Hermione stopped dead at the sight as well. Her heart had to have stopped in that moment, her blood turning cold briefly. She dropped his hand, praying they hadn't seen. This was bad, very bad. Now all it would take was for one of these Death Eaters to go and tell Voldemort...they would both be as good as dead.

"Severus," one of them spoke up, sounding a little astonished. "So it's true...Lucius was right?" He looked to the others standing next to him who all wore an expression that was mutinous.

Surprisingly, Severus was able to keep his voice calm and clear. "What, pray tell, was Lucius right about," he asked, sneering at the man's name.

The one who had spoken was the only one who looked scandalized that Lucius' suspicion had been true. He looked like he was very much hoping it wasn't true. But before he could answer, Severus spoke again.

"You mean this," he said roughly, suddenly reaching over and taking hold of Hermione's upper arm very aggressively. She cried out a little; it hurt and it startled her. For a moment she felt frightened but realized this could be what saved them.

Roughly, Severus jerked her closer to him. The pain in her arm where he had hold of it was excruciating; she knew she wouldn't have to fake tears while he was doing this. Feigning what she hoped the Death Eaters would take as defeat, she hung her head slightly, biting her lip to try and offset the pain in her arm.

"Yes," Severus continued, "yes, this must be to what dear old Lucius was referring." No one spoke so he continued. "I'm sure he told you of a theory that I am—"

"—Saving her...in love with her," another Death Eater spat in clear disgust, cutting him off. Severus raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Really now, is that so," he said with mock questioning. "Well I can assure you he is wrong," he continued in a voice of utter repulsion that such a thing could ever occur. "Although," he added in a lighter, more optimistic tone, looking down at Hermione's shaking body, "that's not what she thinks..." he trailed off.

At this Hermione's head came up and she looked at him through her hair, which had fallen over her face. Her eyes probably held all of the hurt in the world in them; he had said it so sincerely, she was afraid for a moment that it was true.

"I have to keep up pretenses, you understand," he continued to the Death Eaters, forcing himself to look away from Hermione's pained face. "Otherwise she'd have never told me anything about Potter's whereabouts you see..."

"I trusted you," Hermione muttered venomously, now glaring at him and shaking her head. "How could you?" Severus ignored her.

"So you know of the boy's location then," the first one asked curiously, seeming to have believed Severus' statement as to the reason Hermione was there.

"That is for the Dark Lord's ears to hear, McNair," Severus answered bluntly. "For his ears only..."

"How exactly can we be so sure that you are truthful about these so-called 'pretenses,'" the skeptical one said out of nowhere. Severus drew himself up to full height and took a step forward.

"Are you questioning me," he snarled. The death eater too rose up more and began to move towards Severus, but McNair put a hand out to stop him.

"No one is questioning you, Severus...you have obviously proved your loyalty time and time again..."

"Then why exactly are you here," Severus said, becoming annoyed. "If not to question my loyalty, that is?"

McNair paused before answering. "Lucius and Narcissa are dead, Severus," he said assertively. Severus pulled a concerned face.

"How?"

"Murdered," another death eater answered, stepping forward.

Severus turned to him. "And how, pray tell, did this unfortunate tiding happen to come to pass?"

There was another silence in the room as each of the five visitors seemed to be contemplating who was going to say it.

"The spell found...your wand to be the source of the curse, Severus," said McNair cautiously.

Severus did not show he was fazed in the slightest, but Hermione felt his pulse speed up slightly on her arm.

"Come to bring me to the Dark Lord then, have you," he sneered. No one answered. Hermione tried to control her own breathing, hoping her nervousness wasn't a dead giveaway that she was thinking the truth.

Time seemed to drag on forever in those moments right then. Severus was doing some deep thinking internally...knowing that his time of keeping his double life secret may very well be nearing the end quickly.

"Is it true then," another Death Eater spoke up, breaking the silence, the condemnation like bitterness in his voice. When Severus neither spoke, nor looked up the rest of them rose a bit, perhaps starting to understand.

He was thinking so hard he barely even heard the accusations and promises of justice. Severus, however, stunned every person in the room when he suddenly pulled Hermione the rest of the distance to him and kissed her with more force and passion than ever before.

It was not for show. Hermione knew this...the way it felt, she knew he had just made up his mind about something and was acting on it in a way that told her he was very, very sure of his decision.

She dared not move as they broke apart, not needing to look over at the Death Eaters to know each and everyone had their jaws dropped. None of them knew what to say as to what they just witnessed. Severus and Hermione regarded each other for a few seconds before someone finally spoke up, seeming outraged.

"And that was pretenses, now was it," the skeptical death eater spat, outraged.

Without looking away from Hermione who watched him, seeming unable to move, he shook his head after a moment.

And then, looking up straight into the face of the inquiring Death Eater, he stated in a voice strong and clear: "No."

