A/N: One line in chapter 2, one word in chapter 6, bits of chapter nine and larger bits of this final chapter have been altered from the original LJ post to strengthen the continuity.

Chapter 10

Harry found her hugging her knees on the floor next to the bound and unconscious Miranda Selwyn.

"You did it! I knew you would!" he whisper-cheered for her, but then lost his happy expression when he saw her face.

Crouching next to her, Harry wiped a tear from her cheek. "You did do it, Hermione. Nobby's alive."

Hermione's jaw dropped.

"I'll explain soon. Bring Miranda Selwyn to the lift after past-you and Snape enter the archive." With a quick squeeze of her shoulder, Harry was gone.

Hermione gulped, but was on her feet, casting Mobilicorpus at the bound witch. With easy familiarity, she Disillusioned herself, as well as Miranda, and waited. Her heart pounded when she saw Severus and her past-self enter into the twentieth century archive. Moving quickly, she and Miranda passed down the long corridor toward the lift. It wasn't long before Severus caught up to them.

"Hurry, before you see us," he said to her shimmery frame.

"Nobby's alive?" Hermione pressed.

"Wait until we're on the lift."

Practically running, they made it there, where Harry and Ron held the door open for them. Once it shut, Hermione released the spell.

"Where's Nobby?" She asked. Harry was pressing the button for level 2.

"Penn is bringing him to St. Mungo's, where word will soon spread that he's died." Ron explained with a grin.

"Why?" Hermione was beside herself.

"How else is past-Snape going to show up at Nobby's house to encounter you?" Harry answered.

"You know," Ron put in, "it's really weird to call our timeline Snape 'past-Snape.' Can't we just call him," he pointed to Severus, "future-Snape and call it good?"

"No," Severus answered.

"Ron, how long have you known?" Hermione asked. "But more importantly, how is Nobby alive?"

"Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes Shield Cloak." Ron grinned at her. "Charmed especially to repel the Entrail-Expelling Curse. You should thank George for that later."

Hermione leaned against the wall of the elevator. "I don't believe it!"

"And I told Ron only a few hours ago. About the same time Snape and I told Minister Leach."

Hermione looked at Severus, shocked.

The elevator dinged open, and they were no longer alone. Two Aurors were waiting in the corridor to take over Miranda Selwyn, and very interestingly, one of them Hermione recognized as Savage.

They took the lead, directing the still-unconscious witch to a back room, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Severus turned a corner to the Auror Headquarters collection of cubicles. In the front, Hermione saw the trainee she'd gotten Nobby's address from.

"Harry, we'd better stay in the back, or past-me will see us when she gets here in the next two minutes."

"Right," Harry said.

As he started to lead the way, Hermione leaned over and said to the trainee, "Just go along with it, OK? You'll be a big help."

The trainee looked over Hermione's shoulder at Harry and Ron, eyebrows raised in question. Both of them nodded.

As they moved on Hermione saw through an open door, a recently Ennervated Miranda Selwyn. She was enraged, and the snarl on her face when she spotted Hermione in the hallway would've rivaled one of Severus's.

"You ruined everything! Vicki couldn't come out in favor of magic being real because your stupid prankster would make her look ridiculous!"

"Sounds like Savage is about to get an easy confession," Ron remarked as they kept on walking. Hermione was more than willing to turn her back on the woman.

Harry and Ron had two cubicles with an open path between them. It was fairly easy for the four of them to fit in and talk.

"So, let me see if I've got this straight," Hermione began. "You two," she pointed at Severus and Harry, "filled Ron and Nobby in on everything while I was sleeping, and what I saw with Nobby down in the archives was all an act?"

"Not entirely," Harry said. "It's not as though any of us intended for Nobby to be injured at all. Nobby was prepared to be attacked. You were prepared to defend him. You're going to have to tell us what happened before past-you arrived."

"Nobby didn't already tell you?"

"Nobby is with Penn."

"Separate witness statements," Hermione said. "I see."

"Hey, Hermione," Ron spread his hands. "We're on your side, always. But we still have to do our job."

Hermione sighed. "Miranda and I dueled. She managed to hit Nobby with a minor hex—don't know how that got through the Shield, you should mention that to George—and she managed to hit me literally." Hermione touched her jaw. She was surprised there wasn't a bruise forming; that had hurt a lot. "Nobby had canceled the hex and, I thought, gotten away. I knocked Miranda to the ground, and when her wand hit the floor, it sent whatever spell she'd prepared to use on me next out up the corridor. I heard Nobby cry out."

