Adieu, Sweet Earth Child

By Fidelius Charm

Summary: He held her tightly as they flew into the air, she begged for him to return to the ground. He refused. Higher, and higher they ascended towards the heavens. And then he let her go.

Note: This is my second SS/HGish oneshot. I'm ignoring HBP because I can. Be gentle. Constructive criticism is always welcomed!

The important thing is this: To be able, at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

-- Charles Dubois

Flying was never Hermione's favorite thing to do. She'd rather teach Divination for an entire school day then have to go flying. But when he said he needed to show her something she dare not refuse. He had helped her cope with so many things after the end of the war; the loss, the emptiness that had been created in her heart, something he said he'd been carrying in his for a very long time. He was her guiding light, and it was ironic, Severus Snape, Slytherin, Former Death Eater, a guiding light in someone's life. But it was true and no one could deny it. The days he had spent teaching her complicated Potion Laws and Theories, and the nights they spent together trying to finalize their creations, had brought them closer together. (Well, as close as a Slytherin and Gryffindor could ever wish to be.)

"Why are we going so high?" She squealed in a high-pitched tone, clutching him tighter and tighter as their height increased, "Can't we just go back to the ground?"

"No" Was his simple reply, "We're almost there."

The cool night air caressed her soft skin, she shivered slightly in his arms. She was nervous, he could tell, but he could also tell that she trusted him because she wasn't hysterically crying like the first time he had taken her flying.

"What are you going to show me?" She asked him quietly.

"Freedom." He whispered his voice barely audible.

She looked at him quizzically, his answer confusing her tremendously. She continued to search him for an answer but nothing was exposed from his stoic expression. She soon found herself over the Lake, the moonlight reflecting gently against the stagnant water. She admired the calm and serene night. But her peaceful setting was instantly destroyed by a blinding flash of green light that radiated through the sky. Hermione covered her eyes as best she could and when it dissipated all that was left terrified Hermione to the very bone.

The Dark Mark

"But he's dead!" She cried, "HE MUST BE DEAD!" Hermione was silent for a moment, realization hitting her hard, "That means, he's alive…Harry didn't kill him."

"I know." He replied calmly.

"You know?" Hermione replied, again surprised at her mentor's answer.

"I don't have much time to explain. Silencio." And with a flick of his wand Hermione was no longer able to speak. She immediately struggled but his strong grip refused to let her go.

"Harry was unsuccessful, he didn't kill Voldemort, it was a contest of who could outlast the other. Because Harry was so young he didn't have as much stored magic inside him as Voldemort, the man who lived for eighteen years relying on other people to live, did. It's hard to explain, it deals with ancient magical principles." Snape explained rapidly, "We all thought that Voldemort and Harry had both been killed, and I mean we, I believed it too, until three days ago when I was summoned to a Death Eater's council. All my hopes and dreams were crushed in an instant, any future I thought I would be able to obtain is gone."

Snape looked into Hermione's chestnut brown eyes, tears were threatening to fall down her cheeks and it tore him apart. All he wanted was for her to be happy and free, like she was five minutes ago but it would never be the same.

"I've planned to smuggle you out of here in the best way I thought possible, by staging your death." He began, "I'm going to place you into a body lock, I'm going to drop you, you will land in the water. You probably will start to sink for a few moments but I have Bill Weasely waiting for you. He will take you away from here." Snape paused and closed his eyes. "Hermione I need you to hear something before I let you go."

Her eyes had not strayed from her beloved school, screams echoing through the air. The chaos that had formed radiated through them both. They both knew they were running out of time.

"Listen to me!" He nearly shouted, her sight was brought back to him.

"Hermione Granger, I don't know how you did it, but you've found a way into my heart. That day when you finally got Wolfsbane Antidote right, I was so proud. I never had felt that way towards anyone. But eventually that pride I had taken in you turned into something else, something I'm not sure how to verbalize except with these words." He stopped for a moment to regain his breath.

She smiled if only for a moment, realizing he actually did have a way with words, and that the first year speech he had given her class wasn't just a fluke. A stopper on death, indeed.

Suddenly someone called out Severus Snape into the air, they were searching for him. Fear, and adrenaline rushed through his system. It was now or never, and he wasn't going to settle for never. At least, not this time he wasn't.

"I've fallen for you. I don't know how much or to what extent, but I know it's there. If we had more time maybe I could sort all of my feelings out, but I don't have time, neither of us do. I was considering never letting these words pass through my lips, but I feel like you should know why I'm doing this. It's not to save the world, or to give everyone else hope, it's because I want there to be a time and a place where I get to figure out what the hell I'm feeling. And when I finally do figure it out, I want you to be there so I can tell you." He felt so out of character, this wasn't like him. But desperate times call for desperate measures. And these were a desperate times.

Hermione tried her best to absorb the information that was being presented to her. Once she understood that smile that had crept onto her features grew even wider, though went unnoticed by the gut spilling Romeo.

" I'm willing to give up everything in order to save you, I care about you so much, and I'm willing to give everything away. I promise you everything will be alright, even if I have to do it myself. So go and live Hermione, live so that we can meet again someday. And we can put a definition on what the fuck I'm feeling." There was another awkward pause, "I need to cast the body binding spell now."

He looked at the young woman in his arms, who was no longer struggling, she looked at her former Professor with an expression he had never seen cross her features before. It was warming, yet still uncharted and mysterious. He felt happy, even in these circumstances, he was truly happy. Then she did something he never though she would do, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. When she pulled away he began to feel as if maybe his tirade wasn't for nothing. He too found a smile gracing his pale face. And with a single whisper, he cast the spell.

"Hermione Jane Granger, I will miss you more then words can ever describe."

And then he let her go.

END

I know this was weird, and you probably didn't like how I ended it. Sorry about that. If I left you wanting more, sorry about that too. I won't be doing a sequel, or a companion, or anything of that nature because well, I think this ended the way it should have. This is definitely one of my, 'Fidelius has lost her mind' One Shots, so have fun drawing your own conclusions, and making up your own endings, I would love to hear them!

--FC