Chapter 10… wow

A.N I am actually really rather sad that this story only goes up to chapter 12. I'm going to really miss Snape. So much so that I will probably have to finish my other Snape story just to get my weekly fill of his Snapeness. (No that isn't a word but it should be.)

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh yeah and thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed me! I realised that twenty-seven whole times someone has bothered to tell me what he or she thinks and I am eternally grateful.

-

"Remus! I'm sorry, but I just can't!" Harry had reached full-frontal whining now that his numb fingers were getting their feeling back. "My fingertips are actually burning from turning the pages." Harry held up his reddened hands to Remus' irritated face. "This is hopeless! We love Hermione but there has to be another way!"

"Well there isn't…"

"Ron knocked himself unconscious, Remus. Unconscious. We both watched as he purposely ran headfirst into that shelf!" Harry scowled at Ron's vacated seat; the smug bugger was up in the hospital wing. "It's not fair that he got out of it!"

"Harry, he has dented his skull…"

"I know! He's an evil genius!" Harry shook his fists with exasperation at Remus, but the man merely turned back to the books in his hands and ignored him.

Slam! A large and heavy tomb landed in-between Harry's shaking hands. The sudden noise made him jump in his chair. His knees extended, his feet left the floor, and the force slammed his head up into a sharp chin behind his chair.

"What the…" Harry rubbed his head and peered up at a furious Severus Snape.

"Potter! Did you just head butt me? You deranged narcissistic little toe rag!" The colour dropped out of Harry's face as though someone had pulled a plug on his confidence. He looked up at Snape as the tall dark man held one hand to his chin and pointed his wand at Harry's heart with the other. "You're a pathetic waste of space…"
"Calm down, Severus. You startled him."

"I…" Severus struggled with his words as his brain nearly exploded with Remus' comment. "You have the audacity to say this was my fault!"

"Well if you want to go around making pathetically showy entrances you must expect to get head butted every once in a while." Remus hadn't looked up from his book. He slid his finger under the next page and turned it over to continue his reading. Severus fumed above him and pulled his hand away from his throbbing chin. He grabbed the book he had dropped to scare the idiotic boy and pulled it flush against his chest.

"I did come here to help you. But I see you're handling it perfectly." He looked at the countless coffee mugs and open books on the table. He pointed his wand at Potter's red hands and muttered a stinging jinx. Harry jumped again and rubbed his hands frantically against his jeans. Severus waited for Potter to turn around and released his glare on the miscreant for daring to hurt him. He watched ecstatically as Potter shrunk into himself under his gaze.

"If you have information that will help Hermione, you should really give it to us." Remus turned to him as he spoke, casually trying not to ruffle Severus' feathers even more. But his attempt didn't work and Severus suddenly needed to crush him.

"Do you make a habit of calling former students for example Granger by their first names? Because maybe it's something the headmaster would be interested in hearing about." Severus inquired with a quirk of his eyebrow. His smirk lessened as Remus' face refused to remove its tranquil expression.

"Do you make a habit of seducing former students for example Granger, Severus? Because maybe that's something the headmaster would be interested in hearing about." Severus was proud that such a comment would not effect his body language but inside he fumed even more.

Severus resigned himself to handing the book over; the headmaster had instructed him to tell the idiots everything he knew. He thrust the book into Potter's arms, sneering as the boy was winded.

"It's a wonder you and weasel-bee survived the past few weeks without the know-it-all. She obviously did all of the research work for your little stunts; if you hadn't noticed there is a code system in this library, Potter." He tapped the book in the boy's arms. "It was under T for timetravel." Severus spun on the heels of his dragonhide boots and in a flurry of robes he was gone from the library.

Severus stormed through the corridors, scattering students at every stride. He couldn't believe he had finally worked up the courage to bring her back. He had been musing over when the best time would be for weeks. It had driven him through seven bottles of Scotch and thirty-nine headaches. Oh yes, he had kept track. He knew that the second he gave them the book there would be a domino affect. Too soon he would be back in the past to collect her, then she would come back and be annoyingly Hermione and he would be… miserable. But he had, had to; it had been time. But at least he got to watch Potter and Weasley drive themselves insane reading; the researching idiots could never have found the book they needed in the library; he stole it seventeen years ago.

-

"Hello." The whisper was low and quiet and Hermione didn't understand why it put her suddenly at peace. "I wish I could kiss you." Velvet tones soothed her and she turned around to smile at Severus. She took in the dark circles under his eyes, the large nose, the angry gaze and the greasy hair and had to fight the urge to pull him into her arms. The no touching thing was hardest at moments like this when he looked so serene and peaceful.

