~ Chapter 8 ~
Long ago he'd imagined what it would feel like to be reunited with Lily. His love-driven side would've wanted to run up to her and kiss her passionately, but that side of him had gone and unintentionally latched onto Hermione. He felt anger. Pain. Grief. And sadness.
He'd just started something with Hermione and seeing Lily again was the last thing he wanted. He wasn't scared that it would bring up feelings of love towards her, because he'd already accepted that his feelings for her were nothing compared to what it truly felt like to be in love.
He refused to admit it to himself — and he certainly wouldn't say it out loud yet — that he was in love with Hermione.
The three figures started to head his way, and it was James that spotted him first. He looked the same as when he'd last seen him alive, very much like the only living Potter.
"Oh…" Lily gasped, and even Sirius looked shocked to see him. The mutt probably thought I'd be in Hell. "Severus."
He responded with an awkward nod. "Lily."
She slowly walked over to him with a cautious look on her face. "I...Albus told me what you did for Harry...I'm ever so grateful, Severus."
He almost laughed. Of course the meddling old fool had filled her in. I bet he wove a tale of my undying love for her, while failing to mention all of his own wrongdoings towards her son. A part of him wanted Hermione by his side since she always offered him comfort.
James cleared his throat. "It appears we have you to thank. I assume that the war was won?"
Severus nodded, still unsure whether he should respond to James. All those years of fights and venomous words still clung to his soul.
"I'm still surprised they let you through the golden gates," Sirius muttered, and Lily hit his arm. "What?! It's the truth."
"Believe me, Black, I'm just as surprised as you," he spat. "Now, if you don't mind I would like to get some sleep—"
An ear piercing screech caused Severus to freeze.
Hermione.
He ran into the room and paused at the sight of her body thrashing around in the bed. He was aware that the others had followed him inside, but he was too focused on Hermione to care.
Severus climbed onto the bed and placed his hands on her shoulders. He hated seeing her like this. He absolutely loathed it.
"Hermione?" He vaguely heard Sirius say.
"No…" she whimpered. "Stop...Draco...LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
A thundering roar came from deep within her chest and her body contorted as if she'd been hit by a powerful curse. She shot up in bed and Severus held her tight as she gathered her senses. Her body became lax in his arms as she started to cry into his chest.
"Shh…" he whispered into her ear. "It's OK, everything's all right." Her wet nose nuzzled against his neck and her fingers curled around his shirt.
"What just happened?" James asked.
"Are you all right?" He heard Lily approach and he looked over his shoulder and shook his head.
Hermione pulled away and rested her chin on his shoulder to see who else was in the room. He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he prayed that Lily's appearance wouldn't affect what had just begun between them.
"Harry's parents," she whispered. "Oh, I've heard so much about you."
"You must be Hermione," Lily said. "Albus has told me that you're one of Harry's best friends."
"That's me," he froze when her hand reached the back of his neck and started to rub small circles as if to comfort him. "You should be very proud of him."
"We are," James said.
"He looks just like you, but he has his mother's eyes."
"I cannot wait to meet him," Lily sighed. "What just happened?"
"Nothing for you to worry about, Severus takes good care of me," she pulled away from him and smiled.
"What's going on here?" Sirius approached the bed, and it soon registered on the mutt that there was only one bed. "Are you sleeping with a student?"
Sirius meant for the comment to pack a punch, and it did. It didn't matter that they were now ageless, she was still very young compared to him.
"Yes he is," Hermione said and Severus stared at her in shock. "We sometimes sleep close, especially when camping — I find it quite relaxing sleeping next to him."
"That's not what I meant, Hermione, he's old enough to be your father."
"Yet, it's none of your business," she plumped her pillow and lay back down. "I'm rather tired and I would like to get some sleep. We can talk in the morning."
"Wait a minute—"
James started to push Sirius from the room. "Goodnight," Lily said, and Severus watched the door shut behind them.
He waited for a few moments then rolled Hermione over to face him. "What did you see?"
Her eyes filled with tears. "Death Eaters were torturing Draco…I could hear Harry nearby screaming for them to stop."
He stroked her face. "I'm sorry that you have to see those things."
"I just...I feel bad because I want their pain to end, but I don't want them to join us here yet."
"I know," he placed a kiss to her forehead. "We'll figure this out, I promise."
She grabbed the hand that rested on her cheek. "Are you all right? I know it was hard to see her again."
"Don't worry," he shook his head. "I was shocked at first, but now it feels like nothing's changed."
Hermione smiled. "We should get some sleep."
…
There was only a few times Severus had imagined what it would be like to wake up next to someone. He'd pictured it being like Muggle movies where the woman is asleep in a graceful position while the sun bounced off her clear skin. Unfortunately, that wasn't the sight that greeted him as he awoke.
