Chapter 6

Thanks, Litc, for continuing to put up with me and reading this over. LOL

The next morning Hermione woke up rather late. Good thing it's Saturday, she thought. After finding James to give him his cloak, she made her way to the lake to find something to read. She hadn't seen Severus at all. She was there for about an hour when a shadow blocked her sun. She looked up into the twinkling, blue eyes of Dumbledore.

"Don't give up. It will be fine. Pretty day, isn't it?"

She smiled gratefully. Just when she was feeling alone, she realized that she wasn't. Severus would have to come around. She wondered what his letter said. "I just hope I haven't messed things up, sir."

"I think that all is going according to plan. Here is your friend now," he said and nodded toward the castle.

Sure enough Severus was making his way toward them.

"Headmaster," he said, nodding, when he came closer.

"Severus, my boy. Lovely day. Well, I have matters to attend to," Dumbledore said, eyes at full twinkle. "I will see you both at the noon meal of course."

Severus sat next to her, not too closely though--to her dismay.

"I've read this," he said, pulling out the parchment. "It's definitely authentic." He looked out at the lake. "I just..."

"I am sorry. I feel horrible," she said. "How can I make it up to you?"

"I don't know."

Her heart dropped. "I meant everything I said to you last night. I do love you," she said softly. "I didn't expect this to happen, but it just fell into place and feels so right."

He took her hand and moved closer. "You are going to leave me. I'm going to spend the next twenty years alone, waiting for you. I just... I don't like it."

"You will have other women, Severus. I can promise you that," she said softly. She knew it was true. He would become a Death Eater after all. She knew what they did to women, though hopefully not Severus, and she knew the types of women that flocked to them. "But you will have me again one day."

He looked at her determinedly. "That's the only thing that keeps me from leaving. I feel like I have a purpose now. You. Just knowing that I will be a professor here one day. Respected. It feels like I will be needed. It's good to feel needed."

"I know what you mean. So, the letter?" She hoped Snape had explained it all to himself.

"Would you like to read it?"

"I would hate to read your private thoughts."

"That's just it. They are my thoughts. Here," he said, giving her the letter. "I think you should know what I had to say."

Severus,

Severus

She had tears in her eyes. She was important to him. So he had cared for her. Had meant those words of love he told her as she'd faded away from him. She grinned. "He usually calls me an insufferable know-it-all."

They both started laughing.

"I will do this. I just need you to explain things to me." Severus pulled her into her arms and kissed her. "I can't believe I, Severus Snape, have finally met someone like you. It's... pleasant. I just don't know if I am ready to lose you so soon. All those years without you."

"We will make the most of it while I am here then. I'll tell you everything that I can. For now, we have to find a way to add a magic reduction agent into your Apparation potion. I have notes in my dorm," she said, kissing his cheek softly.

"Let's get to it then," he said.

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A few weeks later, she was on her way to the library when she saw a rat trying to sneak in to the Slytherin common room. Scabbers. She'd know him any place. She played dumb though. "Oh, hi, little rat," she said softly. She saw that it looked up at her and made to move on. She caught him by the tail.

"What are you doing in here? Don't you know the big bad Slytherins would eat you alive?" She wished that were true.

The rat twitched as if nervous. She found a small box and placed him inside. She cast a charm, so that he could not revert back to his human form.

Damn Peter Pettigrew!

"What's that, Mione?" Severus asked when she saw him just outside the portrait opening.

"A rat," she said. "I have plans for him."

"All right. I'll be waiting for you when you get back in."

"I won't be long, love," she told him. She walked to the flight of stairs that lead up to the entrance hall when she heard laughter. It was Lily and James. They were snogging in the corridor just to the left. She put on her best Slytherin face and stepped into view. "Excuse me."

Lily looked startled, but James just grinned. "Dorset," he said and nodded.

"Do you know that other than blue flames I specialize in the ability to spot illegal Animagus wizards?" Her eyes were narrowed.

Lily seemed to not know what she was talking about, but James gulped.

