I got the idea for this and just felt the need to write it. Please review and let me know if you liked it! I changed a few things: Ron and Hermione aren't together and the time turner is able to go back many years into the past (I wasn't too sure if it was able to do that already without taking an incredibly long time)
Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and all things in the Harry Potter world belong to her.
Enjoy!
Hermione watched the life drain from her former professor's eyes. She wanted to stop it, she had to. As she, Harry, and Ron left to go back to the castle, Hermione held on to a whisper of hope. She went down to the potions room as Harry and Ron went up to the headmaster's office to use the pensive.
She flipped through the potions book and found the snakebite antidote under the chapter "Animal Attacks." She nearly threw the ingredients in, though she still did it carefully. Luckily the potion only took a few minutes to make, so she was done quickly. She pulled a flask out of her bag and filled it with the potion. Then, she pulled out her time turner and clasped it around her neck.
She arrived outside the office just as Harry was walking out. "Harry, I-"
"He loved her, Hermione. Snape- he loved my mom and he was always on Dumbledore's side- he protected me. And now-" Harry trailed off.
"You what?" Hermione asked.
"I have to go to the forest, to Voldemort." He said quietly.
Hermione looked at him sadly, tears threatening to fall, "I'll go with you."
"No, don't." He shook his head, "What is it you needed? You sounded like you needed to say something."
Hermione remembered and said, "Right- I need to use your invisibility cloak- is that alright?" Harry nodded. "Thanks," she said, "I'll be back in a few second." She squeezed Harry's hand and then hurried around the corner.
Taking out her time turner, she twisted a few times, going back 20 minutes. She reminisced in the feeling she got from time traveling everyday during her 3rd year of school. Hermione looked out at the hallway- the crowds of students bustling in every direction. Throwing on the invisibility cloak, she sprinted down to where she left Snape. She watched herself, Ron, and Harry getting up to leave. Under the cloak, she carefully walked in and poured the potion over Snape's snake bites.
As soon as she was sure that she was alone with Snape, she slipped off the cloak. "Professor?" She called out quietly. His breathing was shallow, but he was still alive which was better than last time. She took out the essence of dittany from her bag and that helped to heal the wounds on his chest and neck. But he still had some poison in him that could potentially be fatal.
Snape's eyes fluttered open and Hermione smiled. He blinked a few times and then looked down at his now healed wounds. His demeanor changed and much more life could be seen in his eyes.
"Did you do this?" Snape asked whenever he saw Hermione.
"Yes, Professor. You were dying so I went to the potions classroom and made a snakebite antidote. That with the essence of dittany I had was able to mostly heal you. I can't promise anything- there might still be some poison in you, but I wanted to try and help you." Hermione said.
"Why?" His voice was almost regretful, as if he didn't want to be saved.
Hermione didn't know what exactly to say, "You have sacrificed so much to protect and help us and I just wanted to help you."
He scoffed, "This is helping me. If the Dark Lord sees me he'll…" Snape shuddered. "Everyone knows me as a Death Eater- it's not safe for me."
"It will be. Once the war is over things will change. I know who you are and we can prove it." Hermione told him. He remained silent for a moment, giving Hermione a chance to think about wha Harry said. Severus loved Lilly. If Hermione couldn't do anything else for the man, she had one idea. "Would you like to… there's a chance…"
"What is it, Granger?" He asked in a voice familiar to his old one.
"I was able to get to you with the time turner. I can travel years back and travel right back to present day. Well, really I came 20 minutes into the past to get here so we'd need to go 20 minutes ahead of now…" she made note of the time, "But I was thinking… if you'd like… you can see Lilly Evans one last time. If we time it right you might be able to talk to her… but nothing about the future…" Hermione trailed off. Was it a stupid idea?
Snape sat up and stared wide eyed at Hermione, "You'd do that for me?" He half whispered to her.
"Tell me the date and we're there," Hermione said simply.
Snape thought for a moment, "May, 1976."
Hermione helped him up and then put the extra time turner chain around his neck. She twisted the larger dial back multiple times, counting until she got back to 1976. Then, she twisted the smaller dial back to May. Right before the time turner started working, she threw the invisibility cloak over them.
The scene changed rapidly around them and it finally stopped on a bright, sunny day. No one seemed to be on this part of the grounds, so she threw off the cloak and looked around.
"Why did you choose this year, if you don't mind me asking." She asked.
Snape sucked in a breath, "If you have to know… it was the year Lilly and my friendship was ruined. In June I made a terrible mistake." He looked at Hermione, "I know I can't change anything but I'd like to see her when we were still friends." His voice cracked as he breathed out, "Best friends."
"Right. Well don't say anything in particular- just the usual. I can cast some age reducing spells on you but they'll only last about 10 minutes. That's the best I could do." Hermione said.
"Thank you," Severus was very grateful. She smiled faintly and threw the cloak back over their heads. They made their way to the common grounds of the school where a large group of students were studying. Hermione immediately spotted Lilly practicing spells by herself, making the leaves from a tree dance in the wind.
Severus's breath halted when he spotted her. His steps grew hastily as he raced towards her. "Professor- wait." Hermione moved her hand in front of him. "I need to do the spell." She said the enchantment and watched as Severus went back to his old self. He was younger than Hermione and he had the same black hair, but he was much thinner. She made one final adjustment to his robes and added the Slytherin badge and tie.
