An epilogue after this.
Hermione pressed her hand to his shirted back…as he'd comforted her before. Though that touch had been too brief. Hesitant. In that moment, she'd known she was losing him and her heart —even as she celebrated Voldemort's quick demise— her heart…cracked.
"No… No, you are not him."
Severus stiffened and she closed her eyes. He thought himself so…unworthy.
"What I said before is true. The length of time knowing someone is...it doesn't matter. Yes, the man you would've become drew me, I don't deny it. His portrait? Yes, that too. I got a hint of the man who hid beneath so many layers. But Merlin, Severus, meeting you. Those other men were incomplete. You…"
Hermione had to see his face and ducked around him. His eyes were shut and a tight pained line formed between his brows. So achingly familiar. She pressed desperate fingers to his cheek, "You…"
She shook her head, wanting and knowing that she couldn't throw her heart at him. It wouldn't be his choice…and Merlin help her; it had to be that.
Her instincts screamed it. As they had with their run-in with James Potter and Sirius. So…she let out a slow breath and her fingers curled away. Pain fisted in her belly. Yes, she'd thoroughly smashed the timeline that had led to his being Marked…and to his death. That was her job…done. Anything more was down to him.
"I want you safe, Severus Snape. This you. Because he…" She stepped back, looking to the rumpled bed and the moments of heated bliss she'd found there chased through her swirling thoughts. He had been so…beautiful. Her throat tightened and she closed her eyes. "Even if you…you walk out and never come back. Never." She swallowed. "Never see me again. You will live. Free of the Mark. Free of everyone.
"That's why I came back. You. This you. The first apprentice to Theodore Begbie in fifty bloody years. Brilliant. So brilliant. What you can do now…" She shook her head. "It was a means to an end to remove Voldemort, his Death Eaters, his followers—"
"His followers." Severus' pale cheeks flushed and he stared at her. "He has...had hundreds…"
Hermione huffed a laugh and almost winced at the bitterness edging it. "I'm thorough. Famed for it, actually. Auror Moody has more than the single sheaf about Voldemort. I gave him detailed lists of everyone connected to the Dark Lord…and evidence, times and dates that'd ensure conviction." A wry smile twitched across her mouth. "The other end of my timeline…as you can see, not so urgent."
"And you've been here a month?"
He wasn't leaving. That was the only thought pinging through her mind. He was curious, he was asking questions. Hermione nodded and gave him a more-sure smile. "It was actually quite nice spending Christmas in the Leaky Cauldron."
Not much of a lie. It had been, with strangers caught there making the best of it with good food and mulled wine and the Wizarding Wireless softly echoing over the stone walls. And in the future, who would she have had? Who had she had? She'd not been welcome at the Burrow and had been one of the displaced students stuck in Hogwarts…with too many dark memories.
"And your cheating wizard?"
There was an undercurrent to Severus' voice. Did he think she'd lied about who she was? Yes, she'd woven some...fabrications around her life, but she couldn't declare the truth, not in that moment, not without so much more explanation.
"Real enough. And an utter shit, in the end. He'll be born in two months time." She winced. "I'm four months old." She drew in a breath. "A…muggleborn. I did go to Hogwarts. Gryffindor."
Severus' dark eyes narrowed on her. "That explains…a lot."
"Doesn't it? My research on time theory wasn't clear. If anyone has ever done what I have, they, naturally aren't owning up to it." She wiped a hand over her mouth, the old worry coming forward again. "And I don't know if the baby version of me will be a witch, or if I've…stolen her magic."
That uncertainty twisted through Hermione's chest. To be robbed of her magic. Never to know the power that surged at her command, the wild incandescent beauty of it… Maybe…perhaps, Baby Hermione's life would be…easier without magic, without the rift it caused between herself and her parents.
At least her parents wouldn't be in Australia with no idea that they'd ever had a daughter.
"No, whatever her future, it will be…better."
"I can't…" Something moved in his eyes. Oh, the dear man, he so wanted to believe her. To believe that someone would care enough to change the world for him. But he couldn't. "Hermione, you're lying to yourself. You did this for him—"
And there it was…
"I did this for Severus Snape…and whatever incarnation he now lives in." Hermione lifted her shoulders. "Madam Randell said the need for the truth would come at me fast."
"Grammy?"
Severus flushed at the word and his gaze darted away.
"She…caught me before we left…could see what I was. Knew I'd come to keep you safe."
