3rd May 1998 - Pt. 2

Hermione, Ron, Harry, Neville, and Ginny sat beneath Hermione's favorite tree near the Black Lake. Hermione looked out across the lake, and could just spot the tiny island where she and Severus spent so many hours alone together. She wondered if they would ever visit it again.

"Hermione," said Ginny, snapping her fingers in front of Hermione's face, taking her out of her thoughts. "You were going to tell us something."

Hermione looked at her friends, and felt her heart start to race. Ron was not going to take this well. She knew that. Maybe she should have spoken to him alone, instead of with his sister, Harry, and Neville present. But, she admitted to herself, she was too much of a coward to face him without the others there as a buffer.

"It's a long story," she warned them, then took a deep breath, and launched into her tale of the last six and a half months of her life.

Her friends listened intently as she explained how a Time-Turner, and a note from Dumbledore appeared in the Headmaster's office. She did not tell them yet that it was in response to her voicing out loud how she believed Severus deserved to live. Ginny audibly gasped when Hermione told them how far back she had been sent, once she decided to use it.

Neville said, "obviously," very quietly when Hermione explained how she had been in Ravenclaw during her time there. Then, when she began telling them of her first night of term, Harry interrupted her.

"Wait," said Harry, when Hermione was explaining her first encounter with Sirius Black. "Sirius ifancied/i you?" he asked with a slight laugh.

Ginny giggled, and Ron, she noticed, narrowed his eyes.

"Well, yes," said Hermione, with a blush creeping up her face. "But I turned him down. Many times, actually."

Ron snorted, and his ears were blazing red. Hermione ignored him, and went to continue on, but Harry spoke again.

"Were you friends with my parents?" he asked.

Hermione sighed. Since she had not gotten to the most important part of her story, her and Severus, she did not know how to answer that question, considering the tenuous relationship that caused with Lily. She bit her lip.

"Well considering I was in Ravenclaw, I didn't see them much. I did become fairly close to Remus, however. So I saw your father - Harry everyone is right, you do look so much like him - much more than I saw Lily."

Ginny reached and grasped Harry's hand. Harry looked down at their interlaced fingers, then at Ginny's face. A sad smile touched his lips, then he looked back at Hermione.

"What was he like?" Harry asked.

Hermione couldn't help it, and a small laugh escaped her.

"He and Sirius really were quite the pair," she said with a fond smile. "Even though they, well mainly Sirius, drove me bonkers at times, their hearts were normally in the right place."

She thought about Sirius' birthday, and when James and Sirius cornered her about spending time with Severus. Even though Hermione was more of Remus' friend, she would never forget how that alone seemed to cause James to care for her well-being. Yes, he was a little immature at times, but James Potter had been a good person.

She decided that she was not going to tell them about Sirius' drunken assault of her. Harry didn't need to know about that. She couldn't hurt Harry by telling him.

"It's so strange," said Harry. "That you knew my own parents better than I ever will."

Hermione felt terribly when Harry had put it that way. It was a shame that she had gotten to know them, and Harry never would.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said softly.

Harry's lips tilted up in a smile that did not reach his eyes.

"It's okay, Hermione. But I would love to hear more about them," he said.

Hermione smiled back at Harry.

"You are so much like them," she began. "You get your loyalty from your father, and your fierceness from your mother. As I said, you look so much like James, but you really do have exactly Lily's eyes. You even sound like your father! The first time I heard him speak, I knew it was him, without even looking at him. That was how much you sounded alike."

Harry beamed at this, though his eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Thank you," he told her in a rough voice. "I'll want to hear more, but I reckon I should let you get back to your story."

Truthfully, Hermione was glad for the minor side road her story took, speaking to Harry about his parents. It delayed speaking of the thing she was dreading to tell them. But, she supposed she shouldn't stall any longer, and rip the bandage off, so to say.

"So while I was there, I began to develop a, erm, close… bond with someone," she began to admit.

She saw Neville's eyebrows raise, Ginny's head cock to the side, and Ron's face grow red. Harry's expression was bemused.

"By, close bond, what do you mean?" asked Ron, with a hint of steel in his tone.

Hermione started to fidget. Her face felt like it was on fire. She wasn't sure how to answer.

Ron's eyes narrowed to slits. Hermione still hadn't responded.

"What do you mean by, close bond?" he repeated.

Hermione could feel her heart nearly beating out of her rib cage. There was no way he was going to understand. Ron hated Severus. She braced herself, and just went for it.

"I was in a relationship for months while I was there," she said so fast, the words almost blended together.

