"So you're Head of the Aurors now?" I asked, still in my pajamas as I made myself a cup of tea. Harry was, amazingly, cooking breakfast for the entire household. I wondered if Ginny taught him, or if he learned himself. Or maybe it was Kreacher. The House Elf had passed away a year ago, after serving Harry for the last nine years. I was somewhat amazed at that too, and pleased. Sometimes things turn out better than you expect. Harry had, of course, made sure to offer Kreacher wages and holidays (I asked him), but Kreacher had refused, like most House Elves…

Apparently over summers I worked with the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and some changes had been wrought. It was now a law that House Elves be offered reasonable wages and holidays like any other servant, though not a law for that to be forced upon them. When I first formed S.P.E.W. I suppose that would have upset me, but one learns to face reality as one gets older… and the reality is that not all House Elves want to be free.

"It's a good job, being Head of Aurors," Harry mused out loud as he cooked, "And I enjoy it. Like I said before though, there aren't too many Dark Wizards after Voldemort. There are minor infractions of the law, but Aurors don't really handle that. A lot of our work now is done abroad, in places less affected by Voldemort, places that are havens for Dark Wizards… With the cooperation of the magical authorities there of course. Lots of fun stories to tell anyway. James is convinced he wants to be an Auror as well, but Albus is too young to really get it."

Albus chose that moment to hightail it into the kitchen. His bare feet pounded against the wood floors as he ran around the table and grabbed Harry by the legs, looking up at him with bright green eyes and a pleading expression. James appeared in the kitchen doorway then, his red hair messy. His eyes immediately went to James, then to Harry.

"Daddy Albus took Bear," James whined, his lower lip starting to stick out, "And he wouldn't give him back."

"And…?" Harry prompted his son to continue.

James stared at Harry. Harry sighed, then continued to stare down his son. The pout in James's lip became more pronounced. I smothered a smile by taking a large sip of tea that was just a little too hot for sipping. Burned tongue for me.

James spoke so softly I almost didn't hear, "I took Bear back."

"Ah," Harry said, "Well now that you have Bear back, why don't you go on back upstairs? And leave Albus alone?"

James disappeared and Albus left Harry's leg to climb up onto a chair beside me. Then he watched me intently, looking at my tea, and then my face. I smiled at him and asked, "Want some tea?"

He shook his head, then after a moment of contemplation said, "Milk."

Harry took a glass out of the cupboard, then conjured milk into it, from where, I hadn't figured out yet. Then he leaned over and deposited the glass in front of Albus, who reached out to grasp it quickly. After he drank some, he looked back over at me, still a little shyly, which confirmed my guess that they recognized me as changed.

But then his next words made me rethink that, as he inquired, "Adeline?"

I shook my head, "Not today, Albus. She's staying home with… Severus."

I felt Harry's gaze upon me and looked up at him. It felt so strange to call him by his first name, but it would have been stranger to call him Snape to Albus. I wondered how he was doing, taking care of the two year old all by himself, on top of Headmaster duties. Did he have someone covering my classes? Would Adeline miss me? I sighed, and stared into my tea.

OOO

"Snape's library!" I called out, tossing the Floo powder into the fireplace, and then thrusting my head in. There was the odd sensation of my head flying through space, and then I was there. Or rather, my head was. It was two weeks after I had come to the future, two weeks I had spent with Harry and Ginny, and James and Albus. Two weeks in which I did a lot of thinking. Thinking and talking. And confusion. But I had finally realized that it was time to return to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny had their own lives to lead, and hiding from the future wouldn't make it go away.

To my luck, and intuition, Snape was where I had guessed he would be in the evenings. His personal library, and one of the few places that had a fireplace connected to the Floo network. He was sitting in an armchair, reading, as I pictured… but also as I had not pictured, because Adeline was on his lap, and he was reading a children's book to her. Not a two year old's book, rather something I'd expect a nine year old to be reading, but I supposed that was Snape. And it was also me. I could imagine I'd be the sort of parent that would read kids books way above their standard 'level'. Either way, Adeline seemed to be enjoying it.

