"Hermione!" Remus Lupin threw his arms wide, and Hermione couldn't stop herself from running into his embrace.
"Are you okay? Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? Why didn't you wait for Harry or me to help?"
Hermione continued to babble against Remus' chest as he held her tight. She hated that he was being kept in this awful place, hated that he was away from her. Ever since she found him in that dusty, old bookstore all those months ago, he had become a constant in her life, someone else who was running, someone she could focus on and not have to examine her own life too closely. They weren't lovers, yet, but Hermione thought they could be. Easily. They just needed more time.
But now, they were out of time.
Just as she vowed to aid Severus, she had promised Remus to help him reclaim his life. She nursed him physically and emotionally, preparing Wolfsbane while they talked of lost comrades, friends, and lovers. She held him in silence the first time he returned from visiting that bitch Andromeda who dared to keep him from seeing his son. Her anger had sent her directly into research mode the next day. Remus would have his son back.
But not if he stayed in Azkaban.
She took a deep breath and pushed back from his embrace so she could look at him. His amber eyes, always so full of emotion, entranced her. She desperately wanted to see those eyes crinkle in happiness, twinkle with mischief again. Cupping his cheek in her palm, she stood on tiptoe and placed a gentle, chaste kiss on his lips.
"Marry me, Remus," she whispered against his neck. "Let's let the Ministry bind us together so you can get out of here and come home. With me. We'll clear your name and get your son back. I swear, Remus! I will do everything I can to help you. I will not allow you to rot here."
"Hermione," Remus interrupted, his voice husky. "I don't know what to say."
Say yes."
"I can't ask this of you Hermione." He gently removed her from his embrace so that he was holding her at arms' length.
"Yes, you can," she persisted.
Remus released her, running his fingers through his sandy hair and sighing deeply. "Please, sit." He gestured to a rickety chair at a wobbly table that comprised the visitors room at Azkaban as he commenced pacing the small area.
Hermione watched him with wary eyes. She wasn't big on marriage — and it certainly wasn't something she had thought about doing before now — but it was the only thing she could think of to get Remus out of here, which was Priority One. Priority Two was getting the charges dropped and reuniting Remus with Teddy. After that, they could address what that might mean for them beyond a superficial level. In the grander scheme, getting married to help a man she had grown fond of during the last eight months was a small sacrifice.
"There's something you need to know," Remus said slowly. "About me. About Severus."
Hermione looked at him, noting the anxiety radiating from his features. This is going to be bad, she thought as she perched on top of a rickety chair.
"Do you know why I finally decided to reveal myself here again? Why I chose yesterday to announce that I was alive?"
Hermione shook her head.
"I heard about Severus' sentence. I decided to come forward and volunteer to bind myself to him. To give him the chance at a life he's never had."
"Why? You two loathe each other."
Remus kneeled before her, taking her hands in his. "Severus and I have a complicated relationship. We aren't friends, nor are we enemies. We're lovers. Or at least we were, or had been."
Hermione felt her mouth drop open. She knew that Remus felt a sense of gratitude toward Severus for giving him the courage to return to this world, but she had no idea that the two of them had a more intimate history.
"But Tonks," she protested.
"Was a wonderful woman. I did love her in my own way," he assured her. "Severus is not really a relationship-type of man. We were more about anger and stress reduction. Ours was always a volatile pairing. But there was always something underlying, something deeper that neither of us have dared examine too closely."
"You love him," Hermione stated, suddenly sure of it. "Even after all that you two have been through, have done to each other, you are in love with him."
Suddenly she felt silly for being here, for thinking that she had sensed something between her and the man before her that obviously existed only in her imagination.
"Yes, I believe I am. I think Severus returns the feelings, even if he would never say so." Remus' grip tightened around her fingers. "But I'd be lying if I didn't confess to feeling
something for you these last few months." He brushed his fingers against her cheek. "I think we could have been happy together. But I couldn't let Severus face the rest of his life here."
"And now you both are facing the same fate."
"Yes, well, events didn't turn out quite as I had imagined," Remus confessed with a slight laugh.
"No, I image not," she said, covering his hand with her own. "While we're in confessional mode, there is something you ought to know. A month before our paths crossed, Severus had found me. I was drunk and in a bad place mentally, as was he. One thing led to another, and…well…" She let her voice trail off before adding, "He was gone before I woke."
