The thought of what could happen to Snape by the end of the war had not occurred to Hermione before then. He could die. She shivered at the thought, unable to think of the Wizarding world without him, much less Hogwarts. He was the one person who had remained consistent in the entire time she had known him: intelligent, brave, and protective, with a cruel streak in him in the classroom that would often injure students with the cutting force of his remarks. When he had been researching with her and Luna in Grimmauld Place, he had been witty and snarky with a little black humour thrown in for good measure.