Read, enjoy and review :)

Draco had to act quickly. He found Daphne in the Slytherin common room, talking to Pansy. One meaningful look and she found an excuse to drop the conversation. Once they were out of earshot of anyone else, Draco only said "It has to happen tonight," and that was that. Daphne asked no questions. She only nodded and sprinted off, as per plan, to inform Neville, Astoria if the circumstances allowed, Sirius.

Draco meanwhile hurried to Hogwart's kitchens. He'd had a potion brewing there, undetected, for quite some time now. He had started working on it the day he returned from the Christmas holidays. He took care of the potion they needed and exchanged a few words with the house elves.

Dinner itself was a strange affair, the air thick with tension. Snape was watching him. Dumbledore was watching him. Potter and his two annoying friends were watching him. Potter had probably told them everything, and whatever conclusion they had drawn, it could not possibly look good for Draco. Draco made sure to not look at any of them. Especially not at Snape or Dumbledore. They were both skilled Legilimens. If either of them read his mind, things were over.

Draco did not eat much, he was too nervous, and his stomach was rebelling. Instead he just pushed his food around on his plate while barely listening to Crabbe and Goyle telling him about how they encountered Potter's head in Hogsmeade. If Snape hadn't caught him in the afternoon he would have gladly listened to their story but as it were he couldn't concentrate on anything but his own worries.

It happened right in the middle of dinner and was perhaps the most perfectly executed prank the school had seen this school year. Everything happened just the way Draco and his friends had planned it.

The first thing Draco noticed was a strange change in the general noisiness of the Great Hall. First it had become eerily quiet at one end of the hall, then, panicked noises exploded from the Gryffindor table. Only when Crabbe and Goyle stopped rambling and noticed that something was amiss, did Draco turn his head in the direction of the turmoil.

A small smile crept on Draco's first as his gaze landed on the Gryffindor table. At least one of his plans was working out in his favor. The potion was working perfectly. It had taken some time and persuasion, but eventually the house elves had believed his tale of playing a harmless prank to lighten the mood in such dark times and had agreed to put the potion into one particular group of students' food.

One after the other, all heads at Gryffindor table grew longer, ridiculously long, really. And with the length, the hair also changed its color - to stunningly beautiful Malfoy blond.

When everyone's attention was on the distraught group of lions, Draco pulled out his wand and, under the table, cast a quick transfiguration spell Sirius had taught him. The robes of every lion in the hall turned a marvelous shade of green.

Laughter erupted around Draco and Draco couldn't help but snicker as well. He wondered how many times Sirius had used that particular spell before and whether one of his victims had been an unsuspecting Severus Snape.

The changing robes were the cue for the house elves. Small popping sounds announced their arrival. One for each Gryffindor student. The house elves appeared right next to them, bowing down and saying, in a rather unnecessarily loud fashion, "Mr. Malfoy" or "Miss Malfoy".

It was hilarious. No one at Gryffindor table said a word. But all the other houses had started laughing. Not just Slytherin, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, as well. They either thought the prank harmless - which it really was - or they thought it was aimed at humiliating Draco. Either way, their laughing was almost deafening.

Draco put on a serious face - not at all hard with how worried he was. He had to play his part. He strutted over to the Gryffindor table, stopping in front of the Weasley twins who were staring at him with open mouths.

"Brother," one of them finally mumbled.

"You are back," the other continued.

"Have joined us at the table of the most ancient and noble house of Malfoy," the other added.

They jumped up started strutting around, too, in a rather over the top manor. Acting arrogant and pompous, making even the most pissed off Gryffindor laugh.

Draco was watching their show when a hand grabbed him from behind and nearly had him jump out off his skin. He was scared that it was Snape and that he would Avada Kedavra him on the spot in front of everyone. But to his surprise and immense relief it wasn't Snape. It was McGonagall, looking anything but amused.

"Mr. Malfoy-" she started.

"Which one?" one of the Weasleys interrupted.

"Oh, him," she motioned at Draco, but then seemed to change her mind, "and you two as well. My office. Now."

McGonagall walked out of the Hall and the three of them followed her, one on each side of Draco. The attention of the whole school was on them. Good, thought Draco. This way, no one would notice that two people had been missing during the meal.

"Man, that was brilliant," one of the Weasleys started.

"Absolutely, utterly brilliant. You have to teach us that spell you used," the other mused.

"Who would have thought that a Malfoy could have a sense of humor," the first one chuckled.

Draco smirked. "Well, we have three examples of Malfoys with humor right here, don't you think?"

The twins started laughing. Draco laughed too, but he didn't really feel it. Had he not been so nervous, he might have been better able to appreciate the prank as well.

"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall started, once in her office. "Draco Malfoy," she added as an afterthought. "What were you thinking?"

"Thinking about what?" Draco asked innocently. "Oh wait - you think it was me? It wasn't me!"

"W-What?"

"I didn't do it. And I don't think you have any evidence that would suggest that I did it. I am just as much a victim of this prank, which was clearly meant to humiliate me, as everyone else."

The twins nodded their heads in agreement. McGonagall was speechless.

"Those two like to play pranks. On me especially. Maybe it was one of them," he said and hoped that the twins wouldn't take it personally. Luckily, they did not look as if they cared at all.

That moment, the door burst open and Snape entered, looking even more furious – if that was even possible - than he had just a few hours ago.

"Mr. Malfoy," he started.

The twins seemed to sense that this would be the end of him. "It wasn't him," they said in unison.

"W-what?" Snape reacted quite similar to how Professor McGonagall had reacted.

"It was us," one of them said.

Draco wasn't sure how this would have played out because right after that, Professor Lupin joined them in the already quite crowded office, his face pale and eyes wide.

"Severus," he urged, "Black has been here! He has some of the students. Longbottom and the Greengrass sisters. Harry and his friends went after him. I don't know where they all are, though."

Draco gulped. How did Potter and his idiot friends get into this whole mess?

Snape turned towards him and dove into his mind. He was so strong that Draco didn't even try to resist. It wouldn't have worked anyway. But Severus' presence in his mind was a lot less brutal than what he was used from his aunt and the Dark Lord.

Snape was quite swift. He found a memory of Draco and Black in the Shrieking Shack and left his head again.

"The Shrieking Shack," he said to Lupin and then turned to Draco. "You stay here," he growled, clearly struggling not to kill him. Together with Lupin he left the room.

"Professor," Draco started, looking at Professor McGonagall. "I think you should fetch the headmaster."

To his relief, McGonagall left to do just that.

"Looks like we are off the hook, guys," he said to Fred and George. "Maybe we should go back to our dorms and warn everyone to stay inside," he suggested.

He didn't wait for their answer but sprinted out of the room.

Once he was out of the castle he acciod for his broom and flew to the Shrieking Shack, hoping he would arrive there before Snape and Lupin.

TBC