Author's note:

Dear readers,

another update for you to enjoy. I really must thank you all for your support. Special thanks to Smithback,FelixFelicisWriter, lunaz and excessivelyperky for leaving me reviews, Gemini Bae, DarkDragon1124 and krcrutcher123 for adding my story to your favorites list and theaspiringcynic, krcrutcher123 and Sass-and-Violence-D for adding my story to your story alert list. It really motivates me to update sooner and puts a smile on my face.

Best regards,

Vani12

Chapter 20 – Tight hugs awake one's hopes!

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

Petunia breathed in Severus' herbal mixed with whiskey scent deeply and hugged him tightly. She stroked his back gently and tried to calm her escalating heartbeat. She couldn't believe that she had thrown herself into his arms like this. God, he must really think that she was a very desperate, lonely and confused young woman to throw herself at him like some classless easy girl. Sure, she only needed to hug him tightly and wanted to express her happiness and pride in his magical powers. But it might have come on a little bit too strong.

Well, she couldn't change her impulsive reaction and gut feeling. And if she was completely honest with herself, she regretted nothing and didn't feel ashamed of her reaction because she liked Severus a lot and basked in his body warmth. Hell, she felt all warm, giddy and fuzzy because he returned her close hug, stroked her back gently and even clutched on to her shoulders lovingly. If she would have seen this scene on TV, she probably would have gushed about the closeness, trust and natural aura of the pair. Most likely, she would have commented to her mum or Lily what a refreshing, in-love teenaged couple the pair seemed to be. But she tried to chase this fuzzy, romanticized thoughts away because Severus and she weren't some loved-up couple.

They were close friends who seemed to care deeply for each other, wanted to live out some magical adventures together and wanted to see each other happy. Sure, she felt also attracted to Severus and wanted to kiss him on the lips at this moment, but she didn't want to overanalyze everything. She knew that she would have to face her feelings for Severus head-on someday in the near future. Hell, she needed to sort them out first because feeling attracted to someone who she had loathed in her childhood and youth was a new experience for her. Well, if she was completely honest with herself, she felt butterflies inside her stomach for the first time in her life.

She knew that this sounded horrible and sad because only some months ago, she had expected to marry her abusive boyfriend Vernon although she didn't love him or had been attracted to him. But in her state of mind at that time, a loveless marriage with an abusive husband was better than living a life in loneliness. She had really thought that Vernon could change during their marriage and that the feeling of being close to someone could satisfy her broken heart.

God, how naïve and pathetic she had been? She was so glad that Severus had opened her eyes. She would dump Vernon tomorrow and only be together with someone out of love. She really dreamed of finding her one true love and experiencing a romance of equality, happiness, love, trust, and truthfulness. Perhaps, she thought blushing, she could live out this romance with Severus because she was truly attracted to him. And judging by his tight hugs, long look, and affectionate nature, he might feel the same. But as she stated earlier, she didn't want to overthink her feelings and his reactions and only live in the moment. With luck and courage, she would kiss him full on the lips this night and get her answer.

If he returned her kiss, he must truly feel something for her. For Severus wasn't the type to kiss around out of boredom, lust or curiosity. Actually, she wouldn't be surprised, if he had never kissed someone or his only experiences with kissing stemmed from a "Truth or Dare" game in Hogwarts, an intoxicated make-out session or some youthful teenage experimentation with Lily. Albeit she doubted it because Lily would have surely confessed to exploring kisses with her best male friend to her. So, she hoped that a passionate kiss on the lips would be a huge deal for Severus.

If he rejected her and threw her out of his house, she would know that he wasn't interested in a romance with her. But she would also endanger her adventures in the Magical world. Because she couldn't imagine that Severus would be comfortable to live out magical adventures with a love-crazy female companion. Surely, a rejection would establish an awkward tension between them and embarrass her deeply so that she could say bye to her magical education. God, she would probably flee his house in a rush with a crimson head, mutter a hushed apology and cry a river of devastated tears. Therefore, she would not want to face him again, act like just friends and learn/experience amazing things about magic on the next day. God, please, let him return her crush. She really deserved some adventures, love, and happiness in her life. And Severus could offer her everything. If she could muster up her courage and pump herself up to be bold, straightforward and reckless tonight, she would kiss him.

