It was almost a week later before Jay and the Weasley twins could begin to put their plans into action. The time chafed on Jay. He was used to planning and doing almost immediately, and the delay was almost intolerable. Still, everyone else cautioned him to wait. To acquire patience. Harry spent most of this week inside, although he didn't really realize it. Tom was careful to keep up the facade. Quiet, studious Harry, who sometimes acquired a sly penchant for pranks (although in the company of the Weasley twins, so that the rumors of him going Dark stayed firmly underground), who had a habit of hanging around with the bookworm Granger. Snape had taken to studying them with oddly expressionless, dark eyes, but Tom and the others were confident they could keep him distracted and confused. No one would know the secret that lay at the core of Harry Potter's shattered psyche.

Fred and George had decided that the prank would do well at lunch time. Most of the students were in the Great Hall at that time, including Hermione. Raven always made her go and eat lunch and dinner, although she frequently missed breakfast, too lost in another book or in revising her last homework assignment to remember to eat properly.

Jay had also made a few last-minute changes to it that he wasn't entirely sure the Weasley twins were aware of. Really, he hoped that they weren't. The prank was supposed to proceed as such: Ron ingests potion combined with a few discreet spells. Ron's hair goes several shades of bilious green (to go with his middle name, apparently), as well as him blurting out something embarrassing to the rest of the Great Hall. His hair would continue to change colors (always in various putrefying shades) for the next several hours until dinner.

Harmless enough, Jay supposed, but he'd modified the spell with Tom's help. Instead of it being something merely embarrassing, it would have to be a secret that was pertinent to Harry's life and/or well-being. Jay had a slight hunch that Weasel had been involved in the assault, and he wanted it confirmed. If he wasn't, well, it would be something stupid and harmless. If he was, well...watch Dumbledore ignore that, a shouted confession in the middle of lunch. The man had been surprisingly incommunicative around Harry lately, and the twinkle seemed to vanish from his eyes more often than not. Tom, who knew the Headmaster better than all of them, said that usually meant he was hiding something. And what else could he be hiding?

Somber thoughts for a day that was supposed to be at least partly amusing, and Jay forced them out as he hurried into the Great Hall with Blaise and Theo, Draco close behind. The Malfoy boy had taken to hanging around the periphery of the Boy Who Lived and his friends, a fact Jay found laughable and Tom found intriguing. Lily was just fascinated by the peculiar blonde shade of his hair and wished she could ask to colour with him, something that was never happening in this lifetime (and which she still pouted about).

Fred or George Weasley tipped Jay a subtle wink and he nodded slightly back, finding a seat at the Slytherin table that afforded him a good look at the Gryffindor one. He had to at least have Weasel in his line of sight for his modified spell to work, after all. Fred or George was in charge of slipping him the potion. The boy ate like a starving warthog, so at least there was no chance of his pickiness ruining it. Hermione was already sitting at the end of the Ravenclaw table, her nose buried in a book, and Raven wished that she could tell the girl to pay attention to the world around her this meal, that something was going to happen. But of course the overly rule-abiding Ravenclaw would tell on them, and that would not end well.

Weasel himself arrived five minutes later, and Jay thought uncharitably that the redhead was almost swaggering to his table in the company of...Thomas and Finnegan? Maybe? Finnegan was the one who had a penchant for blowing everything up, Jay knew that. He'd singed half his eyebrows off.

They ate sparingly, quickly, one hand always on their wand underneath the table. Jay chatted with Blaise, trying his best to appear as normal as possible. He was good at pretending, and he was confident that no one would suspect him. At least, not straight away.

At the Gryffindor table, Weasel stuffed half of his sandwich in his mouth, and Jay nodded. It was time. He whispered the spell under his breath, aiming right for Weasel just as the boy's hair turned the most alarming shade of pea soup green Jay had ever seen. At first, no one noticed. Then Finnegan turned to his dorm mate and nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. Giggles and snorts spread through the Great Hall at an alarming rate, and Jay himself couldn't help but laugh. Even Hermione looked up from her book, and Raven saw her shoulders shake in a quiet giggle.

Weasel looked particularly awful with green hair, and his horrified expression when he saw his own reflection in a serving soup was enough to delight Jay's soul for quite some time to come.

But the entire Great Hall went dead silent when Weasel blurted out, his face beetroot red, as if he was trying with all his might not to say anything, "I almost threw up on Potter's shoes when I hit him!"

And the anger roared to life in Harry's stomach, and for a moment, no one could front. No one could front at all.