Disclaimer:

This is a present for forthy, since it was her comment that inspired it. I have no claim or ownership of any of the characters herein, and I only hope that I have not bent them all fantastically out of character.

Part Three: In which our Hero is finally discovered and our Heroine …

Hermione had never been so nervous in her entire life. Not even the tedious wait for test results or wondering what her rankings were compared to her classmates could compare to this feeling of butterflies as she thought about what she hoped might happen tonight. When she had finally been released from the clinic she'd actually refrained from returning to class, unable to shake the nerves or the feeling that things were never going to be the same.

She was right but not in the way she had expected at all, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts had been killed on top of everything else. Tobias had come to her just when she had been afraid that he would not but he only stayed long enough to tell her that he loved her no matter what and that he prayed that somehow she could forgive him for what would happen next. The warmth of his kiss lingered longer than his actual presence had and it was the only comfort Hermione had for literally weeks.

The world did not often turn itself upside down after all, not even the world of magic. So many accusations and threats had been thrown around that she was surprised that the air was not blue with them. Grief had nearly overwhelmed the remaining staff at Hogwarts and with Harry's declaration it was Professor Snape who had been accused of the crime. Now Hermione did not doubt her friend at his word and he was clearly devastated by what he had seen, but to Hermione something did not ring right.

She had gotten a message from the Professor that he had wanted to speak with her about what had happened in his class that day. Would he have done such a thing were he plotting the demise of the revered Headmaster? All logic told her that he would never have bothered, not unless he had wanted to use her as an alibi but what good could that have done against the other methods that could procure the truth? True it was that the Professor was most skilled in shielding his thoughts from others, but even that vaunted ability could be overmastered if one knew how.

What was sure in it all was that Albus Dumbledore was dead and Severus Snape was gone after leading the Death Eaters out of the fray. Still Hermione's mind would not let it go and it had caused an argument with Harry to her regret. She'd asked him almost flatly after listening to his ranting against Snape for what seemed like hours that if he truly wanted to devastate the magical world why not kill Harry as well? From what had told her Snape had cuttingly averted all his wild attacks and strangely enough called off another Death Eater in the process with a reminder of Voldemort's will.

There was nothing Hermione disliked more than the taste of "why" in her mouth and it made her a bit reckless in her arguing and she regretted that last sentence for days. Yet the idea of it haunted her, that there was far more in the background than anyone had uncovered and perhaps the only one that could answer those questions would be the very subject Snape himself. It didn't help her mood any that Harry had refused to speak with her since then and there had been no sign of Tobias either.

"Please Hermione; remember that I love you no matter what happens."

It was the please that haunted her most even while she cherished that he had actually told her again that he loved her. Please, as if he were afraid that somehow she would forget that she had been the first to tell him that she loved him. All she had been able to answer his plea with was a yes and the sincerity of her kiss and now she wished that she could have said more but there simply had not been the time. Haunted by his plea and the cold feeling in the pit of her belly as she thought of a few things she took to her room and came out for meals and little else.

The feeling that she was on the verge of discovering the truth had a hold of her now and would not let go and for once she was grateful for the near single minded intensity that could take her when she was truly enthralled with something. She wrote down everything she could think of on papers that she spread out on her desk, her bed, the floor, no surface was sacred as she did so. The key to her dilemma was here and she would find it out the way Crookshanks might find out a hidden mouse even if it killed her.

Somehow she knew that Tobias was depending on her and she refused to fail him. Not that it was in her nature to fail, her intelligence being such that if she could get past her own flaws she was sure to succeed. But this she felt was the most important venture of her life, because everything that would come after hinged on how fast she could come up with her result. So over the next two weeks she winnowed down all she had written to what she considered the most important and finally she was looking down at the results of her intense study.

Of what was left two things stood out to her in bold relief compared to the rest. Tobias must be related to Professor Snape and Professor Snape's shadow moves on its own. One hand rested on each note and she suddenly felt her pulse begin to race as she thought of how Tobias had reacted when she told him that she didn't care that he was related to the dark minded Professor. Oh Merlin was it possible? How could it be possible? How could it be that her own Tobias who had never failed to comfort her and who understood what it meant to be an outcast among their peers was also Professor Snape? It had to be true because it was all that was left.

