This Present Darkness

Epilogue

"Open rebuke is better than secret love."

Proverbs 27:5

"He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me"

Psalm 55:18

"weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Psalm 30:5

Snape let out his breath in a shudder as he saw the unicorn wheel around and rear, its magnificent gold horn still intact. The creature screamed a whinny in pure frustration.

Snape and the other Death Eaters clapped their hands over their ears. The cry of the black unicorn was not to be borne. It tore a jagged hole through the soul. It ripped the fabric of the universe for an ever-lasting second.

The creature dropped to all fours and stood very still with its graceful neck lowered, almost in mourning.

The unicorn's cry had badly affected the Death Eaters. They scattered to the four winds, unable to bear the unicorn's presence and terrified to see their leader disappear before their eyes. Snape dropped his wand and fell to his knees amid the confusion of escaping Death Eaters. He felt utterly numb and unbearably wired at one and the same time.

He looked from the bundle of robes that had once clothed his old Lord and Master to the creature that stood forlornly on its own looking unutterably sad. Suddenly the creature knelt too and stayed very still. Snape stayed where he was and watched over it.

* * *

Just before dawn, Snape looked up and saw Hermione kneeling quietly where the unicorn had been only moments before. He choked back a sob of relief.

"Hermione," he called in a low voice. She turned and looked at him but he could see from her eyes that she was almost more still unicorn than human. She still had an otherworldly and rather wild expression on her face. Suddenly she focused in recognition and frowned. "Severus!" she said and abruptly got to her feet. She marched over to him. "What the hell were you playing at? I had Voldemort right there and I could have gotten rid of him once and for all!" she accused with tears in her eyes.

Snape unfolded his lean frame from its position on the cold ground and stood up stiffly, a bit uncertain on his feet. "Hermione, Voldemort is done for now for a good, long time. He won't be coming back in a hurry. It took over ten years last time. It will take longer this time," Snape reasoned tiredly, trying to soothe her.

"Yes but he will be back! If you'd let me do it, he never could have come back," she said, beginning to work herself up into a passion.

"Hermione, I was not going to let you make that sacrifice. We've been through this and you know why," he said, feeling very old.

"You don't get it, do you? It's my choice! How dare you take away my right to choose?" she demanded, hands on hips but her voice shaky with unshed tears.

Snape looked at her for a long moment. He was suddenly sick of lying. He was sick of lying to himself, lying to Hermione and lying to the whole damn world. He was also sick of hiding himself behind those lies. He looked at her steadily. "You're right, Hermione. I did take away your right to choose and I did it because I'm selfish. I don't want you to stay a unicorn forever. I did it because I want you to be Hermione and I want you to be with me." There was nothing romantic in his tone or body language. He was stating the facts of the case as dryly as he would explain the properties of a potion to a class. Snape felt very naked, all of a sudden. It was a feeling of remarkable freedom. It felt good and he hadn't expected that.

Hermione stared at him, her lips parting in astonishment and her frown fading. Now the ball was in her court. What did she want, she wondered? She turned off her brain and let her instincts guide her for once. She found herself walking the few steps between them and putting her arms around Snape and hiding her face in his robes. A shudder tore through her body suddenly. The fear departing, she knew.

Snape held her tight as the sun rose on the moors.

* * *

Snape summoned his broom and they flew back to a larger wizarding town nearby that had a hotel whose fireplace they could use to travel to Hogwarts. I must get my Apparating license as soon as possible, Hermione thought for the second time in 24 hours. She had retrieved Harry's cloak from the ground where she had been caught earlier and they used it to cover them both as they flew over small Muggle towns.

Snape was a surprisingly good flier. Hermione supposed she shouldn't be that surprised as his animagus was a raven. She enjoyed flying through the morning air on the back of his broom. It gave her a perfect excuse to hang onto him tightly. If she hadn't been so tired and shell-shocked, she probably would have been grinning the entire time. As it was, she allowed herself to lean into the warmth of his slender back and rest for a few minutes, breathing in his scent.

