Chapter 27

Severus and Hermione went to Marseilles and spent a month in the French Rivera. It was very romantic, making love all night, swimming and dozing in the summer sun during the day kind of vacation. Severus was everything to Hermione, she realized, and she didn't want to imagine a world without him.

One evening, during dinner, Severus leaned over and took her left hand where her engagement ring rested. He looked at it lovingly and said, "Hermione, let's get married. I know that the Dark Lord is still out there and will return, but I refuse to put our lives on hold. I want to lie next to you knowing you are my wife, and we belong together. I want to do it however you wish. If it's a simple wedding, so be it. If you want a big wedding, we can do that too. But let's do this!"

Hermione had been dreading this moment. She felt torn in half. She couldn't marry him without telling him the truth. If she did that, she would lose him forever. But the clock was ticking. She couldn't just wait until little Hermione Granger showed up at Hogwarts and then...surprise!

No, she had decided. She would have to return to her own time. How, she didn't know...nothing had been developed on the Time-Turner. But, sooner or later, she would have to go back.

She looked into his eyes, the eyes that had made their way into her soul, and said, "I can't, Severus. There is something I need to tell you, but can we please just enjoy the rest of our time together? I promise I love you, and I will always want to be with you."

"But you don't want to be my wife?" he accused her angrily as he threw his napkin on the table.

"NO!" she said firmly as she grabbed his arm. "I want nothing more than to be your wife. I'd marry you this second if there weren't a good reason for me wanting to wait until we get back. I respect you enough to give you the choice. After I tell you what I need to, you may not want me," she said quietly.

"Rubbish!" he snapped.

"I love you, Hermione," he whispered.

"I love you, Severus. Please let's enjoy tonight, and then tomorrow we will go talk with Albus, and then after you hear what I have to say, if you still want to marry me, I will marry you immediately. Please, can you just wait until tomorrow and love me tonight?"

He looked troubled, and Hermione grew fearful. Finally, the music started playing, and he stood to offer his hand. They went out onto the dance floor and danced to a heart-rending song that was new to both of them.

And I have never been afraid of losing out

Is lovin' you

As they danced, the sadness of the lyrics pulled at Hermione's heart. She didn't want to cry. She wanted to enjoy again what she had waited so long for. Nevertheless, the tears did come because she knew even if he accepted her secret, she would still have to leave him and return to her timeline.

She slid her hands up the back of his shirt and held him close. She felt his hands embrace her tightly and his kiss on her neck. She wanted him; she didn't care about tomorrow. She just wanted him now, and she wanted it to last as long as she could.

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. "Take me back to our room, Severus. Make love to me," she asked simply.

They left as the song ended. Hermione didn't know the song, nor did she ever care to learn it. But one thing that reverberated in her mind was that Severus was the sweetest thing in her life. Loving him, fighting for him, standing by his side, and missing him while they had been apart never diminished how much she loved him. There would be no other. Ever.

***

Severus slowly took off her clothes and kissed the path that exposed her skin to him. Hermione's heart was breaking. She wanted to reassure him that this wasn't the last time...that there still was a time for them...a place for them. Somehow, they would work it out. Their love was far too precious to ever relinquish it to time.

He was tender and delicate as he laid her down on their bed. They kissed for what seemed like forever until giving in to what they wanted so desperately. As he moved inside her, she felt tears fall onto her face. He was crying as he made love to her. It was just too much. He was trying so hard to keep his composure in the face of what he feared would be loss. Yet, he couldn't stop the tears from falling, splashing salty droplets onto her lips and cheeks. Hermione held him close to her and let him find solace in her body. He clutched her to him in response, and soon he was climaxing. His voice cracked, and he let out a gut-wrenching sob. Hermione couldn't take the sight anymore of seeing her Severus in pain.

After he was still, she sat up in bed and took her wand from her bedside.

"Accio, Time-Turner!" she said loudly.

Severus' head snapped up in shock. "What?" he said in disbelief. The pieces of the old Time-Turner that Hermione had kept with her all these years flew into her hand. She began to tell him the story.

"I was a third-year student in 1993. Because of my outstanding marks, I was given a Time-Turner. I was thirteen, almost fourteen. The night of the Welcoming Feast, I was sitting up in the Gryffindor common room and was foolishly fiddling with it while studying. I was tired and stupid. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, and I didn't have anything with me...not even my wand...just my Time-Turner. I knew something was wrong, so I made my way to see Professor McGonagall. I was disoriented by the differences in the hallway. Everything looked so different. I still thought I was in 1993. I didn't think about the revolving staircases, and I tripped. I instinctively grasped out to save myself from falling, but as you can see, the Time-Turner broke into pieces." She placed the broken pieces into his hand as she continued. Severus looked at the pieces with great concern, and he looked back into her face to listen.

"I was caught by Filch and was taken to see Dumbledore. I told him what happened. I was so sure he could fix it...I mean, Dumbledore can fix anything!" she said as she laughed nervously.

"He shook his head at me and said there was nothing he could do, that I was stuck in 1973. He said I needed to make a life for myself here. So, I did. You knew I never fit in with my house. Lily took me in, and you were a part of the package. I didn't want to interfere. Then Dumbledore thought it would be good for you to have me stay with you. He was concerned for you. I had no choice. Even after what your father did, Dumbledore still wouldn't let me back to Hogwarts.

"Severus, I never knew when the time would come that I could go home. Then as the years passed, it didn't seem so important anymore. I fell in love with you, and my life was here with you. I love you, Severus, with all that I am. I want to be your wife. I want to have your babies and grow old with you. P-Please believe me!" she choked as the tears fell freely from her eyes.

He had been silent the whole time, holding the broken pieces of the old Time-Turner in his hands. He placed the pieces on the bed between them.

