CHAPTER EIGHT:

"Do you, Maia Peregrine Wells, take thee, Severus Tobias Snape, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to be bound together in love, magic and matrimony from this day until your last?"

Setting up an official identity for Maia had been far simpler then she'd expected. For a generous sum of galleons, the goblins were capable of creating excellent forgeries and with Albus applying the right amount of pressure to the right Ministry Departments, 'Maia' was officially a twenty-eight year old halfblood witch who'd been born in England, educated in America and then moved back to Britain following the tragic deaths of her parents in a muggle car accident.

As soon as Maia officially existed, Hermione and Severus wasted no time in holding a very small, very private wedding— and by that, she meant that the only guest in attendance was Albus, and he was only invited because they required a witness. Other then Albus and themselves, the only other person present was the minister, a witch by the name of Wendelyn; having a female minister had been Hermione's only request for her wedding.

As Wendelyn asked if she took Severus to be her husband, Hermione could feel the love she felt finally cool the dark rage and hate boiling in her veins. Her vendetta had been fulfilled, her journey had reached its completion and it was time for her to take a step towards her new, shining future.

"I do," she said, softly, reverently, smiling up at her almost-husband, who was looking very handsome in his dress-robes.

They'd decided to dress formally, despite the lack of guests and a reception. Severus had ordered a pair of tailored dress-robes and had tied his hair back with a piece of dark velvet and Hermione had tamed her characteristic bushy curls, twisting her chestnut locks into an elegant knot held in place by a floral comb that had belonged to Eileen Prince, Severus's deceased mother. A single curl hung dark between her shoulder blades, a startling contrast to the sweeping white dress and Hermione's creamy skin.

"Do you, Severus Tobias Snape, take thee, Maia Peregrine Wells, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to be bound together in love, magic and matrimony from this day until your last?"

For a single moment of madness, Hermione was abruptly terrified that Severus would back out, that he'd run, bolt, leaving her alone and with nothing, like she had existed for so many years, in a time bereft of those she loved.

As if sensing her fear, Severus gently squeezed her hands, looking down at her with such love that all her doubts and insecurities were swept away. "I do." He said and Hermione blinked away the tears that briefly blinded her.

"Then I declare you bonded for life. You may kiss the bride," the minister said, raising her wand, letting a shower of golden stars rain down on them. Severus reached forwards, gently cradling her head in his hands then kissing her. Hermione kissed him back, deeply and passionately and filled with so much love it felt as if she might float away.

It took Albus clearing his throat for them to break apart several minutes later, both turning a touch sheepishly towards their single guest. Albus's cheeks were a touch pink, but the old wizard looked delighted. "May I be the first to offer my congratulations to the new couple," he said and Hermione at long last found herself letting go of her anger and forgiving him.

"Of course you may, Albus." She said with a smile and Severus laughed.

"You'll be the only person to offer their congratulations," he reminded the headmaster.

"Nonsense," Albus declared, "Minerva will be thrilled by the news!"

"Good Merlin," Severus grumbled good-naturedly, "must you tell her?"

"Well she is bound to ask about that ring on your finger," pointed out Albus, "and considering she is my Deputy, I will have to inform her that you will be leaving us at the end of the year to go off cavorting around the globe with your beautiful new bride."

"Albus!" Severus exclaimed, red spots of embarrassment forming on his cheeks, but Albus just chuckled, his eyes twinkling madly behind his half-moon spectacles, and Hermione felt so filled with joy that she couldn't help but laugh along with him.

~

Their honeymoon lasted for two weeks, the duration which Hermione was said to be laid up in the Hospital Wing with a particularly nasty case of Spattergroit, while Severus was away due to 'family matters'. Poppy, as per the Headmaster's request, backed up the story and kept a cot quarantined off where Hermione supposedly was bedridden while nobody, not even the staff, dared inquire into what exactly Severus's 'family matters' referred to.