They got to Dumbledore's office less than an hour later, both looking rather worse for wear. Their hair was mussed from the wind, their clothes were muddy and damp from the moors, and they were pale-faced and tired. Dumbledore had already gotten reports from his own spies that something serious was afoot amongst the Death Eaters but as yet, had no details. One look at the bedraggled pair that stepped out of the fireplace gave him some clues.

"Sit down, I'll order some hot drinks and food." Dumbledore said quickly and summoned a House Elf to fetch it.

Snape sank his lanky frame gratefully into a comfortable armchair and said, "Voldemort is gone and the Death Eaters are scattered. I don't anticipate that we'll be having any further disappearances from among the Muggle-born ranks for a good long time until Voldemort finds some way to regain his strength again."

Dumbledore nodded gravely and passed a steaming hot chocolate over to Hermione, who was seated in a chair close to Snape's as though seeking reassurance. She looks exhausted and shocked, Dumbledore thought compassionately.

"We need to find the underground camps now! Today! People may die in the meantime. We can't waste a minute," Hermione said anxiously, simply holding the hot drink in one hand and looking from Dumbledore to Snape.

"Underground camps?" Dumbledore asked seriously, looking at her with a frown.

"Yes, Voldemort said last night that that's where they're keeping the prisoners. I heard it just before they captured me," Hermione insisted.

"They captured you?" Dumbledore said, sounding very grave and concerned.

"Oh yes - but as you can see, I'm alright but what about those still being held captive? We need to get to them now!" Hermione said fretfully.

"Yes, I heard Voldemort mention it too. It's the first time he's spoken about the camps at a general meeting although those in the inner circle must have known right from the outset," Snape confirmed tiredly.

"It's a pity we couldn't get a spy into the inner circle," Dumbledore mused worriedly.

"Yes, well I was hardly going to be invited after what happened the last time they tried to promote me to it," Snape said with a hollow laugh.

"Did they give you any indication of where this camp may be?" Dumbledore questioned them both, giving them each hot muffins and crumpets on a plate.

"Voldemort said something about 'North of Gillamoor' and 'West of Callington' being the locations of the old camps were they used to hold prisoners," Hermione said. "I imagine that they would use the same locations again, just put everything underground. It would be worth looking around there first," she argued earnestly, ignoring her plate of muffins.

"I was taken to the one North of Gillamoor all those years ago Dumbledore," Snape reiterated, poking at a crumpet.

"Yes, I remember you saying so. Of course, once Voldemort had been defeated by young Harry the camps were deserted by the Death Eaters. I didn't realise there was activity there again because the camps still look deserted. However, if they're underground it's not surprising we missed it," Dumbledore pondered seriously. He paced slowly for awhile in silence. "I'm going to send some owls to our spies. In the meantime, eat something Hermione and then you can use the bathroom in my tower to clean up and get fresh clothes while Snape uses his own rooms. We'll all head over to Gillamoor in an hour or so," he said decisively.

* * *

Less than an hour later, a much cleaner Snape and Hermione re-joined Dumbledore in his office and they set off for Gillamoor to meet with the others that Dumbledore had owled in the meantime. Dumbledore used a special spell to Apparate both himself and Hermione at the same time, and Snape followed.

They met in a field in a convenient hollow between some low hills. Hermione saw Remus, Sirius and half the Hogwarts teachers there plus a few Aurors that she didn't recognise. Dumbledore briefly outlined what Hermione and Snape had already told him earlier.

"Hermione suspects and I agree with her, that we will most likely find the new camps under the old ones," he said. "Sirius, you've been sent to these camps before to keep an eye on the area. Have you seen anything suspicious in the past few years since Voldemort really started coming back to power?" he asked.

Sirius shook his dark head. "No, I would have reported it immediately. It looks just like it did the day after Voldemort was defeated previously and the prisoners there were liberated. It's deserted all the time as far as I know. I haven't seen any Death Eaters lurking around the place on my visits either. If there is an underground entrance, it's well hidden and there are powerful charms covering the arrival and departure of the Death Eaters with their prisoners," he assessed.

