Convincing Severus his decision to become a Death Eater was the worst would be harder than I originally thought. Part of it was because I planned to kill Voldemort some time in the future. Even then I hadn't put much planning into his death, and now that I'm thinking about it I feel scared out of my mind.

I could make him take the same vow I gave him. How he wouldn't be able to tell anyone without my express permission. I'd have to include mentally showing someone since Voldemort was supposed to be an accomplished legillimens. I only felt confident enough to tell Severus about my plan because he's an occlumens. At least when he's an adult.

Using another's school owl I sent him a letter to meet me in the Kitchens at two in the morning. By then my Prefect rounds would be over, and I told the Marauders during dinner I had a lot of homework I needed to catch up in so I'd be staying in my room that night. Not a complete lie since I did have a ton of work. I just wouldn't be doing any of it.

At the end of my rounds I did my best to seem casual while trying to get to the kitchens as fast as possible. When I got there only about five elves were still working. Sitting at one of the side tables was the hunched over figure of Severus Snape.

The door clicked shut behind me. It caught the attention of everyone in the room, and while the elves excitedly approached me Severus stayed in his seat with dark calculating eyes.

I smiled at the elves tiredly. "Would you guys mind giving Mr. Snape and me a little privacy?"

They all nodded excitedly, and I gave them one last smile before sitting on the seat directly next to Severus. "Thank you for meeting with me."

He flicked his wrist and his wand immediately jumped into his hand. I watched him create a dome around us that caused our surroundings to blur. When he stopped casting the dome became invisible. "Silencing spell."

I cleared my throat and nodded slowly. "Right. Probably for the best." Taking a deep, shaky break I looked him in the eye. I hoped my expression conveyed how serious I felt, because nothing has frightened me more than the possibility of this aquaintanceship backfiring. "We need to take the most binding vow we can think of. What I'm going to tell you cannot be found out by anyone else under any circumstances."

Severus rose a black eyebrow. "You came here to try and talk me out of my decisions."

I scoffed. "As if your decision isn't already deadly. What I want to talk about would just make it infinitely more painful." I could tell he was intrigued by what I was saying, but didn't know if it would be worth it. "I suppose there is one thing I can tell you that doesn't need to be secretive."

"What?" His voice dripped with doubt.

I could only smile sadly. "Lily would never forgive you if she found out."

Severus straightened in his seat and managed to become more closed off. "Why should I care about a mudblood?"

My eyes widened. "Wow." I laughed a little in disbelief. "It's that word, right there, that completely broke your friendship with her. I don't know how saying that could make you guys throw away years of friendship. Did she really mean so little to you?"

Severus' lip curled into a sneer. "Why would I care for her?"

"Because you knew her before Hogwarts," I replied simply. "You two were the best of friends until society hatred finally drove you two apart. Even then you still over her, no?"

The sneer became a snarl. "I didn't come here to talk about pointless friendships. There's no use crying about it."

I sighed. "There is when you still have a chance to mend what you broke." I pressed a hand to his shoulder to prevent him from retorting in anger. "I don't want to argue about this. What happened that day really hurt Lily, but you had a chance to restore that friendship. Now that you're…um…one of His servants, that chance is gone." Even with the silencer I didn't feel comfortable saying Death Eater in the middle of Hogwarts.

My words obviously put Severus in a bad mood. No doubt the other part of my argument would make it worse. "The other thing I wanted to tell you is top secret."

Severus looked a little skeptical, which was understandable. Why would a sixth year Ravenclaw know important information about Voldemort?

I pulled a piece of parchment out of my bag and spread it over the table. Taking out a pen I started writing out a possible vow the two of us could take. I wanted it to be short but not offer loopholes. When I showed it to Severus he took the pen and changed about half of it.

Taking out my wand I held it aloft in my right hand. "I, Alex Palmer, swear on my magic I will not tell (in any capacity such as speaking or mentally showing) another soul, living or dead, about the information given to me between two thirty a.m. to five a.m., unless given express permission. So mote it be."

The top of my wand flashed white, and it felt like a rubber band was being wrapped around my intestines before the feeling immediately disappeared. Severus copied me with some reluctance, and once his wand flashed white I felt anxiety. Even with the vow this information was sensitive. I have to put my complete faith in him and trust he won't let any of this information out. I'm also hoping he'll be too worried about the actions Voldemort would take to keep us quiet.

Looking Severus dead in the eye I said it before I could second guess myself. "I know how to kill Voldemort."

A beat of silence and then Severus, cool level headed Severus Snape, began laughing. Not a small chuckle, but a deep, belly aching laugh. "Kill the Dark Lord?" He scoffed. "You can't kill the Dark Lord. Dumbledore can't even kill him."

"Ah," I held up a finger and gave him a smug look, "but I know something Dumbledore doesn't. Nobody knows about it except for Voldemort and myself."

