Harry...Harry...her own voice echoed in her mind. "Harry..." she actually muttered this time, but it would have been hardly audible to anyone had they been listening to her. She was fully aware her eyes were closed. For a few racing moments, she knew she was dead, had to be...she felt so peaceful, that was the only explanation.
But just as suddenly as she'd thought his, her eyes flew open where she immediately registered she was not among the dead at all but laying in what seemed to be a very large, comfortable bed. The sun hit her face so she had to squint slightly, the brightness overpowering her sense of sight, realizing she must've had her eyes closed for a while. She moved her hand in front of her face to shield it, registering that she was not bound and guessing she was not with the enemy.
Finally, when she had grown used to the bright light she removed her hand form her eyes and gazed out of the window she faced, still lying there. All she could see was the sun, blue sky and a few towering trees. A few small birds darted in and out of her line of sight every so often, taking obvious delight in what looked to be a beautiful day.
Hermione smiled slightly as she sat up and heard a muffled sound of an American tune her mother had always played in the house for years and years. It sounded as though it was coming from something older—a record player or an old-fashioned jukebox, perhaps. The song was one of her all-time favorites and she felt her spirits lift slightly in contrast with the throbbing pain in her head. She placed a gentle hand on the place where she had been hurt and listened to the song, reminding herself so much of home.
Rescue me, and take me in your arms...rescue me, I want your tender charms for I'm lonely and I'm blue...I need you, and your love too, come on and rescue me. Come on baby, and rescue me! Come on baby, and rescue me! 'Cause I need you by my side, can't you see, that I'm lonely? Rescue me...
Hermione, allowing the music to move to the background of her hearing, began to take in the room around her. It was fairly massive, round and quite tall which suggested that it was some kind of large cylinder tower. It was all decorated in a hunter green, but still very bright at the same time. There seemed to be a domed appearance to the ceiling so far above her which reminded her (with a pang) of Hogwarts which in turn, threw into spectrum a terrifying thought: Harry.
Where had he gone? Had he run like Hermione had instructed him to? Or was this his care she was in, although she hadn't the foggiest where he would have brought her that would have been this magnificent, not to mention humongous, something that she knew they were trying to avoid: attracting attention to themselves.
But she had to know for sure and so with great effort, she heaved herself up to stand, wavering for a moment before gaining her balance, her head still pounding. She looked back at the large bed she had been apparently sleeping on. She saw her shape practically imbedded in the sheets, telling her she had not moved a single inch since arriving there. Must've been out cold...she thought to herself, sighing.
Carefully, she moved one shaky foot out in front of her, feeling relieved when she stood soundly, not swaying in the slightest, as she thought she would have. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something sparkle slightly, looking over and seeing a bottle of half-drank potion sitting there on the bed stand having caught the light. Well that explained that.
Pulling on her zip-up sweater, which had been hanging over the bedside armchair, she moved toward the large oak door and carefully opened it. Glancing about cautiously for a moment, she pushed the door open all of the way and stepped out onto cool marble flooring. There was a staircase that lead in a spiral downward, lead someplace unknown. But curiosity had taken a firm hold and she grasped the iron banister for support as she began her descend.
She was greeted at the bottom by what looked to be something of a sitting room with a huge open fireplace, large armchairs, and two couches with color matching those in the room above her. And then she saw another door. Hermione moved toward it, the quiet pitter-patter of her bare feet on the floor the only sound she heard. She opened the door just as slowly as the last and cautiously made her way through it.
She turned around briefly to close it behind her quietly, just in case, but she hadn't looked about this time into the room she had just entered. She jumped largely as she heard a voice from somewhere to her left.
"Hello, Miss Granger," came a cool voice which Hermione instantly recognized, although she had not heard it for months.
True as to her knowing guess of the voice's owner, the tall and dark form of Severus Snape came gliding out of the shadowy corner where he seemed to have been sitting at a desk. All pain forgotten, Hermione's curious expression vanished abruptly, glaring at her former professor with hate and rage and quite possibly every other cruel feeling she could muster, hoping it all showed in her face.
"You..." she muttered, half questioningly, half in distaste, staring straight into his cold, deep sea of black eyes. Gazing down only long enough to feel worry run through her body as she patted everywhere on her person for her wand, but found nothing, she looked back up at the man as he spoke.
"Looking for this," said Snape coolly, holding his hand up which also happened to contain Hermione's wand. She glared at him, as if that would cause him to back down.
"What do you want, you filth," she shot at him, trying to sound venomous, but feeling a numb sensation coming over her like a wave, knowing she was as good as dead now if Snape decided to attack.
His lip curled slightly, at her outburst. "Quite brave you are, Miss Granger," he said icily in response to her unhappiness, "to have such words...wand less." He emphasized quite a bit the last word, making her cringe knowing that waste of a man had a hold on her wand.