Ginny let out a small gasp. Harry and Neville's eyebrows raised. Ron stood suddenly. There was pure anger in his eyes.

"With who?" he demanded, shooting daggers down at her.

"Ron, please," she pleaded. "It didn't happen immediately. I never meant for it to happen!"

Ron ran both hands through his hair. The rest of their friends sat silently, their eyes darting back and forth between Hermione and Ron.

"With who?" he asked again in a near growl.

Hermione felt the tears form in her eyes as she saw the undeniable hurt and anger in Ron's expression. It seemed as if Harry, Ginny, and Neville were holding their breaths, waiting for her answer.

"You have to understand," she pleaded. "For a while, I didn't even know if I would be able to return to this time period. There were several weeks where I thought I might have been stuck there."

"With who?" he asked for a third time.

"Severus," she answered in a near whisper.

It was silent for a heartbeat, as everyone let who she said register with them. As she assumed, Ron spoke first.

"SNAPE?!" he thundered.

Hermione flinched.

"Merlin," she heard Ginny say quietly.

Ron was pacing now, his breath coming out in angry pants.

"Well that's just fucking great, Hermione," he spat. "I spent the last two days thinking you and I were finally together, and you've been off having a grand old time fucking Snape!"

"Ron!" Ginny shouted.

Hermione tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but it was no use. More kept coming.

"I'm so sorry, Ron," she said again. "I didn't mean to hurt you. It just sort of… happened."

It was probably the wrong thing to have said. But, Hermione wasn't thinking clearly at that moment. She was just desperate to explain.

Ron snorted loudly and rounded on her.

"So what, do you love the greasy git or something?" he asked.

"Don't call him that!" Hermione shouted.

Her face flamed in anger. Ron's eyes widened.

"Fucking hell, you do, don't you?" he asked, his voice filled with disgust.

"Yes. I do," she answered without hesitation.

Ron let out a growl of frustration. The expression on his face reminded her terribly of the one he wore just moments before he walked out on her and Harry, during their hunt for Horcruxes.

"I hope you're happy then!" he yelled. "I hope you're happy being in love with someone who's dead!" he spat the last word at her, like he was trying to cause her the most pain imaginable.

Hermione winced.

"He's not dead," she said.

Everyone was looking at her now.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry. "We were there. We saw him."

Hermione took another deep breath to try to center herself.

"That was why Dumbledore sent me back," she said, looking only at Harry now. "I saved him."

Hermione then explained about the weeks she had spent working on the antivenin, and how, when she returned back to the present, she rushed to the Shrieking Shack and forced Severus to take it. She told them how he was currently alive and recovering at St. Mungo's, and that was where she had gone when she told them all that she needed to be alone. Ron's face was so red with anger, it was almost glowing.

"So out of everyone who died, you only saved Snape?" Ron hissed.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but Harry spoke.

"That's a good point, Hermione. What about Sirius, or Remus, or… my parents?"

"Or Fred," Ginny added.

Hermione's head spun. They were all valid questions. And it wasn't as if she didn't want to save anyone else. But…

"Dumbledore," she said. "He made me give him my word that I would not warn anyone of their futures. The world that we've known may not have existed if I had. It was very possible that some, or all of us, would have never been born," she explained, desperation saturated her voice. "I wanted to warn them! But he made me swear."

No one spoke again for several moments. She could tell by their expressions that Harry, Ginny, and Ron were still not happy with that explanation.

"I suppose that makes sense," said Neville, speaking for the first time in a while. "It's supposed to be really dangerous to meddle with time."

"It is," said Hermione softly. "I tried to be very careful that I didn't say too much, or do something that would change anything while I was there."

"Besides fuck Snape like some kind of slut, you mean," Ron said with a sneer.

Hermione flinched as if Ron hit her. He called her a slut?

"Out of line, Ron!" yelled Harry.

Ron kept his rage-filled eyes locked on Hermione's.

"Stay out of it, Harry!" he told him, as he continued to glare at her.

Hermione puffed up in anger. She thought of how cruel he was to her during their First Year, how he had treated her during their Third Year, the awful things he had said to her when she was seeing Viktor during their Fourth Year, the constant bickering during their Fifth Year, how he spitefully dated Lavender Brown during their Sixth Year because he had found out she snogged Viktor. When he abandoned them for weeks, thinking that there was something going on between her and Harry. How could she have ever believed they belonged together, after how awfully he had treated her nearly the entire time they had known one another?