"That's right, Prongs. If I thought that this rat here were up to no good in the Slytherin common room, I would definitely extinguish him or force him to remain in this form for a very long time." She thrust the box at him.

"What? I don't know what you mean," he said and nodded towards Lily as if she needed to keep quiet.

"Pass this on to Hagrid then. Maybe it's one of the rats he was experimenting with. Just seems too smart for his own good. Maybe he could name him after your friend... Wormtail. They do resemble each other, don't they?" she said haughtily, spinning on her heel. She thought again, and turned back to him. "I would like to speak to you in private, Potter."

He followed her a few feet away. "How can you know who this is?" He pointed to the rat.

"I told you. I have an eye for those of you who are Animagi." She sighed. "Look, I want you and your friends to leave Severus alone. I will be leaving England again soon, and he will have a hard enough time as it is. But I will be keeping in touch with him via owl post. If I hear that any of you, and I mean any of you, intentionally try to hurt him again, I will turn you all in to the Ministry."

"How can you love that greasy git so much?" he asked, his expression much like Harry's.

"I actually managed to get to know him personally. He's good to me. And I will not have to go home worrying about how he fares with the likes of the bloody Gryffindors always lurking about. And tell your friend Remus he needs to seek Wolfsbane Potion. It will make his transition all the more easy," she said, hoping he would not question her.

He was shocked that she knew that as well. "Did Snape tell you?"

"No, I am fascinated with special magical creatures. I saw it right away when I met him. Do I have your word?" she asked.

"Yes. On Lily's life, and you know I love her," he said impishly, remembering what she had told him not that long before when she'd taken his cloak.

"I do know. Thank you, James. I can almost foresee that you will become most important to our world one day. Take care." She turned to leave, and he grabbed her arm.

"Are you a dark witch?"

"I could be, but my heart on the inside is too good. However, heed my warning." She smirked. "Have a good day."

"Severus is a lucky man. Take care."

She walked away and wanted to cry. She wished she could give them some sort of warning, but she couldn't do it. At least she felt better about leaving Severus here. They were nearly done with the potion now. They had figured out a way to add in just enough of an ingredient that wouldn't be noticed by anyone less that a master such as Severus would become one day. Voldemort would be too interested in quickly making the potion without having it researched. She knew that for a fact already. According to Severus, anyone who drank the potion would have their magic depreciated so much that an Avada Kedavra would be more like a Stun. This made her feel better. Harry would kill Voldemort once and for all.

Severus was almost all she thought of now. They spent every moment together, and he had taken to sleeping in her room most nights. They had made love many times as if trying to make up for the lost time that they knew were coming. They had been practicing non wand magic together. He learned everything that Harry had taught her quickly. Most nights now while the potion simmered in her bathroom they would sit near the fire and talk. He had taken to asking her questions.

She told him everything about her life, her parents, her dreams, her friends. Not once did she mention, though, that Harry's parents were dead and betrayed by Peter. She had a few more run ins with McGonagall. Every time they stopped for a kiss in the corridor, she would happen along. It was quite annoying.

Hermione made her way back to the dorm. He was sprawled out on the floor near the fire reading a book.

"Come here, girl," he said silkily, tossing his book aside. She obeyed him. "I want you."

She smiled. "You have me."

"I wonder what it would be like if I kept you here with me. Think that would change anything?"

She looked away. She had wondered the same thing. How would it feel to grow old with him? To just take him and run away. Of course, it would never happen. But what harm was there in thinking about it?

"It would change everything. This has to be done."

"What do you think will happen after you get back to your time? Between us I mean?"

"Well, you are way too honorable for your own good. That much I know. You felt a bit guilty for snogging with me since I was a student, but the last thing I heard before I left was 'I love you, Hermione,' and that just melted me. I will of course wait until I finish my classes. Then, I will definitely make you see things my way. I don't care that you are older than me. Age is just a number. Dumbledore offered me a job there, and I will take it." She smiled and squeezed his hand. He looked at her softly.

"I told you that I loved you?" He seemed unsure.

"Yes."

"It's how I feel, you know. I just never thought I would tell anyone."

