Chapter 18- Solace

Awed by her splendor
Stars near the lovely
Moon cover their own
Bright faces
When she
Is roundest and lights
Earth with her silver
-Sappho

An alleged hand brushed gently across her cheek, moving slowly down to her neck. She moved her head to the side, realizing that it was rested on a fluffy pillow. The hand removed itself from her soft skin, and she mumbled at it, hoping it would resume its caress. It didn't come back, so she parted an eyelid slightly, but closed it when an unpleasant light shone on her pupil. Mumbling more, she took in a deep breath.
"I can breathe," she thought to herself. "I must have made it to heaven."
Still refusing to open her eyes, she sat up, but groaned loudly when she noticed the excruciating pain in her neck. Forcing her lids open, she realized she was still in the tent, enclosed in an excessively hefty blanket. She slowly turned her head to the side to find Severus next to her, sleeping, dare she say, serenely. Aletta studied his features and noticed how they weren't so hard when he was in slumber. He conspicuously had a boyish look to him, his hair tousled about like a youngster that refused to comb it. She was all the more shocked by how his body didn't seem so inflexible and uptight like it frequently gave the impression to.
"Something off beam?"
Aletta squealed when she heard his silken voice incise through the silence like a blade through margarine.
"No!" she said with aggravation as he sat up. "And what in the name of all that's holy did you do to me last night?"
Snape smirked slightly and answered, "I cured you of your allergies." Aletta glared at him and he added, "Temporarily, of course. The spell will wear off in a couple of weeks."
Snape had now walked over to the kitchen in the tent and opened up the fridge. He grabbed a carton and poured two glasses of orange juice before he walked over to her.
Her eyes abruptly expanded when she saw that he was only wearing his boxer shorts. Now she had an ideal vision of his exposed chest. Her eyes followed the firm lines from his shoulder blades down to his compact abdomen. She noted how his muscles were adequately shaped and well built. He had no wrestler body, to her relief, yet he did have a burly one. Severus watched her as she zoomed her gaze down his muscular legs to his feet.
"Funny," she said sarcastically. "I've always assumed that you had cloven hooves."
Snape chuckled and handed her the glass of juice, "Madame Pomfrey said the same thing when she healed it." Aletta's brows furrowed at him in question and he added, "A three-headed dog planted a gory gash in my left foot."
Aletta glanced at his foot again and noticed a perceptible scar. She still had on a perplexed stare when she returned her gaze to him.
"Don't ask," he said curtly. "The damn dog is long gone now. We only required him provisionally for the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm sure your uncle has enlightened you on that indisputably, attention-grabbing year?"
Aletta nodded and took her first sip from the glass in her hand. When she swallowed the tangy juice, she noted again, "I had also presumed that you had the torso of an orangutan."
Snape patted his hand against his wholly hairless chest and chuckled, "Would you be more satisfied if my chest were full of boisterous, black fur?"
"Perhaps," she joked and he smirked with amusement.
"I take it we are finally getting along?" he droned and took a swig from his glass as though it were an alcoholic drink.
"Apparently," she said sarcastically, and she pushed the wool blanket off of her to reveal her attire to be a single, short shirt.
"Did you do this?" she looked at it with aversion and then pulled the coverlet up around her pelvis to envelop her unclothed legs.
"I did it with a spell, so you need not worry that I did it physically," he assured quickly as he tore his eyes away from where her bare legs used show. "And I put you under the quilt prior to it."
"Why did you make them so scarce?" she asked with a blush and he sighed.
"I suppose I thought you would be more at ease with a reduced amount of clothes on," he mumbled as he turned away from her to fill up his glass.
"Do you think that I wear virtually nothing when I sleep?" she teased as she pulled her bag to her side to search for shorts.
"Would you like more juice?" he asked with grumpiness, she imagined because of her vexing.
Aletta shook her head with a smile and downed the rest of her juice. She set the glass next to her and pulled on a pairs of shorts that she hauled out of her bag.
"You know," she said conversationally as Snape sat down in a chair next in the center of the tent. "I thought you were going to kill me last night."
Snape's eyes darkened vaguely as he gazed into her own bright ones. "What kind of a fool do you take me for? Even if I did want to kill you, I would have hired somebody to do the job so I may keep mine."
"That's consoling," Aletta joked as she stood up. "I have a feeling I should watch my back more often."
Snape smirked as his eyes roamed her chest that was now puffed out, her arms skyward. He then heard an unpleasant crack.
"Graceful," he drawled as he leaned back in his chair. "Does your back always do that?"
Aletta cracked it again before she relaxed her muscles and collapsed in a nearby chair. "Well, yes," she replied. "But it seems to do it more than usual when I'm anxious and tense. Perhaps you should cut the pace of our walking down to a reasonable speed."
Snape rolled his eyes. "My speed is superior. However, yours seems to be analogous to a snail's."
"I think I walk perfectly fine, thank you very much!" Aletta said with annoyance as she cracked her neck and winced at the soreness of it.
"A high-quality rubdown would relieve you of those objectionable aches."
"And where, pray tell, do you recommend me get one out in the middle of the Dark Forest?"
Snape raised his brow and after a long pause he said derisively, "I'm certain there's some creature out there that specializes in massages. Shall we ask around?"
Aletta scoffed at him with a smirk and said calmly, "You're incorrigible, you know that?"
"I was told, maybe, once or twice," he replied with a small smile.
Aletta chuckled as she shook her head, "You know, you really aren't that horrifying after all."
Snape bowed his head in mock gratitude, "Thank you, mademoiselle."
Aletta laughed again at his unsurpassed wit. She never would have guessed that he had such a sense of humor. Uncle Albus was right; she thought as she looked into Severus' gleaming black eyes, perhaps I will have fun.

A/N: Sorry it's so short! I promise the next chapter will be really long! Please review! It makes me write faster! Oh, and I probably won't have another chapter up for awhile. My exams are this week and my mind is going to be engrossed in studying. Thanks! Au revoir!
S.S.