Chapter 118: The Upside To Deception

{A/N: Here's Another Long Awaited Update...as per request...}

My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

The Granger Residence, London England, Muggle World...

No sooner had Snape made it out the door did he suddenly find himself doubling over in agony, Whatever his devious mother had given him was effectively taking it's toll as he found himself dropping to his knees in reaction to the sudden onset of pain. He had barely any time to register the concern in Rebecca's voice as she rushed to his aid and the urgent manner in which she instructed John to assist her in getting him back into Hermione's vacant bedroom. The former Potions Master had not wanted to see anyone other than the young witch he had planned to spend the rest of his life with but it seemed an impossible feat given her absence and his further deteriorating condition.

Snape was fading in and out of consciousness as he took note of being put in the bed. Rebecca was quite frantic as she moved about the room getting a hold of a phone and dialing the number as fast as the eye could see. The dour wizard knew not whom she'd been calling but he figured given her muggle background it might have been a doctor of sorts.

A weary smile filed across his sallow pale face as he imagined such a fool attempting to treat him by muggle means and coming up empty handed. It was almost worth the agony that ripped through him.

The ailing wizard began to slip from consciousness again only to find familiar hands moving about his chest as his vision continued to blur.

"Severus." said a distinctively familiar voice.

The hands returned to shake him awake.

"Severus open your eyes, Lucius is on his way...he has the antidote." pleaded the strangely familiar voice once more.

Snape attempted to make sense of the voice finding it strange that whomever this had been knew Lucius, knew his brother.

He felt so exhausted since awakening, his limbs were quite heavy and his breaths grew shallow.

"Severus...please...just hold on a little longer..." continued the voice. "I promise...everything will be explained to you and we can be a family again."

"H-Hermione?" asked Snape opening his eyes as he dared hope that he'd been right about just whom it had been at his bedside.

"Severus." she had said again this time stroking his sallow pale cheek as tears streamed down her own.

"Hermione." said the Potions Master pleased to see the beautiful young woman whom had carried his children.

"That's right." she said pleased that he seemed interested enough to fight the urge to lose consciousness. "It's me...Severus...it's always been me."

"What?" he began attempting to make sense of everything.

"When you didn't come home after your meeting with Daddy, I went to look for you." she replied. "He told me things about what happened after you left him that I didn't believe so I did a bit of digging."

"Insufferable know it all." said Snape looking up at her with a contented smile on his face.

"You're quite fortunate that I am." replied Hermione now fully revealed with the effects of the potion she ingested having worn off.

"I'm sorry." said Snape wishing to apologize for his behavior in John's memories.

"You didn't do anything wrong." she replied. "It's my overbearing father and your idiot mother that should be doing the apologizing."

Snape smirked noting the level of snark in her tone.

"I love you." he said meeting her gaze as best he could given his condition.

"I love you too." she replied. "And we are going home after I give me incredibly thick father a piece of my mind for what he tried to do to you."

"How did you...?" began Snape finding it more difficult to communicate at the moment.

"Lucius noticed you were cursed immediately and attempted to counter it only for the poison in your system to make itself known." explained Hermione. "Rather than risk her taking off with you again to do worse, Lucius and I devised a little ruse...I posed as Rebecca via polyjuice and he looked after the children with the assistance of Draco and Narcissa."

Snape noted how clever the plan had been given his mother's lack in judgement when she believed she'd won.

"I made sure your mother and my father knew I left you due to your behavior and obvious affection for Rebecca and they slowly began to let their guards down. it took two years but we finally found a way to get you an antidote and free you from your horrid mother's attempt on your life." continued Hermione. "You've missed so much and it's all their fault."

Snape had reached for Hermione's hand when Lucius Malfoy came barreling past an angry John Granger only to find his daughter returned, and Rebecca no where to be found.

"Lucius." said Hermione delighted to see him.

"I've got it...but there was a minor complication." began Lucius.

"I don't care...if it will keep him alive for centuries to come it's what I'll use." said the rather determined witch.

Snape had barely a moment to breathe before Hermione took the strange looking syringe from Lucius and injected Snape causing the wizard to clutch the bed digging his fingers into the sheets and comforter.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" yelled the ailing wizard before finding he knew the pain all too well.

His dark eyes widened as Hermione and Lucius looked on.

"Nagini's venom!?" he struggled to announce.

Hermione looked over at Lucius whom had been quite saddened by having to resort to such measures.

"It's the only thing that could counter-act what she did to him." replied Lucius. "The only thing that could be use in time anyway."

The burning had returned as vicious as it had been on the day the despot unleashed his accursed serpent on the already ailing wizard in the boathouse. Hermione did her best to comfort him there too as she watched his muscles contract and his teeth clench in the wake of the venom surging throughout his already weakened body.

Lucius had been quite terrified as he watched the young wizard that had been his little brother suffer through agony all over again just to be rid of the poison that had already been running through his veins. While he wished there had been a better choice to save the younger wizard's life, they had been pressed for time given how long the poison had already been in Snape's system.

"SEVERUS!" shouted Hermione when the pain make him once more slip from consciousness.

Her voice was the last one the ailing dour wizard heard as everything around him faded into nothingness.