A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
*******************************

Chapter 22 ~ The Time Approaches

Severus awoke a bit late the next morning with a huge "morning after" erection. Maybe he should have talked the witch into staying the night. He could have relieved his hard-on in a very pleasant way if he had. Ah, well…hindsight is always 20/20. The wizard walked into the bathroom, relieved himself and showered the scent of Hermione from his body. As he bathed, his stomach growled horrendously. The wizard hoped Eli made a huge breakfast.

Severus brushed his teeth, dressed quickly and headed downstairs for the kitchen. When he entered he saw the table set for one and Eli was busily scraping salmon and eggs into the waiting bowls of Ying and Yang, who were sitting patiently, their twitching tails the only sign of their eagerness to eat. They both yowled a greeting at the wizard.

"Good morning, kitties," Severus said, sitting down at the table. "Good morning, Eli."

The elf smiled at him broadly.

"Good morning, sir. I makes you a big breakfast. Figures you is very hungry this morning," the elf said, a sly grin on his face.

Severus looked at the elf as he walked over to the stove and returned to the table with a large platter of sausages, buttered toast with jam and hard scrambled eggs. Eli set the platter before Severus, who began piling up his plate.

"And why do you figure I'd be so hungry, Eli?" the wizard inquired as the elf poured him a large cup of steaming black coffee.

"Very big in-outie last night, sir. All the elves heard sir. You worked very hard," the elf replied. "The Mistress was very hungry too sir. And walked slow."

Severus quirked his lip at this. So Hermione had been up early. He wondered did she sleep at all last night after she left him. More than likely she was feeling a bit ashamed at giving herself to him, though she shouldn't. She was an adult witch with needs after all.

"And where is the mistress now?" he asked the house elf.

"She is brewing, sir. Down in the lab," Eli replied.

Severus looked up at this. Brewing? What was she brewing? He had to investigate this…had she made a breakthrough in the elixir and started trying to reproduce it without him? The wizard scowled and hurried through his breakfast.

When he finished, he thanked Eli, exited the kitchen and hurried down to the lab. The door was unlocked and he walked in, his eyes narrowed.

Hermione was seated on a stool in front of a small bowl of cooling liquid. She was staring at it as if willing it to cool faster. She looked up when Severus walked in and blushed furiously, quickly looking back at the potion.

"Good morning," Severus said, walking up and standing over her, looking at the cooling brew.

"Good morning," Hermione said softly, not looking at him.

"And what do we have here?" the Potions Master asked, looking at the cooling liquid, "It's not the elixir is it?"

His voice had a slight hard edge to it. Hermione looked up at him sharply.

"No. I wouldn't start any brew on that without you," she stated.

Then she looked back at the potion and took a deep breath.

"Last night after I left you, I realized that I hadn't been…prepared for sex. We didn't use any contraception…so I brewed a "Morning After" potion, just in case," she said quietly.

Severus stared at the witch. Good gods, she was right. He was so anxious to get at her he hadn't even thought about protection.

"Oh," he replied.

It wouldn't be a good thing for the witch to turn up pregnant.

Hermione stuck her finger in the potion, then picked up the entire bowl, brought it to her lips and drank it down. She sat there a moment as she felt the potion tingling below her belly, cleaning her uterus.

Severus watched her silently, wondering if she had just terminated a child…their child. Not that he wanted to be a father, he just found the thought slightly disturbing. Well, he would never know for certain now, and he couldn't blame the witch for wanting to make sure she didn't produce a child for a man who wouldn't be there for them.

Hermione set the bowl down.

"All done," she said, pulling out her wand and scourgifying the bowl and her cauldrons.

She put the supplies away, then walked over to the microscope where the components of the elixir were waiting. She picked up the tweezers, scourgified them thoroughly and began the painstaking process of separating the grains as she looked through the lens, scourgifying the tweezers constantly as she worked.

Severus watched her for a little while, then left the lab. He couldn't help her with this process. Hermione wanted to keep account of every grain and couldn't do it if they were separated.

As the wizard walked up the stairs he realized Hermione was probably going to try to pretend that nothing happened between them. He only hoped that she wouldn't change toward him in other ways. He enjoyed their debates and arguments. They were stimulating to say the least.

He needn't have worried. Hermione still engaged him mentally in the weeks that followed. She too enjoyed their intellectual bickering. It was the nights that were hardest for both of them. Each lay in the bed thinking of the other, but making no moves to do anything about it. It seemed that they had indeed had their last tryst, and closure was made.

One evening, an excited Hermione ran into the study where Severus was reading a potions journal and sipping on a firewhiskey.

"I've finished, Severus! I've separated the components, identified them and calculated the proper ratios to reproduce the elixir!" she cried joyfully, dropping into the armchair next to him and smiling idiotically.

Severus blinked at her. She had done it. He always knew she could.

"It should take only two days to recreate it. I've already ordered the supplies, enough for five gallons of elixir," she said. "I put a rush on them. They ought to be here tomorrow evening at the latest."

She fell back in the chair, her breasts rising and falling with excitement.

"Soon, I'll have Harry back…and he'll have a brand new life to live the way he's always wanted to," the witch breathed. "He'll have a second chance in a Voldemort-free world, Severus. He deserves that."

