Severus woke up quite happily, then looked around at the disaster that was his room. His mood darkened as the hangover hit him and he realized it had been a dream. He hadn't explained things to Hermione, and she hadn't forgiven him. Part of him wondered if she ever would, and another part whispered dark thoughts in his mind. You have no right to her forgiveness, it said. You are a dark man who doesn't deserve such a witch, and it was wrong for you to take advantage of her. She is a student, you selfish man.

After a life of dark thoughts and darker deeds, it was far too easy for Severus to fall victim to his own guilt and depression. His life had been disappointment after disappointment, and endless attempts to fix those things which he had done wrong. Why should now be any different? No, he thought. This is all I am good for. To die for a world that others might enjoy.

And die he would. He was a survivor, but had lost his will to survive. He would serve his purpose, and let that purpose take him to the grave.

Severus made no attempts to obtain her forgiveness when she came back after the holidays. She refused to look at him, and he let himself suffer in silence. To him, it was no more than what he deserved. Seasons came and went, as did the summer holiday. He saw her work harder to help her friends, returning for the beginning of her seventh year. It may have only been months, but she seemed to have aged a decade. So too, though, had he. What little happiness he'd been able to find in his dismal life was no longer satisfying. He applied all of his energy to bringing down Voldemort – creating a world in which she could be happy even though it wouldn't be with him.

He did what was required of him. He killed Dumbledore when Draco found he lacked the strength. He played the role of the dark, evil Headmaster. He groveled at the feet of the Dark Lord, disgusted with himself all the while, and he bided his time. When the time came for the Dark Lord to finally fall, Severus accepted that it would be at the cost of his own death. He took with him a bezoar and plenty of blood replenishing potion, but did so knowing that he would never use them on himself. No, it would be far better for everyone if he let himself die.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hermione was preparing herself to help Harry face Voldemort once more. They had spent so much time and effort in search of horcruxes, and managed to destroy most of them. They were so close, but still Hermione felt empty and numb. In front of her friends she had managed to once more be the Hermione they knew, and even gave a relationship with Ron a try, but nothing could get her past what had happened between herself and Severus Snape. Some days she'd be reading about some spell or potion and start wondering how he would have improved on it or known shortcuts that made it easier. Time didn't seem to fix the dull ache she felt in her heart whenever he was on her mind, which was to some degree most of the time.

So much of her was centered on her loyalty to others. Her every spare moment was used trying to find something to tip matters in Harry's favor. Her mind worked at a dizzying pace trying to develop means of protecting everyone. She wanted victory so badly, but somehow every time she pictured what victory would be like it seemed hollow. Weak. Unfulfilling. The only victory that mattered to her was the one she saw in her dreams, the one with Severus. In her waking hours, though, she firmly cast that out of her mind.

And now, after so long, the time had come. Battle was looming. They had found the diadem and destroyed it, and now everything was descending into chaos as Voldemort's forces attacked. Everything became a blur of fast thinking and a steady barrage of spells.

As one thing led to another, Hermione found herself in the Shrieking Shack with Harry and Ron, hiding under the invisibility cloak as they watched a scene unfurl before them. Voldemort was there, and so was Severus. Gods, she wanted so much to run to him and throw her arms around him. But no, she had her pride, and it had been made painfully clear that she didn't mean to him what he meant to her.

She watched in horror as Voldemort released Nagini and spoke a command in parseltongue. It was all she could do not to scream as she watched the serpent tear into Severus' body, embedding her poison in his veins. She felt paralyzed, unable to move. When finally Harry went to Severus' side, and received his memories, it broke Hermione's trance. She threw the rest of the cloak off of herself and went as fast as she could to his side. "Severus..." she said weakly, brushing his hair out of his face and tucking it back behind his ear.

He seemed unable to move, the poison and injuries draining the last traces of his strength. He looked up at her with those eyes that were like pools of liquid black, and she felt her heart breaking. "Hermione," he said weakly. "always... love... you..."

Tears stung her eyes and she ignored the inquisitive look on Harry's face. For her, at that moment, there was nothing that mattered but Severus. And he was dying.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As his breathing became slower and more strained, Hermione was forced out of her despair and into action. She searched his pockets and finally found what she knew he would have with her. Quickly forcing him to swallow the bezoar and then the potions she could identify, she also cast every healing spell she knew that she thought might help.

"Hermione, it's too late," said Harry, standing behind her. "We have to go. There is a battle to be fought."

