A magical love affair - Severus Snape x Petunia Evans

Chapter 25 - The magic of Italian food, II!

Severus' Home, Spinner's End, Cokeworth, July 1978

Severus sobs wrecked his body. He clung desperately onto Petunia, crying bitter tears on her dress and breathing in her floral scent. He knew that he should probably be ashamed for his breakdown, for his face was set into a grief-stricken ugly grimace and his body was shaken by tremors. He had learned to always compose himself and be in control of his emotions as a mere boy, for his bastard of a father had beaten him longer whenever he hadn't been able to suppress the pain and hold back his tears. But he didn't care about the image he portraited to Petunia now. Sure, he wasn't thrilled to lose all control in front of her and confront her with his unstable mindset. But he couldn't change anything about it. And if he was being totally honest, he wouldn't change anything about it, for he wanted to be real, his true self, with Petunia. And he knew that she could comprehend him like no other person on this planet. Therefore, he let his grief run freely through his veins.

Her gentle strokes on his back, her soothing words in his ear and her compassionate tears on his t-shirt managed to calm him down. He had never been someone who had enjoyed being touched or comforted, for the beatings of Tobias made him flinch by every touch and the pity in the eyes of Lily made him feel weak. But he didn't flinch away from Petunia's compassion. On the contrary, he couldn't embrace her closely enough or feel her heart beating loud enough because she understood his soul. She didn't look at him with pity in her eyes or caress his back soothingly because society expected her to act empathetically. She shared his grief and comforted him because she cared deeply for him. Being encompassed in her warmth and love, his escalating heartbeat slowed down, his quick breathing calmed down and his sobs died down. He hadn't felt so loved or comprehend in a long time. Her warmth gave him the strength to look forward to the future and feel alive again.

Hence, he looked her in her beautiful sapphire eyes, wiped away her tears gently with his fingertips and kissed her lovingly on her heated cheeks. Embracing her on her narrow waist, he addressed her in a hoarse voice.

"Petunia, my love. I can't thank you enough for your compassion and strength. I can't believe that such a beautiful, empathetic and intelligent girl fell in love with me. I thank my lucky stars for showing me the true treasure that you are. You were right. Letting go of your grief in deep sobs and crying out your sorrows makes you feel deliberated and lighter. I'm now able to look forward to our dinner and enjoy every happy memory we will create together. I'm aware that I'll need to face my grief and other issues in some therapy sessions, but I can't help but be optimistic about my future, for you believe in me and love me. Your beaming smiles let my heart jump out of joy, your compassionate touches let a feeling of home rushing through my veins and your praising words of my magic let me feel like the strongest wizard in the world. Therefore, I would like to show you my love and gratitude by cooking Penne Napolitana for you. You deserve the whole world for being you. And I'll try to bring some Italian summer vibes to Cokeworth by my Italian candlelight dinner. So, let me help you to get up from this hard floor and take a seat at the table. You can admire my talent in the kitchen by watching me cook for you."

Severus kissed a flabbergasted Petunia sweetly on the lips, helped her to stand up and guided her to the table. Like the besotted gentleman he was, he pulled back her chair for her and refreshed her face with a Refreshing Charm. After he had taken care of his gushing girlfriend, he summoned his kitchen utensils – two cooking pots, a trencher, carving knife and sieve – with wandless, non-verbal Accios and began cooking the Italian dish. At first, he filled the bigger pot with 5 liters water with a wandless Aguamenti and put it on the stove for heating. Then, he summoned an onion, basil, and oregano with easy Accios out of their magically-hidden storage room and diced/chopped them into miniature pieces with ease. He loved the earthy scent the herbs emitted and couldn't wait to season his pasta sauce with them. Thanks to a long-lasting Conserving Charm, his herbs seemed like coming out fresh of his garden. He had vowed to lay out a herb garden and greenhouse in the back of his garden where he could grow his own herbs and potions ingredients in the next week, for he loved to harvest his herbs and ingredients fresh. Besides that, he would be sure of their high quality if he cultivated them himself and he would be able to save some money.