XXIV

AN: First, let me apologize for how extreeeeeeemely long this chapter has taken to get out. I had hoped to have the story finished long before now, especially now that the end is in my sight. Alas, it wasn’t to be. I’m sorry.

Second, please bow down with me and pay your respects to the lovely ladies who beta this: Keladry and Southern. They keep me real. Ish.

And third, thank you for your patience. I will finish this story. It is not abandoned. It just comes second to real life. I hope you understand.

Hermione woke up to the sound of snoring. She smiled sleepily at both the reassurance of Severus' presence and the fact that he hadn't lied; he really did snore.

She rolled over and adjusted her pillow before closing her eyes and relaxing back into the mattress, intent on getting back to sleep. The unfortunate thing about a snoring bed partner, though, is that it is very difficult to ignore them. Hermione listened to the irregular snorts and snuffles for a minute before covering her head with her pillow. It did no good. It was just muffled snorts and snargles and snuffles. It wasn't on par with a Silencing Spell.

Hermione perked up, suddenly very awake.

Did she dare? How angry would he be to wake up and find himself silenced?

She shook her head and relaxed again, dismissing the idea as a very bad one. She'd already hexed him enough for one day, and although he'd forgiven her for that offense, she doubted he'd be quite so sanguine the second time, what with being defenseless.

He snorted particularly loudly at that moment, making Hermione press the pillow around her ears. The snores were, if anything, getting worse, and she was aware of an odd grinding noise that didn't sound healthy at all. Then she realized she was grinding her teeth.

Forcing herself to relax, she sat up and summoned her slippers and dressing robe from the other side of the bed. Slipping them on, she padded quietly out of the bedroom, shutting Severus' noises out by closing the door.

As she made her way to the settee, she yawned and waved her wand at the fireplace, making a cozy fire spring up. She looked around for a blanket or something to cover herself with but didn't find anything larger than a quilted tea cozy. Resigning herself to transfiguration, she raised her wand and stilled as a partial memory made its way forward.

She couldn't quite remember where she'd read it, but she knew she'd seen a reference to a spell that silenced snoring. It might have even been a cure. She wracked her mind, hoping it hadn't been one of the countless library books she'd read over the years. It didn't seem like something she would have taken notes on, as Severus was the first snorer of her acquaintance.

Standing, she made her way to the bookshelves and ran her finger along the spines, pulling out a likely candidate here and there. After collecting ten such tomes, she retreated to her desk and began reading.

She was halfway through the pile when she found it. Soundless Sleeping Spells for the Sonorous Sleeper's Spouse. She snorted at the overdone, even for the Wizarding world, alliteration, and began reading, only to be interrupted by a sleepy, "Hermione?"

Looking up, she found Severus squinting groggily at her. "Why on earth are you up at this hour?"

She blushed and automatically covered the open book with her hand. "I couldn't sleep."

He blinked and then slowly smiled. "I did warn you."

She smiled in response. "Yes, you did. Fortunately, I think I've found something that should help."

He came over, placed his hands on her shoulders, looked at the page and snorted. "I don't know that I'd trust anything with such a title."

"Mm," she replied, reading through the spell's instructions. "The theory sounds solid enough, though. Are you willing to let me have a go?"

He gave her shoulders a quick squeeze. "If it will get you back to bed..."

She stood and placed one hand on his throat while the other hand covered his nose. "Pipio gluttio."

Severus swallowed involuntarily, and Hermione eyed him cautiously, taking away her hands. "Are you okay?"

He gingerly pinched his nose and nodded. "Yes," he said. "It feels a bit odd, but fine."

"Well, hopefully it worked as it's supposed to."

"And if it didn't?" he asked with a smirk as he placed his hands around her waist and drew her into him while backing them up to the wall.

She smiled back. "Then I'll just have to resort to the Silencing Spell I was originally considering."

"That would definitely be considered an offensive spell, madam!" he said severely, though his hands belied his humor by stroking her lightly in a ticklish fashion. She squirmed in response, trying to get away from his fingers.

"That's why I didn't – stop it! – why I didn’t use it when your snores first woke me up!"

He smirked and continued tickling her even as she slapped at his hands. "But the fact remains that you considered using it against me at all!"

Hermione let out a high-pitched sound that might have been a giggle or a screech and tried to escape her husband's fiendish hands. "Severus! Stop it!"

"And why should I?" he growled in her ear, though his fingers did still around her waist, gripping her snugly. Suddenly, Hermione was very aware of Severus' proximity, his breath on her ear, and she felt herself tingling deep inside.

