Chapter Text
2nd September 2001 - Epilogue
Hermione plopped down on the couch in front of the fireplace in their shared living quarters, in the Hogwarts dungeons. She was absolutely knackered.
“Rough day, Professor Granger?” Severus asked, as he sat down beside her.
Hermione pivoted, and stretched her legs, resting her feet on Severus’ lap. He began kneading the soles of her feet.
“Mmm that feels amazing, Severus,” she said.
He gave her a half-smile and continued.
“But to answer your question, no, not really. Just a little stressful, with first day nerves and all that.”
At the end of the last Hogwarts term, Hermione received an owl at the small cottage she and Severus lived in. It was from Professor McGonagall, stating that Professor Slughorn was retiring - for good this time - and offering her the position of Potions Professor.
Severus, after much persuasion from Hermione and McGonagall, took back the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He did so, under the condition that he take a year off first, so that he and Hermione could travel, as they once planned, many years beforehand.
When Severus returned to teach, it was difficult with him being away so much. It made her decision to accept the Potions Professor position much easier. There was a time when she thought she would have had a career at the Ministry, but truthfully, after all the tutoring she did during her time at Hogwarts, she felt that teaching would come naturally. Also, she sort of liked the idea of her and Severus living together at Hogwarts. Where it all began for them.
“You have no need to be nervous, Hermione,” Severus assured her. “You’ll make an exceptional Potions Professor.”
Hermione beamed at him. Hearing that, from one of the best Potions Masters she would ever know, meant the world to her.
“Thank you, my love,” she told him.
Severus stopped kneading Hermione’s sore feet. Hermione gave him a small pout, which made him chuckle.
“What would you say to a walk in the grounds?” Severus asked, then gave her a smirk. “If your feet can handle it, that is.”
Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Oh hush,” she scolded him.
Severus laughed at her disgruntled expression. Even after all of this time, Hermione’s stomach still gave a little flip at hearing his laughter. It was so beautiful to her.
“Let me change into something more comfortable for walking, and we can go,” she said.
As the pair walked the grounds, hand in hand, she realized he was leading her towards the boathouse. She felt a little jittery, because she guessed where they might have been going. Somewhere neither of them have been together since her time in the past.
When they were just outside of the musty little wooden shack, Severus smiled down at her.
“It’s been a long time since we visited the island,” he said, echoing her thoughts. “I thought perhaps we could eat there this evening, instead of the Great Hall.”
Hermione beamed at him.
“I would love that, Severus,” she told him.
While crossing the lake in one of the boats, Hermione’s thoughts traveled back to the last three years of her life. Times hadn’t always been easy, but she wouldn’t have traded them for anything.
Shortly after her reconciliation with Severus, Hermione told him about the memory charm that she had placed on her parents, and how they were living in Australia. She worried that she wouldn’t have been able to find them, or restore their memories. And, truthfully, without Severus, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to do either.
The two of them researched for weeks on tracking charms, to locate them, and spells or potions that would restore their memory. The two of them eventually came up with a potion of their own creation, and set off to Australia to find them. After nearly a fortnight, they succeeded in both finding them, and restoring their memories.
It was difficult for months. First her parents were angry at what she had done. That she didn’t even discuss it with them, or discuss the ever growing danger that was happening in the Wizarding world during her school years. They decided to stay in Australia, and for a bit of time, barely contacted their daughter. Hermione was heartbroken, but she was nothing if not persistent, and eventually her parents came around.
Surprisingly, they were more accepting of her relationship with Severus, than they were of her altering their memories. She supposed the fifteen year gap between her mum and dad made it a little easier to accept the nineteen year gap between her and Severus. The time-travel aspect of it all confused them, but overall, they wanted her to be happy.
She and Ron eventually made amends… somewhat. No, they were not nearly as close as they had once been. But, at least they were able to be in the same room without hexes flying at one another. And, she assumed, it would have taken an act of God to ever make Severus and Ron behave cordially to one another. However, they behaved at public functions, and that was all she could have asked for.
What did shock her was the friendship that sprung up between Severus and Neville. Severus learned that Neville was immediately supportive of their relationship, and with that, combined with the bravery he had shown at the end of the war, Severus grew to have a healthy respect for her friend, which blossomed into a friendship.
