Hello, guys!
I am not dead (a surprise even to myself!) and I very much intend to keep my promise of finishing this story. Here is another bit. Sorry for the long waiting and enjoy the reading!

Dedicated to DanySant, the last person so far who somehow managed to find and started following this story.

CHAPTER 18

Hermione sat in the middle of the Muggle lab, surrounded by computers, cables and buttons to the point that she was nearly invisible - except her bushy hair that was sticking all around the monitor nearest to her.

Invisible in a Muggle lab.

Not that there would be any other working labs left in the world in the near future, Severus thought grimly. But at least there would be SOME left.

Contrary to his belief, Draco Malfoy indeed did as he had promised; or at least in the scope of sending sufficient (and colossal) amount of money to them so they could proceed with their plans.

And then the young man disappeared along with his family.

In fact, they hadn't seen him of heard from him from the minute he had left their quarters back at Hogwarts.

There was some medial fuss about the Malfoys selling all their property, allegedly moving away from the country, but nothing had been confirmed. Not even the Dark Lord knew what happened to one of his richest followers which resulted in some harsh investigations and a few dead bodies but no tangible answers.

Hopefully, the Dark Lord and his activities would be soon gone, along with all the magic in existence.

Is there some magic in the Space? Severus thought idly, watching one of the screens showing the Earth, slowly rotating and so radiant.

There must be.

Oh fuck, what if the Dark Lord put one of his Horcruxes on the Moon?!

Shit, this was not the time to think along those lines...

"Will it work?" he couldn't help asking, his voice hoarse, even as he knew it was must be highly annoying to Hermione right now.

There was a long silence.

"We will see," she answered finally, her tired eyes finding him over the rim of the monitor she was working at.

He saw pure exhaustion, insecurity but hope too in her almond shaped brown eyes. She was by far the most magical being he had ever met, the way she made him feel...

Fuck, what if that disappears too?

He slowly neared to her, needing her proximity in his highly unusual fit of doubting. She stood up from her chair and wrapped her hands around him, placing her cheek on his chest - a gesture so natural to them these days. Something sharp stung his heart.

"I might stop loving you after this," he confessed what was weighting on him the most.

She deserved to be loved by a normal man, not the cold-hearted bastard that he used to be.

She stared at him, confused, watching him for a hint of what was going on. Then slowly released her arms from around him, making him feel rather cold all of sudden.

"I thought we agreed on this, Severus, agreed this was the best plan possible. I know it's going to be hard for you, but still it's necessary. And you know I will do it, no matter what," she told him, remorseful but still determined. "Still, I understand, if you want to break up with me. Nothing will be like before and if you blame me for that..." she added a tad later, her eyes down and her tone rather devastated.

Oh no...

"That's not what I meant, Hermione," he corrected quickly, watching her blank look.

Maybe he should explain better, he probably wasn't making sense to her.

"Remember the night you stabbed me? With the silver knife?"

Her eyes narrowed at the unexpected topic.

"Sure. But I apologized, repeatedly. I thought we were over that, that you forgave me. I really am sorry, I didn't understand the situation and I-" she stammered, unsure about everything at the moment.

"I know all that and, indeed, I forgave you. But you don't know that you most likely cursed me during that event, unintentionally," he said, watching her getting even more confused.

Exhaling, he continued explaining his theories that he had never shared with her out of embarrassment.

"You were not magical at that time but the knife was. I suspect some blood magic based curse took place, aimed to fulfill your wish at that time. And I started feeling... attracted... to you after that incident," he confessed, fighting for his composure and neutral tone to not fail him.

She still stared at him, unblinking but obviously thinking hard.

Then she frowned.

"That's total rubbish, Severus. I never wanted you to get attracted to me at that time, quite the contrary. I wanted you to stay away from me, to-"

"To punish me, even if it meant sacrificing yourself," he interrupted her, not able to meet her stare any longer.

She nodded, confused and embarrassed.

"And that's exactly what it did to me. I longed for you for months, convinced I'll never stand a chance. Even having you nearby was nearly as torturous as keeping myself far from you. You did a great job," he praised her jokingly, hoping to alleviate the tension.

"That's not funny, Severus," she squashed his hope promptly, still frowning.

Fair enough. This whole conversation was not her plan and no one liked things not going according to plans. Still, he felt compelled to tell her and he wasn't sorry for being honest with her. So he just met her eyes again, waiting for her to come to a decision.

It took a while.

"So you think we are together because of a curse I allegedly placed on you?" she asked him to confirm.

He nodded.

"Yes. It was certainly the first step to... change me, to change the way I felt about you. I started seeing you in a completely different light afterwards," he admitted.

"True love cannot be created by a spell, Severus," she whispered the old saying after a moment of silence.

I know, he wanted to say but didn't. Everyone knew that. So he just spread his hands in a gesture of resignation.

"We will see," he repeated her earlier words back to her instead.

For some reason, Muggles always thought that launching a worldwide nuclear attack somehow necessarily involved pushing a big red button.

It didn't.

Instead, it took long minutes of typing passwords and safety codes to a huge computer, a lot of loading, confirming and waiting and a long minutes of monitoring and observing if all the data got safely to all the stations around the world.

When there was finally a big red exclamation mark all around the screens, she turned back to him, sadness and exhaustion mixed with worry written all over her face.

"It's time to go," she appealed to him even as it was clear she wanted him to stay.

It seemed neither of them could get what they wanted. Someone had to watch to make sure the Monster fell.

He nodded, looking her in the eye. Then approached her, cradling her face gently in his hands, and kissed her; both saying goodbye and promising with his kiss.

I will come back to you.

A short one, I admit. The next one will follow soon, though, I promise! Only two more to go.

Reviews are most welcome!

Love to you all,

AR