29 Days.  He could hear a clock ticking inside his head, countdown.  Snape cursed as  he chopped mechanically, dicing and grinding various nasty things to the required consistency without even thinking about it.  Suddenly there was a knock on his door.  He looked at his clock.  Potter.

      "Come in Potter."  The door opened slowly.  "I see you have finally discovered the merits of punctuality."

      Harry scowled.  "Yes Sir," he muttered.  He looked at the array of items laid out on the desk, some were slimy, some dried, others repugnant colours and all of them smelt bad.  "What are you going to do" he blurted out before he can stop himself "mix all the most vile things you can think of together and hope that Voldemort dies of disgust."  I've gone too far, he's going to kill me. 

      Snape's eyes darkened.  "If that were indeed my plan, it would explain why your blood is a requisite element." 

      The two stood there, eyes locked, expressions of loathing on both their faces.  Surprisingly it was Snape who broke the stare first, "Since that is not my plan," he continued, "I suggest we do something constructive, after all the sooner this is over…"  the sooner we will be rid of each other.  He didn't have to say it, Harry knew.

      "Indeed," Harry replied coolly, "Let's get on with it then shall we?"

      "Very well.  This is my plan…"

      Snape explained his theory.  When one person casts a spell on another, it opns a channel between the two for very short period of time, thus allowing the magic to flow from one to the other, and casting the spell, therefore when Voldemort had cast the killing curse on Harry and it had failed, he had opened such a conduit between them, that channelled some of his power into Harry.  In theory, that meant, it could happen again.  The fact that Voldemort now had some of Harry's blood in him had further enhanced their chances of success since the two were bound together in more ways now.  Snape explained that his plan was to develop a potion that would force the conduit to stay open, draining Voldemort of all of his power and energy, destroying him forever.  He neglected to explain that the only way he knew for the avada kedavra to fail, was if someone willingly sacrificed their life.  He further neglected to explain that whoever took the potion, and absorbed Voldemort's power had very little chance of surviving it.  Thus to Harry, the plan sounded like a good one.  A plan that had every chance of succeeding. 

      "Sir, this could really work!"

      Snape's lips twisted in a wry smile at the surprise in the boy's voice.  "It could indeed." 

      "What do we do?" 

      "Something that you, Potter tend to not excel at.  We are going to think.  We are going to the library to do some research.  And, repellent though the idea may seem, we are going to have a little talk."

      "Is it really that difficult for you to have a conversation with me?"

      Snape snorted, "I didn't not specify whom I thought the talk might be repellent for," he snapped, and with that he got up and stalked through the door in a swirl of black robes.

      Harry pondered that last statement.  Never thought I'd hear Snape say anything like that.  Maybe he hates himself as much as we do.  For some inexplicable reason, that thought made him sad.

      "Are you coming Potter?  Or does the boy who refuses to die not deign to perform such menial tasks as research?"

      Can understand why though, Harry thought viciously before stalking after Snape, cursing under his breath and unconsciously doing a very good imitation of the older wizard.  Boy who refuses to die indeed.