A/N: This is it, this is the final chapter for Shedding One's Own Skin! The third book in the series titled, Badgering Hearts will begin on March 28, 2018! Thank you all so much for your support and please leave a review! - Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)

Chapter 30

Severus read over his Potions final study guide for what felt like the millionth time. They had two days left before end of the year exams, and they had been studying in groups and individuals since before the second to last Quidditch match of the term. Annette was fast asleep on his chest with her Care of Magical Creatures study guide clutched loosely in her hand. It slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor of the Slytherin common room.

For the next week, they would be having exams every day, and then there was the end of the year of feast, and after he returned to the Snape household on Spinner's End, he would get to open his initiation letter from the Dark Lord Voldemort. The clock chimed in the common room, signaling that it was midnight.

Annette sat up abruptly, her words slurred from sleep. "Baumidgers can shift their fur color to be green or brown in order to blend into the leaves and bark of the trees they live and hunt in. During mating season, the males will often sport garish strips of gold and black to attract females."

Severus chuckled and Annette brushed her overly long fringe out of her face. "A-Are we late?" the Hufflepuff began to jam her sock covered feet into her shoes. Severus gently took her hand in his own to stop her.

"No, we still have two days. And I think we have studied enough for tonight. Come on." He used pak to get their study guides and textbooks back into their messenger bags.

"Two more days…" Annette nodded, still not fully awake as she followed after Severus. It was three hours past curfew if she left for Hufflepuff House now, she could get caught by Flitch or Mrs. Norris and end up losing House points. Which she was not going to risk just to sleep in a bed that did not have Severus in it too.

Severus wrapped an arm around Annette's waist and pulled her close to him as they buried themselves under the dark forest green covers of his four poster bed. He pressed a kiss to Annette's cheek and fell asleep beside her, ignoring his mind screaming at him to just find a way to bypass Lord Voldemort's magical protocols.

On Wednesday, the first of June, while Annette was taking her Care of Magical Creatures final, Severus Snape stood at his designated station in Professor Slughorn's classroom. He had finished the six essay questions with ease, and had finished his Draught of the Living Dead.

The potion sat corked in a vile with his name, house name, and date of the exam written carefully and taped around the container on a piece of parchment. After he had checked on the list of potion protocols that he had thoroughly cleaned out his cauldron, so he could start on Amortentia Potion. He made the most powerful love potion known to the Wizarding World with a practiced hand, and watched with awe and a bit of pride, those feelings would not dissipate over time with each potion he crafted and he did not mind in the least.

As the potion turned to a pearl like sheen, the steam spiraled up and met Severus' nose. He could not help the gentle smile that spread across his face, and the fact that his heart quickened. He looked down at the questions he was supposed to answer for Professor Slughorn about the Amortentia potion.

What are the scents that the potion revealed to you?

Severus put down the answers with his swirling penmanship: Sweet pea flowers, the earthy and musty scent of the greenhouses, and broomstick polish.

The scents smelled exactly like his beloved Badger, Annette Negrescu.

Do you recognize the scents? Do they indicate a certain person to you?

Severus could only smirk as he wrote down: Yes, they do indicate a certain person, but I would prefer to keep that information private.

He glanced over to see Lily Evans at her own station. He could see the J that she was writing for the second question, and he could feel anger beginning to make his blood boil. He still could not understand how Lily could be so head over heels in love with Potter, it did not make any sense to him. Lily waved excitedly to him as he passed her, and he ignored the disapproving scowls and glares, as he passed James and Sirius.

He stood in front of Professor Slughorn's desk and waited for the man to look up from the Potions essay he was grading, that had the handwriting of a Third Year, Severus could not help recognizing the kitchen scratch as belonging to his housemate, Barty Crouch Junior.

"Are you finished, Mister Snape?" Slughorn questioned, he glanced up from the paper only long enough to make sure he had the right Sixth Year, before he went back to the essay and wrote an O in the corner of the parchment.

"Yes, Sir." Severus answered, he took out his pocket watch and noticed that he had finished with twenty minutes left to spare. Enough time for him to go to the classroom where Annette was taking her Care of Magical Creatures exam, so they could walk together to take their Transfiguration final with Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Professor Slughorn picked up his wand and used accico to summon Severus' work to him. Severus watched as the vials and essay question answers floated to his desk, and that the anti-cheating quill and spelling correction ink were returned to their wooden case.

Horace took Severus' vials in his meaty hands and checked them over before he set them down in the wooden cradle that was marked with Severus name, House, Year and that day's date. He smiled softly, nodding his approval. "Excellent work as always, Mister Snape. You are free to leave."

"Thank you, sir." Severus readjusted his messenger bag on to his shoulder and left the classroom.

Their Transfiguration exam involved changing one's appearance to that of their partner, just their partner's faces. They would not be learning how to transfigure to a different gender until possibly their last year at Hogwarts, it was like using a Polyjuice Potion, but without having to worry about swallowing the horrible after taste of a person's DNA.

It was odd to see how Annette saw him and how Severus saw her. Severus' onyx black eyes were glistening with amorousness and he was smiling. Annette's face contorted from a soft smile into a fit of laughter, just as Professor McGonagall passed by them with a clipboard and scribbled down their grade with a peacock feathered quill. Once she had graded everyone on their transfiguration abilities, they changed back to themselves. The process felt like bubblegum or bubble wrap popping around their skin as every Sixth Grade Witch and Wizard turned back into themselves.

