Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Chapter 40

-o-O-o-

It was October 31st.

Hermione couldn't stand it; she had to save Lily and James. She just knew it. It wasn't right to let them die. She was packing her bags and preparing herself for a battle that she knew would come when Regulus entered the room.

She gasped and spun around, trying to hide her bags behind her back. He had frozen at the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I let the kids out early so they could go to the feast." he answered. "What are you doing?"

"I... I..." she stuttered.

"You were leaving." he stated simply. His voice was suddenly devoid of any emotion.

"I was going to come back!" she defended herself, but he had closed the door and was now leaning on it.

"I've had enough." he declared. "You've been hiding stuff from me, and now, I want to know what."

"Regulus..."

"Don't you 'Regulus' me''!" he shouted, and she jumped. He so rarely lost his cool. "I've had enough of your sweet words and promises! I want to know what's going on!"

She sighed. "Why is it that important to you anyway?" she asked.

He stiffened. "You're going to leave me, aren't you?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "I knew it. You were acting so strange and all over sudden you don't see Lupin anymore..." She cringed. He had noticed, then, had he? "Then you cut ties with James, then Lily... Like you wanted them to forget about you. You're going back aren't you? You found a way to travel forward in time and now you're going back-"

"Shut up!" she said suddenly. "I'm not leaving you, I'm not going back, I'm just... going shopping."

He stared at her. "Maybe you're not leaving me..." he reasoned. "But you're not going shopping. What is it, Hermione? Is it this day? Is..." he trailed off and froze as everything came into place. "Somebody's going to die, isn't it?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"And you're off to save them, aren't you?" he asked again.

She nodded. "Yes." she said again. "Now, will you let me go?"

"No." he declared, his voice firm.

She blinked. "Excuse me?" she asked. She thought he'd understand.

"I won't let you. Once was enough." he said. "You weren't even supposed to save me. Sometimes I wish you hadn't."

"So what could have happened? We'd have both died?" she asked. "What a very happy ending indeed." she added sarcastically.

"It'd have been better... It'd have kept the timeline intact..." he whispered. "And you would want to save another idiot who gets himself killed today!"

"It's James and Lily!" she snapped.

"Who cares?" he asked, throwing his arms up in the air. "Who cares whom it's about? You can't just decide to change fate like that! The whole world could go ka-boom!"

"I know the risks" she said. "I was planning on hiding them!"

"You can't hide everybody you want, Hermione! One was enough!" he declared. "One was too much! Besides, they won't want to be cooped up forever while they watch their son grow up in an orphanage!"

"I can't let them die!" she yelled. "I already let Mary die, and look at what happened because of that! Poor Remus! And Marlene! Maybe none of them would have died, had I not come here!"

"Which is why you can't save them!" he answered. "You've tampered too much with the timeline already."

"I don't care!" she cried, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"Who do you think you are, Hermione?" he asked.

"I..."

"Tell me, Hermione! Who do you think you are, to think that you can just pull the strings like that and get away with it? Huh? Are you a manipulator?" he asked.

"No..." she shook her head. "I'm Hermione... Just Hermione..."

"Liar." he accused her. "You maybe a Hermione, but you're not my Hermione. My Hermione would have stood back and cried herself to sleep, no matter how much it hurt, because she would have done what was right, and not just something her petty selfish side would have done."

"I have to do this..." she continued.

"But if you do this, what's next, huh?" he asked. "Where do we draw the line? I always thought that, no matter what happened, at least you'd be free, but look at you now!"

"I am free." she told him.

He snorted. "You're as free as Gellert Grindelwald right now. You're no superhero, Hermione."

"And you're not the one who's supposed to stop me!" she yelled at him.

He froze. Taking this to her advantage, she grabbed her bags and shoved past him, wrenching the door open. "Don't walk away..." she heard him whisper from behind her.

"I have to save them." she insisted.

"Why don't you save me instead?" he asked.

"You're not in any danger." she reasoned.

"I will be if you step through that door." he answered, his voice barely more than a whisper.

She closed the door and turned around. Her stare was cold. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stay." he answered. "I want you to avoid the ultimate fling. I want you to stay... alive."

"I'm not going to die." she told him.

"You can't know that." he said, shaking his head. "If both of them died, why can't you?" He paused. "I can't live without you, 'Mione..." he admitted.

"Don't be ridiculous." she snapped, her resolve starting to crumble.

"I'm not." he answered, looking up. "I really can't. I want you near, like a shadow in my wake; I need you here, for new day to break..." His impossibly light grey eyes connected with hers. They were begging.

"You were doing just fine before I came along." she said.

"And when you left me, was I doing so fine?" he asked. "I tried to kill myself in one last blaze of glory, how positive is that? And you weren't even dead, then! What if you die? You'd take my heart with you! And then I'd die! Would you like that, Hermione? Would you like me to die?"

"I don't want anybody to die!" she yelled. "I want all of you to stay alive!"

"You can't have everything you want!" he shouted back. "You're going to have to choose! It's me or the Potters!"

"What if I chose the Potters?" she challenged.

"I wouldn't wait long." he warned.

Suddenly, she burst into tears and slumped down on the ground, her body wracked with sobs. Sighing, he went to sit beside her and pulled her softly into his arms, rocking her backwards and forwards, like one would do with a small child.

"I'm sorry they had to die." he told her.

She cried for almost half an hour, tears flowing down her cheeks and drenching Regulus' shirt. Then her hands started fumbling at the buttons and pulled it open, and she started kissing his chest.

"Hermione?" he asked, surprised.

She kissed his jaw and whispered: "Make love to me Regulus."

"I..." he said, not quite sure what to answer.

