He knew what would come next. The people in cloaks, the blood, the demon and eventually…his death. And somehow he had managed to drag Hermione into this nightmare too. All these years, all the time he had spent right in the midst of the Death Eaters, right at voldemort's side, trying to claim the ultimate revenge on the behalf of his first love, Lilly Evans. Now he was going to die alongside the only other woman he had chosen to love, and once again it was all his fault. But then he also remembered that in his dream, he had been alone. He had died, yes, but he had still been alone. Perhaps if he could convince Hermione to leave then he could face death with some dignity.
He turned to her and placed both his hands on her shoulders. "You need to leave."
"What! No! I rescued you and I will stay with you, just like you did when I was ill-"
"Listen to me!" he snapped at her, frustrated. "You have to go now or you or you will die."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"Foolish girl!" he growled at her. "Will you not listen to me for once!"
"Give me one good reason why I should!" Hermione retorted angrily, glaring at him. Severus didn't know how he would convince her to leave. All he knew was that she wasn't supposed to be here, that she couldn't be here…
Acting on a sudden impulse he lent in and kissed her. He put as much passion, tenderness and care into it as possible, knowing that he would never see her again, that he would never get to kiss her, to hold her, to love her like he had never had the chance to before…
He broke away from her. It was a bittersweet parting like none other he had ever experienced. Never in all his life had he felt so little desire to die. Yet he knew that was what must happen. Or else the creature would haunt him for the rest of his life, destroying anything and everything that was close to him until it found him.
"Go." he whispered, looking in her eyes for one final time. Hermione nodded, biting her lip, and she turned and walked away several metres. She turned to look at him and he watched as after a moment's pause she apparated into thin air.
He turned around to face the clearing, knowing now that whatever happened he was going to try and bring that demon down with him. Of course it was then he realised that he didn't even have a wand. Still, he would try his best. Limping forward through the dirt and mud he entered into the centre of the clearing, avoiding the dead bodies the best he could and ignoring the bitter, overwhelming perfume of Death that arose from the bloodied corpses. He froze as he heard a rustling of leaves and he watched, still paralyzed, as the ominous assembly of cloaked figures he had been expecting all along stealthily entered the clearing. They formed a large, tight circle around him and a stranger who had just happened to catch a meagre glimpse would have thought them to be carved statues of black marble. However, if they were to pause and stand close, then they would catch a low but frequent rasping noise that sounded like a wooden brush scraping on a stone floor; Severus could only think that the sound was in fact the breath of the foul creatures.
Despite this he still stood his ground. Another hooded figure entered the clearing and Severus knew instinctively who it was.
'You really should have left with the girl while you still had the chance.' the demon's voice whispered in his head again; the casual reminder of Hermione pierced him like a shard of ice.
"Why do you haunt me? Haunt her?" Severus growled angrily at the hidden faces.
"Now, is that really the most important thing at the moment?" She spoke to him now in patronizing tones and he could imagine vividly that behind the hood she was smiling mockingly. Memories of their last encounter lingered in his mind and made his insides twist with a dark and irrepressible fear; the wound on his neck still burned furiously as if reminding him of what was to come.
"Tell me!" he snarled at her as she stepped around the pile of dead bodies and came closer towards him.
"Feisty, aren't you?" He heard her laugh humourlessly to herself. "Well, as your little friend no doubt should have told you, I was trapped here by a group of former friends. These interfering, know-it-all sorcerers didn't see that the only way for our kind to survive alongside those weak and needy wizards who conjure magic tricks for a living was to demonstrate dominance over those inferior peoples. My so-called friends, unlike myself and my followers, felt that the better way to live was to suffer alongside those simpletons." She paused for a moment and reaching up she pulled down her hood, so that Severus could see clearly her skeletal features once more. "In the end it looks like I was better off. They were eventually hunted down by the very people they had strove to protect, until the few that remained went into hiding permanently. Only a very few of the sorcerers or their descendants remain to this day. I only know of two… one being yourself and the other in fact I think you have already met." A look of distaste was apparent on her face now. "A woman, I believe, has been attempting to help you avoid me - failing miserably of course."
A flashback of the ethereal woman that had appeared in his dreams came back to him suddenly.
"Yes that's right," She smiled grimly. "That would be her. A consistently infuriating fool that I have the misfortune of calling my sister."
