Chapter 26

Hermione stood before Raven and watched as he swallowed the potion that had taken them nearly six weeks to brew, and then she started the incantation.

Raven looked into her eyes the entire time. Then he seemed to blink and whispered, "Hermione, so it is done. I love you." Tears ran freely down his face.

Somehow the potion had reversed his mind already. In the seconds it had taken him to swallow it, he was back loving her with his eyes. She wished she could touch him and kiss him one last time, but she could not enter the circle. She mouthed back, "I love you, too." Tears fell down her face, obstructing her vision.

She had memorized the incantation because she had known she would be crying and that she would not be able to read it from the paper. In a few minutes, their lives might be changed forever. Suddenly, a light pierced the room, and the area around Raven began to glow. Light surrounded his body like fire, and he screamed with pain.

Raven felt as if the sun was shining right through him. Darkness streamed from him, and he let out an unholy scream, feeling as if his body was being ripped apart. There seemed to be a fire in his arm. He lifted it to look, and a fiery light broke out of the skin around the Dark Mark. The beams of light rose to the ceiling of the cavern.

It was so bright, Hermione had to cover her eyes. When she peaked through a slit in her hands, she saw the light flare and then vanish. Raven fell to his knees. After he remained silent and close-eyed for a few moments, she ran to him and threw her arms around him. "Raven, Raven! Are you all right?" She covered his face with kisses, and then she kissed his mouth gently.

Suddenly, she felt his body stiffen, and she opened her eyes and looked into his eyes. He backed off a few inches and looked at her in confusion.

"Granger? What the bloody hell are you doing?" He pushed her back. "What's happening?"

He seemed to take in his surroundings and then looked back at her. "How did you end up helping me?"

Hermione felt her heart go cold; what she had feared for weeks became reality. She asked, "Professor Snape?"

"Of course," he answered in a nasty tone.

She felt her vision fade, and then blackness overtook her.

Snape saw her turn white as a sheet and slip toward the floor. He caught her and struggled to his feet, looking around. In the back he found a bed, and he tossed her onto it. He turned to survey his surroundings. He found his wand where he'd always kept it in his sleeve, and he held it up defensively.

He could sense the emptiness of the caverns; no other living person was near. He turned back to look at the unconscious girl. She had matured, and there was a toughness about her. He reached up to touch his lips; she'd been kissing him quite intimately. How had that happened? The touch had not been that unpleasant. Suddenly, he grabbed at his sleeve and pulled it up to see the Dark Mark. He gasped and had to sit on the edge of the bed. It was gone, leaving his arm an unblemished white. He was free; he no longer had the Dark Mark. That meant Voldemort was gone. Though it appeared his fears had been realized and he'd lost his memories, somehow he had been restored. He looked back at Miss Granger. He couldn't fathom how she had come to be the person who had helped restore him. He thought the girl and her friends hated him. What had happened? Only questions remained.

Snape cringed at the thought of having to endure an explanation from her. The story could be quite long, and he would be subject to her emotions and quite possibly her pain.

He checked her with his wand and found her in shock; but she would recover. He thought he'd better look around and see what was available to him. There might be potions around he would need to help her wake up.

He looked around the bed and saw a book on the table nearby. It had a cover with his name on it. It was odd because the handwriting was his, but he could not remember having seen this journal before.

He opened it to the first page and read, "Severus, I am Raven. I am who you have become."

Snape closed the book. He wasn't sure he would be able to deal with what had happened. His eyes shifted to Hermione. Her eyes were now open, and tears were running down her cheeks. She tuned away from him.

"Miss Granger, are you all right?" he asked. He wasn't really sure he cared or really wanted to know, but he knew how to be sociable when the need rose. And it was obvious that she must have been a great help to him. He was honestly surprised not to see Potter or Weasley there with them. What had happened to them?

"Miss Granger, are you OK?" he asked again, not having gotten any response. "Granger, answer me!" he demanded, using his teacher's voice.

"No," she whispered.

"You are in shock. Are you in any physical pain?"

She couldn't speak; she could only shake her head. Her whole life was suddenly empty and frightening. Everything she'd had with Raven in the last months was gone. She only hoped that in time the memories she had made with Raven would resurface.

Severus looked around the massive cave room and noted all the treasures. He saw the books, and he felt a huge desire to start reading them. He'd loved books as a child and throughout his adult life. Books were one thing he and his mother shared that his father had no part in, being illiterate.

Strange, he thought, he hadn't thought of his mother in years. Why were thoughts of her so fresh? He could see her clearly in his mind.

He came back close to the bed, and Miss Granger was sitting on the edge of it. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded.

"You have obviously been of help in returning my memories. How long has it been since the war?" he asked curiously.

"Six... six and half months," she said flatly.

"SIX MONTHS! Bloody hell, girl!" he yelled. "Where have I been?" He came close to peer in her face and was suddenly enveloped by her arms.

"Raven, I know you're in there. Please remember I love you. Please remember!" Hermione cried. Her face pressed against his waist.

