"How are we going to stop you from getting killed by Nagini?" She asked gently as he embraced her in his office later that night. Time wasn't on their side, and she didn't have a single idea on how to get him out of this predicament.

"Just leave it with me," Severus pushed, trying to convince Hermione to drop the issue. "It will be fine. I have an idea. Trust me."

"I can't just trust you because you tell me to, Severus. I need to know whatever this is, whatever it is you choose to go ahead with, will ensure your survival. I can't live without you again," her voice cracked as she talked. Pulling out of his embrace, she looked at him with utter fear etched into every line of her face.

"Hermione. Believe me when I say I have an idea. You just need to relax. I know you need to be at the head of every plan, and it drives you crazy not being in control, but right now I need you to relax. And after all, if it doesn't work you can just turn back time and try again."

"Yes, but I don't want to have to try again and again. At what stage do I give up and go on living my life without you? At what stage do I have to admit to myself that my child won't have a father in their life as they grow up?"

He took her hands in his own and held them gently. "Hermione. I don't want you to spend your life coming back and trying to rewrite what went wrong. To do the same thing over and over without change is insanity. If you can't save me, then so be it. Try once more and leave it at that. Everything happens for a reason, but you need to trust me on this."

She sighed, defeated. "Fine. This once I will let you take control of the situation. I do trust you and I have for a while now. I know that whatever you do, it wouldn't be to intentionally hurt me."

Dropping her hands, he gently pushed a piece of stray hair out of her face with an affection that made her heart skip a beat. "I have to go now. Please do nothing stupid."

"I won't," she promised.

o-o-o-o-o

Once, twice, thrice. She watched as Nagini attacked Severus for the second time and despite seeing this before; it was just as raw and heartbreaking the second time around as it was the first.

"You promised me!" She ran to Severus, skidding along the ground on her knees as she stopped beside him. "You promised me you had it under control." She sobbed heavily into his robes as she clung to him like he was her lifeblood.

"Go back. Trust me. Go back," his voice softer than a gentle breeze on a summer's day.

Hermione forced herself to stand, needing to get back to the room where she had petrified herself and went back in time. She began running as fast as she could, hot tears streaming down her face. Her lungs burning the more she ran as she gasped desperately for air. She was not a runner, never had been and never would be, but she needed to get back. She needed to get back undetected while everyone was preoccupied. Everything was a blur as she ran. Her legs felt like they were about to fall off and her lungs were about to collapse, but she had made it back. Slamming the door shut hard behind her, she stood with her back to the door, panting. Each breath felt like salvation to her as her heart tried to beat out of her chest.

Deep, calming breaths, she brought both her heart rate and her breathing down exponentially. Swiping the hot tears off her face with the palms of her hands, she walked over to herself and sat down. "Well. At least you don't know the pain you are about to go through yet," she spoke sadly to herself.

Grasping the time turner in one hand, and her wand in the other, she used a counterspell to bring her petrified self back around. Like lightning, she pocketed her wand and spun the time turner three times just enough to see the petrified Hermione rouse.

The world went forwards in record speed, and all she could do was sit and catch glimpses of what was going on around her before it all ground to a halt. She stopped and listened, straining to hear if anyone was outside of the door.

Breathing heavily and dragging herself to her feet, and tip-toed over to the door and cracked it. Not a soul in sight, so she could only assume she was back to where she was meant to be.

Stepping out into the hallway, she shuddered harshly, still feeling as if she were being watched from the shadows. Stopping on the spot, she spun purposefully on her heel, hoping to glimpse anyone or anything may have been following, but there was nothing.

Hesitantly, but quickly, she walked with haste down the stairs and out of the castle doors, shivering and feeling slightly relieved as the hairs all over her body stood on end. She looked down at the ground and shoving her hands in her pockets. Something still felt off with every step that she took away from the castle, and she was becoming more aware of someone watching her as she walked. Striding out and walking quicker, she couldn't shake the feeling as a shiver ran down the length of her spine. She stopped and willed herself to turn around and, once again, there was no one there.

