In The End There is Only This,,,

In The End There is Only This…
By: Snapes_Goddess





The cold winter wind was brutal as the worst snowstorm in England’s history blew in. The moon was blocked out by thick clouds heavy with the snow that swirled to the ground, whiting out the vision of any who dared to trek outside in such hellish conditions. Hermione Granger sat beside the large window of her room and stared out into the nothingness. Her body was frail, the years taking their toll and leaving her weak and aching.




Once upon a time she had been a young and vibrant witch on top of the world. The wizarding world’s golden girl, she had fought at the side of Harry Potter, defeating the biggest threat the magical community had ever known. Once upon a time she had been pretty, maybe not beautiful in the eyes of the world but she had been beautiful to him.



At the thought of him her lips lifted into a smile. The man who should have been off limits, the man who should never have been hers, the man who had loved her above all things for so many years, the man who she had loved with her whole heart all her days. Severus Snape had been her salvation in so many ways and she had been his. It was long after the war, long after her relationship with Ronald Weasley had ended, after their children had grown and left for school, giving them the chance to be free.



She was older; the shine of youth long gone and the years had left their marks at the corners of her eyes and streaks of silver in her hair. He still looked the same, those sad black eyes filled with sorrow and his lips drawn into a perpetual scowl. Despite the years he recognized her instantly and she couldn’t refuse when he invited her to dinner. Something in the way he looked at her had pulled her to him like a magnet. He looked at her as though he were seeing her for the first time, with need and want as though she held the secrets to his happiness in her hands.



It came as a surprise to her to learn that she in fact had held the key, and he had held the key to hers. It didn’t take long for their feelings to build, connecting them and holding them together. No one understood, not her friends or her co-workers, certainly not her ex. But her children, though slow to warm up finally came to accept that she was happy.



She was 40 when she married Severus Snape and he was on cusp of 60. Had they been muggles it might have mattered but as wizards age lost its meaning. They were so happy, ridiculously so, happy in a way she had never imagined possible. They did everything together. They traveled to Italy and toured the ruins of ancient Rome, they saw all of England and the sites that marked the countries history, the journeyed to America and saw the landmarks of the New World and they slept on the desert sands of Egypt beneath the stars. And they made love. Oh how they made love, with so much passion that there were times when she could hardly bear it.



He touched her as though he worshipped her, kissed her as though the continued beating of his heart depended on the taste of her lips. When their bodies came together it was like two pieces of a puzzle sliding perfectly into place. And after, when their hearts raced and the sweat on their bodies began to cool he would hold her as though he couldn’t bear to let her go. He made her complete in a way that no one else and nothing else ever had before.


For a little over a century they lived in bliss, loving as though tomorrow would never come. And then one day it didn’t. She woke to find him cold and still beside her, his head still resting on the pillow as though he slept. But she knew that he had slipped away from her sometime in the night. She had lain there for the longest time, her head resting beside his on the pillow as her heart broke into a million pieces.



She laid him to rest on a grassy hillside near the water and tried to live her life as best she could without him. Slowly time began to wear on her, stealing her memories and altering her thoughts until she no longer remembered who she was. People would come to visit and while they looked familiar she couldn’t pull the memories from her mind any longer.


But tonight her thoughts were crystal clear, her memories vivid and so very real to her.


“Hermione, my love?” She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight when she heard his voice.


“Am I dreaming again?” She asked.



“No, this is not a dream.” She felt his hand on her shoulder and tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. “Will you not look at me?”



“I can’t bear it. I’m old, Severus, I’m no longer pretty for you.” She said softly.


“Vanity was never one of your sins, my Hermione.” He chuckled. “You are as beautiful now as you were the day I fell in love with you. Come, let me hold you.”


“I can’t, my body is old and broken.”


“No, it isn’t. Open your eyes and stand, my love. Come to me.” He said softly. “Trust me.”


She opened her eyes slowly and looked down. She expected to see hands wrinkled and spotted with age but instead found her skin smooth and unblemished. She caught her reflection in the window glass and saw long dark curls in place of a coarse silver braid, smooth creamy skin in place of a wrinkled, pale face. As she stood the frail bony body that was bent and weak was once more young, lithe and strong. She gasped and turned around to find him looking just as he had the day she bumped into him at the book shop in Dublin.


“Severus!” She threw herself into his arms, holding him so tightly that it nearly hurt. She kissed him again and again, holding him close as tears coursed down her cheeks. “How?”



“It’s time.” He said softly, directing her gaze towards the bed where the fragile body of her corporeal self lay still and silent.


“So this is the end?” She wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t sad at all as she threaded her fingers through his.


“No, it is the beginning of a new life that is ours alone. It has been difficult waiting for you all this time, my love.” He reached out and stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers.


“I missed you so much. Every day I longed for you.” She said as she touched his lips with her fingertips.


“That is over now. The pain of life is over. In the end, there is only this, you and I, together for eternity. Come with me.” He whispered, pulling her along behind him as he opened the bedroom door. Blinding white light shone on the other side and with her hand securely held in his she allowed herself to be pulled into the warmth of oblivion with the man she loved.


AN: Okay…so being bored at work = plotting. Plotting = strange little scenes dancing in my head, some scenes fuel stories, others just remain simple snippets into a life. Such is this sad little moment. No smut….believe me, there is plenty coming in the SS/HG I am currently working