Their noses woke up first. Hermione Granger breathed in the spicy scent of the man who saved her life in the final battle and sighed a wistful, "Severus." Severus Snape inhaled the floral fragrance of the young witch who nursed him back to health after the Dark Lord fell and murmured a contented, "Hermione."
Hermione snuggled closer to that heavenly scent as she remembered Professor Snape enfolding her in his robes and protecting her from his fellow Death Eaters.
The Death Eaters had attacked the Hogwarts students on their way back from the final Hogsmeade Weekend of Hermione's seventh year. It was the only Weekend that Hermione, Harry, and Ron had attended that year. They had spent the other ones locating the remaining Horcruxes and studying for NEWTS. Now that the tests had been taken and the stray bits of Tom Riddle's soul destroyed, the Golden Trio was nervously waiting the coming confrontation. They had determined that if Voldemort did not find them soon, they would find him. They had had enough of living in fear.
Hermione was the first one to regain her wits following the popcorn-like sounds of Apparition. Looking around at the number of masked figures, she quickly realized that this was It.
"Ron!" Hermione called, "Strategy time!"
Ron had spent the year devising possible battle scenarios while Hermione deciphered clues to finding the Horcruxes and Harry had worked on ways to destroy them. They had also remustered Dumbledore's Army, preparing their friends for the fight they now faced. Ron was their general.
He fired instructions quickly.
"Neville, Seamus, Susan - Execute! Luna, Lavender, Parvarti, Padma - Get the Littles to Hogwarts! The rest of you know what to do - Go!"
The 6th and 7th Years quickly began firing hexes, Hermione and Ginny guarding Harry and Ron's backs as they advanced on Voldemort. Luna, Lavender, Parvati, and Padma gathered the 4th and 5th Years and ran for Hogwarts (3rd Years had been restricted to campus under Headmistress McGonagall).
"I wish Fred and George were here," Padma said to her sister.
Back at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, Hogsmeade branch, the young proprietors jumped as they heard their names coming from the studs in their left ears.
"I guess those pendants we gave the girls work," smirked Fred.
"Yeah, they're talking about us," grinned George, then he frowned, "What's that other noise?"
Just then one of the girls shrieked, "Watch out Lav! There's a Death Eater behind the tree!"
As one, Fred and George vaulted over the counter.
"Verity!" George yelled to their sales clerk, "Floo Mum! Tell her to call the Order - Moldy Shorts has attacked the Hogwarts students!"
Fred tossed George his broom and they were airborne before the door shut behind them. Fred and George found the girls and their charges a little ways from the fighting. They had Stupefied the three Death Eaters who had followed them, but Padma was bleeding from a cutting curse and several of the young ones had bruises from falling in their rush. The Weasley brothers decided that the fastest way to get everyone to the castle was to Apparate to the gates. Fred and George could each take three at one time without splinching. The redheads gave their brooms to a pair of junior Hufflepuff Chasers who could each fly with two passengers.
Fred gave Padma a kiss as he as he sat her down in front of Hogwarts and turned to go for his second load. She begged him to be careful, then sent her fastest little Ravenclaw to raise the alarm and alert Madame Pomfrey.
As the fight raged on, Seventh Years-turned-assassins Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, and Seamus Finnegan stalked their prey - Death Eaters who tortured and slaughtered for the pure joy of seeing others' pain. After much discussion over the past year everyone agreed that Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband, and Peter Pettigrew were beyond hope of redemption. So, quietly, efficiently, and only with a small tinge of regret, the unassuming young students crept up and cast Avada Kedavra on the bloodthirsty fiends. That twinge of regret faded quickly when they saw what the Death Eaters had done to the bodies of Dennis Creevy and the Hufflepuff girl he died trying to defend.
As the Order of the Phoenix members arrived, the remaining Death Eaters fought with increased desperation. Five of them had surrounded Hermione and Ginny when a platinum-haired blur swooped down out of the sky and pulled the youngest Weasley onto his broom.
Draco leaned in close to Ginny and hissed, "I've got a potion that will melt the snake-snogging bastard so that Potty can finish him off, but I can't fly and bomb the basillisk-lover if you are fighting me."
He pulled open his cloak to show her the flagon of potion.
"This better not be a trick, Ferret Face," Ginny hissed back.
Draco smiled an oily smile.
"Of course it's a trick," he said, "But it's on old Moldy Shorts. I finally had enough of him Crucioing my mother whenever I had to report bad news. Your side is full of Mudbloods, but at least they don't torture their own team."
Back on the ground, Hermione Granger now stood alone, with six Death Eater wands pointed at her. One of her attackers leered at her.