"I have questions for you, Hermione," he said seriously.

Hermione nodded as he continued. "In 1993, which by the way is only eleven years from now...you were a third-year. Meaning that you came to Hogwarts in 1991, correct?"

Hermione's heart plummeted at the sound of the harsh voice of the Professor Snape she had known a lifetime ago. "Yes," she answered quietly.

"That means that in nine years, a little Hermione Granger is going to show up in my Potions class, and if I am not mistaken, that will be the same year as Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, correct?"

"Yes," she replied, her head hanging low, unable to face him.

"You are friends with them?" he asked harshly.

"With Harry, yes. Neville, I mostly help him with schoolwork. He's a nice, respectful boy, same as Harry!" she insisted heartily as she lifted her face to look into his.

Snape gave a snort as he crossed his arms. "What exactly did Dumbledore tell you when he said he had no way of getting you back to your timeline?"

"He said that I had to wait until the invention of a more sophisticated Time-Turner. He told me I had no other choice but to make a life for myself in this timeline. He gave me a history and got me a new wand and uniform. I went out from there to make my way," she answered simply.

Severus shook his head. "That old fool!" he hissed. "You were a child! You could have disrupted everyone's true destiny!"

He got up from the bed and put on his dressing gown hurriedly. "Tell me, Miss Granger. Was I your Potions professor for your first two years at Hogwarts?"

Hermione had been dreading this question most of all. "Yes," she whispered.

He closed his eyes and sat down in a chair. "My God, what have I done?" he asked painfully.

Hermione got up and put on her robe, making her way to him. She knelt before him and said, "Severus, you remember this: I didn't go seeking you out. I remained passive and never tried to come between you and Lily. I never butted in, never tried to upset any balance. I can tell you this, that in my original timeline, James and Lily married and had Harry. All I knew was that Harry's parents were killed by You-Know-Who on Halloween night in 1981. That's all I knew about his family. Just before I left, I learned about Sirius Black, that he was a murderer, but I didn't know whom he had killed, except a rumor was going around that he wanted to kill Harry. I'm telling you the truth. I didn't know half the stuff I found out when I came here.

"Please, Severus. By the time we became more than friends, we had grown up together. I started to forget the teacher I had known and started seeing the boy in front of me. Nothing has changed! I love you!" she choked out as the tears began to flow.

He looked at her and reached down to take her into his arms. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked against her neck.

Hermione swallowed. "I couldn't. I was so afraid that I would change too much of the fates of the people around me. That was why I left. I knew Harry Potter was going to defeat You-Know-Who, but that James and Lily had to die. I couldn't stop it. It was what had to happen. Otherwise, I didn't know how he could be stopped. Please love me, Severus! Please don't push me away. I've been in pain for so long!"

He held her in his arms and looked into her soft, brown eyes. "No, Hermione, I won't reject you. But tell me, what am I like in ten years?"

"Well," she said as she shifted her legs. "You are cold and cruel to everyone, except towards the Slytherins. You hate me and call me a 'know-it-all' and basically frighten everyone that crosses your path. You dress in scary, billowing robes, are rude, sarcastic, and eager to find any excuse to take away house points. You are the most feared teacher at Hogwarts."

"And I take it you hated me, which would explain your less-than-happy attitude when we first met?"

"I thought you were just a mean, unfair, git that got off on terrorizing students, particularly poor Neville Longbottom. But now, I'm older, and in retrospect, I can see that you were just a very lonely man."

"I never married Lily, never had a woman or wife?" he asked.

"No, you were a bachelor and didn't seem interested in getting a girlfriend. I mean, at least to an eleven-year-old girl. If you did, no one knew about it."

"Or perhaps, I had a hard time knowing the woman I loved was now a little girl again, and I had to keep my distance," he replied.

Hermione threw her arms around him. "Please tell me you don't hate me! I couldn't bear it if I lost you now!" she begged earnestly.

Severus pulled her from him and kissed her lips. "We said vows, Hermione. Our oaths are binding. I love you. I am confused and angry about what we might have to do to rectify this mess, but you and I are forever. Time doesn't matter...especially ten measly years! You are mine, and I am yours," he said passionately.

Hermione felt the weight of the world lift from off her shoulders. "Please take me, Severus. Make me yours...now that you know me...I want you to be inside me. I need you," she whispered.

Severus carried her to the bed, and they made love. Somehow, it really didn't matter. They had grown up together, had lived through terrible days, and falling in love had not been a part of a scheme or plan. It was honest, real, and eternal.

After, as they lay together in each other's arms, Severus whispered, "I will help you, Hermione. I'll get you back home."

She sat up and cried out desperately, "No! I want to stay with you."

Severus reached up with his hand and played with her curly hair. "You must live in your timeline. When you become the age of consent, if you want, we can be together. It won't be long. We can wait until you are sixteen. It's just a couple of years."

Hermione snorted, "Like I can be made to be fourteen again!" she scoffed.

"But I just found you, we just started to live our life! Oh, God, Severus," she cried bitterly as he held her.

"I will always have dreams to remember and memories to keep me warm. I will wait for you, Hermione. That is, if you still want an old man," he said with a chuckle.

"Please don't joke, Severus!" she pleaded. "I love you."

"And I love you, Hermione. You sacrificed a great deal for me, and now I must do the same for you. It's better this way. Tomorrow, we'll return to Hogwarts and speak with Albus on how the research is going, okay?" he asked.

Hermione said a muffled "yes" against his chest. Then she cried bitterly. A thought crossed her mind that she never recalled ever crying so hard in all the years she had been here. Now that she was going to find a way back, she didn't want to go.

***

The song Hermione and Severus danced to was The Sweetest Thing by Juice Newton (1982).