A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 1 ~ Severus Requests Some Aid

"How dare you just barge into my home like this? Get out or I will summon the Aurors," Hermione seethed at the tall, pale wizard, who looked down at her calmly and twirled her wand between the fingers of his pale hand expertly.

"Without your wand, you'll be summoning no one," he said, his dark eyes resting on her. "And I'm sure, judging by the warm reception I've received, no one will just be 'dropping in' to see you. By locking yourself in, Hermione…you've effectively locked everyone else out."

Hermione fumed up at him and made a grab for her wand. Severus hoisted it high out of reach. The cats Ying and Yang sat watching their interaction, their tails lashing. They had never seen their mistress yell at anyone other than them, and they were enjoying it.

"Give me my wand!" Hermione yelled at Severus, her face reddening.

"I bet your face hasn't seen that much color in years," the Potions Master smirked. "Now, stop acting like you can do anything about me being here and show me where we can talk."

Hermione glared at the wizard.

"You are just as insufferable as you ever were," she fumed at the wizard.

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe even more so now," he replied, gesturing her to precede him up the empty corridor.

Hermione stomped ahead. Severus would have bet even galleons this was the most animated the witch had been in a very long time as he strode after her. Ying and Yang followed, batting at the hem of the Potions Master's robes.

Severus eyed the graying walls and high ceilings. Hermione's steps echoed throughout the manor. The wizard's didn't…he walked as silently as ever.

"This place is like a mausoleum," he commented in a low voice, the barren surfaces still picking up his echo.

Hermione didn't say anything as she turned into the huge living room. There were only two armchairs, a sofa and one end table, all bunched near the unlit fireplace. The furniture had a matching raised flower pattern, but was faded and almost threadbare.

Hermione dropped into one of the armchairs.

"Make this quick, Severus. I have things to do," she spat at him, frowning.

Severus put her wand securely in his robes pocket then sat down in the chair. He could feel springs digging into his buttocks and shifted until he found a bearable position.

"Things to do? Like what? Watching the cobwebs grow?" he asked her looking at the long dust covered strands that hung from the ceiling and all about the corners of the living room, looking like thin, fuzzy curtains

"Never mind what. You are infringing on my private time," she hissed at the wizard. "My time is precious to me."

"Nothing is precious to you, Hermione Granger…not anymore," Severus replied, "When I heard you had locked yourself away and ceased pursuing your research, I fervently hoped it wasn't so…though I knew in my heart that it was," he said to the witch.

"I don't give a damn what you knew in your heart," Hermione said coldly. "It's my life. If I choose to live it quietly, that's my business."

"I know you don't care about my heart, Hermione. That's why it was so easy for you to break it. So easy to turn and walk away from me after killing Harry. I could have helped you," he said quietly.

"I had nothing left for you, Severus…for you or anyone. All I want is peace and solitude," the witch said, her hands resting on the sides of the armchair, her brow furrowed.

Suddenly Severus' hand shot out and grasped her wrist, yanking it toward him and turning it over so the thin scar of the razor was visible.

"This is not a scar made by a woman who wants true peace. This is the mark of someone who wants out of life," he said darkly, his nostrils flaring.

Hermione jerked her hand away and covered the scar from her attempted suicide up with her other hand.

"I was distraught then. I'm better now," she said in a low voice.

Severus' eyes washed over the graying walls of the living room.

"You call this better? I have never seen more lifeless, colorless surroundings. It's like a tomb, Hermione…it's like the place is decaying right around you and you are trying to melt away with it," he said. "Why are you even in this huge house?"

"I was trying to spend up Harry's money," she replied.

"Do you have any servants? House elves?" the Potions Master asked her.

Hermione looked at him as if he were stark, raving nutters. She would never own a house elf.

"I don't need them. I can take care of myself," she said.

Severus' eyes rested on her. In addition to being an unhealthy pale color, she was rather gaunt. Hermione had always been a petite witch, but her cheekbones were sunken in and there were small hollows under her eyes. He imagined if she removed her clothing, he could count her ribs.

"You are doing a fine job of that," he said sarcastically. "Your hair looks so brittle I could probably snap it off at the roots."

"Like you can talk about hair," she retorted, eyeing his lank black locks.

"At least it is healthy," he retorted, pushing it back a bit and glaring at the witch.

Hermione couldn't help noticing Severus looked leaner, harder for some reason, though she couldn't put her finger on it. He was wearing his traditional black robes. Maybe it was the way they hung on him when he was standing in the doorway that gave her that impression.

