Chapter Two: Waking

Awareness came back slowly. He was lying somewhere soft. A bed? Had he survived the battle? He felt no pain. Either he was unwounded or so badly wounded that he had been ensorcelled against the pain. Severus suspected the latter.

"Sev? Severus, it's time to get up." A warm body slid into the bed behind him, rubbing his shoulders and nuzzling his neck. "Wake up, I've got coffee on."

For a moment Snape relaxed into the dream. It had to be a dream; no one had ever woken him up like that before. But the smell of strong coffee was too compelling to ignored and after a few minutes he cracked an eye open. He was in a bed, but not in any hospital he had ever seen. In fact, it took him a full minute to realize that he was in his own bedroom.

Only it wasn't remotely like his bedroom. To begin with, he would never hang a white gauzy curtain around the bed. And there was no way that those pillows could be his. And he was quite sure he would die rather than own that particular chair.

Severus sat up slowly, taking in the room-that-was-not-his-room.

"What in the hell-" He muttered to himself.

"Sev, are you up? You are going to be late for work." A female voice chided from the bathroom. The tap was on and a billow of steam came from the shower. Severus stood up slowly. Maybe he had taken a blow to the head and was imagining this. Or maybe the Dementor had sucked all the joy out of his life and this was what was left...

The insistent smell of coffee drove him from his room and into the kitchen. This room at least was more as he remembered it. If it hadn't been for the colorful tea towels he would almost think nothing had changed. But something had, that much was obvious. Severus sat in the chair nearest the door, waiting for the intruder in his house to come and explain herself.

He didn't have long to wait. The tap turned off and a few minutes later a woman walked in, head tilted away from him and towel vigorously rubbing at a mess of brown hair. He noticed with chagrin that she was wearing his bathrobe.

"I demand to know what you are doing here!"

The woman jumped and whirled around, looking at him with a pair of wide, and familiar, brown eyes.

"Miss Granger?" He asked incredulously.

She grinned at him. "Just couldn't resist scaring me out of my wits on my first day of school, could you Sev?"

"Miss Granger! Since when do you wear my bathrobe? And since when did you call me by that disgusting diminutive?"

"Since mine got torn up by a certain Professor. And about the same time you stopped calling me Miss Granger." Her eyes narrowed at him. "Severus, are you alright?"

Her eyes seemed for the first time to take in his clothes. He looked down at himself. He was still wearing his Deatheaters robes, the ones he had had on when the final battle started. Her eyes narrowed further and before he could say anything she had a forearm against his throat and her wand in his face.

"Where is Severus?" She asked. Her voice was dangerously low. She sounded like him at his angriest and he would have been flattered if she hadn't been threatening him.

"If Lucius Malfoy has touched a hair on his head..."

"Lucius Malfoy?" Severus managed to repeat. Hermione released her hold on his neck but didn't lower her wand.

"Who are you?"

"I am Severus Snape, you silly girl and if you don't tell me what is going on this instant you will be in detention with Filch long after your grandchildren graduate."

Hermione let out a shaky breath.

"Only Severus Snape could make a threat like that." She said and put her wand into the pocket of his bathrobe.

"Indeed. Now Miss Granger, would you mind telling me what is going on?"