"Well," Ron said, "that would be because it still would've hurt upon impact. It even probably knocked him down. That's a heavy-duty curse, after all."

"Oh."

"Weird though," Ron continued. "The only reason we knew it was the Entrail-Expelling Curse is because that's what you told Harry."

"Well, that's what Nobby told me at the time…"

Harry shrugged. "We can confirm that with Miranda, though I think the fact that the cloak worked is its own confirmation."

"Unless George's spell worked for more than one heavy curse. We need to know if that's the case. Imagine how awesome that would be!"

"But…" Hermione put in, "how did you keep it from me that he wasn't injured?"

"He was injured," Severus said, "just not that seriously. When the sconces were re-lit you only looked at his face and turned away before you could see anything else. Your own squeamishness worked for us in this case."

"I'm not squeamish!" Hermione protested. "I'm just compassionate, and didn't want to see Nobby looking like that." She turned to Harry. "He was pretending to be dead?"

"Yeah," Harry grinned. "Kept his eyes closed and held still. I imagine that wasn't easy to do under pressure."

Hermione glared at him. "You still need to explain why you did all this while I was sleeping and then didn't tell me about it."

"We were worried about you, Hermione! You were so pale and dispirited. You were talking like Nobby was already dead and there was nothing to be done about it. That just isn't like you."

"You're right, it isn't. I was just… so tired. And everything that had gone wrong still seemed to be going wrong."

"You were feeling like a failure, and it was breaking you," Severus said. Ron shot him a surprised look.

"You know exactly how I was feeling, Severus. You were feeling it, too."

"Yes, but I'm more accustomed to it than you are. And I had reason to hope, given I'd personally seen future-us. There was reason to believe we would be successful."

"Well, Nobby is alive." Hermione smiled. "And, Ron, I am very glad that your Mum was not seriously hurt."

"Yeah, about that…" Ron said. "She never got hurt, Hermione."

"What?"

"You see," Harry explained, "that's how Snape and I figured things out. When you went to bed, you said something about Ron not being there for Astoria's rescue because he was at St. Mungo's with Mrs. Weasley. But I knew nothing about Mrs. Weasley being hurt, and that Ron wasn't there because he hadn't been called in for duty this morning."

"Yeah, my shift was tonight. Not that I wouldn't have been there in a heartbeat had you decided to fill me in sooner. And what's with that, Hermione? Why keep me in the dark again?"

"Oh, it wasn't personal, Ron! Please don't think that. It was just a matter of keeping as few people as possible in the know." Hermione reached over his desk and squeezed his hand. "I'm so glad you know now, and that you and George helped us. I really am grateful."

"Oi," Harry said.

"Oh, you too, Harry, of course!"

"But why Lucius Malfoy?" Ron asked. "And are we considering him off the hook for all this?"

Hermione pulled out the Hand of Glory from her pocket. As she did so, something felt a bit off. "We convinced him to loan this to us this morning, but without telling him what we needed it for. I don't think Miranda would have used the Peruvian Darkness Powder if she'd known that would have given me the advantage of being the only one to see. Lucius didn't tell her. She had no idea to expect me there. She accused Nobby of being behind the prankster."

"Well, then I guess that's that for Lucius Malfoy for the time being." Ron shrugged.

"Not quite," Harry said. "He told me he'd testify after I caught Miranda. I intend to hold him to his word."

"Lucius will," Severus said.

"Before I forget again—this conversation is really interesting—can I ask if there was a crush of Muggles in the Ministry this morning?"

"Well, there were quite a lot," Harry answered. "But nothing like what Snape described when he explained your comment. No injuries at all happened among the Muggles today. The Statute is still in place, for now. According to Kingsley, this proposal of Miranda's was put forth to the Wizengamot for consideration, but it's not being treated too seriously. I was worried that some might find the financial advantage to the idea as appealing as Miranda did, but I think your barrier is helping people keep a clear head, Hermione.

"But Kingsley did say that it's possible we might have to thin out the Statute gradually, since so many are now in the know and witnessing things they weren't before. It's a matter you guys on the Board will probably discuss, and since the Statute is international… well, I'll let you guys handle it for now."

"Wow." Hermione shook her head, returning the Hand to her pocket, and turning to Severus. "So do our memories of what's happened in the Board meetings no longer apply?"

"We'll have to talk to Kingsley ourselves and find out."

