Chapter Twelve
Chapter 12 of 13
peskipiksiHermione decides she doesn't want to be a philosopher after all.
Hermione decides she doesn’t want to be a philosopher after all.
Hermione stared, appalled, at Healer Smethwyck, who shifted uncomfortably.
‘Your husband appears to have been subjected to a particularly strong Memory Charm,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid there is very little we can do for him, apart from accommodating him in out Long Term Residents’ ward.’
Hermione blinked back tears. "He has no idea who I am," she thought desperately. "After all we’ve been through, he has no memory of me at all." Then it hit her. He has no memory! She leapt up. ‘I can fix this,’ she shouted over her shoulder at the stunned Healer as she raced out of the room. ‘Give me half an hour and I’ll get my husband back.’
*
Hermione stopped in the Hogwarts Entrance Hall and stared about her, aghast. The Great Hall had been turned into a temporary Hospital Wing, and injured and dying people lay everywhere. She averted her eyes from the lifeless bodies of Remus, Tonks and Fred Weasley, lying side by side, and choked down a sob. There was no time to mourn others now, not unless she wanted to grieve for her own husband’s living death.
The Pensieve was on Severus’ desk, presumably just as Harry had left it. Hermione was in such a hurry the memories kept slipping off her wand as she tried to scoop them up. "More haste, less speed," she told herself sternly. "Severus has all the time in the world." As she transferred the silvery strands into a crystal flask, a thought hit her. "I could just leave all the memories of Lily here; I need never compete with her again." But her conscience forbade her to do it. "If you edit his memories, he will not be the man you married, the man who won your trust and your love. And if you do it for your own gain, you will not be worthy of him."
Taking a deep breath, she hastily scooped all the memories out of the Pensieve into the little glass phial Harry had left there, and ran out of the office.
*
As Hermione held her wand to Severus’ temple, watching the silver strands disappear back into their rightful place, his eyes flickered open, and he smiled weakly at her.
‘Hello, wife.’ His voice was still hoarse from the bruising to his throat, but he was clearly back to himself.
Hermione flung her arms around him, nearly dislodging the drips. ‘Severus! Oh, love, I thought I’d lost you!’
‘You might still, if you persist in crushing the breath out of me.’
‘Sorry, sorry!’ She sat back on her chair, beamed at him, and then burst into tears of relief.
‘Shhh, I’ll live. Although I do have a confession to make. I defaced your birthday present.’ He reached into the pocket of his robes and brought out a crumpled piece of paper, which he held out to her. ‘I wanted a piece of you with me,’ he said softly. ‘Something that means everything to me and that would mean something to you if I died.’ He smiled weakly at her. ‘I wanted you to know: I never wanted to become a philosopher anyway.’
Hermione straightened out the paper, utterly bewildered. It had been torn from the book Ginny had given her, and, underlined, was a quote from Socrates: ‘My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife, you will be happy. If not, you will become a philosopher.’
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Philosopher's Fate
91 Reviews | 6.92/10 Average
Yay! A lovely ending to a great story.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Thanks!
Awwww. *sniff* So wonderful!Thank you, thank you for sharing~
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
So glad you liked it. Thank you for reviewing. :)
Good that she gave Lily back. :)
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I think she's too good a person not to. :)
The whole memory thing never really occurred to me. Thank goodness you fixed it so quickly. I love the page that he tore out of the book. I think they will both be very happy.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I think so too. Thanks for your unfailing reviews and support. :)
How clever. Of course he had no memory. They took them all out!
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Thank you! I've seen so many fics where Severus is saved from Nagini, with no mention of his memories still floating in the Pensieve, and I always wondered how he got them back,
Awwwww. And I'm glad she could figure out how to fix his memories.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I couldn't leave him in St Mungo's; he's been through enough, poor bloke! :)
I almost cried at the end :)
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
From relief or happiness, I hope! Thank you :)
I laughed when I read the names of those bad baronets! Their names DO fit in perfectly with JKR's nomenclature.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
They're great, aren't they? Thank you, Mr Gilbert!
Oh. Poignant bit at the end there. I wonder what will happen next?
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Oh, it gets more poignant! Stay tuned.
Love those coins--early versions of text-messaging! Hermy just needs to get a house elf to pop her into the RoR for a little visit is all. Of course, then she'd feel guilty for using a house elf...
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
She really is her own worst enemy at some times. Oh, how we all miss poor Dobby. :(
She would feel alone with them all hiding or in captivity. Can't she go and see them in the RoR? :)
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Didn't actually think of that! But I guess she can't risk being seen arond the 7th floor, putting all those inside in danger. And Harry's got the invisibility cloak!
At least they got through the Legillimency pretty easily!
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Hermione is a grade A (or O) student!
The Carrows seem to me to be one of Voldie's greatest mistakes. They gave the Order a fighting force.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Oh, I agree! But Voldie, for all his brilliance, is a bit thick. :)
I love how Severus sees Hermione differently then she sees herself. I suspect it is that way for all of us. I hope that the fact that they are both alone, for all intents and purposes, just serves to bring them closer together.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I must admit I got that idea from The Black Magician trilogy, but you're right, I think it's true of everyone. I thibk they're over their little hiccup now and are united in the face of evil.
