Once inside the castle, Harry went to Dumbledore's office to view Severus's memories and Hermione and Ron went down to the Chamber of Secrets to destroy Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. Ron had dislodged a fang from the Basilisk's skeleton from all those years ago and handed it off with a confident nod to Hermione. Taking a deep breath, she plunged it into the cup.
An inhuman scream sounded all around as a wall of water rose in front of them. Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her along, sprinting to the door as the water took on the form of Voldemort's snake-like face. When the water was upon them, they both crouched down, covering themselves and praying for their lives. When the water simply fell upon them, she rose slowly, not quite believing they had escaped unscathed. Suddenly it hit her just how many times throughout their lives they had barely escaped. She turned to look at Ron, who seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. As if on cue, they lunged at each other and kissed each other desperately. It wasn't a passionate kiss, or even loving or sensual. But it proved they were still, somehow, alive.
They had managed to find Harry again afterwards just as Voldemort once again spoke to everyone. He allowed them to gather their dead and pause. Then, to Harry alone, he demanded he stop the bloodshed by meeting him in the Forbidden Forest. The trio walked slowly into the Great Hall, now a makeshift infirmary, and they were stunned by the sheer number of injured and dead. As they walked slowly down the aisle towards Ron's family, Hermione broke down at the sight of Lupin and Tonks lying motionless side-by-side. They were so close to taking this villain down, but he still managed to cause such pain.
Finally Molly saw them, and her face fell. Immediately Hermione knew something was terribly wrong. She squeezed Ron's hand tightly and held her breath as they approached. It was Fred lying cold and unresponsive at their feet. Ron let out a strangled choking sort of noise and dropped to his knees, joining George at his brother's side.
Harry waited respectfully as long as he dared before squeezing Hermione's shoulder and walking out. She in turn, gently pulled Ron away and followed Harry to the entrance of the castle.
"I'm going to the Forbidden Forest. It's the only way." Harry said, sure of himself. Hermione felt a sharp pang, already knowing his answer before she asked.
"We'll come with you." She said softly, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. Ron nodded beside her, eyes still swollen and red. Harry gave them both a sad smile.
"No. I need to do this on my own. Besides, I need you to kill the snake." Hermione nodded, crying once more. She threw herself at him and hugged him as tightly as she could, knowing he might not come back.
As the sun was rising the next morning, they heard a voice shouting from outside the Great Hall. Those who could, made their way outside and saw the huge crowd of Death Eaters, led by Voldemort and a skipping Bellatrix coming towards them. Hagrid was with them carrying… Hermione gasped. Harry was lying limp in Hagrid's arms. Cries went up among the group as they recognized Harry.
And then the most amazing thing happened. After Draco reluctantly went to stand with his parents on the side considered more powerful, and Neville stood up to none other than Voldemort himself, Harry jumped from Hagrid's arms and ran. Chaos ensued, hexes flying everywhere. Ron and Hermione immediately went after Nagini, as Harry was handling Voldemort. Molly killed Bellatrix, the Malfoys deserted the rest of the Death Eaters and Hermione and Ron were saved by Neville, who decapitated the snake with the Sword of Gryffindor before it could strike them.
In the end, the Elder Wand failed Voldemort. What he failed to realize is that though Severus killed Dumbledore, it was Draco who disarmed him; and Harry who disarmed Draco in Malfoy Manor when they escaped. So the wand belonged to Harry. Voldemort had been defeated and the Death Eaters fled. Rather than feeling victorious, the trio simply felt drained. They had been on the run for almost a year, been captured or nearly killed several times, they lost people they loved, and in the end had somehow come out alive.
Harry used the Elder Wand only once – to repair his own wand that had been damaged while they were in Godric's Hollow. Then he unceremoniously broke it into pieces and got rid of it. The trio all sat for a moment, just telling themselves that it was over, finally. After some time, they rose and headed back to the others, arms around each other.
The Weasley family all sat together, grieving for Fred and holding each other all a bit closer. Harry sat with Ginny, holding her tightly and murmuring in her ear. Hermione, however, found herself wandering through the Hall, offering her help to anyone who needed it. She wasn't willing to stop moving yet. Suddenly she realized she hadn't seen Severus's body.
"Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione approached the kindly older woman who looked weary with a half-hearted smile.
"Yes, dear?"
"I…I noticed that Sev- Professor Snape's body isn't here. He was in the Shrieking Shack." The woman looked confused for a moment.
"They just did a sweep of that area and didn't find anyone new. I'll send them back out to check."
"Thank you." Hermione walked away feeling a bit uneasy. She hadn't really thought of him since they left the Shrieking Shack, but the thought of his body lying cold and forgotten in that old Shack made her heart hurt.