They both looked up as my head appeared. Adeline, wearing a yellow one piece pajama suit, slid off Snape's lap with a smile and ran over to the fire. Snape was right behind her, grabbed her under the arms and pulling her up before she could touch the flames. Then he kneeled down, holding Adeline still, and faced me, a smile on his face. I was reminded once more of the difference in this Snape. The Snape I knew, the one from the past, had never smiled quite like that. Suddenly I wanted to stay with Harry and Ginny a little longer… and not face this strange Snape that I was supposed to fall in love with.

"Hi," I said uneasily, then smiled at Adeline. She grinned back at me, then glanced up at her father, then back to me.

"Mama?" she inquired to Snape, then reached a hand towards me.

"Yes, but it's fire," Snape explained, pulling her back, "You can't touch her."

"I'm ready to come back," I said, blurting it out, and also unable to quite look Snape in the eye longer than a few seconds. My eyes flitted from Adeline to him, to the room…

"Now? Or soon?" he asked.

"Now I suppose," I answered, "I didn't really bring much, it won't make a difference if I come back now or if I wait until tomorrow morning."

"All right," he nodded, "I'll arrange a place for you to sleep. Feel free to come through this fireplace, it is the closest one to our rooms."

"Okay," I answered, swallowing back my nervousness, and then I pulled my head from the fire place. Back in Harry's living room I stood up, turning to the Potters with a nod.

"I'm going," I said, taking a deep breath, and then taking the few things I'd brought along into my arms. James and Albus watched me mournfully from their positions in their parent's arms.

"Feel free to come back whenever you need to," Ginny said with a warm smile.

"I will," I promised, "And I probably will come back… I'm not sure I can really take not being around you guys… I think I'd start to go crazy in deciding that all of this is really in my head because it's just too ludicrous."

Ginny laughed, and Harry smiled, then said, "Good luck."

"Thanks," I said, then turned back to the fireplace and stepped into the still green flames. In a whoosh of fire, I was gone. When I stepped out into Snape's library, he was standing there, waiting, Adeline still in his arms. She was leaning up against him, and looked almost asleep. It was seven thirty, so I supposed it was probably around her usual bed time. I looked at Snape, wondering what happened now.

"Come," he said, and turned, leaving the library. I followed silently, moving through empty Hogwarts halls until we reached his— our… rooms. Snape whispered something and the door swung open. He stepped in, and once more I followed. The door shut on its own. The place was as it was when I first saw it, two weeks ago. Before doing anything else, Snape brought Adeline to her room and lay her down in her crib, then clicked off the lights.

I stood waiting outside in the hallway as he came back out. He paused to look at me for a moment, then motioned me once more to follow him. We emerged into the living room, the place where I had dined that first morning, and held Adeline in my arms. Doors that I did not know what lay behind were open. One, as I could see in, was a bathroom, and it appeared much less used. There was no shower, only toilet and sink. The other was what I presumed had been an extra study room, or something… I knew Snape had his offices elsewhere, and I assumed mine were in the same place they were ten years ago. But now this room had been made into a guest room. There was a bed and dresser, and I saw that a few of my things had already been moved over to it.

For some reason I was surprised, I mean I hadn't expected him to expect me to sleep in the same bed with him, but the care and thought that had gone into this arrangement… It made me feel bad, because the Hermione he knew and loved was gone, gone for five months, and I was almost a stranger… To distract myself I set my things down on the floor near the foot of the bed, and then turned to Snape.

"Thank you," I said, then fell silent, having no idea what to say, or what to do.

"Are you prepared to continue teaching, or do you need time to adjust to that as well?" he asked softly, and he was once more the Snape I knew from what was now the past.

