Don't take that sinner from me

Chapter 23: They snatched it out of our hands

A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes.

Hermione winced as he forcefully dabbed on the wound that was slashed across her cheek with a healing salve. "You don't have to be so rough." She said through clenched teeth and bit on her lip as she winced. "I had warned you to not anger the Carrows." Snape hissed and she looked up at him, his black hair falling over his face and the piercing black orbs of his eyes pierced through it carefully.

"Well, I'm really sorry, Severus, but I don't particularly take joy out of having to torture other people!" She snapped bitterly and he scoffed, "And instead you offer yourself as bait?" Hermione raised a surprise eyebrow, "But of course!" She stated as if it was the most obvious answer.

Snape rolled his eyes as his hands left her face, putting the remainder of the healing salve back on the shelf in the Potions classroom, where he had told her to go the next evening after dinner. "Hermione, there is only so much I can do. I hold little control over the safety of you, so it's entirely up to you and your actions!" Snape said, a slight hint of annoyance laced in his voice.

Hermione scoffed and jumped off the desk she was sitting on, mumbling a "Thanks for taking care of me." before she left the room, immediately heading for her bedroom.

The days at Hogwarts had simply become unbearable. For months now she had been giving hell by her students as well as her teachers. They had all seen her as a disgrace. The Carrows as a filthy Mudblood, who loved to punish her for the most idiotic things. And some other teachers had been treating her like some kind of filth as well only because she was Snape's wife. And Snape wasn't particularly favored at school at the moment.

Not that he ever was, but right now it was even worse. And that was saying something. Even Professor McGonagall had distanced herself from Hermione, only with the reason that she found it cowardly that Hermione remained at Hogwarts, where she was partly safe instead of helping Harry and Ron.

And then there were the students, who all completely looked down on her. She was Snape's wife after all. So, why did she not try anything to make the school a better place? Even everyone from Gryffindor had completely turned their backs on her.

Only Ginny and Neville had not completely turned against her. Even though Ginny knew there was more going on than Hermione was letting on, she still supported her even though it was driving the red haired girl crazy to not know where Harry was.

And the classes at school had become simply unbearable – which led her to where she was now: in the Room of Requirement. Along with some other students who were being bashed by the Carrows, were now hiding there.

She felt even more out of place there, since everyone simply pretended like she didn't even exist. And to top it off, it had been over a month as well since she had spoken to Snape. Neither had she had much contact with the boys any longer either.

Sure, the coin let her know whether they were still safe or not, but they couldn't discuss any important matters over the coin, in case it got sabotaged. The only way to do that was by the portrait of Phineas, but she couldn't reach him anymore.

A sudden commotion got her out of her thinking and she put down her book she was holding as she saw everyone gathering around the portrait that concealed a passageway to Aberforth's room. The woman in the portrait beckoned for someone to follow and Neville was the first to do so, disappearing out of sight, leaving everyone waiting anxiously behind him.

It took him several minutes to reappear, but it was beyond worth the wait as she watched Harry and Ron appearing behind Neville through the portrait hole. Ginny was the first to throw herself at Harry, and Hermione followed suit, embracing both boys in relief.

The boys explained why they had come, and miserably failed at describing what they were looking for. Not that she could blame them, for she had no clue either. So far they had been able to find all other horcruxes thanks to her help, but going to Hogwarts had been something she had been highly objecting against.

After the explanation was done, and several students had given their suggestions, Harry changed into school robes as Dean alerted the others of the Order. They all came as soon as it was announced, and the Room of Requirement was growing remotely small for all the people that were starting to pour inside.

Having talked through the plan, they waited until they heard the shuffling in the corridors, meaning that the students were coming together in the Great Hall after having heard screaming from several Death Eaters that Harry supposedly is in Hogwarts.

All heading out, including herself, they smoothly joined the crowd as they headed for the Great Hall, all rather nervous and it was safe to say that Hermione was the most nervous one. Right now she had no clue on what to do – which side to take. She had been ordered to keep her distance from Harry, pretend like she didn't know that he was there with them, and that she needed to wait until she could talk to Snape about what to do.

Snape came walking into the Great Hall shortly after they had all arrived, his dark robes swaying behind him as he took controlled steps to the front of the crowd. He started his speech with his knowledge of the presence of Harry in Hogsmeade, and demanded for information from anyone who had anything.

Everyone remained quiet, and Hermione caught his eyes once, which were looking at her questionably. Giving him a slow nod in confirmation that he was indeed present, he averted his eyes and scanned the crowd once more.

At that moment Harry stepped out of the crowd, making everyone back away in surprise and Hermione watched the exchange between the two men as he started to talk. "It seems, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you still have a bit of a security problem, headmaster." At that, the wooden doors behind him opened, revealing the rest of the Order with looks on their faces showing that they were prepared for war.

"How dare you stand where he stood?" Harry asked, his voice laced with hurt so thick, that the guilt washed over her entire body, causing her to shiver badly as she turned her head to her husband, watching the flicker of pain on his face and she knew why: he never wanted to kill Dumbledore. He was forced to do so yet nobody alive besides her knew that.

