The next morning, Hermione went down to the dungeons to see if there was a clue of Snape's whereabouts, or anything that proved he wasn't on Voldemort's side. The DADA office door creaked open slowly; she shuffled through some papers on his desk and saw a package that said Spinner's End on it as the return address, it seemed to be a book, she wrote down the address on a piece of paper and stowed it in her pocket. She then walked to a cabinet that seemed almost to beckon her. In it, she found valuable potions and antidotes. After searching for nearly two hours, Hermione proceeded to the dungeons. It was drafty and cold, it chilled her to the bones. Surprisingly, the door to the potion's office was easily opened by a simple alohomora spell. She stepped inside and looked around, what she saw couldn't have possibly been to Snape's tastes, so she deduced that there was a secret passageway to his real chambers, after all, Snape has been living in the dungeons since he started teaching in Hogwarts. She found a tapestry of what you could call abstract art, try as she might, she couldn't lift it away from the wall. Frowning in frustration, she stared hard at the painting and thought about what sort of passwords Snape could have used. At the thought of 'Spinner's End' a picture began to take shape, it looked like a wolf with silver blood, but it's ears and limbs were too long, the nose seemed incredibly keen, as if it could smell Hermione, and the muscles underneath the sleek skin, too sinewy for an ordinary wolf...it was a werewolf.
"Werewolf" – nothing happened, she frowned.
"Loup garou" – the tapestry seemed to burn away and there was a passageway that led to nowhere. She stepped inside.
"Lumos" light shone from the tip of her wand, and she started up the stairs.
When she came to another door, she whispered the password again and the door opened on its own accord. When she walked in, the fire blazed to life and the whole room lit to show a magnificent room, furnished and pretty luxurious. She explored the whole wing. She came upon a closet and when she opened it, there were another set of stairs, this time when she came to the end of it, it opened to the school grounds.
"Merlin" she whispered in awe. Right then, she saw a staggering figure emerge from the shadows, immediately, she put a disillusionment charm over her and followed the moaning shadow back to where she came from. When they both entered the room, she heard the guy curse and he fell to a heap on the floor. She rushed over to him and turned him over. What she looked at was the contorted face of Hogwart's Potions Master, incredibly gaunt, sallow and bloody.
"Professor!" She gasped.
"Wha-?" Snape answered, and then he passed out. Hermione quickly muttered the countercurse for the disillusionment charm.
"Mobilicorpus" she whispered and carried him to the bed.
Snape suddenly snapped his eyes open and whispered hoarsely "Cruciatus antidote, purple."
Hermione somehow knew what her meant and rushed back to the DADA office and practically emptied the cabinet and carried magicked them to where Snape's hidden chambers were. On the way she called her house elf and told her that she wanted to read, inform anyone who asks for her and she does not want to be disturbed
"I will skip dinner today Jimmy, I'll come out when I'm hungry." She then almost ran back to Snape's chambers. There, she picked out the dark purple potion that was labeled "Cruciatus antidote" For a second she admired Snape's neat cursive handwriting and then snapped out of it. But Snape's body was shuddering with spasms. Remembering what she read about Cruciatus curses she performed an unbreakable charm on herself, and held Snape's hand, he grasped it desperately, anything to stop the pain. The spasms soon subsided.
"Here, Professor, drink it. It'll help with the pain." She helped him into sitting position and help the flask to his lips. As if by instinct, his senses sharpened and he sniffed the bottle, and then obediently drank it. At once, his features became relaxed and he stopped shaking. Sighing, Hermione looked at his face and saw that even in sleep, he was anxious, his brow was still furrowed and there were lines on his forehead. Muttering to herself she saw blood seeping onto the bed sheets. She then realized how hurt he was. Carefully, she stripped Snape until he was only in a pair of boxers and started to tend to his wounds. An hour later she was finished; she changed the sheets with a wave of her wand and went to take a shower. After what happened tonight, she needed a nice long bath. In the bathroom, she was almost surprised to find a luxurious tub, many different soaps and shampoos, she nearly ran to take a shower.
The next morning, Snape awoke on his bed, tucked in and comfortable. He had no memory of getting into bed and why did he feel so...clean? The last thing he remembered was being stuck together with blood. He threw off his covers and almost died at the sight of what he was wearing...when did he ever wear only plaid boxers? He was utterly confused, then, years spent as a spy told him that he was not alone in the room. He snatched his wand up from the table side and winced at the stiffness of his body, he walked warily into the living room and saw a big lump on the couch, he peered at it and it moved! He came closer and saw now that it wasn't a thing, it was a girl, a familiar bushy-headed girl whom he had always disliked...Granger.
