$surname / FALLEN FROM THE FUTURE / 2

Long Break, I know, but this is the first of four chapters I have written. The final four! I'm going to try to hold off on posting them all at once. So here you go, the beginning of the end! I hope you guys like it!

Severus marched back to the castle, hand clutching at his left forearm. It was done. He was now a Death Eater. After the Dark Lord carved his mark into him, he promised Severus that the day after graduation he would go to France and apprentice under the greatest living potions master. After the apprenticeship, he would come back to England and become the Dark Lord's personal potions master, brewing whatever he requested. The thought of being beholden to the Dark Lord's every whim made Severus feel queasy, but he quickly shoved any doubts behind the strong walls he had built earlier in the night. It was done now. He needed to adopt the persona of a non-caring Death Eater if he was going to survive to make it back to Hermione in twenty years.

He shoved open the castle doors, and started toward the dungeons, but stopped short.

"Lily?" he asked.

The girl in question was leaning against the wall next to the stairwell that lead to the dungeons. She startled, as if she had been sleeping, and sat up straight, giving Severus a small smile.

"Hi, Sev," she said quietly. "I've been hoping you would come back."

Severus shook his head, taking the remaining steps to close the gap between the two of them. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you racing through the castle early today. I was worried. Did something happen? Is it about Hermione?"

Severus studied Lily's face as well as he could in the darkness, and he determined that she was sincere in her worry, but he was still leery. She was Potter's girl now. This could all be a cruel and horrible trick.

"And why do you care? You've not said a kind word to me in years. Why now?"

Lily sighed, leaning back against the wall. "Because in a few short months we'll be out of this place and go our separate ways, and I realized I may never see you again, except in passing while out in Diagon Alley, and I realized that that is not what I want, at all. Sev, you were my first friend in the Wizarding World. My closest friend for so long. I was stupid and immature to let something like you saying a stupid word in the heat of an embarrassing moment ruin any of that. I was stupid for letting James and Sirius influence my feelings for you. We've wasted so much time, and I know that we can't get that back, but when I saw you run out of here today, I realized that we don't need to keep wasting time. Maybe we could try and be friends again."

Severus sighed. After everything horrible that happened today, he wasn't expecting this. In fact he was pretty sure he was going to go to his grave before Lily Evans ever decided to apologize and rekindle their friendship. He let his walls slip a little. He wouldn't be cold to Lily. He couldn't. If he was going to survive being a Death Eater, he needed someone on his side. Someone kind. He took a seat next to Lily. "And is Potter okay with this truce?"

Lily shrugged. "He's going to need to be. He doesn't own me, and he can't stop me from being friends with you. And if we're going to be married, we need to be able to grow up and leave behind these childish rivalries. That goes for you, too. If I'm going to have you round to our house, I won't stand for curses being thrown."

"You're to be married?" Severus asked, quietly.

Lily pursed her lips, as if waiting for a fight. She lifted her left hand where a diamond ring sat on her finger. "He proposed a couple weeks ago, around Valentine's Day. This doesn't change anything does it? We can still reconcile?"

Severus didn't know what did it, the sincerity in her voice or in the look she gave him, or the ring on her finger, but he felt himself crumble inside, and felt tears start to streak their way down his cheeks against his better judgment.

"Oh Sev," Lily said moving closer to him, pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry. What's wrong? Do you not want to reconcile?"

Sev shook his head. "No, it's not that." He took a deep breath. "It's just, Hermione and I were to be married after graduation. But now," he paused, swallowing. "She's gone." His voice broke, and he took a deep breath to stop himself from falling apart.

"Oh Severus, I'm so sorry. Maybe you two can reconcile? Long distance relationships are hard. Maybe after graduation you can go to wherever she is, and you can make it work. You two were perfect for each other. You should have heard her talking about you in the common room. You would have thought you hung the moon the way she spoke of you. I'm sure it'll work itself out. You just need to give it time."

Time. Yes, Severus thought to himself as he sat there on the cold stone floor next to Lily, all I need is time.

SSHG

SPRING 1980

Severus pulled the collar of his coat up around his neck as he made his way through the streets of Hogsmeade. It was a cold, wet night and the weather matched his mood. He just received an owl from Lily announcing that she and Potter were expecting a baby sometime this summer, she was vague on the details, but she invited him to visit her in Diagon Alley at some point in the near future. Severus was a little upset that Lily waited so long to tell him about the baby, but he hadn't been exactly easy to reach for the last few months, holed up making potions for the Dark Lord. But that's not what soured his mood. It was the fact that all he could think about after receiving that letter was that if time were not a fucking loop, he and Hermione would be together, happily married, and maybe expecting a spawn of their own. Every time he received a letter from Lily his mind would taunt him with what ifs. What would life be like now if Hermione was never ripped from him? It had been almost two years since she left him, and he was still having a hard time with her being gone. His life was a miserable and lonely existence. He nearly killed himself after graduation to finish his apprenticeship in record time, and when he returned to London he moved back into his house at Spinner's End and brewed exclusively for The Dark Lord. In return for the work he completed, he was compensated greatly financially.