Somehow the Professor's shadow had gained a life and heart of its own. A heart that loved her so much that it caused him to risk his existence just to be with her and be what she needed him to be. It was a true risk because obviously had the Professor been aware of his shadow gaining its own life he would have put a stop to it. It all made sense now to Hermione. He is watching. I am not safe. This is a risk for both of us. Her hands were shaking as she raised them up and crumpled her notes into tight balls and threw them across her bedchamber and she screamed, more to release the tension that coiled in her belly than anything else.

Afterwards she fell back across her bed and simply breathed in and out while she contemplated the fact that despite the depth of her discovery that it had changed absolutely nothing. She still loved Tobias/Snape with all her heart and now she had to figure out a way to save them both. No one that could have as a part of them someone so caring and gentle could have murdered a person that trusted them like Dumbledore had Snape. So it simply meant that there was a story behind this that none of them yet saw and that was all there was to it.

She doubted sincerely that she could count on either Harry's help or Ron's, Harry still wasn't speaking to her after their row and Ron really hadn't spoken with her since that horrible scene in which he'd accused her over Viktor. She was alone in this and she desperately wished that she could ask someone for help, but there was really no one she trusted enough with the truth - no one save the person that she was trying to save that is. She would have given anything for the power to call him to her side and keep him there but she knew if that were possible he would never have left her alone.

There must be something that kept him tethered to the Professor that was tied to him originally being his shadow, and that was what she had to figure out first. Would it be possible for him to live on his own? Could he exist without having to leave to stand at Snape's side? For the sake of her love Hermione did something she rarely did and put aside her pride and apologized first to Harry and then to Ron who had gotten thick as thieves once more with The Boy That Lived in her absence. She then began to carefully assert her theory that there must be more to the story of how the Headmaster had died than it seemed on the surface.

Unfortunately for Hermione she had not been either careful or subtle enough and before she could add in her discoveries about the being that was tied to Professor Snape they had dissolved into arguing again. Neither boy would listen to her after that nor had Hermione ever felt so alone in her life. She even contemplated packing up her things and leaving Hogwarts to set out after Professor Snape on her own but the fear that Tobias might come seeking her and not be able to find her squashed that before she had begun. So she sought out tomes to help her in her research and hoped with all her heart she could find something that might end up helping him.

Her search proved fruitless and frustrating though she would occasionally catch a glimmer of an idea. Like a word on the tip of the tongue that would not make itself clear she felt that she was so very close but still missing the one thing that would illuminate her enough to succeed. Stuck in her research she missed much of what was going on in the outside world until it came to break in the door of Hogwarts so to speak. It appeared that Harry had been on a mission set for him by the deceased Headmaster to find and destroy the Horcruxes that Lord Voldemort had created in order to cheat death and that she had never even been given the chance to help him.

An indelicate snort escaped her lips because she knew without a doubt that with her aid he could have gotten them all much faster. Too late now as Voldemort's forces were besieging the school and it would soon be the moment that encompassed Harry's destiny. Either way she set aside her hurt feelings from their latest argument and when Harry needed her most Hermione was at his side. But it was all she could do to keep her screaming inside because she had had to stay hidden while Professor Snape had died at the hands of his seeming liege who killed him to become the true master of the wand he had stolen from Dumbledore's tomb.

She wanted to scream and sob but kept her jaw set despite how suspiciously teary her eyes were, and when Voldemort left to deliver his message of doom demanding that Harry be turned over to him she rushed with Harry and Ron to Snape's side. They managed to capture his last memories, the message that he wanted so desperately to give Harry. But his dark eyes had locked on to Hermione's as he breathed his last and she thought she heard him whisper to believe. Believe in what? Everything must be over now, how could a shadow live without the form that gave it shape?

Harry used a pensieve to view the Professor's memories and he had emerged pale and shaken to his core. He told her and Ron that Hermione had somehow been right, that Dumbledore had been the one to have Snape kill him. He stuttered a bit when he spoke of the sad childhood scenes that had been there as well, and how much Snape had really loved his mother Lily Evans. He hated Snape but he was a fair soul and he knew that he had been deeply wrong about him on this and now gave the man the respect he deserved. If he yet lived he might not have been man enough to do so, but with him dead Harry felt that he had not only earned it but deserved it.

Hermione let Ron and Harry leave ahead of her and promised to hurry on after back to the school for the final confrontation. But as soon as the boys had vacated the shack she fell to her knees by the corpse of the Professor and grabbed his cooling hand with a sharp cry of grief. She knew that somehow she had been close to finding out what was needed of her but it was too late. Her tears would not stop as she babbled out that she was sorry she had failed him and at first she did not feel the whisper touch of a hand on her cheek. When it became firmer, the touch of familiar fingers to brush away her tears, she cried out with the worst of her pain coloring her words.

