Disclaimer is the same as before with the addition of the song belonging to Kasey Chambers.

Dragonero- Thanks for your review! Because you were my very first review, I dedicate this chapter to you.

Flames, if for some reason I get any, will be used to toast marshmallows. I do absolutely adore reviews, feel free to leave me plenty of those!

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Hermione was dreaming one of those dreams again. She was in the burrow, just before things had gotten too bad. Ginny was singing the song she always did in the dream and dancing about with Hermione as they prepared for the wedding. She was so alive, so energetic. Her happiness nearly got through to Hermione, who had been a bit depressed since discovering that Healers could only do so much and that they couldn't save half the people that were brought back to them at the camps. It was just the beginning, Hermione knew, and it was bad enough for her to actually give up on being a Healer professionally. She wasn't even sure that there were going to be any professions or any world left when this was all over with, she was honestly unsure there'd be future between quitting at something for the first time in her life and this seemingly ceaseless war. She had given up on those that gave up on people and settled for a certification in rudimentary Healing.

Ginny knew Hermione was in a rut, but she kept singing and dancing with her. She knew that her friend would be happy someday, hopefully soon, and that it was no good to let her be so sullen. Hermione made a small smile and Ginny cracked a grin, there was hope yet. They pranced about the room and ended up having a pillow fight which resulted in Hermione having to rework Ginny's hair into it's beautiful wedding up-do. She helped Ginny into her wedding robes and she slipped on her own light blue dress robes and they proceeded to the de-gnomed garden for the ceremony. If it weren't for all the fancy clothes, Hermione would have figured this to be a memory of any time before the wedding. On the way down the winding staircase, Ginny turned to Hermione with her face flushed.

"Hermione," Ginny said quietly, as though not to be overheard, "If I ever have a daughter. I want her to be just like you." Hermione smiled and was about to say something but Ginny continued on. "I know that you'll think me ridiculous, but. . . if I ever do have that baby that I want so badly, and something -you know- happens," Ginny stopped speaking suddenly and searched for something within her friend's eyes. Finding whatever she had been looking for, she continued on again, "Well, I just wanted to know if you would take care of my babies. You're like my sister -and we did that whole muggle blood sister thing- and you're the only person I can ever see raising my babies along with me besides Neville or Mum. But, well, I just figured that if something were to happen to me that Mum wouldn't just sit around and take it she'd go berserk and do something stupid. Well, even if she is around I want it to be you- as long as it's okay with you."

"Gin, don't you think you're being a little bit pessimistic right before your wedding?" Hermione said to her friend. She took Ginny's hand in her own and said, "I swear on my own heart, Ginevra Molly Weasley, that if you and fate shall have it. . . I will look after your children as if they were my own. I am expecting the same of you, if ever I get married. Now shush yourself and let's get you married!"

Usually she stayed in this dream until the end of the ceremony when two young Death Eaters tried to crash the party and became new prisoners of war instead of succeeding in their goal. Hermione woke up half way through the ceremony, this time around, because Aideen was turning about her bassinet and wailing yet again. Hermione raised herself at once from the rocking chair to pick up the child. She rubbed her back to soothe her and it was not working. She used her wand to fix some formula to a bottle and checked the temperature while feeding the fussy child. She was a quite a hungry child at that.

Hermione had never expected that her best friend would be murdered. The letter, in addition to the child in her arms, made it all to real for her. How could Ginny and Neville have been murdered? How could such a young child be stripped from her mother? As Aideen finished the bottle and Hermione burped her, she tried to rock the child once more. Completely forgetting that the door was half open into the other room, Hermione started singing the song that she had long since pegged as Ginny's song.

"Well I never lived through the great depression

sometimes I feel as though I did

And I don't have answers for every single question

But that's okay 'cos I'm just a kid.

Well I've seen pictures of my mother

When she looked exactly like me

And I've seen all my friends running for cover

Running from something they can't see.

And it's not easy to get handle on my life

but I have tried it time and time again

But I still cry just like a baby

And I answer back to feel a little free

And I still fly even though I'm gonna fall

But I'm too far to let it get to me."