Hermione understood that Albus must have told Poppy a fair bit about her true origins, but she didn't really mind. She knew that Poppy was bound by her Healer's Oath not to reveal information about her patients and she trusted Poppy as she trusted Albus. Besides, having Poppy on board gave her access to a series of fantastic alibis.

It was after their honeymoon, nearly a week after she and Severus had returned to their lives at Hogwarts, that Albus approached them.

"You want us to what?" Hermione loudly demanded, looking at the Headmaster like he'd just suggested the moon was made of cheese or requested that she go fornicate with the mouth of a donkey.

"I would like you to address the Order," Albus repeated, "and let them know that, for once and for all, the threat of Voldemort has been dealt with."

"I understand they need to be told he's no longer a threat, but why in Circe's name do you want me to make the announcement?" protested Hermione.

"Because Maia Wells is a prodigy who graduated early from her class and trained as American magical Special Forces," Albus said calmly. "Upon her return to Britain, she teamed up with ex-Death Eater turned spy Severus Snape to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes and destroy the Dark Lord, permanently. Along the way, the pair of you fell in love, and after Voldemort's death, you married."

"And Maia Wells became Maia Snape." Finished Hermione, before frowning at the old man. "I don't like it."

"I didn't think you would," admitted Albus, "but the Order does deserve closure."

"I don't have any proof to show them, why would they ever trust a complete stranger with something so important?" she pointed out.

"The backing of my word should be proof enough, but should they require more, perhaps a magical oath could be sworn that Voldemort is fully deceased and unable to be resurrected in any way, shape or form." Suggested Albus.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "I really don't like it." She said warningly. Albus smiled affably at her.

"Sherbet lemon?" he offered and Hermione let out a strangled sound before storming from the room. Severus gave Albus a reluctantly amused look before following after her and chuckled to himself, Albus cheerily popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth.

~

The Order gathered at the Potter's manor home and Hermione had to concentrate on not shifting uncomfortably in her seat next to Severus. She felt odd, sitting in this living graveyard of people she'd loved and lost, strangers that she knew so well. Under the table, Severus held her hand in his and she took comfort in his touch.

"I'm glad to see everyone has arrived," Albus greeted the room warmly, once the entire Order had gathered.

"Why are we all meeting, Albus?" James asked uncertainly, fear evident in his eyes. "Harry's okay, right?"

"Young Harry is more then okay," Albus assured the worried father, "and it is good news that I bring you— the best, in fact! I can now state with absolute certainty that Voldemort is dead and will never be returning."

There was dead silence following his words, the entire room apparently in a state of shock that Lily ended up breaking. "What?" she gasped, her familiar green eyes wide. "I thought you said that he wasn't gone— that he'd cheated death and would one day return!"

"And I was right," Albus said gravely. "Until three weeks ago, Voldemort was in fact alive and attempting to regain his power by possessing Quirinus Quirrell, the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, in an attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone." Gasps and exclamations of horror and fear sounded around the table, the Order looking at each other fearfully before Sirius spoke up.

"Quirrell disappeared," he pointed out, "nobody knows where he vanished to."

"A little fib to the DMLE on my behalf, I'm afraid," admitted Albus, "Maia, my dear, why don't you explain?" he said giving her an encourAgeing look and Hermione resisted the urge to grimace as all eyes turned to her.

"Albus, who is she?" Kingsley asked while Lily gave her a narrow-eyed look.

"Maia here is the one responsible for the permanent demise of Voldemort." Albus said gravely and the looks turned from amazed to disbelieving.

"What?" Lily demanded shrilly. "How could she kill V-Voldemort?"

"Does anyone here know what a Horcrux is?" Hermione asked sharply, not bothering with dancing around the truth.

Several faces around the table paled. "That's Dark magic," Mad-Eye said roughly.

"Are you saying You-Know-Who made a Horcrux?" demanded Sirius, "That's why he didn't die?"

