Hermione slept for a lot longer than she imagined she would, but once it finally hit her the evening Harry had brought her home, she didn't wake up until about noon the next day. Her tensions were gone, but the worry that had been in her head increased tenfold when she remembered Severus and then Sagitta, and how the poor girl must be feeling. She more than likely hated her, just as her father did.

That didn't start off her morning well, but Harry made sure to pick her right up with a nice meal he hand-made. She learned a lot that day, being free to ask him questions of his past she never felt right asking in the prior months. Everything had been going nicely, and she knew well how the world worked after a bit. There was no need to be curious as long as she was cautious, which honestly was much against the way she'd been when she was younger.

Hermione was still young, when it all came down to it, her age barely breaking from the teens, but she certainly didn't feel like a young witch. Harry had a little grey stubble, and Malfoy had wrinkles creasing his eyes, but they were still young. Age was only relative, she figured, and the way that they happened to look was all because of stress.

They sat down to the fire at the end of the evening and Harry indulged Hermione in her own life before this. She learned everything he knew of Sagitta and Severus, and how she ended up fitting into their world. Hermione felt particularly old then, with her marrying the man so young. And she afforded Harry her own past, every gritty detail that she could possibly think of, and wasn't he horrified to know that there was a version of himself that didn't know his parents.

"You look happy, Hermione."

She smiled over a cup of tea and twisted it, and though happy couldn't describe the warmth she felt from Harry, melancholy could.

"I am, here... but I'm feeling completely lost without Severus. I must admit, I never thought I'd come to love him as much as I do, but I ruined it anyways. I ruined everything. There's no way he'll want to see me again, let alone will Sagitta."

Harry scrunched up his face in disagreement, which Hermione thought was very bold of him considering who they were talking about. The Snapes were the most stubborn people she knew of next to one Draco Malfoy.

"I don't know, Hermione. I think that after everything that happened, he'll come around."

She shrugged, sure that Harry didn't know what he was talking about.

"He hasn't made a move to come and see me today, or reach out. I doubt I'll hear from him by the time our bond severs," she realized as she spoke what a painful process that would be. "And I fought so damn hard for that law to be repealed, now look what it's going to do to me."

Harry shuffled, and Hermione could see the grin he was stifling under the shadow of facial hair he had coming in.

"While I am utterly grateful for you demolishing that rule, I fell sorry for those who are choosing to let their bonds go. It will hurt those who have even a friendly concern with their partner," the wizard said, but it didn't make Hermione feel much better.

Some part of her knew that Severus was holding off from her whatsoever to ease the pass of their bonds. He wanted her gone, and swiftly would her own stubbornness accomplish that for him.

"What did I do, Harry?" She moaned, feeling awful.

"You did what you thought was right, and you helped a lot of people. A lot of us would have done the same in your place."

The fire suddenly burst open in excitement and Draco popped out, his smile not dulled in the slightest as he sat right on top of Harry, engaging him in a thrilling kiss. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the sight, but then clear her throat because she was mildly annoyed despite their rightful fit.

"You two are adorable, but I wouldn't mind if you backed up for just a bit."

"Of course," Draco blushed, and the reserved minister came out in him as he adjusted his robes and sat on his own chair.

"How did the trials go today?" Harry wondered, his own embarrassment masked behind the inquisition.

"Brilliant. All of Hermione's offenders were guilty, and I finally got enough evidence on a lot of violent Rogues to throw them right into Azkaban. I couldn't be happier, though I'm sorry you had to get kidnapped for it to happen, Hermione."

She smiled wryly at the comment, "Anytime."

They laughed, and Draco continued to grin like she'd never seen before. If only he could see the night and day difference between himself during Xander, and himself now during Harry. Harry would last, and she was quite sure of that for both of the happy wizards.

"I hate to ask, but are you and Severus going to work something out before the magical deadline on my new decision?" Draco asked, his eyes sad for his friend and deputy Minister.

"No, I'm afraid not. I am quite positive he wants nothing to do with me," Hermione sighed, stretching out on the couch she'd been properly sitting on. The day in finally caught up to her stretched spine

"And there I was trying to be hopeful. Well, maybe one day he will come around. There's nothing wrong with getting your bonds re-done one day!"