"Because it's almost impossible to kiss effectively while laughing," she replied and stretched up to kiss him.

His lips were still soft from sleep, but as she traced his lips with hers, she felt his body go taut with excitement. He moaned quietly as she nibbled his lower lip and responded by gripping her to him tightly. His large hands spread across her back, pulling her closer still. He withdrew from their kiss slowly, lingering on her lips softly as if loath to ever let go.

Hermione smiled against his kiss and mumbled, “Bed?”

“Mm, yes. Bed,” he said.

She pushed him back with her hips, which brought another moan from him, this time more guttural, and she smiled again. She grabbed one his hands off of her waist and led him back to bed.

Getting out of her slippers and robe and under the covers as quickly as she could, Hermione looked over just in time to see a wistful expression leave Severus’ face. Catching her look, he smirked and joined her under the covers, curling his arm around her and drawing her close. She responded by kissing his shoulder and stroking his back, expecting him to make a move.

Except he didn’t move.

She raised her head to look at him in the dim light, and though she couldn’t make out much visually, she recognized the meaning of his deep breaths.

Sighing with a mix of disappointment and amusement, she rolled over and snuggled up to him more comfortably. Her last thought before falling back asleep was that the spell seemed to have worked at least. He wasn’t snoring any longer.

XXX

Hermione woke to the feel of a hand running along her side. It was a gentle touch but just firm enough not be ticklish. She lay there with her eyes closed, enjoying the feel of Severus’ touch but wondered what time it was. The room was light already, so she suspected she would be in for another disappointment. He was probably just waking her to say good-bye.

She didn’t realize she’d sighed until Severus drew her hair back and stroked her face.

“Do you always sigh sadly upon waking in the morning?”

She snorted softly and then turned over to look at him. She was somewhat surprised to find him still naked. She was also surprised that his expression was almost apologetic.

“No. It depends on the morning,” she replied.

“Ah.” Severus frowned for a moment. “And this morning is deserving of sighs?”

Hermione shrugged. “I don’t know. It might not be as bad as all that.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, well, I hadn’t opened my eyes yet when I sighed, so I didn’t know if you were… that is…”

Severus’ face tightened slightly. “I do seem to recall a bit of a disappointing evening for you.”

“Mm. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

“No, I suppose I could have begged you for pity sex while I was drunk and miserable…”

Hermione winced at his tone and turned away, deciding she wasn’t up to dealing with him this early in the morning. Her progress was stopped when he wrapped his arm around her chest and pulled her back.

“I… my apologies, Hermione. For last night’s behavior, last night’s sex and this morning’s awkwardness.”

“Is that what you call your attitude? Awkward?”

He clenched his jaw briefly, but then let it go with a sigh. “I’ll admit that I am not exactly comfortable at the moment, and that… I…”

Hermione took pity on him and raised her fingers to his lips.

“I understand, really I do. I guess I just don’t like being woken up so nicely only to have my head bitten off.”

He raised his eyebrow. “So you liked this?” he asked and resumed the strokes up and down her torso.

“Mm. Quite a bit, actually.”

“And how about this?” he asked as his hand moved to include her breasts.

She hummed again and rolled onto her back to give him more access. He took that as the encouragement it was, and soon his hands and mouth were roaming all over body, expertly coaxing shivers, sighs and other nice sounds out of her.

XXX

Severus collapsed on top of her, panting heavily. She stroked his back for a few seconds, then nudged him to move off of her. He complied, but left his arm draped across her chest.

Hermione tried to catch her breath but mostly concentrated on the quiet hum of satisfaction that was encompassing her body and mind. Even though it had only been a few weeks, she’d forgotten how powerful her orgasms were with Severus. And she hadn’t known that he was able to string out her pleasure for so long that it was almost painful. He’d been too sick, and probably insecure, for that their first time.

Taking a big breath in, Hermione let out a long, satisfied sigh.

“And here I thought I had made a good case for it to be a sigh-free morning,” Severus said, though it was somewhat muffled by the pillow he’d buried his face in.

Hermione laughed. “That was an entirely different sort of sigh, as I’m sure you well know.”

He moved his head so as to look at her, and she noticed he was smirking rather smugly. “So it was good for you, then?”

She laughed again and stroked his back appreciatively. “You know it was far better than good, darling. There’s no need for false modesty. Especially when you can’t repress your own smirk of pleasure.”

He grinned rather boyishly at her, then raised his head up to look at the bedside clock.

“Shit.”

