"Personal delivery would also be acceptable," said Snape with a gleam in his eye.
"And rub it in that I get to go to wander about while he's still stuck down there?"
"Hmm. You do perhaps have a point. " His father merely stared at him for a long moment. "Is the Elixir making any difference as of yet?"
"No..."
"You are using it as directed?"
"Yes, sir." Harry smiled, about to leave, but then he remembered what he'd meant to ask. He looked back at the closed doors, then pulled out his wand and held it to cover his wandless magic as he performed a few analysis spells his father had helped him work out. When he glanced out of the corner of his eye, he thought Snape looked approving. That was nice.
The room turned out to be warded already, but Harry added his own silencing charm for good measure before asking, "Have you and the headmaster had a chance yet have a talk with Belladonna and Erik?"
Snape's eyes flashed. "Oh, yes. This is not for public consumption as we are still considering our options. But those two were administered Veritaserum without their knowledge, and--"
"Bella's not allergic?"
"I made certain she was not in advance," said Snape impatiently. "Though I did not believe she was, not for an instant. Mr. Vanvelzeer maintained under quite strident questioning that he had in fact seen Draco rushing down the Owlery stairs the afternoon of the murder."
Harry felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. Hard. "But... but that's not possible."
"You foolish boy," said Snape in those affectionate tones Harry loved so well. "Of course it is not possible. Your brother was unconscious."
"Then how did Erik resist the truth serum?"
"He didn't." Snape shook his head. "It is all very simple, Harry. Mr. Vanvelzeer believed he was speaking the truth."
"So... hypnosis?"
"A memory charm is rather more likely, especially considering Miss Uwannawich. For she, you see, under intensive interrogation began to question her own recollection. Classic sign of a memory charm that didn't affix itself sufficiently. It also explains, by the way, why she got so upset at the thought of Veritaserum. Evidently whoever changed her memories realised that her mind was more resistant that Mr. Vanvelzeer's. They implanted a suggestion that she was allergic to truth serum in the hopes that it would prevent any being used."
Harry frowned as he thought that over. "Why didn't they just put her back the way she was and.... oh, because if her mind's resistant to interference, she's have remembered being messed with."
"Yes, by that time the perpetrator had made his bed and had to lie in it, so to speak."
The implications, when they came clear, startled Harry. "So she and Erik, they weren't lying at the hearing! They actually do believe they saw Draco that day!"
"Yes, though if you recall, even at the hearing Miss Uwannawich's testimony was a shade more tentative than Mr. Vanvelzeer's. Evidently a result of the memory charm being more shaky in her case."
Harry sighed. "So... what, Lucius picked them at random? They weren't involved at all?"
Snape raised his shoulders, his robe flaring slightly as he shrugged. "That, I cannot say. However, by testifying they called attention to themselves. It seems unlikely that Lucius would have arranged for the actual murderers to do so. I suspect they are both victims of machinations beyond our current comprehension."
"But they might be involved."
"They might be," Snape conceded.
"Are we ever going to solve this, sir?" asked Harry in despair. "I want Draco cleared. I mean, really cleared. And that will only happen if the real murderer is caught. Until then, he's innocent only on paper. Look at the Governors, expelling him for something he didn't do!"
"We will solve it," the Potions Master promised, his eyes on Harry grim. Angry, almost. Harry didn't know what that was about, unless it had to do with Snape hating how long it was taking. Or maybe he was having a hard time dealing with Draco's current determination to be as rude as possible.
"Say hallo to Draco for me," Harry thought to say. "Well then, good night, sir."
Snape sighed; Harry wasn't sure why. "Good night, Harry."
------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't until Thursday that Snape came to the Great Hall for a meal. Harry had been watching for him, and not just because he needed his father there if he was going to attempt something as potentially dangerous as sitting down with the Slytherins. Harry also wanted to be sure that Draco was getting plenty of time with Snape. And judging from Snape's absence from meals, it seemed he was.
On Thursday though, he made an appearance for lunch. Dumbledore gave him a reserved smile, his blue eyes twinkling as though he understood why Snape had been missing, but he was much pleased to have him at the head table once more. The Potions Master nodded stiffly as he took his seat.
Harry saw all that from the far end of the hall as he came in, Ron and Hermione on either side of him.
So then, this was it. His chance to eat with Slytherin.
All at once he didn't feel hungry in the slightest, though just a moment before he'd been ravenous. Actually, nausea was starting to roil through him, but he was hardly going to let that stand in his way. "I have to go eat with them," he told his friends in an undertone.
"You don't have to, Harry," Hermione said as she shifted her heavy load of books from one arm to the other.
"Yes, I do. I promised Draco. And anyway, Snape's watching, and he's the one who gave me this crest. To remind me that I'm Slytherin, too."
"Well then just go," said Ron, actually giving him a push. "Dithering isn't getting it done, is it?"
Harry backed up a step, startled. "What, you like the idea? Every time I talk to Nott you don't look as though you much like that."
"I don't like any of it, but I'm trying to be there for you like you asked, so just go get it over with, already!"
"Oh." Harry smiled, feeling a bit better. "Thanks, Ron."
Hermione hesitated a moment, then gave him a look of pure encouragement. Harry liked that, even after she murmured, "See if you can find out anything about the Slytherin plague. Or Bella and Erik."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Oh, who cares?"
"Well, Ronald, there is still a murderer on the loose. Possibly more than one, right here at Hogwarts. Some of us might sleep easier knowing the culprit has been caught." With that, she flounced ahead into the Great Hall.
"Some of us might sleep easier if she'd shut up," said Ron, staring after her.
"I sort of thought you two would... uh, kiss and make up, sooner or later."
"Ha. She just so full of herself, you know? She can go on for days about how I should have handled your adoption better, just as if she never wrote the most idiotic letter in the history of... well, letters!" Ron looked about to launch into a tirade over it, but then he just shook his head. "Go on and sit with your new friend Nott. I think he's waiting for you."
Harry didn't think so; when he looked that way, Nott was talking to Crabbe, who sat opposite him. "He's not my friend."
"Yeah, but he's going to be. I've seen this all before, with Malfoy."
"His name's Snape."
"Shite. I can't call him that. I guess it's going to have to be Draco after all." Ron made a face.
Harry laughed. "You'll get used to it."
"Maybe. Harry? I know you're nervous, but just go already!"
"All right." Harry caught his father's eye, then walked across the back of the hall and up alongside the Slytherin table until he reached Nott, who nodded and scooted to one side to make room for him.