The last few weeks, however, he began to lose a lot of sleep. It almost seemed like he was losing favor with The Dark Lord. He was starting to be called to less and less meetings. He was given instructions from owls, or occasionally Dolohav or Lucius would come round with the request. He was worried because it never ended well for people who fell out of favor or lost their usefulness for the Dark Lord. He needed to find a way to regain favor, but how?

He was rounding the corner when he saw Dumbledore walking down the road toward the Hogs Head. Severus paused and watched as he walked into the tavern. Without thinking twice, Severus rushed across the street and into the tavern just in time to see Dumbledore disappearing up the stairs. Severus glanced around the tavern to make sure no one was watching and when he noticed the coast was clear, he made his way up the stairs. He looked around until he saw that one of the doors was closed, a light shining through the crack at the bottom. He quickly and quietly made his way to the door, pressing his ear against it. He heard Dumbledore and someone else, female, talking. He pressed closer and was able to make out more than just a few words. It seemed Dumbledore was conducting an interview of some kind. And it didn't seem to be going very well. After a few more minutes of eavesdropping, he was able to determine that the interview seemed to be for a new Divination Professor, and the poor woman who was interviewing was so nervous she was bombing horribly. Severus was about to get up and leave when he heard something that caused him to stay.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."

"Hey, what are you doing up here?" a gruff voice said, grabbing Severus by the shoulder, pulling him around. Severus turned and saw Aberforth behind him, frowning. Not taking the time to answer, or the chance for Dumbledore to discover him, Severus pushed his way past Aberforth, running down the stairs and out the front door of the Hogs Head. He didn't stop until he was at the apparition point, apparating away back to his home. He slammed open the door, and began pacing.

That was a prophecy he had just heard. Wasn't it? Yes, it must have been. It had to have been. A prophecy about someone who was to be born who would be the end of The Dark Lord. This was it. This was his ticket to regaining favor with The Dark Lord. He would go there and tell him about the prophecy, and he would be welcomed back into the inner circle.

Severus froze. The prophecy was about a baby that was to be born this summer. End of July to be exact. Lily was pregnant with a child to be born this summer. When? He ran to get the letter he received that morning. Reading and re-reading. She never said. Just summer. What were the odds that the prophecy was about her child? He thought back to what he and Hermione talked about while she was here. He knew that she and the Potter spawn were on the run from the Dark Lord, but why? Why? Did she say? He couldn't remember. It couldn't be because of this prophecy could it? He cursed himself for not pushing Hermione to tell him more. To tell him everything that he wanted to hear. It would make this decision easier. To tell the Dark Lord what he heard, or to not tell him.

SSHG

LATE SUMMER 1980

Severus burst into Dumbledore's office, frantic.

"You have to save them."

"Oh, Severus. How's Tom? I expect that you informed him of what you overheard that night at the Hogs Head."

"I told him what I heard. And now he thinks that it pertains to the Potters, and he's going to kill them all. You need to hide them. Save them. Do something."

"I'm surprised that you care so much, Severus. That a Death Eater such as yourself has come here, to Tom Riddle's greatest enemy, and is begging him for help. And for what? To save your childhood bully and unrequited love?"

Severus growled. "Fuck off, old man. I've never known you to be so callous. Yes, Potter was my bully, and yes, I loved Lily at one point, but not anymore. They are my friends, and they have a baby. And the Dark Lord is going to kill all of them if you don't do something!"

Dumbledore sat behind his desk, glancing at Severus over the rims of his glasses. "I was already planning to help them, Severus. We have a hiding place for the family picked out. Have had one since little Harry was born on the last day of July. I'm just surprised, intrigued, even, that you of all people are here begging me for their lives. Are you having a change of heart, Severus my boy? Do I need to send you into hiding as well?"

Severus shook his head. "I never wanted this, not since..."

"Since you met a young time traveler?" Dumbledore answered.

Severus nodded.

"Then why, my child, did you take the mark?"

"Because she told me I had it in my time."

"And what else did Miss Granger tell you about the future?"

Severus shrugged again. "Nothing. She told me nothing."

Dumbledore locked eyes with Severus, and knowing what the old man was after, Severus never broke eye contact with him, feeding him false memories of his time with Hermione. One in which she refused to tell him anything about the future. He was glad that he had listened to Hermione and learned Occlumency. If he could keep the Dark Lord out of his mind, he could keep anyone from invading.

