AUTHOR'S NOTE: J.K. Rowling will always own Harry Potter, never any of us.

*I would like to apologize in advance. I am so sorry.*


"Will you get your lazy, frizzy haired, Mudblood ass up already?!"

Hermione felt like trolls were dancing around inside her skull and the person kicking the surprisingly comfortable bed she occupied was most certainly not helping. Why did it feel like she had spent the night getting spectacularly pissed? She never drank anymore; she really couldn't seeing as being an Unspeakable often led to unpredictable hours and sudden assignments. In fact, the last time she had gotten properly good and drunk was right after the Final Battle, after it really hit her that Professor Snape was gone…

Her eyes snapped open.

Severus.

The last thing she remembered was him, the much younger him, telling her the story of the Wishing Stone and then, when the glass warmed and comforted her—aiding the decision she already intended to make—she pressed her lips against his.

Oh, shit.

She sat up in the bed, which was adorned top to bottom in Slytherin silver and green, and surveyed the girl who'd been kicking it just moments before. She looked vaguely familiar but Hermione couldn't quite place where she knew her from. Her hair was a long, rich blanket of deep black that was almost blue and her eyes were a cool forest green. Her nose reminded Hermione of the pug her parents had when she was young…

The girl crossed her arms indignantly over her ample chest, "About damn time. Are you planning to get up sometime today or should we tell Professor Slughorn that you're 'sick' again?"

What the hell? She was back in school? The Wishing Stone must have malfunctioned; she had never been in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat would have never made that mistake.

"For once, Viola, will you just leave her alone?"

Hermione turned to see a second girl, yet another one that was frustratingly familiar, come striding from their shared bathroom, toweling her mahogany hair dry. She was almost hauntingly beautiful, like some kind of Victorian doll, with large hazel eyes and porcelain skin.

Merlin have mercy, where was she?

The angry girl, Viola, huffed and snatched her robes from the end of her bed, "Pardon me for not wanting to get detention again because of her."

"Hey," the Victorian doll snapped, gripping Viola's arm. "You know what it's like for her because of them. So please, do us all a favor and shut the fuck up. Even if it's just for today."

Viola was clearly scrambling for something witty to retort, but when she couldn't come up with anything, she simply grabbed her bag, turned on her heel, and stormed out of the room.

"You okay?" The beautiful girl asked quietly, sitting on the edge of Hermione's bed as she toweled her hair some more. "You know Viola's just upset because our last detention cut into her time with Thadeus Parkinson." She chuckled a little, nudging her foot. "Though I don't know why anyone would want to spend more time with that lumbering oaf."

Ah, so Viola would most likely go on to marry Parkinson and become Pansy's mother.

Well, that explained why she was such a bitch.

Not wanting to give away just how confused she was with the entire situation, Hermione cleared her throat and gave a small smile, "I'm fine. Sometimes I just forget how bad she can be in the mornings."

The other girl laughed as she got up to put on her uniform, "Isn't that the understatement of the year. She did have a point though… are you going to class today? I understand completely if you don't want to it's just—"

Hermione waved dismissively, "Don't worry about me. I'll be there."

"Good. I think it's… I think it's better that way, you know? To show them that you aren't afraid of them. Maybe if they think you aren't, they won't bother you as much."

She frowned as she began digging through the trunk at the end of her bed to find her clothes and, hopefully, a timetable with her class schedule on it. Who was she meant to be afraid of? Hermione had never been intimidated by anyone, not even Draco Malfoy and his goons at their worst. And really, how much worse than that could it get at Hogwarts? Whoever this girl was talking about, Hermione was not even remotely afraid.

"I'll be fine, I promise. I won't let them get to me."

The other girl, now fully dressed in her uniform, crouched down next to her and placed a warm hand on her shoulder, "Good. Don't let them take away from your OWL study time either. If the library isn't an option for some reason, just come back here and I'll come study with you, okay?"

OWLs. That meant they were fifth years and she was meant to be sixteen again. Hermione wanted to groan; she had already done all of this! Was it really necessary to go through it all a second time? Gods help her.