"So did you just come here to comment on how bad I look and the condition of my home? Because if you have, you have down an adequate job of it and can go now," she said sharply.

Severus ignored her comment and instead looked at the fireplace. Cobwebs hung from the blackened walls. It looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"Don't you even light fires in this crypt?" he asked her, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the grate.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Severus! No!" she cried.

Ying and Yang, who had been lying on the hearth before the fireplace, saw the wizard raise his wand, yowled and sprinted for the corridor, running side by side.

"Incendio!" Severus said, flames shooting into the fireplace, then up the cobwebs and into the chimney itself with a great "Whoosh!"

Clouds of thick black smoke rolled back down into the living room, covering and choking both of them. Coughing and gagging they both ran out of the room.

"Severus Snape, you are a fucking idiot!" Hermione coughed, waving at the wisps of smoke that trailed after her, caught in her wake. "That fireplace hasn't been serviced in years. Now look at my living room!"

Severus wiped at his face, his hand coming away covered with soot. He looked like a runaway from a minstrel show. He coughed, then cleared his throat.

"Is it my fault you don't maintain this sparsely furnished catacomb like you should?" he said to her, pulling out his wand and scourgifying himself.

"It is your fault my living room furniture is covered in soot," she replied.

"It's an improvement, believe me," Severus said.

He ducked just in time as Hermione took a furious swing at him. She always had a terrible temper, as Draco Malfoy found out the hard way in their third year at Hogwarts when she punched him in the nose because of his role in getting Buckbeak the hippogriff sentenced to death. Well, Hermione wasn't beyond taking a swing at the Potions Master.

Severus had loved that about her, and a good tangle with the witch was always a welcome form of foreplay back when they were together…and in love, though Severus never said the words. Hermione never had a problem verbally declaring her feelings. Severus went for a more physical expression of his feelings for the witch. They had been happy together, though clandestine. They had to keep their relationship secret because of the Dark Lord. After his and Harry's death, Hermione simply told him she no longer wanted to continue…that she had lost all desire for him.

Severus tried to convince her to stay with him, but the witch withdrew upon herself and closed him out. Finally, one day he ceased to come back. He left England to find adventure and to get Hermione out of his mind and heart. He began to look for fabled elixirs and potions, his travels taking him to the most remote parts of the world where he faced death by natives, wild beasts, monsters and other wizards time and time again in his searches. Many times he came up empty. But his last expedition struck gold.

After hearing rumors and reading tales of a miraculous potion during his travels in the Middle East, Severus had finally traced the location of this elixir to Lower Egypt. This was not Egypt proper but a little-known designation of South America. The ancients who wrote of the elixir and wished to hide where it could be found referred to North and South America in the tomes as Upper and Lower Egypt. It was the drawings of the pyramids on these ancient writings that tipped Severus off. They were not quite like those found in the Middle East, but more like those built by the Incas and Mayans.

Toward the end of his quest, the Potions Master spent his last two years abroad in Columbia, South America in the Sierra Nevada mountains among the Kogi tribe…or on the outskirts rather. The Kogi are a very old people who call themselves the Elder Brothers of the human race and everyone else the Younger Brothers. They consider themselves the custodians of the "Heart of the World" a pyramid-shaped mountain range that has every eco-system represented in its 17,000 km area. Coral reefs, mangroves, arid deserts, rain and cloud forest could be found there, and in the higher elevations, plains and snow-capped peaks. It is said the condition of the world can be divined by what was happening on each level of eco-system. Currently, the snow peaks were melting at an alarming rate, representing the global greenhouse effect. Severus found it fascinating.

The Kogi were a very close-knit, peaceful people who didn't trust outsiders. It took Severus almost two years to be able to walk among them, but only thirty minutes to steal a sample of their most sacred and treasured potion, snatching it from right under the noses of their gods and the spirits of the dead.

For a peaceful people, Kogi certainly did their best to kill Severus as he fled through the rain forest with his prize. He was disillusioned but they could still track him. The livid tribesmen threw spears, fired arrows and blew darts after him, all dipped in a powerful poison. For some reason, he couldn't apparate. He believed that the chanting shamans' tribal magic had him bound to the land until he reached civilization beyond their influence. The wizard was very lucky to have gotten away. Most likely his pale shrunken head would be hanging in some hut today if he hadn't.