After, they had to answer four essay questions regarding human transfiguration, plant to fish transfiguration, and the bird conjuring charm. Once the written part of the exam was over, Annette sat in the library with Jenna as they studied for their Charms exam.

Annette glanced up from her notes on turning vinegar to wine. Jenna had switched from her Charms notes to the ones for her Alchemy class with Professor Bronisław Górski. But the Half-blood Witches eyes kept wandering over to where Remus sat with the Marauders. They looked as if they were supposed to be studying for their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, but were instead Sirius and James had folded their notes into origami tyrannosaurus rexes and had made them magically come to life.

now the two paper beings were roaring soundlessly at each other, preparing to fight. Remus did his best to ignore them and had his face buried in his notes, while Peter cheered them on.

Annette rolled her eyes and returned to her own studying, just as Lily sat down beside Jenna and Severus beside Annette.

The Slytherin's girlfriend raised an eyebrow, and noticed they both had four parchment notebooks each, all marked with the words Study of Ancient Runes.

"Did you not pass your Apparition exam?" Annette asked, she knew that both the Snake and Lioness had opted for the twelve-week course on Apparition that cost twelve gallons. Annette on the other hand did not take the course offered by the Ministry of Magic official, Inge Hjort. After all the regular and side-along apparition splinching stories her mother brought back from working at at Saint Mungo's, Annette would rather not risk losing a vital organ or body part.

After lunch had been served in the Great Hall, Igne Hjort entered to give all of the students who had taken the course their final exam to earn their licenses. The exams had to be taken one at a time and in alphabetical order. Of course, earlier, Sirius Black and James Potter had gotten their licenses, while Sirius showed it off to every available Witch possible, While James sat down to spend time with Lily, the redheaded Lioness sat out in hallway waiting for Severus to be finished with his Apparition test.

When Severus emerged from behind the shut double doors, he had to clear his throat rather loudly in order to James to stop snogging the Muggleborn Witch in front of him. James with a cold glare of annoyance left them to go after Sirius. Severus dug his parchment notebooks out of his messenger bag for Study of Ancient Runes, and suggested that they go to the library. Mostly he wanted to go there because he knew that was where Annette would be with her best friend, Jenna Baum. Secondly, he wanted to get away from James Potter and his crew, even though he knew now that that was impossible because Potter and his gang of misfits seemed to be everywhere.

Severus took out his Apparition license from out of his robe pocket and handed it over to Annette so she could look it over. The Badger handed it back to him, and smiled softly entangling their fingers. "I'm proud of you, Severus."

Severus Snape threw Annette gently on to the bed, the bottle of fire whiskey they had snuck from the kitchens thanks to accio still in his hand. Annette laughed out of pure delight and pulled Severus down on top of her, he kissed her neck and face, and finally her lips.

They sat up, gasping for breath, both flushed. Annette's uniform shirt now askew, some of the buttons undone, revealing her bra.

Severus popped the cork off the bottle of fire whiskey, "We have reason to celebrate."

Annette grinned as Severus passed her the bottle and took a swig from it. It was there final night at Hogwarts for this school year, exams were done. Their last final had been Charms. The Great Hall had been decorated with green and silver banners for Slytherin on one half. Black and yellow banners for Hufflepuff covered the other.

Slytherin had won the House Cup, and Hufflepuff had won the Inter-House Quidditch Cup. Of course, they had reason to celebrate. But Annette really wanted to do was to have sex with her boyfriend. Anything to relieve the tension of fretting over exam grades and their final grades of the year.

They drank half the bottle of fire whiskey between them, and she rode Severus for a while. Her hands gripping the headboard, while Severus' tongue and mouth suckled and toyed with her breasts. Once they were both spent, Annette curled up beside Severus and promptly passed out with a smile on her face. After she kissed him on the mouth and whispered, "I love you."

The used condom was now wrapped up in tissues and tossed in the bin. Severus preened his long fingers through Annette's copper locks while she slept soundly with her head on his chest. He grabbed the bottle of fire whiskey from off the nightstand and drank the rest of its contents.

Tomorrow he would get to open the letter from Lord Voldemort. Tomorrow he would get to know who he had the 'honor' of murdering in Lord Voldemort's name.

Severus floated his trunk up the stairs behind him as he made his way to his bedroom. He had hugged and kissed Annette goodbye at the station. Promising her that he would use the two-way mirrors later that night, so they could plan their first date of the summer holiday.

Severus sat down on his bed after he pried open the bedroom window and put his box fan in the window to get the heat and stale air out of his room. With shaking hands, he took the pitch-black envelope out of its hiding place within the cover jacket of his Potions textbook.

The dark forest green wax that was in the shape of the Dark Lord's Mark popped loose with the help of a letter open. Severus took the parchment letter out and flattened it out on to his lap, of course it was blank, and he not forgotten Lucius Malfoy's instructions. He pricked his finger with the letter opener and let the blood fall on the paper.

He watched with horrified wide eyes as the blood formed the portrait and name of a Wizard he was far too familiar with.

Baxter Negrescu.