It's really frightening how the Carrows don't seem to fear Snape either as their boss, as a fellow Death Eater, or just as a wizard in general. Hermione has had too many close calls. Surely now that they've had a talking to, they will realize he means business. Still, it could go the other way and make them mad at him so they will be even more intent on doing bad things to his wife. I hope that is not the case.A lion patronus? Poor guy. But what a way to show his wife where his priorities lie. I loved that he went to Voldemort which is quite scary indeed, to keep her safe, and that in that errand, he realized her importance in his life. I think things just might work out ok for these two.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I reckon both the Carrows are just totally psycotic! Yeah, I thought a lion would be funniest for a Slytherin, but also a fitting tribute to his bravery.
I'm glad that they did come to some kind of understanding. Let me explain about last chapter's review: The reason I was so angry at her last chapter is that it seems that Hermione is really the most logical and rational out of most of the students in Hogwarts, but deliberately realizing that what she was doing by her tears was manipulating Severus, instead of using her intellect to explain to Severus her exact reasons for wanting to come along with him, though it was dangerous, showed that she was capable of book-smarts, but not of real-life smarts, which makes her come across just plain irrational and illogical. I really expected better of Hermione's character and propriety.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I see. I just wanted her to be a teenager for once. She's usually 17 going on 35, and we know from canon she can sulk and be irrational. She could see he was seriuos about not taking her along and panicked that her only chance of seeing H&R was literally walking out the door. I'm sorry it upset you.
Response from Severus49 (Reviewer)
I understand better of where you were coming from with her. I appreciate that, and I'm glad we cleared it up. Sorry about the humongous run-on sentence there!
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Reading it again, I finally understand what upset you so much. (Took me long enough!) The tears were real and her only manipulation of him was not making any attempt to hide them from him. I've edited the chapter and hope you approve. Thanks for your reviews; I feel happier with the chapter now. :)
A lion. LOL! :)
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Dumbledore as good as said he should've been in Gryffindor! :)
Too funny about Severus' patronus.Looking forward to seeing what happens next!
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Poor little Slytherin, eh? But appropriate for 'the bravest man Harry ever knew'.
Well, I think the last line summed it up well. Love the angst!
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I just knew that had to be the last line. Glad you liked it!
The fact that she deliberately manipulated Severus into letting her come with him under the pretext of seeing Harry and Ron makes her seem like a spoiled brat, and I'm extremely angry with her. However, the fact that Severus deliberately told Hermione that he would always be in love with Lily is extremely callous and unfeeling of him. Whether or not it is true is beside the point. To any woman that he would have married - be it young or old - there isn't many that would be understanding of his answer. The point is how lousy he handled the subject instead of being considerate of her feelings on the answer. He could have handled it a billion different ways that it wouldn't have hurt her - including lying to save her feelings: "I really don't understand why it didn't. I would have thought it would considering how I feel about you." But, he didn't. By admitting he still loves Lily, of course it undermines everything Hermione thought about their affection for each other, and being that Hermione's Patronus did change only exacerbates the fact that Hermione feels all the affection has been only one-sided. Poor girl, I hope Severus realizes how badly he botched it up, and I hope he is willing to do whatever he can to rectify things.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
I didn't mean her to have a pretext. She honestly wanted to see H & R, not to talk to them, just to see for herself that they were OK. I'll admit the tears were a manipulation, but I really don't see why you're so angry with her.Yes, Snape was callous and unfeeling and I needed him to be. The reason is, he can't cope with this any better than she can. He's never had a girlfriend and doesn't know how to relate to women. I think the strength of his feelings for Hermione scares him, and he feels disloyal to Lily. He always was a callous bastard (although we all understand why) and I don't think he could change completely just because he was forced to get married.
Cute change of patronus for Hermione. Finally, they're completely together.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Glad you liked it. Thought it was about time he got some action!
I didn't figure she could stew like a baby for too long.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Yes, she's too clever and sensible for that, even if she does fly off the handle and sulk sometimes (thinking of rows with Ron in canon here). Thanks!
i really hate that umbridge lady she always get away with stuff and keeps her job!!!! no justice!!!! phyllidia has it right! i see she called for her husband humph took her long enough!! teehee princ charming got some hahahaha! great chapter.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Glad you liked it! Yeah, SO unfair Umbridge survived. And Prince Charming deserved some after that, I thought!
You know I really hate Umbridge. I mean an unreasonable amount of negative emotion for a fictional character. I think it's because JKR killed & maimed the 'good guys' left, right, and center but Umbridge, other than a little Centaur scare, got away. If anyone deserved a gruesome end, it was her. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed Severus hexing the snot out of her. (I'd have given her a few more for good measure but I know, time was short).Enjoying the story. Looking forward to the next installment.
Response from peskipiksi (Author of The Philosopher's Fate)
Yeah, I'd've liked to see her dead in canon. But Sev killing her here would've meant an awful lot of Ministry interference and hampered their escape. But believe me, I wanted to write it! Going to put next chapter in queue now.