Snape fairly glowered, thought Harry.
"Hey, he cast a painkilling spell and I was just fine waiting a bit--"
Snape spoke right on top of him. "For Merlin's sake, Albus. I had already assessed the danger as minimal--"
"Prudence would have had you making that assessment here, not at the very site where Harry had just been attacked. You delayed in informing me what had occurred. Indeed, I was told nothing whatsoever until you sent Draco up to my office so that you and you alone could solve the remaining mystery by means of Truthful Dreams."
"I was in the best position to solve that mystery!"
"Perhaps, but don't you see what you have been doing in all this, Severus?"
"Protecting my sons, both of them?" sneered the Potions Master.
"I think it's more a case of trying to feel useful," said Dumbledore, very gently. Stepping forward, he looked into Snape's black eyes. "You've lamented to me, more than once, Harry's tendency toward heroics. But don't you see that your own behaviour today shows the same impulse? Questioning Nott without other Order members or Aurors there. Keeping him incarcerated by means of that spell until it suited you to bring him to my attention. Your resolve to be the one to deduce who else was involved. It all fits a pattern, Severus."
"Useful!" sputtered Snape. "How dare you suggest I've no earthly way to be useful to the Order!"
"But I don't suggest that. You do, through decisions like the ones you made today. Ever since you were found out as a spy you've questioned whether you have any value to the Order--"
"That," spat Snape, "is not true!"
"Of course it's not true!" said Dumbledore, raising his voice. "Your potions are invaluable. And your keen strategic intelligence is not something many in the Order possess. Granted, you didn't use much of it today, but this desire to prove yourself to Harry is interfering with your good judgement."
Harry swallowed. "You don't have to prove yourself to me! I mean... God, Samhain was all the proof I could ever need. Giving up your chance to spy, putting yourself at the very top of Voldemort's list of who to get?"
"I'm not trying to prove myself," said Snape. "Not to you, or anyone else."
"To yourself, then." Dumbledore paused, stroking his beard as he thought. "I know it can't be easy for you that the person closest to Voldemort's inner circle now is Remus Lupin, Severus."
Snape stiffened. "I think you overestimate the werewolf. His affliction alone makes it doubtful he can always be on duty when required. But if he is the best you can dredge up..."
"I can hear jealousy in every word, Severus."
"Hyperbole," scoffed Snape as he crossed his arms.
"My dear boy, you can hardly endure the thought that Remus might gain stature in Harry's eyes," said Dumbledore, his voice like a spell to calm stormy seas. "But Severus, you know Harry now. I know you do. He's a boy with an enormous capacity for love. Look at how he's forgiven Draco and taken him as a brother. It doesn't means he loves his other friends any the less. Surely you must realise that his respect for Remus doesn't diminish his regard for you. Not in the least. Severus... he can love you both."
Harry felt himself colouring a little. Not that he was ashamed of any of that, but still...
"Thank you for explaining the bloody obvious, Albus!"
"Sometimes it's the obvious that we can't see clearly," said Dumbledore softly. "Your time as a spy in the inner circle is over, Severus, but that wasn't who you were. It was only how you served."
"Atoned, you mean," said Snape, the words bitter and resigned.
"Oh, my dear boy, you have atoned. Many times over. Harry's love for you is proof of that. He couldn't love that which was evil. You know he couldn't." Albus' voice went even more gentle. "Stop wishing you could be the one to help bring Voldemort down. Because you will help, Severus. I have not the slightest doubt of it. But you won't help as you once expected."
Snape pressed his lips together, and nodded once.
Dumbledore went on in the same kind voice. "And you won't help as much as you could, if you continue to allow personal matters to cloud your judgment. Think about it, Severus. That's all I ask."
Snape had apparently already thought about it. He sat down, tilting his head up to look at Albus. "Perhaps lingering in Hogsmeade wasn't the very best course available. I can see that now." He frowned. "And involving the Aurors sooner may have been advisable. Though considering the complexity of the situation, I didn't want them privy to everything about the incident." He sighed. "Harry's dark powers, for example, and his need to see a snake. I Obliviated Mr. Nott before his second interrogation commenced."
"Draco mentioned that as your intention. Again, I would have appreciated being consulted, Severus."
Harry bit his lip a little. "Nott got Obliviated twice today? Once to forget I'd turned his legs to eggs and again so he'd forget Lucius Malfoy's involvement? Will he have any mind left at all?"
"Unlike some professors, I am competent to cast a memory charm."
"Um, that was only 'cause Lockhart used Ron's wand which was snapped almost in half and taped back together."
Snape smiled slightly. "Yes, I am aware. As for Mr. Nott..." His expression became grim. "He's far more likely to lose his mind to the Dementors than to today's events."
Harry nodded. Nott deserved what he was going to get, after all. He hadn't just attacked Harry, he'd actually killed a person. A person Draco had loved, though she'd turned out to be anything but worthy of the emotion.
"You're still troubled," said Snape, peering at him closely.
"Not about him," said Harry, shaking his head. "It's just... I can't really imagine what this year has been like for Draco. First his father turning on him, and now finding out that the girl he thought was his girlfriend was anything but?"
"He'll feel better once he's in classes, I expect."
Harry turned to the headmaster. "Um, I was wondering about that. Is it going to be that easy? I mean, technically he was kicked out of classes long before he was expelled. So he gets reinstated. Will that automatically let him back into classes?"
"If he returns as a student in good standing, yes. I think the governors will see that Draco has more than paid for the hexing incident earlier this year."
"Including Lucius?"
"Oh, we can count on Lucius Malfoy to keep his malevolence to himself this once. He'll be too worried about his own neck, now that we've caught the students he suborned to kill Miss Parkinson."
"More likely, he'll be realising he can't get to Draco as long as Draco stays down here," realised Harry. "Shite. Oh, sorry. Um, I just meant.... Lucius might want to see Draco allowed into classes again. Maybe it's better if he doesn't get reinstated. I mean, that'd be awful for him, but if it keeps him alive..."
"I've taken steps to disallow Lucius Malfoy entrance to Hogwarts. Unless he's coming for a bonafide meeting of the governing board, of course. But he'll be escorted to those."
Harry stared. "If you can do that to a governor now, why couldn't you do it before?"
Dumbledore's smile was a bit philosophical. "Because now he won't raise any objection. We have something on him, you see. We can't use it, of course, not as long as we want Lucius free so that Remus can impersonate him. But Lucius doesn't know about that."
Snape cleared his throat. "Very Slytherin."