"Yes, that's what I would have expected," Dumbledore said solemnly.

Dumbledore sent a team of Aurors in to disable any charms that may have been put on the area. They disappeared to the North. Meanwhile, those left behind huddled into groups and talked the recent events over. None of them knew the details of how Voldemort had been defeated, in fact it was something Dumbledore himself did not know yet. Neither Hermione nor Snape felt like talking about the appearance of the black unicorn the night before. Both of them stood alone and silent, waiting for the Aurors to come back.

It was a couple of hours later when they returned. By then, Snape and Hermione were sitting on the heather with their backs against a low, stone wall and almost asleep. According to the Aurors' report, the access to the underground camp had been protected by both Muggle-repelling charms and charms that would induce hallucinations in any wizard stumbling across them. A wizard who came across the entrance would merely see the beginning of a large, underground *burn.

Snape and Hermione struggled to their feet and followed the Aurors back across the fields to the entrance. They walked for around 15 minutes to the North of the outskirts of Gillamoor. The Aurors led the way in, after undoing some serious locking charms on the massive iron doors.

They followed a large tunnel, obviously built by magic, deep into the earth and lit by the same eerie green lights that had lit the outdoor Death Eater meetings. After half an hour of walking, they came to another set of massive doors. Hermione had a terrible feeling of foreboding. She glanced over at Snape. His face was pale. She supposed that for him, it would be a bit like relieving the most horrifying day of his life. He suddenly glanced over at her and saw her looking at him. A look of complete understanding passed between them in an instant and his expression softened for just a moment.

Just then, the doors crashed back and they all entered a huge underground room. It was just as Snape had described to Hermione that one time. Cages lined the immense walls from floor to ceiling. To her relief, most were empty but there had obviously been plans to expand the operation enormously.

"We need medi-witches and wizards," Hermione said, when she spotted someone in one of the cages. Remus nodded and ran out the way he came, in order to send urgent owls to the wizarding hospitals.

The Aurors fanned out to search the other rooms while Dumbledore, Sirius, Hermione, Snape and the Hogwarts teachers began to check every cage.

It turned out to be a long day. A very long day.

By nightfall, they had found 20 prisoners in the cages and in a couple of laboratories they'd found off the main room. The Aurors had also found a meeting room and a Dark Arts library as well. The prisoners were being seen to by medi-wizards and witches, and had been given warm clothing before being transferred to wizarding hospitals for on-going convalescent care.

"Transfer the Dark Arts books to my offices, please. I will go through them and any that really are worth destroying will be dealt with later. The others can go in the restricted section of Hogwarts library," Dumbledore was saying as Hermione watched through a haze of exhaustion. "I will send owls tonight to specialists in magical site demolition so that this place can never be resurrected and used by Death Eaters ever again."

Hermione almost smiled as she heard it. Suddenly she noticed something out of the corner of one eye. Something familiar. She immediately disappeared through one of the side doors where she had seen it. "I know you're here so you may as well come out. No-one's going to hurt you," she said into the near darkness of the Dark Arts library.

A dirty and even more pale-faced than usual Draco Malfoy stepped slowly out of the shadows. Hermione kept her hand on her wand, just in case. Hermione had seen a flash of white hair earlier but now barely recognised him. His arrogance had been completely submerged in fear and his almost pedantic grooming had been replaced by dirt, blood and disarray.

They regarded each other carefully. "Why are you here, Malfoy?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"I... I had to get away. I've never been here before and when I heard Voldemort talking about these camps for the first time last night, I had to come and see for myself. When you... when that unicorn charged and Snape annihilated Voldemort, I ran away from that unicorn's cry but I came here rather than go home. This place was already deserted of course. All the Death Eaters had been at the meeting and now they've all scattered with Voldemort's defeat," he explained, sounding disjointed and not at all like his usual pompous self.

