A/N: Ahhh, my first Harry Potter fic! I've been wanting to write one for a while now and the idea for this came to me today. I never thought about pairing Snape with Hermione, but after reading a few fics about them they started to grow on me, lol! This is just a one-shot for now, I might add more later if you guys like! Thanks to Lara1221 for beta-ing this for me :-)
~PS-I do not own Harry Potter.
She was not expecting to find anyone else there. It was late, after all, way past curfew. She couldn't sleep...too many thoughts clouded her mind. Fred gone. Lupin and Tonks. Mad-Eye. People she'd grown to care about. She often ventured to the Astronomy Tower on her own, finding the cold night air calming to her troubled mind. That night she wasn't the only one. Hermione knew at once who it was; seven years of billowing black robes made him easy to recognize. She could recognize the figure of Severus Snape from anywhere. The man did not turn as Hermione approached him. His head was bowed, his hands gripped the railing of the Astronomy Tower so tightly that his shoulders shook. It took her a minute to realize that he was crying. Severus Snape, greasy-haired bat of the dungeons, was visibly crying. Intrigued, Hermione made her way towards the man she once hated. He turned at the sound of her footsteps, eyes red and streaming. He said nothing when Hermione gently laid a hand on top of his, but cried silently.
"Sorry," he said after a moment, wiping away the wetness in his eyes. "Just remembering old times."
"Lily?" Hermione guessed. The man nodded. She had seen the memories in the pensieve, Harry had shown her the night before. "I'm sorry," she whispered, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "I know she meant a lot to you." Severus stared at the young witch in front of him.
"Thank you," he told her softly. "For saving me back there...with Nagini. I don't think I've ever thanked you properly. You saved my life."
"You saved ours," Hermione replied. "All these years. I should be the one thanking you." He didn't know what came over him. One minute he was staring at her with such intensity that it made Hermione shiver, the next, he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back, responding to him in a way that was almost desperate. He clung to her as if his life depended on it, releasing years of pent-up emotion as he gripped the woman's small shoulders. Hermione wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her as he cried. Her tears mixed together with his as they clung to one another, each of them for different reasons the other didn't understand. When there were no tears left in him he pulled away, gently brushing away a strand of bushy hair and tucking it behind her ear.
"You really are the brightest witch of your age," he told her. Hermione beamed at him and the man returned the smile. The two fell into comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company and staring into the night sky.