A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back. I know it has literally been years since I updated, but real life made it really hard to get back to it. More importantly, I went through some psychological issues, which made it difficult to write anything, especially when sometimes, it got reviews like "this is terrible, kill yourself" and stuff like that. Anyway, I'm back now, and I'll try to update somewhat frequently. I'll keep the chapters shorter from now on, to make sure that I can write more.

All reviews are welcome, but please be civil and remember that I'm also just a person, writing just for fun.

Disclaimer: I own nothing outside of the plot.

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The Bitter Truth

Once Harry, Hermione and Ron made it to the Gryffindor common room, they wanted nothing more than to just go to bed and sleep over this physically and emotionally taxing day. But Hermione reminded them that they still had homework to do, so the trio reluctantly sat down in the almost empty Common Room and started writing their Transfiguration essays. Well, Harry and Ron did. Hermione, who had the tendency to finish her homework early had no such obligations but nevertheless, she decided to stay and keep them company, sat down next to them and started reading a book.

''Hermione.'' said Ron after a few minutes of silence.

''Hmm?'' answered Hermione without looking up from her book.

''Did you really mean what you said in the DA meeting?'' he asked. Hermione was about to ask what he meant by that, but then remembered their discussions in the last session.

''You mean about the House Elves and them being able to take down any witch or wizard if they wanted?'' she asked.

''Yeah'' said Ron sheepishly. ''I mean, I know house elves have a really strong magic and all, but do you really believe that they are that much more powerful than witches and wizards?''

Ron looked way too uncomfortable with the idea for Hermione's liking. Her first instinct was to tell him off for acting so prejudiced. But she forced herself to calm down and look at the situation from Ron's point of view. While it irritated her to no end, she knew that witches and wizards did not see House Elves as intelligent beings. They saw them as something slightly more than an animal, but definitely less than a human. Even decent wizarding families like Weasleys were probably raised with those beliefs, simply because it was the norm for them. That did not make their neglect any less acceptable in Hermione's books, but she could at the very least see why this idea would be so hard to accept for Ron, and she decided to answer him honestly. She closed her book and sat up. She could see from the corner of her eye that Harry, who was sitting right next to her also stopped writing to listen to their conversation.

''I might have stretched the truth a bit there'' she admitted sheepishly. Both boys looked surprised at this declaration. ''I don't really know whose magic is more powerful, but my example there was actually an example of how different their magic is. It wasn't really about power.''

''What do you mean?'' Harry asked. Both boys looked confused now.

''As I said, no wizard and witch can apparate inside Hogwarts. But House Elves can. So, hypothetically, if we were to have a fight against House Elves on the school grounds, they would have the upper hand. But that doesn't mean that their magic is stronger. Hogwarts wards were specifically designed to protect it from witches and wizards, not House Elves. Since their magic is different, the wards simply don't affect them, since they weren't designed to affect them to begin with.''

''Does that mean that anywhere other than Hogwarts, they wouldn't have an advantage?'' asked Ron, looking confused, relieved, and ashamed at the same time. Ron was ne of the few people who could pull of an expression with that many contradicting emotions.

''Not exactly. Don't forget that House Elves have been dealing with wizards for centuries, so I am sure they know how our magic works. We on the other hand know next to nothing about House Elf magic. There are only handful of books written about them, and most of them focus on their roles as a servant, not on their society. I don't know who would win if we ever were to have a war with House Elves, but I can say that if it were to come to that, they will have all the advantages.''

Both boys were now staring at her with open mouths. She knew how hard it was for them, especially Ron to take this news. She herself was sure that a war between wizards and elves in the near future was unlikely at best, but such a wake-up call was necessary to free him from his prejudices.

But before they could continue any longer, a second year that Hermione vaguely recognized approached them.

"Mr. Potter sir" said the boy shaking. His voice was filled with both admiration and fear. Hermione forced herself not to roll her eyes. "P- Professor Snape wanted me to give you this."

"Thanks" said Harry with slight confusion in his voice. As soon as he took the letter, the boy quickly ran to his group of friends, no doubt to brag about how he just interacted with the legendary Harry Potter.

