I can't believe this is the final chapter! Thank you to everyone who has come with me to the end - and thank you Jane Austen too for providing me with this wonderful, angsty plot. Loads of you guessed correctly in the reviews, this story was based on Austen's novel Persuasion. If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend! I hope you enjoy the ending ;)

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Severus was undone. His eyes filled with tears. He could barely believe the words and had to read them through a second time. The loneliness that had consumed him for so long ached within him still. But it rose up in him, as if ready to finally be released. His hands were trembling. Before him on the table lay the shards of his entire being, throbbing with the urgent beat of his heart, waiting to be scooped up by her hands, her small, beautiful hands. He needed a moment, he needed several, to pull himself together, to process his thoughts and his feelings.

But it was not to be – a hand touched his shoulder and he started violently, before whipping around expecting to see her face, her glowing eyes. But it was not Hermione. Lily stood there looking at him with a frown between her perfectly groomed eyebrows, and Severus pulled himself from her grip and clutched his precious letter to his chest.

'Severus-' she started saying, but he just stood up and walked past her without another glance. He walked from the room without a word to anyone, his heart pounding and his mind whirling.

She loved him still.

He had to find her, had to tell her, show her, how he felt. Or she would leave forever. The thought filled him with desperation. He couldn't let her leave, couldn't give her a moment's more doubt of his feelings, his devotion to her.

He didn't know where she was. But she had gone to the owlery with Minerva. Severus headed in that direction immediately, almost running up the stairs, leaping from one staircase to the next when it had begun to move away from him.

When he reached the fifth floor, he stopped short.

There – there she was, still walking with Minerva. Walking towards him.

His heart was pounding. He stared at her, arrested where he stood.

When she noticed him, her movements jarred for a moment, too, before she continued towards him, her eyes unsure and searching. Severus locked his gaze to hers and tried to convey all that he felt through one look, pushing his love, his hope, his joy towards her with everything he had.

He barely noticed when Minerva greeted him. She was saying something, but he did not know what. He couldn't look away from Hermione - she was glowing up at him now, the uncertainty gone, her gaze warming him like the sun. A joyous, almost uncontainable smile played about her lips and Severus felt his own curl up in response.

She knew. It was done.

Neither noticed Minerva's confusion as her eyes darted between them. They did not look at her, or respond to her queries, and so she eventually gave it up as a lost cause and continued down the staircase alone.

As soon as she was gone, Severus fell into Hermione's arms. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and crooned as he buried his face in her neck. He couldn't help the tears that burst from him. It had been eight and a half years since he had been held by anyone. He hugged her tightly in return, sobbing brokenly now. He wanted to hold it in, to speak to her, to kiss her, but it was impossible. The emotions roaring through him were too much to contain, his need for touch and comfort, which had gone unanswered for so long, could not be suppressed.

Hermione stroked his hair and he felt the wetness of her own tears on the back of his neck. He felt her breathe in deeply before letting it slowly shudder out. As one, they sunk to the floor of the corridor, his head resting on her shoulder as she cradled him in her arms. She started stroking his back, her fingertips drawing light patterns which soothed and calmed him. 'I'm sorry,' she murmured quietly, mournfully, 'I'm so sorry.'

Severus took some deep breaths and his tears eventually stopped. They breathed together, and Hermione continued caressing him and then dropped a kiss against his lank hair.

At the first touch of her lips, Severus sucked in a breath before releasing it in a gush against the skin of her neck, still damp from his tears. She shivered, and his power to affect her thus thrilled through him.

Severus shifted to press his lips against her neck, kissing her bronze, soft skin reverently, his eyes tightly shut. He breathed her in, the flowery scent of her hair oils, and something sharper and heady, something that was just Hermione. He felt her sigh, and he continued pressing kisses down to the soft curve of her collar bone, and then back up until he reached her jaw, and further still until he found the corner of her soft lips.

