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Minerva yawned and stretched as another morning came. She gingerly got up from bed, changed her night clothes to day and before she could begin a mental debate with herself again, went out of the room. Not a single movement greeted her so she concluded that Severus, the angry wizard from last night, was probably still asleep.
So she tiptoed to the lounge room to check if she guessed right. And there he was indeed, sleeping with hands folded over his stomach, snoring softly. The sight of Severus's face made Minerva smile. He always looked grim, angry or bored and she had often wondered if those were the only facade he has but she was wrong. His face now was not creased and appeared so serene that she could almost forget how annoying the man could be.
Her heart started to sink when she thought about the "bedroom" issue. She was fully aware of his right to take turns as he pointed out last night but she was... wary. If the man did get his turn last night, will things come to light for them? Or will she never get a glimpse of the bed forever? Sigh. Things were not going easy between them so the wizard won't be nice to lend the room again. She peeked at the couch and grimaced at the imagined discomfort. It must be why Severus was still sleeping. It must have taken hours for him to settle himself to sleep. Plus, he had no blanket to keep himself warm. Minerva cringed. She was spoiled, unfair and... sorry.
She crouched a little and without thinking, brushed a curtain of hair from his face. Severus was jolted awake by her gentle touch. He was so alarmed that it was only natural he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him. Severus almost thought he was back to the dark times when any person would have the reason to sneak and kill him. Ah, but he only realized it was Minerva.
"What did you plan on doing?" Severus hissed.
"I-I just brushed – I only was going to wake you up." stammered Minerva.
"Great." The wizard mocked.
"S-Severus."
He saw Minerva's cheeks glowed in pink.
What the heck was she blushing for?He thought and studied his surroundings. Uh-oh. He realized they were on an embarrassing, a great deal of blushing position.
The witch had accidentally sat on his navel, a bit to his groin, when she somehow stumbled down from his pull. She was leaning towards him as his hand clasped tight around her arm while he was propping himself up with an elbow. Merlin! They looked like a scene from a blasted romance movie! He felt warm in his cheeks when they remained still and stared into each other's eyes.
Severus snapped out from tension and hastily released Minerva from his grasp. She quickly stood up and brushed invisible creases from her clothes while the wizard sat and dusted off the imaginary dirt on the couch. They didn't dare look at each other.
"What's the big idea, Minerva?"
"I-I was just going to wake you up and –"
"By brushing the hair off my face?" asked Severus mockingly.
Minerva blushed and evaded the question.
"Now that you're awake, let's prepare breakfast together. I'm not sure if I can handle cooking by myself for a while. It's wise to have you by my side so that you can correct me if I'm doing things wrong and you're right, I might burn myself in the process."
She rambled on and stole a quick glance at the man, who was looking at her curiously, as she added, "And thank you for cooking yesterday. Really."
There was silence and she almost thought he wouldn't say anything until he sighed and said,
"Okay, to the kitchen then."
Severus stood beside Minerva and waited for her to get to work but she only appeared scared and hesitant to even lay a finger on the stove. He took over and demonstrated how to turn the stove on, operate the toaster, juicer, rice cooker, microwave and oven for maybe, future baking purposes. He gave her practical lessons (even how to break eggs) with of course a lot of uncomfortable time going on every time their hands would brush. After maybe ten minutes, the breakfast was ready and they sat and ate.
"Thank you for teaching me, Severus." Minerva formally said. Severus nodded.
"So, what are your plans for today?" She continued. She thought she'd keep the positive vibe going on before anything could make them seriously banter again.
"I think our food supply is already low. We should take time after this to make a list of the food we need and shop tomorrow." She said.
"Why we?" asked Severus grudgingly.
"I suppose you would want to have the food you like on the list."
"You have a point there."
"And I certainly don't know what to do with muggle money."
"Simple. Pay them to the cashier, Minerva."
"I mean I don't know how the "pay and change" works."
"Alright, I'll accompany you." said Severus in exasperation. "Where's the money?"
"I put it inside the drawer in the room. I say we have plenty."
"Of course, Albus wouldn't want us to die because of his evil scheme."
"Won't you give it a rest about Albus?"
The man's eyebrows shot up. "Don't tell me you now like his idea."
"No! Of course not!" said Minerva defensively. "But, we're here now, by the way, so there's no use still fretting over it."
Severus scowled at her and said, "I'll wait for you to finish that toast. You'll help with the dishes."
Minerva hastily ate her toast and helped Severus with the dishes. She was very careful not to brush her hand with Severus's to avoid breaking plates. She was feeling something indefinable about the contact they had earlier and she was hoping it will soon go away and won't bother her forever.
"We're done. Return the cups to the cupboard. I'll get a quill and parchment." said Severus.
"Okay."
"We'll write the list here."
"Okay."
Severus left and she relaxed for the first time that day. She felt stupid holding her breath when Severus brushed past her. She couldn't figure out the tension in the air. After placing the cups in the cupboard, she moved her shoulders and flexed her head side to side as she waited for Severus in dining table. The wizard appeared later and sat across her.