"How did you get in? It's protected by some pretty serious charms," she asked curiously.

"Any Death Eater can get in," he pulled up his robe to show Hermione the Dark Mark on his forearm, identical to Snape's.

Hermione sucked in her breath sharply. "When did that happen? That wasn't there at school!" she said, shocked.

"This past summer, of course. Dad insisted. Anyway, the charms don't operate if you have a Dark Mark," he clarified.

"Why did you come here rather than go home once Voldemort had been defeated last night?" she asked, perplexed.

Draco bit his pale lips and looked away. He was silent for a long time. "I don't want to go back home, Hermione. I want to get away from all this, especially when I saw this place," he said, his pale eyes reflecting the dim, shadowed light in the library.

"You don't want to be a Death Eater anymore but you know your father will insist, especially when Voldemort comes back as he will?" Hermione probed.

Draco merely nodded miserably. "We'll help you get away," Hermione said simply. "Dumbledore helped Snape get away and we'll help you," she promised. Draco almost looked hopeful. "How did you even find the location of this place?" she asked with interest.

"Guessed. If Voldemort has used this location before, why not use it again? If it hadn't been here, I would have tried Callington too," he said with a shrug.

He'd simply used the same logic as me, Hermione thought. "C'mon. I'll take you to Dumbledore and we'll get things sorted out for you."

Draco looked over her shoulder suddenly and she turned to look too. It was Snape. "I had just wondered where you had gone," he said quietly to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and then looking over at Draco. "I'm glad you've decided to defect too, Draco," he added to the boy.

"I didn't know you were a spy," Draco said, looking a trifle shell-shocked. "Not until last night when you used that curse on Voldemort."

Snape smiled. "That's what makes a good spy," he said simply.

"Yes," Draco said faintly, his pale eyes moving from Snape's possessive and affectionate grip on Hermione to the girl's composed face with curiosity.

"Come with us. We'll take you to Dumbledore now," Snape commanded quietly and led both of them out of the library.

* * *

It was around 10pm by the time Dumbledore had debriefed everyone and all the liberated prisoners had been transported to the wizarding hospital near the Muggle city of York. Dumbledore took Hermione by one hand and Draco by the other, and apparated them both to Hogwarts with Snape following. They settled into Dumbledore's office with mugs of thick, satisfying soup as none of them had eaten since they left Hogwarts that morning.

Dumbledore had not seemed surprised to see Draco when he had arrived flanked by Hermione and Snape. He had not even been surprised to see the Dark Mark on his arm. He had merely smiled gently at the boy and invited him to join them at Hogwarts. An invitation which Draco accepted with unusual gratitude. She half listened to the conversation.

"You do not wish to return to your parents?" Dumbledore asked Draco gravely.

"No, Sir. I never want to see them again," Draco said with a firmness that surprised Hermione. "My parents were part of Voldemort's inner circle. They knew about those... those... camps," he paused, struggling to contain his emotions. "I didn't know until last night. I was determined to see for myself and when I did," he paused again and shook his head. "I want nothing to do with them," he said hoarsely. "I know they won't change even now. They'll wait until he rises again and then it will all start again. I want no part of it."

Hermione suddenly had a small dose of sympathy for the boy although she still didn't like him. After all, he'd called her 'mudblood' for seven years and behaved like a git all that time.

"You're still not of age so you will have to divorce your parents, Draco. That's a grave thing. Are you prepared to take that step?" Dumbledore cautioned.

"Yes Sir," came the unhesitating answer.

"Severus, are you willing to act as his guardian for six weeks until he turns eighteen?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes Professor," Snape answered immediately, his hawk-like features tense with the stress of the last two days.

"Well, you've got a much better attitude about being a guardian to your little pet than you did me!" Hermione snapped scowling, suddenly waking up at this development.

"Snape is your guardian?" Draco said in surprise. "But everyone was saying..."

"I am quite well aware of what everyone was saying," Hermione cut him off sharply, still glowering at Snape who glared back. Dumbledore was beginning to wish that Snape and Hermione would keep their domestics to themselves.