A foot dug into his side and its occasional kicking is what nudged him awake. He mindlessly moved around his arm only for his fingers to brush against a soft calf. Severus sat up suddenly to inspect the odd situation, and he couldn't help the laughter that tumbled from his lips.
Hermione now slept horizontally across the bed. Her feet were against his side while one arm acted as a pillow for her head and the other dangled off the bed. Her curls seemed to have grown in size while she slept and it was hard for him to make out her face through her mane of hair.
His laughter caused her to stir in her sleep and she slowly started to wake up.
"Well aren't you an active sleeper," he said through his laughter.
She looked at him in confusion for a few moments then became aware of where she was on the bed. She started to laugh with him, and eventually threw her face into a pillow in embarrassment.
"I slept well despite my position," she muttered.
"So it would seem."
She turned her head to face him and she cautiously reached out to touch his arm. "It was nice waking up next to you," she whispered.
"Well, you didn't really wake up next to me—"
"You know what I mean!" she sat up and pushed her hair from her face. "I'm glad that I get to wake up next to you from now on."
His chest felt tight. "I found myself not opposed to the idea."
Hermione smirked and kissed his cheek. "Shall we have breakfast?"
The rest of the morning was spent following each other around the endless castle. They shared meaningful conversation or bickered over meaningless subjects. Severus did his best to keep her mind off the visions that haunted her, and he also kept his mind away from the arrival of three of the marauders.
Severus smiled to himself as he watched her gaze at the garden below the balcony they stood on. She sat on the edge and beamed down at the colourful land, and she occasionally glanced up at the sky to see Fawkes flying about. I wonder what I ever did to deserve a lover such as her?
He knew that they didn't quite qualify as lovers yet, but he wouldn't give it long until Hermione brought him a plan of how things would work from now on. She seems to have an answer for everything, whereas I have no idea what to do around her.
A throat cleared behind them and they both turned to stare at Lily. Great.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but may I talk to you, Severus," she smiled at him, and he glanced back at Hermione who continued to look down at the garden.
He walked over to her so they were just out of Hermione's ear shot. He didn't want her to hear anything that might cause doubts of his feelings towards her; it didn't matter that he held no romantic feelings towards Lily anymore, he just didn't want her misunderstanding something.
"How are you?" she asked.
"I'm well," he glanced back at Hermione then returned to Lily. "How are you?"
She sighed. "I'm happy that I get to see you again," her hand came to rest on his arm and he gritted his teeth. "I've always hated how things ended with us."
"Lily," he shook off her touch. "I don't want to talk about it. You've shaped my life as much as I'm willing to allow you to. I don't blame anyone for anything anymore, and I'm happy with my life now."
Lily smiled. "I'm glad things have worked out for you, Severus, I hope that we can rekindle our friendship—"
THUD.
No one could mistake such a sound. Severus identified its cause immediately — a large object or person landing hard on concrete. His heart made a similar sound as it fell to his feet. He turned quickly to look back at where Hermione had been sat on the edge of the balcony.
Gone.
Staggered breaths forced their way out of his mouth then he raced over to look down at the garden. A few of the visitors had screamed from the sudden fright and were running over to aid the fallen girl. Severus stared down at the bloody sight of Hermione's body sprawled out on the ground below, then he bellowed out a loud "no!" and took off running down the nearby staircase that led to the garden.
He pushed his way through the forming crowd and skidded to his knees by her side. Severus felt nothing but panic, even though he knew she couldn't die here, the sight of her lifeless body broke his heart.
"She'll be fine," a voice whispered.
"Don't worry," said another.
However, Severus' panic wouldn't disappear until he saw her eyes open. He waited patiently as did the others, and a few gasped at the sight of the pool of blood slowly shrinking as it returned to her body. It still stained her clothing and hair, but none of that mattered when he heard her sharp intake of breath as she sat up straight gasping for air.
Severus reached out and roughly pulled her against his chest, not caring that there was people around to witness such a sensitive moment. He held her tight and pressed a kiss to her wild head of hair. She returned his embrace, then gently separated herself from him.
"My head…" she winced and massaged her temple.
"You scared us all, dear," a female gardener said. "I watched you fall backwards off the balcony."
"I...did...I fell?" she blinked a few times.
"Let's give them some space," a man said, leading everyone away from the once distressing scene.
"I started to have a vision, and I passed out…" she glanced up at the balcony she'd fallen from. "Bloody hell!"
Severus reached up his shaking hands to cup her cheeks and she looked into his startled eyes. "You…" he wanted to scold her for making him panic so much. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry," she smiled innocently. "It happened fast."
"That's OK," he kissed her forehead then quickly bundled her back into his chest.
"Severus, I'm fine," she mumbled against his shirt.
"I know," he whispered back, but still held on tight to her.
