Hourglass (rewritten as of 16/05/2018)

Epilogue:

EPILOGUE:

"I don't want to go," Maia groaned.

"It's a Christmas party, love," Severus said, amused, "not an execution."

"A Christmas party hosted by the harpy herself," Maia pointed out, not pleased at all by the idea of attending the Potter's annual event, and hence her throwing her annual argument.

"You'll get to see Harry, Ron and Cordelia," coaxed Severus and, just like every year, Maia instantly folded.

"Oh alright," she sighed and her husband kissed her softly.

"It will be fine," he promised, "it always is."

"Mum! Mum!"

"Yes, Harrison?" Maia smiled fondly down at their eldest child as he ran into the room, his eyes bright with excitement. Harrison Ronald Snape was fourteen now and looked just like his father, with his shoulder-length dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin— and from her, Harrison had inherited a deep love of Ancient Runes.

"I finished my runic pentagon!" Harrison told her eagerly. "Can you come supervise me activating it?"

"Of course, darling!" Maia beamed at him, proud of her son for completing a task that most NEWT students would struggle with, before she noted her husband's expression and sighed. "But you have to get ready for the Potter's Christmas party first."

Harrison looked dismayed. "Really?" He asked, his tone almost a perfect copy of hers, minutes before. "We're going to that thing again?" Harrison was the most introverted of their children and enjoyed social gatherings about as much as he enjoyed drinking Skelegrow.

"Sorry darling," Maia told him regretfully, though anything further she might have said was interrupted by the loud, dramatic entrance of her daughters.

"Mum! Dad! Elly took my wand!" An indignant Rosalind shouted as she stormed into the room. Eileen followed at a slower pace, a smug look on her face. Both girls had Maia's wild, somewhat bushy curls, but only Rosalind had the chestnut colouring— Eileen's hair was as dark as her father's and Harrison's.

"Rosa won't admit that she's the one who released a niffler in Fee's room. I'll give it back when she does." Eileen archly informed them both. "And it's warded against being summoned." She added smugly— Eileen had also inherited Maia's skill with Ancient Runes, while Rosalind had followed in Severus's footsteps and was a true Potions Mistress in the making.

"Apparently I've taught you too well," Maia told Eileen, amused, before she turned to Severus. "You're better at choosing punishments, love," she told her husband, who looked just as amused as she felt. "What do you think would be appropriate in these circumstances?"

Rosalind and Eileen both looked dismayed at the turn of events and Maia didn't blame them— Severus really did pick the best punishments, any Hogwarts student who'd survived his class back when he'd taught Potions could confirm that.

Rosalind "Rosa" and Eileen "Elly" were her and Severus's oldest daughters, aged eleven and thirteen respectfully, while their youngest, Ophelia "Fee", was eight, and Maia considered her children to be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She and Severus had been travelling the world for five, almost six, years before Maia found out she was pregnant and they'd headed returned to Britain. They'd both been more then ready to start a family and the arrival of their son had been one of the happiest moments of Maia's life. A year and a half later, Eileen had entered the world, followed two years later by Rosalind, and finally, three years after Rosalind's birth, little Ophelia came into the world.

Of course, Maia wasn't the only one with a family now. Harry Potter, now thirty-one, had married Cordelia almost as soon as he'd graduated from Hogwarts and they'd popped out three children, while Ron had surprised her by marrying Lavender Brown and producing a pair of progeny of their own.

Maia(Hermione)'s heart still ached when she thought of Harry and while she mostly avoided thinking or talking about him, occasionally she couldn't resist which was why when Lily insisted on inviting the entire Order, Severus included, to her Christmas parties each year, Maia usually went along— after putting up a token fuss, of course. Besides, she always enjoyed seeing Cordelia and the small corner of the Potter family she and Harry had carved out between them.

Not many people were able to connect Maia Snape with Hermione Granger, the quiet, Muggleborn prodigy who disappeared from the Wizarding world after her first year of Hogwarts. Even her parents and sister didn't know the true circumstances behind their daughter and older sister's disappearance, and certain subtle compulsions Maia had buried deep in their psyches had permanently ensured that they wouldn't look too deeply.

The people who did know the truth about Maia Snape's true identity and origins consisted of a list that she only needed one hand to count on, and not even all her fingers at that— Albus, Minerva, Poppy and her husband, Severus. Not even her children knew that she had travelled back from the future to destroy Voldemort, all in the name of her best friend and first real love, Harry Potter.

And she'd done it. She'd saved the world, defeated Voldemort— oh, did he count as someone who knew her secret? Because he had figured it out... of course, he was dead now, killed by her own hand in fact—

"Maia," Severus's voice broke her from her thoughts and she inhaled shakily before slowly releasing her breath, knowing without needing to ask that she must have gotten that look on her face again, the one Severus described as her expression turning shadowed while her eyes aged decades before him. Her husband touched her arm gently, his expression soft as he looked down at her. "We don't have to go, love," he told her quietly but Maia shook her head.

"No, I do want to see them," she said, and she meant it— seeing Harry and Cordelia with their children, James Jr "Jimmy", Beatrice and Bianca (Cordelia had apparently gone with the Shakespeare theme Helen Granger had started with her two daughters— even Maia had named her two youngest daughters after the Bard's characters) and Ron and Lavender's Indigo and Hugo always reaffirmed to her that she'd made the right choice, those almost four decades ago now when she'd unwritten an entire future for the sake of one person.

Severus smiled at her with love and warmth, holding out his hand. "Let's go then," he said, and Maia slipped her fingers through his and smiled back at him.

"Yes." She agreed. "Let's go."