Chapter 19:
"You've only done this for an hour, you're not supposed to do it perfectly on your first try!" I said to a grumbling Severus while he struggled with the reins on top of Difficult. I was standing in front of them, holding firmly onto Difficult's curb strap. Difficult seemed to have forgotten everything about good behaviour when Severus climbed on top of her, which forced me to try and keep her still. My old teacher didn't help the matter with his constant snappish retorts and impatient growling, all of which was his futile attempt to hide his discomfort on top of the horse. He should have known by now that hiding his emotions from me was a waste of time, but that didn't stop him from trying all the same. It did, however, do nothing but make me angry, which in turn made Difficult more difficult.
"It is this bloody horse! It's being a pain in the arse on purpose!"
"It's a SHE, and that's because she can sense your fear-"
"I am not afraid of her!" my companion growled before his expression changed to one of worry when the animal he was sitting on took a sudden leap to the left. Severus's weight shifted slightly, but he was in no danger of falling off. Still, his knuckles were ash white from his grip on the reins.
I held up a hand in defeat. "All the same. She's just doing it to wind you up, if you didn't growl at her all the time, she'd probably be nicer to you."
That earned me another growl from Severus who seemed to have given up for the day. He awkwardly climbed off the horse while he muttered a string of inaudible curses. I heard something in the lines of 'stupid bloody horse' and 'of all the horses we could get, it had to be this one'. Severus seemed slightly wobbly on his feet, but Difficult looked happy to finally get rid of him. I could only assume that Severus had tightened the grip with his legs so hard it had been painful for both of them.
I sent him another exasperated look but kept my comments to myself. No need to fuel his anger even more. "How about we head back to camp?" I suggested instead.
Severus let out another huff. I assumed he would rather be alone to sulk, but he followed me reluctantly over the hill to where Nick and his men had set up camp.
It was a lovely day for riding. There was a light breeze in the air which rustled the grass underneath our feet. The sun hung low on the horizon and cast a lovely orange light over the landscape.
We had been riding through the spider infested woods for another half a day before we finally reached the end. The forest slowly turned into a hilly grassland bathed in sunlight. One could make out the glittering sea in the distance, and in the other direction was a chain of small mountains. Looking at the lovely scenery it struck me how I had no idea where in England we were. I had never travelled away from the village of Watercrest during my stay in the 1400s, and none of the villagers could tell me of a landmark or town nearby that sounded familiar. Judging by the heat I assumed we were somewhere in the south of England, but how far south I couldn't tell.
We had to stop early that day when Sir Goddart's horse, Mattheus, decided he'd had enough. Suddenly the horse simply refused to continue no matter how much we tried to coax him. Goddard sighed deeply and explained that although Mattheus was a very reliable horse, he could be terribly stubborn at times. Especially when he was tired there was nothing one could do to convince him to continue. Therefore, we settled down right there in the middle of the grassy field.
I thought it would be a good idea to use the time we had left of sunlight to teach Severus to ride. But alas, I now regretted my choice.
"How does it look?" Asked Goddart when we returned to camp. He was about to skin a pair of rabbits which he must have caught himself. Nick and Fergus were absent.
"How does what look?" I asked without thinking. In my annoyance over Severus, I had forgotten our excuse to disappear. To our three companions, it would seem suspicious if one of us suddenly turned out to know nothing about riding. They had, after all, witnessed both our bodies ride on several occasions. All of which had been done by me. Therefore, I had lied and told the others we would ride around the perimeter and check our surroundings.
Severus sent me a withering look and interrupted my hiccup "Nothing out of the ordinary as far as we could see" he said while he started to take off Difficults's saddle. At least that part of riding he had mastered quite quickly.
Unfortunately, even if Snape was a keen learner, he was also a perfectionist to a fault. As a result, he became angry at himself for failing to learn something immediately. While we sat down by the fire and started to help Goddart with dinner, I could sense he was still frustrated with himself. I wondered how he must have been at school. I could clearly picture him as an obnoxious little know-it-all with a pair of overly large glasses and pocket protection. A treacherous snort escaped my mouth when the image of a little Severus waving his hand eagerly to answer a professor's question popped into my head. The real Severus sent me a suspicious look when I started to giggle for no apparent reason, but he made no comment in Goddart's presence.
I let Severus and Goddart prepare the rabbits while I stirred the stew and tended to the fire. The idea of skinning animals always made me queasy, and I took advantage of my prerogative as a woman (at the moment at least) to skip that very activity. After half an hour, Nick and his second friend Fergus came back from a round of foraging. They brought with them some wild herbs and roots for the stew, and soon enough dinner was served. By the time we could finally dig into our meal, our moods had improved considerably.
It turned out Sir Goddart was a well-spoken pureblood of wealth and the next eldest son of a large family of eight brothers. He had become a knight after he had singlehandedly saved fifteen children from a fire in an orphanage. The king had no idea Goddart had used magic to save those children, but it was still an impressive feat. By muggle standards, Goddart's blood was not noble enough to become a knight, but the king had made sure his bravery was rewarded by making him a knight of his elite inner circle. That was where he had met Nick and Fergus, who had also earned the Kings trust in their own different ways. Nick because he was exceptionally charming, and Fergus because he had given some intel from the Scottish.