"We're finally finished! Oh yes, I want to kiss you too."

"I just want to sleep forever; I am so tired." Hermione yawned and patted down her hair. She always ruffled it up in exams. They had just escaped their last NEWT and they were both exhausted.

"Come on, let's go up to my room and never wake up again." Severus smirked down at her.

"Sounds like a plan."

-

"Oi Granger!" Hermione groaned and leant her forehead against her table. The end of year party was in swing around her and Hermione had just wanted some peace.

"What do you want?" she asked grumpily as marauders flooded around her and Severus.

"What no 'hello'? No 'how ya' been'. No…"
"Shut up Sirius." She warily opened one eye and tried to glare at him. Sirius sat on her left alternating between swigging from a mug of Black's Finest and glaring at Severus.

"Okay, okay. Look, you appeared by the lake didn't you?" Hermione groaned again; they would have to pick now to confront her about her knowledge. Nervously she began to play with the flower in her hair. Severus' Valentines present looked lovely against her brown hair.

"Yes." She said warily, lifting her head up she tried not to breathe in the fumes from his drink.

"Well we were just outside, not doing any marauding or causing any trouble of course."

"Of course."

"But well we saw these two people appear by the lake." Hermione froze and looked at Sirius with an expression of disbelief.

"Oh Merlin… are you sure?"

"Yes. We didn't know whether it was something you should…" Hermione jumped from the table, her knees hit the wood and her and Severus' butterbeers rocked over.

"Oh my god. Erm… okay… erm… erm… bye. I'm leaving and I guess we won't be seeing each other again."

"Excuse me?" Remus asked with an amused expression. Hermione looked at him gleefully.

"What did they look like?"
"Well… one was very tall and dressed all in black, had long hair, looked like he had a big nose… we didn't get too close."
"Yeah and the other one was smaller. Brown hair, wearing a cardigan. Poof."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with cardigans!" Remus interrupted and Sirius playfully pulled him into a headlock.

"Hermione? Why are you still here?" Hermione looked at Severus, her eyes full of wonder.

"It's you Severus! You came! Why did you come?" Severus looked affronted and stood from the table with her.

"I'm obviously just a lovely person." Hermione laughed and stepped away from the bench. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Sure." She started waking briskly for the door of the Great Hall. Meandering between balloons and students, Hermione was about to break into a run. But someone stopped her.

"Severus, can I talk to you for a moment." Hermione turned to see Severus standing in-between herself and Lily Evans. Hermione nodded knowingly as Severus twitched in his dress robes.

"What about?" Severus' face was a picture of confusion. But suddenly Hermione watched in wonderment as it became cold and he shook it frantically from side to side. "No actually I'm a bit busy. Can it wait?" Hermione's mouth dropped and she took a step towards Severus. Lily stood in an equal state of awe at his comment in her emerald dress robes.

"Well actually it can't; we're leaving in the morning, remember?"

"I know." Severus said calmly. Hermione suddenly felt her face redden. Overwhelmed by feelings of fluster she waved Severus to Lily.

"No, it's okay, you don't have to make a choice between saying goodbye to one of us. I'll make it for you." She smiled at Lily, pretending to be as bubbly as the redhead was.

"Bye Severus. I'm really going to miss you." Hermione turned on her small heels and ran out of the door towards the grounds.

When she entered into the moonlight she sighed, happy to be outside in its rays. She spotted two figures moving around in the light shining off of the lake. Hermione picked up the hem of her dress robes and ran down towards them. One of the figures cast a lumos and suddenly Severus Snape and Remus Lupin were visible for anyone who wanted to see them. Hermione felt tears gathering at the corners of her eyes when she thought about how close to home she was. How close Harry and Ron, her parents, the Weasleys and everyone else she loved was.

She watched Remus and Professor Snape spot her and pull their wands in paranoia. Hermione flew even closer to them and recognition passed on their faces. Remus stowed his wand away in his pocket but Professor Snape raised his own even higher. Skidding to a halt in front of them Hermione held out a shaking hand to Remus, waiting in anticipation to see what would happen. Remus smiled pleasantly at her and held his own pale hand up to hers. Trembling fingers latched onto his and Hermione nearly sobbed in relief. Flinging herself into his arms she began babbling.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe I can finally touch someone!" Professor Snape looked at the duo and his lips pressed together tighter, anger boiled in his stomach but he forced his face to remain complacent.

Severus rushed out of the double doors and into the grounds. He could see Hermione running up ahead towards two figures in the moonlight. Severus felt something akin to a rope tug him towards her. His stomach and his chest lurched and he realised it was his heart that felt like it was burrowing out of his body. He started running frantically towards the lake.

