AN: There may or may not be some smut in this chapter. By which I mean, there definitely is.

27. AFTERMATH

"He's seemed so much better these past few days. He's even eating now. He's going to be okay, isn't he?"

"Yes, absolutely", Albus said, "he has been through a great deal; it is bound to take its toll. He is bent... but unbroken."

Hermione shifted with relief, and nodded to Dumbledore. The golden light from the afternoon sun trickled in through the crack in the curtain. The room was the palest blue. Fleur said that it would promote healing, although Hermione wasn't sure how much she believed it. Fleur had opened Shell Cottage to those who were physically fine, but needed a helping hand. She had busied herself in the needs of others, while she grieved for her husband. Her worrying wasn't good for the baby, and so she did all she could to keep her mind off it.

St. Mungo's had taken in the gravely injured; those like Hagrid, Padma Patil and Hestia Jones who needed round the clock care. St. Mungo's was filled to capacity, treating patients in waiting rooms and corridors where necessary. This meant that some of the wounded were left to fend for themselves. Arthur and Molly had opened their doors, and Lavender, Katie and Susan worked tirelessly to care for those who had been prematurely discharged from the hospital. One such patient was Draco Malfoy - who although he, like Bill, had wolfish tendencies, he had not transformed.

It was in the guest bedroom of Shell Cottage that Hermione sat next to the bed where Harry lay. She placed her hand in his, and hoped that he could sense that she was here with him. Severus had given him a Dreamless Sleep potion so that Harry could finally get the rest he needed. Ginny lay in the transfigured armchair beside him with her feet up on Harry's bed and her son curled in her arms, both eyes closed and deep in sleep. There were so many things Hermione wanted to say, but they could wait. Ginny too, needed her sleep.

There was a gentle rapping at the door and Ron entered.

"How's he doing?" he asked in a whisper.

"Sleeping... Only time will tell I suppose. Albus says he'll be fine."

"Good", Ron soothed, "good... I can sit with him for a while if you'd like? Juliette's downstairs with Fleur, so if you need to get off?"

"I could do with nipping in to see Lavender", she conceded.

Ron clapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah", he said, "get going! I'm sure she's waiting for you."

Hermione got up and tucked her bag under her arm.
"Hey", she asked, "how's Neville holding up?"

Ron tutted.

"He's doing okay; he's coping anyway. I don't know how. I'd go mental if anything happened to Jules. He might actually be the bravest man I know."

"I'm glad he's okay... I can't even imagine."

"I know", he said. Right, anyway... you should get going! Although, before you do I just need to do something I feel like I haven't done for ages..."

Ron put his arms around Hermione's shoulders and she moved into him, locking her arms around his waist and placing her head gently on his chest. He squeezed her.

"I'm so pleased that you're okay, Hermione", he said, "but don't do too much, alright? You'll drive yourself ragged trying to care for everybody else. Make sure you take time for yourself too. I know what you're like."

Hermione nodded.
"Thanks, Ron"

"I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Definitely."

She walked down the stairs and waved goodbye to Fleur and Juliette. She was so glad to be leaving. Of course, she wanted to be there for Harry and Ginny, but they weren't the only ones in need. Ron was right, she had been putting her own needs on the backburner again. This time, however, she would not let it be to her own detriment. Neither she, nor Severus, nor anyone else, would allow her to hurt herself to help others. Not again. But there were so many hurting people, that she couldn't ignore. She struggled to divide her time well enough and so Hermione had hardly a moment to seek comfort where she wanted it most. Of course, she and Severus had seen each other, and she had curled into his bed at Spinners End in the small hours; but he was up again at six completing tasks from his own to-do list. For the most part, they lived as passing ships in the night.

Hermione took the steps, two at a time, through Grimmauld Place. Ever since Molly and Arthur had moved in, it had become a warm and cosy hideaway from the basement to the second floor. The third and fourth floors had been turned into a sort of Hogwarts-style hospital wing. Hermione clutched her side, and leant against a wall to catch her breath. It wasn't as easy to run up five flights of stairs as it used to be. Lavender swung the door open and jumped with fright when she saw Hermione.