"I'm not saying he made a Horcrux," Hermione said calmly. "I'm saying he made six— the first five intentional and the sixth quite the opposite, an accident as the result of an unstable soul already ripped apart so many times. The sixth the unintentional one was Harry Potter— or he used to be, anyway. The Horcrux is destroyed."

"What did you do to Harry!?" Lily shouted, her pretty face twisted with fear and fury as she sprang to her feet, brandishing her now-sparking wand dangerously.

"What did I do? I bloody saved his life!" Hermione snapped, sharply slashing her own wand through the air to deflect Lily's curse into the wall. "I transferred the Horcrux from his scar and destroyed it, just like I destroyed the other five. Voldemort— oh all of you go grow a pair; he's dead, you can say his bloody name! Voldemort was possessing Quirrell so I engineered a confrontation between us, after the Horcruxes were all destroyed. I killed him, which killed his host in the process but Quirrell was dead regardless the moment he let Voldemort into him."

"How did you even know about the Horcruxes?" Mad-Eye asked suspiciously, magical eyeball dancing around in its socket. "And how can we trust your word?"

"You don't have to trust my word," Hermione responded coolly, not answering the first part of his demand. "You just have to trust Albus's."

"I witnessed the destruction of the Horcrux in young Harry's scar and Voldemort's true death. I swear on my magic that she is not lying about either." Albus said gravely, causing the air to briefly pulse with magic. He then cast a lumos, lighting the tip of his wand.

"Albus!" Kingsley looked shaken, "you— you just risked your magic!"

"No I did not," Albus said calmly, "because I knew Mrs. Snape was speaking the truth."

"Mrs. Snape?" Lily asked flatly.

"I met Severus after I moved back to Britain in order to enact my plan to end Voldemort." Hermione lied without a single hesitation. "We've spent the last nine and a half years working together to bring about an end to Voldemort's reign of terror and once he was finally dead, we decided to make our love official."

Hermione ignored Lily's childish jealousy, instead focusing on Minerva who was smiling warmly at both her and Severus.

"Congratulations Severus," she said, clearly happy for her colleague and sometimes-friend.

"Thank you, Minerva," Severus told her, looking pleased.

"I already knew you'd recently exchanged wedding vows, Albus told me when he passed on your letter of resignation stating that you were leaving us at the end of the year to go travelling with your new bride, but he made me wait to congratulate you until you felt comfortable to announce it to everyone," Minerva continued, still smiling.

"Of course," Severus sighed, throwing a quick scowl in the direction of the cheerfully whistling Albus. "He did tell me he was going to and I was only half sure he was joking at the time."

"Is there no way I can convince you to stay?" Minerva asked, "perhaps if I offered the lovely Mrs. Snape the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. McGonagall, but teaching isn't my passion," Hermione told her favourite professor, "now that this part of my life is over, I want to leave Britain and see the world."

Minerva sighed softly. "I knew it would be a long shot," she admitted. "But please, call me Minerva. And I'm quite sure you'll enjoy your travels very much... Hermione."

Her name had been uttered soft enough that only Hermione and Severus could hear and Hermione smiled, not exactly surprised the astute Deputy Headmistress had figured her out. Minerva was many things and unintelligent was not one of them.

"I think I will, Minerva." She murmured, "It's been decades since I was able to relax."

"You have my dearest thanks for the sacrifices you have made for us all," Minerva said quietly, reaching across to gently squeeze her hands. "I wish you the best of luck for your future, Hermione— you as well, Severus."

~

"For a Gryffindor, Minerva's quite sneaky." Severus admitted lately, sounding slightly annoyed by the fact but mostly amused.

"You're forgetting that I'm a Gryffindor too," Hermione reminded him with a smile and Severus shuddered.

"Don't remind me! The shame!"

"Oh hush," Hermione rolled her eyes, nudging him playfully in the side with her elbow, "you know you love me."

"I do," Severus admitted, "I really do."