Hermione lifted her head and was rather shocked to see that it was ten till nine. She repeated Severus’ exclamation and tossed the covers off. Severus had already put his pants on and was shrugging into his shirt as she rushed for the bathroom and her toothbrush. She was brushing her teeth vigorously when Severus called out his good-bye; she hastily spit and hurried to the door to say good-bye in return.

He was standing by the fireplace, and when she entered the room, he turned to look at her.

His lips quirked up as he looked her over, and she sensed his amusement. She assumed it was due to the toothpaste foam she could feel around her mouth.

They met in the middle of the room, and he pushed her hair back from her face.

“Thank you, my dear.” He bent down to kiss her cheek. “I will see you at lunch.”

She couldn’t tell if that was a question or an order, but she assumed it was the former. “Yes. We can scare all the first years by making eyes across the Great Hall.”

“Mm. You do know how to tempt a man.”

He kissed her again and then threw the handful of Floo powder he’d been holding into the fire. Three seconds later, he was gone. Hermione felt wistful for approximately four seconds before she remembered the time and set to getting dressed as quickly as possible.

XXX

Hermione was out of breath from sprinting when she reached the door to the Arithmancy classroom, but she was still late. Only a minute, but it didn’t make it any easier to open the door knowing why she was late. She dreaded to think what Professor Vector was going to say to her now that she had a valid reason to be upset.

Taking a big breath, Hermione opened the door and walked inside, trying not to look as guilty as she felt. It must not have worked, for Professor Vector took one look at her and went red in the face.

Standing up, she placed her hands on her hips and looked Hermione up and down, very slowly. The class went silent as everyone collectively held their breath.

“Ms. Granger. I suppose I should feel honored that you decided to show up for class when it’s obvious you had somewhere more… attractive to be.”

Half the class tittered nervously as Hermione flushed angrily. She knew she deserved to be criticized for being late, but to snidely attack Severus like that was unfair.

“Of course, perhaps I shouldn’t feel honored as I suspect your husband, at least, felt the need to fulfill his duties to his job rather than just his wife.”

Hermione bit down on her tongue, but could feel the air around her starting to swirl. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. Vector must have sensed the growing danger, for she turned her back and lazily said, “Fifty points from Gryffindor, Ms. Granger. Now take your seat.”

Hermione had to breathe deeply three more times before she trusted herself to move without lashing out, but then she walked to her seat beside Teddy with her head held high. She noticed no one, not even Teddy, was looking at her, though. Everyone was busy pretending to work.

She sat down and got out her work, trying to expel her pent up rage gradually and discreetly while also trying not to burst into tears. Not only was she humiliated and mortified, but she also suffered the last nail in the coffin of disillusionment. There was no way she could ever respect Vector again after this – there were no excuses left.

Noticing the problem on the chalkboard, she focused her mind on her work, determined not to let Vector destroy her concentration.

No one was more grateful to hear the bell ring than Hermione as she hastily scooped up her work and stuffed it into her bag. Glancing over at Teddy, she found that he was moving a bit slower and reluctantly. Not wanting to be in the same room as Vector for one minute more than necessary, Hermione decided to wait for Teddy on the other side of the door.

It became annoying how everybody avoided looking at her as they left the room, so Hermione moved further down the hall to wait for Teddy, tucking herself out of the way behind one of the buttresses lining the stone wall. As Teddy went by, she darted out and caught up with him.

“You were right,” she said, making him jump a little.

“I thought you’d gone.” Teddy looked upset and wouldn’t quite meet her eye.

“I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you. I just couldn’t stay in the room with her.”

Teddy smiled. “Can’t say I blame you. She was pretty nasty to you today, even by recent standards.” He didn’t look at her as he said it, though. Like all her other classmates, he was carefully looking anywhere but at her. Concerned that she’d offended him more than she’d thought, she reached out to touch him. He jumped again and finally looked at her.

“I didn’t mortally offend you, did I? By leaving you behind, that is.”

Teddy smiled again, though it seemed a little tighter than usual.

“I did offend you, didn’t I? Not only was I late, but then I left you in the dragon’s lair all alone! Can you ever forgive me, Teddy?”

Teddy’s smile eased up a bit at that as he chuckled. “I’d like to think that I could deal with that dragon all by myself. Especially as she hasn’t shown any indication of wanting to roast me on a spit.”

Hermione snorted and bumped into him affectionately. “Yes, that does ease my burden of guilt, doesn’t it?”

“Not that you should ever forgive yourself for abandoning me, however.”