Hermione held the new little life and realized it was the first new life she had seen since the start of the war. She swayed around with Aideen for a little while. The baby's small hand closed around one of Hermione's fingers. With a neck too young to support her head, she leaned on Hermione, letting herself be cradled, completely trusting her. Something of the words she sang were soothing. They soothed Hermione, Aideen, and Severus who was not sleeping but in the other room with the letter in his hands once more. Hermione returned to the rocker and charmed it to rock slowly as she drifted off to sleep with Aideen, one of the most peaceful infants ever, in her arms.

Snape could not return to sleep after this child had been given to them. The note read that Hermione's promise had need of fulfillment and that Poppy Pomfrey, Molly Weasley, Neville Longbottom and his wife Ginny had been murdered. Dumbledore, who had written the note, understood that Hermione was to take the child and that he hoped that Severus would help her in caring for the child so long as they remain in the house together. He had now problem with helping Hermione with anything, she was actually very much like him in certain ways and he was growing quite fond of her as a person from their conversations. She was no longer an annoying student, nor was he a strict professor and it seemed to suit them both just fine. It had been hard to get along at first but they'd learned to live with each other in the past month and a half. He had thought as recently as noon that day that if they were still in school, he would have awarded her five points for making such a point in a discussion over the benefits of using gillyweed in sleeping potions. She was quite bright, and he also thought she should have to be exposed to such a git as himself or this ghastly war. He turned back to the items in his hands.

Ginny was killed right after delivering her child, the Death Eaters had stormed their camp. Neville, Molly, and Poppy protected the child with all they had to give and the child was hidden from the detection of any Death Eaters. Molly, as Ginny had predicted years prior, had gone berserk when her baby girl was murdered right before her. The face she had thought was relief from having finally pushed her last push, was really the face of sudden death. So defenseless, having not even seen her own baby girl, Ginny Longbottom was murdered. Molly had been furious and killed six of the attacking Death Eaters before she was finally subdued and murdered herself. Neville and Poppy defended the tent that housed the now-dead Ginny and their undetectable child.

Of course, the note hadn't been in this much detail but there had been a sort of spun-glass ball, like those that housed prophecies, containing the scene that had caused Hermione's promise to become rather pertinent. He had just watched it, soundlessly, through the small sphere, scared that breaking it like a prophecy would make the scene play out life sized. Hermione would see it when the time came. He did not feel that she needed to be subjected to the gruesome murders of four people she loved. Tonight was especially not the night for such things to be seen. She was still dealing with the news of their deaths. Perhaps, Dumbledore had made a mistake in including the small orb. But Severus knew that a Wizard's pact required transference of the situation that brought the promise into fruition, but this was simply horrible. He placed the orb in the drawer of his bedside table with the letter. These would not be seen for a while if he had anything to say about it.

He stood inside the doorframe and watched Hermione lull the infant to sleep. When she passed on to sleep herself, Severus placed the child in the bassinet and levitated Hermione into her own bed. She was too young for all this hate and murder, too young to be faced with a war. He hated that he had been subjected to this at her age and had chosen the wrong side. Only after he had learned of the plans to murder Lily Evans and her child did he ever start to wonder what he was doing with the Dark Lord. The cause that had once seemed righteous and full of support then seemed like a murderous rampage. He could only hope that some of the Death Eaters saw that now, knowing that another baby's life had been ruined, knowing that they had killed a mother before she had seen her child and killed her own mother, husband, and midwife. Hopefully, if Draco Malfoy were among them, he would come to his senses. This was no way to live. This war should not be happening.

Severus just continued to stormily think even as he pulled Hermione's covers over her and went to sit in the still rocking chair, to watch over Aideen. It was a miracle that the silencing and invisibility charms had held even after her protectors had died. This child was a miracle. To survive such a thing. . . and this war. . . it wasn't just the Dark Lord. Some of his followers were just as evil as he and would continue on even if he himself was killed. Perhaps he was just the face painted onto an evil campaign. Sure he was evil, sure he wanted all this destruction just as much as his followers did- but were he not the leader, somebody else would rise to the occasion. There was no need for such senseless hate. What the world needed was more unconditional love, such that people could love each other as much as they had shown they loved Aideen. . . without having to die. There should be no violence, no murder, no war. Severus continued to berate his own mind and stew over the night's events. He wondered, since this was the first news they had received since their arrival, how many of the others had fallen. He also wondered what a large group of Death Eaters was doing storming a Healer Camp in the dead of night.