He paused for a moment and opened his eyes, glancing up at her. He found her eyes glowing down at him so brightly that he could do nothing but kiss her. Their lips met for the first time in eight and a half years.

It felt like homecoming. It was perfection. Their lips moved carefully against each other's, and when she responded more firmly, a bolt of need shot through him so fiercely that he gasped against her mouth.

They parted and just looked at each other for a moment. He saw his desire reflected in her darkened eyes, her parted lips.

'I love you, Hermione,' Severus said then, softly, 'I have loved you all these long years.'

She moaned softly at this, and said 'oh Severus, I'm so sorry.' She wiped at her eyes to prevent tears falling again. 'I love you too, so much.'

He leaned forward again, and pressed another gentle kiss to her soft, full lips, in silent joy at her words, in cautious forgiveness.

Slowly, they became aware of their surroundings. The large corridor was lined with curious portraits. Any of their colleagues could stumble across them there, embracing on the floor. And so they pulled themselves up and patted down their rumpled clothing and cast enamoured, still shy, glances at each other.

'Come back to my chambers?' Severus asked her then. They had so much to talk about. And he longed to keep holding and kissing her and to, finally, be held and kissed in return. He had not so much as been hugged in years. His longing was overwhelming.

Hermione leaned up again, and pressed a gentle, caressing kiss to his cheek, cupping his face in her hand. Then she took one of his hands in hers and clung on to his arm as she let him lead her down into the dungeons. Occasionally, she rubbed her head against his shoulder as if equally desperate for his touch, for the feel of him against her skin.

They were oblivious to everything around them as they walked – no moving staircases or ghosts or chattering portraits distracted them from their bliss, not even the stunned form of Sinistra, standing frozen at the sight of them as they passed the second floor, caught their attention. No two people had ever walked through the castle as caught up in their heady, joyous togetherness as Severus and Hermione in that moment.

'These last weeks since I arrived here have been torture,' Hermione murmured once they were curled up on his couch together, Hermione's head resting on Severus' shoulder, his arms wrapped tightly around her to hold her against him. The feel of her was a blissful comfort. 'I was so sure that I had arrived too late. That through my blindness, my pride, I had lost you forever to someone else.'

Severus couldn't think of how to respond. Surely, surely, she must know that someone like Lily, someone who was not her, could hold no power over him.

Hermione continued. 'I tried so hard to forget you. For years I had convinced myself I had. But I never met another man in all that time who could hold up in comparison to you. Who could compare to your goodness, your kindness, your inner strength. I subconsciously held you up as an ideal whom no one could ever measure against. But I was angry and bitter and hateful. I couldn't move past my wounded pride, the pain of your refusal. And then, after the war, I decided it was time to settle down, to find a partner. I was done with being alone. And then, at Grimmauld, I tried to convince myself that I could be happy with Sirius. God, how you must have despised me! I tried so hard not to notice you, not to let you affect me, to hold on to my belief that I had moved on. But there you were, and as beautiful to me as the first time we met.'

Severus smiled at that and couldn't help comparing her words to those he had overheard on that evening months ago. It felt good to hear her say it. He knew that her words did not reflect any change in his appearance, but only her changed feelings towards him. He pressed a kiss to her curls, and she leaned further into him to kiss his neck in return. A shudder of relief, of love, ran through him.

'At Grimmauld, I finally learned to understand you. I saw you as you were, not as you had become in my memories. I saw your goodness and dedication – how you continued brewing and healing others, even as you were meant to be celebrating. But it wasn't until that day at Hogsmeade that I realised how far I had deluded myself. First, when Sirius told me about Tonks, I felt a spark of triumph, of hope, I knew then that you had rejected another offer, from someone far more your equal in training and experience, than I had been. And then later, that horrible moment, when Sirius was hexed… God, how stupid I felt when I finally saw the truth! I realised that I did not, could not possibly, love Sirius. I realised that there is value in cautiousness, in thinking before acting, in not recklessly following every impulse of passion.

