Chapter 9

Lying on her thin futon, Hermione Granger realized just how long seven years truly was. It seemed that the first eighteen years of her life had been endless. She had spent large portions of that time afraid and almost certain that she was going to die. The final battle was a huge turning point in her life, but for all the death, destruction and change it had brought the actual memory of it was hazy. She wasn't sure if it was a wilful forgetting or if the stress had interfered with her inability to retain events in her normal way. Maybe, her difficultly recollecting was just the passage of time. Regardless, she was hesitant to examine that dark and hopeless period with any scrutiny- though she knew that if she hoped to navigate this world with any success she really didn't have much of a choice.

She held the box that Snape had given her. She didn't understand his motivations or what he hoped to accomplish. Oh sure, she knew generally he would like to see the government overthrown, but what he specifically wanted was much harder to figure out. She knew that he had loved Lily- had committed his life to protecting Harry despite his obvious dislike. But Harry was dead in this world and Snape had failed his mission. There was really no reason left for him to risk his safety and wellbeing when he could live out the rest of his life comfortably as Headmaster of Hogwarts. She wouldn't blame him for doing just that. Some would have viewed the move as cowardly, even callous, but Hermione could see that there were no good choices to be made. It was live with the oppressive status quo or war. And no one wanted war.

Hermione waited until it was late before she felt certain she could open the box without being discovered. She cast a few protective spells just in case- nothing too powerful because on the off chance that someone did interrupt her she didn't want them to suspect that she was doing something that she decidedly shouldn't be. The box opened with a soft click. At first, Hermione couldn't see anything except for a soft glow. After her eyes adjusted she saw that there was a vial inside filled with a white luminous substance. She gasped before she picked it up and held it to eye level to examine it. If she was not mistaken (and she knew for a fact that she was not) these were the memories of one Severus Snape. She gently laid it down and picked up the only other object in the box – knowing without a doubt that it was a shrunken Pensieve.

"So, I guess I'm about to learn the truth," Hermione said. Or, Severus Snape's version of the truth, at least. She took a deep breath and released it slowly willing her nervousness to subside. She enlarged the Pensieve and poured the memories in; losing their glow and becoming cloudy as they diffused. "Now or never," she muttered as she smooth her hair back from her face and dipped her head forward.


Hermione knew instantly that she was in the Shrieking Shack despite the fact that both her eyes were firmly shut. Gathering her courage she opened them to see Snape standing before Voldemort.

"The battle is going well, My Lord. The resistance is crumbling," said Snape. Hermione's gaze strayed to just beyond him, where an old crate lay next to the opening. Her stomach clenched at the thought that Ron, Harry and some alternate version of herself were standing right there.

"And it is doing so without your help," hissed Voldemort in return. The exchange was familiar, and though she didn't know the exact phrasing, she knew how this conversation would play out.

Her eyes strayed to the Elder Wand. It was such a small thing that held so much power and caused so much destruction. She wondered if the Voldemort of this world had realized that Snape was not its Master at all. Perhaps that was why he was still alive? Hermione's hypothesis turned out to be flawed as the scene played out as she remembered it. Though seeing it from this angle she realized that Snape, in spite of his desperate pleading, seemed resigned to the fact that he was going to die.

Voldemort swished his wand. There was a second of stillness before the snake's cage elevated in the air and flew toward Snape. And then, seemingly without reason, it stopped mere millimetres away from Snape's face.

And then there was fire everywhere. Fiendfyre, was Hermione's first and only thought. She wanted to run, to escape, but quelled the instinct. She was safe. This was just a memory. Nothing bad would happen to her. Probably.

Harry, Ron and Granger emerged from under the cloak. Hermione could tell from the ashen look on Harry's face and the furious one on Granger's that neither of them was very pleased with this turn of events and were likely not responsible for the current choas. The fact that fire still peppered out from Ron's wand was also a dead giveaway.

"An, Severus, it seems that you have a momentary reprieve," Voldemort said, his eyes fixed on Harry. "I have more pressing things to deal with at present."

"You thought that I would come and here I am," said Harry. He looked painfully thin after months of being on the run and his green eyes looked so very haunted. Flames were licking around them while smoke curled around their limbs.

Hermione was at an absolute lost as to how anyone had survived this.

And then the fighting started. Harry and Voldemort flung a few spells back and forth toward each other; more like a warm-up then an actual fight to the death. Snape, on the other hand, had gone straight for Ron. Hermione followed after them, the smoke making it difficult to see. "You idiotic boy," Snape snapped at Ron, grabbing his wand from his hand. "I should kill you where you stand." But despite the words, Snape took advantage of Voldemort's distraction. He knocked Ron unconscious and then transfigured him into a small weasel which he promptly stuffed into his pocket. He then did the same to Granger who had been too busy trying to control the fire to react to Snape's attack in time.

Snape then did the impossible. He took Ron's wand and performed a non-verbal spell. The fiendfyre lessened around them, but didn't disappear completely. In fact, the fire around the snake appeared to grow brighter and stronger. Snape was trying to kill Nagini, and by the way Voldemort stumbled, he seemed to have succeeded.

Now it was just Harry and Voldemort. Hermione didn't understand why had Harry lost this; he was after all Master of the Elder wand. In a fight of such magic he had the advantage. But then Voldemort opened that mouth of his, "it seems that your friends didn't survive, Potter."

Harry whipped himself around, his eyes fixing on Snape's solitary figure; his long pale fingers still holding Ron's wand. Assuming the worst, Harry let out an inhuman wail and charged forward. Hermione couldn't bear to look yet couldn't turn her gaze away. One moment Voldemort had his wand raised and then the next Harry was on the ground covered with blood. Voldemort hadn't used the killing spell; instead he used one that inflicted physical damage. There was no coming back from the dead with that kind of magic.

Voldemort promptly fell to his knees. "I have done it Severus. I have killed the boy-who-lived."

And at the very moment that Hermione was positive she was going to retch her guts up, the scene faded.


There were very few things that Harry hadn't gotten the hang of. Sitting quietly and doing nothing was one of those things. He fumed silently at Kingsley's dismissal. After all, Hermione had risked her life to defeat Voldemort- they all had. Without her help Kingsley wouldn't likely even be alive, let alone Minister for Magic. Harry knew that he had to help Hermione, but he also knew that he didn't have the shear intellect that such an undertaking would require. But he knew someone who did. And that someone owed him a favour. A big one, at that.

He just hoped to Merlin that Ron never found out.


A/N: Well, I disappeared off the face of the earth. Sorry about that. I have no intentions of abandoning this story, so I hope you guys continue to read and review! As always this story is unbeta'd so if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out. Thanks again for reading!