The Potions Master looked at her, his dark eyes slightly troubled. Yes, they had the formula now and could brew the elixir…but should they actually use it? There was nothing he could do to stop her however, he had taken the oath in order to get Hermione to help him. Still…

"Hermione, are you sure you want to bring Harry back? Suppose…just suppose he's…happy where he is," the wizard asked her.

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Surely you don't believe in Heaven, Professor!" she said, surprised. "A place where happy souls go to live out a carefree idyllic eternity?"

Severus shook his head.

"I don't know what follows life, Hermione. But to think it is extinguished seems, well…wrong. It would make life itself worthless if there were no continuance. A waste of energy. I believe the universe wastes nothing," he said.

"Harry dead is a waste Severus. A waste of a truly good and decent person who never had a chance at a happy life. He was abused as a child and used as a young adult. He died saving the wizarding world without knowing hardly any happiness. If I can bring him back to a happier life, I intend to," she said soberly. "He'd want that, I know."

Severus stared at the witch as her chin stuck out stubbornly. She wasn't going to budge on this.

"All right. I promised you that Harry would be the first resurrection. I believe honestly he should be the only one, Hermione. Now that I will know the components and make-up of the elixir, I am satisfied. I think that we should discard it after we use it on Harry," he said evenly.

Hermione looked at him as if he were mad.

"Discard it as if it never existed, Severus? After all that work? I don't think so," she said frowning at him. "This is the greatest discovery in the wizarding world. An elixir that brings back the dead. You want to keep that from the world?"

"Yes, knowing what the world will do with it. Abuse it, sell it to the highest bidder, bring back those who should remain departed. The world will become a horror, Hermione. Think about it. Even the Philosopher's stone is for all intents and purposes considered illegal, and all it does is prolong life…and turn lead to gold. How much worse is the elixir?" the wizard said, scowling. "What if Voldemort were brought back?"

Hermione snorted.

"Voldemort's remains were completely annihilated by the Ministry. There is nothing left of him to use," Hermione said.

Severus wasn't so sure about that. There might be a relic or two coveted by some zealot somewhere. A bit of finger or bone. Or a drop of dried blood.

"Still Hermione…it is something to consider carefully. This elixir is very dangerous and can change the world in a very negative manner if it fell into the wrong hands. Not everyone has the moral standards you do. Just consider it, witch. Please," the wizard said.

Even if Severus destroyed the elixir, Hermione had the means to recreate it anytime she wished. There was little he could do about it, short of obliviating her. And that would leave the witch with more questions, particularly if she brought Harry back.

Severus sighed and settled back in his chair. He could only hope the witch would see reason. If she didn't, he would be forced to do something about it.

The Potions Master hoped it wouldn't come to that.

***********************************

A week later, Hermione had reproduced the elixir. It had been tested on several nifflers with excellent results. Tonight they would try to resurrect Harry Potter.

The shaman was quite aware of the elixir's use. He could feel it's power, but it seemed weaker than it should be. It was not the same as the one stolen. It had no spirit and was being used to restore insignificant lives…lives without cognizant souls. Animal lives. Creatures that existed on instinct alone.

But the shaman had a feeling that this use would not be the only one. He sat before the fire, staring into it. The younger brother who stole the elixir was very foolish. The elixir could only be used under certain favorable conditions when it came to human life. If used wrongly it could cause great irreparable harm. The shaman had to stop this at all costs. Life was precious.

The wizened man hummed to himself, painted red by the firelight, rocking slightly…waiting…waiting until he could be drawn to the place the pale man was and stop him from making a great and terrible mistake.

************************************

Hermione dumped Harry's ashes carefully on a clean sheet she placed on the floor of her laboratory as Severus watched, his belly uncomfortably tight as the crumbled grains of the-boy-who-died lay in a small pile, the blackness contrasting with the whiteness of the spread sheet.

Hermione walked back, set the urn on the lab counter and picked up the two-liter container of elixir. She uncapped it and looked at Severus who stared back at her soberly.

"This is it," Hermione breathed, "This is where Harry gets a second chance at life."

Severus wanted to shout, "Don't do it, Hermione!" but his oath kept him silent.

He could only watch as the witch poured the elixir over Harry's ashes, wetting them thoroughly before stepping back, watching the mixture intently.

************************************

At Ronald Weasley's small flat, Ron's wife Susan Weasley, formerly Susan Bones of Hufflepuff, was dressing little Harry for bed after his bath.

She had just pulled his pajama top over his head when the little boy said suddenly, "Mum, I don't feel so good," then collapsed to the floor, shuddering terribly and going into a seizure.

"Ron!" Susan screamed horribly, trying to hold her son still, "Ron, summon a healer quick! Harry's seizuring!"

Ron burst into the bathroom and stared at his little boy. He was horribly pale, his lips blue and spittle was draining from his mouth as he spasmed uncontrollably on the tiled floor. Susan was in hysterics, trying to hold him steady, placing a towel under his head.

"I'll get someone! Don't worry Susan," Ron said, bolting from the room, his heart thudding in his chest.

Something was wrong with his son, his Harry.

"Dear gods…please don't let my little boy die," the wizard prayed, disapparating.

*********************************
A/N: Oh man. Trouble, trouble. Please review.