A/N: Alright, here's the next chapter. And there's definitely not many left. I have noticed that I make a significant amount more errors on my kindle (much easier to tell when I've made a typo on here) so I tried to make sure that I checked over this chapter, but there definitely might be several typos. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading (I think you'll be pleased with some of the outcome) and I chose once again not to write the scene, because I could never do J. K. Rowling justice on it. She wrote it perfectly. Also…I WROTE 6 PAGES FOR THIS CHAPTER…OMG I THINK THAT'S A RECORD FOR THIS FIC!

Chapter 47

It was a long, slow walk back to the castle, and Hermione refused to let go of Severus. At one point, she told Luna to go on ahead, and thanked her for her help. She knew that Luna was worried about Harry, and knew she could help her husband by herself. She was used to it. She wanted to ask him why he lied to her, why he didn't fight, but she was afraid of distressing him.

They were half way to the castle when Severus stopped walking and Hermione helped him sit down on a rock

"You shouldn't have left them. He will go looking for them if he wins," Severus scolded weakly.

"He would never find them. I cast a lot of charms, including genetic glamour and power binding," she said, thinking back to how hard it was to leave them, "besides, if anyone here is going to be mad, it should be me. You looked me in the eyes and lied to me. You flat out lied to me," she couldn't hold back the tears, though she tried, and wondered how she still had any left to spare, "you lied to me without a second thought and I almost lost you. You didn't even try to stay alive."

"Hermione, I was in love with one woman for most of my life. When I lost her, I wanted to do everything in my power to avenge that, and accepted my fate in that moment I would die to destroy Him. I never expected to fall in love again; I never even tried to move on. I was too stuck in my anger to try."

"But you said you love me, and you love them. Why couldn't you even try," Hermione's words were almost impossible to understand through her tears, no matter how many times she tried to hold her breathe. And every time she took a deep breathe, another sob let loose and shook her body.

Severus pulled her close, holding her as tight as he could, which wasn't very tightly at all in the given his condition, "I do love you. I fell in love with you, and it scared me. You are my student, and, though far from anything like her, you are also very much like her. You are smart, and beautiful, and compassionate. But I gave up living a long time ago. And something like that doesn't just go away. I wanted to live; I wanted to have a family with you. I wanted to watch as our daughters grew up. But I didn't have the will power anymore. That died a long time ago and whatever was left was slowly destroyed by Him."

"I don't accept that," Hermione scored, ignoring the fact that he had just compared her to Harry's mother, "You lied to me, to get me to do what you wanted. You didn't even think about how I would feel. You didn't think about how I would feel about losing you, my husband and the man that I love, and the father of my children. You didn't think about how I would feel raising our children alone, and not letting them get to know the real you that I only just got to know myself."

"You wouldn't have had to raise them alone, I'm sure," he said, almost sadly.

"What do you mean, Severus?"

"I know about the kiss."

"What kiss?"

"After Ron visited, I know that you kissed someone after you took off. It's a part of the fidelity charm, telling your spouse about it. I just never said anything because I knew how much you hated the situation."

Hermione was confused, she hadn't one kissed anyone in their marriage, and thought, before she remembered George kissing her, "Severus, I have not kissed anyone. That fidelity charm would tell you I was being unfaithful if I had been jumped in an alley and was being raped. George kissed me after I had gone to talk to him about what had transpired between us and Ron. I never felt anything for him past friendship, unless you consider thinking of him as a brother anything more. Ron was the only other person I ever had feelings for. And neither one of them would have been a good father to our daughters because they resented you. And I would have been put in an emotional closet, unable to express how much I actually loved you. Yes I hated the while situation at first, but I would go back and do it all over again, because I got to know the real you."

She felt awful telling at him, when she knew how weak he was right then, but he seemed determined to have this all out now. And he looked at her with sorrow in his eyes.

"Hermione, I-"

"Severus, I'm serious. I don't regret a single moment. I might have in those moments, but when I look back, the only thing I regret is how horribly I treated you. Severus, I love you, more than anything, except maybe our daughters, whom I wouldn't have without you. And that makes me love you even more."

