An insane temptation suddenly filled Harry from the inside out. Couldn't he just brandish his own wand and demand the wall let him hear? He'd know what was really going on, that way...
That would be moving from the realm of foolhardy into idiotic, though, he sensed. The frame hadn't been designed with sound in mind. There was no telling what might result if he tampered still further... and anyway, in the next moment Snape finished speaking, so it all became a moot point.
Keeping his back to the castle, though the rigid line of his spine suggested he was staying alert to all that might transpire behind him, the Potions Master quickly rearranged the cloak to hide Draco's boots. Then he was standing, brushing dirt from his trousers, a few sprigs of closed blossoms clutched in one hand. His lips moved again, just once, briefly, and then he was walking away, striding across the grassy field.
What, the man wasn't going to pick up Draco, carry him in, bring him home?
Draco, of course, had utterly vanished from view the moment Snape had adjusted the invisibility cloak. So where was he?
Forgetting about his earlier qualms, Harry did move his wand again then, pointing it at the wall and demanding once more, "Show me Draco!" But the scene didn't alter, save to change aspect, following Snape as he casually strolled toward Hagrid's Hut.
Following Snape...
So that was it! He hadn't said to show him his father, though apparently once the frame's restrictions against displaying sentient life were broken, it would let you see anybody in range. But if the whole wall before him was following Snape when he'd only demanded to see Draco, then it must actually be showing Draco....
His father was far, far too wily to scoop up his other son to bring him home. He wasn't about to make it obvious that he was carrying an invisible person. He was using Mobilicorpus, or something similar... and when he'd first spoken, he'd probably been applying sticking charms to the cloak, so that it wouldn't slip off while Draco was being levitated...
And now Snape was knocking on Hagrid's door, and when no one answered, letting himself in. Probably a simple Alohomora would do the trick since Hagrid didn't practice much magic at all. Snape waited an inordinately long time to close the door behind him, but of course that made sense: he was waiting until Draco had fully floated in. Harry supposed the plan must be to Floo them both home. Good thing his father had arranged for Hagrid's hut to be placed on the Floo Network--
Something caught on his consciousness. Something important. Something he should be aware of.
His eyebrows drawn together as he made his way back into the living room, Harry wondered why it seemed like there might be a problem with the Floo...
Sals! That was it! Sals was in her box when Draco smashed it. And she likes to be warm when she's upset, it helps her feel better. Sals must be in the Floo and Severus is about to Floo through with Draco--
With an almighty lunge, Harry threw himself at the hearth, his arms stretched out, his hands already scrabbling for the stones. Sure enough, Sals was in there, huddled in the very back, her body limp because she'd already been in there when Snape had Flooed home to find Harry about to leave in search of Draco.
"Sals," Harry chided in exasperated Parseltongue as he backed out of the hearth, "you know better--"
"Harry..." Sals trembled slightly as she rubbed her little head lightly against the base of his thumb.
Without warning, the cold hearth flared with sudden green fire and Snape emerged, almost stepping on Harry as he strode forward. Harry hurriedly scrambled further backwards as his father, who was clearly carrying something invisible, knelt to lay Draco gently down on the floor. One whispered charm later, that one with Snape's smooth wand work in force, and the Potions Master was pulling the cloak gently away from Draco's prone body and handing it to Harry, who laid it to one side since his hands were full of frightened snake.
Snape's withering glance speared Harry even as the man began to touch his wand to Draco's neck and wrists. "I tell you to eat and rest and instead you have been crawling around on the floor?"
Harry ignored that, since apart from the ache in his eye he felt all right. Not great, but certainly able to stay awake and find out what had happened to his brother. But what had happened? Draco was so very pale! Of course, the Slytherin boy was fair-skinned to begin with, but now he was positively white--
"What's wrong with him?" Harry blurted, his voice coated with panic as he cupped Sals in both hands.
"I am trying to ascertain that, if you would be so kind as to let me," Snape scathed.
Harry went silent after that, his eyes sombre as he simply watched his father examine Draco. The other boy was breathing, but that was little solace. His shallow breaths that were barely detectable, hardly lifting his chest at all. Still, at least he was alive.
Stay that way, Harry found himself suddenly thinking. Stay alive. Don't give up--
Snape drew in a harsh breath as though realising something. In the next moment he was prying Draco's eyes open.
Harry felt himself go cold. There was no hint of grey there, no silver, only a bloodshot white; the boys eyes had rolled up into his head. Frowning even more than before, Snape leaned down close to Draco's face and sniffed, deeply inhaling the boy's slight exhalations of breath.
"He's imbibed a potion," the Potions Master bit out. "Somulus. It induces a comatose state."
Uh-oh. That sounded bad. Really bad. "You're sure it's Somulus on his breath?"
The Potions Master curled a lip in answer.
"Sorry. Of course you're sure," Harry admitted. "Um, is there a counter-potion?"
"I have one already prepared," Snape sighed, worry in his dark eyes as he studied the boy laying prone on the floor. "The problem is that he's not reacting normally to Somulus. He shouldn't be anywhere near this pale."
Harry's breath hitched. "He's allergic, do you think?"
"Draco's symptoms don't suggest that. What they indicate is that he ingested the potion while under the influence of a spell. Specifically, a hex or a curse. I couldn't say which one. It's since been lifted, and in such a way that there's no direct proof of it any longer."
"There's no way Draco would willingly take a coma potion out there and leave himself open to attack," Harry pointed out. "That's proof enough for me."
"Of course," Snape murmured as he touched the back of his hand to the side of Draco's neck.
Harry's eyes flicked up from Draco's prone form to his father because by then it was obvious, wasn't it? Snape knew it too; Harry could see the knowledge glittering in those dark eyes. Something strange was going on.
Had Draco been chased out onto the grounds, perhaps? But no, the map hadn't shown anything remotely like that... But still, if Draco hadn't dosed himself with coma potion, then someone must have been with him. Yet the puzzlement in his father's eyes said that he'd seen no such person on the map as he'd traversed the grounds...
What mattered most now, though, was getting Draco back to normal. "Will he be all right?" Harry rasped, his throat gone dry. "Will the counter potion work if the Somulus got... um, messed up by the curse?"
"It did not get messed up," Snape scathed. "It's strength was greatly magnified." The Potions Master frowned fiercely. "However, I do believe the only viable course of action is to administer the counter potion."
Harry jumped up, popping Sals into his front shirt pocket. His snake would be all right; he could tell. And even if not, Draco was more important.