The news arriving with the first owls from the British Ministry significantly shortened Snape and Hermione's stay in Australia. Their long-awaited trip to Ireland had to be postponed until better times, their immediate presence was required at home.
Having settled in her parents' kitchen and occupying the table in the manner of the Arthurian knights, Sirius, Regulus and the Snape spouses themselves led the council of war. Mr. and Mrs. Granger loomed on the periphery, preferring not to interfere in the affairs of wizards after their recent scandal with Hermione and her powerful husband.
"You just have a knack for attracting all kinds of trouble," Sirius grumbled, checking the documents Kingsley had sent.
"The cauldron calling the kettle black," Snape muttered an old saying and demandingly stretched out his hand to the parchment, "Show me everything, I just want to make absolutely sure."
As much as Severus flaunted, deep down, everything inside him was cold with fear. By a decision of the Supreme Court of June 8, two thousand and three, the Marriage Decree was annulled. Hermione, leaning over his shoulder, read the text with enthusiasm.
"You have angered too many people to go unnoticed," Sirius continued to rant as if nothing had happened. His intrigues with the Ministry allowed him to acquire reliable allies and finally unravel a secret conspiracy. First, Medea Umbridge began to avenge the death of her late sister. She really disliked Hermione's policy of helping orphans, widows, and Sentient Races. Soon, Cornelius Fudge joined Umbridge, still stubbornly dreaming of taking control of the entire educational system and establishing his own order there. Of course, the Board of Governors was very unhappy with the Hogwarts reforms.
"Where have you seen purebloods and Muggle-borns being taught the history and traditions of both worlds! Just think, what an unheard-of impudence! What a spit in the face of the guardians of the old order!" Sirius ranted enthusiastically, waving his hands for better effect.
In short, Severus and Hermione were rapidly acquiring a lot of enemies.
The return of Sirius Black and his policy of reviving the Alliance have not been welcomed with open arms either. Voldemort had many followers, and among them were those who never dared to speak about their support of him openly, but continued to honor his ideology secretly from everyone. The Blacks have long been a thorn in the Wizarding world's arse: too self-confident, too ancient, too powerful. Sirius became the leader of the new world when this very world, like a flock of lost sheep, was preparing to fall off the cliff into the abyss. Lucius Malfoy, who was able to come to an agreement even with a bald devil, did not lag behind him. His oily speeches and chic tricks managed to convince even the most stubborn purebloods that Sirius Black would help preserve the ancient traditions, but would do everything to prevent another racist war.
Lavender Malfoy, an intern at St. Mungo's, brought overwhelming news and, of course, hastened to share it with her husband. Draco told everything to his father and Sirius, who, in turn, brought the information to Kingsley.
Venus Creevey, Colin and Denis's pureblood aunt who lost her beloved nephews in the Battle of Hogwarts, was very unhappy with the Marriage Law, which was a prerequisite for procreation. In her mad desire to take revenge on all those responsible for the death of two children, she was ready to commit any crimes. Like any midwife, she knew perfectly well that a potion can both heal ailments and kill. Her goal was to render Muggle-born witches under the Decree unable to bear children. It was then, in her opinion, that the Ministry would realize its mistake, would abolish its Law, and pureblood wizards would die out, as her little angels, Denis and Colin, died.
Naturally, Hermione was too prominent a figure to be bypassed by the intrigues of Venus, moreover, one fine evening Rodolphus Lestrange came to Mrs. Creevey and offered his help as an expert on poisons and dark curses. The rest was a matter of technique: mixing a slow-acting poison into vitamins, casting a cunning enchantment, and watching the results of their intrigues.
For a week now, the angry public, led by Minerva McGonagall and the Alliance, along with the Black and the Malfoys, had been bombarding the Ministers with letters demanding to cancel the Marriage Decree and punish all those responsible. It got to the point that Kingsley was requested to resign immediately and Amelia Bones was expected to become the new Minister. Kingsley had to urgently back down.
The entire Aurory, led by an angry Harry Potter, had been chasing the Death Eaters for days and nights, and having caught them, they immediately sent them to Azkaban - while away the time until the verdict was announced.
This was the news Sirius brought in while Hermione and Severus read the ministry decree.
"In general, guys, you need to go back home, you will be present at the courts, and there will be many of them. Therefore, pack your bags."