Snape felt it unfair of Hermione. After all, he only felt confident about Draco now because of his experience with her. Also, Draco was a boy very much like Snape had been in many ways and Snape understood him. On top of all that, Draco did not give him hard-ons which certainly made the whole concept of being a guardian easier to deal with for him; a lot easier. He shot Hermione a quelling look which was met with an even fiercer glare. Snape gave up.

Hermione began to fall asleep after that. She hadn't slept in the past thirty-six hours and didn't cope well with sleep deprivation. Against the background of three quiet male voices, she fell asleep on her chair.

* * *

She woke up the next morning in a familiar room. It was the one she'd spent her last few days at Hogwarts in. It held strange memories for her now but the morning sun streaming in the window put paid to any gloomy thoughts. She was still a bit tired so she stumbled to the marble bathroom she'd used before hoping to wake herself up. She was still wearing the clothes she'd changed into the previous morning but these were now covered in heather and mud too from the day's activities on the moor. After a good long swim in the bath, she went back to her room to find Dobby waiting for her.

"Good morning, miss. Dobby is bringing your breakfast, miss. Wishing you a happy birthday, miss," he said, beaming all over his ugly, little face. Hermione got a shock. Of course it was her birthday! Her 18^th birthday! She had a party to finish preparing, she realised with a start.

"Thank you Dobby!" I can't stop for breakfast. I've got a million things to do before tonight," she said and kissed Dobby on the head before using the fireplace in her room to floo home.

* * *

Hermione's party was at the Three Broomsticks. Rosmerta had let her have the main room with a bar tab for the night. Everyone was there by 7pm except Harry who was playing in Wales that night. He had sent a funny owl with a gift.

Hermione had sent a last minute invitation to Draco via owl too but she doubted he'd come to a Gryffindor dominated gathering so soon after everything that had happened in his life. She suspected he would need a lot of space over the next few months to adjust.

The place was packed to the gunwales by 8pm and the live band was pleasantly deafening. By 10pm, Hermione was happily tipsy, and dancing with Dean and Seamus. Ron was snogging with Padma in a corner, George and Pandora were sitting at a table holding hands, Lavender was with some Hogsbridge guy and Ginny was hanging out with Parvati, Bill and Charlie in Harry's absence. Other Hogsbridge and Hogwarts friends were crowding the dance floor or sitting in the booths. Quite a number were in the alley snogging.

By midnight the crowd still hadn't thinned and the band was louder, if anything. Seamus tapped her on the shoulder as she was sitting in a booth talking to Padma and Ginny and Parvati. "Lover boy is here to see you," he murmured insinuatingly in her ear, obviously alluding to the memorable game of spin the bottle. She looked up and spotted Snape in a shadowy corner, trying to hide. She shook her head at Seamus with an amused smile but didn't rise to the bait of his teasing.

"Can we go somewhere quieter?" Snape hissed when she went over. He was looking distinctly irritated by the crowd and noise.

She nodded and took him outside to the alley. "Dark and deserted, just the way you like it," she teased affectionately. His arms snaked around her and he pulled her against him in a searing kiss. Hermione was just inebriated enough not to register surprise and so leaned against him, responding with the same amount of heat. Finally he let go of her to catch his breath.

"I wish you'd done that sooner," she sighed, her eyes half-closed.

He smiled grimly. "I didn't dare before now," he admitted.

"Why now?" she asked, the alcohol confusing her thinking a bit.

"Hermione, you've now turned eighteen. I'm no longer your guardian," he reminded her, his dark eyes glittering down at her in the dimly lit alley.

Her eyes widened. Of course! How could she have forgotten? "In that case," she said with a smile, raising her face to his. He didn't need a second hint.

He lifted his mouth from hers again finally, just far enough to rasp, "Can we get a room at this damn place?"

"Uh huh," Hermione said, waiting impatiently for the next kiss.

"I mean now!" he clarified decisively, his breathing jagged.

