Chapter 6. Release

Hermione carefully drew her last sigil, sat back on her haunches, and wiped the chalk dust off her fingers. She gave another low sigh as she looked up at her former professor. She pulled a black candle out of the pockets of her robe and placed it in the middle. She didn't want to think about how much that candle cost her. She had had to make it herself as most of the black ones were very dear on the Black Market. It was hard enough getting all the right components since most were usually associated to the Dark Arts. She only hoped she had only spent money for its creation.

She stood and faced Snape and nodded slightly.

"It's ready. Are you?"

Snape glided over to her and peered at her down his long nose. "You do realize that your choices may destroy your life?" he murmured.

Hermione was mildly suprised. She could actually read concern in his coal black eyes. She suddenly felt a stinging behind her eyelids, the stinging of tears threatening to reappear. She never imagined that he would consider her future after this spell was complete. After all, he wasn't going to be around to worry about it. She ducked her head and tried to recompose herself. She had to be calm to cast this spell.

She heard a faint whisper of wind as he approached her. She lifted her head and noticed he was standing quite close to her. His usually pursed lips were softened into a slight smile... not a smirk... a smile. *No, it's not his lips smiling.* she thought to herself. *It's his eyes. He could have actually been a nice looking man if he hadn't always been grumping about.* She shook herself and took a deep breath.

He waited as she steadied herself. He realized that it might be the last conversation he would have with her, and he was saddened by what could be her future. He frowned as realization dawned that he didn't want her to go through with this. He knew he would be doomed to eternal torment... but dammit, the girl was a child when she "helped" him. He had been a teacher to children for too many years to not have it affect him. His jaw worked as he glared about him, trying somehow to puzzle his way out of this predicament. His own personal desires warred with his slightly developed sense of decency... and decency seemed to be winning.

He pushed away from her as he fumed. Hermione flinched, not understanding his sudden mood change. She watched as he circled the Portal diagram on the floor, muttering and hissing at himself as he studied each sigil and devined their meanings. His eyes blazed as he peered up at her when he had finished the circumference.

"You aren't going to do this. I will not allow it."

Hermione gave an exasperated gasp.

"NO... You can't deny me this. It's the ONLY way I can atone for what I did to you!" she practically screamed at him. " I WON'T have you disallowing it after FIFTEEN years of research!" Her chest heaved, barely holding back the sobs that tried to escape.

"Miss Granger! I will not have you dying in Azkaban for me! This is simply going too far!"

A quiet voice cut through their raised ones like a knife. "It's not too far for love and respect."

Both combatants whipped around and saw that they had gained an audience. Lupin stood in front of a small flock of Hogwarts professors who had somehow slipped in quietly as the both of them had prepared for this momentous spell.

Hermione looked stricken. She glanced towards her diagram and wished she hadn't put the candle in it quite so soon. *What am I thinking? The diagram itself supports enough evidence to convict me.* she despaired. She turned back towards the group and gulped as she waited for their judgment.

Lupin approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You can't possibly think that no-one knew what you were doing, did you Hermione?" he asked her. "Take a look at your professor and tell me that no-one could tell that it would take some powerful magic to release him from his state. The Ministry knows. They're aware."

Hermione felt a fury rise up in her. "They knew? They KNEW? Then why did they let me continue? Did they want to punish me for cursing him, and they didn't have reason enough to do it before?" She lashed out, blinded in her anger. "They WANT me to die for hurting their spy. They WANT me be punished for trying to rise above them, for doing something that noone else had ever done."

Lupin grasped her and held on as the years of anger, fear, and despair were released through her sobs. She knew that she wasn't being terribly logical in her thinking, but at the moment she didn't care. All she hoped was that the Ministry would be merciful enough to let her die quickly.

As she calmed, Lupin gently pushed her away and made her stand on her own. She had collapsed into his robes and soaked them, so he let her recompose herself, again, before he gave her the news.

"Hermione, the Ministry didn't stop you because they understood your intent. You weren't doing this for personal gain. You were doing this to help someone you loved and respected, as I was trying to explain to Severus earlier."

She stood, head bent, not daring to hope. She waited as Lupin explained the intricacies of Ministry thinking and lost her train of thought as one thing came clear to her. Her future wasn't going to be spent going insane chained up in the worst place imaginable. She lifted her face to stare at the little crowd waiting inside the door to the classroom. She scanned the faces of the professors, some familiar, and saw that Lupin's words were true. They didn't despise her for using Black Arts. Rather, they admired her, for sacrificing so much to save someone that wasn't well liked by most.

She peered across the room into the gloom not touched by candlelight. She caught sight of Snape, head cocked back against the wall, eyes closed. At the end of Lupin's explanation, he straightened up and drifted forward a pace or two. "So she's not going to suffer needlessly for the diagram," he muttered tonelessly.

"No, Severus," Lupin answered. "She may continue with the spell. We will all be witnesses to ensure it's validity, that is... if you don't mind."

Hermione had finally calmed enough to turn to the former Death Eater. His eyes were boring into hers, hoping, waiting. She stepped towards him and held up the amulet.

He moved closer and hovered before her. His face softened again as he noticed the anguish had lessened considerably on her own countenance. She raised the amulet higher and gently placed it around his neck. It clung to him and he marvelled in the power he felt emanating from it. It took quite a bit to enable an item to remain in between two planes of existence. He knew this personally, as it tired him a great deal to move any object in the material plane.

She watched the emotions flicker across his face as he felt the weight of the amulet. She smiled slightly and closed her eyes as he bent over her in an uncharacteristic gesture, and sighed softly as she felt the faint brush of his lips flutter over hers.

He straightened up and floated over the edge of the diagram to the center. She began murmuring the words to the spell in a singsong cadence as he turned to face the small audience. She briefly entered the Circle to light the candle and she stepped out quickly as the walls of force began to build themselves out of her chant.

Hermione watched as the edges of Snape's ghostly form started blurring and his face turned upwards. She watched as delight formed his lips into an actual smile and his eyes literally blazed as he gazed towards the heavens that only he could see. She steeled her voice not to waver and refused to lose her concentration just like she did so many years before. This time though, she wasn't tying him to the Earth, but letting him go as she should have done before. The walls of force seemed to be some sort of guide or funnel for him to follow as the tethers to this plane loosened.

As her chant reached it's peak, the walls were almost opaque, leaving little to be seen as Snape vanished. Suddenly, they collapsed in a glittering display much like the Muggles' fireworks displays, with a gust of "wind" exploding and imploding almost instantly, leaving the audience somewhat flustered and awed. A small thump and tinkle was heard from the center of the diagram as the amulet landed, no longer having anything to support it. From where Hermione stood, it looked as if the crystal had blackened as if it had burnt out, like an overloaded fuse.

Snape was gone.

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A/N...Yes, I know some of you are probably mad at me. Not all stories have gushy happy endings, so I'm sorry if I disappointed you.

Please let me know what you think. Flame away... the story stands.