"Miss Granger! UN-HAND ME!" he growled, struggling to disengage her arms from around him. But he found the strong hug somehow reassuring nevertheless. Part of him was familiar with her touch. He loathed feeling her release him, but she heeded his voice and let go. She got up and ran to the far end of the cavern and huddled in a ball against the wall.

He stood looking at her, feeling he should go to her. But he was Severus Snape, and Severus Snape did not coddle emotional females.

He finally went and stood her up, shaking her to get her attention. "Miss Granger, you must not succumb to this emotionalism. I need answers, and you are the only one who can give them. How did you get in here? How do we get out?" He hadn't seen any doors.

Hermione stood for a while just watching him. He was pacing the cave like a trapped lion, growling and strutting here and there. He was as arrogant and harsh as he'd been when he'd taught her at Hogwarts. Her heart ached for Raven. His gentle, kind, loving, soul was trapped inside the man demanding answers from her.

She dried her tears with the back of her hand. "We came through the wall, but I can only get through if you are holding me inside the circle of your arm."

Snape nodded, taking her at her word. "Let's get out of here. I take it you got to my cave before coming here."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Let's go there then. This is no place for you to be."

"I've been here with Raven for six and a half weeks. The potion that brought back your memories took a great deal of work. The spell took a lot of practice."

He looked around again. "You've been here for more than six weeks?" He saw the journal again at the bedside and then realized there was only one bed.

Hermione had returned Raven's bed to its original form...a lounge chair.

"You and... Raven... have been sleeping together?" His eyebrows had risen in surprise.

"Yes," she said, suddenly embarrassed.

"You and I... ?" he asked, not finishing the sentence.

She took a deep breath and stood straighter. "Yes."

"You're a child! A student! What kind of man was he? Why would you want to?"

"We became friends, very good friends at a time when we both needed someone desperately. We grew to respect and love each other very much."

"Love." He said the word as if it where a nasty thing. "Love only kills you. Now we need to leave here."

Hermione went to the bedside table and took the journal. "Raven spent a lot of time writing in this book so you would know what you've been doing all this time. I doubt you will like a lot of what you read, but everything in it happened...everything." She held it up to him and stood waiting for him to take it.

He stood looking at it as if it were a vile bug. Then he reached out and took the book.

She stepped closer and reached up to touch his cheek. Surprised, he drew back, but she came forward and caressed his cheek with her fingers. "Severus Snape, you have the ability to love and be loved. The part of you that was Raven learned that with me. I am no longer your student. Do not dismiss me as a child. I am a woman...a woman you made me. I love you with all my heart."

"Love me!" he spat. "You love a ghost, someone I was, someone who's dead."

"Do not dismiss me like that," she demanded. "Raven is part of you. I am here for you...not just because you were Raven but because you are a man who has garnered great respect in our world. You gave so much to protect Ron, Harry, and me."

"Where are the ungrateful brats? Why haven't they come here to help you?" His voice was condescending.

"When the war was over, Ron was dead. Harry is lying in a hospital, catatonic, the victim of a spell Voldemort placed on him moments before Harry's curse killed him. You can help me with the spells in this book Raven and I found. You are the Potions master and a great wizard. I do not understand the instructions in the book that holds the key to the spells that might help Harry."

"Now, the truth is told," he said, stepping back from her. "You kissed up to this Raven so you could convince me to help Potter. Always Potter. He has been a thorn in my side for my entire adult life. The agonies I have gone through for that boy. You have no idea. What did I get from him but hatred and disrespect?"

Hermione slapped him. "I gave up the love of my life for you. Yes, I did it so you could save Harry, and that's a payment of sorts, but mostly I did it because it was the right thing to do. Raven doesn't know Harry. He never met him, but he gave our life up to help Harry because that was what you had devoted your life to. He respected you enough to give you back your life. The least you can do is read his journal and honor who he was by saving Harry."

Snape stood looking down at her. "Are you done?" he asked with a sneer. This girl certainly was a spitfire.

"For now."

"Then let's go. I can't stay here right now. I need my own things. I need to reconnect with my life." He did not tell her that this place scared him.

"Collect what you want to take with you, and bring the Potion book you mentioned."

Hermione quickly collected her things and joined him again. She took one wistful look back at the bed they had shared.

"Miss Granger, I am not a patient man. Lets'go!" he demanded.

Hermione showed him the wall they had passed through, and he found that his hand passed into the wall easily. He reached out his hand to her.

"You won't let go?" she asked fearfully. "Raven didn't know the first time, and I got trapped for a few moments. I thought I was going to die surrounded by that rock." She drew back. "Don't let go of me!"

Severus saw the naked fear in her eyes, and he felt the need to reassure her.

"I will not let go, Hermione."

Hermione could see the truth in his eyes. For a moment she felt as if she was looking into Raven's eyes, and he reached out and drew her against him into the circle of his arm.

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Well it finally happened, Severus is back. What do you think?

Many thanks go out for Lisa, my beta.