EPILOGUE

It had been almost one year exactly since Snape invited her to live with him and Freddie had never been happier. She had started her job in the Brewing Room of St Mungo's Hospital in July and every night when she came home he had been there waiting for her. When the next term started at Hogwarts, they could no longer spend every night together. Which was fine because Freddie was working long hours at the hospital and loving every second of it. She loved the work, she loved her coworkers, and she loved Master Hawkins who had quickly discovered just how skilled Freddie was and given her more challenging opportunities.

Snape came home nearly every weekend and sometimes even during the week. She would wake up in the middle of the night to him crawling into bed with her, sometimes just to hold her while he slept. She was always happiest when they were together, no matter what they did. Even if she was just listening to him rant about Harry Potter and his friends. Snape found The Boy Who Lived to be a lazy, arrogant boy just like his father, but with Lily's eyes. Almost like it was specifically designed to torment Snape about his past. Freddie was always sympathetic when he was ranting about Potter.

Freddie came home from work late on the evening of May 31st. She'd spent hours concocting a potion to help cure a man who had come into the hospital burping flames and she was bone-tired when she finally Apparated home. She took a quick shower and crawled into bed, planning to sleep as much as she could before she had to be back at work the next morning. Only she couldn't sleep. As exhausted as she was, she had a pit in her stomach like something was wrong. She thought maybe she was getting sick.

She sat up in bed and decided to respond to her most recent letter from Ada. She had kept in touch with the Beauxbatons girl just like she'd promised. They exchanged letters once a week by owl and Freddie had taken a few days off work after Christmas to go and visit her. She'd stayed three days with Ada and her Muggle parents who were warm and welcoming. They had been just as curious about the wizarding world as she was about theirs and Freddie had enjoyed herself. Her French had greatly improved as well.

She was halfway through her letter to Ada, telling her about everything she had been working on, when the flames in the fireplace turned green. It was well after midnight but Freddie smiled happily as Snape's form came through the flames. But then her heart sank.

She knew immediately that something was wrong, just from the look on his face. He was paler than she had ever seen him and, as much as he was trying to hide it, she could feel his fear.

"Severus!" she cried, dropping her letter as she leapt out of bed. "Severus, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Was it that beast of a dog again?"

On Halloween night he had come to her, limping and bleeding, after being bitten by a three-headed dog named Fluffy. The creature belonged to Hagrid, but was currently housed on the third floor of the castle. It was being used by Dumbledore to guard something. Snape wouldn't tell her what Dumbledore was protecting, only that a few of the teachers had constructed elaborate protective measures for it. He had used her riddle from the Potions Championship.

"No," Snape said hoarsely as he crossed the room and sank onto the edge of the bed. "No, I am not injured."

"What is it? What happened?" she asked anxiously.

"Tonight...The Dark Lord returned tonight," he said and Freddie felt her heart stop. "He was vanquished, again, by Potter but... He had been slaying unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and sharing Quirrell's body. All year. I didn't know, no one knew, I thought Quirrell was trying to take the Stone for himself."

"Stone?"

"The Philosopher's Stone. Nicholas Flamel's stone that can be used to brew the Elixir of Life. He gave it to Dumbledore for protection, that's what I could not tell you before. Last night the Dark Lord attempted to steal the Stone from Hogwarts so that he could be returned to full power. Potter and his friends followed Quirrell to the Stone – they thought they were after me apparently. And Potter came face to face with the Dark Lord once more...and defeated him. I do not know exactly what happened down there, but the Dark Lord fled the castle even weaker than he was when he slayed his first unicorn. Potter is unconscious in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey expects him to make a full recovery."

"...Well that's good, isn't it? The Dark Lord is gone again?"

"Yes, but...there is more," he said hesitantly, looking away from her.

"What is it? Was someone badly hurt or...did one of Potter's friends not make it?"

"No, Winifred, we... When the Dark Lord fled apparently...apparently there were strong wards on part of the Forbidden Forest, Dark Magic that He used- I assume it was the Dark Lord, I don't think Quirrel would have been capable..."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

"Well the centaurs they...they found Daniel," he said, a pained expression on his face. "They found his remains, Winifred, I'm so sorry."

"What?" she whispered. She felt cold all over, paralyzed. His remains...Daniel's remains...He really is gone. He's not just gone, he's dead. He's been dead all this time... "I don't understand."

"Albus thinks that...the Dark Lord may have attempted to use him, to fuse with him long before he met Quirrell, but He failed."

"No...no, that can't be right. That was three years ago. It can't be Daniel."

"The remains were several years old and they were that of a young male wizard. There...were only bones left, but Albus-"

Freddie held up a hand to stop him, feeling tears well in her eyes. Bones. Daniel's bones. She felt nauseous and weak, but she still couldn't move. Snape put his arms around her and she felt the first tear fall.

"I'm so sorry, Winifred," he whispered. "Albus thinks the first attempt to- that it left the Dark Lord so weak he could not try again until recently. Whatever Daniel did, it is likely that he stopped the Dark Lord from returning much sooner than he did."

She couldn't stop the tears from falling and soon she was sobbing on his chest while Snape held her tight. He didn't try to tell her to calm down, didn't try to console her, just held her while she let it all out. She had always held out some small hope that Daniel was alive and would return someday. Knowing that he was dead, that he had been killed, killed and by the Dark Lord no less...that he had been out there in the Forest all this time, his body forgotten and decomposing...It broke her.

She cried for the better part of an hour, until she had nothing left in her to cry and she felt completely drained of energy and emotion. Even after she was done crying it was some time before she could bring herself to speak again.

"So the Dark Lord...he's really back?" she whispered, hoping that it wasn't true but knowing that it was.

"Yes. Although when he fled tonight he was very weak, not even fully human...Albus believes it is now only a matter of time before He regains his full power. When that happens..."

"You go back to being a spy."

"Yes," he said and was silent for a minute. "I understand if...you do not wish to stay with me. You'd be much safer elsewhere. Without me in your life."

He couldn't even look at her as he said it.

"Hey," she said softly, until he finally looked at her again. "I'm not going anywhere, Severus. I love you. Whatever happens...I will be here with you and I will help you, any way that I can."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely sure."

"In that case I think it is time we start your Occlumency lessons again."

"There's nothing wrong with my Occlumency. My Occlumency is perfect."

"Your Occlumency is decent...but it needs to be a lot better if you wish to withstand the scrutiny of the Dark Lord. It may be the only way that we both survive."

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE : That's it, we've finally reached the end ! And found out what happened to Daniel, sadly. I don't know if this is truly the end of Freddie and Severus, what do you all think of a sequel ? It would start in the Goblet of Fire era. I sort of set it up perfectly for a sequel, didn't I ? I've written 34 pages of a sequel already actually so I'll be posting that soon. I just hope I can stick with it.

I really hope you all enjoyed this story and THANK YOU for sticking with me so long ! This is the LONGEST story I have ever written and I enjoyed every minute of writing it. Please leave me lots of reviews and tell me what you think, and I'll do my best to keep working on that sequel if you really want it ! Hugs to you all !

~RedPandaPrincess