'He was right,' Harry whispered to himself, staring down at his hands

Okay. Here it is. Key:

'Talking'

'Thinking'

Flashbacks.

XoXoXoX

'He was right,' Harry whispered to himself, staring down at his hands.

'What was that, Harry?' Seamus called from the other side of their dormitory.

'Nothing,' Harry muttered, pulling out his suitcase. Seamus didn't notice him starting to pack, which was good. He didn't need to make a scene.

'Socks, underwear, robes… Invisibility Cloak…' He made a mental checklist, making sure he had everything before staring round at his dormitory. He was surprised that it had taken him over an hour, and he was now alone.

The pain hit him full force, then. Of what had happened, what he had learned. The knowledge that only one person remained true to him.

'Harry, mate, are you…' Ron walked in, caught sight of his suitcase, and froze. 'You are leaving, then…' He breathed.

'Yeah,' Harry muttered, turning so he didn't have to face him.

'I'm sorry, mate, I really am,' Ron was, of course, referring to what had happened not even 12 hours ago.

Slamming his quill down, Harry surveyed his just finished homework with a grin. It wasn't that good, but it'd have to do. He finally could do whatever he wanted.

Harry stood, stretched, and then moved over to the unoccupied arm chair by the unlit fireplace. Hermione and Ron had been summoned by the Headmaster an hour ago and he was starting to get worried. Soon, Ron was climbing through the portrait hole, but Hermione was no where to be seen.

'Hey, Ron. What'd Professor Dumbledore want?' Harry asked casually. Ron grabbed his arm and Harry looked up into his face. It was paler than usual, and there was a look of terror in his eyes. 'Ron…?'

'I need to talk to you, Harry. Alone. Now.' He pulled unnecessarily hard on his arm, and Harry stood.

'Okay, let's go up to our dorm,' he told him, and they walked up in silence. Finally, Harry closed the door and turned back to Ron.

'Where's Hermione?'

'In the library,' Ron replied, his voice unnaturally high.

'Ron, what happened?' Harry gripped his best friend's shoulder, frowning in confusion. Ron took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair, then started.

'Dumbledore… He sat us down in his office. He was all cheery like normal, offering us those Lemon Drop things. We sat like that for a while, and then he told us… He told us,' Ron's voice broke here. 'That you were really close to defeating You-Know-Who and that… When you do kill him… You'll go mad. He said that you might try and become a Dark Lord…'

He looked down. 'He asked me and Hermione to kill you after you defeat him.'

Harry was shocked into silence, and his hand slipped off Ron's shoulder, hanging limply at his side. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely a croak.

'And you said…?'

'Hermione and I didn't want to, but he managed to talk Hermione into it. I realised that if I told him I'd do it, he'd let me go. So I told him I would, and then I decided to come back and tell you.'

'Hermione… Wants to kill me?' Harry felt hot tears well up at the betrayal.

'I'm so sorry, mate.' Ron was looking at him worriedly. 'She left to the library. Said she wanted to look up some spells…' He trailed off, watching Harry stare at the ground.

'He also told us,' Ron started, causing Harry to look back up. 'That he asked Snape to do it too. He said Snape refused to do it and fled.'

'What…?' Harry frowned. Snape should've jumped at the chance to get rid of him. But then… There was that time…

'He said Snape was hiding out somewhere in some Muggle town in New Zealand, a really small country. He said it was something like Wellton.'

'That far away…' Harry paused, and then turned to Ron. 'I… I can't tell you enough how relieved I am you're still with me.'

'Yeah, well,' Ron shuffled his feet embarrassedly. 'I've turned on you to many times to count. I've decided not to, this time.'

Harry smiled, a sort of pained, hurt smile, then stared up at the ceiling.

'I'm going to find Snape.'

'There's nothing to be sorry about. He was going to kill me anyway.'

'I'm going with you,' Ron said finally.

'No,' Harry replied, shoving his wand in his robes.

'Harry, if you leave, Dumbledore'll know someone told. He'll figure out it was me, and…' His voice wobbled, but his face was set.

'I don't want you to get hurt,' Harry told him softly.

'I'll get hurt anyway.'

'Fine,' Harry replied, sitting on his four-poster bed. 'But I've already planned what I'm doing. So I'll need to fill you in.'

Ron sat down opposite him and nodded. 'Fire away.'