'And then you – god, you were magnificent in your calm, decided reaction. You saved Sirius' life. Your even temper, your competence, your skill… in that moment, I realised how deeply I had fooled myself, and how desperately I still loved you.'

Hermione looked up at him then, her eyes shining with tears, and Severus kissed her urgently, catching her bottom lip in his teeth before thrusting his tongue into her mouth. The pain of their long separation, of these last months, still echoed through him strongly. The weight of his former loneliness still thrummed in his soul. They clutched at each other, and Hermione responded with equal passion, equal desperation.

But she wasn't finished, and she gentled her kiss and caressed his face before laying her head back down on his shoulder and continuing her story. As she did so, she held his hand tightly between her own, stroking her thumb over the sensitive patch between his thumb and forefinger.

'And yet,' she said lowly, 'I had almost ruined everything. My words, my stupid encouragement, were to blame for Sirius' injury. And just as his condition started improving and I became determined to find you and win you back, I discovered just how much damage I had caused. Minerva and Arthur made it clear to me that they thought Sirius and I were committed to each other, that we were in love, that the expectation that we would be married was widely held. Of course, I knew by then that that would be impossible for me. But how could I run off to you, when Sirius was still weak and recovering, when his injury had been my fault, and when the others had told me that he was in love with me?

'And so, once he was out of danger, instead of finding you as I longed to do with everything I had, I retreated to Herefordshire, to stay with my parents. I wanted to let the dust settle and hoped that our distance would temper Sirius' feelings somewhat. Waiting was unbearable. I was dying to find you, to explain myself, to do everything in my power to win you back, though I knew I could hardly deserve you after the way I'd behaved. My parents were happy to see me at first, of course, but after a while I'm sure I drove them mad with my moping. And then came the unexpected news of Sirius' engagement to Rosmerta. I was free! I could find you and love you with no compunction, no need to let down Sirius gently first, no need to wait to spare his feelings.

'I came to Hogwarts as quickly as I could. I didn't expect to see you in Hogsmeade, I was so surprised when I saw you in Madam Puddifoot's! I wanted to throw myself in your arms, I wanted to kiss you, I wanted to beg you to tell me that you could still love me – but then Lily was there, touching you, and I wanted to tear out her hair, but how could I get in your way with her, when she might be what you wanted? She is so very beautiful and clever. I hated her immediately, jealousy consumed me entirely – and then she was always there, always had your attention, always had her hand on your arm. And I had treated you so badly, had been so blinded by my injured pride, I could claim no right to you.'

At these words, Hermione gripped his hand more tightly, as if asserting to herself that she could now, that he was hers now. And he was. Utterly. He raised his other hand and grasped her face again, kissing her deeply, reassuring her and himself. Nothing could come between them now.

But still, she was not finished. After a while, she tore herself away from his lips once more. His body was alive with need for her, but he ignored it for now and focused on what she was saying.

'I was on the verge of giving up. I was sure I had lost you. Nothing has ever hurt more. Not even our first separation. I loved you then, but I loved you even more now, now that I knew more deeply, more truly, what a wonderful man you are. How noble, and self-sacrificing, and beautiful, and perfect. The perfect man for me.'

Severus couldn't help but release a choked sob at her words, her wonderful soul-searing words. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his palm reverently.

'But I couldn't bring myself to leave,' she went on. 'Not yet. And then, I overheard your conversation with Hagrid and each word brought me to hope more and more that you could, that you did, still love me. It was all I could do to stay quiet, to not cry out that I loved you still, more than ever. But the others were all there, and so I wrote to you instead. And now, here you are, and you are finally mine again.'

She looked up at him, her expression exuding joyous triumph. Her lips were swollen from their previous kissing and her eyes, oh her eyes, were glowing at him more brightly, more warmly, more lovingly, than ever.

And Severus could resist no longer. He hauled her into his lap and kissed her thoroughly, pouring his whole soul into her, absorbing hers in return and letting it finally – finally – eradicate the last remnants of the deep, constant loneliness which had defined the last eight and a half years of his existence.

