"But I had to tell her--"
"Do you not recall my saying that I would not appreciate being treated to lies and misdirection from my own son?"
"Well, punish me then!" Harry yelled.
"Oh, I shall," Snape promised, a grim look about his mouth.
"But I didn't lie to you," the boy insisted. "I disobeyed, but I didn't lie. And I have to tell you why I disobeyed. It's really important! Oh, God. Is the door good and warded now?"
"Of course it's warded, you foolish boy; it's closed! Did you not understand before? I could hear you but you could not have heard anyone in here!"
"I understood, but can you check? Please?"
Snape gave him a rather disgusted look, but he did wave his wand and nod.
"All right." Drawing in a breath, Harry said all in a whoosh as he exhaled, "I was trying to save Draco from being thrown off the Owlery!"
"You do have a saving-people thing," Snape sneered, his voice only growing louder and more derisive as he continued, leaning forward on his desk to practically breathe fire into Harry's face, "What the bloody hell does anything you said out there have to do with the godforsaken Owlery!?!"
Harry couldn't help but rear back from the raw fury pouring over him in waves. His back complained as he arched it past its normal curve, the buttons on the leather upholstery cutting so fiercely into him that he could feel them through his thick jumper.
The reflex action sparked something in Snape. "Oh, for Merlin's sake! If I wasn't going to hit you back when you weren't my son and I didn't have Miss Granger snooping around, I'm certainly not going to do it now that you are and she is!"
"I didn't think you were," Harry denied, feeling a bit ill over the whole topic. "Just stop yelling though, all right? For five seconds. I had every intention of doing as you thought best, I did. I thought Ron would help me get through to Hermione. Which he did, actually. That was the only reason I wanted him to come along. But when he said sodding Malfoy, it occurred to me that in my latest seer dream--"
"It was no such thing!"
"Listen," Harry urged, scooting his chair up to the desk, determined to stay there this time even if Snape yelled again. "I've been wishing all along, about a lot of my dreams, actually, that I could do something to contradict them. So they couldn't come true ever, right? Dumbledore says it's impossible. Or implied it, anyway--"
"Your five seconds have long since expired."
Well, at least that comment had been calmer, for all it was supremely irritated. "Are you going to listen or not?" Harry asked, studying his father's features. "Because if you aren't, you should just tell me what my punishment is and we'll call it a night."
"You wanted to change the future," Snape sighed, leaning back finally, his fingers drumming lightly against his desk. "And so?"
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Well out there, in the middle of the conversation, I suddenly remembered that in my seer dream, or whatever it was, Hermione said I didn't have any magic! And I thought, that's it, that's how I can guarantee that Draco never goes up to the Owlery at all. I can tell her about my magic, and then she won't say I don't have any, and then the dream can't come true, and Draco'll never die!" Harry paused, flushing. "Well, I mean he will, but not anytime soon."
"You place a higher value on Draco's life than on Miss Granger's?" Snape mocked. "How very interesting. Of course I heard my two sons swearing fraternal loyalty a moment ago, but I had no idea you took it so very to heart. So much so, that merely on the strength of this theory, you decided to expose her to the tender mercies of Voldemort's interrogators, chief among whom is Lucius Malfoy! Have I mentioned that her being a Muggleborn is not going to work in her favor?"
Harry felt himself begin to get angry then, because Snape sure had a nerve laying that charge at his door. "It's not my fault Hermione found out enough to get her interrogated if a Legilimens sees what she knows!" he shot back. "I don't know as you noticed, but I was trying to tell her that my magic was back but was extra weak! Same story we were going to feed all the students once I went back to classes, remember? You told me to look inept, told me to let rumors spread that I could barely defend myself! What difference did it make if Hermione heard the story a little early, huh? But you had to decide to accio my wand and send the whole plan straight down the loo! What was that, anyway? I thought you didn't want her to know I was doing my spells wandless!"
"My summoning spell was an attempt to stop your foolishness! I did not appreciate my order being countermanded, Harry!"
"But it didn't matter if I showed her a wobbly levitation charm! I was going to make sure it looked really pathetic! It would have been all right!"
"Harry," Snape said, his voice all at once somber. "You have a marked tendency to believe yourself invincible. In the main that's not a bad trait. Confidence in battle is often key to victory. But you are sixteen; your judgment is far from invincible. This is a case in point. You have utterly misinterpreted your dream. I saw it too, remember."
His father's sudden quiet tone brought Harry up short. "Misinterpreted?"
Snape nodded. "When Miss Granger said, He'll tell himself he should have stopped Malfoy from leaving Snape's rooms! Never mind that without magic he'd have no hope, she was dissembling."
"What?"
"Lying, you foolish boy. You really ought to pay more attention to the fine nuances of tone and expression. She was lying, making it seem in front of the other Gryffindors as though your magic had never come back, when she knew full well that it had indeed!"
"Oh, that's just ridiculous, it is--"
"Is it? You think I can't recognize a lie when I see one? I've spent most of my life among people who say one thing and mean another. It's part of being Slytherin, like the way Draco had no trouble at all reading the truth behind Richard Steyne's flowery words. Think about my years spying on Voldemort, Harry. I'm only alive today because I know how to discern misdirection when I see it!"
Harry bit his lip. "You knew Ron was lying to himself about thinking you'd... touched me wrong, before he even knew it was his anger making him talk that way..." Bolstering himself, Harry asked, "So, in the dream, you thought Hermione was lying about me having no magic? Just because her tone of voice was off?"
"Her voice, her gestures, the look in her eyes," Snape clarified. "Not to mention Mr. Weasley's rather telling reaction. He immediately leapt to your defense, insisting that it wasn't your fault Draco had gone up to the Owlery, just as though he knew what Miss Granger must be thinking--that it could be your fault. That you could actually have stopped him, given that your magic was back in full force and she knew as much!"
Harry suddenly felt horribly sick as the truth of what he had done struck him. He sucked in a gasp and pressed his hands deeply into his lower abdomen. "Oh, dear God, he moaned. "Oh, no.... You can't mean... It can't be like you're saying, it just can't."
"It certainly can," Snape returned, all compassion vanishing from his voice. "In trying to make sure the seer dream could not come true, you have made sure of the opposite! You have guaranteed that your dream can proceed apace! Perhaps, even, that it will!"