Hermione Granger was lying in a charmed tent, staring at the ceiling. She and her best friend Harry Potter where on the run from Death Eaters, desperately trying to finish their mission of hunting Horcruxes, and to finally defeat the dark wizard, Voldemort.

Harry found her in his godfather's house, as she hoped he would. She had been heartbroken when she was told that her other best friend, Ron, had been taken, and they could not wait for him. She prayed that she would see him again, as she did care about him greatly.

She would focus on their mission to protect Harry, but at night when they were not talking about what to do next, she was haunted by her pining for, of all people, Severus Snape. Their encounter happened months before, when she was waiting for Harry to find her at Black Manor.

It was now two months since her encounter with Professor Snape, and she was still haunted by him. That was something she never expected to happen as she was in love with someone else, haunting her for years with thoughts of what might have been. Ironically it was in his room where she slept with his worst enemy, releasing her grief and leaving a dull ache instead.

What he told her with his lost and haunted look, and most of all by the way he entered her making her feel loved and whole haunted her.

The information he told her shocked her but nothing shocked her more than he did all of this, sacrificed so much to protect Harry out of love and devotion to his late mother Lily.

She really hated knowing what he told her. She wanted to clear him from the charge of murder, but if she did, she risked exposing him as a Phoenix Agent. She wished she didn't have to be haunted by the guilt of knowing and not saying anything.

It really hurt her to know that he probably did not think about her the way she did. She was a probably just a substitute for Lily Potter and nothing more. She sighed and closed her eyes.

There was no use in worrying about what had already happened. It was done, and it was time to accept that. She just hoped it would not come back to bite her.

Meanwhile

Severus Snape was returning to his quarters in Hogwarts after a long day work. It still amazed him that he was appointed the job of the man that he killed. He missed the old Headmaster dearly, the only real friend since Lily he ever had. He knew what he did had to be done, but it turned his stomach to do so. He knew that he was hated, something that he was used to and expected. What he did not expect was the compassion and comfort of Hermione Granger. He fully intended for her to run for help, to have him arrested for the death of Dumbledore, someone she loved like a grandfather. Strangely, she did not. Instead she stayed and listened to him and offered him comfort of caring rather than out of pity. If someone told him that he would sleep with Hermione Granger and enjoy it a year ago, he defiantly would have hexed them. She was a know it all, an insufferable thorn in his side. But somehow she changed and grew into a lovely woman who could sympathize with his pain. He fully expected to be haunted by Lily for the rest of his days and nights. He did not expect to be haunted by Hermione and the of the night he spent with her, the way she shuddered and screamed his name, the sweet smell of her hair, the smoothness of her skin, her warmth that fit him like a glove. He cursed his break in armor, he showed his hand, something that a spy never does. Anything could happen if the wrong people got a hold of that information, that and the personal shame of letting his "mask" slip. He goes to his room where the torn picture lay on his dresser. His love and his friend Lily, she was all that he thought about, but now he was also haunted by bushy hair and chocolate eyes. He cursed her for bewitching him, he was just a substitute for that mutt Sirius, and he meant nothing to her. Now he was left haunted by her, knowing that he could not have her.

Watching him silently and unknown to him, was a figure that resembled the woman in the picture. She was wearing a green blouse and brown pants, with brown penny loafers. She sighed and left the room and walked into another place that is in between. A man with shoulder Length Black hair and tattoos was waiting for her. He was wearing black leather pants, striped waistcoat that was open three buttons.

"I never thought of you as a voyeur Lily" he teased as she approached him. The woman once known as Lily Evans Potter smiled at him. "Padfoot what are you doing here?" The man once known as Sirius "Padfoot" Black gave her a grin. "Looking out for my best friends girl of course!" Lily shook her head at that and gave a small laugh Sirius never really grew up. Her face darkened a little at the thought of her son, outnumbered with danger all around him. Sirius could sense her mood darkening, came forward and gripped her shoulder. As if he could read her mind he said "Harry is as tough and intelligent as his father, he will be fine. It was plain when you briefly saw him when he was attacked in the graveyard all those years ago."

She just nodded, but she could not help but worry for him, she was his mother.

"You where a good mother Lily, you still are. You risk your wings ever time you take glimpses of him, knowing that it could cost you everything."

"You where a good Godfather also Sirius. You risked so much for Harry, much more than anyone could have expected and still are by the way you peek in at him with me."

"Prongs would have my skin if I do not look out for you when he is gone on assignment. Speaking of James, he will be back soon, we should get going," He replied.

He held out a tattooed hand and she took it walking hand and hand with him to her husband.