Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Written for the Owl Post Forums Drabble Weekends, following the prompt by past: Any Slytherin (including Snape) catches Hermione sneaking\breaking into the Slytherin dorm.

Many thanks to the lovely Meiri for beta-ing this drabble for me.

She hiccoughed and hastily moved to try and cover her mouth. Why though, she was unsure. It was not impolite to hiccough with your mouth uncovered. Smiling to herself, she continued to stumble her way down the dark, damp corridor. She could hear the muffled giggles from behind her but ignored them. She needed to concentrate in order to do what she had to do – especially under the circumstances.

She felt the cold stone of the wall come into contact with her bare arm. Frowning, she realised that she had stumbled into the wall. Although, why her arm was bare, she did not know. She imagined that she must have disposed of her robes at some point and was walking around in her jeans and t-shirt.

She managed to reach the end of the hall without running into anything again and leant heavily on the portrait that was blocking her path.

Sighing, she tried to think of what the password could possibly be but then gave up. It would be much easier to get inside by charming her way in than standing there all night trying to think of a password. She reached around her back and pulled her wand from her back pocket, pointing it at the portrait in front of her. As she opened her mouth to begin casting spells, the man in the portrait began protesting rather loudly.

'Shhh, I am trying to sneak in and you're not helping, making all that noise,' she said with a slight slur to her voice.

'What was that, Granger?' a silky voice from behind her asked suddenly.

She spun around quickly despite her inebriated state and looked up to see a pair of dark eyes, a pale face and a shock of shoulder-length black hair before her vision focussed and she realised that it was Snape. She swore inwardly and closed her eyes to steady herself before speaking.

'I was simply ensuring that none of your precious Slytherins were lurking about outside of their House in the middle of the night,' she murmured.

He crossed his arms over his chest and let a single eyebrow quirk up at her in question. 'Yes, I believe that, Granger,' he said, sarcasm practically dripping from each word her spoke. 'Now, why don't you start with accompanying me to my office and then you can begin to explain to me exactly why you are trying to sneak into the Slytherin common room.'

Hermione followed behind Snape a few steps as he strode in the opposite direction of the common room in question towards his office. She noted that there didn't seem to be any snickering or shadows in the halls and she knew that her companions had abandoned her. Cowards, she thought spitefully as she walked into Snape's office and was immediately pushed into the seat behind his desk. She would have taken more time to admire the leather upholstery if it were not for the man staring down at her.

'Explain,' he demanded.

The words were leaving her mouth before she had a chance to stop them. Damned alcohol. 'It was a dare,' she murmured. 'The ladies and I had a little too much to drink tonight and they dared me to sneak into the Slytherin common room.'

'Yes, I can see that.'

'Rolanda also made me chose between that dare and the one where she dared me to snog you,' she said with a laugh, trying to stand but failing. 'As if you wouldn't hex me within an inch of my life.'

Snape caught her elbow and hauled her up to stand pressed against his chest. 'What makes you so certain I wouldn't welcome it?' he asked.

She blinked a few times and stared up at his face. 'You would welcome it?'

His only response was to lean down and press his lips to hers.