Chapter 6: Hermione's Return

The celebrations at Hogwarts went on for days, and Dumbledore was so thrilled that he canceled finals—surprise, surprise. He might as well have canceled the last fortnight of classes, too, because no one learned anything except how to party with the best of them. The teachers had hour-long parties, then dismissed students to move on to the next party.

The last Hogsmeade Saturday of the term, Harry and Snape sat in the Three Broomsticks, talking and laughing over mugs of butterbeer, when a timid shadow crossed their table. They looked up to find a woman with frizzed hair who appeared to be about Snape's age. Harry thought she looked somehow familiar, but Snape obviously recognized her; he paled and went very still.

"H-hello," the woman managed, and Harry at least knew her voice.

"Professor Trelawney?" he said. "Is that you?"

Snape stared at him as if he was crazy, but the woman nodded. "That's the name I've been using," she admitted. Harry saw tears forming in her hazel eyes, which looked impossibly small without her glasses.

"You've been…at the school…this whole time?" Snape breathed. "And I never knew…"

"I'll bet the reader did," Harry grumbled, thinking evil thoughts about fanfiction in general.

"I couldn't bear to be away from you," Trelawney said earnestly, ignoring Harry. "But I knew you wouldn't have me back. And why should you?" She looked down. "I've been a terrible fool. It's taken weeks of sessions with Dr. Phil for me to see that, but it's true. I can admit it now, and move on."

Harry blinked rapidly and looked from one to the other. "Dad, you're not saying this is…Mum?"

Snape swallowed very hard, but nodded. "Harry, this is your mother," he answered. "Hermione Snape."

"Hermione?!" Harry stared at her, but he saw that, if one ignored about two decades' worth of age, worries, and all-out battiness, she looked exactly like the friend who had gone missing two months before.

"I'm afraid so," she said. "Not at all what you expected, is it?" She sighed. "Well, it's not your fault; you were in the hospital wing during Chapter 2, so you missed the vital clues."

Harry had learned enough about Snape's past in their family counseling sessions to know that this was probably going to be an unpleasant reunion. He gulped and looked from one to the other again, waiting for someone to speak and all Hell to break loose.

"So," Snape began, after an awkward silence. "Do you want to come home?"

Hermione looked up quickly, her face alight. "Really?"

Snape looked to Harry, who nodded energetically. "Really," he affirmed. "It's a time for new beginnings, after all."

Hermione smiled, then reached over and hugged both of them. "I'm just so happy I could explode!" she squealed.

Her words jogged a memory in Harry's mind. "That reminds me," he said. "Dad, why did Voldemort call me Herman?"

Snape smiled wanly. "Not one of my brighter ideas," he muttered. "I wanted to name you after your mother, so that was the name on your birth certificate. I like the name the Potters gave you better, though, so if you don't mind, we'll just leave it at Harry."

"I don't mind," Harry replied, and because the writer had no intention of plugging the plot hole just exposed by the conversation, he didn't ask how the hell Voldemort had known the original name of Snape's son.

They left the Three Broomsticks arm in arm, singing in perfect three-part harmony:

Together at last.
Together forever.
We're tying a knot
That no one can sever.
I don't need sunshine now
To turn my skies to blue.
I don't need anyone but you!

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Many apologies to all of you out there who, like me, hate the musical Annie. I couldn't find a more appropriate cheesy song to close with. My beta-reader approved; my writing collaborator may well hunt me down and kill me. Oh, well!

PS The story continues in "The Dark Badger Is Rising", which is now posting. AE