Hermione smiled at Teddy, glad he could joke with her again. He smiled back warmly for a moment before his smile froze again. He took a conscious step away from her, and although he’d tried to make it look casual, Hermione looked around to see what was making him nervous. Nothing was there, however.

She looked back at Teddy with a curious face. “Teddy?”

Teddy smiled tightly again and forced a laugh. “Sorry. I just had a vision prophesying that I’m about to be late for Divination again.”

Hermione laughed as she ought, but still felt something was off. “We’re still on for our study session, right?”

Teddy nodded. “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

Hermione returned his tight smile with one of her own. “I can’t think of a reason.”

He swallowed and nodded again. “Well, I really should be off, else the vision might come true.”

He raised his hand in a feeble goodbye wave and then turned to sprint down the hall, leaving Hermione feeling like she’d become the big, bad werewolf in his grandmother’s clothes.

XXX

By the time lunch came round, unrelieved confusion had had its usual effect on Hermione and had made her rather testy. Everyone had been avoiding her eye, and though she hadn’t caught anyone, she felt sure they were laughing at her behind her back.

Although she’d surreptitiously run her hands through her hair to make sure there weren’t any flying notes or other objects stuck in there, she couldn’t think of any reason people might be laughing at her appearance, as they knew she didn’t really care how she looked as long as her clothes were clean (they were), tidy (mostly) and fit her properly.

That meant that people were laughing at her being late for class, but that didn’t make much sense, either, as less than half of the people she swore were laughing at her hadn’t been there for Vector’s dressing down; being late for class, even if it was out of the ordinary for her, was not sufficient for the rumor mill to circulate.

Catching a third year peeping at her, Hermione scowled and put her books away, very much ready for lunch. She wasn’t really looking forward to eating in the Great Hall, but at least she was pretty sure no one would openly laugh at her in front of Harry or Severus.

Not that most people dared to laugh at her with just her around anymore.

Fortunately, few people were around as she made her way to the Great Hall, and those in the hall were busy eating, so she mostly escaped notice until she sat down. Unfortunately, when she sat down, Harry took one look at her and nearly sprayed his pumpkin juice all over her and started coughing.

“What!” Hermione snapped, briskly waving her wand to clean up the mess. “What is it?”

Harry continued coughing, but confirmed something was wrong by refusing to look at her. Just then, Ginny sat down, giving him a pat on the back. She looked at Hermione to greet her and paused her patting for a beat before smirking and turning back to Harry.

“Harry, you really need to get over this sensitivity to Hermione’s thriving love life. One of these days, you’re going to choke and she’s not going to save you.”

“Wha- How did you know?” Hermione cried, flushing in mortification.

Ginny snickered, but also took pity on Hermione. “You’ve a rather impressive lovebite there.”

Hermione’s hand sprang to the offending spot, and she closed her eyes. She briefly, but seriously, wondered if she could summon her powers to create a hole big enough to swallow her up. Deciding that would only ensure her humiliation would last through the ages, she resigned herself to living out her embarrassment.

“Has it been all around school?”

Harry shook his head while Ginny nodded.

“Should I even ask?”

Ginny grinned and shook her head. Hermione groaned.

“Do you think Severus will be mad?”

Harry surprised both of the girls by answering. “Considering he was actually laughing with the staff before he left, I’d say he doesn’t mind. And, really, why should he mind that you’re wearing his… mark?” Harry made a disgusted face as he said the word, glancing at her neck. Ginny just laughed.

“Harry has a point. Guys really do like marking their territory, so to speak.”

Harry and Hermione both snorted, though Harry at least pretended to look offended. “We’re not animals!”

Ginny laughed. “You sure like being called one,” she said and nudged him.

Hermione snorted but put her hands over her ears, singing, “La la la, I can’t hear you!”

Ginny and Harry both laughed at that, and the topic of love-lives was dropped once Ginny offered to heal the hickey. Hermione declined, realizing the damage was done, and erasing the mark now would only make things worse.

There was also the realization that Severus was now becoming happy, and she was a good part of the reason. It was worth enduring her classmates’ stares and whispers if wearing his mark would make him laugh in public.

Assuming he wasn’t just putting on another front like he had all those weeks ago.

She mentally shrugged and attended to her friends’ conversation, letting the quiet hum of satisfaction dull the edges of doubt.

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully, given that Hermione’s curiosity had been satisfied and therefore her temper had been restored. It was still annoying that people wouldn’t meet her eye, but she could also see the humorous side of it all. As she ate dinner, she hoped Severus was taking it as well as Harry had suggested. It would be nice to laugh about it with him.