"Thanks," she managed, realizing she still didn't know the girl's name. "I appreciate it."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries before the other girl left for breakfast. Once Hermione found a uniform and a rather crinkled timetable in her trunk, she dressed herself and attempted to tame her once more bushy curls into submission before settling on a haphazard bun on top of her head. The silver nameplate on the beautiful girl's trunk caught her eye through the mirror.

Greengrass.

Hermione gave a small smile. If she ever made it back to her own time, it would be so nice to be able to tell Daphne and Astoria of the mother they never knew.

x-x-x

Hogwarts was exactly the same, not a single difference as far as she could tell. Had she really time-travelled? Was she really with people who were, for all intents and purposes, almost twenty years her senior back in her time? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was almost like it was all a dream…

"Impedimenta!"

Hermione went sprawling across the stone as the hex caught her back, her belongings all but exploding from her bag around her. When she looked up to see just whose balls she needed to hex so early in the morning, she came face to face with a once again very young, very handsome, very alive Sirius Black.

"A little clumsy today, are we Hermy?" He guffawed, his dark eyes dancing with glee.

She frowned. What was he…?

James Potter appeared on his left and Remus Lupin a little ways behind. "Sirius," Remus admonished half-heartedly. "Do you have to cause trouble already? We haven't even made it to breakfast yet."

"Yeah," James agreed, kneeling down to where she was sprawled and running his fingers up the bare skin of her leg with a dark gleam in his eye. "I'm sure there are much more entertaining things we could be doing with our favorite little Slytherin."

Hermione felt the bile rising in her throat as she scurried backwards, "Touch me again and I'll—"

James laughed, "What? Hex me? Please, do. I'd love to watch you get expelled."

"Do you boys always have to be so immature?" A soft, feminine voice lilted from further down the hall.

They all turned but it was James who looked most embarrassed at being caught, "Hey, Lily. Thought you were having a lie-in through breakfast today?"

Lily Evans, looking exactly the way she did in Severus' memories, came striding forward, knocking James promptly aside, "Good thing I decided not to, then. Since apparently I can't leave you alone for five minutes without worrying you'll assault someone." She waved her wand to put all of Hermione's things back into her bag and then extended a hand to her. When Hermione didn't immediately take it, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to bite, you silly girl."

Hermione, although still a little hesitant, took her hand and hauled herself to her feet, brushing off her uniform and grabbing her bag from the floor, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," the girl said dismissively before turning to leave. "And please ignore my idiot brother," she motioned towards James who had the decency to look slightly ashamed. "He's a moron at the best of times."

"I'm sorry," Hermione choked. "Did you… did you say your brother?"

Lily looked at her for a moment, puzzled, before turning to Sirius, "Did you hex her in the head?"

He shook his head, "No, I swear!"

She turned back to Hermione, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? You seem confused."

Her head was spinning, her thoughts reeling. James and Lily were… siblings? But that meant that Lily wouldn't end up with him and have Harry. What else was different? Hermione surveyed the group before it for only a moment before she realized that Peter Pettigrew was not there.

"Where's Peter?" She asked through the rising panic. When no one answered her, she tried again. "Peter Pettigrew, where is he? Why isn't he with you?"

They all looked at each other, clearly confused.

Lily was the one who spoke up yet again, "Hermione, are you certain you're alright?"

"He's the fourth Marauder," Hermione said, her tone tinged with desperation. "He's the fourth one, isn't he?"

"Does anyone know who she's talking about?" Remus asked quietly.

They all shook their heads.

Hermione could feel the panic constricting her chest. No. No, no, no, no, no. Please, please let her be wrong. Please let her be mistaken. Please don't let it be who she thought it was.

"Sorry I'm late, I was just…"

She felt the world, whatever was left of it anyway, lurch and then promptly come crashing down around her. She would know that voice if she were in a coma—if she were in the midst of being Crucio'd again—if she were dead.

Severus Snape's eyes flickered between the four Gryffindors before they settled on her and widened imperceptibly.

"Hey Sev," Sirius said congenially, slapping him on the back.

Remus nodded in greeting as well.