There was no time to think after that. Severus pulled Hermione around to his other side, nearly throwing her to his right to keep her out of the way of a curse that had just been thrown at him.

She landed with a thud behind one of the large circular pillars as the entire room exploded in spells being cast every which way, five against one.

Severus threw out curse after curse, hitting targets and being hit himself as he raged on, the decision he'd just made very clear to everyone in the room. He fell more than a few times, being grazed and also hit by a curse or jinx, bleeding from many areas now.

Hermione didn't know what to do, which aggravated her. She had of course left her wand in the other room so she was in real trouble if Severus didn't prevail. Looking around her, she noticed she was pretty close to the fireplace and could floo to McGonagall for help. It would be risky, she knew that, but Severus couldn't hold them all off alone, even though the count was now down to three.

Taking the risk, Hermione threw herself at the hearth, somehow managing to grab floo powder as she got in, saying her destination as clearly as possible. No one seemed to notice what she'd done which she was grateful for.

Professor McGonagall jumped with a start from where she sat at her desk when Hermione flew out of her fireplace. It was dark in the office; Hermione had a feeling she'd just been doing some heavy thinking.

"Death Eaters," she panted frantically, pushing herself off of the floor, "upstairs...need—help..."

McGonagall wasted no time to rush and help Hermione up before moving back over to the fireplace with haste, but Hermione stopped her.

"No, we can't go that way," she said, going towards the door. "One of them might have seen me...we won't know if they'll be waiting for me to come back."

McGonagall only hesitated a moment before she understood that 'one of them' was a Death Eater and that the young witch was right. "We'll take the stairs," she agreed and the two of them ran out of the office and back to where Hermione had come from.

It was late; therefore the castle was deserted, making things a lot easier for the two witches as they ran along the corridors. Hermione needed to get back; she had to get there in time...

Finally, they ascended the long spiral staircase to the headmaster's office where the sounds of the duel were still echoing off the stone walls, giving Hermione the slightest bit of hope that all was not quite lost yet.

When she reached the top first, Hermione tried to open the door, but to her utter dismay it wouldn't budge. Frantically, she started to wrench at the handle, completely forgetting McGonagall was behind her with a wand.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall said in a panicked, yet slightly obvious voice, one that told her to stop. She laid a hand on Hermione's lower arm briefly to calm her. Hermione took a steadying breath, muttering a quiet apology and shaking her head.

McGonagall moved to unlock the door herself, but no sooner did she step forward, the door itself exploded, shattering all over the two of them.

Standing in the doorway in complete shock, Hermione's heart sped up and she began to panic again as nothing could be seen in the dust-clouded room ahead of her. The worst things were going through her mind. Any moment now, she knew it, the Death Eaters that survived would come after them, proclaiming their victory...their sick, twisted victory...and she didn't know what she would do then.

Not a sound issued from the office. Hermione and Professor McGonagall waited with bated breath as the dust cleared. Cautiously, when nothing seemed to be happening, Hermione took a few steps into the doorframe and strained her eyes to see something, anything.

She could have been imagining it, but she thought that through the clearing dust she saw a figure—a lone figure standing there...or rather, hunched over. As the room cleared even more, she saw that it was indeed a person and to her immense relief, not a Death Eater.

Severus looked over in her direction, seeing her as the dust nearly completely cleared out of the office where he stood, bleeding from head to toe, swearing that something had to be broken, but at least he was alive.

The last spell he'd cast had been what finished the last three Death Eaters off. Briefly thinking back, he didn't even know if what he cast was a real spell, but a combination of sorts that happened when his emotions, which were tied with his magic, got so high it caused a mass eruption of which they were staring at the aftermath of now.

Completely stunned that he was even still standing, he managed to make eye contact with Hermione, who was standing near the doorway, looking relieved yet seeming extremely frightened all at the same time. It was the last upright vision he saw as at that moment, he found himself losing consciousness and fell in a heap on the ground.

He barely opened his eyes when he felt Hermione kneel next to him, sensing how she was trying not to cry. She was frantically speaking to someone. McGonagall? Yes, sounded like it. They were saying something about the hospital wing. He wanted to protest but found no words were coming out. And then the world slipped from his vision once again.

"Floo yourself to the hospital wing, Miss Granger," McGonagall said. "Tell Madam Pomfrey what has happened and that I will be there shortly with him."

When Hermione began to protest, saying she wanted to stay with him, McGonagall only cut her off. "—You mustn't be seen...go by floo, Hermione. I will get him there safely."

Reluctantly, Hermione obeyed. When she arrived in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey nearly dropped the vile she was carrying, clearly not having been expecting someone to shoot out of her fireplace.

"Miss Granger!" She exclaimed, catching her breath and hurrying over to help Hermione up. "Where on earth did you come from? What's happened? Is Mr. Potter with you?"