"Not so smart now, are ya?" he mocked, "Shaking like an ickle-firstie. Just wait till I get in your robes - I'll shake you real good!"
Hermione yelled a defiant, "Shut up!"
While her attacker was laughing, she cast a Petrificus Totalus on him.
Hermione barely had time to think 'Oh, Shit!' as the other five Death Eaters drew in breath to hex her. She heard a jumble of curses as the world went black and she felt the ground hit her on the back. For a moment Hermione wondered if she was dead and had the fleeting thought that the afterlife smelled good - spicy, like potions ingredients, like –
"Professor Snape!" she cried.
The blackness in front of her eyes was not Death, but her former Potions Master who had wrapped her in his cloak and then fallen on top of her as he used his body to shield her from hexes. Snape had been one of the five remaining Death Eaters surrounding Hermione and had Stupefied two more even while he was tackling her. The final two Death Eaters were not amused.
One called, "Arthriticus Extremis!" while the other gleefully cast, "Crucio!"
The Death Eaters laughed and taunted Severus Snape while he spasmed in pain on top of Hermione, cackling nearly hysterically when his thrashing forehead connected sickeningly with her nose. They were so intent on making fun of the traitor and the little chit he had revealed himself to protect, that they did not notice the two other young women or the green lights that came out of their wands until it was too late.
Now, more than three years after that battle, Hermione relished the feeling of security that Severus' scent brought her. However as the rest of her senses caught up with her nose, a few things became alarmingly apparent to Hermione rather quickly. First - she was not in her own bed; second - she was in a bed with her former Potions Master; and third (and most disturbing) - they were both naked! Suddenly alert, Hermione scrambled backwards away from Snape, clutching the sheet to her chest. She saw her shock mirrored on his face as they exclaimed as one,
"Miss Granger!""Professor Snape!"
"Did you have anything to do with-"
"No I did not!"
Hermione managed to get out of the bed and stand beside it. Wrapping the sheet more securely around her body, she glared down at Snape who was holding the duvet up to his chin. He held her gaze for a moment with a furious expression on his own face. Finally, with a deep steadying breath, he tore his eyes away from hers and looked around the room.
"I can see by the terror and disgust on your countenance that this was not your idea," Severus drawled, waving his hand to indicate himself. Hermione saw a strange look on his face for a second.
"Yeah, I'm scared and disgusted," she snapped. "Aren't you? I don't know where we are, I don't see our wands anywhere, and I don't know who took my clothes off! Who saw us naked!" She was getting shrill now. "The only positive is that you are here with me."
Severus seemed surprised by this. "Indeed?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yes, yes," she huffed impatiently, not inclined to stroke his ego at the moment. "I'll tell you all about why you would be a great person to be stuck with on a desert island - after you help me get out of here!"
"Island? That's it! Now I recognize this place," Snape said, "Look out that window." He gestured behind him.
Hermione adjusted her sheet so she could walk around the bed. She opened the wooden shutter above Snape's bedside table to see they were in fact on a little island in the middle of a lake, and she could see the Hogwarts castle in the distance.
"I didn't mean it," Hermione said dejectedly, looking at water in every direction. "It was a figure of speech."
Snape however, had brightened. "No you silly girl," he teased. "This is good. We can be reasonably sure we are not in enemy hands if we are on the grounds of Hogwarts."
"Wonderful!" Hermione said sarcastically. "You mean to tell me our friends have kidnapped and stranded us? Just bloody brilliant!"
"Calm yourself, Miss Granger," Snape said softly. "We are unharmed, if a little humiliated, and we are not likely to be left here forever. We just have to be patient."
"I'm not very good at patient!" Hermione snapped, but she was starting to feel better. "I need to do something. I'm going to find some clothes - or alter this sheet to fit."
Searching the room, Hermione found a drawer full of scarves, mittens, and hats and another with two mismatched toe socks - all in the most garish colors.
"Did I mention this was Albus' retreat?" Severus asked with the regretful expression he always wore when talking about he late headmaster.
"You didn't have to." Hermione chuckled as she pulled on the awful socks, while noting defensively that her feet were cold.
The closet was empty except for a pair of hip-high wading boots and a vest with fishing lures stuck in it. Hermione finally had some success when she searched the bathroom and found two nice bathrobes and two pairs of slippers. She put on the white robe and carried the black one to Severus.
"Much better," Hermione said briskly, "Now a shower and some caffeine and I'll be ready to take on the world! I'll be out in a few minutes." She went back in the bathroom and closed the door.