This was it. The final battle; the last fight against the cruel and evil. The night in which the prophesy had to be fulfilled. The moment to decide, if the Boy-Who-Lived would be the Boy-Who-Still-Lived had come.

Earlier this evening, Hermione sat before her fiancé, facing him.

"You can't be serious! This is suicide…I…I won't let you do that!" she yelled at him. He just shook his head in his hands. "Be reasonable."

Hermione jumped from her seat. "Reasonable! I AM reasonable! It's you who doesn't see the danger in this. Why would you think this would help anyone? That giving yourself away would change anything for the better? And how can you be so calm, Goddamnit!"

He chuckled darkly and replied: "You pace enough for the two of us and I start to pity the floor." It wasn't the statement that stopped her in track but his voice. It was darker than before and sad. Hermione walked over to him and touched his shoulder. He put his hand on top of hers and made small circles with his thumb. Then he pulled her on his lap and buried his head in her mass of hair. "Please don't leave me." she whispered.

If this world is wearing thin
And you're thinking of escape
I'll go anywhere with you
Just wrap me up in chains
But if you try to go alone
Don't think I'll understand

"I'll always be with you." he promised hoarsely.

Stay with me. Stay with me.

It was then, after the fall of the Dark Lord that a crying Hermione Granger sat on her fiancés bedside; begging him to survive for her. But she knew it was senseless. Deep inside she knew that he wouldn't make it. Lucius hit him with an ancient spell and the only cure was a potion only he was able to brew.

"You can't just die on me!" she cried. "You promised that you'll be there for me! Always!"

"And I will. I'll…I'll watch over you. I…" he said between coughs.

"You tricked me. I wouldn't have you let go… You are a bastard!"

"And you an insufferable Know-It-All." he replied amused. The whole time he fought against the darkness that grips on his heart, his soul and his brain. Panting he stroked her cheek and asked her: "Do you love me?"

"Of course, you git! Of course I love you!" she answered in a half-whisper.

"Marry me."

Hermione stared at him. His eyes were full of love, his fingers still caressing her cheek. No, this wasn't a dream. She started crying again as she flung herself at him and promised him to be his wife. It was a standard-ceremony, held in the hospital-wing, for he was a dying man with an urge to marry the woman he came to love over the past six years. The woman he'd have given his life for. Dumbledore wedded them with tears in his eyes and a sobbing McGonagall as witness by his side.

"…I now declare you are husband and wife. You may kiss the bride, my boy." the headmaster said.

Hermione leaned over him and gave him a kiss, which her husband returned weakly.

In the silence of your room
In the darkness of your dreams
You must only think of me
There can be no in between
When your pride is on the floor
I'll make you beg for more

Stay with me.

"Stay with me!" she sobbed repeatedly in his chest for the last two hours. He fought against the darkness the whole day and now he got weak. He didn't respond to her but stroke her hand, which lay on his shoulder. Her friends let her alone. Even though they didn't like her choice of husband, they respected him nonetheless.

It was then, as she suddenly stopped crying and walked over to Poppy's cupboard to take a little vial out of it.

"What are you doing?" he asked her tired, as she uncorked the potion.

"I'm going with you." she replied broken. Angrily he tried to put himself on his elbows, but he was too weak. He could only lift his head and look into her eyes; puffy and red from all the tear shading. "No." he stated simply. "No, I want you to live."

"I can't live without you." she cried.

"You managed before! You will manage now. You'll get over me. It has to be. Don't throw your life away. I don't deserve this."

"How?" she whispered sad. "How…can you say that? You deserve to live. You deserve so much more! You deserve to see your child! I'm pregnant! And I don't want her to grow up without a father." She wanted to cry, but there were no tears left anymore.

He smiled and had tears in his eyes when he said: "One more reason to stay alive, don't you think? Pregnant… I never thought I would have become a father. A girl, you said?" She nodded silently the vial still clenched in her hand. He saw it however and held his hand out. She sighed and gave it to him. He let it slip and the glass shattered on the cold stone floor.

You'd better hope and pray
That you'll make it safe
Back to your own world
You'd better hope and pray
That you'll wake one day
In your own world

"Did I ever tell you that I had a sister?" Again, she just nodded. "And did I tell you about her?" Hermione had to swallow hard before she answered: "No, you avoided the topic. Do you want to tell me about her now?"

"She was a beautiful baby. I was sixteen years old, when my mother became pregnant. One day after Christmas she gave birth to my little sister. I was so proud to have a baby sister. However, it didn't last long. She…died. I was eighteen, when she drowned in the pond behind our Manson. She had black hair with big curls and sparkling blue eyes like a newborn. I remember my father burying her little coffin in the backyard." Hermione could see it was hard for him telling the story he avoided for so many years. "What was her name?"

"Seraphima." he answered softly right before he started to cough violently. Hermione was about to yell for Poppy, but he silenced her with his hand raised. She stared at him as he shook his head, no. And she understood. These were the last moments she had with her husband. His hand moved to her belly and as if the growing life in it has waited for this it started to move. Hermione gasped and he smiled, his eyes closed.

"Live for her. Tell her…tell her, that I love her; that I will watch over her. Just as I will watch over you, my love. And promise me something." His breath became rapid and she had to lean closer to understand his painful murmur.

"Anything, love."

"Be strong. For me, for the baby and most…most of all for you. Promise me." he urged her as he stared intensely into her watery, hazel eyes.

'Cos when you sleep at night
They don't hear you cries in your own world.
Only time will tell if you can break the spell
Back in your own world

"I will." she vowed and he smiled once more. This time willing to loose the fight. And he did. He passed away not one minute after she promised him to be strong. Years after, she couldn't tell what happened next. Dumbledore held his funeral. Severus Snape was buried behind his Manson, next to his little sister. Whenever someone asked her, who 'Seraphima' was, she answered: "It was his little angel: The reason why he kept on living." Only Dumbledore knew that she was the real reason why Severus switched to the Light.

"He once told me, that he didn't think she would like to know, that he killed innocent ones willingly. Innocent like her. He was afraid that he would see his little sister's eyes in his victim's faces. After all, she was his first love." he told her with sad twinkle in his eye.

Stay with me.

It wasn't even six month after that her little daughter was born. Crying tears of joy, she pressed her little angel to her chest and wished that Severus would have been here to see the beautiful little girl in her arms. To smile proudly at the baby and herself, kiss her temple and whisper sweet words into her ear while he stroke their daughters cheek.

A sudden movement in the air made the flame of the candle on her nightstand flicker and she felt that someone else was present. Hermione felt, as if someone would touch her lips. It felt soft and she relaxed visibly.

"Severus." she whispered almost too quiet to hear. She smiled softly and lovingly at the small person in her arms. Suddenly she stopped whimpering and opened her bright blue eyes. "Say 'Hello' to Daddy, Seraphima."

Stay with me.

-The End-

Hi! My name is Faye and this is my very first attempt on a SS/HG-FanFiction. I hope you didn't mind all these mistakes, for I am german and without a Beta.

Now, your reviews will decide, if I'll ever write another SS/HG again or not. I have a story-line for a 22-chptr-Story, but I don't know if I'm good at writing romance/drama. So please give me some feedback!

Hugs and Greets

?Faye

Disclaimer:

I don't own the rights on Harry Potter or the Song "Stay" by the wonderful 'Shakespeare Sisters'. I'm just using both in this FF to entertain FanFiction-Addicted SS/HG-Fans without getting money for it.