Severus felt tears form in his own eyes. How could be have been so blind? How could he not see that she really did love him, and had always somewhere inside, admired, or at least respected him until he had killed Dumbledore? She didn't even know everything yet, and she trusted him again, and some how fell in love. He pulled her closet, making her sit in his lap, and she almost immediately tried to stand again, afraid of hurting him, but he held her there, hugging her, and let the tears fall. No one had ever seen him truly cry except Harry, when he was an infant too young to remember. He held her close, crying against her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him once more and hugged him tightly, stroking his hair gently. He cried silently, but she felt his warm tears soak through her robes and shirt.

~~~*~~~

They stayed that way for a while, far from anything going on in the castle, but they finally made their way, Severus moving a little more carefully and accepting Hermione holding him, even though he felt he no longer needed her support.

By the time they reached the castle, the battle was over. Harry had defeated Voldemort, and Hermione felt relieved. Madame Pomfrey and Minerva were bustling about helping people. When they saw Severus, they drew their wands ready to attack, but Harry had been walking by and commanded them to help. Given the events that went down, the women rushed to help take care of his bandages and Harry asked Luna to keep watch because he had to show Hermione something. Hermione had whimpered at the thought of leaving her husband alone, but he seemed to know exactly what Harry wanted and kissed her softly, telling her to go.

It wasn't easy for Hermione to watch Severus pine for Lily. And given that it was his memory, she could feel how he felt, making it even harder to be there. But the memories flashed, and there were so many with her, many times the feeling was annoyance, covering admiration for the brilliance. She was shocked that he had such a strong memory of her descending the stairs at the Yule ball, and the feeling of complete awe. She saw Severus discussing events that transpired between him and Dumbledore. But the second to last memory was stuffing the picture of their family in his robes before going to face Voldemort. In the picture, they kissed and Severus' gaze was torn between the daughter he held and his wife and other daughter. Then she saw how angry he was when he found out that Harry was meant to die the whole time, but it wasn't silly because he was Lily's son, but because he genuinely cared for the boy, despite wanting to hate him for being James' son.

They emerged from the memories and Hermione felt flustered. She has seen so much, learned so much, and was going to make sure to return to get his robes that they had left behind when bringing him back. Hermione hugged Harry and thanked him, before rushing back to the great hall.

She wanted to go see Severus immediately, but she knew she had to see other people. She started with the Weasleys. Molly immediately pulled her into a hug, crying. And she looked down at Ron's cold, lifeless body. She was still in shock that he was gone. She saw Remus holding his wife's hand, crying. And she felt her own tears come as she walked over and hugged him. Apparently Dolohov had cast a spell, it hit her. Using occulmenes, she saw that Tonks had been hit by a purple flame. She remembered the counter spell that Severus had casted at the healers, and cast it. She didn't expect it to wake her up immediately, but it did, and Remus embraced his wife happily, swearing that he would never let her go again.

Hermione smiled and made her way back to her husband. Happy that he was still alive. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead softly.

"Are you cleared for travel," she asked, wanting to go get their family back and knowing he would to.

He chuckled, "Not at all, but we really shouldn't wait, because I want to spend every second of every day with our family for as long as I live."

Hermione hugged him tight and kissed him passionately before pulling away and taking his hand, as they left the castle.

~~~*~~~

There was a crack outside, and then the twins started crying. The woman grabbed her hair, frustrated after they had just put the two girls to sleep, and then heard a knock at the door. It was early in the morning for visitors, and she was frustrated. She opened the door, and saw the girl from the photo with the girls.

"Have you any idea what time it is? This is no hour-"

Suddenly something washed over her, memories flashed vividly before her eyes. When the flood of memories stopped, she saw Hermione, and hugged her tight, crying. Hermione heard her own daughters crying and asked if they could please come in, almost running to her children as soon as they were let through the door. Severus stayed behind, and introduced himself to her mother, who seemed wary of the tall brooding man wearing no shirt and a bandaged torso, since they'd been in such a rush to see their daughters, they hadn't thought to put a shirt on him.

Hermione returned to the doorway, holding both her children, "Won't you guys come in and sit, mum where's dad?"

Severus finally moved, holding his arms out and taking Dahlia, holding her close. He never thought he'd hold his daughters again.

