This also meant Snape had moved her because she remembered falling asleep in the chair in the sitting room a floor below her. Slowly, she sat up, and glanced to her right to where the bottle of potion still was sitting, and what looked to be a piece of parchment sitting underneath it.
Hermione picked it up, a bit baffled as to its appearance. Severus Snape did not seem the kind of man to leave notes laying around for other people. But nonetheless, she picked it up and lit her wand to read it in the dark.
Drink the rest of the potion.
Hermione stared. That was it? "Drink the potion?" She said aloud, glancing at the vile. "No way," she stated to herself, shaking her head knowing that was just asking for more trouble. But her attention was brought back to the paper she held in her hands. It was writing by itself.
Just drink it. It's for the head wound.
Hermione stared at the message that had just written itself. Assuming it was Snape who had somehow connected the parchment and her speech (or something along those lines), she alarmedly put it back on the nightstand, hoping it would break the connection once she no longer had hold of it. Nothing else happened. She wondered if he was still awake; she should go and see if he was, in fact, doing what she thought he was.
Very carefully, very quietly, she slid off of the bed, the cold sensation of the floor hitting her bare feet again. Just as quietly, she crept towards the staircase and began to descend to the sitting room.
Towards the end of the stairs, she stopped and peered into the room whose only light came from the dying fire under the mantel. But what she saw confused her quite a bit indeed.
Snape was on the couch, seeming to be fast asleep and looking to be in the most uncomfortable position ever which made Hermione feel quite gleeful about the whole thing. Just knowing he was in discomfort, if only slight, made her feel brighter. Obviously, he had not just sent that message.
Although, there was something else about him too, something different that she had never seen in an awakened Snape. His facial expression was relaxed slightly and he looked quite a great deal younger. The strands of black hair fell lazily about his face and he just looked...peaceful.
Hermione shook these thoughts away from her mind though, unwilling to have any reason to warm up to him or something. With these final thoughts gone, she shook her head and went back up the stairs, wishing greatly that she could be the one sleeping on the couch, not the bed...his bed.
The next morning Hermione's eyes opened to find a tray of breakfast sitting before her. The vile of potion was empty now; she had finally just given in during the night and drank it, the pain had been so terrible.
But she was starving; there was no denying that. Hungrily, she shoved the delicious food in her mouth, unable to slow down to savor the taste at all. It definitely had come from the Hogwarts kitchen; Hermione would know that cooking anywhere and it made her feel a great to taste it again.
With a great, heavy sigh, she pushed away the now empty tray away from her and glanced around the sunny room. She had not fully taken it all in the previous day; she had been far too preoccupied with other thoughts. And to think this all even existed beyond the Headmaster's study! She knew for certain that nothing about this was ever mentioned in anything about the school; not even in Hogwarts, a History. But she supposed that whoever the head of the school was, they would certainly like their privacy within their study.
Standing up also came easier for her today, as she stood and began to slowly walk around the room, exploring. First, she went to one of three windows that were around her height. (The rest of the light came from the domed ceiling and much higher windows). A little cautiously, she gazed out, her eyes meeting the sight of the grounds at the edge of the forest and Hagrid's hut. It was early, judging by where the sun was and the vacancy of the dewy grass. She stared out for a long while, watching the sun move from beyond the trees and hit the sloping grounds, finally casting light on everything all the way to the lake where the water glittered.
Hermione finally glanced over her shoulder behind her for something else to look at. Turning around fully, she leaned back against the windowsill and stared ahead of her, arms folded, her mind starting to work again.
There had to be a way out. That's all she could think of. That, and finding Harry or at least finding out about him. Thinking of him only sent her stomach for a quick plummet down to her toes, worries seeming to rush through her at the speed of light.
Again, she gazed around, determined that the way out was right in front of her, she was simply just not seeing it. After what seemed like forever, the last possible solution came to mind: leave by force. She went back over to the bed and sat on the edge, starting to concoct a plan to get her out of here and with any luck, find out something about Harry.