Hermione knotted her hands and stared at her bloodless knuckles. "I want you alive, Severus. I want that brilliant mind of yours turned to making this world…incredible. You never finished your apprenticeship under Master Begbie You were trapped between two other, less worthy masters and spent your days trying to batter potions tuition into ungrateful and thick-headed children—"
Severus blinked. Twice. "I become a…teacher?"
She'd always suspected that he'd hated teaching, only Dumbledore and Voldemort's needs pinning him to Hogwarts. The look of dawning horror on his face was almost comical. "A professor —potions master— at Hogwarts for almost two decades, before—"
Severus held up his hand to stop her. He stared, silent, possibly horrified and caught his fingers in his tangled hair. "You stopped me becoming a teacher."
Hermione returned his stare, slightly worried, and wondering if she'd come into the past not to save Severus Snape, but to break him.
And then…and then his lips quirked up into a dark smirk that quite caught her breath. He was close again. Without her being aware of him actually moving…
"And you had a…crush on this potions master?"
Oh, good and merciful Merlin. His voice was a sin-filled rumble. He knew –exactly— the power of it. Git. Her face burned and she pressed her lips together. She jerked a nod.
He lifted an eyebrow. "More than a crush?"
Another nod, because his voice and that devilish eyebrow? She was putty.
"Did I…did he…?"
Hermione shook her head.
"More fool him."
She willed a breath, the desperate curl of hope there again in her chest. "Severus…?"
"No one has ever…" He huffed a disbelieving breath. "No one has ever acted in my interest. For me. Selflessly. To change the course of time? For me?" His dark eyes shone. "Though not so selfless, Hermione?" He was a looming shadow, the heat of his body, the wanted scent of his skin taking over her every sense. "You wanted…something."
"I…" Guilt swirled, because she had wanted him. Wanted him to be her first…if not her only. And she'd grabbed at the chance, used him before she explained why she was with him. Before he could push her away. "I wanted—"
"—to fuck me."
Yet another jerky nod.
"What a naughty girl you are, Miss Granger."
Her knees almost gave out and she clutched at the edge of the dresser, her fingers tight and bloodless. Fuck… That low and velvet growl, saying those words, ones that had chased her through illicit and heated dreams for years. She wet parched lips, simply staring at him. "How…?"
His smirk was sharp. Dark. So wicked her heart was thudding. Oh, this Severus was simply…delicious. "What else would an eager young witch imagine her professor saying?" A long finger stroked her hot cheek and she shivered under the light caress. "Thank you." His smile softened and she looked on a Snape she'd never seen before. Tender. Warm. Happy… "Dark Lords and foul creations and my future death aside, thank you," he pressed his hand over his heart, "thank you for breaking the timeline that made me a teacher."
Hermione snorted. "You are most welcome."
"Am I?"
Oh, there was that eyebrow again…and she didn't stop the need to run her fingertip over its tempting curve. "I admit to a selfish turn to coming back here." There in her chest, the tight burn, the push to say more. It was safe. He'd chosen... Tears burned and it really wasn't fair that she could be this happy. "If you would have me, Severus Snape, I would have you…forever."
"Yes, what is time to one who is so cavalier with it?"
But Severus tilted her face to his and the softest of kisses brushed her lips. Because he couldn't resist her. Not for another moment. It was him. She wanted him. Not some phantom wizard decades into the future. It was strange that a man he would never become had caught the interest of this witch and compelled her to come back to find a…completeness in him.
And he believed her. Oh, he was more than happy to make her his future. How could he not?
"If you wish, you can have me and keep me." He kept his voice to the low, dark rumble that glazed her eyes and had the pulse at her throat throbbing. "Forever. And always."
Her mouth parted, though no sound came out. A single tear chased onto her cheek…before she flung herself at him. He grunted as her arms became a vice. "Though…"
Her head snapped up and she frowned, a shadow clouded her eyes. "What?"
"It is still my birthday and I was promised cake."
Her cheeks flooded with colour and her inexperience hit him again. He pressed his hand to her face, his thumb teasing over her parted lips. "May I…share it with you?" His gaze flicked to the bed and the mess of sheets. The tormenting scent of sex still lingered and Merlin save him, he wanted her again. With or without cake. "Miss Granger…"
She sucked in a breath, blinked at him and her fierce hold grew slack. Her eyes were almost as black as his own. Such a simple thing turned her to a puddle of wanton witch.
A slow, sharp grin pulled at his mouth. It would be interesting to be her teacher...in some ways. "Would you prefer to call me…Professor?"
All breath broke from him as Hermione pounced.
So…without cake, then.
