AN: Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated!
Severus stared at the Tin Woman. He loved her, but was it because he loved her as she was, or was it because he loved Hermione and she was identical to her? If the Tin Woman loved him, could he stay in Oz forever? It would be better than watching his Hermione find love with Ronald, yet did he want to spend the rest of his life one musical number away from insanity?
"You have my heart," she began. "My Half Blood Prince."
"Half Blood Prince?" His eyes grew.
She nodded.
"I am completely lost. Is there a man in Oz you are mistaking me for?"
"No, Severus, this is our metaphorical future."
"Are you saying in the future women will be made of tin? That seems more likely in Oz than at Hogwarts."
"No, what I'm saying is that this is a metaphor for who we will be in the future if you continue on the path you've chosen."
"Would you stop speaking in riddles and tell me what you mean?"
"You wound up in Oz because you ran away from me. I pleaded with you to come back, but you would rather have taken your chance in a storm than hear my side of the story."
His stomach churned at the truth in her words.
"I know you, and I know who you could be when you return," she continued. "If you continue on the trajectory you are on, you will become sharp with me, ignore what I have to say, until one day you make your rejection complete by leaving Hogwarts altogether."
"I wouldn't leave Hogwarts," his voice softened. "At least not at the end of this year."
"It may take you a year, but you would search for employment opportunities elsewhere while I pleaded with you to stay," she argued.
"I've always wanted to take a break from teaching."
"Do you want to take a break from me?"
"No, but you must understand, I cannot stand the idea of you with another man," he argued. "Can't you understand that it would kill me to see you happy with another man while I dreamed of holding you every night?"
"Can't you understand your rejection would kill me?" Hermione asked. "Every rejection of yours, every time you turn away from me, every time you refuse to acknowledge my existence would be like a slice in my body. There will be little left of me when all is said and done."
"You could be happy with another."
"Have you been paying no attention?" Hermione replied louder. "I don't have a heart because you have it. No matter what happens, my heart will always be with you."
Severus swallowed.
She took his hand. "Please, give me a heart by allowing me to have yours."
"You don't know what you're asking."
"I'm asking for you to be in my life forever."
"In Oz?"
"In the real world with the real Hermione."
"Right, the metaphor," he replied.
"Yes."
"You say you want my heart now, but that doesn't mean my Hermione feels this way."
"Your Hermione hasn't left your bedside since they found you under the Shrieking Shack."
"Bedside?" Severus cocked his head.
"Yes, you've been in a coma for days."
"So in other words, none of this is real."
"Oh we're as real as you want us to be. Even dreams are real," she answered. "Yet you don't want a tin woman. You want your Hermione, just like I want my Prince."
"So all of this was my subconsciousness the entire time?"
"I prefer to call it a metaphorical alternate reality."
"I suppose it could be called that," he squeezed her hands.
"You have a choice, Severus," she continued. "You can write all of this off as a dream, pretend it never happened, and live your life as if you've never been to Oz, or you can use this journey to inform your future and choose the path which will make you happiest."
"I will only be happy if you love me. Can you promise that you'll love me when I wake up?"
"If my staying by your bedside for days isn't enough to convince you of my love, I don't know what will."
"I suppose not," he frowned. "Though I will miss everyone adoring me. That was quite nice."
"Yes, and you also got to conquer your greatest fears. Then again, you can choose to forget those lessons and give into them again."
"True, although I doubt throwing water on Molly will cause her to melt."
"Oh I don't know. I've never seen her take a shower."
Severus laughed. "Neither have I."
She rubbed his hand. "Go back Severus. Give me your heart. Then, I'll have the heart I want and need."
"I can, and I will," he replied before kissing her lips.
"It doesn't feel the same doing it with tin, does it?" She asked once he released her.
"If my Hermione was tin, I would love her all the same."
"I know you would."
Severus took a deep breath before turning around.
"Is it okay if we say goodbye too?" Harry asked.
"I would be receptive to that," Severus answered.
"Goodbye," Harry approached him. "I will miss you."
"I will admit that my time with you was not wholly unpleasant," he began. "At times, it was almost enjoyable."
"It's okay to say you like me," Harry grinned.
"Never," Severus gave him a mock scowl.
"Goodbye," Neville began. "I hope you have the courage to face your fears."
"Thanks to your example, I may be able to do just that," Severus answered.
"Is it okay if we have a group hug?" Hermione asked.
"If we must," Severus rolled his eyes.
The friends embraced. Severus had never felt so loved as he had in that moment. If this was his subconscious, maybe he could feel this in his waking life, if only he knew how to reach for it.
"All right, Severus, it's time for you to leave," a familiar woman's voice chimed in.
Severus turned to Minerva, who had somehow appeared in the throne room, still in her Glinda costume.
"I know, knock the boots together three times, no place like home, and all that," he picked up Crookshanks. "May I ask something though?"
"I don't see why not," she replied.
"Why was it so important that Molly not get these shoes?" Severus asked. "She almost killed my friends and me to get them. What was so special about them?"
"Those shoes grant the user's deepest wish," Minerva replied. "In Molly's case, it was to control everyone around her and break the record for the loudest screech in history."
"I can understand why that would not be pleasurable for anyone," Severus replied.
"That's also why I didn't tell you the shoes could take you home," she continued. "You needed to go on this journey before you destroyed your waking life. If I told you about them, your deepest wish would not be fulfilled."
"I do not know if my deepest wish has been fulfilled, but I will do my best to remember what I've learned," he promised.
"Good." She replied. "Because if you don't, my Hogwarts counterpart will smack you upside the head."
"I would expect nothing less." Severus took a deep breath. Images of his Hermione flashed in his mind. He could hear her laugh as he entertained her with some sarcastic quip, and the way her eyes lit up when she told him of his latest potions theory. Yes, she was worth this journey, and worth fighting for once awake.
He tapped his feet together as he held Crookshanks against him. "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."
With that, the world went white.