The Snake and the Eagle

Chapter 5 - First Steps

It was Saturday and the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, it was quite cold outside, but a shy sun kept shining through the floating white clouds. Students went to the village or enjoyed some open air activities. Alexandra joined Albus, Minerva, Hagrid and Alastor in a pleasant walk to Hogsmeade where they had something to drink at The Three Broomstick Pub. Then, the two witches made a tour of the amazing little shops. Alexandra especially enjoyed her visit to Honeydukes, where she bought herself a good supply of chocolate and candies. They returned to the castle late in the afternoon to take some rest, and get ready to go in the Great Hall for dinner. There was nothing better than a whole free day to take away stress of classes and cheer people up. It was almost at the end of the meal, that Professor Falconbridge first took notice of the empty chair beside her.

"Do you know where Severus has gone?" she asked Minerva, but she had no idea. They had last seen him that morning at breakfast, so she asked Albus.

"When I invited him to come with us to the pub, he told me he had to brew some important healing potions for Poppy's storage. I'm afraid he might be still working in his office. When he has his mind set on something, he's too stubborn to refuse even to eat or sleep until it's accomplished," he said with twinkling eyes.

"Alexandra, would you please be so kind to go have a look, and try to convince him to take at least some sandwiches?" he requested of the young witch.

"It would be easier if you ask her to go scraching a dragon behind the ears!" Minerva sneered.

"An impossible challenge? I like it!" Alexandra exclaimed, smiling amused. She stood up, summoned a tray with some sandwiches and a goblet of icy pumpkin juice to bring him. She crossed the Entrance Hall, and went down the narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons and to Severus's office. She knocked on the door balancing the tray on her left arm.

"Who's there?" sounded a deep voice from within.

"It's me, Alexandra," she timidly answered. She opened the door when he allowed her to come in.

It was a cold dark room. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars, in which floated all kinds of weird things. The fireplace was dark and empty. He was bent over a big black cauldron in the middle of the room, stirring the bubbling substance in it. He was wearing a pair of black trousers, and a white linen shirt with the collar unbottoned. He was ghostly pale with tiredness, and his hair was completely wet and plastered to his face, for the vapours streaming from the concoction. She was beginning to wonder whether that could be the reason why his hair used to look so greasy. He was probably always brewing something or another, and had no time to wash it properly.

"Dumbledore was worried about you, so he sent me to bring you some food," she said laying down the tray on a small empty desk.

"I have no time to waste in such unimportant things. This potion needs to be stirred continously, and I'm not going to spoil it now that it's almost ready," he said in a bitter, annoyed voice. He was really that stubborn then, but he did not know she was worse than him.

"If there's no chance I can make you stop, I'll stir it while you eat!" she said forcing the handle of the ladle out of his hands.

"I don't need your help!" he spat irritated.

"You really need some rest, if you don't want to drop dead. You look like the shadow of yourself. Don't worry I was pretty good at Potions. Clockwise or counter-clockwise?" she asked with a resolute tone, which allowed no further objections.

"Clockwise," he instructed her with a resigned sigh. He went to sit behind his desk and began eating, never taking his eyes away from her. When he had finished the food and the juice, he stood up and walked back to the cauldron.

"As you've been so kind to give me a hand, I'm going to take advantage of it to close my eyes for five minutes on that couch over there. The potion will be ready when it turns a translucent blue. By the way, I must suggest you to stir it in this way, as it's less tiring and more efficacious."

As he was saying this, he moved behind her. He encircled her body within his long arms, putting his hands on hers. Her body suddenly stiffened at the touch of his body against hers. His shirt was so thin and wet, that it revealed every single muscle of his his strong arms and wide chest. She blushed furiously, while she nodded in agreement. Then, he moved to the leather couch to lay on it with his arms folded on his chest, resting his head against its back. He smirked satisfied with himself for the success of his attempt to embarass the nosy witch.

"Serves you well, for trying to command me like a puppet!" he thought, throwing a last glance at her. As soon as he closed his eyes, he fell in a deep exausted sleep, and gently began snoring. Meanwhile, she angrily glared at him trying to calm herself down.

"How dare he take such liberties with me? I'm sure he did it on purpose!" she thought scandalized, while still stirring.

In an hour's time, the potion turned to a beautiful translucent indigo hue. There was nothing else left to do, untill it cooled enough to be bottled. Her duty was over, so she moved towards the couch, to tell him it was ready. He was sleeping so peacefully, that she had not the heart to wake him up. A cold shiver run through her spine, when she realized how chilling were the dungeons at night, so she had a look around the room for something suitable to cover the 'sleeping beauty'. She would have felt terribly guilty, if she left him to freeze himself in that unhealthy place. She lit the fireplace with a snap of her fingers, then she found a thick, black travel cloak hanging from a wall, and she carefully wrapped it around the man before leaving the room.

***

When he woke up in the morning, he felt a little disoriented to find himself in his office instead of his bed. He saw the cloak that covered him, and realized he had certainly fallen asleep on the couch. He painfully got up to have his morning toilet and put on some clean clothes, before going to have some breakfast upstairs. His body ached all over. It had been a very bad idea to lay on that couch in the first place. He made a grimace of pain as he took seat at the High Table with the others.

"Good morning Severus. Did you sleep well?" Alexandra mockingly greeted him.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he snarled with annoyance.

"You were so sound asleep, that it would have been a crime to disturb you," she giggled.

"So, it's you I should thank for the pain each movement gives me!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

That morning Potions classes were quiter than usual, as he spent them sitting behind his desk, giving up every attempt to go pacing among the students, as he was used to. The pain obviously increased his bad mood, so he kept bullying the students from his chair. When he reached the faculty in the staff room for their afternoon tea-break, he was still in a very bad mood.

"Do you feel any better now, Severus?" Alexandra asked him, while he was taking seat in a low chair close to the table where the tea-tray laid.

"My neck is still killing me!" he complained, trying to lessen the pain rubbing it with a hand.

"Let me see if I can help you," she said, stepping behind his chair.

"No, thanks. I think you already did enough!" Snape protested.

"I see ... the muscles are all tensed. Unbotton the collar of your shirt and the first bottons of the jacket," she instructed him ignoring his words, checking his neck with her delicate fingers.

"What ?" he shouted indignated.

"How else am I suppose to reach your neck to massage it? Come on! It will alleviate the pain," she exclaimed exasperated.

"I don't need any ... ouch!" he shouted as a fit of pain cut his words. He had made a bad move to free his neck from her grip.

"You see!" she pointed out with maternal tones of scolding a naughty child refusing to follow her advice. Before that evident proof of the necessity of that massage, and having enough of that pain, he resigned himself to let her do whatever she wanted, as long as it could help stop the pain.

She began massaging his aching neck, lightly at the beggining, stronger as soon as the tension loosened. He could not say whether it was more pleasant the massage itself or the gentle touch of her warm fingers on his skin. When the tension finally disappeared, he closed his eyes and his head fell backwards agaist her soft belly. A moan of pleasure escaped his mouth against his will. As soon as he realized what he had just done, he opened wide his eyes in horror, blushing ashamed of himself. Alexandra was giggling and, even worse, she was not the only one in the room doing so.

He tried to take back some control of himself. He stood up, and stormed out of the room with the weak excuse to have lots of marking to do. He hated himself for having allowed her to humiliate him in front of his fellow-teachers. His neck was all right now, but at what price! In the staff room, Alexandra laughed triumphantly. She had had her revenge on him for the previous night. Though, she did not mean to, when she first offered him her help.

"I know I'm going to pay for this," she muttered, staring at the closed door he had disappeared through, causing the whole room to burst out laughing.