Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they belong to J.K Rowling. This story is inspired by the show "This is Us" and "Me before You".
On a side note, I am changing the character's ages a bit. Hermione is 20 at the end of the war, and Snape is 32.
Chapter 1- Life Starts Over.
Severus P.O.V
Blood. That's all I could see as I embraced my final moments, finally ready to see Lilly again. Even if I now knew she would have never returned my love, I still missed her and longed for our friendship.
"Hold on Professor. Please don't give up." I heard the faint begging, painfully I turned my head to see who was there trying to save me. I met Miss. Granger's eyes with tears falling in streams down her cheeks as she forced some potion down my throat pressing tightly to my neck trying to stop the blood. I closed my eyes struggling to take each breath, I heard her yelling for help from someone but I didn't see who; if anyone; came to help as I embraced the darkness that was closing in.
Suddenly from the peaceful darkness came a calm voice, and a steady beeping. I willed my eyes to open to the bright blinding light, only to see I had in fact not died, but was in . The calm voice was that of Miss. Granger reading out loud, "Hogwarts: A History".
"And what do you think you're doing?" My voice rasped out staring at her, smiling to myself as I watched her jump in surprise.
"You're awake." She smiled jumping out for her chair rushing to take my hand before I had a chance to jerk it away.
"Obviously. Now leave." I dead paned, staring at her in confusion. She just smiled and went out to the hall only to return with a doctor and nurse.
The next few weeks were spent finding out what happened during that finally battle; who won, who died, who lived. I was pleased to find out that all the years of work was worth it and that my Godson was spared not only from death but from a life sentence in prison. But what surprised me the most was with Mr. Potter and Weasley came with one afternoon to give me the news of my pardon for my war crimes. Then finally I was released to go home, and much to my annoyance Miss. Granger come along to help me settle in. And like a damn stray dog she kept showing up day after day, with bags of groceries for dinner, on her arms and a load of books in her bag.
This continued for months till the anniversary of the final battle rolled around. We were in my living room with the fire slowly burning as we read and drank tea.
"Will you come with me to the Ministry's celebration?" Hermione, as she insisted at this point for us to use each other's first names.
"Why not ask ? Surely he'd be more acceptable to take as a date." I looked up at her over the edge of the Daily Prophet.
"I…well..You see," She stammered "I want to go with you. Ron and I, we'll just fight and he'll say something stupid and..." Hermione started to ramble.
"I suppose then I'll attend with you." I cut her off from her nonsense. Her smile grew as she finally took a breath before returning to her book.
On the day of the celebration, I decided to make an attempt for Hermione's sake of making it a real date. Casting a few cleansing and mending charms I dusted off my old forgotten suit, instead of my normal black robes, and trimmed my hair shorter then I had planned and transfigured a rose from the garden to a wrist corsage. Once 6 o'clock rolled around I flooed to the Burrow where she was living at the time to pick her up.
I waited sitting on the sofa making small talk with Arthur while she finished her finally touches according to Molly. I heard the soft clicking of her heels against the steps of the stairs as she made her descent to the living room. My breath caught in my scared throat as I took her in, and my body stirred in a way that it hasn't in years. Hermione was wearing a beautiful red dress; much like the color of Pinot Noir; that hugged her in just the right way to show her delicate hourglass and chest. Her skin looked like pure milk against her dress; I finally was able to bring my eyes up to look at her face. She wore very minimal make-up and her curls seemed to be tame while still holding on to their wild charm. Clearing my throat I stood up meeting her at the bottom of the stairs offering her my hand to take the final step down.
"Thank you, Severus. It's beautiful" Her smile was contagious as I slid on the corsage still trying to find my voice. I watched her fingers dance lightly over the petals of the rose. I cleared my throat once more, cursing myself internally for behaving like a prepubescent boy, and not a 32 year old man. I held out my arm for her to take as we stepped into the fireplace.
I found myself thinking numerous times that night, how lucky of a man I was, here with . Normally I don't enjoy dancing, I feel I am quiet dreadful at it, but with her I didn't mind. She made me feel at such ease with her bell like laugh and radiate smile. We sat while listening to the Minster of Magic talk about the war, and the past year, of loved ones who would be happy to see us rebuilding. I couldn't stop myself from wiping the tear away that had escaped Hermione's eyes and running down her check, as Kingsley listed the names of her friends lost in the war.
We left and went to my home for a night cap, shortly after midnight. We found ourselves sitting out in the garden with our shoes left inside, as we drank. I watched as she sat in the soft grass, just starting to become damp with dew, then lay back staring up at the stars.
"When I was little I use to try and count the stars," She stated with sadness in her voice, still staring up at the night sky, breaking the comfortable silence that had set in. "I would never make it past 40 before I would fall sleep, my dad would have to carry me to bed. Then I got my letter to Hogwarts and stopped trying to count them."
Sitting next to her, I tried to think back to the last time I had indulged myself in such little pleasures like looking at the stars, and found that I couldn't remember.
"Lay back, its peaceful and rather soothing." I stared at her for a moment, wondering if I had said it out loud. Taking an uneasy breath I laid beside her and just stared up watching the earth slowly move by. Some time that night Hermione fell asleep beside me in the grass and curled her-self up against me, strangely I found I enjoyed feeling her against me
. I couldn't take my eyes off the sky; feeling free for the first time in years, and watched it change from the dark black sky filled with stars to dark blue and then finally the sunrise started.
"Hermione, wake up." I whispered trying to gently wake her. "Look, the sun is rising."
This time though instead of staring at the sky, I watched her as her eyes danced across the sky taking in all the shades of orange, blue, and pink. That's when I noticed how lovely her eyes were, the most perfect shade of chocolate with specks of gold dancing around her iris.
"It's beautiful." She smiled sitting up next to me once the sun was up. Giving a quick prayer, to let this be a new start at life, I brought her soft full lips to mine.