Disclaimer for this ENTIRE story: I do not own Harry Potter. I'd be a lucky and rich woman if I did. The characters are property of J. K. Rowling. :D
Chapter One: The Kidnapping.
Hermoine sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. It had been a rough few days after the funeral, and being a Prefect it had been her duty to safely see each of the children off, whether getting them onto the train, or waiting for nervous parents to apparate. She couldn't wait for this week to be over; she quickly searched the halls on her way to her rooms. She needed her space, her sanctuary for a few hours. The way Ron and Harry were acting, it was like they had aged twenty years in a little over a month. It is true, in a sense, I guess. It's not easy realizing that the most powerful wizard in the world was defeated by Voldemort.
She shook her head slightly, and noticed the usually closed door diagonal from her apartments was slightly ajar. A puzzled mue appeared on her face and wand at ready, banged open the door.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" She shouted quite heartily as a hunched figure moved to the right. The force of the spell shot the wand in a dazzlingly straight shot to her hand, where it all but leapt to safety. She consecutively cast body binding and apathy charms to ensare and induce the wizard in front of her to be lucid enough for proper inspection.
A slight flick of the wrist brought his head back, and a softly uttered 'lumos' brought her world to a screeching halt. There, staring quite spacelessly back at her, was Severus Snape, the most hated and hunted wizard in the entire world.
A few moments of breathing reassured her that indeed she was looking at the Potions Master, but from the deadened look in his eye she wasn't entirely sure he was still with the living. She called his name several times, whispering then increasing in volume to shouting. She, being an intelligent and resourceful witch, took advantage of the prone moment to use a slapping technique in attempt to rouse him from his bloodied coma. Seeing no other option, she focused her steely gaze upon the Professors, and used Legimens, one of the most effective employs of magic known to Wizard.
A good hour later, after carefully reviewing each and every memory, she sighed, drained both from the new knowledge she received and the task of combing someone's mind. "Merlin," she said softly looking into his hauntingly dead eyes, "Why couldn't you just make things easy and kill the Dumbledore because you're a snarky bastard, not a Gryffindor wannabe." She needed a plan, and fast.
Slinking through the corridors a mere five minutes later, she struggled with overwhelming fear and determination. She was afraid, deathly afraid for what she was going to do, but she really had no choice. Making sure the air was clear for the fifth time she scooted out of the abandoned room with a telltale body floating behind her.
A sudden shifting of staircases alerted her to the fact that Filtch was standing directly below her, presumably waiting for stairs to continue his rounds. Hermoine's heart leapt to her throat and managed to stay there as she wished and wished for the staircase to allow her to escape to the third floor, where her salvation lay. She was seriously starting to doubt the fact that she thought she could pray to Hogwarts when the staircase stopped right in the middle if anchoring to the bottom floor when it came hurtling back, only to slam into position. She dashed up them, panting heavily and feeling like she had just run a mile.
That walk to the Room of Requirement was the longest of her life. She felt as if time had all but stopped, and every movement sounded like an elephant stampede. She turned behind her, seeing that Filtch was angrily waiting to follow her, as he probably saw what happened to the stairs. She paced back and forth quickly, thinking hurriedly what they needed for an extended amount of time.
The ornate door popped into existence, and she turned to look down the hall. Filtch was just stepping, angrily yelling to her to stop her insolence and halt where she was. She all but threw the body into the room and slammed the door shut just as Filtch's shadow came into view. Sinking to the floor, Hermoine cried with relief. Saying out a thousand thank you's to every deity available and thanking Hogwarts profusely, she got up.
The central room was so big it was cavernous. It was in a dark gold color, with a couch and a chaise lounge directly to the left, next to a merrily crackling fireplace. A soft rug nestled in-between them, giving quite an inviting feel. A small end table was near the sofa, and a wizarding radio looked happily perched. There was a sturdy oak table with four chairs to the right, and looked quite serviceable. Beyond that was a kitchenette taking up the back wall, complete with a magical icebox and stove. Directly in center, there was a wide three stair staircase to lead up to the next level. There, she stood at the top of the stairs and found a finely woven runner rug, with five different doorways.