"Make love to me..." she repeated. "Make me forget everything. Make me forget James and Lily. Make me forget Sirius and Remus. Make me forget about time travel and Voldemort and war... Make me forget my own my own name."

He mulled it over and stroked her arms as she kissed her way down his neck and up again. Suddenly, his fingers encountered a little piece of skin sticking out a little. "Take that out." he said.

She froze, looked at her arm, then back to him.

"Take that out." he whispered. "Let's have a baby."

Her voice was shaking a little as she answered: "Now?"

He smiled. "Yes, now. We've waited enough, haven't we?"

"I'm... not sure..." she said, biting her lip.

He nuzzled her neck. "Please." he begged softly.

She reached for one of her bags and pulled out her wand. With a little wave of it, she Vanished the piece of plastic that was lodged under her skin.

Regulus smiled. "Now," he said. "What was that about forgetting your own name? You're hurting me... I'll make you forget there's anything in this world apart from the two of us. I'll make you believe in heaven."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered: "Dear Regulus... I started believing in heaven the day I first met you."

Their lips met.

-o-O-o-

"James and Lily are dead." Dumbledore announced gravely.

Hermione stared at her hands as tears flowed down her cheeks. Regulus was grave beside her and he rubbed her back in circles. Snape was sitting in another chair, tears flowing silently from his black eyes.

"Regulus, Hermione... I need to ask something of you... Something Severus has already agreed to." Dumbledore declared. "Will you help me protect their only son? Harry lives."

"I'll do anything in my power to protect Harry." Hermione declared.

"I'll follow her anywhere." Regulus said.

Dumbledore nodded. "I've decided to place Harry with his aunt and uncle. He will stay with them until he comes of age... Except when he attends Hogwarts, of course."

"His aunt and uncle?" Regulus asked. "I thought James Potter was an only son."

"He is." Dumbledore answered. "I have placed him with his Muggle family, with Lily's sister, Petunia, her husband and their son."

"You sent Lily and James Potter's son to live with Muggles?" Regulus asked, sounding outraged. "That boy saved out world and he gets to live with Muggles? He should be living in the grandest castle there is, fed with the finest food, in the world he belongs in!"

"You have to realise, Regulus, that his saving the world was absolutely unintentional." Dumbledore told him. "I, for my part, believe that it was due to a mistake that Lord Voldemort," Everybody flinched at the name. "Made himself."

The four people in the room looked awkwardly at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Well,' Dumbledore declared, clapping his hands together. "If there is nothing else that you wish to say, I guess you could all leave so that I can have a talk with Hermione."

Regulus and Snape stood up, shooting them curious glances as they left the room. "Was is it, Headmaster?" she asked.

"I just wanted to know if you knew what to do when time comes to take your place again in your timeline." he said, crossing his arms.

"Well..." she said, scratching herself behind her ear. "I don't, actually."

He sighed. "What I suggest you do is exactly what you've been doing for almost two years now. You transfigure yourself into your younger self and live your life in your disguise."

"But..." she said. "What about Regulus?"

"When the war is over, because we both know it isn't, you can resume your life with Regulus." he announced.

"He's going to be alone?" she asked, fear seeping into her voice.

"If you are at Hogwarts for the time being, he will have you within his eyesight, and I daresay this should be enough for him."

"I'm not sure..." she whispered. "Maybe he'll be sad..."

"The only to find out how he feels is to ask him." Dumbledore told her.

She nodded. "Thank you sir." she said, and stood up to leave the room.

As she exited the Headmaster's office, she noticed that Regulus had stayed to wait for her, but Snape had left. "So?" he asked once she got out. "How did it go?"

She sighed. "Regulus... One day I'm going to have to rejoin my part in the timeline." she turned to face him. "We won't be able to see each other as often anymore. In fact... If the war isn't over before I leave Hogwarts... We won't be able to see each other at all."

"Then I'll come with you." he declared.

She turned her head, her eyes questioning. "What?" she asked.

"I'll come with you." he repeated. "I'll just disguise as somebody else and tag along. You'll pretend you met me in the library and we're dating or something." He turned towards her. "But I'm not leaving you alone." he declared firmly.

"Regulus..." she started, but he cut her.

"I took a vow." he said. "I promised to care for you, love and cherish you, in sickness and in health, 'til death does us apart. And, quite frankly," he added. "I'm not eager for death to do us apart."

She hugged him, burying her head in his chest. "If I may be honest with you too," she said. "I'm not eager for that to happen either."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Besides," he added. "Isn't it nice to be able to have a second youth?"

"It is," she agreed, and then gave a short laugh. "I am the only woman in the world who, not only went back in time over twenty years, but also gets to be believed dead while she runs off and marries a criminal, then gets a second youth with the love of her life."

"Lucky you." he teased. "I bet that criminal is really handsome."

"Devilishly so." she told him.

"Are you calling me a devil?" he asked, mock anger in his voice.

"No," she answered, looking up to his light silver eyes. "I'm calling you the devil." Looking at his fake-shocked face, she gave a short laugh. "I told you, you made me believe in heaven, didn't I? To believe in heaven, you have to believe in hell."

He laughed and pecked her softly on the lips. "How about," he proposed. "The devil gives you lesson, back in his personal place in hell?"

She pretended to think about it. "Does it include a certain pair of handcuffs?" she asked.

He grinned. "Maybe."

She pecked him on the lips again. "Count me in." she said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you waiting for, woman?" he asked. "Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice.

-o-O-o-

Yay! Another chapter up! Again, please review, and a special wave to xXRosexScorpiusXx for catching that 200th review! Also, thanks to my reviewers who review almost every chapter: LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL, Amarenima Redwood, everlastingtrueromance and xXRosexScorpiusXx ! Thanks guys! I love you! You keep me going!