Hermione narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "You do remember Savage interrupting our meeting to fetch Arthur, right?"

Severus gave her a look. "I have all the same memories you do."

Hermione shook her head and gave a rueful chuff. "I was so angry when I discovered you'd pilfered Nobby's wand."

"I remember that as well. Everything's coming full circle."

"There is one unexpected problem…" Hermione began, as she'd realized what was feeling off about her robes. She lifted the chain from about her neck. It was naked. "Um, I seem to have lost the Time-Turner."

"What?!" Severus was incredulous.

"I'm guessing—hoping—that it fell off while I was dueling Miranda." Her words came out in a rush as she tried not to panic. "Going back to the corridor and performing a Summoning Spell ought to return it to us."

"How could you do something so foolish, Hermione?"

"It's not as though it was on purpose."

"We're almost out of time. We'd better get back down there quickly." Severus was almost into the corridor when Harry's amused voice halted him.

"You wouldn't happen to mean this, would you?" Harry grinned, an hourglass dangling from his finger.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, happy and relieved. She snatched the Time-Turner off his finger, carefully, and clutched it to herself. Then she started laughing. "That's what you found in the corridor! I knew you were hiding something. I never would have guessed!"

The laughter kept coming, until tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

"Er, Hermione, are you OK?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded. "I just… I just need a moment," she said around the chuckles.

Severus knelt in front of her, opening her fingers to take hold the Time-Turner. "Better let me repair that." Grasping her chain, he did so, all while Hermione shook with mirth and relief.

==S==S==H==G==

"There, it's done." With a wave of her wand, Hermione reset the sock drawer's contents to their original location, and shut the armoire.

She felt a shadow come across her even though there was no change in the lighting of the room.

"We're here," Severus said as she stepped toward him, her hand outstretched to Apparate both of them out of there. But Severus ignored her hand and instead grabbed her hair, pulling her head back.

"Sever—" she started to say, but his lips were on hers, spreading them open before Hermione could ask what he was doing. When his tongue touched hers, she responded automatically. Her hands grabbed his upper arms to steady herself as she kissed him back. Then she felt the squeeze of Side-Along Apparition.

Wherever they popped into, Hermione wasn't able to determine because Severus kept hold of her, despite a bit of stumbling. She tried to pull out of the kiss, but his arm around her waist tightened. His tongue retreated, pulling her lip into his sucking mouth. Hermione went pliant, nibbling on his opposite lip in return. Severus made a pleased sound. After a moment the kiss ended, both of them a little out of breath.

"That's how you knew it was us?" Hermione immediately launched her interrogation. "Because of a kiss? We still could have been a couple Polyjuiced to look like us. Unless you knew it was us because you already wanted to do that."

Severus kissed her neck. "The thought had crossed my mind not too much prior." One finger pulled at her collar, exposing more of her skin to his mouth. "It wasn't the first time I'd had it . . . but it was the first time I'd put myself in the picture."

"Wha…what's that supposed to mean?" He knew she was sensitive there. Dammit, Severus was teasing her on two levels. Hermione opened the eyes that had half-closed and looked at the bedroom they were in. It was completely unfamiliar. The view outside the window was not. "Are we in your house? We can't be here; we are going to be here in less than 20 minutes! And how did we get through the wards? You haven't set . . . mm . . . them to allow me through yet. Unless past-you didn't do it and you did it just today. That that would mean my walking through after we found the Time-Turner was something you proved to yourself back then!" Hermione's breath didn't even hitch when Severus backed her onto the bed. "You've known all this time, haven't you?"

Severus lifted his head and looked at her. "The answer to all your questions, Hermione, is that sometimes you need to just shut it." With another tug of her hair, Severus kissed her.

==S==S==H==G==

Afterward, they lay together in his bed holding each other. One of Severus's spells was around the room, protecting them from being heard—something else he'd done earlier that day when he set the wards to allow her entrance, it turned out.

"Will you tell me what you meant… about putting yourself in the picture?" Hermione asked, her head on his bare shoulder as he stroked her back.

"I thought you already figured that out."

"Well, I figured out the sexist insult, thank you very much, but I'd like to hear the compliment aloud."

"What compliment?"

Hermione rubbed her cheek against his skin. "Everything that happened after."

"Are you going to need reassurance often?"

"Hmm, maybe." She trailed her finger along his chest, circling the nipple and running partway along the soft hair of his treasure trail. She loved the way it felt. "It depends how often I end up feeling like you're withdrawing from me. I guess we'll figure that out."