The amount of optimism in the Minister of Magic astounded Hermione as she laughed, pulling a blanket over herself that hung over the couch in Harry's flat.

"Maybe..." She agreed, but Harry seemed to be thinking rather hard, which caught both her and Draco's attention.

"Do you disagree, Harry?" The blonde asked, his silver eyes curious and unsure.

"No... but if Hermione Snape still exists, and she was technically the one married to Snape... then will it really affect you, Hermione Granger, if the bond severs? Won't it just affect the woman rotting in Azkaban?"

Draco was shocked his lover had come up with such an idea, but Hermione saw all the reason in what he was saying. She was so caught up in her own lie that she was convinced her and Severus's bond was really theirs, when in reality, it wasn't. It wouldn't hurt her at all come the end of the deadline, but Severus would be in pain, so in turn it still wouldn't sit very well with her.

"That's... right, Hermione, I don't think the falling of his bonds are going to affect you. But that's good, right?"

She shrugged, falling into the blanket just a little bit further.

"I don't want him in pain, Draco, even if he doesn't believe what you do."

The blonde smiled, "That you're meant to be you?"

"That," she agreed, smiling as Harry began to riddle out the logistics with Draco, both of them allowing her rest she felt she still needed and very much deserved.

-

"Hermione is alright, you know. The Minister for Magic owled you."

Sagitta handed Severus the letter that Draco had penned late in the evening with all the final decisions on all the cases of each Rogue they'd taken in. Severus was proud of Draco, and he'd never hated Lucius more in his life than he did currently for the info he'd told him about Hermione.

The information of Hermione he could have deeply lived without. Merlin, he had never been so happy, but the truth will out, he supposed. Severus would have found out once she was kidnapped anyways, when he found that his real wife would be tried for treason against the Ministry of Magic. Everything was just a mess, and his heart hurt more than anything.

He just couldn't bare to bring himself to accept her again, and he didn't expect anyone to blame him for that decision. She'd lied to him, and taken out his true wife, though she wasn't much of a supple partner in terms of love and affection.

Despite it all, he detested the lying that Hermione had done, and to come into his home like that, a foreigner, and take his love like she deserved it. The entire thing was outrageous, and his emotions were in such a dismal place, he couldn't care to think of it.

"Thank you, why don't you leave it on the table, Sagitta."

He watched as the young beauty which was his daughter, placed the envelope onto their dinner table, coming back over and settling in next to him.

Severus wrapped her close and simply enjoyed the presence of his daughter, someone who he knew he could love and trust, if but for a few moments before she felt the teenage whim to rebel.

"Dad?"

"Yes, my darling?" He cooed back, hugging her tighter.

"Will you ever forgive Hermione?"

The question was sort of squeaked out, and the tears were just at bay, so caution was Severus' best approach.

"No, I fear that that's going to be quite a hard thing for me to do right now."

There was a nod on his shoulder, and Severus tried very hard not to let the sniffling get to his own stubborn view on the notion.

"Everything here reminds me of her, dad. I loved her, I think. I loved her like I would have loved a mum. She did a lot for me once we got over our differences."

"She loved you too," he felt himself say, only regretting it when Sagitta started truly crying.

She was right, though, about how everything in the house reminded him of Hermione. The witch who stole his heart, his life, and any ability he'd have to trust. They couldn't live like this, and that's when a brilliant idea struck him.

"Why don't we go away somewhere, hmm? I can find someone to fill in my spot at Hogwarts, and we'll just go. Maybe a warm coast of Italy? Or a chilly coast of Ireland?"

Going away was exactly what they needed. They could leave the windows open when they left, and let the memories fade out of them. They could waft from the furniture, from their clothes, and from his bed, and maybe by the time the two returned everything would be back to itself, Hermione forgotten and sensibly removed. He'd put up a few protection spells, of course, but the thought of just erasing her all together was alluring. Merlin, Severus hadn't ever wanted to get rid of a memory as much as he did Hermione Granger.

"It sounds wonderful, dad."

And so they planned it, and Severus couldn't wait to let the remnants of a lost love flow from the house like they'd never been in the first place.

The End.