Looking back, she flicked her wand and led the still bound professor onto the couch. Turning her back, she wandered into the left-most room. She found, to her delight a large canopy bed dead-center against the back wall complete with huge fluffy down pillows and a stuffed to the max down comforter. Seeing as how the room was absurdly huge, she glanced to the left and noticed a familiar looking antique desk with all her school books upon it. Beside that was a pleasant surprise however. There, lined the rest of her wall was a book case that reminded her of the shelves of tomes in the library. Stopping to browse the books, she noticed there was everything from cooking to arithmancy. Grinning to herself about the possibilities and many happy nights in her new bed, she padded across the room to the far right corner when she really did get the shock of her life. Curled into his bed, Crookshanks gave her a look as if to say, "Well duh. This is Hogwarts." She smiled and shook her head, again thanking Hogwarts out loud. There was an open closet with all of her belongings to the right of Crookshanks litter box. As she headed back to the door she came in on, there was a large oak door, which she figured was extra storage space because she couldn't see any of her mounds of Potions supplies anywhere. Right after the door, there was an inviting peach doorway where she poked her head in. The bathroom was as large as the prefects, including a large bathtub with many faucets, a spacious vanity and a shower stall that looked pretty cool. Satisfied and very excited, she all but skipped out of her new room and went into the next door. Here she round a spacious room with sand tones, Spartan furniture made of dark ebony and a bookshelf to rival hers in her room. The desk was massive, and she noticed quite a few essays sprawled onto them. His bathroom was like hers, but just in a deeper blue. He had no adjoining door, but she wrote that off to the fact that Snape most likely didn't own as much as her.
Genuinely enjoying finding what each room held, she was floored when she popped into the middle room. Pristinely clean, this earthy green room with a white marble tabletop was definitely a modified nurse's station; every imaginable potion was there, including Dreamless Sleep, and the Pepper-Up potion. She grinned at the two books, Healing For Beginners by Helga Hufflepuff, and Mediwitch's Guide to Magical Maladies By Krista Heldwiggins. Hermoine familiarized herself with the room, as she was sure she would need it to put Professor Snape back together again. Carrying the Beginner's book out of the room, she again was amazed at how well Hogwarts knew the two individuals.
There, two spacious black marble (the most resilient) table tops were anchored next to their respective cauldron burners. On the left wall, there was a long side counter with a strange looking window snuggled between two large cupboards with clipboards. She investigated the nearest one to discover a dazzling list of ingredients, their current supply, and how much it would cost to replace them. Skimming the list, she saw they were color coded too, in order of reactivity and their class. She noticed some outlined in black, and considering one was Unicorn Blood, she figured there were some hard-to-come-by ingredients there as well. She decided to give it a try, and with the simple incantation Ortus. She was happily munching on a mint leaf. She examined the farther clipboard to see it had every imaginable apparatus they could possibly ever need. The window-like contraption in the middle was just a heavy shutter opening to reveal the medical room. Hermoine was delighted with this development, as it was quite smart to be able to move potions with as little jostling as possible. She took note of the far right wall, which just had several hanging hooks for cauldrons and was lined with more burners. Deciding that this could possibly be her favorite room, she nearly skipped out in happiness. But she was never more excited when she entered the final room.
It appeared humble at first, just an ordinary gym atmosphere, boasting various aerobic weight machines, free weights, and an exercise matt. The two doors intrigued her, and that's where it became anything from the ordinary. The small pool looked pristinely calm, sporting a small whirlpool on the side that gurgled with vigor. Around that was a decent sized track, which looked like it was freshly painted and waiting for someone to use it. Hermoine stopped and stared for a minute, not knowing what to think or say. With another loud thank you to Hogwarts, she back tracked to the door with the biggest surprise of all. It confused her at first, why the walls would be padded so. She couldn't see anything except an outline directly opposite her, and there didn't appear to be any openings for the blasted thing. Alomahora! The door in question jumped smartly open to reveal the most wicked looking weapons known to man. Daggers, knives, swords, bows, arrows, pikes, she couldn't even name them all. She grinned as she looked at her reflection in a wicked looking curved blade. She would enjoy these, she knew she would. Closing the last door and exiting out of room entirely she found herself back in the main room looking at the fireplace. She then noticed a picture hanging on the wall above the fireplace, walking to see the inscription, she took note that the occupant was missing. She did however; remain faintly surprised at the small plaque identifying the portrait inhabitant as a one Albus Dumbledore.
Despite this new revelation, her stomach grumbled loudly and looked to the kitchenette as a source of her relief. Easily procuring a kettle, she put water on the stove to heat tea and looked at yet another book positioned directly beside the ice box. Opening it, she noticed the many different recipes. She figured she could browse through them all later, but she looked down the very end of the list as it listed Fresh Fruit and Fresh Greens. Very curious now, she turned to the page of Fresh Fruit and saw a copious amount of fruits. Confused as to why they were just listed there, she tapped the word "Granny Smith Apple" with her index finger and was a little disappointed when nothing happened. She tried twice more, but shrugged and gave up when nothing appeared. She pried open the icebox to rummage through it, only to find three granny smith apples in mint condition looking up at her. She laughed delightedly and grabbed one to munch on. Tea ready, she settled down at the surprisingly comfortable oak chair and began to read about diagnostic scans.