A/N: Hey, yeah, I know, not up to my humor standards in the last chapter, but it will come I swear! Warning: Suicide attempts, so be aware…

Chapter 14: Road Not Traveled

Draco Malfoy walked to the Divination classroom with great dread. What did she plan to do to him after he had kissed her? He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was not going to be a normal detention. He hoped it would end quickly so he could get away from her as fast as possible. It had spread around the school like wildfire that Draco had willingly kissed Trelawney and made out with her right in front of the class, which Draco denied. Rumors spread that they had made out and were just about to take off their clothes when the class yanked them apart. Some rumors said Draco had a major erection in class because of her. Others said Trelawney was secretly a stripper and did a performance for the class and Draco couldn't contain himself, or that they were rolling on the floor all over each other and rubbing and pushing each other in inappropriate ways. Ron made up half of them, who thought this would be the final stroke of revenge against Malfoy. The other half were made up and fantasized by disturbed fanfic readers.

As he climbed the spiral staircase to the tower and climbed the ladder to the trapdoor, his hands kept slipping because they were clammy and sweaty. He feebly reached up and knocked on the trapdoor. Silence. Then it opened suddenly and Sybil Trelawney's face looked down on him, a malicious and mischievous glint in her eye. Her hand snaked out and yanked Draco into the tower. Draco gave a screech of fright, as a ripping sound was heard followed by Malfoy's now torn shirt flutter from the closed trapdoor to the foot of the staircase. Draco's friends did not ever recall seeing him coming back before they went to bed at 11 o' clock curfew…

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Hermione's feet dangled in midair as she sat on the balcony one hundred feet above the ground. Thoughts raced in her mind like a dribbling poison threatening to consume her. I humiliated him; I am worthless, if I jump, no one will notice…But what if I don't die when I hit the ground? Maybe I'll just get sent to the hospital, I won't bother anyone there. She looked over the side; it was well past midnight, so it was pitch black, she couldn't see the ground. She looked at the paper and quill in her hands and began to write her goodbye letter to everyone, tears coursing down her cheeks.

Severus searched frantically through his private chambers for his knife he always kept for Death Eater meetings from the past. Finally he found it in its leather protector sheath. He withdrew the knife and stared at the gleaming blade. Soon all this will be over…He walked over to the window that overlooked one side of the castle. He could see the Gryffindor and Slytherin parts of the castle. Then he noticed a small shape on one of the lower balconies. Squinting harder, he looked closer at the hunched shape. Flashes of memories flickered through his mind rapidly as he thought in horror, 'Shit! Hermione!' and tore out of his chambers at a dead run for the grounds underneath the balcony, the knife lying forgotten on the floor where he dropped it, its previous gleam dulled.

Now standing on the rail of the balcony, Hermione snuck a glance down into the bleak darkness, which threatened to swallow her. Okay. I'm going to do it; just jump and everything will be fine. And she took what she thought would be her last deep breath of her life and jumped. Her body weighted by gravity plunged down quickly, but suddenly she was slowed in her fall by a wave of green light. She looked down. There was Severus Snape, her love, saving her, in what appeared to be his boxers. Despite everything, Hermione smiled. Sweat beaded down his forehead mixed with salty tears as he struggled to slow her fall. Goddammit, I'm not losing you! She was ten feet above him; his plan was to gently catch her. Suddenly his sweaty hand dropped his wand, and Hermione dropped the remainder and toppled right onto Snape.

Hermione remembered floating and then dropping and falling on something soft, pliable, and warm. Her hand came into contact with the bare flesh of Severus's chest. She groaned, she swore his elbow had jabbed her right in the stomach. Both had had the wind knocked out of them, but soon recovered. Severus sat up; Hermione was sprawled over his stomach, shaking. He gently turned her over to cradle her in his lap. She now cried, her sobs racking her sides as she clung to Severus. He stroked her hair in comfort, for he did not know what to say. He had almost killed himself, but had just in time seen the one person he cared for most attempting the same thing.

"Severus?" Hermione whispered, after her sobbing stopped, she hiccupped.

"Hermione, why did you want to leave this world?" He asked softly.

"I thought I had just humiliated you, ruined you, and that everyone else was just using me, and that nobody cared, not even my closest friends. I was scared, Severus. And when you didn't come to me, I assumed you thought I was worthless too." Severus stared at Hermione; so young and beautiful, why does she want to waste this life?