His breath came in short miserable gasps and the feeling in his heart burned harder the closer he got; he realised she was in Lupin's arms. Understanding washed over him and his pace sped up. He knew why his heart hurt so much - he loved her. She was leaving him and he loved her and there was nothing he could do about it. When he was only mere feet away from Hermione who was still swallowed in the wrong arms he slowed down and came to a shaky halt next to a tall dark man.

"Bitch." Said the man and Severus looked at the tall figure next to him: long and lank dark hair, deadly white skin, long hook nose, stiff posture… oh…

Snape didn't know why he was still watching Hermione and the wolf. Seeing as every second that went by with her in his arms just made him even angrier.

"Holy crap!" Snape bristled and looked at a dark-hared youth standing next to him. He felt a look of disdain creep up onto his face when he realised it was a younger version of himself.

Suddenly Snape lurched forward; something had poked him in the shoulder. The professor reeled and whirled around to glare at Hermione.

"What do you think you are doing, Miss Granger?"

"I can touch you too!" Snape watched her hands twitch by her side. He gathered the courage to look up at her face and saw the same look of longing on it that he had seen everyday when he was eighteen. Snape sneered at her and turned away to look out over the Black Lake.

They didn't have much time. Severus looked at Hermione as she looked sorrowfully at his older self. He walked forward on anticipating legs and came to stand in front of her.

"Severus? Have you already said goodbye to Lily?" Snape stiffened where he stood looking out at the lake and Severus smiled at Hermione.

"No; I can bump into her anytime but I only get the chance to say goodbye to you once, right?" Hermione smiled sadly and stepped closer.

"You didn't have to…"

"I wanted to." Severus looked at the thirty-eight year old man standing by the lake and scowled. "The years are not kind to me I see." Hermione laughed and shook her head. Snape scowled over his shoulder at his younger self.

"I'm going to miss you." Hermione said suddenly. Severus nodded solemnly. His hands twitched at his sides and he realised what he should do. He cleared his throat and looked around Hermione at the wolf.

"Would you mind giving Hermione a… hug… from me." The wolf laughed softly and padded forward across the grass. Severus screwed his face up at the request, and his brow furrowed even more when the wolf put his arms around Hermione. "I'll say goodbye, then?" Hermione looked at the wolf questioningly and he nodded.

"Yeah we'll be going in a few minutes. So… goodbye?"

"Goodbye."

"You know you're amazing, don't you Severus?" her brow furrowed as she blurted out her question and she looked at his with worry.

"Yes, yes I am wonderful." Severus pulled his wand from his sleeve and pointed it at the wolf. His sent his own spell at the man and then at his older self to fill their ears with buzzing so they wouldn't hear any more. "Now that they're taken care of I can tell you that I will miss you too."

"Me too." They stared at each other pensively for a second before Hermione blushed suddenly. "But I mean we're just kids it's not like this is true love and we can never go on." She smiled wryly at him and he chuckled ignoring the clench in his chest when she mentioned love. "But then again I will really miss you when you hate me again."

"What makes you think I don't hate you now?" he asked with an uncontrollable grin on his face.

Hermione and Remus ran back up to the castle to tell Dumbledore they were leaving. This left both Snapes waiting down at the lake's edge. Professor Snape had declined their offer to come with them, sneering that he had enough of the old coot in his own time frame. Severus had watched with amusement as Hermione had jumped up and ruffled Professor Snape's hair before she and the wolf had run off. His older self had not recovered from being touched and was still swearing and flattening his hair. Severus waited until Hermione and the wolf were safely inside the school before he pulled his wand on the professor.

"Don't you dare do this to me." Severus said, his voice steady around the icy tone. Professor Snape started in shock and pulled his own wand.

"I believe you are mistaken; I am not doing anything." Severus took a step forward and laughed. Snape's eyes widened proudly at the dark tone of his younger self's chuckle.

"That's just it. We could have everything! But you're being a blind twit and just standing there like an idiot."

"Is this about Granger?" Snape laughed mercilessly and glared at his younger self, all traces of pride gone. "Believe me, you long ago put this silly little crush…"

"We could have everything. Do you not understand? Everything! We could have her." Severus took another step forward and glared at his older self taking in the wrinkles and other imperfections brought by age. "Not that she'd want us by the looks of you. But that just means you'll have to try harder."

"I assure you I don't want…"

"I know you do, I'm you remember? What happened to getting everything we want? You're a damn Sytherine so start acting like one. I refuse to live without her." He raised his wand higher and pointed it between the older man's eyes. Laughter suddenly greeted his ears. Severus glanced up at the castle and saw Hermione and the wolf returning.

