Missy: Thanks to Shiegurl, my beta for agreeing to deal with my mistakes on top of everything she has on her plate. Everyone else, thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Shiegurl: This took place over my essay…but it was worth it:)

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling etc.

Of Skeletons and Chessboards

Hermione knew that the day would come when her careless actions in the past would come back to haunt her. Knew it the second when she had allowed Severus into her heart that the repercussions of interfering with Time would be dire and painful. She, having been severely warned by McGonagall in her third year about her responsibilities in regards to time travelling, knew without a doubt that she would one day reap the consequences of her ill-advised decision. But even knowing that, she couldn't resist the offer Severus had made her all those months ago—the chance to love and be loved in return. She had allowed her own feelings to distort her thinking and affect her actions, and now, Hermione knew that she would find out first hand how cruel Time could be to those who disobeyed the rules he had long established.

She turned her head away. All the talk about Gryffindors being courageous was nonsense; Hermione knew she could not bear to see the hurt on Severus' face when she said what she must. "You know I'll say 'no', Severus. I'm already married," she muttered stonily. Her heart clenched painfully as she heard his sharp intake of breath, but she strengthened her resolve anyway. She had gambled with Time, and she had lost. She would never risk it again. Never ever again.

"Divorce him," Severus replied immediately. There was a slight command in the way he said the words.

Hermione barked out a harsh, bitter laugh. Divorce her husband? Divorce Severus Snape? Oh, the irony of it all. And the way the similarities in the mannerism between her husband and his past self chose to manifest itself at this time only highlighted the lack of differences between the two of them. For her to notice that little detail now was hilarious, yet at the same time not funny at all. "He's a very proud man, Severus," she said finally. "I don't think he would take rejection very well."

Severus snorted in reply. "And you think I would?"

The warning in his voice chilled the air in the room. Hermione sighed in frustrated defeat. What kind of answer could she give to a question like that? Severus was already angry as it was, and she was upset by the turn of events. Anything that either one of them could say right now would probably be hurtful at best or downright destructive at worst.

Hermione knew from the beginning that the relationship was never going to be easy; there were too many issues that needed to be confronted, skeletons that should have been taken out of the closet and aired right at the very beginning. A normal relationship could probably endure a secret or two, but theirs was anything but normal. How could it be, when two beings from different timelines were not even allowed to meet in the first place, let alone fall in love? She had once told Harry that witches and wizards who interfered with time could end up killing their past or future selves. It was highly unlikely for Hermione to meet her younger self while she was still ignorant of her wizarding abilities, but that did not mean that her heart could survive without the things that she should never have had right from the beginning.

Severus' question still hung in the air, and the confrontation was long overdue. Hermione thought that she might as well force the issue right now while he was still angry. That way, she would hear exactly what went on in Severus' mind because judging from her experience, an angry Snape was a truthful Snape. He would be brutally so, but that was what she wanted right now, wasn't it? No more dancing around the forbidden closet anymore because the skeletons craved a grave.

"No," she replied steadily. "I don't think you would either." Hermione knew exactly what her calm admission would do to the wizard standing in front of her, and she watched impassively as the thunderclouds swirled menacingly around him. "Severus, we need to talk," she continued quickly before her courage failed her. Hermione winced slightly at the familiarity of her own words, she had said the exact same thing once before. "You probably want some answers."

Severus crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned lazily against the wall. He gave a curt nod, whether acknowledging that he heard her or agreed with her Hermione did not know. The Potions master was an uncommunicative man, and Hermione doubted that he would transform himself in the near future. Still, she had laid out the chessboard and made the first move, it was his turn now, and Hermione trusted that he would rise to the occasion spectacularly.

"Tell me, Mel," he said silkily. "Did you ever mean for this…" He paused to search for an appropriate word to describe their relationship, "thing to go anywhere? Or did you think that you could play the fool and get away with it?"