James lowered his voice to Severus, "Hey man, you ever heard of a Peter Pettigrew? Hermy here thinks he's a part of our merry little band of miscreants."

Hermione seemed to be the only one who noticed Severus' face go just a tad paler. He cleared his throat and recovered quickly, schooling his expression as he shrugged, "Never heard of him."

Apparently content with his answer, the other boys shrugged and began making their way towards the Great Hall as if the entire incident never happened. Lily was turning to follow when she noticed Severus wasn't moving, "Coming, Sev?"

His gazed flicked between Lily and Hermione for a split second, "Oh, yeah I'll be right there. I just realized I forgot my Arithmancy book. I'll be right back."

"You want me to go with you?" She said just a tad too breathlessly as she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

He blushed furiously.

Hermione wanted to vomit.

"N-no, no," he stammered. "I'll just be a second. Go ahead with the guys. I'll meet you soon."

She flashed him a flirtatious smile before turning and taking off in the direction where the three others had disappeared.

"We need to talk," he hissed the moment they were alone. "Now."

x-x-x

He had dragged her into an empty classroom off to the right from the large central staircase in the Main Hall. He quickly warded and silenced the door before rounding on her, "What the fuck did you do? What is this?"

It was then that Hermione realized his uniform was adorned in Gryffindor red and gold. Holy sweet mother of Merlin.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I have no idea! I just… I just did what the stone told me to!"

"Please tell me you're joking," he gasped. "Please tell me you're not fucking serious!"

"I didn't know what else to do! It had already brought me back in time so I thought it couldn't hurt to—"

"It couldn't hurt? IT COULDN'T HURT?! You're an Unspeakable! You're supposed to know better than that!"

Hermione was flailing. There was no justifying why she did what the stone said, other than because she hoped it would give him what he needed. "I just… I thought it would be best for you and I didn't know what else to do!"

"Best for me?" He repeated, clearly confused. "Okay, wait. Back up. What exactly did the stone say? I want to hear it, word for word."

Her hands were trembling, "When I first grabbed it, it said: 'HEA- Happiness Ever After' so I thought it was some sort of artifact, like a prophecy. But then, it changed and it said: 'happiness is only a kiss away, but beware the price you'll have to pay'."

He looked horrified, "And what did you wish for? What did you wish for that caused the stone to say that?"

Her voice was small as she spoke, her cinnamon eyes locked with his, "I just wanted you to be happy, Severus."

Severus stumbled back, knocking into desks and chairs until he managed to slump into one, "Holy fuck," he breathed, rubbing his hands over his face in disbelief. "Holy fuck."

"I'm so sorry, Severus," Hermione pleaded, her heart racing. "Please, you have to understand. I know how awful your life was, the horrible things you had to endure and I just… I just wanted to make it better somehow. You… you died! You died without ever having been happy and it was so fucking awful and I couldn't stand it. I wasn't able to save your life and I wasn't able to tell you how I felt before you died and I just…" She broke off, tears springing to her wild eyes. "I just wanted to help."

He still looked thoroughly shell-shocked as he gazed up at her, his obsidian eyes glossy and dreamlike, "Hermione… you did. You gave me everything I ever wanted."

At first, his admission elated her. It was a heady thing to know that she had been able to give him the happiness he had always craved but was never able to attain on his own. In her dizzying haze of ecstasy and jubilation, she stepped forward with the intention of kissing him. How could she not? She had been in love with him for most of her life and now he was right in front of her, whole and well and happy. His smile was enough to bring her to her knees.

Severus stood and came to her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. She felt herself melt into him and she clung to him just as tightly. Yes. Yes. This was what she always wanted. Her heart was trying to escape from her ribcage at being so close to him, at knowing that she would never have to feel the guilt or regret ever again. She made an accidental wish on a Wishing Stone, the Wishing Stone, and it had brought her the thing she desired most.

He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers with yet another blinding, bone-melting smile on his sharp yet perfect face, "You really did it," he breathed onto her face and she nearly groaned at the intoxicating scent of him. "You gave me Lily."

Her heart shattered spectacularly and her grip on him slackened.

Beware the price you'll have to pay.

Beware, indeed.