“What did I do?“ Harry asked and felt suddenly like a very stupid little boy who’d done more damage than he could comprehend.

 “You have no idea, Harry. Just stop right now.”

 “Then talk to me, Hermione. He killed my parents and Dumbledore and-”

 “I couldn’t save them,” Snape interrupted dully. “I tried.”

 “I don’t believe you.”

 Snape looked up, still looking furious, but his eyes shocked Harry and  made him feel as if he was made of lead or something equally heavy. They were like two dark wounds, gaping, seeping. Harry saw desperation of a magnitude he hadn’t even believed possible.

 “Talk to me,” Harry whispered. “Just explain…”

 Snape let out a long, shuddering breath and answered. “I can’t.”

 “Let me tell him, Severus.” Hermione put a hand on the man’s shoulder, but he jerked away. “Don’t fucking touch me, Granger.” He growled and buried his head in his hands again.

 “Severus… you have all the Horcruxes on you!” Hermione suddenly shrieked. “You know what that does to you? We need to destroy them.”

 “You have the Horcruxes?” Harry asked, feeling dumb yet again.

 Snape pulled out the locket and a goblet and handed them to Hermione. “It is Hufflepuff’s Cup,” Hermione explained. “Bellatrix Lestrange gave it to Severus so he would put it in her vault. He never did.”

 “Uh,” said Harry.

 “Astute as ever, Potter.” With the objects not touching him anymore, Snape seemed to have regained control of himself. Unfortunately that obviously meant he was able to insult Harry even more.

 “Severus made a potion that contains basilisk venom. He also worked on securing the cauldron so there wouldn’t be any nasty surprises. It is ready, actually, we can do it now.”

 Snape shot up, seemingly glad that the topic had been changed, stalked past them into a large room that had a huge silver cauldron in it.

 “We cannot do it yet,” he announced. “First, we have to find the last one. If we destroy them now, the Dark Lord will notice and will keep his last Horcrux safer than it is now.”

 “How do we know that you are not just saying that in order to keep them safe?” Harry asked.

 “Because I trust him, Harry. I will hear no more of this.”

 Harry found that she rather sounded like Dumbledore whose trust in the dark man hadn’t got him very far at all.