How could she leave him? For all Hermione knew, if Severus survived it would still be Lily he loved and she would always come in second in that regard. But that didn't matter in the moment. She loved him, and regardless of all else she had to do what she could for him. Even if she found the strength within herself to leave him to die here, she would never be able to put her heart into the battle knowing that she had left him. If she survived, she would live out her life in a misery deeper and darker than even that Severus had been dealing with.

"We all have our own battles, Harry," she told him through her tears. "For now, this is mine. Be safe, but I cannot go with you."

Harry stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to make of her behavior. It was not the Hermione he knew before him, but a young woman who was breaking down and desperate. He and Ron returned to Hogwarts through the tunnel, though Ron was less than happy about the arrangements. As soon as they were gone Hermione took a deep breath and apparated herself and Severus to the only place she could think of.

"27 Spinner's End."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Inside the house were signs that his home had been used at some point by his fellow Death Eaters, but they seemed long gone. No sooner had she arrived with him than a small, elderly looking house elf popped into the room and ran over with cries of "Master! What happened to the Master?"

Hermione sat there cradling his body and getting soaked in his blood. "He was attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini. The poison...its worked its way into his blood." she answered numbly.

"Miss is trying to save the Master?" asked the house elf. "You is Miss Hermione?"

Hermione forced her eyes off of Severus and looked up at the house elf. "How did you know?"

"Master talks of you when he thinks no one is listening, he does. Missy couldn't help but hear him. He loves you, Miss Hermione."

"Missy? That's your name?" Hermione choked out. "Where does Severus keep his potions and supplies? And can you move him to a bed?"

"Of course, Miss Hermione. Missy will take care of everything for the Master."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As Severus lay in his bed unconscious, his mind raced. He dreamt of everything that happened, and he dreamt that Dumbledore came to him. Whether it was truly happening, or whether it was just a figment of his imagination, mattered surprisingly little to him.

"Dumbledore," said Severus, "I need to know. That book... that spell... was it your doing?"

"It would be quite thrilling were that the case," answered Dumbledore casually, a secretive smile on his face. "Of course, if I knew something of it I would not go around admitting it. It would seem, though, that all the two of you needed was the slightest push for this happiness. If it came in the form of putting an old book in the path of a young girl, or casting a charm on a certain page to encourage her to use the spell described, what does it matter?"

"Do you think we would have cared for each other eventually without that push?" asked Severus, slightly concerned at the thought that their affection was merely that of two people being manipulated, even if she would never agree to be with him again.

"I think the two of you would have found each other eventually," Dumbledore told him as he walked away, into the darkness that surrounded them.

"Thank you, Albus," said Severus, unsure whether the Headmaster even heard him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Severus woke and learned from Missy that he had been sleeping for three days. His whole body ached and his strength was next to gone, but when he glanced over and saw Hermione curled up, asleep beside him, all the pain of the past days seemed trivial. The house elf fed him some broth as he lay in bed, and they both tried not to move so as not to wake Hermione.

"The Miss was tired," Missy told him in a low voice. "Miss was at the battle. Miss brought Master here and stayed awake to heal Master. Miss refused to sleep until Master's fever broke last night."

"I think I need to be alone with Hermione, Missy," Severus said.

The house elf popped out of the room with the tray of food, and Severus used what strength he could muster to roll over and pull himself closer to Hermione. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him without moving. "I'm sorry, Hermione, for everything. I don't love Lily anymore, and I don't think the love I felt for her was of this nature. The way I feel for you. I'm old enough to be your father, and I'll be lucky not to be locked up in Azkaban for the rest of my life. But I love you, Hermione, and I just hope you can forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive, Sev," she told him. "I'm just sorry I didn't come back to you sooner. Sorry I didn't act sooner to help you. I love you too."

He kissed her forehead gently, the only part of her he could reach. "There is nothing worth regretting. We are both going to have to work to put our pasts behind us."

They were silent for a few minutes until Severus finally found the words to ask what I wanted so badly to ask. "You will have a bright future ahead of you. You saw through me and into who I am inside, and I will always be grateful for it. But I don't want to hold you back when there is so much you can achieve. I will understand if you leave me for better things, but if you stay I want you to know I will always love you. There will always be a place for you by my side, if you want it."

She looked sad for a moment, overcome with emotion. "Better things? Here I was thinking that other people judged you too harshly, like judging books by their cover. Turns out you judge yourself by far harsher standards than any other. It's only a bright future if you are there. I'm yours. Always."

Finis.