"I'll be close by- in case something happens and so I can cast the spell again if need be. If you see your old self… I don't really know…" Hermione told him.
"I wouldn't be out now- I'd be doing potions in the dungeon on a day like this." Snape informed her.
Hermione nodded and he stepped out from the cloak. He raced up the hill and straight to Lilly, Hermione trailing along behind him, still under the cloak.
"Severus!" Lilly yelled. She smiled broadly and ran towards him. Taking hold of his arm, she ran towards the leaves she enchanted, "I finally mastered the charm!"
"That's great!" Snape's voice was so much lighter and there was a light in his eyes that Hermione had never seen before. Just the smile on his face was enough to mistake him for someone else.
"I never thought I'd see you out here on a day like this," Lilly said.
"Yeah," he lied, "I was supposed to be down in the dungeon helping Slughorn with some potions. But, I wanted to see you. Don't mention this little meeting later- I don't want him to think I was ignoring him."
"Alright- you can always go back there, you know- I'm just gonna be practicing spells, nothing special." Lilly shrugged.
"It is special- it's nice to be with you. Being in separate houses makes it harder each year." He took out his wand and enchanted the leaves to spiral around them. Lilly watched in amazement as Severus watched her. After the leaves stopped she smiled at him.
"That was beautiful." Lilly said.
"Yeah," Snape said, "I- I have to go. Bye, Lilly." He paused a moment and then gave her a hug. A confused expression covered her face. Snape stepped back and uttered a spell and ran back to where Hermione stood. She covered him with the cloak.
"What was that? Did you enchant her?" Hermione asked somewhat accusingly.
"Relax," he said, "I just wiped her memory of that meeting- if she said anything about that meeting it could've changed everything."
"Ok, that's good thinking." Hermione said.
"All she knows was that she was practicing spells. But I got to say goodbye," Snape said quietly. He changed back to his older self, but they stayed and watched as James and his friends walked over to Lilly. Hermione couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw the pain in Snape's eyes.
Hermione didn't know what else to do but wrap her arms around Snape. He looked down at her and slowly wrapped an arm around her. He tried not to cry, but a few tears slipped out as he stared at the girl he let get away.
"We should go," Snape wasn't sure how much longer he could stay here.
"Right." They went back through the castle, to the corner Hermione went to to travel back. They watched as the castle transformed, finally ending in slight destruction from the war. She cast a spell to mute their conversation to others and she spoke to him, "Everyone thinks you're dead or against them. Stay hidden. Keep the cloak on. Whenever this is over- and it will be soon- I'll be back. I want to talk to you. Please just stay here for me." Snape nodded and Hermione smiled, "Thank you." He planted a kiss on her forehead and she left to go find Harry, who was just around the corner waiting for her.
As Snape waited he thought about what just happened. He knew Hermione was right- now wasn't the time to be explaining the past to everyone- they didn't have enough time. He remained hidden and cast spells, trying to detect any trace of poison left in his system. From what he could tell, Hermione got their just in time and had saved him.
He quickly grew worried about Hermione and he ventured through the castle, making sure to stay hidden under the cloak. He threw occasional curses at the Death Eaters who mercilessly fired at the students.
He stepped out of the ruins of the castle and found Voldemort and Harry fighting, their wands connected for the last time. He moved over to Harry's side, his wand out, promising that if Voldemort won he would battle him.
Harry finally won and Voldemort dissolved into the sky. The war was over. Harry had won. Snape quickly ran back through the castle knowing the Death Eaters would be retreating now that their Dark Lord was no longer "alive."
Snape reached the headmaster's office and Hermione was waiting for him. He threw off the cloak and she catapulted herself into his arms. He hugged her back, extremely relieved she was alive.
"It's over," she said.
"I know," he nodded, "I saw it. I promised that if something happened I would fight… I'm sorry, I just couldn't stand here while you all fought."
"I'm just glad you are ok," Hermione said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "I'll vouch for you… prove you are on our side." Snape nodded. "Are you feeling ok?"
"I checked before- no poison. You're an even better witch than you give yourself credit for." Snape smiled, making Hermione's cheeks turn a faint pink. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know either," Hermione replied, "The past years, all we did was find a way to destroy Voldemort. I don't think I'm going to come back here for a final year." She paused, "What about for you?"
"I don't know. There's not really any need for me anymore," He said. He didn't want to teach any longer and he spent all his time dedicated to protecting Harry.
"I need you," Hermione said quietly. She met his curious stare and she shook her head, "I mean… um…" She didn't know what to say. She just threw her arms around the former professor again.
In that moment, he realized all Hermione had done for him. She saved him and gave him a goodbye to the most important person to him. He had never thought of her as more than Harry's sidekick and an annoyingly similar version of his younger self- a bit arrogant but highly intelligent. When they parted, he reached out and brushed a hair from in front of her face and then leaned down to kiss her.
After the injured had been mended and the dead buried and Hogwarts was rebuilt, Severus was put on trial along with the other Death Eaters. He was saved by those in the order and Harry who had used the memories Snape gave him as proof. Hermione also gave her input on his case, explaining what happened when she saved him. He was free to go while the others were sent to Azkaban.
Hermione became his assistant, working alongside him in discovering new potions and antidotes specifically against dark magic. Their life together was quiet and away from the public eye- they resided in a small magic village on the outskirts of London. They had ups and downs as any couple would, but they found a way to carry on and live comfortable lives with each other.
I hope you liked it!