It was this elixir that had really brought him to Hermione. He needed to have it broken down into its chemical components so it could be reproduced. He had brought a sample to an American university and was almost arrested when it was found to contain coca, which was an illegal substance. But he disapparated right in front of the startled arresting officers, thus avoiding a lengthy stay at the local accommodations.

Hermione was the only Potions Mistress he knew that could work with chemicals in the magical world. She had a special spell that she refused to share with anyone that made using chemicals and muggle technology possible. She wouldn't even share it with the Potions Master though he did his best to fuck the spell out of her. Even conniptions wouldn't force her to spill…the spell anyway.

Severus knew for a fact once Hermione learned what this potion would do, she would agree to help him discover the components and recreate it. A part of Severus' conscience tried to rise to the fore concerning this sacred elixir. It was kept hidden for a very good reason. Anyone who had this elixir in essence had the power of the gods, power over death itself. In the wrong hands the very balance of life on the planet could be changed. But damn, to have such power. What wrongs could be righted. What grievous errors of fated, corrected.

He looked at Hermione.

"Believe it or not, there is a very good reason I'm here, Hermione. It is not to simply aggravate you," he said evenly.

Hermione eyed him.

"It better not be for anything else either, Severus," she growled. "I'm not interested."

The wizard blinked his eyes at her in disbelief. She couldn't possibly think he had seduction on his mind. Hermione was about as sexually attractive as a smashed toad in her condition.

"I assure you, Hermione…I have no…absolutely no ulterior motives. You are as safe in my presence as if you were bolted into a chastity belt. I have no designs to fuck you for old times sake. You've made it clear you no longer desire me…and let's face it witch. You are hardly alluring in your condition," he said to her soberly. "You look dry as toast."

Sticking his cock into the witch in this state would probably be the equivalent of shoving it into a tube lined with sandpaper. The wizard shuddered a little.

Hermione felt a little pulse of hurt at his statement. Just a small pulse. She didn't want anything to do with Severus, but there was a time when the wizard just couldn't seem to stay off her. For him to say she was no longer attractive to him and seemed dry as toast…well…stung.

"As long as we understand each other," she said, walking toward her study. She was coated in soot too, but didn't care. Her appearance no longer mattered.

Severus' black eyes rested on her as she walked in front of him. Her robes were shapeless. She had lost a lot of body mass. She used to have curves that made him wild for her. Thick thighs, wide hips with a small waist and full breasts. All that was gone now. He shook his head and followed her into the study.

Ying and Yang reappeared and trotted up the hall after them, turning into the study behind them.

Again, the huge book-lined study had two armchairs, one sofa and a desk and chair. That was it. And the furniture was just as shoddy as that in the living room. Even the armchair seemed to have the same springs out of place as Severus sat down and adjusted himself.

"Why don't you transfigure this shoddy furniture?" he asked her.

"Why? To make others more comfortable? I don't want people getting comfortable. I want them to leave. Surely you know how that works," she said, her eyes glittering at him.

Yes, Severus did. He used to keep a rickety uncomfortable wooden chair in his Potions office at Hogwarts to make students and visitors leave quicker. Hermione used to always sit on her backpack when she stopped in to talk, but to the Potions Master's frustration.

"Point taken," he said amicably.

His black eyes roamed over the study. There were no extras, no knickknacks, no….

His eyes stopped moving as they fell on what looked like an urn resting on the mantle above the unlit fireplace.

"What is that?" he asked her, pointing at the urn.

Hermione hesitated a moment then said, "It's Harry. His ashes."

Severus swung his eyes on the witch.

"You live in this…this tomb of a house with the ashes of your dead best friend?" he said to her, his voice almost a whisper. "Hermione, that is too macabre even for me."

"The Dursleys would have dumped them in the trash, and it seemed wrong to have them on display at the Ministry museum as a mere curiosity. So I took them," she said softly, her eyes starting to glisten as she looked at the small black urn.

"You should have scattered them someplace," Severus said, looking at her.

"No. It's Harry. I've already killed him. I'm not going to scatter him about too," she replied, her eyes going hard.

Severus shook his head. The witch was insane. Hopefully however, she was still brilliant.

Hermione frowned at him and sat back in the armchair, folding her thin arms across her chest.

"All right. You said you have a reason for being here. Talk. The quicker you talk the quicker you can get out of here," she said snarkily.

The Potions Master looked at her.