As if her thought summoned him, he appeared at her shoulder.

“Done?” The greeting would have been rude had it not been said so tenderly. She didn’t even bother looking at everyone’s reactions, but just smiled up at him.

“Yes.”

She accepted the hand he offered and said a quick goodbye to her friends before tucking her arm in his as they left the hall. Once they were out of sight of any curious eyes, he stopped and drew her hair back, revealing the lovebite in all its glory. Smirking, he bent down to give it a tender kiss.

“You needn’t have left it for all to see.” He did not sound displeased.

She blushed and smiled. “To be honest, I didn’t notice it was there this morning. It wasn’t until lunchtime…”

He laughed, though looked rather incredulous. “Did you never go to the bathroom?”

“Erm, not before lunch, no.”

“You brushed your teeth this morning.”

Hermione shrugged. “I was in a hurry. I rarely look in the mirror in any case, and this morning was so rushed, I barely even saw the toothpaste tube.”

He blinked, then shook his head slowly. “It’s rather nice knowing that vanity is not one of my wife’s traits, but I must confess to being surprised you missed it.”

Hermione shrugged again. “I’m assuming you aren’t upset.”

He chuckled and surprised her by taking her in his arms and twirling her around. “Upset? To have my beautiful wife show the world she belongs to me? Hardly.”

Hermione raised her eyebrow. “I belong to you, do I?”

He smirked. “Mm. According to the law you do, and I don’t see any reason to tell them that it’s really the other way around at this point.”

Hermione relaxed, though she still wasn’t very comfortable with the idea of ownership, even if it was more theoretical than practical. He took advantage of her relaxation and pulled her close for a kiss. She was smiling when they parted.

“Aren’t you worried some student is going to come by and see us?” Hermione teased, lacing her hands behind his neck.

He snorted. “There’s no reason for a pretence of celibacy now, my dear.”

She laughed as he leaned in for another kiss, though she pulled away when she heard footsteps. Despite his bold words, Severus also withdrew and smoothed down his robes just as Professor Vector came into sight. Everyone stopped where they were for a tense second, then Vector nodded icily and hurried on her way.

As soon as she was out of sight, Hermione caught Severus’ eye. She had to smother her giggles as he raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“Septima was barely civil to me this afternoon. The obvious conclusion is that you have been getting yourself into trouble, Miss Granger, and are dragging me down with you.”

Hermione giggled. “It’s almost always the other way around, you know. I was usually the one who was trying to talk everyone else out of doing stupid things.”

“What about the troll?”

“I lied.”

“You lied? To teachers?”

Hermione almost laughed at his skeptical tone. “Yes, I lied. It was better than telling everyone how I’d been minding my own business crying my eyes out over how mean Harry and Ron were, and how nobody liked me and how I should go to greenhouse one to find some flobberworms to eat when I was rudely interrupted by a great, big, ugly, smelly troll. Harry and Ron heard me scream, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

“You lied.”

“Yes.”

“To teachers.”

“Yes.” Hermione was about to roll her eyes in exasperation when something in Severus’ expression caught him out. “You knew, didn’t you?”

Severus snorted and then laughed outright. “Hermione, I have yet to meet a first year who can pull the wool over my or Minerva’s eyes. And you are and always have been pants at lying. Of course we knew it wasn’t true! Of course you didn’t go looking for trouble, although at least you were clever enough to use your swottiness against yourself. Heavens, girl, did you think we were stupid?”

Hermione blushed and ducked her head. She heard him laugh softly beside her before his hands reached out for her face, gently forcing her to look up at him. “You do realize what this means, though.”

She shook her head in his hands, not sure what the mischievous look in his eyes meant.

“”I’m afraid I will have to deduct points.”

She opened her mouth in automatic outrage before he burst out laughing. She took a deep breath and then smacked his arm in protest. He continued laughing as she pummeled his arm, though he ineffectively tried to retreat.

“Your face was such a perfect picture of righteous indignation, my dear,” he laughed, still allowing her to smack him. “I almost wish Creevey had been here.”

Hermione relented at that and leaned against him, listening to his laughter come from deep inside his chest. She shook her head.

“Will you ever stop teasing me?”

“No,” he replied honestly, still chuckling.

She shook her head and laughed along with him. “Well, at least I can make you laugh. That’s something, I suppose.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her in response,

“It’s more than most can do.”

She returned the favor and wrapped her arms around him but grumbled, “Maybe someday I’ll know enough of your foibles to be able to tease you as mercilessly.”

