Time as a Healer

A/N: Major Kleenex Alert...you may want a glass of wine handy too....



******



Harry waited. He knew he wouldn’t be long. As the green flames flashed in the floo he smirked a little. Hermione was still a clever witch.



Severus stepped from the floo and looked at Harry closely. He could have sworn a smile had crossed his face but it wasn’t there now.



‘How is Miss Granger, Potter? He asked him quickly.



Harry looked Severus up and down.



‘You look rough.’ He murmured and kicked out a chair, motioning for Severus to sit down.



‘It is my birthday. I was…celebrating…’ Severus stated as he sat reluctantly on the chair. His head was starting to pound.



‘It’s your birthday? Today?’ Harry couldn’t conceal a grin.



Severus scowled at him. ‘What matter is it? And you have not yet answered my question about Herm … Miss Granger…’



‘Just call her Hermione, Severus. You usually do...’ Harry’s eyes narrowed, ‘and she’s fine. She had a son, this morning. He’s very handsome, surprisingly…’



‘She is not ill? Then why the note? You have brought me here …under false pretences…’ Severus stood to leave, a pulse throbbing in his neck.



Harry sighed deeply. ‘Severus, I know about you and Hermione. Sit down, she wanted me to talk to you….’



‘She mentioned me?’ Severus’s shoulders dropped and he slumped back in the chair.



‘She talks about nothing but you… it has always been the same…’ Harry murmured, more to himself than to Severus. ‘Wait here.. There is something I have to give you…’



Severus waited, staring at the bare kitchen table and remembering an evening not so long ago when he had made bacon sandwiches for a certain witch. A small smile played about his lips. He could have used his wand, but he had enjoyed knowing she was watching him.



Harry came into the room carry a Pensieve. Severus looked at him, puzzled.



‘I have no desire to see inside your head, Potter…’ Severus murmured smoothly.



Harry smirked at him. ‘I can’t blame you. You were there for most of it, anyway…’



He paused and pulled out 6 phials from his pocket, before sitting down again.



‘Before we start, Severus, I want you to know… we only did what we did to protect you, to keep you safe… and Hermione, well. Her message to you is that her feelings haven’t changed.’



‘You know, Potter, you can be as obtuse as Albus… what are you talking about?’ Severus had his head in his hands as his hangover began to creep.



Harry sighed. ‘What Viktor Krum told you was the truth, Severus. We modified your memories. We had to. You agreed to it at the time, but obviously you don’t remember that now. The ones we took away are here… and this last phial, well… these are Hermione’s memories, the ones she wanted you to see.’



Severus looked at him in shock. ‘Give them to me…’ he hissed.



Harry handed over the Pensieve and Severus tipped the first phial into it. He hesitated slightly and looked at Harry.



‘I’ll stay with you…it will be fine, Severus. You need to see this…’



Severus nodded and took a deep breath, his face breaking the surface then falling fast into his own memories.



He was looking at himself in a bed. Hermione was tending his wound on his neck and Harry was talking to them both. He heard himself agreeing to be Oblivated and Hermione promising to stay with him, to keep him safe.



The memory shifted and he was in a classroom in front of a group of children he didn’t recognise. He was wearing a shirt and tie. It looked odd. His hair was different, brushed back from his face. He was Smiling! And even laughing….



He was in a house, eating a dinner. Hermione was there and they were talking about something, they laughed together. He saw himself smiling at her a lot, his eyes following her around the kitchen as she washed the dishes. He saw himself stand and wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss… Severus smirked. That was pretty smooth. Hermione dropped the cup and it smashed on the floor and then they were in the bedroom, in the bed and …Severus blushed slightly. He had never seen himself in such a compromising position. He moved in closer and smirked again. At least Hermione was enjoying it.



He came out of the Pensieve, a small smile playing around his lips.



Are you OK?’ Harry asked him softly.



‘So far… the rest, if you don’t mind…’ He waved over the other phials and Harry complied, a soft look on his face. Severus didn’t seem unduly perturbed by what he had seen, that was a good sign.



Severus tipped the remaining 4 phials into the bowl and dived straight in. Hundreds of memories flashed before his eyes. A domestic, Hermione slamming the door in his face. Him, hammering on the door with his fist and telling her he loved her and he was sorry… they were in a restaurant, holding hands and drinking wine. He bent in and kissed her and she had smiled and told him she loved him. And there was the sex… it seemed to him they did it every day and sometimes more than once. He smirked at the thought. He proposed to her over and over again and then one day, she said yes. Severus felt his heart almost burst as he watched himself…. She had made him the happiest man in the world. They were in a restaurant; Harry and Ginny were there… he announced their engagement… then the weekend; they had so much sex…he drank red wine and made bacon sandwiches. He grinned at this. Then Monday morning, he was leaving for work…. then nothing.



He pulled his head from the Pensieve and stared at Harry for a long time.



‘This is not real… I am not that man.’ He murmured sadly.



‘No. You’re not. But she was in love with Severus before she even met Sam. Look….’ He handed Severus the phial of Hermione’s memories.



Severus carefully tipped Hermione’s memories into the pensieve then paused.



‘Is she sure she wants me to see these?’ He asked Harry softly.



Harry nodded. ‘You need to see them, Severus, you need to understand….’



Severus nodded and dipped his head again.



Hermione was sitting at his bedside. He was delirious. She was weeping and begging him to fight the venom… she couldn’t live without him. She was talking to Harry. She told him she loved him.. Had done since the last year of school…. Severus shook his head. He’d had no idea. She watched as Harry Oblivated him and helped to create new memories. She came up with his new name – Sam. They were kissing, she murmured she loved him and he told her he loved her too… They were making love, she was screaming his name. He fell asleep and she called him Severus, not Sam. She was in Hogsmede with Harry, she was crying, begging for him not to be taken from her too soon. She was saying yes to his proposal, and then begging him to make love to her… then they were outside the restaurant and she told Harry…she told him….



Severus pulled his head from the bowl and stood up with a gasp. He stared at Harry in utter shock.



‘Where are they? Hermione…and my son?’





****



Harry stepped out of the room slowly and over to where Severus was pacing up and down.



‘You can go in now, but quietly. Your son is sleeping…’



He smiled and patted Severus on his shoulder warmly. He knew everything would be fine now.



Severus pushed the door open slowly and looked inside. Hermione was propped up on the pillows, her soft chestnut hair in waves around her shoulders. In her arms was a sleeping baby boy, his tufts of black hair just visible.



Hermione looked up and smiled at him warmly. ‘You can come in, Severus…’ She whispered softly. She patted the side of the bed for him to sit.



He walked over slowly. She looked so beautiful he couldn’t take his eyes of her and a lump was stuck in his throat. He couldn’t speak but that was OK, he didn’t know what to say to her anyway. She had shown him total devotion. How could he repay that?



He sat down gently and she took his hand in hers.



‘Here… meet your son… I hope you don’t mind, I called him Sam’ She smiled as she passed him the delicate bundle. He took him awkwardly, cradling him in the crook of him arm softly and stroking his cheek with the tip of a long, pale finger.



Severus looked up at Hermione and smiled at her as tears ran quietly down his cheeks.



‘Happy Birthday, Severus…’ she whispered.





***



oh...*sniff*...*sob*...I can\'t speak....