She locked her gaze with Remus' searching eyes. Moments past in silence before he spoke.
"There may be a way for this to work yet."
"He suggested what?" Harry's voice rang out, causing Hermione to grab his arm and drag him bodily into the hallway, away from the remaining Order members gathering in Godric's Hollow, where Harry had restored his family home, to discuss the fates of their two spies.
Hermione had hoped to have this discussion with Harry before anyone had arrived, but luck was not on her side today. Instead, she pulled him up the stairs and into the library before locking the door and casting a silencing spell.
"He asked if I would consider being bonded to both of them," she repeated, turning to face her best friend.
"Why?" asked a dumbfounded Harry.
"I think they may be in love," she said with a shrug.
"What about you? Don't you deserve a chance to be married to someone who loves you? If you bond with them, you won't be able to marry anyone."
"Harry, this isn't about love. At least not where I am concerned."
Harry pulled her into a hug.
"You're always trying to fix things for everyone else," he said into her hair. "What about doing what you need to do? Why are you even considering this? And why is it that you didn't seem too shocked to find out either of them were still alive?"
Hermione pulled away and sat down on the couch. Harry followed. She turned to face him.
"Because I knew," she confessed. "I saw Severus once shortly after moving to Paris. It was about six weeks later that I crossed paths with Remus. He and I, well, we stayed in contact and became friends. I think we both needed someone who knew what the other had been through in order to heal."
"You really care for him, don't you?"
"He's my friend, Harry."
"He's more than a friend." Before she could protest, he continued, "I am not implying anything happened between the two of you. It's just that you get this strange look on your face when you talk about Remus."
"It doesn't matter how I feel," she said with a wave of her hand. "All that matters is that we get them out of Azkaban, the sooner the better. The rest can be dealt with later."
"I just don't want to see you get hurt," he said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder.
"I know." She smiled at Harry. "Besides, neither would dare hurt me knowing the Savior of the Wizarding World would hex them for even thinking about it."
"Damn straight!"
They both laughed, though neither's heart was really in it.
"Will you send up Ron?" Hermione asked hesitantly. "I feel I owe him a private explanation."
Harry nodded and pulled Hermione into another hug before leaving the room.
Silence weighed heavy in the air around the three people sitting in the rickety chairs in the cold, impersonal visitors room in Azkaban.
Hermione kept her eyes trained on her interlaced fingers, her knuckles white with tension.
"Why?" It was the low voice of Severus Snape that final broke the silence.
"It's the best option for all involved," Remus said.
"No," Severus admonished.
"Why ever not?" Hermione ask, finally daring to raise her eyes to the men before her.
"How can you even contemplate this?" Severus stared at Lupin in disgust. "You would ask her to bind herself to us for life?"
"I've already agreed to it," Hermione reminded him.
"Of course," Snape said. "She's a bleeding heart, Lupin, and you are taking advantage of her."
"Severus—" both Lupin and Hermione started.
Snape raised a hand to halt them. "Besides," he continued, "I have no desire to be bound to another person ever again."
" So you'd rather stay in Azkaban than agree to this?" Lupin asked.
"And just what exactly am I agreeing to? Married life and living happily ever after? Do grow up!"
Hermione watched as Remus' face fell. Her heart ached for him, even knowing he loved Severus and not her. Maybe Severus and Harry were right. Maybe she was just setting herself up for more emotional pain.
She hadn't realized the men had stopped talking until she felt a hand lifting her chin and was surprised to see Severus' black eyes boring into hers. "Hermione, why are you doing this?"
She felt him prod gently into her mind, and she dropped her guard, welcoming him into her thoughts. She showed him the feelings of outrage and injustice she felt at both of their sentences, the desire to see them free and living their lives, the desire to right a wrong.
"Not good enough," he said softly, their minds still connected.
This time, she showed him the ones she wouldn't say out loud. She thought about the night in the bar and what had happened later in her bedroom. How she felt discovering he was alive and then discovering the delights of his body. She shared the regret of waking alone and the concern for his safety that followed for months afterward.
"And Lupin," Severus prompted, his voice betraying his projected unaffectedness.
She showed him images of her and Remus crying and cuddling in front of the fire, of the slow building of their friendship, of the deepening of her feelings for the werewolf. The indignation she felt at his being barred from his son. Her disappointment upon finding out about his relationship with Severus. Her drive to set it right, to let the two men who never stood a chance before to finally find happiness together.