Finally, after hours of going over it in her head, she decided she was ready. It was midday now as she crept out of the bedroom and down the stairs, making sure to check for any sign of Snape before descending fully into the living room.
The room was empty and so she moved very carefully over to the door that lead to the office, her wand drawn and ready, waiting.
Her plan was fairly simple, consisting of taking Snape by surprise, granted she could keep her mind closed. She knew how easily he could penetrate the mind and so all of those hours she had devoted to clearing her head.
Fortunately, not too long after she had positioned herself behind the door, she heard the office's door open and close with a hard thud. Hermione's stomach knotted in apprehension as she made one last attempt to keep her mind closed. She had to be quick, she knew that much because there would be little time in which to do this.
A frustrated noise and what sounded like a fist pounding down on wood told Hermione that Snape had probably just a trying first part of his day. But she felt no remorse; quite the contrary. She hoped he was all the more side tracked with his own thoughts, making it easier for her to have a clear shot.
A disgruntled sigh and scraping of a chair readied Hermione for her plan. She stood there, awaiting the turning of the doorknob, trying to keep her mind under control.
Apparently though, she was not concealing her mind hard enough, because Snape's movement stopped on the other side of the door and he spoke as though right in front of her.
"Put the wand away Miss Granger," he said. "Please, I intend no harm to you—"
But at the same exact time as he was finishing that sentence, she yelled out the spell as she thrust the door open as well. Much to her surprise, it hit him squarely in the chest; sending him flying backwards and after knocking his head hard into a side table, lay quite still, knocked out.
Hermione breathed out shakily as she cautiously came out from under the doorframe and walked toward the unconscious man on the floor, a small stream of blood issuing from the wound in the back of his head. She tried hard not to glance down at him, brushing past to get out of the room as soon as possible.
With great relief, she found he had not recast the protective charms on the door yet and it opened with ease. But as she started out of the office, something pulled back at her consciously. Her hand on the knob, she stopped and breathed steadily for a few moments, her mind now re-occupied with more thoughts.
What exactly was stopping her from leaving when she clearly had the open chance befuddled her slightly. But it was just the way he had said something about not trying to hurt her; something in the way he sounded that she hadn't expected was what stopped her in her tracks, and now she was torn.
She glanced behind her, then back towards the stairs in front of her before heaving a sigh and closing her eyes, knowing what she had to do.
Softly, she closed the door and turned around, a pitying look on her face as she looked down at the unconscious Snape still with a trickle of blood coming from under the black mass of hair. Kneeling down next to him, Hermione supported him at the neck with her hand while she muttered a spell to protect the gash in the back of his head. Gently, she lay his head back down and stood up, trying to think of what to do.
Still unknowing as to what was driving her to help him, she decided to just move him upstairs to his bed.
"Wingardium Leviosa," she sighed as she looked at his limp form, never having seen him so helpless-looking before. Snape's body rose off the floor, leaving a deep red puddle there, and started floating towards the doorway as Hermione moved him.
The spiral stairs themselves were the tricky part, trying not to bang his already injured head into the banister as she levitated him up them. Finally, she made it in the room and rested him down on the bed with ease, lifting the charm and stowing her wand in her pocket as she walked over to him.
She simply just looked down on him for a time, trying to decide what she was doing exactly. It was a while before she came to her senses again and decided it would be best to try and bandage it a little and maybe try and brew that potion he had made for her.
She conjured gauze and bandages with her wand and carefully placed them on the back of his head, hoping he didn't come to while she was trying to fix him up. She knew it would have unnerved both of them, not to mention how awkward it would be if he woke up while she was touching his head; she judged that he was not someone who enjoyed being handled by others.
After getting him all patched up, Hermione left the room and went down to the sitting room where she immediately crashed on the large sofa, her mixed feelings following her all the way back into another one of those deep, deep sleeps.