"Been nice not having him around to show us all up, though."
Harry nodded, understanding what Ron meant. He used to dread going to class with Draco, too. But things had changed, and Ron was just going to have to get used to it. "If he gets reinstated he's going to visit me in the Tower sometimes."
"And hang around with us, no doubt."
"Well, it's not like he's got a lot of friends left in Slytherin."
Ron scowled. "As long as you're sure he doesn't have a thing for Hermione, I guess I can stand it."
"He doesn't. Trust me on that one. But I'm going to encourage him to make friends with her, and you have to be able to stand that as well."
"Harry--"
"You don't think it would be better for Draco to really start believing that Muggleborns are all right? Well, how else is that going to happen except by getting to know at least one pretty well?"
"Yeah, yeah." Ron made a face.
A noise outside distracted Harry from the conversation. "That'll be Severus and Hermione." He got up to let them in, wishing by then he hadn't used wanded magic... and not just because it might seriously annoy his father. It was also the fact that he had to use yet more of it to undo the spells. And by that point, he wasn't sure he could.
He did manage, though it made his stomach twist into awful knots.
"Rather formidable wards," said Snape in a questioning voice as he entered the room.
"Well, I know you said to be good, but--" Harry cleared his throat and decided to just get it over with. "Look, what do you expect? Nott was going to deliver me to Lucius Malfoy! He had a Portkey--" A terrible thought occurred to him. "We can't just leave it out there. I mean, it's not some bit of junk. Somebody'll pick it up. Well, if they see it. It's under one of the cauldrons--"
"Miss Granger showed me." Snape glanced once at Nott's immobile form, then used a spell to gently lift Harry's injured hand into better light. "Mr. Nott is lucky you didn't do worse."
Harry looked away, wishing more than ever that he hadn't been holding his wand when he'd cast that Jelly-Legs Jinx.
Snape very carefully pulled Harry's jacket and sleeve cuffs farther up his arm, and studied the straight line that separated burnt flesh from uninjured skin. "I recognise the spell he must have used. This will be more difficult to treat than the average burn, but it can be done."
"You recognise the..." Harry gulped. "Oh. It's a Death Eater thing?"
He knew from the look on Snape's face that his father had used this on people before. A long, long time ago, but still...
"It's designed to be self-limiting. A good thing, since otherwise your clothes would have caught fire."
Self-limiting, so when the Death Eaters tortured people, they stopped short of killing them... Gooseflesh rose all up and down Harry's arms. Well, where he wasn't burnt to a crisp.
"You are otherwise unharmed? Where are your glasses?"
"I'm fine. My eye is so much better that I took them off. No headache, even." Harry gulped, his eyes watering. He told himself it was from the persistent throbbing ache in his right hand. It was just that he was tired of being in so much constant pain. "The... the ring's gone, though. Nott destroyed it. He'd figured out I needed to see a snake--"
The Potions Master moved his wand toward Harry's clenched fingers, murmuring a spell, the one he'd used months ago to tell them to forget they were in pain. He flicked the magic over palm and wrist as well, at which point Harry's fingers uncurled a little bit on their own.
"The damaged nerves were making them clench," explained Snape. "Your nerves for the moment are relaxing somewhat. Though I don't expect the spell to function quite as well as previously."
"Talk about understatement," muttered Harry, but then he realised how ungrateful that sounded. "I just mean, it's still really sore. Not so much that I think I'll sick up, though. I mean, your spell did help."
"In a short time you'll be in the infirmary receiving proper treatment," Snape assured him, though his voice was a bit on the questioning side.
"Oh yeah, I can wait," Harry said at once. "I want to know whatever Nott knows, straight away."
"It will be difficult to strategise without that information, and I'm loath to proceed until we have it. Before we deal with Mr. Nott, however, I'd like to know how you got through this scrape without your ring." Before Harry could answer, Snape gave a sharp nod. "Ah, of course. The shirt Draco gave you for Christmas. Fortuitous that you wore it today of all days."
As if only then realising how close Harry had come to disaster, Snape pulled him into a close hug, his hands patting his son's back.
"I still had to distract Nott enough so that he didn't get suspicious about what I was doing." Harry gulped, feeling like he had to talk it all out, like if he stopped, something awful might happen. Something else awful. "You remember I was wearing the Gryffindor version of the shirt when I left? So I had to switch it over before I could get my magic working... I was worried Nott would notice me unzipping my jacket and put me in a body-bind before I could reach the buttons..."
"It's all right, Harry," said Snape in a soothing voice.
"Yeah..." Harry finally relaxed against his father, breathing in deeply. Somehow losing his mother's ring hurt less now. Some, at least.
Snape shifted slightly as he looked around. "Perhaps I should have allowed Draco to accompany Miss Granger and myself. He was quite insistent, but not having assessed the situation, I was reluctant to take responsibility for his safety as well as yours." The Potions Master cleared his throat. "Though you appear to have managed quite well on your own."
Harry felt a warm glow heating him from the inside out. He wasn't sure if it was from the praise or from hearing that Draco had wanted to come help.
"Professor Snape," ventured Hermione after a few moments had passed. "Nott's breathing has changed."
"Ah well, duty calls," murmured Snape, though he took the time to pat Harry's back one last time. And drop a kiss on the top of his head. Harry thought he could have done without that last bit... or at least, he wished Snape hadn't done that in front of anyone.
Not that Ron and Hermione were likely to make fun of it. They knew, better than anyone else probably, what it meant to him to have a father at last.
Up until then, Snape hadn't glanced at Nott except to verify that the young man was in fact no threat. Now he studied the prone figure more closely and drawled, "Indeed, Miss Granger. I see what you mean."
Harry figured he was talking about the fact that Nott had no legs.
Snape turned to face his son. "It occurs to me to wonder if a standard Jelly-Legs jinx would not have been enough to incapacitate Mr. Nott?"
"Yeah." Harry heard himself clearing his throat and wondered over it. He wasn't nervous, not really. "Um, well the whole eggs thing was an accident, actually. I wasn't sure my right hand would channel magic after he burned it, so I used my left, and I don't know how to hold my wand so well in that hand."
Snape raised an eyebrow. "While under attack, you had the presence of mind to attempt to cover your wandless magic?"
Harry's neck felt a little hot at the undeserved praise. "Oh. Well, no. I sort of drew my wand by habit. I'm just not used to doing magic without it out. You know."
"Ah."
"I also did a wanded Expelliarmus. I'm not sure what that did, except I couldn't find his wand anywhere around, afterwards."
"But the locking spells on the door, those were not accidentally done."
"No, sir," said Harry in a low voice.
"Well done, Harry. Decidedly so." The moment Snape turned his attention to the two students standing anxiously to Harry's side, however, he began glowering. "Though I would have preferred he not have been left alone."
"Don't blame them. I left them for a minute. My fault completely." Harry grimaced. "I actually thought about going back for them, but decided I could handle Nott on my own. Which I guess I could, but I see now it was a little reckless of me."