Severus was shocked at the revelation. They were so unalike in appearance and personality that it was near unbelievable that they could be related.
"Of course I see that you have touched upon our most obvious differences. I, being the one more inclined to the darker aspects of our powers, have ended up becoming very much like the creatures that serve me very much faultlessly. My…sister, on the other hand, was always very much into the very whimsical art of healing. She paid the price when she ended up being hunted down just like the others when they were not strong enough to protect themselves…"
It was while the woman was talking that he remembered the knife that he still had in his robes. He wondered, seeing as the creature was akin to the mythical un-dead in many respects, if the little silver dagger would be of any use to him. It was slim odds but he didn't have any other plans. He started to judge how long it would take him to reach the dagger, simultaneously hoping that the creature would be so involved in her monologue that she would not see into his thoughts. Then he realised that even if by some miracle he did mange to harm her, he would be far outnumbered by the creatures that encircled them both. He could tell that they would rip him apart if provoked. In other words he would perish whether or not he chose to use the dagger.
"But why her?" he hesitantly interrupted the creature mid sentence.
The creature raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The girl? I would have thought that would be obvious!"
Severus meanwhile started to slowly slide his hand into his pocket and, heart pounding frantically, he grasped the cool metal hilt of the blade.
"…Because you see, through her I could get to you-" then creature paused for a second, her eyes suddenly burning with fury. "DON'T YOU DARE!" she hissed, lunging towards him, throwing him onto the ground. He pulled out the knife and slashed it across her face causing her to reel backwards in pain. Pulling himself up he took the blade and plunged it through her heart. He pulled the knife out and a black substance poured from the wounds of the creature while she screamed in agony. He tried to drag himself away from the writhing creature that was before him but as he tried to move he felt a strange sensation in the side of his ribcage. Looking down he discovered that amidst the murky liquid that covered him there was also a huge gash that had been ripped down the side of his upper body. It bled profusely and it was this final shock that caused the pain finally to hit him. He gasped in agony and realised finally what he had not completely accepted before.
'I am going to die.'
That last thought echoed through his head, louder than the screaming demon that was in front of him; it pierced him more so than any blade or tooth, or any emotion that he had ever felt before. Finally the creature fell silent and he watched her body become still as his own life started to slip away from him. Conflicting emotions fought relentlessly in his mind so that he didn't even have any room left for fear as the black-cloaked creatures started to descend. The images around him became blurred as he slipped further and further away and the last thing that his mind could perceive before the final darkness was a young, brown-haired woman who called his name into the night.
……………………………….
"You need to eat something, you need to rest."
"I'm not leaving."
"Hermione, be reasonable dear."
"I don't want to be reasonable, I want to be with him!"
It was six in the morning and Hermione and Mrs Weasley were sitting in a hospital room at St Mungo's.
"It's been nearly five days Hermione, and you've barely slept or eaten. Surely you can leave for an hour or so?" Mrs Weasley pleaded with her in vain.
"I left him once already and I'm not leaving again!" she assured her stubbornly, fed up of repeating the same phrase for the millionth time since Mrs Weasely had arrived a few days ago.
Mrs Weasley shook her head despairingly. "Look dear, if he ever does wake up again-"
"When he wakes up again." Hermione corrected her automatically.
Mrs Weasley sighed. "It's just I don't think he would like the idea of someone who he wasn't particularly close to staying with him night and day …you know as well as I do that Severus Snape isn't the sort of man to appreciate sympathy or charity form anyone."
"I can't leave him." Hermione whispered, more to herself than anyone else. She couldn't tell Mrs Weasley about her true feelings towards the man who was lying unconscious in the bed in front of them… She had been her mother-in-law and the death of her son still weighed heavily on her mind, Hermione didn't think she was in the right frame of mind to be able to understand her predicament.
"Look," Mrs Weasley lent over and took her hand in a motherly fashion. "You have been like a daughter to me over the years and I'd hate to see you hurt by a man that is both rude and proud to the point of plain arrogance. No matter how guilty you feel over the incident he won't care to hear your apologies. Besides, none of this was your fault; you need to understand that,"
Hermione nodded, knowing that the little speech was made with Mrs Weasley's best intentions, athough not by any means very comforting.
"If anything he owes you! After all, you were the one who risked your life to find him; you were the one who alerted the Order in time to stop those evil creatures from tearing him apart. Don't you think you've done enough?"