"Bloody hell, Mimi, I thought you were..."

"A Death Eater?" Hermione asked, with a sad smile.

Lavender nodded.

She wasn't the only one. Hermione still held her breath when she was alone. She knew that the ones who survived were locked in Azkaban but it brought little comfort. Fear is not rational in that way.

"How's Draco?" Hermione asked.

"Better", Lavender said, with a genuine smile. "He can go home soon."

Hermione popped her head around Draco's curtain and gave him a cautious wave. She still wasn't his biggest fan, but he had been through as much as any of them, and so he deserved her empathy and support. Draco waved back and pulled his sheets over his knees. Hermione handed Lavender the bag she was holding.

"Right", Hermione said. "There are three of the Hiccoughing Solutions you asked for, and five of the Lung Clearing Potions... then there's eight of each of your regulars and just a couple of other recipes I've been playing around with."

"You're an angel!" Lavender said, and put the bag on the counter by the sink. "Come on now, I'm due for a break and I'm starving. Did you bring anything to eat?"

"Of course."

"Like I said... you're a damn angel!"

Lavender kicked off her shoes and placed them neatly next to another two pairs on the landing. She stood at the top of the stairs and tapped her foot in mock irritation. Katie and Susan bounded up the stairs, hand in hand and then, spotting Lavender, they broke apart.

"Oh Gods. We're late" Katie said.

"Sorry... We... err... got sidetracked" Susan sniggered.

"Well at least some of us are having fun", Lavender smiled. "Can you check on Mr. Lovie, I think he'll need a new potion. They're in Mimi's bag; it's on the side."

"Will do. Are you sticking about, Granger?" Susan asked.

"I can't stay too long... I need to check in on Luna, then I have a meeting with McGonagall and after that, I promised I'd pop round to see Remus, Tonks and Teddy."

"Gods when do you sleep?"

Hermione pulled a face.

"Err..."

"Do us a favour, Granger?" Susan said. "After all of that... go home. Nurse's orders!"

"Yes, Bones!" Hermione said, "I promise I will."

Minerva McGonagall sat on the red chaise longue opposite Hermione and poured a cup of tea. She took off her hat, let down her hair and placed the hat to her side. She shook her head so her beautiful silver hair fell to her shoulders. She leant back on the chaise and sighed. Hermione summoned the cup of tea and tucked her feet up under her.

"Although I have asked you here in a professional capacity, I will not forget that we are friends, so I hope that you will excuse me if I just collapse here. I'm so tired". Minerva said. "It's been one hell of a week."

"Hasn't it just?" Hermione replied. "And of course, collapse away!"

McGonagall sagged, held her cup of tea in both hands and kicked her feet up on the table.

It was such a strange and wonderful sight to see McGonagall let loose. Even in their years of friendship, Minerva had always been rather tightly wound. It seemed that the new world order rendered her formality an unnecessary unpleasantry.

Hermione sipped at her cuppa.

"Hermione... would you still want to come back to teach at Hogwarts? I know that Albus nudged you, rather forcefully, into the position, so I wondered if you wanted to keep it... once the school is up and running again, of course."

"I think I would stay, although I don't know if Dumbledore would still want me in the position. We have had our... differences..."

"Blast Albus and your differences! Who doesn't have their differences with him?! He's infuriating! He is also, wise and kind and incredibly tolerant. He has already told me that he would like you to become Potions Mistress. Not that it matters what he wants... he plans to step down. As of September, he will no longer be the Head of Hogwarts... I will."

"Good", Hermione said, "I can't think of anyone who would do the job justice."

Minerva puffed up her chest a little, before settling back into the chaise.

"Thank you. I appreciate your vote of confidence. Can I expect you to agree then? You will come back to Hogwarts?"

"I'd have to speak to Severus first, but yes, I think you can."

"There's no way that Severus will stay on as Defense teacher, is there? I shouldn't even bother asking him?"

"It would be a waste of breath, I fear, yes", Hermione said.

