Chapter One

The pain was unbearable, like a thousand tiny knives stabbing at his throat. Severus Snape lay on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, waiting for the moment he knew it would be safe to move. He had to wait for the right moment so he wouldn't do damage to himself. The blood was pooling around his head and he knew if he left it too long he would be too weak to help Potter in his quest to destroy the Dark Lord.

Another thing he worried about, did Potter believe the memories he had given him? What did he think of the secret that Severus had revealed? Would he return to kill Severus, believing him to be a threat. Severus had no answers to these questions, answers that he desperately needed. Severus despised the fact that he was out-casted for doing something an old dying friend had asked of him and it tore him apart that because of it he would forever be away from his love. He had prayed that his love would give him a chance to prove that taking a chance with him would be worth while. But all hope was dashed when Albus asked him the big important question. Will you kill me? Severus had been torn, his mentor, a man he thought of as a father had asked him to kill him. What could he say, he had pleaded with Albus to not put this weight on his shoulders but Severus finally agreed, feeling his heart shred into ribbons.

Severus shook his head to rid the horrific thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on past mistakes, now was the time for action. He picked himself up off the floor slowly, knowing that if he moved to fast he would pass out from the blood loss. He braced himself against the wall, impatiently waiting for the white dots to fade from his sight. He hated being so weak, barely able to move, he had never felt so horrible in his life, or 'un-life' as some would call it. Severus smirked at that thought, some people were so idiotic it was laughable. Chuckling softly to himself he slowly moved to the stairs leading to the entrance of the Whomping Willow. As he stood outside the historic tree, he thought of his love. The separation was slowly eating away at him, he knew he would not last longer without contact but he also knew that contact with his love was next to impossible. He groaned as pain shot through his neck, he needed to replace the blood he had lost before he went into battle.

He slowly walked toward the castle, sniffing the air for enemies. He caught the scent of one of his fellow Death Eaters inside the castle and smiled, the thought of draining the man dry pleasing him greatly, serves the bastard right. Walking in the shadows Severus cast a quick glamour on himself to make himself look like a student. Looking around, he adjusted his Gryffindor uniform with a scowl, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself by wearing a Slytherin uniform, so he knew he had no choice. When he was sure that the enemy was no where near, he made a dash for the Entrance door, quickly and quietly he slipped inside. The sight that greeted him was enough to make his already cold blood freeze. The walls were falling apart, rubble scattered on the floor, doors ripped from their hinges and blood covering the floor.

Grimacing at the screams that greeted his ears Severus quickly dashed to the staircase, knowing instinctively that Potter was in Dumbledore's office where the only known pensieve was. But he stopped short at a sudden stench that curled his toes, Crabbe and Goyle Sn were nearby. Following the scent he was shocked to find Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood fighting for their lives against the mad Death Eaters. Thankful that his glamour was in place he snuck up to his ex-comrades from behind and quickly stunned them both, relieved to watch them both fall. Standing straight he looked at Longbottom and Lovegood, grateful to find them both with few injuries. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he brushed off his robes and nodded to them both before walking away.

As he was running up the stair he heard the footsteps behind him, he quickly turned, drawing his wand on his would be attacker, only to find Longbottom and Lovegood staring at him in fright.

"Who are you? I've never seen you in Gryffindor Tower before," Longbottom asked.

Severus, unsure how to reply, stuttered for a moment before scowling.

"It doesn't matter who I am, you should just be grateful that I was in the right place at the right time."

With that he ran up the stairs ignoring the footsteps that signaled that they had both followed him again. Grumbling under his breath he kept running, turning a corner sharply unaware that he was about to collide with someone. The moment afterwards he found himself lying on the ground covered by one Hermione Granger. The loss of concentration caused him to lose the hold on the glamour, instantly Granger gasped as she seen who it was she bumped into. She stood quickly, drawing her wand and pointing it at him.

"How? We saw you die, how are you here? Your dead!" she yelled.

Severus grimaced as he stood, feeling the pain return to his neck, he had forgotten to feed again. Something he needed to rectify and quickly, Granger had a gash on her forehead and the smell of her blood was making him hungry.

"Ms. Granger I would appreciate it if you didn't shout, I've enough pain to deal with at the moment," Severus replied as he watched a drop of blood trickle down her face dripping gently off her chin, he licked his lips unconsciously.

At that moment Ron Weasley came running around the corner. "Hermione slow..." He stopped suddenly when he seen who was with her, his wand pointed at Snape instantly.

"Someone please explain to me what the hell is going on!" Neville said suddenly.

"Nev, Professor Snape here was killed by Voldemorts snake Nagini, we saw it. But yet he's standing right here in front of us as fresh as a daisy," Ron told Neville.

Luna looked around suddenly.

"Not meaning to cut the conversation short but we've got company," she said.

Severus turned and sniffed the air.

"It seems Ms. Lovegood is correct. If we don't leave then we'll have to fight off at least five Death Eaters," he told them.

Ron snatched Severus' wand while his back was turned. With a smug smile he pointed both wands at him.

"Start walking murderer."

Severus was startled by the tone of his loves voice. He turned quickly and looked at him, seeing the hatred in Ron's eyes his hopes of reaching the boys heart were shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. He never felt so heartbroken before, he had known that Ron hated him with a passion, but to actually see it in his eyes, Severus gave up the hope he held in his heart. There was no point in trying to convince him, at this point in time, Severus knew that Ron would not be caught dead with 'the greasy git' as his love.

