At the breakfast the following morning, they all sat together, eating and chatting pleasantly. To his surprise, Draco noticed that he didn't know who the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor was. He must've been too occupied with other things to really pay attention to it.

"Who is the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor?" he asked the others.

Hermione glanced at him with surprise. "You don't know? Quirinus Quirrell is the Professor, he's always wearing that turban," she said.

"I met him once," Harry added. "When I was in the Diagon Alley with Hagrid."

Draco raised his eyebrows. It's only fitting that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor met the Dark Lord himself. But what did they do?

"How was he?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "He seemed okay, a bit nervous maybe."

Ron grimaced. "Shouldn't the Professor of that class be… brave, or something?"

Hermione looked at the red-head with annoyance. "Don't say it like that Ron. Maybe he is nervous cause he knows the true dangers of the Dark Arts?" she asked with an excited edge to her voice.

Draco nodded. "That must be it," he said. The Dark Lord met with him and showed him the power of the Dark Side! No wonder he's nervous now…

Ron and Harry still didn't seem convinced as they all left the Great Hall a few minutes later.

After the class was finished, Draco looked at Harry with even more respect than before. To terrify someone as much as Harry did, just what could he have done? The Professor seemed absolutely horrified of the Dark Lord, stuttering and jumping at every noise for the whole period.

"I think he's just a coward, to be honest," Ron said after they have left the classroom.

Even Hermione seemed inclined to agree with him.

Draco smirked. They don't know the truth… The blond boy noticed Harry rubbing his head. He must be trying hard not to laugh, to keep his disguise.

Their next class was supposed to be Potions and Draco looked forward to meeting his uncle. He decided to enter the classroom early, alone, to have a chat with him.

Leaving his friends behind, Draco pushed the door cautiously. The classroom was dark, but he could see the tall figure of his favourite uncle, standing in front of a cauldron.

"Who dares to enter the…" the man started with a scary voice, but stopped when he glanced at the boy who entered. "Oh, Draco," he said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

He probably hoped he would get to scare off a cowardly first-year. Draco grinned. "Hello, uncle," he said with a smile.

Snape nodded. "What is it, Draco?" he asked curiously. "How are you feeling? I heard that you fainted on the Express."

Draco blushed. "Yes, it's nothing to worry about, I'm fine," he said. "How are you uncle?"

Severus raised his eyebrows and resumed to check something inside of the cauldron. "Fine, if not for the dunderheads and morons that I unfortunately have to teach."

Draco chuckled. "Yes, about that…" he started and his uncle glanced at him again. "Could you do me a favour, uncle?"

"What kind of favour?" Snape asked, his focus again on his potion.

"You know, I'm a Gryffindor," Draco started. "I know that you don't like them, but could you go easy on us, at least as long as I'm a Gryffindor myself?" he asked, raising his voice hopefully.

Severus kept quiet, but his face looked pained.

"Oh, and also, Harry Potter is my best friend, so could you be nice to him?" Draco continued. "Pretty please, uncle?" he asked, trying his best to make a cute face that always worked wonders with his parents.

His uncle didn't seem happy about the whole situation. Draco could swear that Severus looked a bit nervous, which was unusual for him to say the least. "I'll… see what I can do," he said with a grimace and sighed. "I'm not ready for this," he whispered and motioned for Draco to leave.

Draco said a quiet goodbye and left the classroom, making sure to close the door delicately. His friends and a bunch of other first years were waiting for the class to begin. Gryffindors and Slytherins were keeping themselves apart, some of them staring at each other with disdain.

To his surprise, before Draco could reach Harry, Ron and Hermione, he was stopped by two big Slytherin students.

"Crabbe, Goyle, how are you doing?" he asked immediately, cursing himself for completely forgetting about his own two minions.

"Hey Draco," the fatter one of them said. "Err… we just wanted to ask, if there's anything you'd like us to do, or something. We are kind of lost without you, you know, we don't know what to do."

Draco smiled at them sadly. That's right, they always just followed me when we were younger, so they must be confused now. What should I do with them? Ah, that's right, why not use them as spies?

"Yes, I have a very important mission for you two," he said and the faces of the two boys lightened up instantly. "I need you to be my spies in the Slytherin House, you understand?"

Both boys shook their heads.

"Perfect." They are too dumb to be spies. A great disguise! "You will try your best to know every rumour and everything that's happening in the Slytherin House, and you will report to me whenever you have something, alright?"

This time, only one of them shook his head, the other one just looked confused.

"I have something," the confused one said. "Potions, in a few minutes."

Draco nodded encouragingly. "That's it, that's what you have to do! Great job, Crabbe!"

The boy seemed even more confused now.

"I'm Crabbe," the other boy said.

Draco shook his head. "It doesn't matter, you're a unit! You're two, but you work as one!" he said, his voice a little bit too loud and too high.

But it seemed to work. The fat duo looked pumped up. "Alright, Draco, we will do our best," one of them declared, and they both walked away, in the direction of their Housemates. From what Draco overheard, they were discussing chocolate pie.

Oh well, at least they have something to do now. And maybe they'll actually tell me something interesting sometimes.

With his new master spies recruited, Draco reunited with his Gryffindor friends and awaited the first Potions class with the infamous terrifying Professor.

I just hope uncle Severus grants my favour.