“Perhaps someday my foibles will be laughable,” was his sober response.

Hermione found herself hugging him tightly, at a loss for words. It seemed as though words weren’t necessary, though, so they just held each other in the shadows of the corridor. Eventually, reality forced them to continue on their way, but they continued touching each other, holding hands, bumping against one another and the like, as they slowly made their way to Hermione’s room.

Eventually they arrived at their destination, and Hermione opened the door for him with a smile. He looked into the room longingly, but shook his head.

“I’m sorry, my dear, but I have rounds tonight as well as marking to catch up on.”

Hermione tried not to look as disappointed as she felt, knowing that he did have duties other than to her, but it was hard.

“Well, if you want, you’re welcome to come here after you’re done.”

Severus thanked her with a kiss and then left her to her own devices. As she looked around the room and all the things she should be doing, she realized with a start that she would much rather spend time with Severus than work. Even on homework. She sat down on the sofa, overwhelmed with the sudden epiphany: she was falling in love with Severus.

She should have seen it. Harry had. Teddy had. Hell, even Goyle had probably seen it. But she’d just gone on, blindly ignoring the obvious because she was too scared to look.

Still too scared to explore the depth of her feelings, Hermione turned to her tried and true source of comfort: Hogwarts: A History. She brought the book down, summoned a blanket, cuddled up on the couch and prepared to lose herself in the minutia contained therein. Opening the front cover, her attention was diverted by several pieces of loose parchment.

Smiling at what she’d found, she unfolded the first one, chuckling at Severus’ dry tone. Having recently been chastised for not taking other people's feelings and opinions into consideration, I thought it prudent to consult you on how you wish to “make a day of it.”

The next note brought a laugh with the snide My Dearest Darling Hermione, and the third brought color to her cheeks as she cringed in remembrance of her use of “befrozen.”

Re-folding them tenderly, she put them back in the protection of the front cover, remembering that those weren’t the only notes the book contained.

Carefully closing the front cover, she turned the book over and gently opened the back cover. There, waiting for her, was Ron’s folded note. His last note to her. Feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over her, she picked it up with trembling fingers and carefully unfolded it.

Her lips twitched fondly as she saw Ron’s messy scrawl covering the paper, but her gaze sharpened when she realized there was more writing there than she remembered. Quickly, she skimmed through it and realized Ron had managed to put a Death’s Rider Charm on the note without her noticing. She smiled even as her vision went a little blurry; Ron was capable of surprising her even now.

Wiping her eyes, she read:

Dear Hermione,

Harry’s head is hurting again – he’s moaning in his sleep. It makes me think of you. What I mean is I wish we could get away from the castle and do some moaning of our own. Maybe after all of this is over, we could do that? No hiding in classrooms worrying that Snape is going to catch us at it. No worries about curfew. No worries about anything. Just you and me. And maybe some food.

I love you. I just wanted to make sure you knew before, well, you know.

Love,

Ron

That was the note she remembered, but there was more below that.

Hermione,

If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t make it through the battle. I hope that you won’t ever read this and that the future will be open and clear for us. You know I want to marry you, and I can just picture our lives after Harry kills You-Know-Who once and for all. It’s beautiful, that picture in my head. You’re happily reforming the Wizarding world from the inside out, I’m helping enforce the laws you’re making, and at the end of the day, we go home together to our cottage by the sea and make love. At least until the kids come along. Then I guess I’ll have to take a leave of absence to raise the kids, right? Although you will be a wonderful mother. And Merlin knows that if anyone can be a working mom and make it work, you could.

But, that’s not what this note is about. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you don’t really want to be reminded about things that can’t happen, do you? Sorry.

I just… Merlin, this is hard. I just want you to know that although I love you, and I will ALWAYS love you, what I want more than anything is for you to be happy. I’d like to think that I could make you happy if I live. I’d devote my life to it. But if I don’t make it… Hermione, please… I want you to be happy. Whether that means devoting yourself to freeing all the oppressed house-elves in Britain or marrying some lucky bloke and having a million kids, whatever it is, go for it. Be happy. Consider it my dying wish. Or not, if that gets your goat.

I love you, Hermione, always and forever.

Ron

Hermione set the note aside when she realized her tears were blurring the precious words. She looked at it sitting beside her, and everything she had been suppressing burst out of her. She curled up in the corner of the couch and cried for what could have been, for the love she lost, and the release of any guilt she’d felt for finding happiness with Severus. She cried until she fell asleep, curled up and alone and aching for her lover’s arms around her.