"Oh yes, that can be arranged," she purred and led him inside through the back way, away from the curious eyes of the party crowd to fetch a key from Rosmerta.

* * *

Despite Hermione's earlier misgivings, she'd come out top of her class in the four subjects she'd taken at Hogsbridge that first semester. She had sold her parents' home soon after her eighteenth birthday party and bought a cottage on the outskirts of Hogsborough, a wizarding town near Hogsmeade and thus close to Hogsbridge and Hogwarts too.

Snape was still teaching at Hogwarts and the atmosphere there was more relaxed now that reports of Voldemort had disappeared. Hermione didn't understand why Snape still taught but she guessed it was out of obligation to Dumbledore. A man as wealthy as Snape had no need to work and a man as brilliant as Snape must find teaching at such an elementary level very frustrating. No wonder he was so impatient with us, Hermione thought.

There was one difference however. Snape no longer spent all his free time in his dungeons making potions and experimenting. Those times were now spent at Hermione's cottage. It was a comfortable walk or short broomstick ride from Hogwarts to her cottage. Having been a very recent Head Girl, Hermione did not feel comfortable visiting him at Hogwarts but she knew that could change over time and Snape was happier seeing her at her cottage anyway.

The morning after her eighteenth birthday, Snape had given her a birthday present. It was a heavy gold ring set with a magnificent garnet. "Is it a family ring?" she'd asked curiously, looking at the beautiful thing from all sides.

Snape looked shocked. "No! I'd never give you any of those tainted things," he said firmly.

"They're not tainted, Severus" she said gently, trying to soothe him.

"It reminds me of the black unicorn; the gold and the red. Just like the unicorn's eyes," he explained, holding the ring up to the light in her hands. "It's inscribed too," he added, indicating the inside of the ring. Once more, Hermione was momentarily hypnotised by the beauty of his pale, exquisite hands.

"Mizpah," she read and looked at him questioningly.

"It's ancient Hebrew. It means, 'God watch between thee and me'," he translated seriously, watching her with his dark, shadowed eyes. The expression in them suddenly reminded her of the first Severus Snape and how he had looked at Hermatica.

Hermione looked at him with full eyes. It was really quite an indecent length of time before they left the room Rosmerta had given them the previous night.

* * *

Draco and Hermione became friends, in a strange twist of fate. Snape had asked her to look after him a bit during this difficult time in his life and Hermione had reluctantly agreed. To her surprise she liked the new, more humble version of Draco. Not very humble, it was hardly Draco's style but he seemed to realise that maybe everything he'd been taught growing up was wrong. The sudden change in perspective put him off balance, and made him more human and bearable.

Draco's parents had been put in Azkaban soon after the underground camp was dismantled. As a minor at the time he had defected, Draco was safe from that fate. As a result, he'd inherited all the Malfoy wealth. He was unable to enjoy it at the time, still reeling from his universe being tipped on its head.

Draco was bright and had been accepted into Hogsbridge too but had deferred only weeks into the first semester when Voldemort was defeated and he had gone on to divorce his parents. He'd spent the remainder of the semester helping dismantle the Dark Arts store in his family home and taking long walks on his estate, planning the changes he was going to make to his life.

One afternoon, Hermione had a new friend she'd made at Hogsbridge visiting her at her cottage. Luna had been at Beauxbatons although she was English, as her parents were diplomats of some sort over in France. Luna was dark haired, green eyed and pale skinned, and Hermione was not too sure what to make of her although she liked her.

When Draco dropped by the same afternoon, Hermione saw the sudden predatory gleam in Luna's eye with a bit of concern. Trouble was, she acknowledged, that she didn't know whether to warn Luna about Draco or warn Draco about Luna. Maybe they were well-suited after all, she mused when she saw an identical predatory look light up Draco's face when he saw the girl.

When Snape had come by later that night and saw the two of them together, he looked mildly alarmed and glanced questioningly at Hermione. She just shrugged. He'd heard enough about Luna from Hermione to panic mildly about her joining forces with Draco but he bit his tongue. Some matters were not the province of guardians, he decided.

