SlenderPanda, this one´s for you! Relax :)
I hope you all enjoy this one!
Severus nearly felt that it had been a satisfying day as he sat down in his favorite armchair in his living room, the few top buttons of his shirt undone, a glass of single malt whiskey next to him on a small desk and the Daily Prophet in his hand. He enjoyed the silence that was only disturbed by the cracks of the flames feed by the wood in the fireplace. This was one of the rare days that he cherished so much – the students had managed to behave, to actually show some effort and additionally, there had not been any cauldrons blown up, leaving him relaxed and calm as he had not needed to scream around.
Just as he had settled down in this comforting environment and had started to read the front page of the Daily Prophet a sharp knock on his door destroyed everything. Severus got up and went to the door, hoping that whoever was it, would not bring him news that disturbed his calmness, it just felt so good.
As soon as he had opened a door, a silver flash passed him and went into his rooms. A surprised look captured his face and as he closed the door and turned, he saw that his unexpected visitor was actually Rolanda. She was pacing in front of his couch, looking unusually impatient.
"What can I do for you, Rolanda?", he asked and put his newspaper down while she glanced at the watch she wore on her wrist.
"I need a potion, it would be nice if you could hurry up to tell me if you have it!"
"Ahm... okay...which one are you demanding?", Severus wanted to know, still stunned by her nervous and rushed appearance.
"A potion to keep me awake, Poppy was rejecting to give it to me, but I really need it, I have so much work to do..."
"Would you please stop pacing? I will take a look", he said and opened the secret passage that lead to his private lab, inwardly considering if it was wise to hand her this potion while she was obviously stressed so much. He did not need much time to find the right potion and as he returned to his living room he saw that Rolanda had not listened to his words as she was still pacing around. She wanted to reach for the potion, but he pulled the arm holding the phial behind his back.
"May I ask why you have so much stress?"
Severus looked at her, deeply concerned as she normally did not have much stress, only teaching the first years and looking over the practice schedules for Quidditch. But it already started to show off: her silver blonde hair was in a messy braid, she looked a bit pale and dark traces were showing under her eyes.
"I don´t know why that would bother you, but if you insist: The old, crazy Dumbledore asked me to organize a motion week, something that would involve everybody, not only the Quidditch teams, in sports activities and he wants some very specific sports that are nearly impossible to combine! So I have to look where to put the activities on the grounds and additionally I have to practice every sport and I have to convince the colleagues to do some supervising. To conclude, I am extremely busy doing training the whole day after the flying lessons and organizing the schedule at night and don´t you even think about asking about how much I have eaten or how much amount of sleep I have gotten!", she explained, talking extremely fast, never stopping to walk around in front of him, then she shot another glance at her watch. "Are we done now? I am already 10 minutes behind my own schedule, I should be doing my evening practice by now!"
Severus made a quick decision, feeling more and more concerned as he watched her. Normally, she was the calm one and he was put on the edge regularly by his students, and then she would tell him that he needed to be more relaxed.
"No. Obviously you did not had much sleep in the last days and I would bet that Poppy had the same reason not to give you that potion like me. It would be bad for your health and as a friend, I am giving you the advise to rest!"
"I don´t have any time to rest!", Rolanda groaned and tried to reach for the phial, but Severus would not let her get hold on it. He let the phial disappear and grabbed her wrists, dragging her to sit down on the couch.
"Sit, Rolanda. Just sit down and listen! I care about you and therefore I need to protect you from yourself right now!"
Severus did not feel impressed by the glances she shot at him, furious that he was about to dictate her what to do.
"You look horrible, Ro! I will help you to relax, okay?"
She looked as if she would rebel against him any second, she was, like him, a independent person, always sticking to her own roots and therefore nobody to be ruled, so he prepared for a outburst, but a few moments later her reaction did not met his expectations. Her shoulders dropped just like her head and she covered her face with her hands, letting a sigh escape her. Severus sat down next to her and put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the tensed muscles through the fabric of her blouse. Slowly his hands started to work out the kinks and she leaned in, enjoying how she immediately felt better. She swung her legs up at the couch after pushing her boots off and took a deep breath.
"That feels good", she murmured and Severus smiled, asking:"Why didn´t Dumbledore tell us about this motion week?"
"He wanted to do it tomorrow during the staff meeting... I don´t know how he got this idea... He must have discovered Eurosport while vacation..."
As a half-blood he knew what she was talking about and grinned by the thought.
"So, tell me what you have been doing in the last days, your muscles must be sore if you´ve done so much sports..."
"Yeah, kind of... Ouuch..."
"Sorry, this was hard knot", Severus apologized as she twitched. "But it is out now."
"I felt that! It did hurt a lot... on the other hand, my shoulders feel free now! So, there will be a volleyball pitch in the sand by the lake and I think mostly the girls will appreciate the yoga classes..."
"You´ve been doing yoga all week and you are not relaxed?", Severus wondered, his massaging hands wandering from her shoulders over her whole back.
"Oh... maybe a little bit, but I am doing it in the morning, so I have all the assignments of the day in front of me...", she explained and she could not hold back a sigh as his indeed talented hands loosened her muscles. Once again, Severus was surprising her with showing another new, normally hidden side of his – the caring Severus, the listener with the magic-working hands who was able to make her relax in every possible way.
"Why are you not doing it in the evening? It would be good to conclude the day, make a cut."
"Hm... maybe... and it would erase the stiffness that I experience in my back when I am done with ice skating..."
Her body protested as Severus' hands stopped their work for a small moment as he looked at her hair in surprise.
"Where the hell are you doing ice skating?", he asked. "Wait... could... ahm, could you lie down? It would make it easier to..."
"Okay", Rolanda said, maybe a little bit to fast, but Severus had enough work with dealing with his own thoughts that were breaking out of the appropriate lines – what if he kissed her right away and then... stop it! She lay down on her stomach, having similar thoughts, but she wiped them away by trying to convince herself that he was not interested in her in that way... She remembered is earlier question and explained, while his fingers were doing their circular movements again:"I had to try several times, but then I was able to make the Room of Requirements turn into a ice rink. I am practicing there, but Albus said that it would not be a solution for the motion week as the Room should stay a secret to the biggest part of the students, so he promised me to work on a magical ice as he really wants skating in the program..."
Shivers ran down her spine as she felt his breath brushing over her neck and she turned her head to face him, supporting herself on her arms in the process. He looked nervous and she could not help but smile about this – he looked so cute, what was quite uncharacteristic. Severus felt how his heartbeat fastened and he had to fight to stop himself from staring at her lips, to silence the thought that it would not make a harm to kiss them...
"I am sorry...", he murmured and then cupped her face, which was occupied by a surprised expression, with his hands, pulled her towards him and turned his thoughts into the reality as he kissed her.
It would have been an understatement to say that the kiss felt breathtaking. His feelings seemed to be on a roller coaster, not intending to come down for a very long time. Then he let go, sure that he would face the music for what he had done any second, but then he felt her hands grabbing the front of his shirt, her voice sounding nearly like a plea as she whispered:"Don´t stop, that was..."
"...relaxing?", he finished her sentence and she giggled while she literally melted back into his arms for another long kiss.
AN: did you see my advise? 20 minutes of Yoga every evening did help me a lot the last weeks ;)