"Come in this minute," he ordered, drawing them both into his living room. He peered sharply at Harry then did a quick diagnostic spell. "What on earth happened?" he demanded. "You have bruising on both your abdomen and your тАУ "
"I know, I know!" Harry interrupted, red faced. He massaged his stomach with one hand, while the other gingerly rubbed his rear end. "May I please have a healing potion, Da?"
Snape scowled, but accio'd the potion and watched carefully as the boy downed it.
"Yuk!" Harry grimaced at the old sock taste, but then signed in relief as the pain vanished in a burst of pleasant warmth. "Thanks, Da."
"I am awaiting an explanation, Mr Potter," Snape said sternly, ignoring тАУ for the moment тАУ the smiling first year.
"AhтАж" Harry abruptly realized that confessing that he'd been beaten up by Luna Lovegood was not only going to be humiliating, but once he revealed that she'd done it in self-defense, he wasn't sure that his bum wouldn't soon be sore again. Or even worse, he'd be banned from his upcoming Quidditch match.
"Yes?"
"I'm afraid I punched him," Luna offered brightly.
Snape blinked, staring from Harry to Luna and back again. "I beg your pardon."
"After I tried to punch her first," Harry admitted.
"Harry James Potter!" Snape began furiously.
"Oh, it wasn't really Harry, Professor," Luna interrupted. "Well, not just Harry."
If anything, Snape looked angrier. "And who else was there? Mr Weasley? Mr Malfoy? Since when is attacking a first year girl acceptable behavior, Mr Potter?"
"Oh, no, Professor. We were quite alone. Well, except for the Nargles, of course."
As usual, Luna's explanations didn't really help. Snape looked at Harry who spread his hands helplessly. He didn't understand what had happened either.
"Let me be clear," Snape tried again. "You and Mr Potter were тАУ"
"Yes, I think that would be best," Luna agreed. "I don't know why some people find this confusing, but it's really rather simple. The Grey Lady told me where to find it, and she said Harry could help. I didn't understand that she meant because of the Nargles, you see, so I handed it to Harry, not realizing that that was a very bad idea. Because he's marked the same way, you see? So it was able to affect him much more strongly."
Snape and Harry blinked at her. "Just what are we talking about, Miss Lovegood?" Snape managed to ask.
"This!" She held up the sack proudly, then looked sharply at Snape. "Oh. I see that the Nargles are avoiding you too." She withdrew the sack. "Perhaps it would be best if I handed it to someone who isn't marked."
Snape managed not to rear back in shock, but it was a close thing. How had she known he was Marked? Yes, there were always rumors about his having been a Death Eater, and it rather suited his purposes for the little fiends to believe he was capable of torture and mayhem, but no one had ever come flat out and talked about his Mark with such aplomb, let alone to his face.
"I тАУ I beg your pardon?" he demanded, as menacingly as he could manage at the moment.
"Well, that's what all three of you have in common," Luna said, hefting the bag. "The Nargles. They avoid you and Harry in the same way that they avoid this. So all three of you share something in common, and that's why it had more power over Harry than over me. Don't you see, Professor? It's really very simple," she repeated, a bit chidingly.
Snape had no real understanding of what the child was babbling about, but it seemed that she was claiming to have something in the sack that responded to something about Harry and himself. He rubbed his left forearm unconsciously. It was undeniable that they two had the closest connections to the Dark Lord of anyone at HogwartsтАж perhaps that's what she was referring to? After all, it sounded as if the chit was suggesting that Harry's uncharacteristic violent outburst was related to the object in the sack, and violence and Voldemort went hand in glove. Better not to take any chances.
"And to whom amongst the faculty would you feel comfortable giving your sack?" he inquired.
"Well," Luna said consideringly, "I suppose it should be someone whom the Nargles really like. Doesn't that make sense?"
Snape exchanged a glance with Harry.
"I just smile an' nod," Harry offered, sotto voce.
"That would seemтАж sensible," Snape returned warily.
"Well, of course they really adore Professor Dumbledore, but тАУ"
"Wait here." Snape stepped over to his floo, and moments later, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall stepped through.
"Well, hello, Miss Lovegood. What lovely earrings you have," Professor Dumbledore twinkled at her.
"Why, thank you, Professor!" Luna said happily. "I didn't know you were nearby."
"We are just passing through," McGonagall said quickly. "Professor Dumbledore needs his rest, you know."
Luna smiled at them. "Oh, yes, but the Grey Lady said that if I gave this to you, then you and Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have nearly so much work to do. So this will really help him get his rest, don't you see?"
"And what exactly is that, dear?" Dumbledore asked gently, gesturing to the sack.
Luna promptly handed it over. "The Grey Lady said you'd know what to do with it."
McGonagall and Snape gasped as Dumbledore carefully withdrew Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem from the sack.
"Careful!" Dumbledore held up a commanding hand when the others would have reached for it. "This is more than it seems," he told the other adults meaningfully, dropping it back into the sack.
Luna nodded. "The ghosts talk to me," she explained simply. "All of them. And the Grey Lady was so sad when she found out what you were doing, because she said you were going to miss one. So she told me all about it, and how she had finally, after all those years, trusted someone with the diadem's location, only to have him take it and use it for something terrible. She wanted me to make sure that you took care of it, before he came back and got it, like he plans."
"Thank you, Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore said kindly. "This is indeed very, very important. Will you give the Grey Lady my sincere thanks as well?" Luna nodded happily. "And I think 50 points to Ravenclaw is in order," he twinkled. "And for Gryffindor тАУ"
Harry shook his head quickly. "I didn't really do anything, Professor. It was all Luna," he explained. He wouldn't have felt right, accepting a reward when he hadn't known what was happening тАУ and still didn't understand, not really.
"You two should go wash up for dinner," Snape ordered, anxious to forestall curious questions from Harry. By taking advantage of Harry's Lovegood-induced state of confusion, he could entirely avoid having to explain. "And do not mention this to anyone тАжcorporeal," he ordered. "This is faculty business."
"Yes, Professor!" Luna sang happily, and taking Harry by the arm, tugged him unresistingly out of the quarters.
Dumbledore exchanged glances with Snape and McGonagall. "We are fortunate indeed that the Hogwarts ghosts are assisting us," he said somberly. "I would not have expected Tom to have located the Diadem."
"Well, once we destroy this one, that will be three horcruxes down," Minerva pointed out. "The Diary, the Ring, and the Diadem. And we have a lead on Slytherin's locket. Surely he cannot have made that many more?"
"Let us hope not," Dumbledore sighed. "Thank you, my boy. Minerva and I will go to dispose of this, then we shall continue our hunt."