After the initial wave of nausea passed, Harry released Snape's arm. He opened his tightly closed eyes, and glanced around. They were atop a mountain, standing on a ledge. To Harry's left was a sharp cliff. The cold morning wind caused Snape's cape to wrap around him. Harry felt slightly uncomfortable and stepped out of the cloak's range. He could smell the sea crashing against the rocks below.

Snape took out his wand and muttered a lumos charm. He stepped towards an opening in the rock and Harry followed, a few paces behind.

"Do what I tell you," Snape ordered briskly once they were covered in the shadow of the cave. "I can't have any of your Gryffindor non-sense, understand? You got lucky once. Don't count on it happening again." Snape's voice was cold, and he didn't look at Harry.

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered. "Please don't stay angry over that." Harry didn't think he could deal with Snape's snide remarks for much longer.

"I'm not," Snape said curtly. "We have a job to do, and I want to get it done without heroics. I won't be responsible for your death too." Harry nodded silently in the darkness. They came to a stone door and Snape began to try different spells to open it.

"Here," he said, abruptly handing his wand to Harry. Shocked, Harry accepted it. Deftly, Snape took out a knife and sliced his hand.

"What are you - ?" Harry suddenly objected. Without answering, Snape smeared his hand over the rock before them, then stepped aside as the door opened. He muttered a healing spell, and his hand knitted back together as though nothing had happened.

"I was opening the door," Snape said blandly, taking his wand back. "Follow me." He stepped into the darkness. Harry paused for a moment, but then quickly ran after Snape. He might not like the look of the cave, but it was safer to be with his potions professor than without him.

"Stay close," Snape warned as they made their way to what appeared to be a lake. "Don't touch the water. I don't know what the Dark Lord may have hidden in it, and the longer it doesn't know we're here, the better."

"Then how will we cross?" After a moment, Snape muttered another spell, and a boat raised itself from the depths of the water. Harry nodded, impressed.

"Get in," Snape ordered, as he stepped into the boat himself. It was wet and moldy, but still solid enough to be safe. It brought with it a putrid, rotten odor from the bottom of the lake. Harry made a retching noise as he caught a full whiff of the smell.

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"Inferi," Snape replied. "Best to keep your hands out of the water if at all possible. It's incredibly difficult to kill something which is already dead." Harry shuddered but didn't reply. Instead he gazed over the side of the boat into the murky water. Sure enough, he could see the white, wrinkled faces of the promised Inferi. Harry feared to ask how Snape knew them by their smell.

He observed the man in front of him, rowing steadily towards an island in the middle of the water. Harry could see the lines of worry around Snape's mouth and eyes. They made Snape look older than he really was. Yet the man rowed on, both in the boat and in life. Harry thought he could admire such dogged determination.

Landing on the island rudely interrupted his thoughts. Snape stepped out of the boat, and Harry followed. There was a basin with a sickly green liquid in it and a goblet next to it.

"Obviously the intention was that anyone who got this far has to drink the potion," Snape drawled distastefully, eying the goblet.

"Obviously anyone who does will die," Harry said equally distastefully.

"Not immediately, though without proper treatment, yes," Snape said. Harry blinked and searched Snape's face to see if he was bluffing. But wait, he'd never known Snape to bluff. Harry dismissed the thought immediately.

"How do you know?"

"I made it." Harry blinked, but accepted the answer.

"So...you have the antidote then?" Harry asked.

"I have never actually made the antidote," Snape explained, picking up the goblet and weighing it thoughtfully in his hand. "The Dark Lord requested a potion with specific properties and I made it for him. He never told me what he was using it for, and I never asked." Harry nodded solemnly.

"Please don't drink it then," Harry said casually. "We can always come back once you've made the antidote."

"Or we can simply get around the intention of this set up," Snape suggested. Without waiting for an answer from Harry, Snape plunged the goblet into the liquid, and pulled out a sample of the apparently very thick substance.

"No, don't!" Harry immediately pleaded, stepping forward, putting his hand on Snape's wrist to stop him.

"I have no intention of drinking it," Snape explained, sounding almost amused. He proceeded to pour the potion on the ground. "The potion cannot be banished or transfigured. It must be taken out of the basin in this goblet. But once that has happened, who is to say what must happen to the potion? I could drink it, yes, but pouring it on the ground is just as effective."

"Oh," Harry said, feeling stupid as he backed away. "Sorry."

"I appreciate your concern," Snape replied as he reached in for a second, then a third goblet of the potion. As he predicted, this method worked to get rid of the potion. At the bottom of the basin was a gold locket. Snape picked it up and placed it in his pocket.

"And thus we have retrieved our first horcrux," he said. "Let's go, before something goes wrong. I feel we've already overstayed our welcome." The two got back into the boat and rowed to the other shore. Perhaps it was because the mission had been so easy that Harry felt uncomfortable, like something bad was still going to happen. But they left the cave and nothing had. In fact, despite the darkness of the day, it was only afternoon. When Harry realized this, his stomach decided to protest loudly. He looked embarrassed when Snape snorted quietly.

"Quite right," Snape agreed. "I want to visit a certain house before we go back to Hogwarts," he continued, "and in the meantime, I have brought some food. Take my arm and we'll find a more appropriate place to eat." Harry did as instructed and Harry found he and Snape standing in a small clearing under the shadow of the mountain. Snape summoned some kindling, and lit a fire with his wand. Then he took a small purple bag and pulled from it a mass of white much too big to have been in there.