Mrs. Granger called out for her husband, who came down the stairs groggily before being swept over by a rush of memories. He looked at his daughter, holding his granddaughter, and rushed forward, hugging her.

"Can we all go and talk," Hermione asked with a sad smile.

"Of course, dear," Hermione's mother said as she motioned for them to go to the living room.

Hermione's parents sat down in the two chairs across from their couch, as Hermione and Severus sat down on the couch, Hermione moving as close to Severus as she could, laying Rose down on her lap, still supporting her head.

"So, Hermione, what did you want to discuss?"

"A lot. I don't think you ever met Severus. He is-was, my potions professor at Hogwarts. A lot of things have happened since you two moved here," Hermione began, knowing that her parents did not like where this was going, "As I explained in my letter, I got married and as you can see, had children. Though, we didn't realize we were expecting twins until-"

Hermione's father stood up, cutting her off, enraged as he connected the dots, "You are her teacher?! And you married her and impregnated her during her last year of schooling?!"

Hermione was sure that if Severus hasn't been holding Dahlia, her father would have killed him. Instead she picked up Rose, and handed her to Severus, and stood up, holding her hand out to her father.

"Dad, it's not so simple. Okay, please listen to the whole story first. Please, daddy, give him a chance."

"But I remember you talking about him, isn't he the one that killed your headmaster," he demanded, putting a sneered emphasis on killed, "Isn't he the professor that you said tortured you and your friends?"

"Yes," Hermione said shyly, "but dad, there's more to it than that. And I need you to sit down and listen to the whole story without interrupting, or we will walk out that door and you will never see me, or your grandchildren, ever again." She was bluffing of course, but she said it with such fierce sincerity, that her father shut his mouth and sat down.

And Hermione told her tale, starting with the one night between her and Ron and what it led to, explaining how she got pregnant despite them actually using some protection, and getting captured and what happened before. Her mother cried a little at the thought, but Hermione ignited that and kept moving. She explained how Severus married her to protect her, and left out the part about their first dance and first time, which she recounted must have actually been when she got pregnant because of the spell. Once her story was told, her parents looked between her and Severus wide eyes, mouths hanging slightly open.

Severus had interjected once or twice, and after Hermione had finished her story, he apologized to her parents, ensuring that had there been any other circumstances, that he would not have gone about any relationship this way, and admitted that he probably would not have pursued a relationship with her or any other student, but he was very happy that they had a chance.

Hermione's mother was the first to speak, "Thank you, for doing what you could to protect her. I know that it could not have been an easy situation."

Hermione looked to get father, worried that he would explode any minute. He had years in his eyes, and he looked at Severus with a mixture of hate and admiration. "I want her home after everything," he said, sounding like the over protective father he was being, "I do not want her living with someone she barely knows and having-relations with him."

Hermione and her mother laughed and Severus blushes, which only made Hermione, laugh even more.

"I'm being serious."

"Dad, it's not like we're dating. We're married, and parents. Plus, the Wizarding world is very strict."

"But won't he be under arrest for his actions," it was Hermione's mother that spoke.

Hermione sighed, knowing that her mother made a good point, "Most likely, yes. And there would be a trial, but that's even more reason for us to be living at home together. Because if he is arrested, and taken to prison, if we don't win the trial, we have to have as much time together as possible."

Hermione wasn't even going to let her mind dwell to the possibility of a dementor's kiss. Because it was possible that it could happen.

"I hate to leave you so soon, and I thank you for taking care of our girls, but there are things that we have to go take care of in our world. And I'd rather you stayed here until it's all cleared up."

"Honey, you said puerile died today, that you could have been one of them, please don't ask us to stay here and watch you leave."

"Mum, I need to. I promise I'll write you the second they're sure it's safe for muggles again. But I-we need to go."

"Is it safe for-"

"Mum, that letter was charmed in about a hundred ways. It was almost impossible for me to leave them here that first time. I'm not leaving their side unless I have absolutely no choice."

Her mother came forward and hugged her tight, followed by her father. Then they hugged Severus, who stood there feeling awkward while holding their girls. When he was released, he handed Dahlia to Hermione, and they walked out the door.