"Put your wand away, you stupid…"

"Don't you dare fuck this up."

-

"Okay all you need is to attach yourself to one of us, then we'll say the spell and we'll be back before you know it." Remus smiled kindly at Hermione. The girl nodded slowly and digested the information. Professor Snape impatiently tapped his wand against his thigh and glared at her. Remus pulled his own wand from his pocket and turned to Severus.

"I'm sorry Snape." He said quietly, making sure that Hermione couldn't hear. "Don't hate my younger self for what he did to you. He was afraid of losing his only friends and you were a casualty of that fear." Severus sneered at him and moved to stand with Hermione. He caught her eye and smiled sadly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sugar quill.

"Was going to split this with you later but…" he snapped the sweet in half and Professor Snape groaned in recognition.

"Sappy…" he grumbled to himself and looked away. Severus dropped the bottom half of the sugar quill into Hermione's hand and threw her a fleeting grin.

"Hermione we should go now. Before someone sees us." Hermione nodded sadly at Remus and grinned once more at Severus. She walked over to the two older men and looked between them, indecisive.

"Hurry up." Snape barked, Hermione rolled her eyes and walked towards him.
"I think I'll go with you. Just to make your life just that little bit harder." She smirked up at him and he bristled.

"Now look here…" Hermione rolled her eyes and gripped his arm firmly.

"Ready?" she asked, the excitement of going home and the sadness of leaving Severus mingled, making her smile false. Remus' lips twitched as he looked at Hermione's hands around Snape' arm.

"Actually I don't think that is enough of a bond." As he fought not to laugh it was obvious he was over Severus' snub of his apology.

"I don't understand." Her gaze flickered between the three males until it caught on Severus smirking gleefully at her from the side of the time travelling trio.

"I think he means I'll have to put my arms around you." He said, marvelling at the purple that his older self had turned. Hermione laughed nervously and looked up at Professor Snape. "Life's a bitch, isn't it?"

-

A.N I hate the ending. Should I get rid of the "Life's a bitch, isn't it?" if people don't like it I'll take it away but if people think it's fine I'll leave it as it is.

Only one chapter and then the epilogue, I'm so saddened by this.

Thanks for reading.

Becky

p.s I finally have time to say thank you to everyone who gave me ideas a couple of chapters ago so:

Nutters5Potter – I used a couple of your ideas but I twisted them so they weren't exactly what you wanted to see though.

"I think that Severus needs to ask about the future especially about the mauraders. She should tell him the things that he does specifically that save her in the future about Harry and Ron. Severus should show Hermione any secrets like places he hides or places in the forbidden forest. They need to come up with a plan of what they will each do in the future- Is he alive? She needs to warn him. They should do some kind of revenge on L. Malfoy. I think they should tell eachother about their fantasies of one another. The marauders should be suspicious that she knows about them and they confront Severus and Hermione."

I made Hermione tell him he was important in the future without giving everything away. Severus showed Hermione his secret room where he hides and it was actually the inspiration for the entire epilogue. He extracted revenge (sort of) on Malfoy and I let the marauders find out a bit about what she knew but went for curious instead of suspicious.

THANK YOU

Tiannangel – I also used a couple of things from you.

"Personally, I would like to see a Valentine's day scene. XDD
You know...you can have them exchange gifts and everything, and Hermione not denying that she's Severus' gf."

I used Valentine's Day I think in the last chapter and Hermione told Lily that she was Severus' girlfriend. I really liked how the Valentine's day went so THANK YOU.

Farles – I rather enjoy your reviews because they are nice and long. I used a couple of your suggestions.

"Do a Harry Ron chapter. We haven't heard anything from them, or what happened to them after Lucious put that spell on Herimone. Did he run?
They find out the spell?
Um HG could have a chat with Dumbledore again. Or get to know Harry's Mom and Dad.
She knows remus's secret and their animagus secret so, that could be a starter. HG and SS could have a big fight."

I sort of used the fight idea by making them angry with each other for a while. The marauders know she knows things but they're not close. I wrote this story in answer to all the timetravel fics where she makes friends with them. In my original notes on the story the marauders were arses and you can see this in the first few chapters. I was going to keep them that way but your review made me decide to be a bit nicer to them. I did a Harry and Ron chapter which I hadn't thought to include; I was going to just have Remus and Snape show up with no background on it.

THANK YOU

Well that's everyone and thank you for your help. Not as long a chapter as last time, it was supposed to be even shorter but what the hey.