Ron froze from where he was leaned over the pile of candy at the end of the sleeping first year's bed. And Harry quickly hid his hands behind his back as he stepped in front of Hermione and Neville as if he could block Snape's view of them.
"What exactly do you three think you're doing?" Professor Snape continued.
Harry, Hermione and Neville all stood near the fire, Harry had floo powder clenched in his hand and was debating throwing it into the fire and continuing alone, keeping the others out of trouble.
"Oi, four of us," Ron called, putting down the candy and walking towards his friends, cursing himself as he did. Professor Snape would surely ban them from Quidditch and have the four of them sorting flasks and writing essays every weekend until the end of the year. Not to mention the amount of house points they would lose.
"Spill," Professor Snape said, crossing the room and making eye contact with Neville.
"I was sleep walking, and Harry and Ron heard me get up and came to get me," Neville answered instantly.
Ron did a double take, looking over at Neville who stood their casually in his pajamas, as if he and Professor Snape met here nightly for tea.
"And Miss Granger?" Professor Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She was in the common room studying," Harry answered, "She saw and came to help."
"It took three noble Gryffindor's to stop one sleep walking one?" Professor Snape asked, smirking.
The four of them nodded, holding their breath hoping that Neville's elaborate lie worked.
"Well how you ended up in the hospital wing is a mystery to me, now that he's awake perhaps you should all return to your tower."
Harry looked over at Neville to see his reaction, when Neville shrugged in response he shoved his hands into his robe pockets, and let go of the floo powder so Snape wouldn't notice. The four friends exited the hospital wing closely followed by Snape, who locked the door behind him with a spell they had a sinking suspicion alohomora wouldn't open.
"I trust you know your way back," Professor Snape said.
The four of them nodded, as they made their way back towards the tower, the cloak safely tucked under Harry's robe.
"Encase, the four of you thought that maybe sneaking into St Mungo's to talk to Alice and Frank Longbottom might help you find Ginny-" Snape's voice cracked, he paused slightly before he continued on. "then you're wasting your time, Bellatrix Lestrange put them in the spell damage ward for a reason. Whatever they knew is gone now, they can't even remember who they were, let alone their teammate and friend. Ten points from Gryffindor each, for being out after curfew, and for your poorly thought out plan," he added. "If there was anything Alice and Frank could tell us the Order would have figured it out already."
He turned to leave, his rustling robes the only sound in the quiet halls leading to the hospital ward-but then he turned back to them, the stars stars shining through the windows providing just enough light to dimly light the hall, but not enough to see his face.
"Fifty points each, for not giving up," he added, before he turned and left, his robes swallowing himself up into the darkness as the sound of his footsteps grew further away.
"Now what?" Harry asked.
"That was brilliant Neville," Ron beamed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a chocolate frog.
"I had planned on pretending to be a confused patient out of bed at St Mungo's if we were caught," Neville grinned sheepishly.
"Well it was bloody brilliant!"
"Professor Snape gave us each fifty points," Hermione whispered.
"Yea, but the git took ten back," Ron dismissed.
"Maybe he really did care about Ginny," Hermione offered.
"Of course so, the prat was probably obsessed with her, come to think of it Ginny always got good marks in potions," Ron stated as he shoved the frog into his mouth.
"He's right though, the Order would have tried by now, I told Sirius about your parents," Harry stated.
"Sirius?" Neville asked.
"My cousin," Ron interrupted his mouth full of chocolate frog. "I have a big family," Ron smiled.
"My gran always takes me to see my parents on Easter, she comes to Hogwarts and Dumbledore lets us go for the afternoon," Neville offered.
"If you were going in a few weeks then what was the point of sneaking around in the middle of the night, and breaking a dozen school rules," Hermione hissed as she lead the way through the castle back towards the tower.
"You were sneaking out, I just wanted to be included," Neville responded.
"You were brilliant Neville,"Ron offered up in way of support as he crammed another frog into his mouth, and followed his friends back to the tower and to the comfort of their warm beds.