"I can start teaching," I said, not really sure if I was prepared because I was still very new at teaching but I needed to do something, have something occupy my time. I wasn't going to sit around these rooms all day having nothing to do but think about what had happened to me.

"Excellent," Snape said, "Would you like anything to drink? To eat?"

I shook my head and stepped outside of the bedroom, back into the living room where he stood calmly. I felt so awkward… there was still hours before it would be time to sleep, hours to spend with Snape. What could we possibly talk about? There were things I wanted to know from him, but I did not feel comfortable just asking him.

"Sit," he suggested after a moment, motioning a hand at the sofa. I sat down carefully, trying to relax but completely unable to. Snape sat down at the other end of the sofa, watching me. I half wished he'd just go away, to do work or something… The tension in the room was extremely high…at least from my perspective.

"How are you?" he asked, and the words coming from Snape's mouth seemed strange. Snape didn't ask things like that.

I made a face and then frowned at him, then realized I should say something, and said, "As well as I can be I suppose. My life's only just been turned upside down."

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, and I stared at him, wanting to glare but still half afraid of this man who had been my Professor for seven years, and one of the great heroes of the war.

"Yes," I said, "It is that bad. Have you ever had someone you love torn away from you by force? Against your will?"

"Weasley was not torn away from you against your will," Snape pointed out dryly, "You did it. Everything you do now and here, is your choice. Everything you do in the future, is your choice. It is as useless to dwell on the apparent idiocy of the past as it is to dwell on the apparent idiocy of the future. Just as the stupid things you did before seemed reasonable at the time, so will the things that seem stupid now become reasonable when you reach that point. There is no point in dwelling on it."

Well when he put it that way it almost did seem reasonable. But the sheer, plain fact was that I had essentially just broken up with Ron, while still in love with him. Why couldn't have my future self waited until I was back, so I could do it, if that's what I wanted? Then again… maybe a clean cut was better, instead of spending five months in limbo between two men. Maybe that would make it easier for me… I sighed, feeling guilty about already disassociating myself with Ron. I loved him, I really did, but knowing the future like this, having a husband of the future sitting beside me and knowing there was nothing I could do to change this future, that indeed, there would come to be a point when I would not want to change it…

I looked at Snape curiously. Would I really want to love him? Certainly he wasn't really attractive at first look, but the more you like, then love someone, the more attractive they get. Already he didn't strike me as particularly unattractive as he most assuredly had been in my mind most of my childhood. Feeling embarrassed about looking at him like that, I blushed, then looked away, across the room.

"The future isn't the past though," I finally said, in response to his words, "The future is supposed to be something you can control, you can change. It isn't supposed to be set in stone like the past."

"A misconception based on the nature of our movement through time," Snape commented lightly, "Ten years of dealing with it has rather changed my perception, yours as well, in time."

"Hmmm," I answered, and leaned back against the sofa, then asked, "So… does the younger you, back in my time, take the knowledge of our marriage as hard as I do?"

"No," Snape said straight out, "Because the me of the past was not involved in a relationship. Needless to say I was rather surprised when I found out, but not entirely adverse to it."

I quickly looked away, wishing I hadn't said anything. My stomach turned and I bit my lip awkwardly. Had Snape liked me before now? Did the Snape of my time find this me attractive? If so, that would be really awkward… Was he some sort of pedophile or something? He'd known me since I was eleven! Some of what I was thinking must have shown on my face, for Snape spoke up again.

"Hermione," he said, and I looked over at him carefully, "What I meant was that by the time I found out… I fell in love with you because I saw, when you came back in time, that you had grown up. You were an adult woman, not a child, and it was only then that I saw that. You were also closer to my own age, and I found I could relate to you a little better. And when the beautiful woman, that you will become, started flirting with me, I suddenly found it harder to think that our age difference meant anything, especially what with it shrunken by your time traveling."

So it wasn't me. It was her. My future self. I frowned, then asked, "What happens when I go back to my own time?"

