Hermione Granger lay across the chest of her former potions professor in the floor of the shrieking shack. Tears shook her fragile form as she clutched to his chest, agonized cries brought the name of the shack to a new meaning.

She'd covered as much of him as she could with herself. Tried to keep him warm.

She'd done everything she could think of, she'd forced potion after potion into him, shoved a bezoar down him and even tried mouth to mouth, a lesson forced upon all of the younger children in her muggle school days.

Her hair was a ratty mess as she pushed it back from her puffy, reddened eyes. It was all she could do not to die right there with him.

She'd loved him so much, so deeply that it felt as though her heart was being torn from her chest and fed to the accursed snake.

She grasped his frock coat tighter, the bleeding had stopped, his lips hadn't quite begun to blue yet.

She was pleading with everything in her, please give him back, please give him back.

Her sobs were muffled by his chest that did not move, did not heave to life.

Agony tore through her fresh, a wave that couldn't be stopped as she leaned back to stare down at him. His large, beak like nose did nothing to take away from his beauty, his lips were lax, his face the most relaxed she'd ever seen it. New tears fell, burst forth from somewhere within she couldn't identify.

She wouldn't have thought she'd had anymore to give at that point.

The sounds of war raged outside and she knew she needed to get out there and help.

She couldn't, she couldn't pry herself away from his body.

His body.

His body.

His body.

She tugged at her hair and shook him, a last feeble attempt to wake him.

She didn't think it would work, she didn't think she'd ever see those lovely, piercing black eyes again and it wrenched her soul in two. One piece would forever reside with him, it would follow him wherever he ended up.

She pushed the black hair from his face with blood stained hands, the horror would come later she was certain. The horror at being covered in his blood.

His blood.

His blood.

His blood.

She sniffed, smoothed her thumb across a sharp cheekbone and lowered her lips to his, it was a quick peck, a kiss that was meant to say goodbye.

I love you.

I love you.

She pulled herself away from his body, she would come back for him after the war, ensure he received the burial he deserved. It was the least she could do after all he'd done for them.

She glanced back one more time as she neared the door. His chest didn't move and her shattered heart would never come back together.

And Hermione Granger left the building that held Severus Snape.

Left it with a heaviness to her limbs she'd never experienced, a heart not broken but shattered by his loss.

Even if he'd never have come to want her, to care for her as she cared for him, just knowing he lived and breathed would have been enough.

Now she didn't have that.

She felt so cold, she felt lost, she felt numbed.

She walked past duels in a daze, her wand out but not a spell cast as she made her way to Ron, he gave her a curious look but said nothing as she joined him in the fray.

It was a blur, the end of the war, the flicks of her wand and hexes sent out in many directions, the shields and charms and transfigurations that aided their side in winning against the Death Eaters.

And then Harry, Harry was dead.

And then he wasn't.

And she wished that it could happen to Severus that way too.

She wished he could be dead.

And then not dead.

She wanted him to walk out of that shack and look at her with those piercing black eyes. She wanted him to argue with her about the proper uses for asphodel root. She wanted him put his hand to her shoulder and lean over her as she brewed a particularly difficult potion again.

She wanted to see that look of pride in his eyes when she succeeded at something that none of his other 'dunderheads' could do. Even if he never said it, she could see it.

She had lived for it.

And now she had nothing, what was the use in saving the wizarding world?

She was so cold, so numb.

She heard the people around her cry her name when she fell but she couldn't stop it, her vision blurred, went black, and then she was floating.

At least, she was floating until she heard her name being called, it pierced the blackness that she so desperately wanted to remain in and she blinked her eyes open. The sun was streaming down on her, bright, blinding.

"'Mione, blimey, are you okay?" Ron was leaned over her, red hair fell into his face, Harry was on her other side, equally concerned. She blinked a few more times but she still felt that heart wrenching pain, still felt like she was missing part of her soul.

And now she was having a hard time breathing too.

"Move boy." She heard a familiar voice and her blood turned to ice.

Had he returned as a ghost?

He'd been dead when she'd left him, she was certain he had.

She'd never have left him if she thought that there was even a glimmer of hope he was alive.

Black hair fell into his face after he'd finally wrenched Ron away and he was staring down at her. He looked worse for the wear, exhausted and bloody. She held up her own hands, coated in his blood and choked a sob.

"You're not real." She tried to sit up but when he forced her back down with a firm hand he certainly felt real.

"I find that interesting, Miss Granger, as I am here, moving former students about and staring into your face." His voice didn't hold its usual bite as she stared up into black eyes.

Black eyes she never thought she'd see open again and she pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob.

"I believe I have heard quite enough of that today, your wailing did make it incredibly difficult to decide on waking up." His eyes twinkled wickedly and she wanted to slap him. Instead she launched herself upwards and hooked her arms around his neck.