* * *

A year after Hermione's parents' death and leaving Hogwarts, Hermione attended Harry's first World Cup final. Hermione and Snape had decided to make it their first public outing as a couple. Of course, Hermione's friends and the Hogwarts teachers had known soon after her eighteenth birthday but no-one else knew about their relationship.

They sat in the stands together with Ginny and the other Weasleys, Draco and Luna, Parvati, Lavender, Ron and Padma, Seamus and Dean, various other Hogsbridge friends, Remus, Sirius, the Hogwarts' teachers including Dumbledore, and various girlfriends and boyfriends and hangers on.

It was a glorious day; perfectly clear, blue skies and a light, fragrant breeze. Hermione couldn't resist buying a miniature Harry much to Snape's disgust. The little figure paced nervously across her palm and grinned lop-sidedly at her from time to time, looking so much like the real Harry that Hermione was fascinated. Most of her friends had bought one too. Snape scowled and contented himself with a scarf of England's colours. Ron's rosette yelled, "Potter, Wood," and the other team members' names until Snape wanted to hex it.

England was playing Brazil and half the stands were emblazoned in their colours of red, yellow and green. England's pale blue and white looked a bit wishy washy against it.

The minute Harry and the team appeared, they all stood and cheered. Harry turned and looked up at them all, a big grin on his face. Hermione was beside herself with excitement and adjusted her omnioculars to get a better look.

The game was only a couple of hours long. Both seekers were too good for it to be one of those historical, marathon matches that never end for months. It was a close run thing to who caught the snitch in the end. Harry saw it first but the Brazilian seeker was viciously fast on his broom and nearly caught him; nearly but not quite. Harry caught the snitch just in time and the stands went mad. The blue and silver fairy cheer squad lead a team of lion and unicorn mascots out onto the field in celebration of England's victory. Hermione jumped around and screamed. Even Snape cracked a smile. She hugged Ron on her one side and then practically mobbed Snape on the other. Snape didn't mind.

The party that night was at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione had not been so content and happy for a long time. She'd duxed her first year at Hogsbridge and finally settled on a Magical Research and Development career path.

While Snape was having a drink with Professor Vector and Professor Hooch, Hermione shared a quiet moment with just Harry and Ron. "You're a great wizard Harry," she said with a mixture of teasing and seriousness, deliberately repeating something she had said to him on their first foray into danger.

"You defeated Voldemort this time," he reminded her.

"Not me. Snape," she corrected gently.

"You forced Snape to," Ron said. Both boys knew the full story by then.

"He'll come back," Hermione said, suddenly grave. She knew that a dark time could easily come back to the wizarding world during her lifetime but it seemed a long way off to the almost-nineteen-year-old.

"We'll be ready for him," Harry said, his young face hardening.

"Yes, we will," Ron agreed. The three joined hands. They'd shared too much danger and too many adventures for anyone else to intrude on the bond they had with each other. It was an exclusive one. "So, when are you and Snape getting married?" Ron teased finally.

"Yeah, we want to see what a baby Snape looks like," Harry joked.

"We do?" Ron asked, looking disturbed at the thought.

"When you two propose to Ginny and Padma," Hermione said smartly with a grin.

"Nearly nineteen is too young to be getting married," Ron argued.

"Yes, it is." A cool voice drawled. Hermione smiled up at Snape. "Are you ready to go now or would you like to stay on?" he asked her quietly. It was 3am so Hermione said goodbye to Harry and Ron. Harry was fading fast anyway. He'd never been one for late nights.

Just before they both apparated to Hermione's cottage, Hermione having got her Apparating license just weeks after her eighteenth birthday, Snape looked down at her and said, "Happy?"

She nodded. "Happy," she replied and squeezed his hand gently.

She didn't think the black unicorn would be making an appearance again for a long, long time.

FINIS

(* Scottish term for 'stream' - Cambridge Dictionary)