"What does it say?" asked Ron as Harry looked at the note.

"He wants to see me and Hermione in his office" said Harry sounding confused.

"When?" asked Hermione.

"Now" answered Harry. "He even included a note for traveling the corridors past curfew."

"Merlin, is this day ever going to end?" said Hermione, having trouble to keep the whining out of her voice. "No one should be forced to have this many adventure without any sleep in between."

"Well have fun you two, I'm going to sleep" bragged Ron as he collected his stuff.

"Show off" grumbled Harry. "Well then, let's go Mione and see what the old bat wants."

"I thought you two started to get along" said Hermione, despite the small grin on her face.

"Okay, then let's go see how the slightly friendlier old bat wants from us" answered Harry grinning. Hermione laughed.

"Too tired" said Hermione yawning. "Help me get up."

"As you wish my lady" said Harry and held her hands to help her get up.

"Aren't you a gentleman?" said Hermione smiling and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Oi! I'm still here" grumbled Ron. The other two grinned and just waved good bye as he quickly run to boy's dormitory.

"I think this was appropriate punishment for his previous bragging" whispered Hermione playfully.

"Oh, so you need an excuse to kiss me then?" asked Harry laughing.

"Let's call it killing two birds with one stone" said Hermione grinning. "Now come on, we should get this over with so we can finally get a few hours of sleep."

"As you wish my lady" repeated Harry sarcastically, and earned a playful slap to the chest for his performance. Hand in hand, the couple left the common room to go see their potion professor.

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There were many things that Severus Snape disliked. Students, overly loud people, overly loud students, dunderheads, most Potters, most Gryffindors, the dark lord, sometimes Dumbledore, death eater etc. But one of the things he despised more than anything else was indecisive people. Because of his situation, any doubt in his action could mean death, so he always made sure to be sure of everything he is doing. But currently, Severus Snape was indecisive.

He wasn't sure if he did the right thing by calling the Potter brat. He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing by planning to tell Potter what Albus was hiding. He wasn't sure if he would be doing the right thing by telling Potter that Albus was raising him to be a sacrificial lamb. That he had part of the Dark Lord's soul in his head. He wasn't sure what to do even when he heard the knock on his door, followed by two teenagers entering his room.

As the children sat down Severus simply observed them. If it had been a few weeks ago, he was sure he would have never considered telling them anything. But something had changed this year. Maybe it was because of his relationship with the Granger girl, who reminded him of Lily Evans, but Severus had started seeing more than just his hated enemy when he looked at the boy. He could see his mother in the boy. He was righteous and honest like his mother, despite his sickening resemblance to James Potter. He could even see his own childhood in him, except Potter didn't make all the wrong choices like he had.

After a short silence, Severus decided that he tortured the teens enough and began to speak.

"I called you here today because there are a few important things that I want to tell you" said Severus carefully. While talking, he was observing both teens, almost hoping to see an action that would give him an excuse not to tell him. But both kids simply nodded and waited.

"Before I tell you anything, I want to test your Occlumency shields" continued Severus.

"Why?" asked Potter immediately.

"Because, the information I'm planning to give you can be dangerous in the wrong hands" said Severus. Or if Albus notices that I told you added Severus in his mind. He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

Potter and Granger looked at each other for a few seconds, silently communicating. Then they both turned to him and nodded their heads.

"Good" said Snape as he pulled out his wand and pointed at Potter. "Legilimence"

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Hermione relaxed as Snape finally put his wand down. He hadn't said anything but in the case of Snape, she had learned that no comment simply meant that he didn't have anything to criticize. She knew she wasn't able to block him completely, but she was able to hide most of her important memories, which was a success in her book. While Harry still wasn't as proficient as she was, it looked like he too was able to keep him out to some degree. Enough to satisfy Snape from the thoughtful look he gave them.

"The information I'm going to give you can't be shared with just anyone, you hear me" Snape ordered. They nodded almost automatically. "Unless you think it is absolutely necessary" he added after a short silence, surprising both of them. Did Snape really just say that he trusted their judgement.