SSHG

HALLOWEEN 1981

Severus screamed as he felt his left forearm burn. It was late, and the burning woke him from his sleep. He threw back the covers and grabbed his wand from the bedside table.

"Lumos," he muttered.

Holding the wand over his forearm, he nearly dropped it when he saw that where his Dark Mark had once been, it was now gone. "Impossible," he muttered, leaping from bed. He ran to where his robes hung on the back of his door throwing them on as he ran to the door, apparating to Hogsmeade. When he got there, the place was in chaos, people were running through the streets, despite the late hour. Severus looked around, trying to find someone to talk to. To ask what was going on. He stopped a man running through the streets.

"What's going on?"

The man stopped, out of breath, a grin on his face. "You haven't heard? He's been defeated. The Dark Lord has been defeated. And by an infant no less!"

Severus let go of his grip on the man. "He's gone?"

"Yeah! Used the killing curse on a baby, and it rebounded, killing him instead. Poor lad, that baby. Orphaned. But he will forever be known as the savior of the Wizarding World. Harry Potter!"'

The man took off again down the street, leaving Severus standing in the road, mouth agape. Memories from when he was with Hermione came flooding back to him. The reasons she started spending time with the Marauders. To get to know her best friend's parents whom he grew up without. He should have made the connection quicker. He should have done more to stop The Dark Lord from pursuing the Potters. And now, Lily and James were gone. And it was largely his fault. If he hadn't overheard that fucking prophecy. If he hadn't brought it to the Dark Lord like the fucking lapdog he was. If only...

Severus let out a guttural scream before apparating back to Spinner's End. He slammed the door closed behind him, and let out another scream. He was cursed. That had to be it. He fell in love only to have her ripped from him, taken back through time. His were parents were shite and then gone. He was just starting to form an actual friendship with Lily and James, and even Sirius was warming up to him, and now they were gone. He was destined to move through his life alone. That was it. Because who knew if Hermione would still want him when she returned back to her time and set eyes on him for the first time as his older self. If she even made it through time the second time. They still never figured out what it...

Severus stopped. What if he were the one to send her through time? What if he was the catalyst? He ran up his stairs taking them two at a time before he ran into his room, throwing open his Hogwarts trunk. He pulled out all of the notes on time travel he and Hermione had compiled during their weeks in the Room of Requirement. He had saved every single one. Not really sure why, but he just knew that he needed to. He ran back down to his lab, and got to work. He had just under 17 years to invent a spell to send Hermione back through time.

SSHG

MARCH 1998

Severus knew it was coming close to when he would need to send Hermione back in time. The last sixteen years had been pure hell for him. Teaching at Hogwarts. Then teaching her, but not really her. Watching her grow up, made him feel disgusting. He had to remind himself that when they were together, they were both the same age, and she wasn't a student, nor was he her professor. He hoped that if his incantation worked the way it was supposed to, the way he calculated, he would be able to look past the student he had taught the last six years and see the woman he loved. And despite the passage of time, he still loved her, his Hermione. He just needed to get to Malfoy Manor at just the right moment.

Amycus Carrow came bursting into his office. "They have them, at least they think they do?"

Severus adopted his best bored expression, "Who has who now?"

"Malfoy. They have Potter and his friends. They're going to summon the Dark Lord, as soon as they have confirmation."

Severus stood up and stalked to the doors to his office, dismissing Amycus. "Return when you know anything definitive."

Amycus bowed his head, and left the office. Severus didn't hesitate before rushing to his window and apparating out, for if you were Headmaster, you had the ability to do what you pleased on Hogwarts grounds. He found himself outside the gates of the Manor. He disillusioned himself and pushed his way through, rushing to the house as quickly as possible, pushing his way in. It was a good thing he was still in the inner circle of the Dark Lord, one of his only truly trusted servants, or else he wouldn't have been able to make it through all of the wards so easily. He moved through the house, following the cackles of Bellatrix. When he reached the entryway to the drawing room, he stopped short.

Laying on the floor underneath Bellatrix was Hermione. HIS Hermione. She looked exactly the same as the day he found her on the floor of Hogwarts after she had fallen from the future. He had to take a deep breath to control his emotions as he watched Bellatrix finish carving into her arm while she screamed. The second Bellatrix lifted her knife from Hermione's arm, Severus took aim with his wand, and pointed it at Hermione. And just like he had practiced every day once he was sure he mastered the incantation ten years ago, he very calmly enunciated the words he knew by heart. When he was finished, he watched Hermione closely. And for a second he thought he saw her flicker but he wasn't sure. It wasn't until he saw the light gleam off the ring on her left hand that he knew for sure that it worked.

What did you think? Worth the long wait? Three more chapters after this. I don't have a beta, so all mistakes are mine. Please leave a review!