"You said you wouldn't take it well if you were excluded, either," retorted Harry.
"TouchÈ."
"I don't think you realise quite how pale you were," murmured Snape. He held up a hand when Harry started to say something in reply. "Perhaps a compromise is in order. A negotiation, as you're so fond of reminding me. We had agreed, if you recall, that when you went on a Hogsmeade Saturday, you would do your Potions tutorial on Sunday instead. Now, if you were too ill to attend Mr. Nott's second interrogation, I certainly think you'll need tomorrow to recuperate as well."
Harry stared, taking a second to translate that into normal English. It came out something like, If you stop whinging, I'll let you out of Potions tomorrow.
Probably as good as it was going to get, Harry decided. "Deal."
"Harry, Potions are fun. You don't seem to get that," complained Draco as he glanced at Snape. "Gryffindors are just strange."
Snape didn't take the bait. He merely shrugged.
Apparently giving up on that line of thought, Draco suddenly blurted, "Where are my chocolate frogs?"
Harry was a little irritated by the question. He'd had more to deal with that day than sweets, after all. Then again, so had Draco. And if chocolate would help him through it... "Hmm. I bought you a whole bag but I think they got left in the room where we dragged Nott. Sorry."
Draco narrowed his eyes. "I gave you enough to buy more than one bag."
"Yeah, I have some Galleons to give back--"
"I need chocolate, Potter!"
"Ten points from Slytherin," sighed Snape. "Really, Draco, if you need chocolate so badly you don't have to rail at your brother. I have some in my office."
Draco huffed. "Well, I was hardly going to ask you when you're the one who cut off my special meals privileges in the first place."
"Well, have you learned not to misuse the privilege?" Snape stared levelly at his son.
"Yes, sir," said Draco, looking down.
Snape waved his wand at the mantle and a brass box appeared. Full of Floo powder, no doubt. "Then ask for what you like."
"Ha. That Dobby'll probably try to poison me," muttered Draco. "Maybe just some chocolate from your office would be better. If it's still on offer?"
"Certainly." Snape summoned some.
It turned out to be dark chocolate, which wasn't Harry's favourite. Draco liked it, he knew. Harry took some to be polite, and nibbled on it. Draco took one bite of his and made an awful face.
"Oh, ick, it's got mint mixed in," the Slytherin boy moaned. Harry noticed that he still ate it, though. "I like my chocolate pure!"
"Oh, stop being such a prat," said Harry. "You offered chocolate mint cocoa to Dad once, remember?"
"Well that's cocoa," said Draco in an airy voice, as if Harry really should know better.
"This does not encourage me to be generous with my chocolate," remarked Snape in a long-suffering tone.
"Well, at least it's a decent brand. Wizarding chocolate really should come from Mexico. So, good show there, Severus."
Harry and his father exchanged an exasperated glance as the magic doorbell began chiming.
Draco jumped up to check the scroll, then began to chortle. "Oh, look at this. Albus Dumbledore and Fawkes! Ha, you'll notice that Fawkes is an actual bird, yet it doesn't say pet like it did for your cousin, Harry--"
"It'd say pet for anything non-magical and you know it," retorted Harry.
"Albus, welcome," said Severus as he spelled the door open and pulled it wide. "You thought better than to Floo?"
"Oh, I felt like a long walk," said the headmaster. "Clears the mind, I've often found."
Draco bounced on his heels. "Are you here to tell me that the governors have met and admitted they were a bunch of old frauds last time, and I didn't deserve to be expelled and I'm back in classes again, and back to Slytherin, and--"
He stopped when the headmaster gave a long sigh. "Ah, Draco. There's hardly been time for all that." He looked over the top of his half-moon spectacles, his eyes about as wise and all-knowing as Harry had ever seen them. "And as for your not deserving to be expelled..."
He let the suggestion hang in the air.
"What?" Draco looked at Snape, then back at the headmaster. "What?"
"Let us just say that your father handled it admirably well, and that will be an end to the matter."
Draco's face paled. "Oh."
Dumbledore patted Draco on the shoulder. "There, there. You're coming along quite well, all things considered. And we all make mistakes when we're young."
"How did you..."
"There's very little that goes on inside the castle that I don't know, young man. You might remember that in future."
"Yes, sir," Draco said, his voice low and small. "I... Yes, I will."
Dumbledore smiled, the expression making him look like a kindly old grandfather. "It was good to have a chance to talk with you earlier, Draco. And even better to see your conduct during the interrogations. You handled it all with aplomb."
"I... thank you, sir." Draco glanced up, looking somehow shattered by the gentle rebuke and then the praise. "I have some reading to do, if you'll excuse me. I want to be prepared for when the governors... when are they meeting?"
"If you'll pardon a little advice, there's no guarantee they will reinstate you, my boy."
"I know." Draco cleared his throat. "You aren't going to tell them about the..."
"No, no, goodness no. I don't expect you'll do the like again."
"No," murmured Draco. "I won't. Well, I still want to catch up on my readings. Good night, then."
His bedroom door shut with a quiet click.
"And how are you, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as he turned to the other boy. "Recovering nicely?"
Harry smiled, a little ruefully. "My hand's a bit sore but it's all right."
"Excellent, excellent." The headmaster's expression became utterly serious as he turned toward the Potions Master. "A word, Severus, if you please. Perhaps in your office?"
Harry cleared his throat. "Um, actually I need to talk to both of you, too. So I'll just tag along, if you don't mind."
Snape turned to stare at him, then glanced significantly at the bedroom door Draco had just closed.
Harry nodded. The headmaster, he couldn't help but notice, looked a bit bemused.
Once they were all seated in Snape's office with the door securely shut, Harry cleared his throat again. "So, it's like this. I feel like the snake ring idea didn't work out so well."
"To say the least," agreed Snape, frowning, his gaze a little distant. He seemed to shake that off and come back to the present after a moment. "I presume from your wish to come in here that you still don't favour Draco's idea of some sort of mark on your hand or arm?"
Harry couldn't help but shudder. "Yuck. It's too much like... well, you know. Besides, after today, I think it's safe to say it would get noticed and attacked, the way my ring was." He winced just thinking about it. Definitely, in future it would be best not to call attention to his arm. "I wondered if we could come up with anything else. Because I can't go back to class without some sort of snake in hand, so to speak. And Sals is even more obvious than the ring, so I can't be using her like that all the time. Not to mention I'd rather not get her killed. So... any ideas?"
Snape rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I've hesitated to suggest any sort of Occlumency technique up until now, given that your Occlusion on Samhain was key to your survival. I'd rather not tamper with those powers. But after what happened today? A mental solution may well be indicated."
"A sound notion," said Dumbledore.