She shook her head, obviously the anguish of losing Severus a second time was weighing heavily on her psyche and causing her to hallucinate. Keeping up the brisk pace, she still couldn't push the feeling away that someone was following her, but it was obvious they weren't because she had stopped to check multiple times. She concluded she was going crazy, and she needed to get out of here.

She neared the front gates; the giant twisted pieces of iron welcoming to her. Once she exited those, she could get out of here and hopefully away from the dreadful feeling that she was about to be abducted by an evil that she couldn't see and she wondered if it was possible for the soul either fully or partially of Voldemort to be haunting the grounds of Hogwarts, destined to walk the halls aimlessly for the rest of eternity and that is who she felt watching her.

Pushing the heavy gates open fast, she stepped out but felt herself being pulled back. A hand snaking around her waist and one across her mouth. She felt her back collide with a very real human body as they held her tightly against them.

"Shhhh," their voice eerily calming to her although she was currently being held against her will. "We need to go."

She felt the pull of apparition and landed heavily against the person who was holding her. She blinked fast, taking in her surroundings. Standing in a garden surrounded by a stone wall and further out, green rolling hills. A white birdbath sat in the middle of the yard, and a mature apple tree off to the left. The grass was neat and manicured, adorned by garden beds full of pansies and tulips. To say it confused her was an understatement because if someone had abducted her to torture or worse, then surely they would have chosen a less picturesque place out of the sight of prying eyes.

Glacially, the hand across her mouth dropped and the one firmly around her waist loosened, but never let her go. Spinning around to see who had ambushed her, she gasped and let out a strangled sob. Knees growing weak, they almost buckled beneath her.

He caught her in his arms and held her tightly against him. Inhaling the intoxicating scent of her hair, he placed a single chaste kiss on her head, holding her as if she was the single thing keeping his heart beating right now.

"Severus," she sobbed against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered to her before extending her out to arm's length and looking her up and down.

"How?" she questioned. "I watched you die. Twice." She added. "And now you are here like nothing has happened."

"I never really died," he began. "I'll explain," he added after he watched the confusion cross her features with gusto. "I couldn't tell you any of this because it would have jeopardised my plan if a single soul had known."

He led her over to a bench seat under the apple tree and gestured for her to sit. Once she did, he began pacing as he tried to form the right words in his head. "I knew that at some stage during the last battle that my life would in some capacity be in jeopardy. I knew Voldemort didn't care who he killed on his way to greatness, and I felt like I was becoming a liability rather than an asset to him." He stopped talking, waiting for the start of his story to sink in.

"Go on," she pressed.

"Years ago, I found a book of ancient Magic that told a person how to create a mud Golem and insert part of their soul within in, so it was technically a carbon copy. The sliver of soul was so small it was hardly noticeable, but it would, in essence, be a clone of myself. Once the soul transferred to the Golem, he took on my human form and animated. I knew it could take the collateral damage and I could escape without a second thought. Once I left my office that night after seeing you, I enacted my plan. My Golem took my place and took the attack from Nagini. I left during the battle undetected."

"And you didn't tell me?" Her voice was a venomous hiss as eyes narrowed evilly at him. "I mourned for you! It broke my heart into a million tiny pieces, and I fell into a state of depression, and you were alive and hiding the entire time?"

"Hermione," he tried to level. Holding his hands up defensively.

"If I had told you, and Voldemort got his hands on you, you may have let slip and then I wouldn't have been able to come back and save you should the need have arisen."

"And what was this bullshit time heals all would," she spat, sarcastically, pulling the time turner from around her neck and throwing it at him.

"Well. I needed you to believe I was dead. I knew that if I survived, eventually there would be warrants out for my arrest and I would be rounded up and shipped to Azkaban after a very biased, one-sided trial. I laid low and bided my time, and I knew eventually you would go back to Hogwarts to go back in time."

"So you were the one following me throughout Hogwarts?"

"Yes. But only because I was keeping an eye out should anyone or anything untoward happen."

"Well, what was the point of you letting me get as far as travelling back in time if you knew it would change nothing?"