"I've already been turned down by Remus. I don't know who would take it..."

"Have you considered Harry? He was a wonderful teacher when we were in the DA. He'd hardly need a day of training, since he's already an accomplished wizard."

"How is Harry?" Minerva asked darkly.

"He's getting better every day."

"And Luna?"

"Coping. She and Neville are looking after each other."

"Oh Gods, Nevile. How is he? He is far too young to lose his wife. When I lost my Elphinstone, I was... well, that's neither here nor there... Will you send him my love?"

"Of course I will."

Hermione flooed into Spinner's End just past midnight and a dischord on the piano in Severus' front room, told her that he was home, awake, and she had disturbed him. He stood up and moved towards her, sweeping her into his arms. He held her like that for a moment, then sat her down on the sofa and summoned two cups of tea from the kitchen. Hermione stirred it mindlessly as they sat together in comfortable silence.

"I missed you today", he said finally. "How are you?"

"I think I'm doing okay."

His eyes searched her face and she wondered what he was looking for. Perhaps for the trace of a lie. He would not find one. She was doing okay. The second battle had been kinder to her than the first. Or rather, she had been better prepared for its cruelty. If something is strongest in the places it was once broken, Hermione was all strength. She knew that she was resilient; she had rebuilt herself, after all. She knew that she would survive this time because she had done so once before.

Hermione placed her hand on his thigh and her head on his shoulder. A question she longed to ask danced on her tongue, but she kept her mouth closed so that it could not escape her. What now? The war was won; the fire that forged their relationship was extinguished. What would they be now that the sun began to rise?

Severus lifted her chin and kissed her, as if to say that is what now.

She placed her hand on the side of his neck and ran her fingers through the ends of his hair. God, she wanted to be near him. She recalled how she had felt the first time that she wanted to be near to him. I want to be with you. I want to take your hardship and share the weight with you. I thought that we could take each other's pain, and just for a moment quash it under the weight of us. I thought it might ease some of this misery and hurt.

It was still true, but now they shared the same sadness.

Hermione felt her hands run down his chest before she was even conscious of the motion. She kissed him again, and she unfastened the buttons at his throat. He looked at her with a reciprocal ferocity, but he brought his hand down on hers, and moved her away.

"Not yet", he said. "I have to... know something first."

Hermione noted the uncertainty in his voice. She supposed that he too would have questions. She had not expected them to echo her own.

"Where do we go from here? I mean, after we pull our clothes back on... what do we do? We have been together all this time in the knowledge that our next moves were decided for us. We're on our own now. I will not be pulled away in the middle of the night - we will not be forced to put our lives at risk. We are free to make our own choices so... what do you choose, Hermione? What do you want to do?"

"I don't know", Hermione said, honestly.

Hermione had never really had the freedom to make her own decisions before, not really. Ever since the tender age of twelve, Hermione had fought alongside Harry. Even when she had been in charge of herself, all of her decisions had ultimately rested on one thing - how do I stay alive?

Now she got to live?

Severus cleared his throat and Hermione pulled herself away from her thoughts, and back to the present. His eyes were like glass and she felt a tug at her heart that she didn't quite understand.

"Do you still... choose me?" he asked.

The tug came again. Her subconscious had seen his fear before she had acknowledged it.

"Yes, Severus, of course I choose you. Every decision I have ever made, I have made in fear. Except for you. You are the decision I make freely every day. I will always choose you."

Severus let out a heavy breath of relief. She wondered how long he had held it.

"And I, you", he said. "Hermione, if I can be honest with you... I feel as though the world has burst wide open and I am not ready for it."

"Nor I. The only place I want to be is here with you, it is all I can manage right now. I feel as though I need to figure out where I fit into the world again. I suppose we all do. Nothing will be as it was before, will it?"

"No, I reckon not. Hermione, tell me, what do you want from your life? If you tell me what it is that you want, we can begin to work towards it from now on."

"I can't make any decisions right now, I'm sorry. What do you want, Severus?"

Snape chewed the inside of his lip while he thought.
"I would like to resign my post at Hogwarts", he said, "would that be okay? I have money... I would still support us..."