Hermione felt a change in the room and opened her eyes, for a second her vision blurred and then she saw Snape's livid face leering at her.
"Miss Granger" he hissed "What are you doing in my chambers?" then suddenly confused, "How did you get in here in the first place?" To his amazement she giggled.
"What, may I ask, is so amusing?"
"Sir, forgive me but...you look out of ...character standing there in boxers, assuming a teacher's role."
Snape's jaw dropped and to Hermione's amazement, he started to blush.
"Get out." He hissed.
"I don't think you're in the position to order me around...sir. Besides you must be aching right now, here let me help you." She got off the couch and started toward him. Snape's already taut body, became more rigid, his eyes got wide when he saw what she was wearing.
"What are you wearing?" asked an almost horrified Snape.
""What? – Oh! Muggle clothing. Let me help you loosen your muscles." Snape stepped back; he seemed to rather face another night of torture than face Hermione right now.
Laughing, "I'm not going to hurt you" then more sternly "If you don't get back to your bed right now, you'll pay."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Try me." He crossed his arms across his chest defiantly. She muttered a spell and Snape was helpless in the air, unmoving, eyes flicking back and forth wild.
"Don't worry I didn't petrify you, its just that the air pressure around you is much thicker so you cant move anything really." She moved him to his bed and took out oil and started to massage Snape's back. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Snape's eyes started drooping, his muscles started to relax and he found that he rather liked the methodic motion and warmth of Hermione's small hands.
Hermione was enjoying the relaxing exercise and could have sworn in the middle, Snape giving a moan or two as comments of her massage. Her mouth twitched and it formed a small smile, when she was finished, she lifted the air pressure spell and braced herself for an explosion. It never came. Instead, Snape turned over and looked at her so intensely she started to blush. Then she heard a low, soft voice ask her "Why?" For a moment, she was confused, and then she realized that it was Snape talking.
"Because I figured that...I don't know...it's just that ...I-I figured you couldn't be all that bad, I mean, Dumbledore did trust you and all, but if you really were bad, why did you protect us so much? Why did you care about our incompetent minds? Why did you put yourself in such danger if you really were on Voldemort's side? One slip and you would have gone down either way." Snape took all this in thoughtfully
"You put a lot of thought in this haven't you?"
"Well I had to, sir, or else, I couldn't have been this determined to help you." Snape raised an eyebrow.
"I see...and up until now, I always thought you were a parrot..." Hermione flushed.
"So you believe there is some good in me...hmmm...and you said you were here to help me...Tell me, how did you know what potion I was referring to?"
"I went to the DADA office before I came and I saw your cabinet full of potions and I remembered one labeled with something about the Cruciatus curse."
"How did you get in here?"
"I saw your tapestry and I was thinking about you, I saw a paper in the DADA office that had Spinner's End on it and when I thought it, the tapestry changed and I saw the werewolf and in Latin werewolf in loup garou..." she trailed off at Snape's held up hand
"I get it...now, what do you want for breakfast? I'm rather hungry right now."
"Oh! Ummm... I'll have whatever you're having." Snape nodded in acknowledgement
"Go wash your hands, then meet me in the kitchen."
A few minutes later, Hermione followed the scent of wonderful breakfast to the kitchen and to her amazement; Snape was hand cooking the meal!
"I can cook you know." Amused and smirking. Without turning around he said, "Close your mouth, you don't want any pixies flying into her mouth."
Hermione blushed; she didn't realize she was gaping. She sat down at the table. Snape served the food, eggs, bacon, apples, and pumpkin juice. They ate in silence, it was only when they both finished eating did Snape talk.
"How long have you been here?"
"About 16 hours...why?"
"You should be getting back, they'll worry about you."
Smiling, "Alright, Sir, I'll come back later to check on how your doing. Bye" with that, she walked out the door and to her chambers.
What was wrong with him? Why in the world was he so...nice? Especially to know-it-all Granger…he went back to his bed and saw three uncorked bottles, he sniffed all three and frowned, then realization gripped him as a very suspicious wave of fatigue swept over him. Bloody girl, put a calming and felicious (happy) potion in the concoction, didn't she know that the ingredients in the Cruciatus antidote, the calming potion and the sleeping draught made the drinker tired? He mentally slapped himself. Of course she knew that's why she put them together in the first place…I'm gonna get her tomorrow. Then he passed out onto the bed and fell into a deep, much needed, healing sleep.
Hermione grinned to her herself, she never heard Snape so agreeable before, she mused. Then she suddenly turned serious, I have to figure out a way to get him help without attracting attention, and I have to stay here and help him, I can't join up with Harry and Ron now, I just can't. She was so deep in thought she bumped into Professor Lupin, and they both fell onto the floor.