Hermione sighed. "I'm sorry, I have to stay."
Mrs Weasley patted her hand before standing up. "Well I'm certainly not going to let you starve! I'll be back in ten minutes or so with some food and I will refuse to leave until you have eaten every last crumb."
Hermione couldn't resist smiling slightly at this, for at least at the heart of it Mrs Weasley still hadn't changed in spite of the loss of her son. She only wished she could be half as strong as that.
Now the room was empty any remaining traces of good humour vanished as she sank lower into the armchair that had been her home for the last five days. For she knew better than anyone that the chances of Severus ever waking up again were slim. Yet she refused to leave. After all they had been through together it would have seemed a crime to leave now even if she hadn't already fallen in love with him. It killed her just to look over at the hospital bed and see the lifeless form that lay there. She reached over and moved some of his black hair away from his face which, although had always been rather pale, now looked blanched of any remaining colour. It was the rare few times like these she lived for now; when she could be alone with him and with her thoughts. Most of the time members of the Order such as Dumbledore, Harry and the Weasleys had been with her during her constant vigil. Most came to offer condolences and to tempt her away from the beside; Dumbledore was the only one who had shown any real interest in Severus's health. Hermione wouldn't have expected anything else, but nevertheless it did anger her that few bothered to show more gratitude for the man who saved the lives of many others countless times over. Thinking back to the events in both the first and second war against Voldemort, she realised that in that respect some things would never change.
However, as she started to think over the last few years the reminiscing acted as a trigger; memories of the past started to fill her mind and she tried in vain not to cry. "Oh god, why won't you wake up?" she murmured miserably, stroking his cheek with the back of her shaking hand. She then took his nearest hand and held it in her own, using this moment to let the silent tears that she had so often had to hold back the last few days fall unchecked. It was while she was sitting there crying that she felt his hand twitch slightly. She looked up, startled by this sign of life. But nothing else happened. She sighed and looked away again. Then, she felt his hand move again. She glanced at his face and this time she saw a definite flicker in the eyes.
"Severus!" she gasped, not daring to hope for the one thing she longed for. She watched, holding her breath as his head tilted slightly and his eyes slowly opened. He stared at her, blinking several times. She was stunned at this sudden turn of events.
"Severus?" she repeated, this time more hesitant. In truth she hadn't thought about how he would react to her being there, or he she would react to him waking up, mainly due to her newly acquired policy of crossing bridges as she came to them.
In response he smiled that rare crooked smile of his that she had grown so fond of over the years. She smiled back, wondering what she must look like in her tear-stained state but at the same time too happy to care. Leaning in she kissed him softly on the lips.
It was, however, at this rather unfortunate time that Mrs Weasley chose to enter the room once more.
"Hermione, I-" she froze, looking first at Hermione, then at Severus.
Hermione pulled away and glanced at the poor woman. "Mrs Weasley-"
"Oh…I see you're awake, I, I think I should go and get a nurse. Yes." Mrs Weasley turned and left as suddenly as she came, evidently still in shock.
"Poor Molly." Hermione heard Severus comment from beside her, and turning back to face him she noticed the look of wry amusement that had appeared on his face.
She laughed shakily, still smiling. "I can't believe it."
"Nor can I actually. Perhaps now you could fill me in with certain details such as how the hell I am still alive?"
"Of course, I'll explain everything in a moment, but how are you feeling?"
"Dreadful," he grimaced as he made to sit up. "But I think I'll live."
Hermione got up and sat on the edge of the bed. "You should probably get some rest."
"You certainly are calling the kettle black there, Hermione; you look exhausted. Haven't you slept at all?"
She shrugged, now rather embarrassed. "I've been here mostly."
"Foolish girl." he sighed and pulled her in closer towards him.
She smiled apologetically and lay down, curled up against his warm body. Severus started to absentmindedly stroke her hair and eventually, soothed by the feeling of contentment and also due to sheer exestuation, she drifted off while in the arms of a man who she loved and had been willing to die for her.
………………………………....................
Well I hope you enjoyed the ending! It was very difficult for me to write and I am so grateful for all the people who have been reviewing this story from the very beginning, it means a lot to me.
I would also like to add that there is a possibility of a sequel to this story in the future, but only if I feel it would be popular, so please review and tell me if you would be interested in reading it!