Harry and Ginny also had come to develop a friendly relationship with Severus. Harry, much to Severus’ discomfort at times, would ask him about his mother when she was young, since Severus was the only person left alive who had known her that well. At first Severus downright refused to discuss her, but after a gentle talk with Hermione, he eventually gave in.
Overall, she truly was happy. She never dreamed that she could have had Severus, plus her friends and parents, too. She couldn’t imagine life getting much better than it had been.
The sudden jolt of the boat, when it hit the shore of the island, took her out of her thoughts. Severus stood and extended his hand, as he did when both of them were younger. Hermione took it, and smiled up at him.
It was like stepping back in time, when she stepped off that boat, and onto the little island with Severus. The view of Hogwarts across the lake in the setting sun would never stop taking her breath away. The grass was still overgrown, the willows still swayed gently in the breeze. Even after all of this time, the place was truly magical.
Severus took a small basket from the pocket of his robes, and pointed his wand at it, so it returned to its normal size. From inside it, he pulled out a large blanket, which he spread out on the ground for them both to sit upon.
Once they were seated, he reached inside for a bottle of elf-made wine, two thermoses of soup, and a loaf of bread. They ate together, chatting about their day. Hermione was glad to hear since Severus was teaching a subject he enjoyed, and no longer had to balance being a spy with teaching, he wasn’t quite as hard on the students as he had once been. That didn’t mean that he hadn’t expected their very best, but he wasn’t anywhere near as cruel as he once was.
When they were both finished, Hermione sat tucked against Severus’ side. He had his arm around her, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so at peace and content.
“Hermione?” he said, after a few moments of compatible silence.
“Hmm?” she hummed in response.
She heard him clear his throat, before he removed his arm from around her. She twisted towards him. He was tugging at the sleeve of his robes. How strange, she thought. What was he nervous about?
“I - I’ve been doing some thinking,” he began. “About how strange it is that there hasn’t been a Professor Snape in the potions classroom in quite some time.”
Hermione’s eyebrows pulled together. Was he saying he wanted his old job back? He loved teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, she thought.
“What do you mean, Severus?” she asked.
He gave her the half-smile that almost always caused her heart to give a little stutter, as he reached into his pocket.
“What I mean…” he said.
She spotted the tiny box in his hand. Her heart sped up as if she were running a race. No, surely not. She was just getting her hopes up.
“Is that I think it’s time for there to once again be a Professor Snape teaching Potions.”
Hermione’s heart might have stopped altogether when he opened the box, and she saw the oval diamond resting on a thin white gold band.
“Severus,” she whispered. “What…”
Severus pulled the ring out of the box, and took her left hand in his. He looked directly into her wide, shocked eyes, with so much warmth, love, and desire, that she felt her heart might burst.
“Since I was sixteen, you have been the most important person in my life. I never thought that anyone would love me the way you did - the way you do. And when you left, I not only lost you, but I lost myself. I went many years thinking I would never see you again. That I would never have this again. I don’t want to ever live without you by my side. So please, marry me, Hermione. Be my wife,” he said to her.
Hermione’s eyes swam with tears of happiness. Never would she have believed they would have reached this moment. All the time she was in the past, she wasn’t positive that he would have survived, let alone would continue to be with her if he had. And now… now he was asking her to be his wife.
“Oh, Severus,” she choked out through her tears. “Of course I will marry you! My answer is yes, absolutely yes!”
Severus’ face broke out in the widest smile she was sure she’d ever seen on him. He took the ring and gently placed it onto the fourth finger of her left hand, then softly kissed her knuckles. Hermione felt a flash of desire roll through her entire body.
Before she could stop herself, she lunged at him, kissing him with as much heat, and passion, and love as she could. He responded with just as much, as the pair rolled back onto the blanket together.
Hermione and Severus lost themselves in each other for hours, both feeling like they could never get enough of one another. Both feeling like there could have never been enough time to truly show the other how much they were in love.
Time…
Mysterious thing, time. Powerful, but when meddled with… it could lead to unimaginable happiness and love.