"Because on another timeline it had already happened. If I had prevented you from going back, then another timeline may have collapsed and everything would have changed again. Time travel is fickle, Hermione. You know yourself the time Lupin turned into a werewolf and was hunting us down, Harry had produced his own Patronus to save himself. If you and Potter hadn't had gone back in time, then the Patronus wouldn't have been conjured and Potter could have possibly died early."

"I…I think I understand. If I didn't go back, then the entire battle could have unfolded differently."

"Exactly."

"Well." She stood up. "I'm still angry with you, Severus. Three bloody months I mourned for you."

"I'm sorry about that." He cupped her chin with his hand and gently angled her head. Eyes locked in an instant, she couldn't help but have all the anger she felt for him melt away. Leaning in to kiss her, she stopped him.

"Severus, wait. I need to tell you something. I've already told the past you but not the present you."

"I'm listening," he murmured. Hovering halfway between kissing her and pulling away.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered.

He cocked his head to the side in slight confusion. "Whose?" That was all he could muster up.

"Yours…" she trailed off, looking at him, puzzled.

His expression softened a touch, and he leant in to kiss her.

Lips meeting, she closed her eyes tightly, relishing in the caress of his lips upon her own, and she melted slightly against him.

He pulled away. "I'm not sure what to say, Hermione. I never planned to continue the Snape line, so this is a surprise."

"An unwanted surprise?" She asked bitterly.

"No. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't have let you use the time turner if I had have known you were carrying my child. Travelling through time is highly unchartered territory for an average adult, but an unborn child travelling through time is unheard of."

"I know. But I wasn't sure what else to do, Severus. My friends all loathe me because I was in a relationship with you. I have no family and I felt as if I were a wayward piece in a wrong puzzle. I didn't fit anywhere, and I had no one. Some days I feel as if you are the only person who doesn't hate me."

"Hermione, I could never hate you. You've shown me a love that I could only have imagined and now you are carrying my child. Our child. A child I had never even dreamt would come into my world because I never felt the worthiness of being a father." His hand moved to her cheek and rested upon the warm smoothness of her skin. He'd never tire of touching her. He'd never tire of having her in his life.

She inhaled sharply, eyes closing as his hand grazed her cheek. Small tears pricked the corners of her eyes at the pouring of his heart and she wondered how a man so selfless could have been so hurt throughout his life. Played throughout his life as little more than a pawn in other people's games.

"Where do we go from here?" Voice an eerie whisper, full of uncertainty.

"Well. That's up to you. You can live here with me knowing that one day in the future that the Aurors may descend on us and drag me away if anyone ever learns the truth, or we can part ways. I will still be around for my child, don't think for one second I wouldn't be there for them."

The truth was, he was scared. Petrified, in fact. He didn't want her to choose to walk away even though he knew if she chose that, it would probably be for the better. He wanted to be around to see their child grow. He wanted to spend the rest of his life, or what was left of it, as a free man with Hermione.

Hermione sat and watched as his face fell in deep thought and she wondered if she could leave him behind even if she wanted to. Obviously, she wanted to be with him and she didn't care at what cost. His pain was also her burden to bear and she wouldn't just up and leave on the off chance and the what if's the ministry came knocking?

"How will they know you are alive? You were buried, or we buried your decoy with your wand, so they can't trace that. And they don't track apparition so you are fine there. If we need to go out, we can utilise glamours or Polyjuice potion but believe me, as far as everyone is aware, you are cold and buried in your grave and very much dead."

His face brightened a little and the smallest of smiles flittered across his face. "I bought this house months ago and put it in your name. I knew if I did actually die, I wanted you to be taken care of and need not worry about where you could stay. At the time I never envisioned you would be pregnant, but it is plenty big enough for a growing family."

"And exactly where are we?" she asked, a smile beaming across her face.

"About twenty kilometres from Hogwarts as the crow flies."

"So we are in Scotland?"

"Yes," He confirmed. "Now. Let me give you a tour."

A/N: We aren't long off finishing this story. Maybe one or two more chapters.