Author's Note: Is this the chapter we've all been waiting for?

Summer 1999

Severus and Hermione kept things light over the summer. She wrote him when she was bored in Australia and he wrote her when he was bored in France. He made sure to let her know when he was back at Hogwarts. She made sure to let him know when she was back at Grimmauld with Harry and Ginny. Severus could tell that she was still working on her Apparition project throughout the summer.

.

-You're supposed to be taking a break, Hermione. -S

Why? -H

-I don't know. That's just what people say when it's summer. -S

Is that why you assigned us homework over the break every summer? -H

-Touche' -S

I enjoy it. I'm getting closer. I know I am. Will you be my lab rat when I think it's time? -H

-Obviously. -S

.

I think I did it, Severus! -H

-How do you know? -S

I just know. -H

-Congratulations. When do we test it? -S

Give me another week to iron out the last wrinkles. -H

.

Are you available next week? -H

-Is it time? -S

It's time! I would like you to go to Grimmauld Place Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Harry and Ginny will be there to give you the device and they are going to be the fail-safe. They'll know where you're supposed to be so that if anything goes wrong, you can go back to Harry's and regroup and he can contact me through his journal. And he'll also be there to time when you leave and when you arrive. If you end up in Egypt, I want to know the exact time you left. -H

-I don't want to go to Egypt. -S

I'll try my best! -H

-I'll be at Harry's. -S

I can't wait to see you again. I've missed you. -H

-I've missed you. -S

.

Severus knocked on the door of 12 Grimmauld Place. When the door opened, however, instead of Harry, it was Ginny.

"Miss Weasley," Severus greeted her.

Ginny allowed him to cross the threshold and shut the door but didn't invite him in further.

"Professor Snape," she said, emotionless. "Or shall I call you Headmaster Snape?"

"Gin?" Harry rounded the corner. "Hey, Severus. Gin, let him in."

But Ginny was still staring at Severus. He could tell that she was not angry at him, but that they were about to have a long overdue conversation.

Severus put a hand out to stop Harry as he looked at Ginny. "I don't prefer to be called Headmaster. I don't prefer to be reminded of that year. I imagine you do not either."

"Gin…" Harry began.

Severus forestalled him again. "You weren't there that year, Harry." He turned back to Ginny. "Hello, Ginevra."

Ginny smiled at him, but he could tell she still wasn't done. "That's better, Mr. Snape. But only my ninety-year-old great-aunt Muriel calls me Ginevra. Is that how you want to be viewed, as older?"

"Gin…" Harry groaned.

"You weren't there this year, either, Harry. You didn't see the way he looks at her when he thinks no one is watching." She looked back at Severus. "You and I are about to have very intertwined lives. I don't want to see you and think of Hogwarts and I don't want others to see you and think of an old maid. I know you love her. And you know that we love whoever she loves."

Severus nodded slowly. "Understood. Hello, Ginny."

Ginny genuinely smiled at him. "Hello, Severus. Come in. We're glad you're here." She moved to allow him entry past a dumbstruck Harry and into the sitting room. "I'll grab some tea."

Harry sat down and let out a breath. "Didn't know she was going to do that. I am surrounded by headstrong women and they just do whatever the hell they want. It's not like I'm a pushover," Harry exclaimed. "And neither are you! But they…" he gestured into the air. "But apparently we both love strong women, if Ginny is to be believed."

"Yes."

"We wondered," Harry said. "Every letter Hermione owled us was about you. Merlin only knows what she and Ginny talk about."

"You're taking this a little better than I thought you might."

"Still can't be shocked. I've gone from a snake coming out a dead woman to people who purposefully magic walnuts up their… well, anyway, not shocking. And Ginny says you two make sense, so I'm just trusting Ginny. And I trust Hermione, obviously. Does she know you love her?"

"No," Severus answered. "Maybe."

"Of course she knows," Ginny answered, the word "idiots" hung in the air, unspoken, as she carried the tray of tea.

"Then what's the deal?" Harry asked. "How come you two aren't dating or something?"

"You know Hermione - she overthinks everything," Ginny responded. "To her, this friends-to-lovers thing is following the same pattern as her and Ron. And my idiot brother hurt her very badly. More than she lets on. And let's face it, could your history together be any more complicated?"

Severus nodded, grateful that his understanding of Hermione lined up with Ginny's. "She needs time."

"Well, the bad side," Harry began, "is that Hermione can take a long time to think things through. But on the plus side, she always finds the right answer." He looked at the notebook on the coffee table and set down his tea. "Shit. How long has that been glowing?" He read the message and looked at Severus. "You're up in," he checked his watch, "three minutes. I know where you're supposed to go. You're supposed to come back here if either attempt doesn't work. But this is Hermione we're talking about, so I doubt we'll see you again today. I've lifted the wards so that you can apparate straight from here when you're ready." He stood and went to a side table. "This is it," he said simply, holding up a Pez candy dispenser with a cartoon character on top. "She said it would either work or it wouldn't, but that we would know immediately."

