Thanks to: TheWatcherandReader, Queen Asinoe, The Gryffindor Drummer, Tinkerbellstar, nandhp, Moony's-Wolf, Professor Rose, tuxedo cat, xAngelxofxMusicx, and Mary-De-Silva (Actually I thought liljean15690's review was hilarious. I have never been called an insane psycho bitch before. LOL. And she didn't even spell psycho correctly!)

NoTeS SiStEr – Thanks. No, I haven't updated Betrayal. I am in the process of overhauling it and one of my friends took my notebooks to read it sometime in May and went on summer break without giving them back so…I will update in the near future. I re-read your review and you're right. It does seem a little like Dark Jewels. So, I am fixing that to. It can't be like someone else work if it ever gets published, so…thanks!

Now on with the chappie…

Last Chapter…

Harry swallowed hard, disgusted with himself. He braced himself for what he would have to do next and raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

The gaunt figure slumped to the floor as life fled his body.

Harry gasped at the feeling of taking another's life. It was revolting. He felt, if not dirty, then evil. Hermione would hate him after this, so would Ron and Draco. Despair and guilt settled like a lead weight on his heart. He muttered a harmless spell to clear his wand, should it be checked. He felt himself loosing consciousness and managed to call back a chair to faint into. He had drained his remaining magic and strength using the Unforgivable, He thought before the world went black.

Chapter 33 – Guilt, Rejections, and Reactions

A voice was shouting far in the distance. It was calling his name. Harry knew that voice, but he couldn't seem to reach it. It seemed so far away. Then another voice joined it. Ron was calling him too. They both were getting closer; he could almost feel them, but something…no, someone was missing. A third voice joined his two best friends. Draco.

"Hermione?" He croaked softly. The darkness reseeded from his vision and the trio came into view.

"OH MY GOD! Harry!" Hermione shrieked and threw herself at him. He smiled wearily and hugged her.

"Where am I?" He asked looking around. A hazy memory surfaced of Snape and a duel and torture, but that couldn't be right…Could it? He caught sight of the greasy-haired man's lifeless corpse and recoiled. Hermione stepped away and looked at him questioningly. He wasn't looking at her; his eyes were fixed on Snape's dead body.

"Harry, it's okay. He can't hurt you anymore." She whispered comfortingly.

Harry shuddered. Hurt. Why had he done that? It wasn't like him. He was disgusted with himself. He hated what he did, even if it was to Snape. He turned his back on the corpse and his friends. "No, Hermione." She reached out to lay a hand on his shoulders. "NO! Leave me alone! Don't touch me! No one touch me!"

She snatched her hand back as if she'd been burned. Tears welled in her brown eyes. "Why?" She choked.

"Because…" He turned unseeing eyes to the wall. "I'm evil. Please…just don't touch me. I…I don't want to contaminate you."

Hermione, Ron, and Draco looked at one another in confusion. "Harry?" Draco asked quietly, deliberately using his first name. "Harry, what are you talking about?"

"I-I'm evil, Draco. Hermione…just…I can't do this. I don't understand how…It wasn't me…I'm not…I wouldn't…" He trailed off.

Hermione looked confused, as did Ron, but Draco's eyes widened in horror. "Oh…Sweet Merlin. Harry did you…?"

Harry turned glazed eyes to him and nodded.

Draco took a deep breath and went over to examine the body. He bit his lip and said quietly, "He was tortured into insanity, before being subjected to the Killing Curse." He waved his wand once over Snape's cold forehead. "He was placed under the Crusiatus Curse at some point in the last 24 hours."

They all turned to stare at Harry, who was curled tightly into a ball on his chair. He was crying softly. "Why, Harry?" Hermione asked gently.

"I-I thought…maybe I could burn the Curse off. I don't…I don't know. It didn't work. I had to kill him. I…He…he told me where Wormtail is. But when he w-wouldn't say where Voldemort was I…I…I gave him the medium vial. That combined with the small dose I gave him earlier and the Curse I put on him for exactly one minute drove him over. I realized then that it hadn't worked. Even thought he was insane, I was still being drained, so I had to. I didn't want to, but I had to. I did it the quickest way I knew how. I'm sorry…I'm so, so sorry." Harry's voice had become robotic until the last sentence. He buried he head in his knees and wept.

Hermione smiled softly at him. "Harry, this is why you aren't evil. Because you feel guilty. Do you think that it Snape had been in your position and you were dead, He would feel that least bit remorseful? He might be sorry he lost such a great source of power maybe, but he would feel sorry you were dead. He would be crying or guilty that he'd killed you. You are not evil and I refuse to leave you alone!" Her voice broke no argument. He looked up at her, tear still glistening in his eyes which shown with a glimmer of Hope.

She took his hands and pulled Harry to his feet. Hermione slipped her hands around his neck and they embraced. He clung to her as if she was his only hope, his anchor to his life.

"Thank you." He whispered softly into her hair. She pulled back and cupped his face in her hands, brushing away his tears with her thumbs. She smiled and kissed him lightly. He smiled, "I…I thought you would hate me." He turned to encompass all three. "All of you. I was afraid you'd be disgusted with me."

"Potter, don't be a fool. I helped you brew that goddamned potion." Draco smiled.

Ron and Hermione looked at him. "What potion?" Ron said cautiously.

Draco looked ashamed. "Liquid Agony"

Hermione gasped. "I am ashamed of both of you! I thought you were smarter then that, Draco. And you!" She turned to Harry, who looked miserable again. Her face softened. "Well, I think you've been through enough. Now, you'll never do that again."

Harry averted his eyes, staring at the floor. She raised an eyebrow. "Hermione, He told me where Wormtail is."

"Well, surely that doesn't matter. Wormtail probably has a secret keeper."

"Snape was his Secret keeper."

Hermione froze. She shuddered and said. "We'll talk about this later. Right now, you have to go to the Hospital Wing and get checked to see if your magic is returning. Professor Dumbledore has been notified that we found you and what happened. "

The four made there was soberly up to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey declared him perfectly fine. "Your magic is returning faster then I thought possible. You'll be at full power in two or three days."

He nodded his thanks and they left.

They met Sirius and Remus in their Common Room. Sirius hugged Harry hard, as did Remus. "We thought we'd lost you, as cliché as that sounds." Remus said quietly.

Harry smiled wanly. "It'd take more then a crazy Potion's Master to kill me. I would dream of dieing on you guys." He slipped his arm around Hermione's shoulder. She beamed up at him.

" I think you should go to sleep, Claws. You look beat." Sirius observed.

Harry shook his head. "No, I have to tell Dumbledore what I did. Then I can sleep, if I don't get sent to Azkaban."

So saying, he swept out of the room with Hermione, presumably on his way to speak to the headmaster.

Sirius and Remus shot questioning looks at Draco and Ron. Draco sighed, "I think we should all sit down and I can tell you what I gleaned from my brief inspection of the body."

The blonde Slytherin quickly explained about the potion he and Harry had brewed and what he'd found on Snape's corpse. When he was done, Sirius snarled, "He can't possibly be guilty. Snape was an evil, double-crossing, backstabbing git. He deserved everything he got!"

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, appalled. "Don't say something like that. We have no right to judge anyone, even evil bastards like Snape."

An hour passed and, finally, Harry and Hermione returned. He waved off everyone's questions and went directly up to his room. Falling into bed with his clothes on, he fell immediately to sleep; comforted in the knowledge that the headmaster didn't think he was evil either.