"Are you all right?" Hermione pulled away from him to look at Lily.
"I'm fine," she replied with a smile. "I just felt lightheaded and forgot that I was on a balcony."
Severus knew that telling Lily about Hermione's visions would cause her to panic, so it was better to keep it a secret until they can figure out what's actually happening to her. A crack of apparition caught their attention, and Albus smiled down at them.
"What are you doing on the floor?"
"I fell," Severus helped her to her feet, and she quickly brushed the dust off them both.
"You fell?" Albus raised his white brow.
"I'm OK, so it doesn't matter."
"Very well," he sighed. "I'm afraid I must disturb your day and ask you both to follow me."
Lily opened her mouth to say something but Severus shook his head at her. He firmly grasped Hermione's hand and they followed behind Albus. They soon arrived at Merlin's observatory, and joined the ancient wizard at the long table.
"Welcome all," he said. "As you can see, the bird has disappeared."
"What do you mean disappeared?" Severus asked.
"He vanished before my eyes, and I assume his master brought him back to whatever realm he belongs to," Merlin got to his feet and pushed a scroll in their direction. Hermione unravelled it and used the weights to lay it flat. "That is a brief map of what the gateway to Hell looks like. We only employ five Gatekeepers to that realm, so we have little knowledge of the area."
Severus remembered that those who greeted others at the gateway to Heaven were called Guardians. I wonder if you have to be trained specially to become a Gatekeeper?
"Does that mean somebody had to process Voldemort?" Hermione looked at Merlin curiously.
Albus rested his hands on the back of the chair opposite them. "That's the thing, nobody has spotted Voldemort go through."
Hermione turned to him with shock on her face, and Severus couldn't stop the chill that shot up his spine. After all the fighting and killing, Voldemort wasn't burning in the depths of Hell like he deserved to.
"But, he's dead. I saw his body. He's dead!" Hermione got to her feet and pushed her hair away from her face.
"I know, dear," Merlin said. "He died, but somehow he's gone missing."
"How does a soul go missing?" Severus looked down at the map in annoyance. "Out of all the souls that could go missing, why does it have to be his?"
"Severus, we assumed that maybe his soul got lost, forever destined to float around without taking on a body," Albus explained. "But, if Hermione's visions hold any validity then I must say that something is amiss with this eternal plane."
Severus reached up to grab Hermione's shaking hand and guided her back to the seat. She gnawed on her bottom lip so he rested his hand on her thigh. He couldn't reassure her that they'd figure this out, because something as complex as this was beyond his power.
Merlin walked up the steps to the glowing orb. "There have always been rumours about a third realm existing. It was once thought that it was some form of purgatory, but many complex people arrive at the gateway without having experienced such a place."
"So, Voldemort might have escaped to this place?" Hermione reached down to grab his hand. "How many other souls have gone missing?" Merlin and Albus exchanged a look with one another. Well this cannot be good.
"That doesn't matter," Merlin waved his hand at them.
"Of course it matters!" Severus snapped. "Tell me, do Seers lose their ability when they arrive here?"
Albus cleared his throat. "Yes."
"Then why is it that Hermione has visions? Do you not think there might be a link between that and Voldemort going missing?"
Merlin put his back to them and focused on the orb. Are these men senile?
"Who?" Hermione whispered. "Whose souls have gone missing?"
Merlin started to pace around until he came to a stop, scratching his stubble. "The afterlife existed long before I arrived here. When I died, I was welcomed by a small village of people wishing to hear my story. From then, they decided that I was worthy to be their leader, to which I declined; I've never wished to rule over something so big, therefore, I proposed a plan of order. Guardians and Gatekeepers didn't exist until I implemented them; I decided to create a functioning society where everyone could live in harmony, and it worked."
"I've scanned through all the magic I can access, and I still have no idea who created such a place. For all I know they still exist, but choose to keep themselves hidden because they don't wish to lead the afterlife they created. Not even the greatest wizard in the world can alter the layers of magic that surround this place, but I can add to them, so I've done the best that I can do to keep everyone safe. However, there have always been oddities."
"Just tell us who hasn't arrived in Heaven," Severus glared up at Merlin, knowing that the man wished to weave a story around the truth.
Merlin sighed. "There is no record of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin."
All Severus could do was grumble under his breath and rub his forming headache.
AN:/ So the plot thickens! This story will end up having a lot of layers to it, so if anyone ever gets confused don't hesitate to ask me for a recap! Just to clear some things up, Hermione and Severus + Death Eaters and Voldemort, were the only major losses during the fighting. Remus is still back in the real world, but don't worry we'll see familiar faces soon enough! Harry and Draco will arrive as comrades, which will soon develop into something else, so remember that there's still a lot more to come!
We will also be meeting the two female founders within a few chapters!
Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed, let me know what you think of this one!