The desire between them grew until they were both engulfed in the flames of their joint desire. Severus slipped his hands beneath the hem of her jumper and stroked the skin of her back, the sensation of all that warm softness making him almost cry out with want. Hermione moaned into his mouth as he touched her, and then pushed his cloak off his shoulders before pulling his jumper over his head and discarding it on the floor.

Severus groaned as her fingers flew over the buttons of his shirt while she attacked his neck with desperate kisses, sinking her teeth lightly into the soft skin over his pulse point. His need was urgent now, and her fingers were fumbling with his many buttons, struggling to undo them, and without thinking Severus found his wand cast divesto, and suddenly they were naked.

They both let out cries of satisfaction, of desire, at the feel of so much bare skin against bare skin. He had never seen anything as beautiful as her, as she sat on his lap, her knees around his waist, her dark golden-brown skin so smooth, so beautiful, his own skin almost luminescent in contrast. He growled low in his throat, before diving down to capture a flushed nipple between his lips, tonguing at it until it hardened in his mouth, caressing her other small but perfectly full breast in his hand.

Hermione almost purred, the sound coming deep from her within her chest, and too soon she pulled his head back up to hers, capturing his lips almost aggressively as she found his erection and palmed his tip, making him gasp and pull away again. He took a deep breath, trying to retreat from the sharp edge of his need. He needed to last, he needed to feel her around him once more.

He grabbed her hips, his fingers pressing into her rounded flesh, and helped her lift up as she positioned him at her entrance.

They paused a moment, their eyes locked – hers burning brightly and almost black, her pupils blown with desire. 'Severus,' she gasped, 'now, please, I need you,' and he could wait no more.

They both groaned deeply as she sank down on him, her tight wetness almost burning him with its perfect heat. Severus felt tears spring to his eyes at this searing culmination of so much hopeless, relentless longing. 'Hermione,' he moaned, in an almost anguished voice, as he was seated as deeply within her as possible, 'I've missed you so much.' He felt her flutter around him and held her tight to his chest to draw out the exquisite moment of their union.

Hermione pulled back to fix her eyes onto his. 'You're mine now,' she told him, her tone fierce, 'I'm never letting you go again.' And then she clenched down on him tightly and he could hold himself back no longer. He grasped her hips again and lifted her up before he thrust himself deep within her once more. They both moaned with relief, and she lifted up again, and again until they were continuously groaning, sighing each other's names, eyes locked, unblinking, relishing in their connection.

As the heat between them grew, their movements became faster, shakier, more desperate, until Severus felt Hermione fly apart around him with a cry of ecstatic relief, her head thrust back and her fingers intwined in his, and he came with a long, deep groan which seemed pulled from the deepest regions of his soul, releasing inside her as he clutched her tightly to his chest.

They came down again slowly, breathing hard. Their skin was slick with sweat, but they held each other closely anyway. Severus felt overwhelmed, he felt like he needed to tell her how much he loved her, had missed her, needed her, wanted her, never wanted to be apart from her again, but the words wouldn't come out, they felt stuck in his throat which was clogged with unshed tears. But then Hermione pulled back again and looked at him with such tenderly glowing eyes, and then she kissed him so gently and so sweetly, sighing as their lips parted again, that he felt she understood, that she had seen all he wanted to say in his eyes. It felt so unbearably good to be seen again.

Later, once they had finally managed to move themselves into his bedroom, they lay entwined together on his bed in perfect felicity.

Severus finally voiced a thought which had been nagging at the corner of his mind for some time.