"You write. Let's start." Severus said as he handed her the materials.
"Say aloud the food you want to include in the list and I'll do so too."
Severus nodded.
"And I'll write them down. Ham." started Minerva and she wrote ham.
"Bacon." said Severus.
"Sausage."
"Hotdog."
"Eggs."
"Bread."
"Cheese."
"Butter."
"Oil. We're running low."
"Coffee."
"Not coffee. Tea." corrected Minerva.
"Coffee." insisted Severus.
"Tea."
"COFFEE"
"TEA!"
"COFFEE!"
"Oh, coffee and tea it is." The witch muttered in defeat.
"Good."
"Pork."
"Poultry meat."
"Peaches."
"Bananas."
"Milk."
"Liquor."
"What?" asked Minerva, not sure if she heard it right.
"Just in case we want a sip…"
"Wouldn't that be quite dangerous?" asked Minerva warily.
"I didn't suggest we'd get ourselves drunk and heaven knows what next!" Severus snarled.
Minerva bit her lip and Severus cleared his throat.
"We should buy detergent for our laundry." Severus continued eagerly to divert the topic.
They went on with the list, double checking it to make sure nothing was forgotten.
"What else?" The witch asked.
"We've got plenty of rice grains. I think that's all of them." said Severus.
Minerva nodded. "Yes. I'll keep this parchment with me. So, what are we to do next?"
"Plan our escape?"
"You know very well we have zero chances."
"Then I don't know! Watch T.V. maybe."
"What?"
"T.V., It's the short word for television."
"You really know a lot, Severus."
"Shut up."
They watched shows together, fighting from time to time over the remote. Severus noticed Minerva giving up rather quickly especially when he clutched her hand with his when she tried to reach for the remote.
After lunch, they settled at the lounge and fussed over the town map Albus Dumbledore has given them in the train station. They familiarized themselves with routes, street names and shops and at night, after supper, they bickered again on who will wash the dishes (they ended up washing them together), over channels and shows and about their opposing hypotheses in the murder case on the news. They later parted ways when the clock chimed nine o'clock.
Minerva lay on the bed thinking about the probably sleeping man on the couch outside. He had no blanket and only had a pillow for comfort. She couldn't help but feel bad for Severus. They did not race to the bedroom again this night. Instead, Severus suspiciously settled on the couch after she stood and walked to the room. She would think about possible reasons behind the behavior later for now she got up from bed and opened the closets to search for an extra blanket.
After she found one, she hurried out of the room and called out for him.
There was no answer so she called out again.
Severus was very tired so the nightly race did not ensue again. Let the witch have the room for now since she will miss it when he gains his victory in a perfect time.
He was trying to force himself to sleep but he was preoccupied with his thoughts enough to be successful. Minerva's behavior intrigued him. He remembered how she handed the map to him, holding it at the very edge, to his open hand. She was a little tensed today and he reasoned it must be because they were not used to their closer proximity. He was so engrossed with his thinking that he missed someone calling his name and he was soon cut out from his reverie when a finger poked his arm. He almost screamed like a scared little girl.
"What are you, Minerva? A ghost popping out of nowhere?" Severus growled furiously.
"I was calling you for several times. Eight times to be exact."
"You almost gave me a heart attack!"
The witch shot him an apologetic look.
"Why are you up? What do you want anyway?" snarled Severus.
"Here." Minerva shyly handed out the blanket she was clutching against her chest. For a moment, the wizard looked confused at her nice, unexpected move but a sarcastic brow later lift, an expression of challenge conveyed.
"I didn't know you have a conscience!" Severus said, snatching the blanket. He then covered his body and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. A second has passed and he felt another poke in his arm.
"I feel bad about this whole thing."
His eyes almost opened wide at her words but he chose to ignore her even though curiosity was biting at his skin in this whatever game.
"I'm sorry."
He heard her say and he almost choked on the saliva pooling on the side of his cheek. Great Merlin's beard! She was apologizing! Several thoughts buzzed inside him and he failed to grasp a single one when he felt that bloody poke again.
"I really am, Severus."
Severus contained his irritation, gathered his strength and spoke with his usual dangerous tone, "Will you stop poking me and just go to bed?"
"Sorry." Minerva uttered again in no more than a whisper, surprised at the sudden voice of the man.
"Let me get this clear. I am not deaf. Now, go to bed before I'll throw your "sorry" out of the house and into the garbage can!"
There was no other poke or apology afterwards. Severus wanted to slap his face in disbelief that he felt bad about what he said to Minerva. The urge to take the words back enveloped him when he heard her started to move away. He resisted hard not saying anything anymore but…
"Minerva?" He called out.
"Yes?"
"Good– Go to bed now."
"Yes. Good night, Severus."
And when she was finally inside the room, he was surprised himself to say,
"Good night, Minerva."