2nd May 1998

As the room finally stopped spinning around her, Hermione dropped to her knees. The office was dark and empty. Panic began to overwhelm her. Did it work? Did she make it back in time?

Her knuckles were white, as her fingers wrapped themselves around the small vial in her pocket, its contents containing the antivenin that she had spent weeks, and weeks working on to perfect. Hermione's shoulders shuddered as she tried to hold in her sobs. The expression on Severus' face, as she tried to explain why she had to leave the best that she could, and the cruel words that had come from his lips, seemed to be branded into her brain. It was as if he had expected she'd leave him all along.

She allowed herself to let a few tears fall down her cheeks, before wiping her face with the back of her sleeve. Her eyes travelled to Dumbledore's empty portrait, and a wave of fury unlike she'd ever felt before rolled through her. If saving Severus Snape's life proved to be futile, Hermione would never have been able to forgive the old man.

Finally she began to become more aware of her surroundings. A large explosion blasted outside the window to her immediate right. Cold dread filled her, as she jumped up and spun around with her wand out and ready.

The battle was still underway.

For a fleeting moment relief washed over her. Dumbledore had timed it correctly, or at least she had hoped he did.

Tucking her wand up her sleeve, Hermione rushed to the ornate desk in the middle of the room. Her heart pounded as she reached down to pick up the small clock, which resembled a grandfather clock shrunk down to a tenth of its size.

"Two-thirty," she whispered.

If she remembered correctly, it was nearly three-thirty in the morning when Severus… was bitten, she thought with a lump in her throat. She downright refused to finish that thought any other way.

Now the only issues were making it through the castle alive, and without anyone seeing her. After that, there was only the small issue of hundreds of Dementors to worry about, she added to herself.

Without wasting any more time, Hermione reached inside her beaded bag, until her fingers brushed against the water-like fabric she was searching for. She pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and threw it over her head. Being much smaller than Harry, Hermione had been able to fit her entire body beneath the cloak. She would not have been seen.

With one last glance over her shoulder at Dumbledore's empty frame, she took a deep breath before opening the office door, then took the spiral stairs two at a time with her heart racing faster with each step. After spending months in a somewhat normal environment, Hermione was throwing herself back into the middle of a war.

When she reached the corridor fear nearly paralyzed her. The acrid smell of smoke hung in the air, allies and enemies could be heard calling out spells, and bursts of red and green light flashed outside the window. Was she strong enough to go through this a second time?

An image of Severus lying on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, with his lifeblood pumping out of the gashes on his neck flashed behind her closed eyes. That was all the motivation she needed. Yes. Yes, she was strong enough to enter the battle once more.

Without stalling any longer, she turned on her heels and sprinted down the corridor. She ducked and dodged the people fighting in the hallways, not caring if her trainers could have been seen. She doubted anyone would have noticed anyhow, when they were fighting for their lives.

Hermione rounded a corner and was brought up short when a masked Death Eater aimed his wand at Colin Creevey. Colin's hands were empty, she realized, with a sickening lurch in her stomach. She aimed her wand at the Death Eater, but not in time. Before she could fire the Knockback Jinx she planned on, a jet of green light rushed from the man's wand. It took all the strength she could muster not to cry out, as she watched her former housemate's eyes go lifeless, and his small body fell to the floor with a heartbreaking thud.

Not caring who may have seen, Hermione fired her spell at the Death Eater. The red light collided with his chest, sending him straight back, and out of the window he was previously standing beside.

Add another body to the list from that night, she thought to herself, with a dark satisfaction.

Hermione glanced at her wristwatch and gasped when she saw it was nearing three o'clock. She had to hurry. Time was running out.

Miraculously, she made it out of the castle, and tried to take out as many Death Eaters as she could along the way. Her lungs burned, and the cramp in her side was nearly unbearable, but she could not stop. She had to make it to Severus in time.

Hermione knew that her past self, Harry, and Ron had used the secret passageway, beneath the Whomping Willow, so she knew that would have been out. The tunnel was much too small for her to have remained undetected by them, so she knew her only option was to run to Hogsmeade.

Luckily there were no Dementors near the path to the village, they were lingering much closer to the school. There were not many people around either, as most Witches and Wizards were either fighting at Hogwarts, or hidden in their homes at Hogsmeade.

She noticed some of the smaller students, hidden behind large rocks, or trees, whispering in fright as they watched the battle from afar, but no one seemed to hear her, or pay her any mind as she rushed by, hoping that she would make it in time.

Finally she arrived at the village. It was an eerie sight, for sure. The streets were deserted, not a light was on in any of the buildings, and the sounds of the battle could be heard faintly from up above.

Not caring about the awful stitch in her side, nor the burning in her legs, Hermione pressed on, desperate to get to Severus. She continued running down the rocky road, until she reached the path that would lead her to the Shrieking Shack.

Her heart felt as if it would explode out of her chest at any moment.

When Hermione reached the dilapidated building, she stopped to finally catch her breath. She knew that Voldemort was currently in that building, and the thought of being caught by him, before she had the chance to save Severus, made her feel as if a bucket of ice water was doused over her head. She had to get it together. She had to control her breathing. One small mistake and they both would have been killed.

She could do this. She was ready. It was time.

Hermione hid herself next to the front door of the shack, as she listened for the loud crack that would tell her Voldemort had Disapperated. She checked her watch, it was nearly three-thirty. Any moment now, and she would have to rush up the stairs to be faced with a scene that had haunted her nightmares for the last several months of her life.