"I didn't save you! How can you be alive without Severus?"

"Tell me now Hermione. Tell me what you would give to save me."

His voice was nearly a whisper, the same level it had been all those years ago when he had first come to her as the magic that made him began to fade. She turned and clutched him desperately and told him that if she had it to give she would give it. She would give everything she had for him including her own life if that was what was needed because she surely could not live without him as anything more than an empty shell of herself. Tears blinding her she dashed her wrist across her eyes to clear them and blinked as tear wet lashes framed what she saw.

Professor Snape's body was glowing but she found she could not release his hand even when Tobias screamed out and the support of his arms wavered. Light was always the anathema of shadows after all and Hermione heard a voice shouting stop over and over that she discovered belonged to her. It wasn't fair, didn't whoever that was doing this hear her? She would give anything to save her love and she had meant it utterly. She screwed her eyes closed because the light grew brighter and she was terrified that she would have to see Tobias vanish from her forever.

Finally the screaming from both of them just stopped and the only sound Hermione could hear was her own harsh breathing and the sound of her tears as they hit the floor. It was over now and she knew it. Her failure loomed large and she began to hope that she could be in the final battle against Voldemort so the chance she might be with Tobias soon would grow. She collapsed to her side and curled up with her knees tight to her chest, she knew she would have to get up soon and go on but right now she wanted to let the despair have her just to get it out of the way.

It wasn't right that he was gone. She kept her eyes closed even as her tears trickled to a stop and she kept them closed as she felt someone pull her into their lap. Harry, she thought, Harry or Ron came back and found me and how will I explain this? They would never understand and think she was simply a wreck because Snape had died and it wouldn't be pretty even if she did somehow make them understand. There was no way that they would understand why she had hidden Tobias from them at the very least. But this was Hermione Granger and she was no coward, and finally she opened her eyes and turned to look up at the face of the one that had brought her up off the cold floor.

She had seen the features thousands of times but she had never seen them so young or with such a soft concerned expression. It made those snapping dark eyes seem warmer and the gentleness made him handsome where the sharp sarcasm had always made him seem sallow. His dark hair was soft under her fingertips and his skin felt like it always had when she could only see him in shadow. It simply was not possible that he was here in flesh but she had to believe the proof of her eyes. This was a world of magic after all and she swore that someday she would figure out how it happened. But for now a cry of joy came from her and she threw her arms around his neck and held him tight.

That he was naked did not surprise her nearly as much as his actually being there and she found it did not bother her. She liked being able to see his body after all these years, but now was not the time to dwell on that aspect. When he stood with her she kissed him and caught him up on what was going on over at Hogwarts. They found him some clothing before he bent down and gazed at the still form of Professor Snape, his hand taking up the wand and slipping it into his pocket. That answered one of Hermione's questions and it was no surprise that the wand appeared to accept him immediately.

His steps as they left were hesitant at first as if perhaps he was still uncertain if he could leave the place freely, but soon he gained confidence and took Hermione's hand as they went to join the fight as best they could. They fought together and defended each other in the battles with the Death Eaters and stood side by side when Voldemort forced Hagrid to bring Harry's "corpse" down to dishearten them all. But The Boy Who Lived had not had his final curtain call after all and in the end it was Voldemort who died. She watched with shining eyes as Harry told the truth of what had happened with Professor Snape, exonerating him of Dumbledore's death and she applauded his bravery in the confession as Tobias slipped his arm around her.

When Ron had come up to them and sputtered about it, wanting to know just who this boy with her was and what he thought he was doing holding her she had to rein in her laughter as he'd straightened to his full and rather imposing height and looked down his nose as he'd proudly proclaimed his name.

"I am Tobias Severus Snape and I'll hold the woman I love all I want Ronald Weasley."

Questions there would be aplenty later and it was sure that the uproar created by the pronouncement of his name would continue for days if not weeks. But right now that didn't matter to Hermione and she gave a happy laugh as she turned in his arms to hold him tight. She would unravel the mystery that had given her the greatest gift of her life one day perhaps, but that would be later for sure. She was Hermione and she would find out how love, shadow, and soul had come to possess flesh of its own but for now things were good enough as they were.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did writing it!