She felt the emptiness as Severus withdrew from her mind.
"Hermione," he whispered, wiping a tear from her eye. She followed his disparate gaze to Remus who looked helpless under Severus' accusing stare.
"What did you tell her about us?" Snape demanded once the door had closed behind Hermione.
"Nothing that wasn't true!" Remus protested.
"The chit is in love with you, and you're trying to convince her to bind herself to us for life so we can shag in peace?"
"That is not what I suggested!"
"Lupin!" Snape cut him off. "She's barely an adult. She idolizes you and always wants to do what's right. Did you really think she would say no to your suggestion, no matter the cost to her personally?"
"I didn't think—"
"No, you didn't."
Silence once again fell heavy in the room as the two men were lost in their thoughts.
"We can't do this," Snape said with a heavy sigh. "She fancies herself in love with you. It's not fair to her to be trapped with us."
"Is there an 'us,'?" Though he tried for nonchalance, the uncertainty in his voice was clear.
Severus studied the other man intently.
"Aren't we a little old for this, Lupin?"
"Severus Snape, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you truly feel nothing for me after all this time."
"I feel a lot of things toward you," Snape answered snarkily.
"Would you really rather rot in Azkaban than be with me?"
There was a long pause, where only the breathing of two men filled the air, before Snape whispered a barely audible, "no." Before he registered what was happening, he was gathered in Lupin's arms and being snogged most soundly. Giving himself over to the only other person he had loved besides Lily, Snape surrendered to the kiss.
The banging on the door by the guard reminded them of their surroundings, forcing them apart.
"Please, Severus," Remus begged. "Give us this chance."
"What about Hermione? I've spent the better part of my life regretting tying myself to people. I don't want her to feel the same."
Remus cupped Severus' face in his hands. "You have feelings toward her, don't you?"
Snape rolled his eyes.
"You do! "Remus insisted. "Something happened that night between the two of you."
"Of course something happened; we shagged," Snape said in exasperation.
"Besides that," Remus persisted. "I see it in her, too, the way her expression changes when I say your name."
"That's because you're breaking her heart, you dumb dog, by reminding her you care for me and not her."
"But I do care for her!"
Snape locked eyes with Remus and dove into his mind. He found many of the same memories he had seen in Hermione's: them taking comfort in each other, developing a friendship, both wondering if it could be more. And then Severus had been arrested, and everything had changed.
Snape withdrew and sat wearily upon the chair. "You should marry her," he said, defeated. "You two could be happy."
"And what of you? What if I can't be happy without you? And can you honestly say you feel nothing for her?"
Snape was quiet for a moment before muttering, "Sentimental fool."
The three of them were once again stuck in a waiting room. This time, instead of the visitors room in Azkaban, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin were pacing a small room outside of Courtroom Five, waiting for the Minister of Magic to approve their proposal and legally bind the trio, thus releasing Severus and Remus into Hermione's care.
"Miss Granger." A clerk had peaked his head around the door. "The Minster wishes to have a word."
Giving a quick glance toward the men, Hermione followed the clerk into the courtroom where the Minister and what looked like the full Wizengamot sat. She schooled her face before the surprise could show.
"Minister," she acknowledged with a nod of her head.
"Miss Granger," Minister of Magic Cole Cresswell replied. "As you can see, we consider your proposal to be a very serious matter. Surely you understand just how unusual your request is?"
Hermione merely nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
"You do understand what you are agreeing to, don't you?" asked an elderly woman to the Minister's left.
"If you find me acceptable as a warden, both Remus Lupin and Severus Snape will be bound to me magically, and I will be responsible for their actions."
"You understand that this binding is permanent?" asked a kind-looking young wizard whose gaze seemed filled with pity.
"Yes," Hermione said, trying not to let the exasperation come through in her voice. "The process functions much like a marriage. Our magical energies will be bound and cannot be unbound by any way other than death, and as neither man seems to take to death too well, I can safely assume this binding will most definitely be forever."
"And you still want to do this?"
Hermione held her head high, looked Cresswell square in the eye and respond with a strong, sure, "yes."
"Then you shall have your wish," he said, sounding like he was taking joy in something that would obviously cause Hermione much pain.
"Marsters." He gestured to the guard. "Bring in the prisoners."