"I'm not afraid of you," said Hermione very quietly, hatefully. "I've come face to face with You-Know-Who himself," she said, "I think I can handle one Death Eater." Snape winced slightly and probably unnoticeably had Hermione not been looking directly at him. She furrowed her brow slightly at this, but shook it away, more important issues at hand, for instance, how she got here...where here was.
"Where's Harry," she demanded next. Snape's eyes flashed at the name, but he didn't falter much more than that. "What did you do with him?"
"I don't know where Potter is," said Snape, slightly devoid of his usual nasty tone but Hermione didn't take much notice, she only knew that he must be lying and was determined to make him tell her all he knew.
But Snape had continued talking, moving back over to the desk and standing behind it. "However, were you not here, you would be dead," he said with a voice like stone. It was right then that Hermione realized two things: first, that the person who had cast the spell from behind her and shoved her to the ground must have been Snape. Second, that only now she knew where she was: the headmaster's office of Hogwarts. Only now had she looked around and really seen her surroundings since Snape had revealed himself when she came in the room. It disgusted her to see him perched behind what had been Dumbledore's desk, lording over it...that coward.
"Why?" she managed to croak out quietly, acquiring as to the reason of her detainment. She felt angry, confused, and yes, a little scared. But he did not respond to her question. Instead, he walked straight up to her, holding her wand parallel to her. She eyed him suspiciously, unknowing if he now just meant to finish her with her own wand.
But he would have done that already...he had plenty of chances, she thought, her eyes then snapping back up to Snape's, the look on his face proof that he'd read her mind. She could only glare at him contemptuously.
But she was surprised, as he did not attempt to use the wand, but simply held it out to her, waiting for her to take it. She stared at the wand and then him, unsure at first but finally reaching out with caution to grasp it in delicate, slightly shaking hands.
With that Snape, with raised eyebrows, turned on his heel and began strolling towards the door. Hermione snapped out of her temporary confoundment as he did this, realizing he must be leaving and not having an intention of bringing her along.
"Hey!" she said after him in a raised voice, but he did not turn. "Hey! Where are you going? You can't keep me here!"
"I believe you'll find that being Headmaster, I in fact can," he said with a haughty air, making Hermione lightly scoff in disbelief that this was happening. "Not to mention your demise if you are detected outside of this office," he added, the sneer on his face and in his voice dissipating slightly but not too noticeably. And with that, he swept from the room, the door thudding closed behind him causing Hermione to jump as it did, still unwilling to believe that this was even happening.
Feeling very disconnected, she moved towards the door and reached for the handle, fully intending on getting out of there and tackling Snape in the process if she had to. But when she took hold of the door handle, she was zapped, a shock sent through her whole body.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, wrenching her hand back and staring at the door momentarily before she raised her wand and pointed it at the door.
"Alohomora!" She said, knowing before the word left her mouth that it was no good. The door simply clicked, as if cackling at her for even trying such a feeble spell.
"Bombardo!" she tried next, but that was just as unsuccessful as the first. She flung every spell she could think of at the door that could unlock it or knock it down, but no such luck. Finally, she cast one that, far from opening the door, blasted her backwards and she slid against the floor and hit the stairs with a thud.
Now her head really hurt. She cursed in pain and frustration as she clambered to her feet, using the stairs for support. Her whole body now screamed in protest as she slowly moved back towards the sealed doorway, her only escape.
In one more useless attempt of Alohomora, which she used more out of anger than anything, and after it did nothing, she slammed her foot into the door to show her anger at Snape, his locking spells, and herself.
Feeling the most defeated she'd ever had lately, she stalked back through the door of the office, wincing in pain every few steps, slamming the door behind her which caused a few of the portraits back in the office to give shouts of discontent. She paid no attention to them, totally lost in a daze. She felt so alone here now.
The muffled sound of the music she'd heard earlier had indeed come from an old jukebox in the corner of the sitting room where she had slumped into a chair. And to think not that long ago she had awoken to her favorite song, smiling and thinking she must be in a most wonderful place.
But of course, it was in no way the most wonderful place. She was being held hostage by Snape...the man (if he even deserved to be called a man) who murdered Dumbledore. But yet, she wondered what could have possibly possessed him to bring her here..."for her safety," nonetheless. What had possessed him into such an act of kindness, if you could even call it that? He was, after all, keeping her against her will, not to mention refusing to answer any question she had asked.
She could have been imagining it, but something seemed different about Severus Snape. Perhaps he was just run-down from all of his Death Eater work. Hermione scoffed out loud as the thought crossed her mind.
"Poor Snape," she muttered sarcastically to herself as she adjusted herself in the large chair and closed her eyes. "Must be so hard to sit here all nice and comfortable while people are out there dying..." Her last words were muffled though, just like the music had been, as she drifted out of consciousness and back into sleep.