These questions went in one of her ears and straight out the other, remembering how the mediwitch had no idea that she had in fact been in the castle for some time now and probably thought she was coming from somewhere else...and with Harry.

Hermione shook her head as she got up, trying as hard as she could to control her emotions while she explained what had just happened and that McGonagall was on her way here with Severus right now.

Madam Pomfrey took a moment or so to let that all sink in, and another to hide the near disgust that passed over her face as Severus' name was mentioned as to the one she'd have to be healing. Hermione let it go; Madam Pomfrey didn't know everything...she may never know everything either, but she would have to understand that Severus was good, there was no denying that anymore...no one would be able question it now.

The lit infirmary did no justice to Severus' injuries as McGonagall levitated him in. Madam Pomfrey herself gasped at what she saw and bustled over to the furthest bed down the wall, twitching the cream-colored curtain open so McGonagall could lay him down, immediately pouring a progressive healing potion down his throat.

Hermione was practically rooted to where she stood as they passed. She didn't look away though, and kept her head up, just trying to breathe. She was in a daze and didn't realize McGonagall was saying her name until she came right up in front of her.

"Hermione—" she said, putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump out of her thoughts. "Will you sit and let Madam Pomfrey fix you up? I'll be back shortly," she announced looking first over at Madam Pomfrey then back to Hermione before leaving with a nod.

It was just then that Hermione noticed she was bleeding from her temple. Robotically, she backed up and sat on a chair as Madam Pomfrey started to pour over her, applying a salve which Hermione felt working immediately and the pain started to retreat.

Madam Pomfrey finished on her as McGonagall returned to the hospital wing, parts of the hair under her hat looking wind-blown, suggesting she'd just been outside. As the two older witches were discussing what McGonagall had been doing and Madam Pomfrey prepared a tray to fix Severus up, Hermione quietly and slowly walked over to his bedside.

Her breath catching at the sight of him, she choked back a tear and ran her hand gently over his right arm, which had survived with only a few scrapes. Following it all the way up to his elbow and upon getting there, she sat down in the chair next to the bed. She heard McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey's voices lower slightly, knowing McGonagall was probably trying to explain some of what had been going on since Hermione's arrival.

Soon though, the two of them appeared at the bedside as well and Madam Pomfrey started to work. Hermione was silent for a long while as she watched. Finally she looked up at McGonagall with slight curiosity.

"Where did you go," she asked quietly, surprised at herself for asking such a question of her professor but McGonagall didn't seem offended, only nodded a few times before answering.

"He came-to slightly," she said, gesturing towards Severus. "In the corridor," she added. "He told me to go place the wards back up...to protect the school." Hermione nodded, happy to hear he'd regained some consciousness for a time.

"Well," sighed Madam Pomfrey after McGonagall explained about the wards, "certainly is good to know Hogwarts isn't under evil's control anymore."

Hermione glanced up at her briefly before looking back down to Severus with a very tender expression and a slight smile.

"No..." she said quietly, reaching up and pushing some of his hair back, still smiling a little. "It never was under evil's control." Madam Pomfrey stopped what she was doing briefly and looked at Hermione who didn't look up, then looked to McGonagall who nodded, giving Poppy a small smile of her own, thinking of just how right Hermione was.

Not too much longer after that and Madam Pomfrey announced she was finished. "He's not as good as new, but he'll live," she said, shaking her head. "He'll be needing plenty of rest," she added, and then looking to Hermione, said, "Will you make sure he does that?" Hermione nodded with a sigh, just happy he was going to be ok.

"Am I to assume that you would wish to be here tonight, Miss Granger," McGonagall asked as she rose to leave. Hermione nodded, not looking away from Severus who finally looked peaceful as he slept for once, mostly due to the potion they'd given him to ensure he didn't wake up. "I suppose I shall inform Mr. Malfoy of everyone's location," she added.

Hermione's stomach took a plunge as she heard this. She hadn't even thought about Draco since the Death Eaters showed up, and quite frankly was astounded he hadn't heard the commotion from the office.

But McGonagall didn't know what had just happened to him.

"Professor," she called after McGonagall who was heading towards the door. "There's something you need to know..."

McGonagall normally disclosed her emotions very well, but she looked absolutely horrified as Hermione recalled the events of earlier during the day.

"That's why they showed up," she said thoughtfully in regards to the Death Eaters, realizing it was because of the Malfoy's deaths. Hermione nodded sadly. "Don't worry, Miss Granger," McGonagall assured her. "I will take care of it."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, trying to smile as she turned away to go back to Severus.

Hermione reached his bedside, looking down on him with a sigh as she sat back down in the chair. For a long time, she merely pushed stray strands of hair that seemed to always fall near his eyes out of the way. It was almost calming, maybe more for her than for him.

Soon she found she couldn't keep her head up any longer, finally resting it near his shoulder, laying her arm across his torso, not quite holding him, but just to ensure he was still there with her, safe...and alive.