Hermione turned over, just aware that she was being woken up by light in her face, and not appreciating it. She ached all over though, so twisting a little in bed made her gasp out loud slightly in pain.

"Hermione?"

She couldn't ignore that voice, his voice. She opened her eyes, scraping the dried sleep from the corners so she could see. She was back in the infirmary, but the mass of bloodied patients was gone, and it was clean and light again. She was lying in one of the beds, in a set of hospital pyjamas. Severus was sat at her side, smiling.

"Wondered when you'd wake up, if ever." He said.

Hermione yawned. "You know me, I'll sleep in if given half a chance, and I was a little fatigued last thing I remember. What day is it."

"It's been just over 48 hours since Tom died." Said Severus. "You're the last of us to wake up, had me worried."

"What do you mean, the last of us? What happened? I remember my tattoo burning like ice."

"These tattoo, as it turns out, are not just beacons to help us congregate. They are also entrance portals for the dark forces that Tom was drawing on in our fight. With his death, those forces were released from his body."

"The swirling smoke?"

"Exactly. Those forces ripped through all of us inner circle shadows, looking for a suitable candidate to be our next leader. It over whelmed us all, too much for our senses to process, overloading them. That's why we all blacked out. Fred and George organised our recovery from the battlefield, and we've been waking up since then, one by one."

"So who is our next leader then?" Asked Hermione, hoping that although she was the last to wake up, it wasn't her.

"You'll never guess." he said with a teasing smile.

"Severus." She warned.

"It's Rosier, Evan Rosier."

Her eye grew wide. "You're kidding." But she couldn't help a wide smile herself. "Evans the next leader of the Shadows?"

"Different types of leader are needed for different times. Tom was perfect for our period of warfare and secretive plots and plans. Now we're coming out into the open, to an extent anyway, Evans charismatic ways are more useful."

Hermione rested back onto her pillows to think it over.

"What happened to the order in the end?"

"Well, they're either dead, adjusting to life as squibs or gone insane." He said. "It's surprising what the loss of magic will do to a person."

Hermione smiled grimly. "No less that they deserve. How's Dumbledore?"

"Well the last communiqué on him states that he is quite happy."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Oh yes, today he made a little dog out of his plasticine, I understand from Healer Parkinson that he's very proud of it."

Hermione grinned. "Insane then? What a shame. So who's the new head of Hogwarts?"

Severus smirked. "Me."

Hermione sat up and hugged him. "Brilliant! That's better than we could have hoped for!"

There was a disgusted cough from across the room, and Hermione relaxed her hold of Severus to peer round him to see who it was. In another bed down by the doors, next to Ginny's statue, was Harry Potter.

"What's he in for?" She asked innocently.

"Well it seems young Mr Potter lost the ability to use magic almost straight after his defeat of Voldemort." Said Severus in an overly sad voice. "No one knows what caused it, no Sine Nomine was administered by Voldemort as far as we can tell. It's an utter mystery. So you can tell me how you did it later."

Harry snarled and stalked out of the infirmary, still in his pyjamas.

They sat together for a little while longer, Severus telling her how many people had died, and who. Eventually they sat in silence, just enjoying the silence, the sunlight and the birdsong.

"Hermione." Said Severus, breaking the silence. "This may not be the best moment," He pulled a small black box out of his robes. "But will you marry me?"

He opened the box, to reveal a small silver ring, set with a piece of dark polished wood in the centre, with two emeralds on either side. "It's a wizarding world style engagement ring." He said quickly and nervously. "The wood in he middle is the same as my wand, and the stones are the colour of my house. When you're better you'll get one for me with your wand wood and stones. I can get your a gold band and a diamond like a muggle ring if you like, I..."

Hermione placed her finger over his lips to stop him talking, and took the box off him. She put the ring on her engagement finger where it changed to fit her exactly. "It love it Severus, as much as I love you. Of course I'll marry you."

And she kissed him, proof of her final allegiance shining on her hand.

THE END