'Hermione, I… I've been thinking about it, and I can't say that I believe I was wrong to have listened to Dumbledore's advice, all those years ago. The consequence was painful, believe me, and I have regretted it so often throughout the years, and regretted hurting you. But was I wrong to let myself be influenced by him? By the leader of the opposition? By the man who had been my only mentor, my only guardian? I think it would, perhaps, habe been more wrong of me to ignore his words. I'm not saying that his advice was right. That he hadn't been wrong to underestimate you, to try to separate us. But hindsight is easy. It resulted in so many years of hopeless loneliness, on my side.' He clutched Hermione more tightly to him as he said these last words, reminding himself that that time of his life was, finally, at an end. 'But we also won the war,' he continued, 'we defeated Voldemort. Who knows what would have happened if we'd stuck to our plans at the beginning.'

They were silent for a long while, lost in thought, in memory. Hermione drew patterns on his naked chest. And then she spoke.

'And I have been wondering, Severus… would you, if I had come back to you a few years later, after I had been trained, after I had proved myself and my usefulness… if I had come to you then, as I thought of doing more than once but never did, unsure of my welcome and poisoned by my bitterness… would you have accepted my love then? Would you have had me by your side?'

'Would I!' Severus replied in a tone of anguish, 'Hermione, I dreamed of nothing else these long, lonely years.'

Hermione closed her eyes then, as if to ward off some strong emotion, and buried her face against his chest, nuzzling him like she was trying to burrow her way deeper into his skin. Severus held her against him tightly. He could feel her breathing in and out deeply, as if trying to calm herself.

Eventually she drew away again. She looked at him solemnly, and brought her hand to his face, stroking the line of his brow as if trying to soothe away all those years of sorrow.

'Then, Severus, I cannot solely blame Dumbledore. I cannot blame anyone more than I must blame myself. I have been my own greatest enemy. To think of how many years of separation I could have saved us both.'

She lay her head back onto his chest, and he curled his larger body around her. His years of loneliness were behind him now. The past was the past, and they were together now. That was all that mattered.

She pressed herself against him, and they lay there for a while, enjoying the feeling of their closeness.

After a while, Hermione spoke again. 'Marry me, Severus,' she said softly. 'Let me spend the rest of our lives loving you.'

A quiet joy welled through him, and he said the only thing he could do.

'Yes.'

Still curled up together, they soon fell asleep, both drained from the day's intense emotions.

Severus woke up to her kisses and to the quiet joy which unfurled within him when he realised that this was his life now. They made love in a silence that was only interrupted by gentle gasps and sighs. Severus was on top this time, and thrust into her deeply and slowly, his heart full to the brim at the sensation of her wet heat surrounding him. Hermione's arms were wrapped around his back and they held each other's gazes between kisses, relishing in the feeling of their joining, their completeness.

They went to breakfast together. Sinistra had already informed the disbelieving others of how she had seen the two of them walking towards the dungeons the night before, arm in arm and dishevelled. But some of the staff still gasped as Severus and Hermione entered the Great Hall together, and stared at them unsubtly as Severus pulled out her chair and they sat down together, glowing and happy and sharing soft smiles and tender glances.

Lily looked particularly put out, an unflattering frown pulling at her mouth. But neither Hermione nor Severus paid her any mind, too lost in their perfect contentment.

Later that day, Severus went alone to the headmaster's office to turn in his resignation. He promised to stay at the castle, with Hermione of course, until a suitable replacement was found, and to hand over the lesson plans he had worked on to his successor.

'Severus, my boy,' Dumbledore said, surprised and disappointed. 'Are you sure you are making the right decision?'

'Yes,' Severus replied with confident certainty, 'I'm sure.'

'You know,' Dumbledore continued, 'that I never thought she was quite right for you. But perhaps I was wrong.'

'You were,' Severus said, 'but I hope you will come to see differently. She is my life now.'

Dumbledore looked surprised by Severus' openness for a moment, but it passed quickly, and he replied with his usual demeanour and a twinkle in his eye. 'Well then, my boy. I will do my best. But I will be sorry to see you go.'

Severus was not sorry. As he walked back down to his chambers, where he knew Hermione would be waiting for him, he almost felt like running for joy. It was impossible to contain the wide smile that spread across his face and softened his usually stern features. His life lay before him now, and he knew that it would be happy one.