He stilled, startled by her sudden actions before his hands came up to rest on her lower back and he pulled her from the ground. She hooked her legs around his waist and he groaned.

"This is hardly the place, Miss Granger." She blushed bright red and released him, stumbled a bit when she hit the ground but with his help steadied quickly and stared up at him with glittering eyes.

Harry had eased off to the side somewhere, possibly to see if Draco was okay, to check on the others in their year. To take in the body count.

The body count that was missing one.

One very, very important wizard.

"You're alive." She whispered.

"Bloody hell 'Mione, you've lost your mind, bloody mental you are." Ron scowled and crossed his arms, Snape shot him a hard look and the young man immediately stuttered something about going to check on his family.

Snape thought that was an incredibly good idea.

"Come with me, Granger." Severus turned on his heel and Hermione had no choice to follow, she followed him through the trashed castle and down into the dungeons that, honestly, looked no worse for what the rest of the place had been through.

As soon as they were in what she assumed was his chambers the door shut behind him and she was against the wall, his mouth devoured hers and she sighed into the kiss, her hands fisted in his hair.

She didn't care that they were filthy, covered in blood, and exhausted, she'd wanted this.

Wanted him.

For so long.

So long.

"I can't believe you're alive." She murmured when he freed her lips and his fingers tangled into her hair, his forehead fell against hers.

"Because of you." He whispered against her lips, a little peck, a nip, she shuddered.

"I thought you were dead, I thought it didn't work."

"You kissed me."

"Mouth to mouth, the muggle cure for a stopped heart, CPR." She corrected and he fixed her in that deep black gaze, it was knowing. It was like he could see into her soul and she knew, knew he'd felt her kiss his lips.

"You kissed me, Hermione." He watched her hard, she gave a little nod of acknowledgement and he descended upon her again. His lips attacked hers with a frenzy she'd never felt before. It was amazing, tingles shot and danced all over her body. His hands trailed from her hair to her neck, down to cup her breasts before they fell lower to her hips and grasped for purchase there. When he broke away again she blinked her eyes open.

"You should get some rest, dying must be hard on someone."

"I will not." He responded bluntly and took her hand again, he lead her by the bloodied appendage to his private bathroom where they shared an intense look.

No words passed between them as he began to pull off layer after layer of dirtied clothing. She worked his buttons until he was freed of his clothing as well and they stood, bared before one another.

It was the most intimate thing she'd ever experienced and gooseflesh broke out across her arms and legs, even her stomach prickled a bit.

At the sight of his manhood her thighs clenched and she bit her lip.

His hand came up to cup her jaw, his eyes sought hers and he gave her an encouraging smirk, if that was even possible.

"Don't focus there, we won't do anything you don't want to do." And he released her, started the shower and pulled her under the hot water with him.

He took care to wash her, every inch, and smoothed through her tangled curls with delicate fingers. When she was clean it was his turn and she ran her fingers over the smooth plains of his chest, the slender dip of his abdomen beneath his ribs. He was thin, but not scrawny.

He was enchanting, the scars there earned a touch from her lips, each and every one under the warm running water and he shivered at every kiss. Turned to face her and captured her lips there, his hands trailed to her bum and cupped it. Her breasts against his chest made his cock twitch and she gave him a wide eyed look.

He shrugged. "Not much can be done about that." A wicked little smirk consumed his face and she shook her head with a giggle that said she wasn't all too displeased.

At least he wanted her, wanted her like she wanted him.

She stared at him for a minute when he turned off the water. Before he could summon their towels she allowed the question to pour from her mouth in the most ineloquent way.

"Are you doing this because you feel obligated?" The trepidation was obvious on her face, the way she bit her lip and he caught her jaw again, something softer was there, tucked deep beneath his blank mask.

"I'm doing this because I have wanted to since you came to adulthood." He smirked again at her blush and wrapped her in a thick black towel. It was a bit scratchy against her skin but she ignored the sensation as he helped her from the bathroom and led her to the bedroom.

When he began to dry her, starting at her feet she giggled and danced away from him. He was forced to catch her hips as he knelt on the floor and worked his way up her legs, when he reached her thighs he nipped them, kissed them, licked them, up to her hips, his mouth followed the drying trail of the towel until he'd reached her breasts.

Here he paid extra attention, his mouth caught the peek of one nipple before the other and she dug her fingers into his long black hair. Her exhaled moans like music to his ears as he backed her toward the bed.

She stopped him, pushed him back for a moment and examined his face-neck area.

"You healed it, it is gone." He assured, her fingers ran over the raised scar there, another testament to the hard life he'd lived. She kissed the fresh, pink scar and he shuddered.