"You mean between us?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer, only said, "Well… you are shy, and it takes me a little bit of time to realize that you already are the person I saw you would become… But once you realized that I too, was the same person I am now, relatively…"

"Ah," I said, wondering what it was like to kiss Snape. I was half repulsed and half intrigued by the idea, and the part of me that was repulsed was repulsed even more by the fact that part of me was intrigued. It's SNAPE! I kept thinking, You can't think about SNAPE like that! But apparently I did. In this time, I'd gone so far as to marry him, along with all the other… things… that go along with marriage.

Suddenly it all struck me as incredibly funny, and a laugh escaped from my lips. The moment the sound reached the empty room, I stopped, and looked at Snape, embarrassed. But a smile twitched at his lips.

"What, exactly, do you find funny, Hermione?" he asked, and for a moment I was confused, expecting a 'Miss Granger' at the end of the sentence, but it was hardly likely that Snape would continue to call me Miss Granger throughout our lives. Which led me to wonder what I should address him as. In my time he was still Snape, and Professor Snape or Headmaster in person… But I couldn't really address him so formally here, especially not after he was undoubtedly used to me calling him Severus. Or Sev. I grimaced.

"Oh… just everything," I said with a sigh, "You mostly I suppose." Then with boldness coming from the fact that I knew this Snape was married to a future me, and therefore probably trustworthy enough for me to be able to speak freely, I said, "I never really thought of you that way until now. Respect, yes… But now here I am, faced with the fact that I am supposed to marry you… It amuses me at the thoughts that it puts in my head."

Snape looked momentarily impressed at my boldness as well, and this time he really did smile, and he asked, quite cruelly in my opinion, "And what exactly would those thoughts consist of?"

My stomach clenched, and I felt myself starting to blush- he wasn't supposed to ask for more details! Then, before I could get angry, I suddenly realized he was teasing me. The shock of it pushed away my embarrassment. I stared at him. Snape teasing? Was it possible? Did he really think I was ready for being teased? He knew very well what I meant. Then I wondered, with growing mortification, if those sorts of thoughts were in his head… possibly right now, though more probably about my future self. A thirty year age difference is a little harder to get past than a twenty year one. Or a ten year. I shivered… this man sitting before me, this Snape, had seen me naked. I blushed again, then decided I was not going to blush my way through these five months, but take it in hand that this Snape probably knew me better than Ron, or Harry, or even my parents, and I would use that to my advantage, not his.

So I looked up, met his gaze, and answered, with a smile, "I think you know very well what sort of thoughts those are, Severus."

A/N: This was originally two chapters, eleven AND thirteen, but eleven was so short I realized I couldn't possibly put it up all by itself. I think it works much better like this. I hope you enjoyed!
Thanks to...
debjunk- I know, it was hard for ME to not have Hermione just blurt it out. :) I'm a Bio/Psych/Neuroscience or something major, thus the musings on the unconscious mind.
wywrite- There's only so many times she can make subtle hints at him before he catches on though. He just has a mental block in his head when it comes to thinking of Hermione and Woman as a single thing.
Mennie- You may have to wait a little longer for them to figure it out... but not saying more than that.
Etli- How did you like the young non-Snapish Hermione in this chapter? I'd say she holds her own.. :)
sylphides- I know! My own fanfic Hermione started to deviate so wildly in my writings (not this story) and in the stories I chose to read about her at one point, then I went back and reread the first book and was like "oooh..." She very much gets her negative traits almost completely obliterated in a lot of fanfiction. I hope I succeed in keeping at least SOME of that silly eleven year old in my writing.
sorrowsown- This (hopefully) will continue to be regularly updated until finish. Unless all the computers at Bard randomly detonate or something...
MissPrincess1989- And that's what Hermione wants to know as well!
Phytonesse- That sounds like a good fic. Time travel is always fun. :)