"Tell them how it happened that night. Tell them how you looked him in the eye, a man who trusted you, and killed him! Tell them." The hurt on Snape's face grew and with the last word, he drew his wand at Harry, McGonagall immediately jumping in front of Harry out of protection.

Hermione watched in amazement as Snape's entire face fell, and the immense hurt that showed on his face as he fired his spells against a woman she knew he respected. The reluctance was clearly written on his face, but they went on with it. McGonagall was the one to fire most of the spells, Snape merely blocking them, and guiding one to the Carrow twins behind them, knocking them out right before he gave up and flew out of the Great Hall, grabbing the wands of the twins from the floor as he crashed through the window.

The crowd was so distracted that they didn't even notice her squeezing through, leaving the Hall in hurried steps as she ran as fast as she could to the Headmaster's office, hoping that Snape would be there so she could ask him for advice.

And sure enough, as she entered the office, nearly tripping over the threshold because of her hurry, she saw Snape gasping near the window. "Severus!" Hermione exclaimed and ran to him, throwing her arms around him in relief upon seeing he was alright.

"Hermione, we don't have much time. Trusting that your theory on the enchantment is correct, I require of you to join the others in the battle." Hermione nodded and clutched his robes into her fists, not wanting to let him go, even though she knew she would soon have to. "What about you?" Snape shook his head, "Don't worry about me, I know what I have to do."

Hermione nodded hesitantly and he threw a weak smile at her, grabbing her hands and making them release his robes as he leaned in, his lips finding hers. Yet, as soon as it happened, it was over again and he let go of her hands, saying a quick "Be safe" before he left through the window once more, his dark robes disappearing into the night.

"It is nice to see that you have finally worked out the emotion that you sought help for last year." Hermione's head turned to Dumbledore's portrait, who was wearing his faint smile as he took her in. "Professor, I'd love to talk, but I need to go." He nodded in understanding, earning him a weak smile from her before she ran back down the stairs, where a complete commotion had taken place.

Spotting one of the red haired boys in the crowd, she gratefully greeted Ron, who proposed the idea of finding the basilisk fang whilst Harry was finding out where the horcrux was. Completely taken back by the brilliant idea, she warily followed him to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and watched in complete astonishment as Ron managed to speak in Parseltongue, allowing them to enter through all the required passages.

Having collected one of the fangs, Ron told her to destroy the horcrux, with the reason that she hadn't done that yet. Accepting the fang hesitantly, she pierced it through the cup and backed away as soon as she could as the waters beside them washed over them with the protests of the remainder of Voldemort's soul.

Leaving the Chamber of Secrets, they parted ways as Ron was searching for Harry and Hermione turning to the battle field, lending the rest an extra hand as an army was making its way into the castle.

Fear overwhelmed her as the Mark on her left forearm suddenly burned, and his voice rung in her ear as she was fighting one of the Death Eaters off. "Meet me at the boathouse." His shrilly voice hissed through her head and shivers fought their way through her body as the coldness spread.

Even though she was beyond reluctant, she tried to escape to the boathouse as fast as she possibly could without ending up killed. Having no clue why he would summon her, she hurried her steps as she was nearing the place.

"Hermione Granger, I am beyond surprised to admit that for once, I have been wrong." Voldemort immediately began, his fingers twirling around the Elder Wand he was carrying with Nagini hissing by his side. "My Lord?" She asked, her voice shaking as he slowly turned around, his eyes piercing at her.

"They warned me not to trust a Mudblood, and I should have listened." A flick of his wand had her falling to her knees in unbearable pain. "You have betrayed me, Hermione." He said and tears formed in her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen, she still had a battle left to fight.

"Avada Kedavra!" The shrilly voice shrieked and Hermione fell cold to the floor, her last thoughts swirling one last time through her head: How wrong she had been. The enchantment did not protect them from death. It merely deepened the love they had been lucky enough to feel. Making it appear to be a more powerful love than any other kind, deceiving couples to think they were above the law of nature. What a fool she had been to believe that they could escape death.

And everything that she last felt was regret. How unfair it was that she never had the opportunity to tell Snape she loved him. To not be able to fight with her friends. That her parents would never know they had lost a daughter. And most of all, she felt beyond bad for taking away Snape's life.

His Vows had his life connected to hers. For many years he had been fighting against the evil, risking his life day in day out. But now, she was the reason why he was dead as well. She had taken everything away from him – from Lily's remainders to his own life.

What a fool she had been to think that she still had time to make everything right.

A/N: Oh my, it truly was difficult for me to murder my babies. But I have a reason for doing so. When I started writing this fanfiction, I mainly did it to describe the arranged marriage, along with the event at the Astronomy Tower and eventually to write about how they'd go into war. And that was all I had planned for it to happen. Never had I considered them surviving, and starting a family. I just didn't see it fitting enough for the plot I've been working with. Strange as it may sound, death seemed like a perfect ending for their unfairly messed up lives.

And one last time, I want to thank each and every one so much for all the support you have been showing. All the kind reviews, and all the new people joining my writing journey have really motivated me to continue writing, and I absolutely loved every second I spent on doing so.

And not to lie, I am rather proud of myself. I've written many stories, yet I never completed any of them, but I did now, and oh my, does it feel good to give it a fitting ending. I hope you won't hate me for the ending, and I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this story. Thank you!