Yet Another DH Alternate Ending

With a roar and an earth-quaking tremor, another giant came lurching out of the darkness from the direction of the forest, brandishing a club taller than any of them.

"RUN!" Harry shouted again, but the others needed no telling; They all scattered, and not a second too soon, for the next moment the creature's vast foot had fallen exactly where they had been standing. Harry looked round: Ron and Hermione were following him, but Luna, Ernie and Seamus had vanished back into the battle.

"Let's get out of range!" yelled Ron as the giant swung its club again and its bellows echoed through the night, across the grounds where bursts of red and green light continued to illuminate the darkness.

"The Whomping willow," said Harry, "go!"

Harry led the way, followed by Ron and then Hermione, who wasn't quite as fast as the boys, though fear was lending wings to the witch's feet. Suddenly she ran into something hard, felt a hand clamped over her mouth, then the tightness of Apparition closed around her.

Apparition? But this was the grounds of Hogwarts. No one was supposed to be able to apparate here! Who had her?

Suddenly she was someplace else. Jagged rock was all around her and a single torch lit the area. She was in a cave, held back tightly against a strong, slender body. She struggled.

"Be still," a silken voice hissed, sending a cold shock through the witch.

Snape had her.

From behind them came a muffled groan, like that of someone in pain. Hermione felt Snape's free hand run over her, but not in a sexual way. He was looking for something. He found it.

Her wand.

Snape pulled it out of her pocket then released the witch. Hermione spun, her eyes narrowed with hatred.

"You!" she spat.

Snape looked down his long, hooked nose at her, his greasy hair curtaining his face, frowning at the witch. Behind him, another groan arose and Hermione thought she saw someone on the ground in the shadows, moving slightly.

"If you're going to kill me, kill me!" Hermione said to him bravely, determined not to show the traitor any fear.

"I've no time for your dramatics, Miss Granger. Now, you will listen to me. We haven't much time. I am going to be killed and if I am you are going to end up living a very miserable life as wife to Ronald Weasley and mother to ten children. You will never become anyone of worth and spend your days cooking, cleaning and mourning what could have been," the wizard hissed at her.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked the wizard, "And who is that on the ground?"

"Our salvation. Miss Granger, there are methods of Divination that can be utilized through the use of certain potions and elixirs. I have used them to see the future and it is a dismal one for the both of us. Voldemort is going to murder me tonight, and if things are to come to their proper conclusion, I am going to have to let him in order for Potter to be victorious," Snape said. "I am and have always been Dumbledore's man, you must believe me. The wizard was dying and ordered me to end his life rather than have Draco tear apart his soul through murder, or have Bellatrix or Fenrir play with him before he died. You must believe this. Later, you will have more proof. Harry will have it."

Hermione blinked up at him.

"I don't know if I can believe you," she said to him.

"I don't have time for this!" Snape said, and quickly cast a spell on Hermione, freezing her in place. Then he walked to the shadows and roughly hoisted McNair up, dragging him close to the witch.

"Now McNair, you murderous cur, you will serve a greater purpose," the Potions Master hissed, pushing the unarmed Death Eater into the wall. McNair and Hermione stared at Snape with wide eyes as he pointed his wand at McNair.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Snape roared, killing McNair in cold blood.

Suddenly, light burst from the wizard, forming a glowing double of him. Slowly, jagged edges of darkness formed, the figure breaking into glowing pieces. Six of them returned to Snape's body, but one remained floating before him.

Snape trained his wand on the glowing soul fragment, muttering a complicated incantation as he guided it to Hermione. The fragment glistened before her, making the witch's eyes sparkle before it shot forward into her chest, disappearing.

Snape lowered his wand and released Hermione from the bond.

"What did you do?" Hermione demanded, feeling her chest gingerly.

Snape frowned at her.

"I think you know," he said coldly, handing her wand back. "You are the key to my continued survival. I am taking you back to the Hogwarts grounds. You have to delay Potter and Weasley, draw them back from the Willow so I can go before the Dark Lord. No matter what you see, remain hidden and do not interfere."

Snape pulled Hermione into him, staring down at the witch.

"If this works, both of us will be saved," the wizard said, not saying what he saw in the alternate future. He and Hermione first as lovers and then husband and wife, traveling the world together in search of adventure, then settling down and having two brilliant children.

"If this works, witch . . . our happiness will be assured."

He placed a Silencing and Disillusionment Spell around himself, then returned Hermione to the Hogwarts grounds a small distance from the Whomping Willow. Harry and Ron were calling for her.

Snape looked down at the witch, then swooped in and kissed her mouth quickly, surprising Hermione, who could only see his shimmer. Why had he done that? And what was worse, why wasn't she vomiting? She had just been kissed by Snape . . . and didn't find it repulsive. In fact, it was a little exciting.

It must be the situation. She was in complete shock. That had to be it.

"Distract them. I will see you in a few days," the Potions master said, taking off for the Whomping Willow, running past Harry and Ron as Hermione called to them.

"Over here!" Hermione called. Harry and Ron ran up to her.

"What happened?" Ron panted, "We couldn't find you."

"I fell," Hermione lied.

"Well, come on," Harry said, "We have to get to the Shrieking Shack."

"Wait Harry, let's make sure she didn't break anything," Ron said, kneeling and carefully feeling both of Hermione's ankles, then making his way up her calves, then her thighs, before Hermione slapped his hands away.

"I'm fine!" she snapped at the grinning wizard.

"Just making sure," Ron said as Harry scowled at the both of them. This wasn't the time for this.

"Come on," Harry said, running toward the Willow.

Everything occurred just as Snape said it would. Voldemort did indeed kill him, using Nagini as his instrument of Death. Hermione listened to his directive and did nothing at all, her heart pounding . . . expecting to immediately glow and his soul fragment to instantly return to his corpse. But it didn't happen. It took a little while for a body to fully die and Hermione was back at Hogwarts castle in the midst of battle, when Harry suddenly appeared, alive and ready to fight. Everyone gasped, but Hermione's gasp was because she felt a powerful tug in her breast, and a small fragment of light tore from her, zoomed through the fighters and out into the night as Harry and Voldemort circled each other.

Harry Potter did indeed kill Voldemort that night, and Hermione Granger never did marry Ronald Weasley. She did however have two dark-haired, dark-eyed children named Rose and Hugo Snape.

And of course she lived happily ever after. That's the way fairy tales go for people. At least those people who have snarky, brilliant and well-prepared Potions masters for husbands, that is.

THE END

A/N: I'm still having trouble getting back into the groove of TB and IAAU. So I jotted this down just to write something. I seem to have a fixation on doing alternate DH endings. I thought this idea was pretty cool so shared it with you. The first 4 paragraphs are taken directly from DH with slight alterations. Thanks for reading.