It was the most accepting thing he'd ever experienced and it settled heat low in his abdomen. His cock twitched again and the strain of his arousal was almost uncomfortable.

He would not push the witch however, she had saved his life, had cared for him even when everyone else would have left him dead on the floor of that blasted shack. It was all he needed to know that she cared for him. Truly, as he cared for her.

Hermione kissed his mouth and he could feel it, the emotion there, the same from the shack.

I love you.

I love you.

He returned the kiss with fervor and lay her back in his bed. He didn't care that they would be looking for them, didn't care that others would be worried, they could worry for one another now. He would have peace with this witch. Peace in the realization that he was no longer subservient, he was his own man, and he would have what he wanted.

And right then, Hermione Granger was what he wanted.

His lips trailed a path down her neck and she whimpered and moaned beneath him, his position between her legs allowed his tip to tease at the wet cleft there. He hissed when the tip hit her clit and he almost had to remove himself from the room. He was growing so incredibly sensitive.

"Sev." Her fingers found his cheek and pulled it to face her, she still couldn't believe he was in front of her, paying this attention to her. "Make love to me, please." Her wide brown eyes were so innocent, so warm, so inviting.

He groaned before he eased himself inside, felt the tear of her virginity slip away and she tensed around him.

So tight.

So tight.

He could have burst right then if it weren't for the witch clutched to him.

He needed to give her pleasure, worship her the way he would for as long as she would have him.

"Relax love." He lay little kisses to her temple and jawline and before long she did. He pulled back and thrust in again slowly, his movements delicate, giving her time to adjust.

Soon she was meeting him thrust for thrust, her body quaked with every meeting and he groaned above her, a deep noise that resonated from his chest.

Primal, guttural, something animalistic that she sparked in him.

"Faster Sev. Oh! Faster!" She cried and he obliged, drove himself faster, deeper, connected himself to her on every level. She cried out his name, her eyes pinched shut as her mouth fell open and he could see the pleasure there.

She was so lovely.

"I'm going to…Oh!" She cried out, he captured her lips when her orgasm made her seize and contract around him, her eyes pinched closed tight as his seed spilled forth and his own eyes closed. He fell onto his elbows, not ready to pull out but certainly not wanting to crush the witch.

He waited a few moments, waited for their shuddering to stop before he fell to her side and she whimpered at the loss of him.

"I love you." She whispered into his ear as she pulled herself to his side, he turned on his side and draped his arm over her hip. She watched him with cautious eyes and he blinked a few times before he formed his answer.

She had to know that this was hard for him.

He opened his mouth and Hermione put a finger to his lips before she removed it to lay a little kiss there.

"Not yet, when you say it I want you to mean it, until then, I'm happy with whatever piece of you I can have." He stared at her, black eyes so full of emotion that she almost burst into tears as he watched her.

"When I say it, I will mean it, until then, you can have any piece of me you desire." His chest rumbled and she put her ear against it, listened to the heartbeat there.

"I want all of you, Severus." She admitted, she shouldn't feel nervous, she'd just showered and had sex with him but still, it seemed so odd, so intimate. She wasn't used to sharing her innermost feelings, the things she would never tell anyone.

"And that is what you shall have, love." He kissed her forehead and wrapped her tighter into him.

"We should go back, they'll be worried." She stifled a yawn that took only a few seconds before it returned with a vengeance and forced its way to freedom.

"First, you rest, I will send a Patronus to alert Minerva that we are safe." He pulled his wand and cast the spell, he was shocked when not a doe sprang forth but a beautiful stallion, wispy and white, he reared back on his hooves and the pair stared at him hard.

"What the-?" He blinked, "Hermione, cast your Patronus?" He blinked at her, her eyes snapped open and she summoned her wand to her hand with a yawn. Her Patronus was an otter, not nearly so lovely as his stallion but an adorable little thing none the less.

She was stunned into silence when she cast and not an otter, but a mare with a fantastically majestic mane pranced around the room, and around his stallion. Hermione blinked and held a hand to her mouth in shock.

"That is, unusual."

"No Hermione, that is the perfect expression of the way I feel for you." And she turned to look at him, her eyes sparkled with tears she would never shed and she kissed his lips delicately. With a flick of his wand both the majestic creatures were dismissed and he sent out his Patronus again, with the message for Minerva.

Hermione pulled herself further into his chest and nipped at the flesh there, he stiffened, in more ways than one and rolled onto the witch, his face loomed over hers.

"Already, perhaps I will have to change your title from insufferable to insatiable." Hermione blushed bright red and he reached up to massage a breast she gasped and pulled her head up to connect their lips again.
"Yes, most definitely insatiable."

And he was there.

And her shattered heart was not so shattered after all.

She looked up at him, at his body lingering over her, so full of life.

His body.

His body.

His body.