Hiding. Draco Malfoy was hiding. This was a skill that all Slytherins were expected to learn, though few of them tried to do the decidedly unsubtle "hiding in an alcove" that Draco Malfoy was currently pursuing. Still, this afforded him a great view of the entrance to Snape's office, and an even better ... "view" for listening in on Professor Snape's office.

That was the trick, of course. Listening in without betraying himself. Diving like a swordfish through the wards, sliding like an eel between them.

Today, Draco Malfoy was game to try. It was only Potter (and probably not Weasel, coward that he was, despite the colors he displayed so proudly)...

Of course, it had been hours now, and Draco Malfoy was loosening his muscles by shifting from foot to foot.

Nearing curfew, it was, before Harry Potter approached Snape's door. Draco idly wondered if he'd been procrastinating about this, or about something else that frantically needed doing before he came down to attend to The Plot.

Harry Potter knocked on the door. Snape, inside, snarled, "Enter" - telling Draco that he either recognized the knock, or had a particular spell to tell him Who's At The Door. He'd never have addressed any Slytherin that way. Potter opened the door, and stood there for a moment, before Draco had the distinct pleasure of seeing Snape's pale hand stretch out and grab Harry by the scruff of his robe, tugging him inside and slamming the door with his foot (or so Draco assumed).

Draco gave it a few moments, and then, as subtly as he knew how, he cast the spell to sneak his ear into Snape's office and listen.

"What is the matter, Potter," Snape rapped quickly, abandoning his usual purr for a more forceful, impatient tone.

"Did you - Have you been," Harry potter stammered, then paused, before finding his voice, "Writing letters to Hermione?"

Severus Snape's voice rumbled with the inky blackness of thunderclouds tall as the stratosphere, "Do you mean to suggest that I could possibly be writing love letters to your classmate?"

Harry Potter's voice, if anything, firmed up and steadied, "No sir. Just - if you were sending the letters, they'd be some sort of code."

Draco could nearly hear Snape's eyebrow raising. "One point to Gryffindor, for thinking things through." Severus Snape said at last.

"But - but you never give points to Gryffindor!" Harry Potter said, and Draco pictures his green eyes round as saucers, nearly as big as his busted glasses.

"I do believe in positive reinforcement, Potter. When you deserve it. Running into needless danger will never be worth points from me." Snape talked laconically, as if this was an ordinary occurrence.

"And five points from Gryffindor." Snape said.

"For what?" Harry Potter asked, sounding more confused than outraged. Perhaps something had gone back to 'right' in his head, when Snape took points off the Gryffindor pile.

"For ineloquent argumentation." Snape purred.

"What?" Harry asked, a flash of outrage present in his growing confusion.

"In other words, you lost the points because you couldn't prevent me taking them." Snape said, and Draco pictured him patting Potter patronizingly on the head. Draco couldn't help but smile at that - he well remembered the day Snape had pulled that trick on him. People didn't tend to notice, because Snape wasn't public at all about punishing his house, but he actually tended to take as well as give the majority of points to his house. Put simply, other teachers didn't care as much.

[a/n: Up next: Snape appears. Surely that's worth a review?]