Truth or Dare

It was eight-fifteen on a rainy Wednesday evening, and, although curfew was in two hours, nobody wanted to venture out into the chilly stone corridors outside their cosy common room, where fires crackled comfortably. The same went for the Gryffindors.

"This. Is. Boring," Hermione pronounced, slamming her book shut. Ron and Harry gaped at her. Hermione, closing a book because she got bored? Unheard of. They sat in wary silence, waiting for whatever she would say next.

"Let's play something. No, Ron, not chess," she quickly added as the redhead opened his mouth eagerly. "Have you ever heard of Truth or Dare?"

Harry paled considerably.

"What's wrong?"

"Er - nothing. Er - why don't we ask a few more people to play?" he suggested weakly, and waved the Weasley twins over. They bounded over cheerfully.

In a few minutes, a circle had formed on the crimson carpet. George placed an empty Butterbeer bottle on the floor in the middle of the circle and spun it. Its mouth pointed at Ron.

"Aha. Truth or dare, little Ronnie?" Fred smirked.

Ron's ears were pink. "Why don't you give me a question and a dare and I choose which one I want to do?"

"OK. Question is, do you fancy Hermione? And for a dare, kiss all the girls here."

Ron's ears were now redder than the carpet. "Erm. I... uh." He stood up and pecked the girls all on the cheek. "There."

Everyone was laughing. The game continued, with much shrieking, laughing and kissing. Harry sat back and watched everyone, a faint smile dusting across my mouth. The bottle had been spun to point at everyone except him so far.

"So, Fred, is it true that you proposed to Angelina?" Hermione asked, an uncharacteristic smirk on her face. Fred was a very dark shade of red.

"Er - oh, all right, yes, I did."

The rest of the Weasleys whooped, and Katie Bell fell over laughing. "I knew it!" Ron crowed. "I just knew it!"

Fred, still very red, reached for the bottle, and spun it. It turned four times, and slowed... slowed... and pointed straight at Harry's feet.

"Ha."

Harry's face was bloodless. "Dare," he picked faintly.

Fred shrugged. "OK. Go ask Malfoy if he wears boxers or briefs."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Go on. And I'll be watching."

Somehow, Harry knew better than to ask how Fred was going to watch. He got up resignedly and walked out in search of the Slytherin.

Harry Potter had only three big fears. The first was a Dementor. Those things scared the hell out of him. The second was Sirius being captured; he was still in hiding. And the third was Truth or Dare.

When Harry was ten, Dudley had invited some friends over to play. They had recently come across the game, and were playing it in earnest. Dudley had confessed in infinite number of things, all of which made Harry extremely nauseous whenever he thought about it. And what Dudley had done when he saw Harry listening in...

Harry shuddered and continued his quest. To find Draco Malfoy. To ask him something that nobody else had ever asked.

Lost in thought, Harry didn't realise that there was someone in front of him until he slammed straight into the person. Rubbing his nose, he looked up.

"S - Professor Snape."

"Potter. What are you doing?"

Indignantly, Harry rose up to his full height. He managed to reach Snape's chin. "I'm walking. Curfew's not till ten, so I'm not breaking any rules."

Snape glared at him. "This is the dungeons, Potter. You are halfway across the school from - ah, good evening, Mr Malfoy."

Malfoy was walking past. "Good evening, sir. There you are, Potter, I was wondering where you had gone to." Turning to Snape, the other boy flashed a brilliant smile. "You can leave him here, sir, I have... a previous appointment with him."

Snape still looked suspicious of Harry, but didn't say anything. Had he been any other teacher, he would have been wary. After all, the two never had civil conversations. But this was Snape. He didn't care if Malfoy finished Harry off.

Malfoy watched Snape's departing back then turned to Harry. "All right, you can run along now."

Harry gaped at Malfoy for a while. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

Harry looked down at his ratty trainers. "Save me?"

Malfoy started to laugh. "Save you? You? Oh, all right. I've been in that situation before, and trust me, you don't want to see Snape in a foul mood at night." Suddenly, Malfoy's face closed again, leaving Harry to wonder if it had been open. "Whatever. You can go."

"Er - actually, I was looking for you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

There was a short silence, in which Harry couldn't help but check Malfoy out. He wasn't wearing his school uniform, except for the cloak, and had on a plain black T-shirt and a pair of dark-coloured jeans. A far cry from Harry's plaid, oversized shirt and cargo pants. Interestingly, Malfoy had on rather fuzzy-looking slippers, which were pale blue in colour and had... designs of... little rabbits on. Harry stared.

"Stop staring at my feet, Potter," snapped Malfoy. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Er - we were playing Truth or Dare, you see... and..."

Malfoy started to smirk. "And you were dared to ask me something? Do something to me?"

"Er - well."

Malfoy's smirk grew wider. "Come on, just ask it. I want to know how creative you Gryffindors can get."

"Fred asked it," said Harry shortly. "Boxers or briefs?"

"What?"

"You heard me, Malfoy. Now answer the bloody question so I can get out of the dungeons."

Malfoy leaned back against the cool stone wall and arched an eyebrow ["How the hell does he do that?" thought Harry vaguely.] at Harry.

"Potter, I don't own underwear."

Harry had no idea how he got back to the tower, and how the game continued and ended. All he knew was that he found it extremely hard to fall asleep that night.