"I know. You told me you were a very private person. I'm not asking you to tell me, Severus. I know that you do, and that, my love, is enough for me," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Merlin! The things you do to me," he breathed, kissing her lips. "I have been working on something, Mione. I want you to make sure that I keep it in my possession after I've given myself the memory charm. Fix it so that I open it right after you leave to come here. Do a charm on it."

"What is it?" she asked. She thought it would be she that intended something for Snape to have. She never realized that it would be him that had the idea first.

"It's something I decided to give myself. I may not be able to keep your memories with me for the next twenty years, but I can have them one day from my own account. Promise me you will see to it," he begged.

"I will. How much longer do we have, Severus?" She bit her lip. He was finalizing things. Their time was almost done.

"Two days at the most. I will test the potion tomorrow on myself to be sure that we've done it right. I will then catalog what you said in my diary. I'll let you watch me put it in the stair, and I will let you see me give it to Marilyn. That way you know that your part is done. Then..." his voice broke. "Then we will do the charm on me, and you can go back."

Hermione pulled him to her frantically. "I hate that I have to leave you. I will be able to see you the moment I get back, but you will have so long until you can be with me again. At least... at least it won't be hard on you. You'll never feel my loss."

"I know. It's the only thing that makes this doable. Otherwise, I couldn't let you go. Either of you."

"Either of us?" She was puzzled.

"You... and him," he said, placing a hand over her stomach.

"What?" She could not be pregnant. There was no way.

"Mione, we have made love every day for more than a month now. Sometimes more than once each day. You've not had your womanly visit. I... I checked you with my wand. You're carrying my baby." He couldn't meet her eyes. "I knew we should have been using contraception potions, but I couldn't do it. I wanted this, so I never said anything. Even took something to make it easier for it to happen."

"I... I don't know what to say. I never thought about it at all." She was pregnant. A son. Severus' son. He had done this on purpose. She was quite unsure how she felt about that. He'd not asked her anything, though she should have known to think of a pregnancy potion.

"Do you hate me?" he asked. His eyes were full of fear.

"No. I love you. I can't hate you... ever. It's what I wanted, only later on. I mean... you are going to kill me when I get back now. How will I be able to tell you this?" Her eyes were full of tears.

"I told you. I will tell me. That package that you will give me. It will be my side of things. My memories."

"Severus, why did you do this? Shouldn't you have asked me?" She was not angry, just stunned. She was going to have a baby for Severus Snape.

"I'm a Slytherin, Mione. I was looking after myself and you of course. I won't let some older version of me try to do the honorable thing. You'll have to be with me now. We will always be linked. Our son is growing within you," he said, kissing her stomach. "Can you not understand?"

"Yes." She was looking down. Somehow she didn't know if her Snape would appreciate this. What would Harry say? No wonder McGonagall went mental when she realized who Hermione was to Severus.

"Mione, look at me." She looked up. He saw her tears. "Don't worry about me. I will explain everything to myself. Do you want to terminate it? Would you feel better?"

"Never," she breathed. "I love you. I will love our child. I'm just... shocked."

"Let me love you," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Let me show you how much I love you and my son. Hopefully, by the time you get back to me, I will have more experience and can do better by you."

"You are perfect already." She reached a hand up and began unbuttoning his shirt while he began unzipping her robes. Within minutes they were completely undressed and on the bed. This time was unlike any other. They explored every part of each other. She was on top, then he was. She could only describe it as intense. Right before she reached her climax, she realized that they were hovering over the bed. His non wand magic had developed nicely after all.

They were both wringing with sweat when they were finished. He leaned down with his face almost touching hers, searching her eyes. She brushed back a hair from his face. His back was slick, and she could feel that her hair was damp as well. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you," he said. It was the first time he'd ever said it aloud, directly. She beamed. This was all that she ever needed.

"I will always love you, Severus. No matter where we are or who we are to each other."

AN: How endearing.

There's only one chapter to go, mates. Oh, and there will be a short epilogue included at the end of it. Hope you're having fun with this parody. I know I am.