Draco’s in front of Harry before Snape can even blink.
“Absolutely not.” Draco hisses. “No fucking way.”
“Potter-” Snape begins, but Remus has disarmed him in a flash, holding his wand in his fist like he’s considering whether or not he should snap it.
“Choose your words very carefully, Severus.”
Snape closes his eyes again, nodding.
“Dumbledore was adamant.”
“And you?” Harry asks, resting his shaking hands on Draco’s waist. Draco backs up a step, so his back is pressed into Harry’s chest.
“I am not.”
‘Trust Severus. He has his faults, but at his heart, he is a good and brave man. He has been working for me this entire time, and he is worth trusting.’
Harry doesn’t trust Snape any more now than he had when Dumbledore died. Harry doesn’t trust either of them now.
‘Destroyed, Harry. There’s no other way to do it.’
‘I understand.’ Harry had said, like a fool.
‘Even if this means something truly terrible, it’s to save the lives of hundreds - thousands, of muggleborns. Of muggles.’
“I have to be destroyed.” Harry says. “Or Voldemort will never die.”
“He doesn’t need to die. He needs to be stopped.” Draco cuts in. “Death isn’t the only way to stop him, what about a Kiss? The Dementors?”
“They all work for him now. Even if we found one to do it, his soul is split between vessels, and Potter would need to be Kissed as well.” Snape says. “The vessel must be beyond repair, or the horcrux remains.”
Harry sets his forehead on Draco’s shoulder, squeezing his eyes shut.
“So you are here to kill me.”
“I’m here to give you the truth.” Snape says again. “And the truth is… whilst you live…”
“Neither will die.” Harry finishes for him, looking up again. He nudges Draco to the side. “And there’s really no way to stop him. He’s too hard to catch, and his followers are too well connected.”
“There are a lot of muggles in the world.” Snape says seriously. “I may not have always cared, but I’ve seen the error of my ways.”
“ Harry , you can’t possibly be entertaining…” Draco asks in a shaking voice, staring into Harry’s eyes. “You can’t be thinking…”
“I know that he was completely fine killing a baby. He’s killed enough people to fill a lake with Inferi. He hates muggles, and muggleborns. His followers-”
“ Harry. ”
“This is bigger than me!” Harry shouts. He knows it’s true, maybe a part of him has always known about this.
“You don’t have to… it doesn’t have to be now.” Snape says. “As I said, he’s regrouping. He’s not planning anything big until classes reconvene and the ex-Death Eaters are no longer welcome on school grounds.”
“They’ll go into a different safe house.” Draco says. “He’s not planning on hunting them down, is he? They’ll still be in hiding.”
Snape shakes his head.
“He has ways of finding people.”
“Dumbledore-” Remus begins, rubbing his forearms and staring at the floor.