Nicks elaborate tale about Sir Goddart's feat had made Goddart himself squirm and blush. I joined in with the praise until Goddart turned as red as a tomato. With his bright red hair and his wild beard, it looked like his head was on fire.
"But anyways . . . tell me Sir Ronald" said Goddart, eager to change the subject. "you seem to be a skilled wizard, but I have never seen you at Hogwarts. Where did you have your magical education?"
'Sir Ronald' also known as Severus answered without hesitation. "Oh, I did go to Hogwarts, we simply must have missed each other."
I was uncertain if it was a good idea to admit that. He could have invented some other school after all . . .
"May I ask you what house you were in?" Snape asked. His tone was surprisingly friendly and, bizarrely enough, he was smiling . . .
"I was a Slytherin myself" said Goddart. I could feel Severus shift and sigh on the seat next to me. He might have mentally groaned. "And Sir Fergus and Sir Nicolas?" he asked. Nearly headless Nick's house was obvious, but I was curious about Sir Fergus. He was too quiet to tell what house he had belonged to.
"Gryffindors both of them" said Goddart a bit dismissively. As if they had a bit of a tragic history best left in the past. I guessed it was because Slytherin and Gryffindor were rivalry houses.
"Ah yes, that explains it. I was a Ravenclaw myself. And my lovely wife here was a Hufflepuff" said Snape. Again, with a very un-Snapeish tone. A thought formed in my mind, and I gave Snape a raised eyebrow. My suspicion was confirmed when Snape met my eyes with a sideways smirk. He was trying to impersonate . . . me!
"Married across house rivalry? Said Goddart teasingly. "A Ravenclaw married to a Hufflepuff? I didn't think you guys liked each other."
"Usually, we don't. I've always thought Ravenclaws were a haughty bunch. But I guess you are not the most profound Ravenclaw out there" I said and smiled mischievously to my 'husband'. Now that I had figured out his social tactics, it was time to create my own. "But we did not meet at school, you see. My husband is a bit older than me. Apparently, I have a thing for older men."
Snape rolled his eyes at me.
"So, how did you two meet? You seem to be so close" asked Goddart curiously.
"Oh, it was so romantic!" I started immediately before Snape had time to open his mouth. "He used to tutor me before I went to Hogwarts. Then we didn't see each other for years until I graduated, and we sort of bumped into one another. I fell for him instantly. He is vastly clever and incredibly skilled in magic. You won't believe." I fanned my face with one hand and gave Snape my most adoring look. I had meant my description of him to be teasing, but I realised I was essentially describing the real Snape.
Snapes jaws tightened, and I could swear I had managed to make him blush. I patted his arm teasingly before I continued. "We used to meet in secret for a long time before we got married. My parents didn't approve at first and wanted me to marry this German lord instead, but there was no one else in the world I wanted." My story was so sappy I could hear Snape sigh in exasperation next to me, but he didn't say anything to contradict it. In fact, I could sense through our mental link he was slightly amused.
It took us three days to ride over the grassy fields before we reached the outskirts of a new forest. This time instead of riding through it, we headed along the forest outskirts and our path bent slightly towards the sea. By then we also ran out of food, which was why we decided to stop by a river in the early afternoon and proceeded to catch some fish. After cooking it and wrapping it up with a stasis charm, we all agreed to take a break off the horses and stayed by the river until nightfall. The sun was bright and warm, and it felt good to simply relax and talk. Severus of course, stayed most of the day in the tent for with a cooling charm. He didn't like the heat, and he had expressed his discomfort on several occasions earlier that day. His relief when we decided to have a break from riding was obvious, but he willingly came with me for another riding lessons later that evening when the temperature dropped.
Snape and I had been sneaking off to practice riding every evening since we came out of the acromantula forest. By now Severus had become significantly better at riding on his own. After he overcame his initial fear of Difficult, his company started to become surprisingly pleasant during our little riding lessons. His behaviour was so very different from what it had been in Grimmauld place. He was clever and witty and even made some strange sarcastic jokes at times. Some of which I had to consider for a long time before I understood.
He still tended to hide away in the tent when our socialising with Nick and his men became too boisterous. I often worried about him when he left us, but I understood his reasons. Severus Snape had never been a social being before and I could understand how this sudden change in social surroundings was tiring. However, there was a certain change in the mood whenever Severus left me alone with the merry men of Sir Nicolas. They seemed to believe that my 'husband' would eat them alive if they said something that may come across as inappropriate, and thus chose to stick to boring topics or awkward silences. I, who had no scruples with their maleness, found it terribly annoying to always need Severus's presence to keep a normal conversation. I wanted to be social without needing him with me all the time, but alas, medieval etiquette made that impossible.
What worried me more were his seemingly never-ending nightmares. He would often startle in the dead of night with a surge of terror and leave the tent for little strolls. He had found a way to silence himself when he woke up, but his surge of terror would still wake me with a racing heartbeat and an uncomfortable feeling of loneliness. I could never fall asleep again until he came back from his stroll and relaxed himself. I couldn't explain why his nightmares woke me too, but I thought I could guess where this came from. I was beginning to pick up some of his emotions even outside of the switching periods. Some of which I had trouble distinguishing from my own at times . . .
