A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) if you'd like, too!
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twelve and be on the lookout for chapter thirteen tomorrow!
Before he knew it, the night of the New Moon had arrived. Severus had been on edge, ever since his last conversation with Lily, where she apologized to him for not being a better friend. The discussion had given him a lot to consider. He hadn't realized just how much that had been weighing him down, the stain that it had left on their friendship. It almost made him wistful for a future with Lily.
Almost.
At his core, he had to keep reminding himself that she was just a desperate shade, unwilling to give up the human body she'd forced herself into. That was better than anything else to help him make up his mind. He knew that his Lily never would have been so uncaring about innocent Hermione Granger's life.
Well, it was finally time for them to get her life back, even if it meant an end to the pleasant working relationship he'd forged with the girl.
Once the sun had set, he had lead Miss Granger out into the Forbidden Forest, Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall in tow. Miss Granger almost hadn't wanted Potter there either, and had barely dissuaded Weasley from coming with, seeing as the ritual required that she remain naked for the duration. Severus had gently coaxed the girl into allowing her friend to come with - after all, this was probably his last chance to say goodbye to his mother. Granger had looked up at him with such sickeningly adoring eyes, he felt his heart melt a little.
Once they found the spot that the Resurrection Stone had been left in, Severus began preparing the ritual circle. Using the hefty portion of potion precipitate they had created, he began to form a circle that would be closed once Miss Granger entered it. He was just glad that there wasn't any snow on the ground, as he wasn't sure he would be able to see the circle against the pure white flakes. Instead, it stuck out in sharp contrast from the brown, dead leaves.
Turning, he saw that Miss Granger was locked into a tight embrace with Potter. It was normal for her to feel worried, he supposed. If anything went wrong, she might not be around any longer. Her body would remain, but there was no promise that her soul would be. Looking up at the sky, he could barely see the outline of where the moon was. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Clearing his throat, he loathed to break the two friends apart. "Miss Granger, we must begin." He said sternly. "Your clothes." He reminded her, before choosing to look away while her shaking fingers opened the clasp on her cloak. It fell to the forest floor in a heavy sounding heap. Before he knew it, he could hear tentative barefoot footsteps crunching through the leaves to enter the circle.
Looking at her face, unwilling to let his eyes trace down her bare form - though he wanted to, his mind thought traitorously - he stood at the open edge of the circle. "Do you have the stone?" He asked, softly.
Hermione nodded, holding out her arm and opening her palm, exposing a smooth, geometric black stone. Her hand was shaking, but if it was from nerves or from the cold. Nodding in return, he completed his task, closing the ritual circle. He began to chant, the Celtic feeling unwieldy on his tongue.
Severus wasn't sure that anything had happened, until Hermione's eyes snapped open, and instead of their usual brown, they were instead a bright green. "Severus, why are you doing this?" She said, her voice just as sweet as he once remembered.
"You need to let Hermione go, Lily. You are dead, and it's time to move on." He said sternly.
The girl made a whining noise, eyes shut tightly to hold back tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. "Don't you love me anymore, Sev?" Lily was practically begging now, perhaps knowing that it was useless.
Severus gave her a sad smile. "No, Lily, I will always have a special spot in my heart for you, but I am not in love with you anymore."
Hermione's eyes shut again, and a huge shuddering sigh passed through her whole body, her shoulders drooping. It took only a few moments, but before his very eyes, he watched as the shade of Lily, the beautiful young girl he remembered, stepped out of Miss Granger's body.
"Lily! Where have you been? We were so worried about you!" A familiar voice called from behind Severus's shoulder. He saw James Potter waiting there, with Lupin and Black and even Tonks. Potter looked very concerned for the love of his life.
Lily hesitated only for a second. The others obviously didn't know what she had done. "I'm sorry, I left James, but I was just so unhappy. I wanted a second chance at life." She said, not daring to meet his eyes.
Potter cleared his throat. "It's alright Lils, I know that I haven't been...well, I hadn't been paying very much attention to you lately. It can't have been easy to have all of my friends around, but no one for you to spend time with." He ran a hand through perpetually messy - even in the afterlife! - hair. "Will you come back and we can give it another try?"
Her head snapped up at his question, perhaps surprised that he still wanted her. A smile transformed her face, before she nodded slowly, stepping out of the ritual circle. As soon as that happened, Hermione let an unconscious breath she didn't know she was holding go.
Dropping the Resurrection Stone, Hermione let out a whoop of joy as the shades disappeared, finally free to be herself. She smiled at Severus, more grateful than she could ever describe. "Thank you so much, Professor. I know that this couldn't have been easy for you."
Unable to put into words everything that he was feeling, Severus simply nodded, before returning his gaze to the ground. She was after all, still very naked and very beautiful and he didn't want to do anything untoward, especially not in front of Minerva and Potter. "The ritual is open. You can leave the circle, Miss Granger." He said perfunctorily.