwise," Draco said. He picked up a wooden spoon and began to stir. "Merlin, this seems like an awful lot."

"Quit complaining," Harry said. He playfully nudged Draco's hip with his own.

"Behave yourself, you cretin," Draco said, slapping Harry on the arm with his free hand. "I don't want to lose count." Harry rolled his eyes but knew that Draco was right, so he stepped away and began to clean up the detritus they had left behind on the table.

Once Draco had finished stirring, he stepped back from the cauldron and eyed the potion with pride.

"I can't believe we finished so early," he said.

"Great," Harry replied. "Can we get some food now?" As if to back him up, his stomach growled loudly. Draco snorted in amusement.

"Yes, fine," he said. "Come on." Harry scooped up his bag and followed the blond out the door. They were unsurprised to find the corridor deserted and Draco took the opportunity to not so subtly run his fingers over the back of Harry's hand. Harry glanced over at him and smiled.

"Potter," came a voice from behind them. Harry stopped walking as suddenly as if there had been an invisible wall in front of him. He whipped around to find Snape standing in the door to his office. "I would like to see you for a moment. Alone." Harry's heart sank. He was not sure how he had managed to irritate the potions professor this time. Snape probably wanted to ask him how they had cheated on their potion, which was not fair as they hadn't.

"I'll wait for you," Draco muttered. "Go." Harry squared his shoulders and then walked down the corridor and into Snape's room. As soon as he crossed the threshold, Snape shut the door.

"Sit," he said and Harry did, perching on the edge of the chair.

"I promise you, sir," he began but Snape waved his hand to silence him and Harry snapped his mouth shut. Snape lowered himself into his chair, opposite Harry.

"Potter," he said slowly. "You are not here to be punished." Harry's mouth made a small o. "Instead, I wanted to give you this." Snape reached into his desk drawer and drew out a small, unlabeled phial. Harry eyed it warily.

"Thank you, sir, but what is it?"

"It's for your, ahem, problem." Snape looked over Harry's shoulder at a spot on the wall behind him.

"Thank you?" Harry was unsure why Snape was helping him, or, in fact, whether Snape was actually trying to make it worse.

"It's an experimental lotion," Snape continued as though Harry had not said anything. "That I've been researching for the St. Mungo's burn unit."

"So I'm a guinea pig?" Harry asked.

"Of course not. We used real guinea pigs for that. Take it or leave it, Potter. I just figured it would help with your, ah, situation." Somehow Snape managed to draw out the word situation so that it sounded longer than its four syllables.

"But why, sir?"

"Why? Because I invented it and it has been called nothing short of miraculous. Obviously."

"I meant, why give it to me?" Snape sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair.

"Because, Potter," he said in a clipped tone. "I become sentimental around this time of year, and I think that your mother would have preferred you not suffer needlessly."

"Thank you, sir." Snape nodded once at him.

"You may leave now." Harry didn't need to be told twice.