Crestfallen and without hope, Severus walked as his love had order, recalling the day he had realised that his hatred for the handsome red head had turned to love.

(Flashback)

Severus sat at the head table with his colleagues, talking quietly with Sprout, his latest potion had exploded for some unknown reason and he was in need of new supplies, something only Sprout could provide, he was finally getting down to what he needed when he heard the argument, his head snapped up when he at raised voices, just to see Weasley and Draco argue for some unknown reason. He sighed quietly and stood, making his way around the table, he went in the direction of the argument along with McGonagall who marched towards Weasley with a deep scowl on her face. Severus smirked, that woman's scowl was almost as good as his own and it made the smartest Gryffindor re-think their actions. He almost pitied Weasley, almost but not quite, the boy deserved whatever she threw at him.

Putting his favorite, your in big trouble, expression on his face he stopped in front of Draco, facing Weasley and froze. The boy's eyes were glittering with unshed tears, at that moment Severus knew that Draco had gone too far in this argument, Weasley never cried, not even when his little sister was taken to the Chamber of Secrets by mad Tom Riddle, or the projected sixteen year old version of him anyway. He swung around and sneered at Draco, letting the boy know that he was not pleased with his actions. Grabbing Draco by the arm, he turned towards the door but not before looking at Weasley once more, the boy looked like his heart had been ripped out, and for an instant, Severus' heart cried out to comfort the boy. Shaking such stupid notions from his mind he dragged Draco down to his office.

"I will say this once, and only once Draconus Malfoy. You better have a good reason as to why you had that boy reduced to tears!" he said as he slammed the door closed, giving them a small amount of privacy.

Draco huffed and crossed his arms, keeping silent. Severus knew he hated hearing his full given name, but Draco knew by now that it was only used in serious matters, such as this one. Severus was prepared to wait, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the tension he sat at his desk making himself comfortable.

After finally getting the issue sorted and arranging for Draco to make a full apology to Weasley, Severus sat in his private quarters with a glass of thick red liquid, from a far it would be mistaken for red wine, but up close you would instantly know what it was. Letting his eyes drift closed, Severus allowed his mind to go over the details of the argument. What Draco had said to Weasley had been cruel and un-called for. So along with two weeks of detention with him, Draco will have to publicly apology to Weasley in their next Potions class where Severus can witness the event. Severus thought of the look that had haunted Weasley's eyes, a look of horror and disgust. He had never seen such a look cross any of the Weasley's faces before and he knew that it wasn't over, both himself and McGonagall had agreed that both Draco and Weasley would be watched at all times, hopefully preventing an attack.

Thinking of the tears that had been wanting to fall from Weasleys eyes Severus shudder after a sudden urge to go and comfort the boy. It was idiotic, why would he Severus Snape, the greasy git, want to comfort one of his most hated students? When no answer came to his mind Severus gave up trying to understand it and went to bed.

Hours later, inside the bedroom of Hogwarts most hated Potions Professor, said Professor was suffering by what seemed like a nightmare. Some would say such an occurrence was normal, after all the man was a spy, and Death Eater, who knows what kind of horrors the man has seen.

Bolting up in the bed Severus blinked trying to clear his mind, never had he had such a dream, and for a moment he felt deeply confused. A moment later he let out a howl of frustration, no this could not be happening to him. Severus looked around trying to get his thoughts together.

He had found his mate, granted it was later than normal but an exception could be made. He shuddered, why oh why would the gods do this to him? Hasn't he got enough shit on his shoulders? Not only that but WEASLEY? Merlin's balls what had he done to anger them so?

Severus sighed, it was useless trying to ignore it, the more he thought of the fiery red head the more his heart swelled with joy and love. Just what he needed, falling in love with a teenager, a teenager who had his sights set on one bushy haired witch called Granger. It was going to be torture seeing him everyday and not being able to touch him. Maybe he'll go out of his mind before he has a chance to do anything rash like throw himself at the boy.

Lying back down he admitted to himself that there was nothing he could do to change it, the gods had decided, and no one but no one went against the gods. Thinking of the last person, so to speak, that had done just that had Severus shuddering uncontrollably.

Accepting his fate he smiled into the darkness and silently thanked the gods for their gift, the chance to be happy after a long miserable life.

(End Flashback)

Severus had known at the time that it would be difficult to convince the angry teen that they were destined to be together but he had never thought that it would ruin his life as it has.

Walking into an empty out of the way classroom at wand point, he turned and sneered at the students.

"We are wasting precious time, I must find Mr. Potter, so why don't you just tell me where he is and I'll be on my way."

Ron pointed Severus' wand at him. "Not so fast, I'm not letting you any where near Harry."

Hermione watched them with a frown on her face. "How did you survive those bites? You died after you gave Harry the memories, so how did you survive?"

Severus sneered, thinking that it wouldn't take her long to figure out what was right in front of her, she was after all, a nosy little know-it-all.

"I wasn't dead, so to speak, I was resting, allowing myself to heal," he growled with a smirk, she had no idea.

Hermione stared at him, she knew he was dead, he hadn't been breathing and he hadn't responded when Harry had shook him. Yet, she just couldn't figure out how he was here, right now. A mystery that she would soon uncover, or her name was not Hermione Jane Granger