"You may not have to. Minerva and Dumbledore have offered me Slughorn's position for when the school is up and running again... he plans to step down and retire you know, Dumbledore."

"I suspected that he would... do you want to take Slughorn's position?"

"Yes, very much."

"There. You have made a decision."

"I guess I have. I would also like to live with you, Severus, if that is something you would be amenable to? Not that I have anywhere else to live, since Hogwarts is in disrepair, but I would like for us to live together if-"

Severus smiled patiently and Hermione trailed off.

"I believe I have made my intentions towards you quite clear. I am in love with you. Wherever you are, I want to be."

Severus placed his warm hand on Hermione's cheek and she breathed out a mewl of satisfaction as he kissed her. She closed her eyes as a rush of contentment moved over her, and soon the contentment became a crescendo of euphoria. They still had decisions to make, but decisions could wait. Their kiss could not. Hermione made her advance, moving her body so that she sat on top of him, her legs either side of his hips. He held her at her waist; her hair cascaded down her shoulders. He pushed a handful back and began to cover her throat, her neck and her shoulders with urgent kisses. Hermione ran her fingers down the buttons of his shirt and unfastened each with trembling fingers. They had done this many times before, but there was such potential in this meeting of two souls, and the expectation and apprehension was palpable. She could hold it in her fingers; instead she took a gentle fistful of his hair as she returned his kisses, grazing his jaw with her lips and his lips with her tongue. She drew her hands across the plains of his chest, slipped her hands beneath his shirt and helped him shed his layers, like a snake in new skin.

Severus pulled at her dress in kind, and tore it over her head. He ran his hands up her spine, nestled on the clasp of her bra and pulled it apart. He clutched it in his hands, as his eyes fell to her body and filled with rapacious longing. He brought his gaze back up to her face.

"God, will I ever stop being dumbfounded by how beautiful you are?"

Hermione smiled, but Severus' hands met her breasts and her lips parted to complete the curve of her smile into a popped circle of pleasure. He brought his mouth to her chest and as his lips wrapped around her nipple and she brought her body into him, she felt his erection swell between her legs. She pushed herself down onto him, and rocked. He gathered her body in his hands and moved with her. Hermione leant back, supported in Severus' strong arms and snatched her wand from the coffee table. With a graceful flick of her wrist, Severus' clothes tore from his body leaving him exposed and bare in front of her. The act disarmed him.

"Well, that's not fair", he said with a breath into her ear that shocked all of her nerve endings with pulses of electricity.

"I know", she said, as she reached her hand between them and stroked a finger along the inside of his thigh.

He shifted his back into the sofa and the action pushed his erection closer to her centre. She stood up then, and he followed her pull and moved towards her, sliding his fingers between her skin and knickers and tugged them down. He pulled her towards him and kissed her hipbones, then her thighs and ultimately her mound. He sought her heat with his mouth and when he found it he made a gentle groan that fluttered right to her core and she let out a stuttered cry of, "Fuck! Yes!"

The way in which he moved his lips and flicked his tongue was miraculous. That was the only word for it. He performed miracles inside her. She wanted to kneel at his alter; she wanted to praise him. On her tongue was a song of devotion, and he quickened his pace to make her sing again. She marvelled at his touch as his long fingers moved upwards, and his fingertips brushed the undercurve of her breasts. If he did not stop then she would surely come apart. Severus knew it too. He drew his lips away from her and grinned as he spoke.

"Yes, my love. Come for me."

"Come with me!" Hermione rasped.

He wrapped his hands around his cock and began to work himself as Hermione moved herself so that she could envelop him. He rubbed his tip against her bud, and flicked upwards. A dirty smile spread across his face as she twitched and with a long groan he slowly pushed his way into her entry.

"Fuck, I always forget how good you feel", Hermione said as he filled her.