"What would you like?" Snape asked, wand poised above the mass. Harry looked confused, and didn't answer. "It's something Professor McGonagall invented," Snape explained. "It itself is made from organic material, which means it can be transfigured into food. The difficulty in transfiguring food comes from the principle that transfiguration only changes the accidents of a thing, not the substance, and when you eat food, you are eating the substance. Since this has the substance of food, I can transfigure it into any food related item you want." Harry's mouth made a silent "Oh." They were silent for a few minutes.

"And? Is there anything you would like?" Snape pressed.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said quickly. He seemed to glance around quickly for an idea. His eyes fell on the fire. "How about s'mores?" Snape nodded after a moment.

"Alright then." He muttered the appropriate spells, and soon had a sufficient quantity of graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. The two of them were silent as they sat across from each other, each toasting a marshmallow on some branches. When Harry's was done to his satisfaction, he constructed it. After a moment of admiring the job he had done, he tasted it. His eyes got wide and then he closed them in blissful happiness.

"This is really good!" he suddenly said.

"You've never had them before?" Snape guessed.

"No, I haven't," Harry admitted, coloring a little. "I mean, the Dursleys never let me have any," he tried to repress a shudder at the thought, "and I've never seen wizards have any."

"Wizards generally don't," Snape informed him.

"You knew what they were though."

"I'm not stupid." They fell silent again. After a few minutes, Harry shifted his weight nervously.

"I told Ron and Hermione," Harry finally said.

"Good," Snape said. "They were quite concerned about you."

"Still are," Harry shrugged.

"As they have a right to be." Harry nodded. "How are you doing?" Snape asked quietly.

"Okay," Harry said with a grimace. "I'll be fine. As long as I never have to go back there. I wouldn't be able to take it. I'm not that strong."

"I can promise you that will never happen," Snape said, but his voice was drowned out by a rustling in the bushes. Snape leaped to his feet, his partially toasted marshmallow going up in the flames. He drew his wand and stood ready to attack should the need arise. Harry was only a few moments behind him.

Out of the bush stepped Sirius. Snape lowered his wand and rolled his eyes dramatically.

"What do you want now?" he asked. "And how did you find us?"

"Saw you disapparate, Snivellus, simple tracking spell," Sirius replied. Harry winced at the form of address. "I want my godson back."

"Sirius," Harry began suddenly, "I'm fine, really I am, I told you."

"Harry," Sirius began, as he stepped towards his godson. Snape tried to step between them but Harry indicated he didn't want this, so Snape stepped aside, though his wand was still out if necessary. Harry had put his away. "Harry, he's dead."

"I know, I killed him, I killed Vold- I mean - the Dark Lord," Harry said. "You wrote that in your message."

"He is?" Sirius asked, suddenly confused. "How did you - ? Nevermind, congratulations! But I wasn't talking about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Who - ?"

"Your uncle."

"My - ?"

"Yes, he got what he deserved."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his face darkening, as he stepped back away from his godfather.

"Harry, I found out, I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I'm so sorry." Harry looked at Snape hopelessly. Snape looked away.

"It's a long story," Snape muttered.

"So you told everyone?" Harry accused.

"I would hardly say having the Dark Lord break my mind and simply handing your uncle over to Black telling him to avenge you counts as everyone," Snape said, eyes blazing. "Get out of here," he said to Sirius.

"What? I'm confused," Harry said.

"Your uncle sent a message asking about you," Snape sighed, "and I went in your place, using polyjuice potion. This tricked him long enough to let me into the house. I turned him into a bat after that. Then there was a meeting, and I still had him in my pocket. The rest, I believe, is Black's part of the tale." Harry turned to his godfather with accusing eyes.

"Dumbledore - and Snape - they're really working for their own ends," Sirius said. "It's hard to explain. You can't stay with Snape, he's going to hurt you, he'll use you. I went to this, this meeting, to try to discredit him as the spy he is!"

"You what?" Harry whispered, pale and in shock.

"Before I left, though, he handed your uncle over to me. I learned from him everything I know."

"You what?" Harry repeated. He sat down, his back against a tree trunk.

"Harry, Harry," Sirius said, kneeling down next to his godson. "Think for a moment. I don't know what you're upset about. Snape is going to use you. He doesn't love you. You're going to end up worse if you trust him. He doesn't love you."

"I know that!" Harry suddenly burst out. "I know he doesn't! But it can be nice to pretend." Harry felt hot tears come to his eyes, and he pressed his fists against his temples trying to block out everything that was happening. He closed his eyes tightly and began to rock back and forth. "I can't, I can't, no, don't." Sirius backed away, unsure what was happening, and even more unsure what to do.

"Get away from him," Snape sneered, as he knelt beside the boy. "Harry!" he called forcefully. "You're here, not there. You're here with me, and nothing bad will happen to you." Harry covered his ears and continued to rock. "Fine," Snape muttered to himself, and if looked could kill, Sirius would have been dead at that moment. Snape sat down next to Harry and took him in his arms. Holding him still, Snape proceeded to remind Harry over and over that he was safe and not at the Dursleys. After a few minutes, Harry began to breathe more evenly. He seemed to be coming around.

"Are you alright?" Snape asked. Tears still streamed from Harry's eyes, but he nodded.

"Harry, everything will be alright," Sirius said. "You'll never have to fear that again." Harry nodded again, but refused to look at either Snape or Sirius.

"I need to be by myself," Harry said suddenly and ran into the woods, far from silently. They could hear the broken sobs and retching the wind carried back. Snape began to follow Harry and then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he stepped dangerously close to Sirius, close enough to speak softly into his ear.

"Contrary to what you seem to believe, I do love the boy." Then Snape turned and followed Harry.