Severus looked skeptical, and I didn't blame him. "Voldemort accomplished a horribly dark piece of magic that basically made him impossible to kill. I know how to get around it." While I felt comfortable enough telling him about my ambitions I wasn't about to mention horcruxes to anybody.

His eyebrow rose doubtfully. "You want to kill the Dark Lord?"

I pressed my lips together and nodded my head. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but you need to believe me when I say I have a way to kill Voldemort."

Severus had a completely blank expression. "I'm not sure your argument makes much sense."

My eyebrows furrowed. "I'm just trying to tell you I'm going to kill Voldemort, and now you're going to be stuck with a brand on your arm. You could've become a world renown potions master, but instead you threw yourself into a life of servitude."

Severus sneered. "That was a better argument than telling me you plan on killing a dark lord."

He stood up from the bench and began pacing. "You're walking around the school like nothing's wrong, when in reality you're planning murder. You do remember he wants to recruit you. There's no way you would be able to keep him from finding out about your plans."

"You say that as if he'll catch me." I pointed out, deciding not to mention my occlumency.

"The Dark Lord isn't someone you can avoid!" Severus crossed his arms and glared at me down his nose. "I'm the worst person you could have possibly given this information to. Why not tell Dumbledore or your marauding friends?"

I grimaced. "I don't really know Dumbledore enough to trust him with this, and keeping it from my friends protects them."

He scoffed. "Dumbledore is the leader of the light side. He's probably the only person you should have given this information to."

"Dumbledore only sees me as a child. If I told him he would prevent me from helping the cause."

"You're sixteen. That's a child in the Wizarding world."

I chuckled darkly. "That's what you think." Without elaborating I pushed on. It was probably the most information about my past lives I've ever given. "Do you at least get why you shouldn't have joined Him? He's going to ruin your entire life! Now you're stuck licking Voldemort's boots."

Severus snarled down at me. Not liking the height difference I stood up. Unfortunately he still had an inch on me. "You're a fool!" Severus spun around and headed for the door. "You have plans of murdering a dark lord, and out of everybody to tell you chose me!"

"I wasn't going to tell Sirius or the others, it would put them in unnecessary danger!" I chased after him. He didn't look back, but I didn't let it deter me.

"So you'd put me in danger? I guess now I can see how much you really care." Severus scoffed.

"If anything you were the only person I could tell! You're already in deep shit, so you were the best option."

"I'm the worst option!" His voice echoed down the corridor. He swung around to glare at me while I stared back defiantly. "You say I'm in 'deep shit'? Now, because of you, I'm in deeper shit."

I'd never heard Severus swear before. It made me stop walking. "Don't you know occlumency?"

His eyes widened before his face went completely blank. "I would appreciate it if you kept your distance from me. There's no point to this…aquaintanceship–"

"Wait, no!" I rushed forward and gripped his robes, but he viciously ripped them away from me.

"Do not touch me." His glower was scarier thanks to the dark surroundings. "You have written both of our death sentences."

"Severus, no, stop, ah!" I grappled with his clothes and forced him to come closer. When I saw my opportunity I placed my hands on his cheeks to hold him still. "Severus."

He glared at me silently. Despite his displeasure he didn't pull away.

"I'm sorry." I let my eyes show how sad I felt about the situation. It's not like I enjoyed being the only one who knew about horcruxes and what would happen in the future if I let things take their original course. "I told you this because I need you to understand how bad this is. The man is completely insane. I'm going to get rid of Him, and when He's gone you'll be stuck with that brand."

"You told me you'll defeat Him as a way to tell me off."

I sighed tiredly. The emotions the topic caused combined with being up so early is the only reason I decided to lean my head against his chest. My arms fell to my sides while Severus just stood stiffly. "I thought letting you know He would die sooner would make you regret it more."

He scoffed. "That's a horrible reason, and I doubt it was the only reason. Bringing up Lily worked just fine."

I grimaced. "It was at first. I was just going to mention I had a plan to kill him, but then I started thinking about it, and I just started worrying. I realized how alone I am with all of it, and since I was going to talk to you, and you would give that vow, I felt like I could sorta trust you with it–" I took a deep breath then kept going, "–and I really needed to get it out there. Stupid or no I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows."

My body was still sagging against Severus, so he had to push me away to make eye contact. "You've obviously spent too much time with Gryffindors. Secrets aren't something to be shared. Especially one like this."

He slowly started backing up and I let him go. "I will keep my vow. If any more stupid ideas come to your mind, owl me and I'll make sure to correct you."

I would have scoffed if I didn't feel so grateful. Despite my years of experience the magical world was something I didn't know how to navigate. He may just be my only real ally when it came to ending Voldemort's reign of terror. "Goodnight Severus."