She reached into the pocket of her denims, and wrapped her fingers around the vial of her antivenin, her other hand was wrapped tightly around her wand. She knew once Voldemort left, she wouldn't have had a moment to spare. She'd have to run up there quickly, so she would have been ready to act, the moment her past self, Harry and Ron left to return to the castle.

CRACK!

Her heart stopped. There it was. Voldemort was gone, which meant…

Hermione rushed into action. She opened the front door of the Shrieking Shack, and ran towards the steps. Thankfully the floor was still covered with dust, muffling her footsteps, so she wouldn't have been heard.

She took the steps two at a time, and when she reached the door which would lead to Severus, she stopped, and backed herself against the wall.

"Look…at…me." She heard.

Then silence.

"Harry! We have to go! We have to get back to the castle!" She heard her past self say.

"What…?" Asked Harry, sounding distracted.

"Mate, come on!" yelled Ron.

Hermione's heart was pounding so hard, she was surprised the three inside the other room couldn't hear it.

She pressed herself even more closely against the wall, and watched as the door opened, and herself, Harry, and Ron rushed past her. A moment later, she heard the unmistakable thud of a door closing.

Hermione ran.

When she entered the room, she whipped the invisibility cloak off of her, and rushed over to Severus. It was her nightmare come to life. He was covered in blood, and paler than she had ever seen him before. Her hands trembled horribly as she reached for his arm and took his wrist into her hands.

There was a pulse. It was very faint, but unmistakably there.

As quickly as she could, with how badly she was shaking, Hermione unstoppered the vial. She parted Severus' lips with her fingers, and tilted his head back as she poured the antivenin down his throat.

"Please work. Please. Please work!" she cried.

Vaguely she heard Voldemort's voice, magically amplified, demanding that Harry meet him in the Forbidden Forest in one hour, but the words did not register with her. She could not focus on that at this moment. Hermione took her wand to Severus' throat, and began sealing the puncture wounds from Nagini's fangs. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped as she healed him, which meant her potion must have been working in that regard.

But still… he wasn't moving.

Something should have happened by now, she thought in a panic. Why wasn't anything happening? His blood covered her shaking hands, as she kneeled in front of him with tears streaming down her face.

"Severus!" She shouted. "Wake up! You have to wake up!"

Nothing.

A sob broke from her lips as she stared at his unmoving body, and his bone white face. She failed. She couldn't save him. After months of planning, months of hard work, months of falling in love… she failed.

"Please," she whimpered. "Please wake up."

Silence.

Hermione felt as if her heart was physically ripping in half. The time she was cursed by Dolohov, or when she was being crushed by burning false treasures in the Lestrange's vault, or when she was tortured by Bellatrix, none of it compared to the pain she felt at that moment.

Physical pain she could have handled. Physical pain was easily managed. A splint, a potion, a salve, any of those could be taken or applied to numb or lessen the pain. But this. This all consuming, heart crushing agony. This she could not handle.

Severus was gone.

Not knowing what else to do, Hermione took Severus' limp body into her arms, as she cried into his blood soaked robes.

"I'm sorry, Severus," she repeated over and over. "I'm so sorry."

She tried to prepare herself for this outcome while she was in the past. She tried to tell herself that there was a possibility that he wouldn't have made it. But now that it had come to pass, she realized that any amount of preparation for this moment wasn't enough. How could anyone have prepared themselves for losing the person they loved most in the world?

There were so many things she had still wanted to say to him. So many things she still needed to know. Did he remember her? The times that he had let her use his stirring stick, and when he showed her his ring, were they clues he had been giving her? Did he, he breath hitched, die still caring for her?

Hermione would never know.

"I love you, Severus," she whispered as she clung to his lifeless body. "I love you."

Hermione sat there holding him for how long? She wasn't sure. Dozens of memories played through her mind. The impressed look he had given her that first day of their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the time he'd stopped her after their final detention to ask if she wanted to study with him, the first time he had waited to walk with her to class, their first kiss near the lake, his birthday…

Then it hit her. She still had the Time-Turner. It was still around her neck. Maybe… maybe she could go back again! Just an hour, maybe she could still save him!

Hermione reached for the gold chain, and pulled it from inside her hooded sweatshirt. However, when she looked at the hourglass, her stomach dropped. It was cracked. The magical sand inside of it had all poured out. It was broken. Useless. Which meant, there was nothing left she could have done. He really was gone.

Grief unlike any she'd felt before rushed through her body. She couldn't remember any other time in her life when she had felt so helpless. Things were not supposed to have ended up this way! Even if Severus had not still wanted to be with her, he was still supposed to live! What was the point of going back in time if nothing changed? Why had Dumbledore put her through all of this? She would never forgive him.

"Her…mione."

Hermione froze.

ooo

A/N - Thank you all so much for the love and kind words that you have given since I've returned to this story! I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was the one I was most anxious to post. I've had this written since nearly the beginning, minus a few things I had to tweak so there were no continuity errors. This chapter, and the scene early on with their first Potions lesson together in the past, were two of the first things I had written. Both pretty much influenced this entire fic. So, I hope you liked it! I also wanted to thank everyone for their condolences about my fur baby. I forgot to say that in the last chapters, but I very much appreciate it. He was with me through almost all of this story, and it was so strange to finish it without him purring away beside me.

Next chapter will be up next Saturday! Hope you all have a good weekend!