Dramatis Personae

Slytherin tower: sixth-years' dormitory, Yule Ball evening:

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, noooo!!! That's not what you said! You said I could be Black. Now look at me! It's your fault."

"No, it's not."

"You gave me that hair and said it was one of his."

"So?"

"So - you did it on purpose!"

"Don't be silly! Here, take the glasses."

"I can't see anything."

"Stop being such a baby for God's sake. Stop whining!"

"I'm - not - whining!"

"By the way, your potion tasted like crap. Couldn't you have made it - better?"

"It's not supposed to taste good! And I'm not supposed to be him."

"Okay, assume I'm sorry! Now quit it, or I'll have Crabbe and Goyle break you a finger or two."

"Hah!"

"Or burn your books!"

"..."

"Good. Let's go."

"..."

"Severus, I mean it! Come on!"

"I'm not going like this."

"You scared, Potter?"

"Say that again, Lucius, and I'm going to kill you, I swear!"

"Ah well ... I'll buy you this new cauldron you keep babbling about - "

" - and some new phoenix feathers, big size!"

"Aaa'right .... Now: Let's. Go."

Gryffindor tower: sixth-years' bathroom, the same night:

"Why did I have to become him?"

"Because I didn't want to."

" ... you always do that."

"Do what?"

"Forget it."

"Don't snap - be Snape!"

"Ha, ha, ha."

"It's only fair that I'm going to be Malfoy. It was me who spied out their plans for tonight."

"Are you sure they don't know we took the Polyjuice Potion too?"

"They have no idea! We'll catch them by surprise, and make them look like the blockheads they are."

"I still think we should have told the others. Lily was put off big time that I'm not going to the dance with her. It was meant to be - you know - special."

"Oh please, don't blush again. I can't believe you haven't kissed her yet."

"Just because you make a sport of it doesn't mean ..."

"Yeah aw'righ, gimme a break, will you? - Here take the grease."

"..."

"Just do it, okay? I'm sure they don't make such a fuss about being us."

"That would be because we're such good-looking guys?"

"Of course! Black and Potter, the Handsome Hogwarts Hotshots!"

"..."

"Good boy! Let's go!"

"And how I'm looking forward to this."

***

Lucius' plan was quite simple: While everybody should be busy with dancing and having fun, Severus and he would pose as Potter and Black, find out where the Marauders kept their invisibility cloak, and then - acquire it.

Potter's gang had made Lucius and the others look like bloody fools on several occasions with that damn thing. At first, nobody knew how they were doing it: spying out their secret plans, appearing out of nowhere, spoiling their best pranks, and disappearing into nowhere again. But two weeks ago, Severus had found out about the cloak, and Lucius became deadly serious about stealing it.

The Yule Ball was considered the perfect set-up. Crabbe and Goyle were ordered to keep an eye on Black and Potter and, if necessary, keep them distracted - by all possible means. But Lucius was sure that the two Marauders would be rather entangled on a night like this. Whereas Lupin, on the other hand, would be alone. They just had to play their roles and make him talk.

That was the plan - in theory. As it were, they'd barely made it out of their own house ...

"Move, move, move, move," cried Lucius.

He and Severus had just started climbing a staircase on their way to Gryffindor tower, when the stairs shifted. Lucius was already one staircase further up, but Severus' robe got stuck in the railing. "Don't pull, I'm going to fall over! Look out!" There was a nasty, ripping sound, a lenghty scream, and the breaking of glass, as Severus fell down several steps.

"That's just great," Lucius muttered to himself, then louder: "Hey, you still alive?"

"I'm fine," came the distant but clearly snapped reply. "Why did you have to grab - "

"Just meet me at Gryffindor com ... ," Lucius started, but gave up when he realised that both staircases were already out of sight of each other. When they stopped moving, both boys found themselves on different floors in opposite directions in different corners of the school.