"Yes professor" said Harry. Snape took a deep breath.

"When the Dark Lord attacked you at Godric's Hallow all those years ago, he was planning to do a ritual." started Snape. Another short silence followed.

"What kind of ritual?" asked Hermione, unable to contain herself any longer.

"The exact nature of the ritual is irrelevant to our current discussion" said Snape dismissively. "All you need to know is that he required a murder for said ritual. As you know, he committed two murders that day."

Hermione automatically grabbed Harry's hand at this point and gave it a squeeze. She could see from the corner of her eyes that Harry wasn't comfortable with the topic, but nevertheless, he gave squeezed her hand back reassuringly. Hermione barely held herself back from glaring at their professor for bringing up the murder of Harry's parents.

"That day" continued Snape, completely ignoring the exchange between the teens. "The Dark Lord split his soul to give himself immortality."

"He split his soul?" repeated Harry. Hermione had to admire him for not giving away any of their knowledge about the Horcruxes.

"He separated a part of his soul in order to stick it into an object. With that, he would be able to survive so long as that part of his soul remained alive." said Snape. Hermione did her best to look surprised. She really didn't want Snape to realize just how much they knew.

"So, is that how he came back all these years ago?" she asked carefully. She wasn't sure why Snape decided to tell them all this.

"That is possible yes." said Snape.

"Do we know where he put his soul?" asked Harry.

"We don't know what he intended to use that day, but we do know where his soul is" said Snape. This time, neither of them had to pretend to be surprised.

"Really? Where?" asked Harry.

"According to Professor Dumbledore, that day, when he failed to kill you, the ritual didn't work as intended and the soul latched on to the only living thing present nearby." said Snape.

Hermione tried to make sense of Snape's words. Voldemort's horcrux ritual failed. But the soul didn't just disappear, instead went to the only living thing in the house. Which would be-

"Me" said Harry, suddenly sounding emotionless. Snape simply nodded.

"How do you know?" asked Hermione, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. If Harry really had a Horcrux in him-

"We know because of his connection with the Dark Lord. In fact, there is a visible proof of their connection" answered Snape.

"My scar" said Harry, still looking shocked. His right hand unconsciously tracing the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Snape nodded again.

"There could be another explanation, right?" asked Hermione frantically.

"No, it all makes sense" said Harry with wide eyes. "I'm a horcrux."

"How do you know about horcruxes" said Snape sharply, suddenly sounding alarmed. But Harry ignored him.

"No Harry" plead Hermione to him.

"So if Voldemort is going to die, then I have to die first" said Harry.

"Harry no" said Hermione, her voice cracking. She could feel the tears slowly forming in her eyes. Harry suddenly stood up and ran out of the room.

"Harry! Wait!" called Hermione after him and stood up follow him.

"Miss Granger" said Snape suddenly. Hermione turned to him as she was about to leave.

"Professor please, he needs me right now" pleaded Hermione.

"Miss Granger" repeated Snape sharply. "Do you know why I wanted you to come with him today?"

Hermione stopped. She hadn't considered it before, but it was indeed surprising. She shook her head.

"What would Potter have done if he had heard it on his own? Would he have told you? Or anyone else?" asked the potion master.

Hermione considered. As much as she wanted to say yes, she knew Harry would think that it would inconvenience them. He would think that his fate was already sealed, and probably try to distance himself from them. She shook her head.

"I wanted you here because I didn't tell all this so that Potter can jump off the nearest cliff" said Snape sharply. "There might be a way to extract the Horcrux without having to destroy the host."

"There is?"

"Maybe" said Snape. "I have a few theories. And as much as it pains me to say it, you might be the only person who can pull that off. Don't lose hope and more importantly, don't let Potter lose hope. He can be saved."

"Yes Professor" said Hermione, as the sinking feeling in her stomach slightly disappeared. If there was a way, she would find it. She could and would save Harry. "Now please excuse me."

With that, Hermione ran out of the room. She needed to find Harry quickly. Luckily, she had a pretty good guess where he would be.

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All non-bashing reviews are welcome. Thank you for reading.