Thing? He would call their relationship a 'thing'? Hermione choked back a snort of laughter. Really, what did she expect? This was a man who would one day tell her that he would never love her because she was 'not worthy'. His sarcasm was not as sharply honed now, as it will be in the future, but Hermione still felt the sting of it. After all, a blunt sword is still a sword.

"I didn't think, Severus…we didn't think at all when we rushed headlong into this relationship," Hermione replied tartly, "and I've never 'played the fool' around you. I thought you knew that." Pain laced her last sentence, was that what he thought of her?

Severus continued as if he never even heard her. "Me, Lupin and even Malfoy. You've had all of us dancing around your pretty little finger, haven't you?" he said snidely. Hermione gaped at him, surprised beyond belief. She was barely aware that her mouth was moving of its own accord as she tried valiantly to recover from the shock. Hermione felt like a goldfish. Before she could say anything else, Severus had pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and walked towards her with an air of nonchalance. And when he spoke again, Hermione thought that he sounded like a stranger trying to make small talk, "And by the way, just out of interest, what did you hope to achieve by doing that?" He reached out and caressed her face with a gentleness that contradicted the underlying venom in his voice.

Hermione took an involuntary step back but found that she couldn't move away, Severus had grasped her wrists in a painful grip. "Let go of me!" she hissed as she tried to twist her hand away. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I don't see how Remus has anything to do with this, he's a very good friend of mine. And Malfoy?" Hermione barked out a bitter laugh, was Severus jealous of Malfoy? "I don't give a knut about that creep, Severus."

Severus did not give an indication that he heard her. Before Hermione knew what was happening, cold lips ran themselves over her neck, raising goose bumps as they went. "You're the only witch I want to marry, Mel, I swear it." Hermione shuddered as he nibbled at her ear. She wasn't sure that the pounding in her heart was entirely from her reaction to his attempt at seduction. Something was very wrong, and the fear ate at her. The fear intensified when he continued, "I'll ask you again, divorce him and stay with me."

His words jolted Hermione back to reality. No, no, no! This was all wrong! She pushed herself away from him. "No, Severus," she said as firmly as her shallow breathing would allow.

Severus took a step back, his eyes glittering with cold fury. "Very well," he said dispassionately, "I will leave it at that. When you finally return to France, don't forget about me. I would hate for your conscience to be clear."

Hermione took a step forward and tried to reach out to him. She needed to explain, needed him to understand. Hermione wanted to tell him everything, to take away the hurt on his face that he tried so hard to disguise under his infamous temper. Rules about time-travelling be damned, she had already broken most of them, and one more couldn't hurt. But Severus stalked away, and the crack in her heart that she thought had healed all those months ago began to reopen.

"Get out of here, girl!" he said harshly. With a flick of his hand he flung the mahogany door to the hospital wing open and Hermione felt herself being propelled towards it. "I would appreciate some rest before I have to deal with the students in the morning. I don't know where this headache came from, but it demands my attention and I don't need you here now."

The screaming that she had heard earlier that night returned in full force once Hermione reached the threshold. This time, it pulled at her. Hermione twisted her body around, trying to free herself from Severus' phantom clutch. Her heart raced wildly even as she frowned in concentration, trying to decipher the strange feelings. A sense of wrongness permeated the air around her, tingling her skin and freezing her insides, and she wondered vaguely if Severus felt it too.

Severus watched impassively as Mel struggled to break away from him, watched coolly as the terror filled her eyes. There was a jolt and his invisible contact with her body was severed. That had managed to disrupt his composure slightly, but he swallowed his own reluctant anxiety for the woman. He was feeling too spiteful to care.

Stillness settled. Then suddenly, a loud explosion erupted in the hospital wing. Severus instinctively flung his arms over his head to protect himself from any flying debris. A blinding flash of white light pierced through the soft yellow flames of the candles that lit up the hospital wing and he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut. The light finally faded and was replaced by a disconcerting silence. Severus opened his eyes and lowered his arms cautiously, scanning the threshold desperately.

In front of his eyes there was nothing.