"Is that why you tried to befriend me? For information?"
Nott's lips twisted. "I thought there might be a way through you to Malfoy. And if not, you might let something useful slip. Which you did, the way you kept looking at your ring. And if all else failed, I thought there might come a time when you were alone and unprotected and I could use the Portkey to give you at least, to Mr. Malfoy."
Snape idly twirled his wand between his fingers, but Harry doubted his father was as relaxed as he looked. "What makes you think the Portkey would still function, Mr. Nott?"
"It was only the amulet blocking it," Nott said, reverting to a more respectful demeanour. "Same as it blocked our feather-light charms."
"Any other questions, Harry?" When the boy shook his head, Snape turned to the other students. "Miss Granger? Mr. Weasley?"
Ron had an arm around Hermione's shoulder by then. Neither one wanted to ask anything.
"Very well, then. It's time to put an end to this." Standing up without warning, Snape levelled his wand on Theodore Nott.
"No!" gasped Harry.
"Stupefy," said Snape, who afterwards raised an eyebrow and stared at his son. "You were expecting something a trifle more... violent, I take it?"
"Um..." Ashamed by then, Harry didn't want to admit that he'd been just a little afraid he was going to hear Avada Kedavra cross his father's lips. But then again, Snape wouldn't kill Nott without finding out first who this mysterious we was... "Um, why didn't you insist he tell you who he was working with?"
"Ah. Because he couldn't. The way he was speaking... I recognise the pattern. He's under a Fidelius curse which has only partially taken. My conjecture is that he and his fellow conspirators bound themselves not to speak of the plot. But because they are not competent to cast such a complicated spell, it's only preventing Mr. Nott from revealing their identities--the most salient point, surely--and leaving him free to discuss all the other particulars."
Hermione cleared her throat. "Wouldn't Lucius Malfoy have put them under Fidelius, sir? To protect himself?"
"No doubt he would have, at the successful conclusion of the plot. Until then, he would need to leave them free to recruit other allies as needed. I've no doubt, given today's events, that Lucius is still actively seeking Draco's removal from Hogwarts."
Harry sighed. "If we can't make Nott tell us who he was working with, then what are we going to do? Even if we proved Draco innocent, he couldn't go back to Slytherin. Not until we knew who was behind all this."
"I think perhaps the next logical step would be for me to take a nap," said Snape.
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?"
Snape swept his dark gaze over all three Gryffindors before settling it on Harry. Then he said two words. Two words only, but Harry understood.
"Truthful Dreams."
"Oh...."
When the implications came clear to Harry, the suggestion made perfect sense. Snape had been looking at the map with Harry at the precise instant Draco had apparently shoved Pansy out of the Owlery. And what was Truthful Dreams designed to do, but show you what you'd seen and couldn't remember? Snape had seen the whole map. He'd scanned it, looking for clues.
Truthful Dreams would be able to show him not just who he'd seen in Hogwarts, but who he hadn't seen.
Truthful Dreams could show him who had been missing.
But still... Harry looked up, his own gaze burning with intensity. "I should do it, Dad. I saw the map as well. And I don't have your... er, that is, I can tolerate Loosestrife a little better than you can, don't you think?"
Snape's lips curled up a little bit, as though he appreciated Harry not mentioning his addiction in front of the others. "I've used the potion hundreds of times, Harry, and I've learned to focus my dreams on what I need to see. I had to, to make it assist my efforts to spy. And too, I spent a great deal more time looking at the map than you did. I'm far more likely to solve this riddle than are you."
"I understand that--"
"It will be all right," Snape assured him. "Though I think we've lingered here quite long enough."
Harry laced his fingers together. "Getting home might be a problem. I mean, with the state Nott's in. Somebody's bound to wonder why you're levitating him..."
Snape tilted his head to the side, his gaze calculating something. "I don't suppose you brought along that infernal invisibility cloak?"
"Well, no..."
"I don't know whether to laud you or curse," said Snape dryly. "Though of course several options remain. Mr. Weasley, I assume you have already side-along Apparated before. Miss Granger, you are already seventeen, I believe. Can you Apparate yourself yet?"
Hermione shook her head, her eyes going wide. "I haven't had a chance to take lessons. I thought over the summer..."
"Side-along Apparition for you as well, then."
Harry remembered then, how his father hadn't wanted to Apparate Hermione before. It was nice that he was willing to now, even if the circumstances were sort of dictating it.
Hermione was frowning. "But we can't Apparate back into Hogwarts, can we, sir?"
"The fastest and most discreet route back to the dungeons is to Apparate into the Shrieking Shack and take the tunnel onto the grounds." Snape crossed his arms, his whole appearance taking on a fierceness Harry didn't often see, these days. "I suppose I can trust you three miscreants not to hex me this time."
They never had said sorry for that, Harry suddenly realised. On the other hand, Snape had pretty much gotten even with Hermione when he'd made her think he was going to Obliviate her.
"I know it's not your favourite place--"
"No," said Snape shortly. "But it will suffice. I wish to get back to Draco quickly. He wasn't happy being left out. Not unlike you, actually." Without the slightest warning then, Snape pointed his wand at Nott and murmured a spell.
But nothing happened.
"Ah, yes," said the Potions Master, his voice heavy that time. "Your wanded magic remains impenetrable to outside influence. Apparently any sort of physical manipulation is ruled out until you cancel the spell he's already under."
"But your Stupefy worked just fine..."
"It wasn't another transformation. I'd like to transfigure Mr. Nott into something that will fit in my hand. It wouldn't do to alert his confederates should they see him being taken into custody, as it were."
"I feel up to it, I think," Harry said cautiously. This time his father didn't contradict him. "Um, do you think I'd better Accio all the egg bits first?"
"Not unless you had scattered them by means of a spell."
"Right. Of course." Harry closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then lifted his wand with his left hand as he looked down at the buttons on his shirt. "Go back the way you were."
Nothing.
"Regular legs... be bone and muscle..."
Still nothing.
"No more eggs!" Harry finally shouted, frustrated. He relaxed when he saw Nott's trouser legs fill out again. Ron put socks and shoes on the boy.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "That sounds remarkably like what I once heard you say in your sleep."
"Yeah... I think maybe the seer dreams have all come true. About time. Anyway, go ahead... what were you going to make him into?"
"What he deserves to be," said Snape, his voice silky-smooth. Uh-oh. Harry wasn't quite sure what to expect, but when his father cast the spell this time, Nott vanished completely, clothes and all. In his place was a small brown insect, still Stupefied. "Dung beetle. Fitting."