Harry wasn't so sure. "You think I won't be able to Occlude as well if I change my image to a snake, Dad?"
"I think there will be a period during which your Occlumency may be compromised."
"That's no good. I mean, there's no point at all to secrecy if Voldemort can just read my mind--"
"He can't do that from afar. However, your scar might well become active once more, and he might seek to influence you through dreams and visions," said Snape in a gentle voice.
Harry felt scrubbed raw hearing that. No matter that his father didn't intend it as a reminder of how he'd failed Sirius. "Um, yeah. So forget that plan--"
"I do believe you've already promised to come straight to me if anything in your dreams disturbs you," said Snape, his dark gaze steady on his son. "If you recall?"
"Yeah, I recall." Harry sighed. "Well, I guess it just has to be done. If I could make a mental snake work I wouldn't have to worry about today repeating itself."
"Not once you had achieved mastery." Snape steepled his fingers and tapped them together. "It's far from guaranteed, you realise. Occlumency isn't normally used in this manner."
"Well, we can work on it tomorrow but if I don't master it pretty fast, we'll need another solution for Monday when I go to class."
The headmaster took off his spectacles and regarded them gravely. "It occurs to me that as long as I wear these, I always have an image of the moon within view."
Harry shook his head at the image that popped into his head. Snake-shaped lenses?
"Perhaps a small etching," continued the headmaster. "Something barely perceptible; we could even charm the glass so that it was only visible from the inside."
"Hmm. Nott had noticed I kept looking at my ring," murmured Harry. "This would be better. Nobody's going to think it's odd I look out through my glasses. Though this would mean I'd have to wear them again! I just finally got a chance to stop!" Whinging wasn't going to help matters, though, so Harry hurriedly added, "It's better than a mark, though. Really, it's a pretty good solution. I'll just go fetch my glasses then?"
"Accio Harry's glasses," said Snape, solving that. Harry felt a little bit silly he hadn't thought of magic. But then again, he didn't have a snake at hand, not at the moment. Or his wand, not that he really needed it.
The door opened to admit the glasses, which sailed into Snape's hand. He tapped the lens that Pomfrey had charmed. "Finite Incantatem," he said, repeating the spell twice more as he turned the glasses around in his hands. "The lenses are simple glass now," he finally announced, moving to pass the glasses over toward the headmaster.
Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "Oh, no, no, Severus. I'm not the one with talent for artistry. You go ahead."
Harry had an urge then, to ask the headmaster what he knew about Hostilian Snape. Perhaps the next time they were alone? He knew it wasn't such a good idea; if Snape didn't want to tell him things like that, he'd hardly want Harry discussing them with people outside the family. But still, the headmaster might know things Harry should really know...
Snape was scowling a little, as though the idea of creating any art didn't sit well with him, but he went ahead, using some spell that converted the tip of his wand into a very thin blade. After a few moments of carving, his forehead furrowed in concentration, he spelled the outside of the right lens to conceal the image he'd etched.
"It's rough," he said, his voice gruff when he handed Harry the glasses.
Putting them on was an odd feeling; Harry kept expecting one side to be blocked off. But the world looked just the same as without them, except for the tiny snake he could see at the inside corner of his vision. He wanted to test a spell, though, just to be sure this solution worked. "Uh, I don't have my wand handy--"
"Albus knows you can cast magic without it," said Snape in a tired voice. "Should you be, is more the issue. Your hand is still recovering from that burn."
"Best to wait, yes," said Albus briskly. "Your father's right. Tomorrow before you return to Gryffindor, perhaps, cast a spell or two to be sure. And now, if you'll excuse us, Harry, I've a few things to discuss with Severus."
"Sure..."
Snape, however, had risen to his feet and crossed his arms, his robes billowing slightly. "Actually, Albus, if the matter concerns Harry or the Order in any way, I'd prefer him to stay. He does better with more information rather than less, as I believe I've mentioned to you?"
Well, that made up for missing Nott's second interrogation, Harry thought, smiling inwardly.
"It's more a matter concerning you, Severus," retorted the headmaster.
"Nevertheless, anything you'd care to say on that topic can certainly be said in front of my son."
"Fine," said Dumbledore. A little bit sharply, it seemed to Harry. He wondered what had the headmaster so irritated.
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Harry headed towards the door. "Oh, that's all right--"
"No, stay," insisted the headmaster, standing up to face Snape. "Are you aware, Severus, that you were needed earlier? Slytherin was all in an uproar, and you were nowhere to be found. I had to go attempt to calm your House."
Snape's nostrils flared. "As soon as Tonks and Kingsley took charge of the three perpetrators, I had business to see to in Hogsmeade. I'm sure you can fathom out what."
"Laudable as your intentions no doubt were, you were needed here!"
"My son comes first."
Harry didn't really intend to speak up at all, but that comment had him puzzled. Why had his father gone back to Hogsmeade? And the man had said Harry did better with more information, so... "Um... how's that?"
Snape sighed, his black eyes sympathetic when he looked Harry's way. "The spell Mr. Nott used, Harry. It was Dark Arts. Normally when such a spell comes into direct contact with gold, the metal is annihilated. However, as Mr. Nott was working far above his level of magical competence when he cast it--"
Harry's hand seemed to ache just hearing that. "Ha. Seemed pretty competent to me."
"Unfortunately, yes. I thought perhaps I might be able to summon the constituents of your ring so it could be remade. But that wasn't possible, I regret to say. All I could recover were these." Reaching into his pocket, Snape drew forth a tiny metal box and opened it. Inside, several small emeralds glinted in the light.
Harry gulped. He'd already given the ring up as gone. Now to find that the gemstones remained, but nothing else... it was like losing it all over again. Though that didn't make sense. He should be happy something of it remained. Somehow, though, this was more painful than losing it completely.
Maybe, because the sight of those emeralds reminded him how much else was lost.
"Thanks," said Harry, taking the box with his left hand and holding tight to it. "I... well, thanks for trying. I appreciate it."
Snape patted his shoulder.
The headmaster had fallen silent, but once another moment had passed, he resumed. "Severus--"
Snape rounded on him, his eyes fierce by then. "Do not attempt to tell me that I should have put Slytherin first, Albus. I won't listen. I'm rather stunned, in fact, that you would resent assuming my House duties to this degree! So you had to go calm the Slytherins and explain the situation to them! That doesn't strike me as an entirely inappropriate thing for the headmaster of Hogwarts to do."
Dumbledore's eyes could gleam fiercely too, Harry saw. "I don't bring the matter up because I was inconvenienced, Severus. I mention it because when you went missing, I had no idea in the world what you might be doing!"
Snape raised an eyebrow. "I do have a private life. What is the problem?"
"I thought you might have gone to find Lucius Malfoy and hex him within an inch --or, I dare say, beyond that-- of his life!"
Now Snape's eyes were narrowed in derision. "Oh, I think I have more self-control than that."
"Do you?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I wasn't pleased, Severus, to learn how much you'd taken on yourself today. Conducting Mr. Nott's initial interrogation right there in Hogsmeade was foolhardy, to say the least. Your primary interest--as a father and an Order member both--should have been to remove Harry to the safety of Hogwarts at all speed, and get his injured hand seen to. As I understand it, it was burnt black!"