Many thanks to Drusilla for being such a great beta!

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Chapter 21 – Return to Spinner's End

Even though the room was dark, it took a long while for her eyes to adjust to the light flooding into the room. She blinked a few times and her vision cleared, only to show that she was staring at a ceiling.

She had no idea where she was, or why she was there, but her body felt a little bit rigid, and stiff, as if she hadn't been using her limbs in a while. In addition to that, she felt something resting on her hand. She craned her neck around and looked down to see a head of raven hair tied back at the nape of the person's neck with a black leather tie, and a pale hand, glowing in the moonlight, holding onto her own.

It was Severus. His hair had grown a little longer. Actually, quite a bit longer and he looked a lot paler than normal. Relaxing a little, she flexed the fingers of her free hand and reached out to him, tracing her fingers lightly over the ridges of his cheeks and nose, making sure he was actually there.

'Severus...' she croaked.

Hermione's hand flew to her throat. Her voice was so husky and scratchy. She let her eyes wander around the room and deduced that she was in a hospital.

She felt a slight pressure on her hand. She turned her head back to face Snape. He was sitting up, looking at her with glistening eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek and dropped onto the bed sheet, followed closely by another. She weakly lifted a hand to his cheek and brushed the tears away.

Grasping his chin, she drew him towards her as firmly as she could. He stood from his seat and leaned down to rest his brow against hers. She kissed the tears off his cheeks and smiled.

'Don't cry, Severus,' she croaked. He laughed softly and gathered her into his arms as best he could.

'Oh, Hermione!' he exclaimed softly into her hair, holding her as tightly as her frail body would allow. 'Oh, God...'

Hermione smiled and held him to her close, toying with the hair pulled back in the leather tie. 'I like your hair like this,' she commented offhandedly, tangling her fingers in it.

He chuckled and kissed her neck softly, nuzzling it with his nose and sighing in contentment. 'I should cancel my haircut appointment tomorrow, perhaps,' he suggested without moving from their embrace.

'I'm in St. Mungo's, aren't I?' she asked weakly.

'I'm afraid so, love. But you won't have to be here for much longer,' he explained, letting her lay back into the pillows again.

'How… how long have I been here?'

'Five months,' he replied carefully, watching as her eyes grew wide.

'That long? What happened, Severus?' she asked, searching his face for an emotion. She saw him wince when he said how long she had been unconscious. She saw the yearning, pain, worry and loneliness he had endured for the past few months.

'After you were struck with the knife, we killed Voldemort, and all of the remaining Death Eaters were silenced or rounded up for Azkaban. Ronald Weasley silenced Lucius Malfoy,' he recounted softly. 'You have been here ever since.'

'Oh, God, this must have been so hard...' she started.

Severus silenced her with a gentle kiss and looked meaningfully into her eyes. 'That's enough. You're back now, and I am never going to let you go again,' he promised.

Hermione shifted a little and felt a little sore, in particular around her stomach. 'Severus, it hurts. Why does everything down there hurt?' she asked, getting a little worried. Her body was far too thin, she observed; it would take a long time to put all of the weight back on.

Snape looked sad suddenly. 'You were pregnant, love. The child miscarried while you were in the coma. Your body couldn't accommodate the child,' he said quietly.

Hermione's jaw dropped sharply, and she gaped at him unattractively. 'I… I lost my... our child?' she uttered, touching her gaunt, flat stomach over the linen pyjamas.

'I'm so sorry, Hermione. It could not be helped. Don't blame yourself,' he soothed, rubbing her shoulders gently.

She halted his hands on her shoulders and looked up at him sadly. 'Don't say sorry, Severus. It wasn't your fault,' she said reassuringly.

'But it was. If only I hadn't taken the Mark,' he said, furious with himself for putting her in danger. 'I was so dense. I didn't even think about the effect it would have on everyone that I cared about, or the few who cared about me.'

'Don't be ridiculous. Everything is HIS fault. Don't blame yourself. If anything, I am more to blame. You told me to leave, and I didn't. I'm the one to blame,' she said, her voice catching in her throat.

'Don't you blame yourself if you won't allow me to blame myself,' Severus warned.

'Alright,' she agreed reluctantly, stifling a yawn.

'Rest now, love,' he whispered as her eyes began to drift open and closed sleepily, and she yawned again. 'When you fully recover, we'll go home.'

'Home?' she asked sleepily.

'Yes,' he replied, drawing the covers up around her and dropping a feather light kiss to her forehead before letting himself out of the room to alert the Healers.

Severus and Healer Blake returned to her room the next morning to find Hermione still resting. The Healer did a complete check-up of her body and vitals, and then pronounced, to the immense relief of Severus, that she would be able to leave St. Mungo's that morning.

'Thank you,' Snape sighed.

'Not a problem, Professor,' Blake said, exiting the room as Snape took his regular seat.

He simply sat there, looking at Hermione with adoring eyes. He drank in every inch of her, from her frail thinness to her soft smile as she slept. It was so good to be able to talk to his beloved again.

Hermione woke a few hours later to find Snape standing by the window and staring out absently. She pulled herself into a sitting position and wriggled out of the bed, making sure that she was standing steadily before she even attempted to walk. She grimaced when her feet touched the cold floor.

Walking over to him, she wrapped her arms around his slender waist. He looked over his shoulder at her, turned in her arms to face her and wrapped his own arms around her slender frame. Leaning forwards, he kissed her lips softly. 'Ready to go home yet, love?' he asked wistfully.

'I can leave?' she asked, her eyes lighting up.

'Yes, Hermione,' he replied, giving her a gentle squeeze.

'Will we be going back to your home?' she asked, looking up imploringly.

'No, Hermione. We are going to OUR home, Spinner's End,' he answered. 'Collect your things so we can leave.'

Hermione wasted no time in collecting her wand and all of her other possessions, then returned to Severus, and was hauled into his arms tightly. He Apparated with her in tandem to his bedroom but didn't release her.

He leaned down and kissed her with every ounce of passion and love that he had, running his hands through her tangle of glorious curls, while her arms managed to snake their way around his neck, pulling him closer. He delved his tongue into her mouth and felt her desperate intrusion of his own mouth, as they kissed and tasted each other fully for the first time in so long.

An hour later, they both lay dishevelled and sated beneath the black silk bed sheets, holding onto each other tightly. Snape whispered endearments to her and stroked a long finger up her spine as she began to drift to sleep once more.

'Welcome home, Hermione.'

TERMINUS

A/N – Well, folks, that is all for this story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to all of my dedicated and wonderful readers who took the time to review. You really did provide me with the initiative to finish the story for you all. I hope that this ending was satisfactory for you. This story has recently been beta'd and this is the final result of that. Thanks again!xo.