By the end of the conversation Harry ended up accepting the cigarette, after all, it didn’t matter anymore if his lungs got destroyed. Harry couldn’t even be angry, he wasn’t surprised much either. For Neither Can Live While the Other Survives… It made so much more sense now that Harry wasn’t trained well, that he wasn’t supposed to be strong and prepared. He quickly gulped down more whiskey, wishing that it would help him accept the fact that Dumbledore had betrayed him. It didn’t.

 “How do we do it?” Harry asked quietly, hoping that he didn’t sound too scared.

   Hermione was standing in the doorway now, listening to the two of them.

 “We were thinking…” she started and fiddled with one of her curls, “that maybe we could just not do it and find a way to get the Horcrux out of your head.  Ignore Dumbledore and get away?”

 “No,” Harry said firmly. “Enough people have died and now that I know a way to prevent it I can’t… I can’t just leave.”

 “You are not serious, Potter. I am not allowing you to sacrifice yourself. I’ve spent years trying to save your sorry arse from the Dark Lord,” Snape said.

 Harry shrugged, as if his life really didn’t matter that much.

 “There is no other way. Dumbledore is correct. Vol-“

 “Don’t!” Hermione said hastily.

 “You-Know-Who will locate you, Snape, like he did with Karkaroff. You have the mark. He will kill hundreds of people, the students at Hogwarts, he won’t stop.”

 Harry stood up, his decision made. With that decision he was finally able to clear his mind, to think properly, cold and calculating.

 “Bring me to him!” Harry demanded. “If you bring me to him, it will be easier.”

 “For you perhaps,” Snape said and rubbed his forehead.

 “Don’t pretend you give a shit,” Harry said, trying to get the man out of his reserve. “You hate me, just stick to that and it won’t be that hard.”

 “Harry,” Hermione whimpered. “This isn’t right. No-one can ask that of you.”

 “It’s fine, really. I think I’ve known for a long time that this thing in my head is killing me. It is getting worse by the day. I don’t even think I’d survive another one of those… attacks.”

Harry continued, now sounding more desperate, “Please… help me. Hermione, you can use my cloak if you want to come. Snape, you won’t be in danger if You-Know-Who still thinks you are on his side. Please… I am dying anyway, I know it. Let me finish this, once and for all. He will make new Horcruxes, he will find other ways, he will reign forever, and it will be my fault. And yours.”