She noticed that Madam Pomfrey had approached Neville, who had nodded and left – perhaps he would be retrieving Severus's body? Though she had already made her way around the Hall, she made a second round as she waited for Neville to return. Soon he was back, but empty-handed. Confused, she approached them and asked what was going on.
"There wasn't a body there," Neville said, shrugging. "I saw a rather large bloodstain against the wall and on the floor but, no body."
"What?" Hermione breathed.
"Oh dear." Madam Pomfrey said with a frown. Neville and Hermione turned to her expectantly. The woman gave them each a sympathetic look. "It could be possible that the Death Eaters took his body."
"Whose body?" They all whipped around to see Harry behind them.
"Professor Snape's body is missing, and Madam Pomfrey thinks the Death Eaters might have taken it." Neville said. Harry's face turned murderous.
"What?" He hissed. "We need to get him back. They can't have him. And it's 'him', Neville, not 'it'!" Hermione reached out and took his arm.
"Let's go talk to Kingsley, Harry. I'm sure they can find him." Harry reluctantly moved away and let Hermione lead him across the room to Kingsley. They told him what was happening and Kingsley's face showed that the likelihood they would find his body was not good.
It had been one week since the battle, and adjusting to life after Voldemort was tougher than any of them had thought possible. The Order helped Molly and Arthur rebuild their home, and Harry and Hermione had moved in with the family. Ginny and Harry had wasted no time diving into their relationship, and seeing them together made Hermione strangely wistful. She and Ron were still together but it had begun to feel…odd. At first, she was just there for him; she enjoyed spending time with him, holding him, talking through everything that had happened. But once he started healing, they went back to their old friendship. While they did hold hands and kiss, it felt forced and unnatural.
She regularly checked in with Kingsley and the Ministry but they had no luck finding Severus's body among the Death Eaters. He had told her once that it was unlikely they would ever find him. Harry took this harder than anyone else, though they had no idea why.
One Saturday evening, after everyone else had gone to bed, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron all sat curled up on the sofa and floor in front of the fireplace talking and drinking Butterbeers. A silence fell over the group after a while and they all could feel the weariness of the past few years setting in again.
"There's going to be a trial for him." Harry said quietly. They all turned to see him looking upset, swirling the contents of his mug distractedly.
"For who, Harry?" Ginny asked.
"For Snape. They think he was always on Voldemort's side, and they're going to hold a trial."
"A trial for a dead man? That makes no sense." Ginny said.
"They're doing it for all known Death Eaters," Hermione replied. "They know about his work with the Order though, right?" Harry shrugged.
"I don't think that's enough. I…I think I'm going to testify." He said, taking a large swig of his drink. Ron snorted.
"And what, tell them what a joy he was in Potions class?" He said sarcastically. Harry looked up at him with anger in his eyes.
"You didn't see what I saw. He's not who we thought he was. He wanted us to win, and worked for years to defeat Voldemort – since even before my mother died." Ginny reached up to hold his hand.
"What was in his memories?" Hermione whispered, not completely sure she wanted to know.
"He was in love with her – my mother. And my dad, Lupin, Sirius, and Peter made his life hell. Then Malfoy got him caught up with Death Eaters and he said some nasty things to my mum and then she never spoke to him again. He started working at Hogwarts to spy on the Order and Dumbledore, but once he heard the Prophesy, he switched sides and begged Dumbledore to help keep my family safe. When my mother died, he was heartbroken, but it just strengthened his decision to fight against Voldemort."
"Then why did he kill Dumbledore?" Hermione asked angrily. Harry looked down, fiddling with his drink again.
"When Dumbledore found the first Horcrux, it cursed him. His hand turned black. He had Snape look at it and he brewed potions for him to keep the spreading slow, but it was going to kill him one way or another. Draco had been tasked to kill Dumbledore, but Snape promised him that he'd kill him to save Draco's soul."
Hermione's heart sank. She'd been so wrong about him. Here she had condemned him as a miserable loner when he made her leave his chambers, and she didn't even hesitate to call him a murderer when Dumbledore died. She thought of him bravely fighting Voldemort all these years, enduring torture like the night she took care of him, and never complaining. And then facing Voldemort at the end, and dying all alone. His body lying there for hours, most likely, and then taken by Death Eaters for who knows what evil reason. She wished she could tell him she was sorry, or ensure his body was put to rest. He deserved that.
"I'll help you," she said. "I want to help clear his name." Harry smiled at her.
"Thanks, Hermione."
That night, despite Ron sneaking into her bed each night since the battle, she locked and warded her door. She lay on her bed thinking of the poor, misunderstood man she once knew and finally let all the tears she had been holding back fall freely. With Ron constantly by her side, she hadn't felt like she had a right to cry in front of him and so she had maintained a strong exterior around everyone. But now, she felt her heart breaking for everyone who lost their lives, she cried for missing her parents, for missing out on childhood, and for the man that nobody – not even she – really knew.