Severus stood and took the Pez dispenser from Harry's hand. He shook his head looking at the ridiculous thing. "Albus would have loved this."

Harry smiled at Severus. "That's exactly what I said! He would have displayed it in his office, not a doubt in my mind."

Severus nodded and shook Harry's hand. "Thank you, Harry, Ginny."

"Be safe," Ginny said. "I expect we'll be seeing you around. Eventually."

Severus folded back the character on the Pez dispenser and it flipped back with a satisfying click and then began to glow. He smiled slightly that yet another thing in his possession now glowed thanks to Hermione. A blue orb came out of it and traveled into his chest. The feeling was overwhelming and he knew exactly where to go. He breathed out and nodded to Harry and Ginny, who were looking at him wide-eyed.

"You good?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded. "It works." And he apparated from their sitting room.

A few minutes later, the notebook glowed again and Harry picked it up. "He made it fine!" he told Ginny, who smiled. "Oh wow. Look where she's making him meet her next." Harry handed the notebook to Ginny.

Ginny read it. "Isn't that where-"

"Where he saved us, yeah. Where he gave us the sword. It's also where Ron came back."

Ginny smirked. "Maybe. But it's not Ron she wants to see again this time."

"Oh my god, Severus!" Hermione exclaimed as he arrived the first time, mere feet from where she was standing. She ran to hug him. "It worked! I can't believe it. I'm so happy to see you," she said, letting go and grabbing his hands. She was looking at his hands and rubbing them, making sure he was all there. "Are you fine?"

"Calm down, Hermione, I'm fine." He smiled freely at her, happy to be with her again.

She beamed at him. "I've missed you so much." She looked at the notebook on the ground. "Harry! I have to tell him you're ok and where we're going next, just in case." She picked up the notebook and a quill, jotted a message and then put it back down on the ground.

"It works, Hermione. It's brilliant. You're brilliant. And choosing this," he held up the Pez dispenser, no longer glowing, "is inspired. Albus is laughing and Voldemort is surely turning in his grave."

She laughed. "Thank you, Severus. I couldn't have done this without you. Are you ready to go again?"

Severus nodded and traded the first Pez dispenser for a second one that Hermione handed him.

She picked up her notebook and smiled at him. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then apparated away from him once more.

After a minute, he clicked the second Pez Dispenser. It began to glow and the blue orb once more traveled into his chest. "Hermione," he whispered when the feel of her magic entered his chest. He leaned into the feeling once more and apparated.

She was there, eyes wide. "It really works," she said weakly.

He walked over to her and looked around. "You've been here before."

"So have you."

"Why did you pick the Forest of Dean?"

"I felt safe here once, with my parents. I didn't feel safe here last year. I want to feel safe here again."

"Like Hogwarts," he added.

"Like Hogwarts."

He looked at her and frowned. "You're shaking. Do we need to leave?"

She laughed. "No. I'm fine here, actually." She took a couple of steps and touched a large tree, looking up into the canopy.

"Were you afraid you would fail?" Severus asked, concerned.

"Oh no! I knew it would work," she said confidently, leaning her back against the tree.

"Then why are you so nervous?"

"Because you're here. And I've wanted to see you so badly. And because I think too much," she said, looking at him.

He walked slowly over to where she stood. "Yes, you do. And it's one of the many things I love about you." She lowered her chin, but he lifted it back so that she would look at him. He took her hand and laid her hand flat on his chest so that she could feel his heart beating. "I am a man, Hermione. I am not an entry on a timetable or something to check off of a project list. There is no schedule."

"Do you mean that, Severus?"

He nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm just scared," she said, as her eyes traveled from his lips to his eyes.

"I know." He put his hand back on hers, still resting on his chest. "But I have the patience of Job."

"That's good to know." She smiled at him.

"And," Severus smirked, "I know that my bossy little witch will reemerge one day. And I love that about you, too."

Hermione chuckled. "Thank Merlin. Because that's not going to change." She took her hand from his chest and folded her hand into his.

"Walk with me," Severus said quietly. He led her through the forest to the pond where he hid the sword. "That's the tree. Right across there. That's where I hid. That was the most afraid I've ever been."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "How is that possible?"

He pointed at the pond, now so serene and calm and could still hear Harry pounding on the underside of the ice. "He was drowning. The horcrux had pulled him under. I was about to jump in after him when Ron came out of nowhere and then he jumped in. And it took a lifetime for them to come out of the water. The whole war was unraveling before my eyes. I was petrified."

"I never knew." She looked at him. "You were more afraid then than when you were dying?"

"Yes. I was not afraid to die. Of course, that might have been because someone gave me a calming draught."

She laughed and squeezed his hand. She was back.

~oOo~

Author's Note: I can hear your groans from here. But September's on its way...