I was so curious what his nightmares were about, I wanted to talk to him about them so badly. But I didn't know what I could do to help him. I also doubted he would want to share them with me, which made me hesitate to bring it up.
It had become easier to read his expressions in daytime too. My theory was that it was not just because I was getting to know him better, but because I could sense, through our link, what his expression meant.
We didn't have any more conversations about the deep stuff, but I made a point to ask him these little things to get to know him better. What was his favourite food? Did he have a hobby? What was his favourite animal? He would always give me these terribly unhelpful answers like; "The blood of my enemies", "terrorising children" and "the edible kind."
"Aw come on! You must have a favourite animal!" I said on our way back to camp after one of our most pleasant riding lessons yet. Severus had finally managed to mount the horse without trouble at all. A feat which had boosted his confidence and made the experience considerably more enjoyable for him. "Fine, my favourite animals are rabbits. Now will you tell me yours?" I said after he refused to answer my question.
"Hmm . . . it's definitely not horses."
"Stop teasing me I really want to know!"
"No, I'm having too much fun." He said with an evil smirk.
"You are such a tease" I pouted while I took off Difficult's saddle to put it away with the other saddles. Severus followed me with Difficult in tow to put her in the makeshift enclosure that Nick and his men usually set up by camp.
On our way there we passed Sir Fergus who just came out of the enclosure after grooming his horse Gaius. When sir Fergus saw me, his face suddenly lit up and he gave me a tentative smile. I returned the smile like I would anyone who smiled at me, but his expression changed to a frown when he noticed Severus behind me. His gaze shifted between me and my 'husband' for a second before he nodded briefly to Severus and hurried away. I looked after him curiously.
Severus didn't seem to have noticed. I assumed he was used to seeing people frown at him, and he was too busy thinking about the horse he was currently leading. 'I wonder what that was about' I though while I followed the shy man with my eyes. I had an eerie feeling I knew what Fergus wanted, but I hoped it wouldn't make our trip together too awkward. Perhaps I should declare my eternal love for my 'husband' a bit more loudly in the future?
My attention snapped back to reality when Difficult made a loud noise of complaint to make me save her from Severus. No doubt just to be mean to him.
I woke up the next morning in Severus's body. Apparently, it had started raining during the night. Severus sat cross-legged on his side of the tent with a comb in his hand. He seemed to have just washed his brown curls and tried his best to smooth the tangles out. He had become a lot better at taking care of his own appearance over the last few weeks.
He was still undressed, or at least not properly dressed for a medieval lady, but for the first time since I met him, he didn't seem to care.
"Morning" I said as I propped myself on my elbows.
"Good morning" he seemed to want to add something to that, but he stopped himself. Perhaps he wanted to call me 'you evil hag' or perhaps 'my sweet, lovely, wonderful friend'? How should I know.
"What time is it?"
"Early. Probably about five or six in the morning. The others are still asleep" he said flatly.
"Five or six? How . . . never mind". I wanted to ask why he was awake so early but if it was because of a nightmare he wouldn't want to share it with me . . . I didn't feel like going back to sleep and decided to get dressed myself.
"So, what do you want to do while we wait for the others to wake up?"
He paused his combing. ". . . I need a walk. I thought I'd go and look for some more laceflower in the woods. I'm sure you remember the roots are edible."
"May I come with?"
He sighed.
"I promise not to be a bother."
"You're always a bother" he said with the same flat tone. I probably would have been annoyed at him had I not noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Whaaat?" I asked with mock indignation. "I'm the most well-behaved person in the world!"
"Of course you are" he said, clearly not convinced. A tiny smile threatened to form on his lips.
"Please?"
". . . do not get in my way."
"Wouldn't dream of it." I gave him a sideways smirk.
After I quickly brushed my teeth, we headed towards the woods along the river for a while before we branched off. The sun had only barely rose beyond the horizon and the leaves and ground were covered in dew. Birds were singing loudly around us. It was a huge contrast to the forest I had permanently dubbed Mirkwood. This forest was green and inviting. Like the woods they showed in cartoons where princesses could sit around and sing to birds while adorable animals rested their heads in their laps. Severus conjured two baskets and gave one to me. "Fill this with whatever you find."
"Yes boss" I said.
He rolled his eyes. "And do not stray too far away from me." He ordered.
"Yes mother'" I answered with a similar eye roll. I knew he only wanted to make sure I wasn't attacked by giant monsters, but I could tease him all the same.
It didn't take long before I strayed too far away from him. I tried to look for useful plants or mushrooms or anything that could be edible, but I was too distracted to focus for too long. Instead, I ended up walking aimlessly and observing the beauty of the forest. I lost sight of Severus after a few minutes, but I didn't care much. I stopped by a large bush of wild raspberries and picked a heap of them into my basket. Then I continued onward. I squirmed through a thicket of dense shrubbery and stopped dead in my tracks . . .
