A/N: This chapter had a lot of rewrites (no, it's not *that* kind of scene! Calm down) so if you think it could have been better let me know with the handy button below and I'll probably agree!

Catsrule_Dogsdrool – Look m'dear, if I put you in the story you would end up chasing Snape around Hogwarts! grin

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Jasey – You can stop biting nails now, OK? grin

Natalie & Phaya – The reason there was a delay in updates was that I had been on holiday for a few weeks, I hadn't abandoned the story. I will try to update at least once a week…

Other Nice Reviewers – Thank you!

Part 7

Outside in the corridor Severus tried to compose himself as he strode away from the office. How the other Slytherins would laugh to see him like this. He could prefer to feel empty inside rather than experience this turmoil…if this was what being in love was like, he wanted none of it!

[I love her!] he thought numbly. He wanted to hide in his dungeon rooms. But on the other hand he felt like performing that absurd spell he had always mocked before where you made red rose petals shower down upon your beloved from a little sparkly cloud that appeared over their head.

But he had an image of the expression on Hermione's face if he cast that spell – shock, and revulsion.

[Face it!] his mind sneered. [Would she love an ex-Death Eater?] Albus *had* to be mistaken about Hermione being fond of him – there was nothing in her manner really, to suggest this. He frowned, remembering the way she had smiled at him this morning, as if she liked him. Also, last night there had seemed to be something in the way she had stared up at him..

He silently sneered at himself again. Now he was grasping at straws! He shook his head impatiently. He had to stop thinking like this – and of her before he went insane. It was time to do something constructive, like checking out this infernal mirror before he went to the library. He would take care of course not to look into the mirror directly – the state he was in, he'd probably see himself and Hermione! He tried to sneer but for once it faltered and he scowled instead, brushing aside a strand of his black hair.

He grimly set his mind upon the matter of the mirror. If he had had a galleon for every deluded student he had pulled away from it, he could probably set up his own bank (and set high fees of course).

He headed to where the Mirror of Erised was housed, and on arriving he smiled grimly as he paused before the closed door. A strong Deflector spell had been cast upon the door to keep people away as a soothing voice had started whispering at a near subliminal level in his mind that there was nothing of interest in the room, that there were more important things to occupy his time.

Yes, like ignore that spell, Severus thought irritably as he opened the door and walked into the room, slamming the door behind him. Really, he could have crafted the Deflector spell with more finesse in his sleep if he had been asked.

He approached the mirror that dominated the room, but not to be close enough to active its Hearts Desire spell. When the mirror had resided here in previous years he had never bothered to activate its spell. There was no point. After all, his greatest wish was to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher – and as he wouldn't wear a different style of robes if and when he achieved this – the mirror would merely show him as he looked now.

Severus eyed the mirror in distaste, disliking as always its over-the-top gold frame. To the eye of an amateur wizard it would seem to be an ordinary mirror. But to an older, experienced wizard like himself it seemed to shimmer with power – though at the moment there seemed to be a subtle 'wrongness' about it….it reminded him of…

"You have arrived at last, Snape. Excellent…" a malevolent but familiar voice hissed from the mirror.

The Potions teacher face became a shade paler (if that was possible) but he inclined his head stiffly. "Master" he said, trying not to sound too surprised. "How may I serve you, Voldemort?"

The mirror was silent, then the voice hissed "come closer to the mirror, Snape."

His mind was racing with questions, not the least of how had Voldemort found his way into the realm beyond the mirror. It was long thought to be a myth! Severus found himself remembering his nightmares and he suddenly realised that the dark presence in them had been Voldemort. But why hadn't he, the Head of Slytherin figured that out before?

"Master, surely you have no wish to see my…unworthy desires revealed in the Mirror of Erised when I obey your command?" he murmured.

"On the contrary!" Voldemort's voice snapped. "On my recent return from…business I discovered that many of my Death Eaters had been…disloyal. They will not make that mistake again!" His tone implied that they would not be breathing again, either.

The voice continued. "The only Death Eater left to prove his loyalty to me to my satisfaction is you, Snape. Since this accursed school has strengthened its protective spells I could not send a message to you in my usual way. Communicating with you through dreams proved….disheartening. Fortunately it was simplicity itself to enter the Mirror of Erised, create a few 'incidents' so that fool Dumbledore would bring the mirror back to Hogwarts. It was only a matter of time before you arrived – and I could see where your loyalties lie."

The eyes of Severus were icy. "You doubt my loyalty?" he demanded, seeking to buy time.

Voldemort's voice laughed mockingly. "I will always doubt loyalty, and my servants must always be tested. But I am not one of your students to be spoken thus – in this class I am the teacher and you will obey!"

An invisible force suddenly grabbed Severus by his neck and dragging him closer to the mirror shoved him to his knees before it released him. He fell heavily to his knees on the stone floor, his black robes billowing around him as he did so. Severus gasped for air, his breath having been knocked from him and he reached for his wand in a pocket in his robes. However, his wand was flung away from him, and it clattered on the floor.

Severus rarely allowed himself to feel fear, but at the moment he could feel cold sweat pooling on his neck. However, he glared at the mirror in cold defiance as he sensed the Hearts Desire spell activating.

The mirrors surface shimmered for a second then revealed a vision of himself standing in his usual black robes, no visible difference in appearance at all except for an amused smile on his face. Certainly it was not a vision that Voldemort could judge as 'disloyalty'.

But then…an image of an older, yet still beautiful Hermione Granger in dark blue velvet robes appeared beside the mirror image of himself, smiling wryly and holding the hand of a little girl with black hair and inquisitive dark eyes, who clutched a toy wand in a tiny, grubby hand.

Hermione and her..no, their, daughter, Severus thought in stunned amazement, briefly forgetting his discomfort. He had never consciously thought about having a heir, but now, for some wild, hopeful moment he found himself wishing for a future in which this could come to pass.

The vision abruptly vanished and the invisible force grasped his throat again while Voldemort's voice laughed derisively.

"So! The Master of Slytherin is nothing but a sentimental fool at heart who puts family dreams above a loyal position at my side. Still, I have to admire your choice of women, Snape. Do you enjoy bedding her, hmm? Perhaps she is worthy enough to even bear my heir…"

At those words Severus was filled with a furious rage at the thought of Voldemort laying even a single finger on Hermione. There had to be a way out of this situation. It was intolerable that he should be…humiliated this way but it was to no avail – his vision was starting to go hazy, his wand was out of reach and none of the counter spells he was mentally invoking were working. His mental call to Albus was being blocked, also.

There was laughter from the mirror. "It's time to show you the fate of those disloyal to me!"

To the alarm of Severus he was dragged towards the mirror that was starting to shimmer again (but this time there was a sickly green tinge to it) and he struggled furiously in an effort to escape. Suddenly memory of the remark of Albus about some 'bond of light' popped into his mind. Was it true? Would Hermione somehow be able to hear him if he called, or would Voldemort block that as well?

By now he was right in front of the mirror – and was being dragged through it as if the glass was nothing but mist. As his world turned black he silently called her name in un-Snape like desperation, before he knew no more.

A/N: No, I won't leave the story there. With a cliff hanger like that, it would be too cruel! I found this chapter hard at times to write, and hopefully I didn't mess up the characterisation….