"Hermione, I did not think that. I was under my own depression, thinking I had completely ashamed you in front of your friends, leading you on a road not traveled. I thought I shouldn't be progressing this romance just to benefit my own deprived soul. Hermione, I wanted to kill myself too, I was just about to when I saw you sitting on the balcony. I suddenly wanted to live, to live so I could be with you and I did not want to lose you." Another tear graced his cheek. Hermione was quiet, staring silently at her Professor, Severus, whom she adored with all her heart. To hear him say this made her want to live a hundred years just to be with him. He gently wiped her tears with his robes; she wrapped her arms around him in a thankful embrace.

They sat on the wet grass in their quiet embrace, each thinking of what they had almost wasted. They could hear the gentle crickets singing their unique twittering song, the hoot of a curious owl, and the rustle of a mouse in the tall grass. Besides that everything was quiet, the school silent, and they seemed to be existing in their own world that they now wanted to desperately be apart of. Hermione had a future ahead of her; she brimmed with potential in her brilliance and talent, so could go very far in life. Severus was a surviving ex-Death Eater, well into his teaching career; he still had a prolonged and fulfilling life ahead of him. Of course, he had no doubt in his mind; this is the woman I am going to marry and spend the rest of my life with. He gently kissed her cheek.

"Hermione, I love you," his voice barely a whisper that blew past her ears and entered her mind to drive it to a screeching stop in her previous thoughts, she heard it, just barely.

"What?" she said, not believing her ears or her mind. Snape drew in a deep breath, he had never told anyone he loved them, not even once, and now she forced him to say it again. Of course he never had really loved anyone else.

"I love you," he repeated slowly and clearly looking into her eyes.

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do."

"I love you too, Severus." There. She'd said it. The man that was the shining beacon of her world now knew that she loved him. Severus, on the other hand, was shocked. He was half convinced she would not be mature or serious enough to pronounce such a claim to him, Severus Snape, her Potions Professor. Hermione suddenly smiled, her eyes now sparkled with laughter and happiness.

"What?"

"The only thing I'll remember about this night is me being saved by you in your boxers." Snape actually laughed, a deep-throated musical laugh that was slightly rusty from being out of practice. "Couldn't you have caught me in something a little more respectable? Why would you want to die in just your boxers?? You're daft, you know that?" Hermione was now laughing too, but Severus stopped her by closing his lips over hers in a passionate kiss. It was a short one, for they pulled apart to simply look at each other in a new light.

"Severus, will you love me always?"

"That's a stupid and irrelevant question."

"Will you still answer it though?" Severus sighed; she would not shut up unless he answered her complicated question.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno. Maybe you'll find someone your age, more mature, more beautiful, from a wealthy family, a Pureblood." That last word hit him hard; he did not want to drag that into their relationship.

"You are beautiful, and I don't care if you're not wealthy, and not being a Pureblood doesn't matter to me."

"Did it use to?" Memories of his childhood and years at Hogwarts popped up in his mind, he could not believe he had been so prejudiced, but then, with his manipulative father and his teachings, he'd grown up convinced all Muggle-borns were scum, dirt beneath his feet. But being with Hermione, knowing Hermione, loving Hermione, had changed all that.
"Maybe. Possibly. It was what my father and mother expected of me when I was younger." Hermione kissed his neck gently.

"Why don't we get inside, I'm freezing and all wet," Hermione suggested, shivering against Severus.

"Uh, sure." And they walked back to the castle. Hermione would have liked Severus to hold her hand, or put his arm around her, but she knew he was a subtle man, not given to such unnecessary body contact and pointless things as that. She didn't mind, it only made her respect him more. And so she followed her beloved Potions Master back into the castle, happy that he had saved her, that they had saved each other, and all her doubts were vanquished after hearing the simple phrase 'I love you.'

A/N: Okay, major reviews here! I want my inbox to explode from all the reviews. Is it not what you asked? I had originally wanted HP to save SS and RW to save HG, and for them to patch up their relationships and in another chapter have HG and SS get back together. However, you eager and impatient fanfic reviewers wanted more humor and wanted it them back together sooner than that, so this is what I give you. REVIEW!!!! Barks the insane happy furry black doggie as she bounds off in search of the doggie treats (reviews) that she lives on!