She had enough. Yes, Ron was hurt, but she was not going to let him speak to her that way. Hermione stood and faced Ron. There was pure fire in her eyes.

"Ron, I understand that you are hurt, and you have every right to be. I don't know what else to say. I have said that I am sorry. Truly, I am. However," she leaned up on her toes to look him better in the eye. "You are not going to speak to me that way. Never again are you going to lash out at me, or call me names like this! I have been putting up with it since First Year, and I'm done!"

Ron threw his arms in the air and let out a noise that was almost like a growl.

"You cheated on me!" he shouted.

Hermione let out a mirthless laugh.

"We were never a couple! We kissed once! Is this so much different than what you did to me with Lav-Lav!?" she shrieked.

Ron took a step towards Hermione. She did not flinch or back down.

"That was different!" he yelled.

"How?!" Hermione bellowed. "I asked you to Slughorn's Christmas party, then you gave me the silent treatment and cold shoulder without any explanation! Then you started hooking up with Lavender all because you assumed I snogged Viktor Krum two years beforehand!"

Rom looked beyond reason.

"It's still different!" he roared.

Hermione snorted.

"You know what? You're right, Ron, it is. At least I love Severus," she spat. "I didn't just use him to be spiteful and cruel to you."

Ron sputtered, but nothing intelligible came from his mouth. Hermione was breathing so heavily, it was like she had just run a mile.

The two were almost nose to nose. There was pure loathing in Ron's eyes. Hermione felt as if she was seeing him clearly for the first time, and she didn't like what she saw.

"Guys," Harry said tentatively. "Come on, that's enough now, yeah?"

Ron glared down at Harry and shook his head.

"Nah, mate, I'm done. I'm out of here."

And before anyone could stop him, Ron gave Hermione one more contemptuous look, turned, and stormed off. Hermione turned back towards her friends, and saw they were all staring at her.

"Well," Harry said. "I dunno what you expected." He shrugged.

Hermione balled her fists. It was just like Harry to immediately take Ron's side. He always did. However, as much as she did not want to admit it to Harry, Ron had every right to be angry. But that still didn't give him the right to speak to her that way.

"I - I don't know what to think of this," said Ginny, avoiding Hermione's eyes. "You and Snape. It just…" she trailed off.

Even though she knew that Ron would have reacted terribly, she did hope that at least Harry, Ginny, and Neville would have supported her. But, from the way Harry and Ginny looked at her, she knew now that was foolish.

Harry stood, and helped Ginny to her feet. They looked at each other for the briefest moment, then Harry looked back at Hermione.

"I think we're all going to need a little bit of time to let this sink in, Hermione," he said. "It's… it's a lot."

"I know," said Hermione.

"I'm going to go check on Ron" Ginny said, still not looking at Hermione.

And with barely a wave goodbye, Ginny rushed off after her brother. Harry watched her go.

"I, erm, I better go, too," he said, then also without a goodbye, followed Ginny back to the school.

Hermione sank down onto the grass, where Neville still sat.

"I've made a right mess of things, haven't I?" she asked Neville.

Neville let out a loud breath.

"You know how I feel about Professor Snape," he said.

"I do," Hermione answered.

Neville used to be terrified of Severus. She remembered that from her Third Year. And, even though he was told by Harry how Severus was instrumental in them winning the war, she was sure a part of him strongly disliked Severus after the year at Hogwarts everyone had just endured. She wouldn't have blamed Neville for being angry with her, too.

"Was he good to you?" Neville asked, taking her off guard.

She blinked a few times before she answered.

"Yes. He was," she told him honestly.

"And you love him?" he asked.

"Very much," she said.

Neville gave her a gentle smile.

"Then it'll work out. Eventually."

He sounded confident, but Hermione wasn't so sure. She was convinced that things between her and Ron, at least, would never go back to how they were.

Hermione returned his smile.

"I hope you're right, Neville."

ooo

15th May 1998

For nearly two weeks, Hermione returned to St. Mungo's each day, bringing with her a copy of Potion's Weekly, or The Daily Prophet to keep Severus occupied. They still hadn't touched on any of the heavier topics. They would sometimes make small talk, but mostly sat together for an hour or two each day in compatible silence the first week she visited. Hermione did not want to bring up the subject of her time in the past until Severus was ready. He had stated several times that he would have preferred not to speak of it until he was out of the hospital.

He was mostly friendly to Hermione, well, as friendly as Severus ever was. He never threw her out at least. But there was still that warmth missing from his eyes. She tried not to let it bother her too much.

