The next morning dawned earlier than Draco could have imagined. This was possible in part by two things. First, all the boys in his dorm were already up, and second, the windows were open. Not once in his six years there had Draco seen the windows in his dormitory opened.

"What the bloody hell's going on here?" he asked, rising stiffly from bed. He noticed his dorm-mates were gathered round the small corkboard on the wall by the door.

"Crabbe tried to give himself extra points this morning," Theo told Draco as he approached the group.

"And?"

"Well, the parchment's cursed, of course. He can't move his hand now," Blaise Zabini, a fiery red-headed boy with bright blue eyes, said with a laugh. "I'd like to see him find his hunt item now."

"Too true," Theo answered, grinning.

"Have any of us got points yet?" Draco asked curiously.

"Fiona Oliveraux and Daphne Greengrass," Blaise answered, pointing their names out on the register. "Looks like they were the first up this morning."

"Who?" Draco asked. He'd had a hard time figuring out the boys in his own dorm, let alone every Slytherin in his year.

"Daphne Greengrass, the tall red-head with the nice arse. And Fiona Oliveraux," Theo said shortly. "The half-blood girl, the one Blaise fancies."

"You bet Merlin's beard I do," he said with a grin. "She's fantastic. Have you seen her?"

"Looks pretty plain to me," Theo replied with a shrug.

"As much as your love life interests me, Blaise, I'm much more fond of breakfast," Draco paused, then raised his voice. "Could we all move away from the door? I want to get through."

Draco, Theo, and Blaise met Pansy and Milicent at their usual spot near the head of the Slytherin table. Somewhat to Draco's disappointment, they'd brought along Daphne.

"You're looking awfully smug, Daphne," Theo said, looking her up and down.

"Well, Fiona and I got first points this morning, didn't we?"

"No need to throw in in their faces, love," Alan said, appearing behind Daphne's shoulder. Theo gave him a sharp look, and Alan returned it with a smile. "Enjoy breakfast, kids."

Before they'd even had the chance to begin eating, the post came. Draco, who expectantly waited for his own owl to deliver his letter, was quite surprised when a grey school owl dropped his letter directly in his porridge.

He ripped the letter open to find the promised single phrase inside. The letter read:

Harry Potter's trousers.

"I should have stayed in bed this morning," Draco said, brushing bits of porridge from the front of his robes.