"One moment," the headmaster murmured, his face vanishing. Hoping that the interruption was so that Dumbledore could dismiss Ron and Hermione before anything more about Draco was discussed, Harry hurriedly stuffed the invisibility cloak into a pocket. When the headmaster came back, it was to ask with a deliberate sort of calm a question Harry had definitely not expected. "Have you been out of the dungeons in the past few moments, Harry?"
"No!" Harry instantly denied. Good God, was he going to be accused of Pansy's murder? "What on earth would make you think I had?"
"Is it common practice for you to wear your school cloak about down there?"
Harry could have groaned as he realised that was a bit strange. "Trying it on," he brazened. "New. Severus gave it to me. What do you think of the crest? It's not a Hogwarts' regulation one; do you think it will do?"
"Seeing as a Head of House has personally commissioned it, I expect so," Dumbledore murmured, his tone saying that he was aware he was being managed. And also, that he'd had enough of it. "I'll speak with Severus, now."
"Uh, he's rather busy; I don't know if he can talk just now--"
A familiar voice interrupted him from behind. "Harry. Go sit with your brother. I'll be back in a moment."
Harry gave his father a doubtful look, then carried the chair on through into the bedroom, deliberately leaving the door ajar. He figured Snape had noticed that, but as the man didn't object, Harry figured that he didn't mind being overheard.
"Brother?" the headmaster questioned. "Isn't that rather overstating that case? But no matter. It is my duty to inform you that there has been a death in your House, Severus. Something tells me that this comes as no great shock to you?"
"You are misinformed, Headmaster," Snape coldly bit out. "It comes to me as a horrible shock indeed--"
"Mr. Malfoy is obviously there with you now," Dumbledore interrupted. "I have been informed, however, that he was absent from the dungeons a short while ago, during which time Miss Parkinson fell to her death from the Owlery. Miss Parkinson, Severus, whom as you well know your charge threatened with a gruesome death some months past!"
Harry reached out and took Draco's hand, holding it tight as he listened.
"Have you informed the family?" Snape asked, just as though he'd not noticed the implication of Draco's guilt.
"Severus--"
"Or shall I, as the decedent's Head of House?" the Potions Master smoothly went on.
"You don't appear surprised to hear that it is Miss Parkinson who has died!" Dumbledore sharply rebuked, his voice so much louder that Harry suspected he'd given up on firechatting and had stepped into the dungeon. "You have obviously received advance notice of this news, so how am I to believe that Mr. Malfoy has said nothing whatsoever of his.... antics this afternoon?"
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape roared, "even now lies in a potion-induced coma that defies proper diagnosis because he was hexed half to death first! I know nothing definitive of his antics, as you call them, save that he and Harry came to blows earlier!"
"And doesn't that demonstrate to you that the boy is dangerous?" Albus softly hissed as footsteps came closer. "I know you've long wished to safeguard him from his father's evil influence, but surely now you can see that the effort was wasted? He's a liability, Severus, and one we can ill afford--"
"He is my son," the Potions Master spat.
"I know you've taken fairly well to fatherhood but isn't that taking things a bit far, Severus? He hit Harry, the very boy he swore he would support and protect in return for our protecting him!"
"He shall have to answer for it," Snape promised. "If he can. Albus, the boy lies ill and may well never wake!"
The headmaster appeared not to have heard that last bit. His voice still taut, Albus ground out, "He shall have to answer for Miss Parkinson as well--"
Harry jumped up the instant Snape and the headmaster pushed open the bedroom door. "Draco said this would happen!" he burst out, too angry to hold it in. "He said that if anybody else was accused of murder there'd need to be some actual evidence, but if he ever was, his last name would be enough to get him sent to Azkaban! Where's your proof, eh? That's what I'd like to know!"
Dumbledore glanced once at Harry before turning his attention to the boy on the bed. "This condition he's in, it wouldn't be your handiwork, Severus? A desperate attempt to stave off justice?"
"What justice? You've got him convicted already!" Harry shouted in complaint.
"That is not true," Dumbledore rebuked him, his voice stern. "Mr. Malfoy shall have all the due process to which he is entitled as a student of Hogwarts and a member of the wizarding community. Now, Severus, answer me."
"As flattering as your unqualified confidence is," Snape sneered, narrowing his eyes, "I am not, in fact, in the habit of deceiving you!"
Albus was hardly intimidated. "By your own account you regard the boy as a son. You can hardly fault me for suspecting you would go to any length to protect him, Severus. And you are well practiced at deceit!"
"After years of spying for you, I should be!" the Potions Master retorted. "You may believe what you like; that is your prerogative. But the fact of the matter is that Draco was dosed with Somulus, but not by my hand. I have administered the antidote, which if it works at all, will have a delayed effect. I believe I already mentioned that Draco had been thoroughly hexed before the potion was administered?"
Dumbledore appeared to consider that for a moment. "Very well. The Parkinsons have been informed--"
"You told them by owl that their daughter was dead?"
"Harry." Snape was the one to rebuke him that time. "I am sure Albus merely meant that the Parkinsons have been informed they must come speak with him."
"With us," the headmaster corrected. "Yes. However, anticipating that I might need a while to sort matters out, I applied a slight Confundus charm to the owl. The message will take longer than usual to be delivered. I have also taken the precaution of recalling all other owls and ensuring that no more go out until further notice. Before the wizarding world at large becomes aware of matters, I must understand just what it is we are dealing with." The headmaster paused, his gaze straying to Draco, lying pale and prone on the bed. "So, Severus. Explain."
"Would that I could, Headmaster," Snape said on a sigh as he sank back down to sit beside the boy. "This whole incident appears to be the fulfilment of a seer dream."
"I dreamed it, that's right," Harry put in. "But we don't understand what happened. But whatever did, it was fate."
"Not guilty by reason of foreordination? There is no such thing." Albus Dumbledore patted Harry lightly on the shoulder.
Harry twisted away. He wanted to say that not guilty by reason of self-defence, or even Imperius, was more to the point, but he didn't want to admit that he knew Draco had been alone with Pansy in the Owlery. Better to keep that a secret if they possibly could. Frustrated, he scathed, "You're just angry that he hit me. You want to see him sent to Azkaban--"
"Albus would not see an innocent boy sent to prison," Snape announced. "Yes, Headmaster, innocent. When all the facts are arrayed, I believe that is the only conclusion to be reached. We are meant to believe Draco guilty; matters have been arranged to suggest just that. But to proceed with accusation and trial would be playing into Lucius' hands."