Hermione pushed him back to a relaxed and submissive state and she began to drive her hips, picking up the pace and increasing his pressure as she rode him. He held her at her waist and she pressed his body down at the shoulders. She felt an unrivaled power as she watched Severus' gaze drop to her breasts as they hitched up and dropped in hypnotic repetition. He ran his tongue across his lips and brought his teeth together on the lower. His eyebrows drew together and Hermione felt her orgasm threaten as she watched that glorious little line appear in the centre of his brow.

She felt his energy increase and knew that he was close. She was grateful because she felt that riptide coursing its way from her aching core.

"Severus", she said, and her breath hitched, "I'm so close..."

He lifted her then, and drove into her over and over and Hermione arched her back and let out a wild scream as she reached her height and came with unapologetic zeal. Her legs quivered and her body shuddered and she felt her heat contract around him.

"Oh God!"

His eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to pound himself into her flesh. In the past, this was the time she would let him invade her thoughts so he could see for himself what he was doing for her. She fought the urge to show him. Instead she told him.

"You're incredible. God, I love you so much."

"I love you" he uttered in a cracked voice.

Hermione felt a rush of emotion and a single happy tear pricked her eye.

"I love you", he said, punctuating his thrusts, "I love you, I love you."

She watched him- his beautiful eyes closed tight and he threw his head back into the sofa cushion. His long, jet hair crashed against the brown leather; his skin was its usual pale white, but his cheeks flushed pink and his forehead was dewy. She took in the picture of this man - this unconventional and handsome man who loved her, who filled her - it was all she could do not to come again. As he built his pressure, Hermione dropped her hand to her bud and fluttered her fingers, begging the riptide to crash into her again. Severus' eyes shot open and flew wider still when he realised what she was doing. He rolled his head to the side and breathed a careless 'fucking hell' into his shoulder.

He growled as he moved into her, clutching his fingers to her skin, drawing her tighter with each one as though he couldn't bring her close enough to him. His mouth fell agape and the line between his brows furrowed deeper and as he tightened his grip on her hips, he fell out of rhythm, missing a thrust. The accidental change of pace brought Hermione to the edge and as he jutted his hips and let out a low howl of release, she too crested in glorious agony and fell into his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her, placing one hand on the small of her back and the other on the nape of her neck and clung tightly. The heaving of his chest moved Hermione and she could feel the hammering of his heart; an echo of her own.

"I wish I could do that..." he breathed "every hour of every day of my life".

"You don't think you'd get tired?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you about to call me an old man again? I'm not sure I cared for it."

"Well... if the glove fits?"

Severus opened his mouth in mock offence.

"How dare you! 'Old man', pah! I could go all night. Call me old again and I will take you for a second round."

Hermione brought his lips together and kissed him.

"Have you considered that maybe I would like that, old man?"

His eyes flickered devilishly and Hermione bit her lower lip. Severus surrendered to a maddening grin.

"Oh God, you're extraordinary, do you know that?"

Severus swept her into his arms and ran his fingers through her hair.

He stopped then, and looked at her- the smile on his face changed to look of thoughtfulness.

"I want you to marry me", he said, with a stillness that took her aback.

"Severus?"

"Marry me."

Hermione sat up straight and Severus stroked her cheek.

"That's what I want", he said. "I want to be a family. Our world is chaos right now, Hermione, I understand that. But when the dust settles and we have found our footing, I will ask you again... properly."

"It's too soon, isn't it?"

"Perhaps. And I understand your reservation. That is why I do not ask you now. I am only stating what I want. Even so, I cannot pretend that I personally feel that it is too soon. I love you and I feel as though I always have. I know that there must have been a time that I didn't feel as I do, but I cannot remember it. I wonder if that is because I did not start living until I loved you. When I look to my past, all I see is you. The future is all you too. Everything I have in my life right now is because of you. I do not want to live another second without you. But if it is too soon for you, I understand completely. As long as you love me, I am at peace."

"Ask me again, Severus."

"What was that?"

"Ask me again."

AN: Is there a way to write a proposal that isn't fluffy? If you know how, please let me know. I'm genuinely asking. I cringe when I write them. Fun fact. My husband never actually proposed to me because he knows how much I hate proposals. There's something you never wanted to know about me.