Severus grunted, but it was only half-hearted. "The first time I pictured myself kissing you was on the road outside Nobby's house. Within missing I saw myself kissing you in exactly that way. That was surprising by itself, but what really made the difference was you."

"What about me?" Hermione arched her neck to look up at him.

The corner of his mouth lifted as he smiled at her. "You were saying my name. And you kissed me back without hesitation."

"That must have been quite the shock." Hermione giggled. "No wonder you were frozen stiff when I showed up a moment later."

"You have no idea how often I've replayed that moment in my mind the last few days." Severus's hand moved from her back to her hair, playing with it. "I've had . . . interactions with women, but nothing as intimate as what I saw. It was something I wanted."

Hermione thought about this for a moment, not sure how to take it. She could understand wanting the intimacy, wanting to be with someone. Everyone wanted that. But was she just a convenience? It was hard to believe that; so much emotion had passed between them unspoken but clearly shown. "Even with me?"

Severus stopped stroking her hair, and pulled her on top of him so that he could look into her eyes. She saw a touch of panic in his. "Especially with you. With no one but you."

Hermione leaned forward and kissed him in reassurance. Severus relaxed his grip, and went back to simply holding her. "Knowing with certainty then that the next few days would bring us together…" he didn't finish the sentence.

He didn't have to. She remembered the way he behaved around her. She also realized that even though he'd known with certainty, he'd never assumed.

Hermione smiled. It was a slowly growing glow that led to a beam far more potent than a simple pleased smile. Severus was watching her, and she moved forward to kiss him again.

"It's not going to be easy," she said a moment later.

"I know that," Severus answered.

"I'm more than willing to try. And I don't give up easily."

He kissed her temple. "Thank Merlin."

==S==S==H==G==

It wasn't until late the following day that Severus and Hermione got to see Nobby Leach again. News of his death was allowed to linger for most of Thursday, but by the afternoon, it had been debunked. They'd gone together to visit him at St. Mungo's, where he'd been allowed to keep a bed to maintain the rumor, but would shortly be discharged.

"I'm so happy you're alive!" Hermione was quick to throw her arms around the old wizard once she and Severus had entered his ward.

Nobby patted her shoulder. "As am I, dear girl. And thank you for saving my life."

"But…" Hermione pulled back. "I didn't, really."

"You tried. And who knows? Maybe I really did die the first time around. Time is a tricky thing." Nobby grinned at her, patting her hand. When he released it, he looked back and forth between her and Severus. "Now, in all seriousness, I need you both to answer a question for me. Where did the Time-Turner come from?"

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"I've never owned a Time-Turner in my life. If you two found a Time-Turner in my home, I'm not the one who put it there."

Hermione started to speak and then stopped. Her hand rose to point at herself, but paused halfway there. Making eye contact, Severus and Hermione just looked at each other.

∞End Story ∞

(One)

So, what do you all think?

*I hope that msavi doesn't mind the liberties I took with her name. Before I came up with the idea of making her username an acronym and hiding it throughout the story, the best title I had for this fic was "Babies and Bimbos." I kept thinking of it as "msavi" in my head, and eventually the word game was born, and that led to the creation of the prankster in the plot.

*And if you didn't get it until now—Surprise! I've hidden the letters of MSAVI as spelled-out acronyms buried in the narration and dialogue of the story, with a total of 39 MSAVIs. Example: "Miranda Selwyn and Victoria Irving" is a MSAVI. Though sometimes backwards is forwards, sounds aren't just sounds, and spells have double meanings.

*A few complications arose due to the Halloween reveal on Pottermore. I was delighted Nobby Leach had a bio, but prior to that he had been listed as forced to resign due to a scandal that might have involved Abraxas Malfoy. Now, this scandal involves a mysterious illness, so what I was creating to connect the help-Muggles proposals to Nobby and Abraxas just didn't get developed. The other Pottermore reveal complication came with clarifying why wizarding names are so weird. I loved that Vanity's name was so appropriate, but I just couldn't believe a parent would actually name their child that. So I changed her name to Verity, to both plot and symbolic advantage.

*Miranda Selwyn is actually the penname I used when I wrote in middle school. I was delighted when Rowling put the Selwyn surname into the Potterworld, and couldn't resist using the old penname to help create MSAVIs.

Thank you, thank you for reading, and please review! :)