Hermione stared thoughtfully into the open bag. At first, she was firmly convinced that somehow her own research notebook fell under the Gemino spell, and Severus acquired himself an identical copy. Under the cover of her old work diary, adorned with holly leaves, Hermione found the Time-Turner, transformed into a shirt cufflink. Madame Snape would not have been the smartest witch of her generation if she had not been able to notice the Hippogriff lurking in the room. Severus' disposition to her from the very beginning confused her: her professor, in principle, was never distinguished by special philanthropy, why would he suddenly start helping a former student, and even decided to marry her? Following this discovery, other small details began to form a coherent picture. A debt recovery ritual they performed together to save Sirius Black. The overly unstable Celtic magic that helped them get married, the Potion of Pristine Memories that Severus knew about in advance. The alliance with the Malfoys, the support of the Blacks, and, finally, her husband's stupid passion for self-sacrifice. As if he knew something that Hermione was not aware of. As if he was trying with all his might to protect her. As if he had already lost her...
Hermione turned sharply and handed the Time-Turner to her husband frozen in the doorway.
"Do you want to explain this to me?"
Severus was so tired of the constant expectation of imminent tragedy that he walked into the room, stood by the window, and undeniably declared:
"This is the Time-Turner that brought me a year and a half into the past. I failed to save your life. I lost you, our child, and myself overnight. You were going to change the world, you wanted to save the Potters, you planned to resurrect Albus Dumbledore, you were preparing to become a Mistress of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but just like now, you fell under the Marriage Law. We got married. I was drunk, you were in despair, we were both looking for some stupid way out and found nothing better than to become husband and wife."
Hermione listened to her husband's story, holding the Time-Turner in her fist and feeling her heart thump against her ribcage. Severus continued, staring into the void.
"We did not love each other, and what kind of love could there be? We didn't have time for feelings. I spent days and nights at Hogwarts, trying to restore the School and show the children that the war was over and they should not be afraid of their own shadow anymore. You settled in the Ministry and fought for the rights of the Races, widows, orphans, in fact, you were not too different from your current self."
"But you were against my politics and intentions."
"Of course, it's always been too dangerous. You have at all times possessed an amazing ability to surround yourself with enemies and envious people," Snape grinned bitterly. Hermione looked him in the eyes.
"In this, we are not too different from each other."
Severus squeezed the bridge of his nose; he still hadn't healed his migraines.
"We fought all six months that we lived together. I tried to prove to you that the Dark Curses are not for you to consider your future profession, you answered..."
"… that good children don't make revolutions?" Hermione grimaced.
"I was so tired of hearing this phrase that it made me feel sick every time I heard you saying it."
"And what happened then?"
"The ministry called everything an accident, a tragic concatenation of circumstances. I still don't know what exactly happened, they sent me a letter stating that you died from the Dark Curse. We had a huge fight the previous morning. We bombarded each other with reproaches, your fertility potion did not work again, they demanded heirs from us, you were not ready to leave Britain, I tried to convince myself that I did not care about your future. And in the evening of the tragedy, as I wandered around the rooms like a madman and drank whiskey straight from the bottle, I found a positive Muggle pregnancy test in the bathroom."
"No wonder the fertility potion didn't work," Hermione commented and, standing up, walked toward her husband, who was still in that terrible past, dark with battles and red with blood.
"You know, we lifted Dolokhov's curse just when we both managed to convince ourselves that we didn't love each other," Severus continued as if he was repenting of his sins in front of that version of his wife who had died one and half years ago. "I don't want you to think that I've been using you all this time. I think you know that I despise the very idea of being someone's puppet. Or that I dragged myself into the past just because I wanted to correct my own mistakes. To change everything for the better tomorrow, I had to go back somewhere to the seventy-sixth year, to prevent my fight with Lily, to avoid my accepting of the Dark Mark, and wait to see the day when Harry-bloody-Potter would me "Daddy".
Hermione laughed bitterly and smeared tears, running down her cheeks.
"Severus, I… may sound too naive, but I understand your reasons, and I need time. It's not every day that your husband falls on your head with the Time-Turner and informs you that in a few months you are going be killed."
Snape stared at her with piercing black eyes.
"The Marriage Decree has been canceled, Hermione."
Hermione flushed and walked close to Severus.
"Tell me that kind of nonsense again, I'll hex you into the next week, I swear! I'm not going to divorce you. I'm sure that version of me and the current one are different from each other, like yin and yang, but I need time. I'm not giving up on us, Severus. I do not want to."
Snape took her outstretched hand and imprinted a kiss on her wrist.
"I am unlikely to improve, and you are well aware of my not too rosy past. I am a difficult person, much more often than not, and it is not easy being my wife. But I take loyalty and my vows seriously. And I returned to the past not only because I wanted to repent."
Hermione stroked his cheek.
"You need to shave. I know, Severus. I can't imagine what you went through, but I guess I would have done the same."
He cupped her face in his hands and leaned closer.
"You will always be my wife, no matter, the past, the present, or the future. I don't need anyone else."
"I'm definitely not going to die. Now, come on, don't shirk your fees. If you think that I will pack your suitcases for you, then you are deeply mistaken. Come on, husband, great things await us."