"I have an elixir that I need you to break down into its chemical and magical components so I can reproduce it. I acquired it at great personal peril. You will find its properties quite interesting," he said. "I only have four small vials of it. One to do a demonstration with and three others for experimentation. The amounts are much too small to be effectively on a human at this time. It is my hope to brew enough of it to try on a human subject. You are the only Potions Mistress who has the ability to work with chemical components in the magical world, Hermione. I need you to do this."

Hermione shook her head.

"No. Absolutely not. I'm done with all that Severus. Nothing you can say or do would ever make me go back on my word and start working again. Let the wizarding world come up with its own discoveries. I'm done with it. Done with everything," she declared.

Severus leaned forward. Now was the time to drive the spear home.

"What if I told you," the Potions Master said in a low voice, "That this elixir can make everything right with you? Remove your guilt and pain? Restore your happiness?"

"I'd tell you that you were a liar. I'm no longer a first year, Severus. Your little spiel about the greatness of potions doesn't work on me. No elixir can take away my pain," she said.

How cruel of the wizard to even suggest such a thing. She had killed Harry. Nothing, but nothing could ever change that.

Suddenly Severus drew his wand. Ying and Yang were both lying on the hearth, purring. He pointed his wand at Yang.

Hermione looked at him, startled.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

Severus frowned slightly at the cat.

"Avada Kedavra!" he cried, covering Yang in the horrible green light.

"NOOOOO!" Hermione screamed, leaping up and attacking the wizard as Yang lay on the hearth dead.

Severus raised his hands to protect his face from her onslaught.

"You killed my cat! You killed Yang!" she screamed beating at him ineffectually as he rose out of the armchair.

"Wait! Wait Hermione!" he shouted at her, but the witch continued to swing wildly.

Finally the wizard grabbed her in a bear hug, turning her so her back was against him, and they were facing the dead familiar. Ying sniffed her fallen companion and yowled sadly, tapping at him with her paw, then looking up at Hermione. Tears rolled down the witch's cheeks.

"You killed him. I hate you," she whispered, "Haven't I seen enough death? Enough of the things I love dying? Gods, Severus…why?"

"I needed to show you, Hermione. Show you what this elixir does," he said, pointing his wand at Yang's body and reducing it to ash, causing Hermione to wail in anguish.

"You beast!" she cried, struggling.

"Shhhh," he said softly, reaching into his pocket and taking out a clear vial full of shining golden liquid. He shuffled toward the hearth with Hermione.

"Yang was just the right size for this amount of elixir to work fully," he said.

Hermione stilled and Severus released her. The witch watched as he uncapped the bottle and poured the contents of it on top of the ash.

"I saw the shamans of the Kogi people use this in a very secret ritual. I disillusioned myself and hid behind an outcrop of rocks to observe them. They used about a liter of it to…"

Severus stopped speaking as the ash began to shift and undulate, taking on a golden glow before forming a spinning funnel. Ying jetted from the study, hissing.

Hermione looked at the small tornado-like funnel.

"What's happening?" she asked in a low voice.

"A miracle, Hermione. A true miracle," Severus replied, his black eyes focused on the spiraling ash.

Suddenly the funnel pulled in upon itself and a roaring wind filled the study, lifting and whipping Severus' and Hermione's hair and robes around their faces and bodies as the sound grew louder. The witch's eyes went wide as the funnel turned in upon itself and began to elongate length-wise about eight inches off the ground. Four tendrils extended down to the hearth and a long stretch of golden ash thrust out behind and a globe of ash in front. A cat-like body began to form then darken, limbs taking shape, fur sprouting and patterns appearing, the head seeming to be sculpted by unseen hands. A perfect replica of Yang appeared, stiff and unmoving like a statue.

Suddenly the wind stopped. The cat turned its head, looked at his Mistress with frightened blue eyes, then let out a long yowl and bolted from the room at top speed.

Hermione turned and watched her familiar run from the study, then turned and stared at Severus wordlessly. The wizard watched with hooded eyes as Hermione's irises took on a bit of brightness and slid toward the black urn resting on the mantelpiece.

Harry's ashes.

The witch stared at the urn for several moments, her breathing increasing with every passing second. Then Hermione turned back to Severus, her bright eyes filling with tears.

"I'll do it, Severus," she whispered up at him, her throat tight with emotion. "I'll do it."

"I thought you would witch," he replied, nodding.

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A/N: Whoo. All right. We've got the premise here. Now, in the realm of AU fantasy…does this work? The possibility of bringing Harry Potter and maybe others back to the realm of the living as a catalyst to bringing Hermione back around? Is it believable? Let me know what you think. Please review.