Slowly, as the second week went on, things began to change between Hermione and Severus. Occasionally he would tease her, and some of his comments hinted at things they had said or done in the past. They would still have some periods of time where both of them sat and read silently, but the silence didn't feel tense. She would have been confident to say that they were, once again in her life, venturing back to at least somewhat of a friendship.

When she wasn't with Severus, she was back at Hogwarts, helping with the cleanup and the restoration of the castle. By this time, most of the remaining students and staff knew about Severus; how he was alive, and worked undercover for The Order when everyone believed he was a murderous Death Eater. Only Professor McGonagall and the friends she had told, plus eventually Luna, knew the whole story of Hermione in the past.

Unsurprisingly, Luna was immediately accepting of Hermione's relationship with Severus. She always did have a unique way of looking at the world, which Hermione assumed caused Luna's positive reaction.

"I think you'd be good for him, Hermione," Luna told her, in that dreamy tone she so often spoke in.

Ron did not tell anyone, but he still would not look at, or speak to her. The times they were working on the same part of the castle, or were all eating meals together in The Great Hall were now awkward, and filled with tension. A part of her began to wonder if she even wanted to repair that friendship. But, there was another part of her that knew one day she would try.

Although Harry and Ginny did not initially take the news about her and Severus well, Harry and Ginny eventually came around. Mostly. Both of them told her that, although they didn't like, or really understand it, they just wanted her to be happy. Hermione did manage to have a few conversations with Harry about his parents, Sirius, and Lupin. He also was very amused that Rita Skeeter was one of her dorm mates, and that Skeeter had once dated Lockhart. They tended to shy away from speaking about her times with Severus, however.

She was grateful that Neville was supportive from the start, despite his feelings about Severus. He listened to her stories of what Severus was like when he was younger, and the times they had spent together as a couple. He did not judge or belittle her at all. Strangely, Neville seemed to become her biggest source of comfort and support. That was something she would always admire in Neville, his unwavering loyalty to those he cared for.

Every evening, when the work for the day was finished, and they were through with dinner, Hermione would say goodbye to her friends, and make her way to St. Mungo's.

On a Friday evening, when Hermione was leaving Severus' room, he stopped her.

"A word before you leave," he said, as she packed up her belongings.

"Of course," she answered, then gave her attention to Severus.

He looked loads better than he did when he was first in the Hospital. The bandages were finally off, and he had put on a little bit of weight. His skin looked healthier, and even his hair seemed less stringy. It might have been the healthiest she remembered ever seeing him. Aside from the thick, red scars on his neck, from where he was bitten, that was.

"I am to be discharged tomorrow," he told her.

Hermione beamed at him.

"That's wonderful, Severus!" she exclaimed, and made a move to go hug him, but stopped herself immediately.

Severus cleared his throat and shifted in his bed. Despite their time together the last fortnight, he still appeared a bit uncomfortable with her familiarity with him at times.

"Right," he said. "I believe that I owe you a conversation." He raised an eyebrow. "And you owe me an explanation."

Hermione swallowed. Her stomach felt like it flipped over. As much as she was desperate to have that conversation, she was also dreading it.

"Yes, I believe that is correct," she agreed.

Severus nodded.

"Tomorrow." He reached for a piece of paper on his bedside table, and handed it to Hermione. "This is my address. Come to my home at seven o'clock. After we speak, there is something you need to see."

Hermione's eyebrows pulled together.

"What do I need to see?" she asked.

Severus shook his head.

"Tomorrow," he answered simply.

Hermione shoved the paper in her beaded bag, and gave Severus a small smile.

"Tomorrow then," she agreed. "Goodnight, Severus," she said, then walked to the door.

"Goodnight," he responded softly.

Hermione had an extremely difficult time falling asleep that night. She tossed and turned for what felt like hours, anxious about what the next day would bring.

ooo

A/N - Hello everyone! Thank you, as always, for the amazing love and support on the previous chapter, and this fic as a whole! I truly appreciate all the wonderful comments that I have received. So we've finally got one conversation out of the way, which admittedly did not go well. But, we all know that Ron can be a bit of a hot-head, and I'm sure after losing his brother, this was not easy for him to hear. I couldn't see him reacting any other way, but somewhat harshly. Next week, however, we have another conversation to get into. This next chapter, that will be posted next Saturday, is very long, and should answer all of the questions that a lot of you have had throughout this journey. I hope that you all enjoy it! It's probably one of my most favorite chapters of the story. Until then, I hope you all have a great weekend, and a wonderful week ahead!