Terrified of what just happened, Hermione began to back away from the unconscious Severus.

"Hermione," the conscious Severus muttered, cautiously approaching her. "It's me."

She continued to step backward, until she felt her back against the wall. She gasped, as she realised that she could easily be overwhelmed in such a vulnerable position.

"Are you all right, darling?" Severus asked of his wife. As he was still clutching his wand, Hermione glanced at it, and once she recognised it as that of her husband's she nodded.

"Who is that?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the heap on the floor.

Severus studied the body for a moment, then turned around to face her. "I don't know, but something is not right here. I was attacked by Crabbe and Goyle at Hogsmeade. I sent a distress owl to Potter. Judging by my doppelganger here, it's a conspiracy. It could be a Death Eater revival; after all, I prevented the Dark Lord from rising again."

"Oh Severus," Hermione sobbed, throwing her arms around him. "Just hold me."

Severus pulled her closer to him as she buried her face in his chest. "Everything's going to be all right, my love."

The embrace was not to be had for much longer. Bellatrix rose from the Stun, as the effects of the Polyjuice potion were beginning to wear off, and she knew she had very little time left to complete the deed.

She withdrew a dagger from her robes then, maintaining absolute silence, she flung the dagger with all her might at her enemy's back.

An agonising howl emitted from Severus once the blade penetrated his body. Hermione pulled away and looked up at her husband; a look of pure pain contorted his features. Unable to support him, Hermione helplessly watched as her husband fell to his knees.

Bellatrix uttered a chilling cackle at the sight of the man she so hated dying before his wife. "Anyone who defies the Dark Lord shall meet the same fate, Mudblood," she said to Hermione. "The traitor you call your husband deserves nothing less than a slow and painful death, not even worthy of a Killing Curse!"

"Your so-called Dark Lord is nothing now!" Hermione yelled. "You have lost!"

"Shut your filthy mouth, Mudblood!" Bellatrix replied, charging toward Hermione.

"Hermione, use the mirror!" Hermione heard Eileen's voice from the bag that hung from her shoulder.

Bellatrix aimed her wand at Hermione. "I'll have no choice but to waste a perfectly good Killing Curse on you, seeing as my preferred method is stuck in your husband's back, slowly but surely bringing about his death."

Hermione stood her ground, and allowed for the bag to slip down her arm.

"It's been my pleasure offing you, Mudblood," Bellatrix said. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Hermione whipped out the mirror and held it in the path of the green light shooting toward her. The curse struck the mirror, shattering the glass, before shooting back toward its caster.

Bellatrix fell to the ground for the final time. Hermione dropped the mirror and kneeled to face Severus.

"Darling, I'm going to pull the knife out," Hermione said to Severus in a shaking voice.

"No," Severus whispered. "It will only…kill me faster."

"Don't say that," Hermione said. "You're going to be all right. You have to be all right."

"What?" he whispered.

"Severus…I'm pregnant."

His bottom lip quivered. "You…you are?"

Hermione nodded. "That's why I need you…why we need you."

Severus began to cough violently, and blood trickled from his mouth. Hermione wiped the blood from his lips.

"Be strong, my love," he uttered. He closed his eyes, and drew his last breath.

"No, Severus, please," Hermione cried. "I love you."

"And I love you," the voice of her beloved husband sounded from a short distance.

Hermione looked about her, then saw what she still thought was the shattered mirror glowing. She picked it up, and saw Severus's face in it.

"No!" she cried out, for she knew what his presence in the mirror meant.

"Hermione!" Harry called from the doorway of the quarters. He ran to her. "I came as fast as I could. What happened?"

"The Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange…KILLED Severus!" she replied. "She tried to kill me too, but I used this mirror to fend off her Killing Curse."

Harry hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. If only I…"

"Don't say that," Hermione said. "She could have killed you too."

Harry couldn't believe what he was looking at in the mirror. "P-professor…Snape?"

"Harry…please don't let Hermione out of your sight. I suspect the Death Eaters have launched an offensive…there may be more out there."

"I'll guard her with my life, sir."

"Sev, hurry and gather your things, or you'll miss the train!" Hermione called out as she tore herself from her painful memories.

She looked around at her surroundings. For the past eleven years, she and her son Severus Junior lived in the house that her husband occupied for his entire life. Although a gloomy air hung around it in the first few years after Severus's death, Hermione took great care in fixing up the place to make her son's childhood a cozy one.

After Bellatrix was killed, Harry and the group of Aurors that joined him moments after his arrival rounded up Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. It wasn't quite the Death Eater offensive that Severus Senior had envisioned, but the damage had already been done. Hermione would now have to spend the rest of her life without the only man she ever truly loved.

But she and her son were never alone. Harry and Ginny made time to come by with their children quite often, and little Severus was already quite popular with the children of other wizarding families.

"That's how you get our son to do things?" Severus teased Hermione when he appeared in the mirror.

"Well, it works, doesn't it?" she laughed with a sad look on her face.

"My love, what troubles you?" Severus asked worriedly.

"I was just…remembering the events that brought me to this moment."

Severus ducked his head. "If only I had not turned my back on Bellatrix."

Tears welled in Hermione's eyes. "What happened has happened. We must look ahead to the future, not just for us but for our son."

Severus nodded. "Indeed. And how is he?"

"He's excited to be starting at Hogwarts. I'm glad I don't have to be too far from him."

A boy called from the bottom of the stairs. "Mum, I'm ready!"

Hermione set the mirror aside. "I'll be right down, Sev."

"Does he ever ask about me?"

"Every now and then."

Before Hermione gave birth to him, she and Severus agreed to not show their son the mirror. They thought it would not be fair for the boy to grow up with his father like that.

The boy nervously stood on Platform 9 ¾, looking around for his friends.

"Mum, what House did Dad belong to?" he asked Hermione.

"He was a Slytherin," she replied. "In fact, he was Head of House at one point."

"And were you Slytherin too?"

"No…I was a Gryffindor. But don't worry, Sev, I'll be proud of you no matter which House you are Sorted into."

One of Severus's friends ran over to where the boy was standing. "Hi Sev, hi Mrs. Snape," the friend said. "Sev, we should get going, the train will be leaving soon."

"Right," Severus replied.

Hermione gave her son a hug. "I'll see you at the Sorting, Sev," she told him, and she watched him disappear with his friend on the Hogwarts Express.