But first, she needed to help him renovate his kitchen, learn how to brew a potion and interpret his body language right. Gazing up from her huddled position in his arms, she noticed that his obsidian eyes were gleaming with pride, happiness, and gratitude. His facial expressions were relaxed and his arms clutched her body tightly. God, she could stay forever in his embrace. But she needed to end it so that she could encourage him to redecorate his kitchen and start brewing the Laughing Potion with her. She really wanted to see him brew because she couldn't imagine how graceful, powerful and sexy he must look behind a cauldron with his long, nimble fingers cutting ingredients, his capable, masculine hands stirring the ladle and his raven black, long hairs hanging in his face.

Besides her fascination for his sexy looks behind his cauldron, she really wanted to test her abilities at potions brewing and feel like a human being with magical powers for some minutes. For she believed that she could be talented in Potions because she loved science and cooking. Therefore, she wanted to encourage him to face the disastrous state of his kitchen. The place, where his mum had been beaten to death by this bastard Tobias. She hoped that she could be there for him and help him with the interior design as she had done with his living room.

She still couldn't believe how fast he could renovate his whole living room due to his magic. It was awesome and she couldn't wait to see him gracefully cast some spells in his kitchen. She realized that she would most likely have to comfort him in his drab kitchen because it really must burden him to change the room magically where his beloved, magical mum had been murdered. He surely associated some bad memories, dark images and painful actions with his kitchen. Thence, she wanted to be there for him, help him process his grief, change his kitchen décor and create new good memories. Sighing deeply, she stepped a little back, lessened their close embrace, looked him into his beautiful onyx eyes and addressed him, taking all her courage in both hands in a calm, melodic voice.

"Severus, I'm still amazed by the miracles your magic can accomplish. Thanks again for your trust in my abilities as an interior designer. It really means a lot to me. Perhaps, I can help you to christen your living room in the future. I hope that you still like it. If you're are a fan of my design genius", here Petunia paused, laughed a bell-like amused laugh and nudged Severus good-naturedly in his shoulder, "I can help you redecorate your kitchen in the same fashion. We don't have to change it today if you're not ready for it. I would totally understand it. So, do you want to redesign your kitchen now or should we start to brew your Laughing Potion? I'm really excited to learn how to brew it."

Severus returned from his dreamland in a daze. Petunia's melodic voice had awoken him from his daydream and the feelings of happiness, contentment, and hope he had felt while being enveloped in a fierce embrace with Petunia. He had enjoyed breathing in her floral, fresh scent – roses, orange blossoms, mandarin, vanilla -, basking in her body warmth and feeling her perky, full breasts pressed into his skinny, muscular chest. Merlin, he really needed to suppress his sensual thoughts because he had gotten all warm and fuzzy and noticed something stirring below his waistline. With thoughts of Prof. Dumbledore in heart-patterned boxers, he had solved his little problem. For he didn't want to chase Petunia screaming away from his house thanks to his uncontrolled hormones and sexual urges.

At first, he hadn't really known how to tackle his little problem without an embarrassing stunt because he hadn't experienced anything like this during a close hug with a girl he felt attracted to. Sure, like any male teenager he had his sexual needs, raging hormones and wet dreams full of sensual images. But he had managed to keep cool, suppress his urges or satisfy them with some quick, secret and silenced hand jobs under the shower. No girl had ever hugged him closely like Petunia, engaged him in a passionate make-out session or – Merlin forbids – even asked him to shag her. Sure, he knew that his looks weren't desirable and his sullen personality didn't charm the witches either so that he had had to survive lonely, sexless teenaged years. Well, he hadn't planned on losing his virginity to a random fun Slytherin girl anyways because he wanted to experience his first time with a girl he truly loved.

Sure, until recently he had dreamed about Lily being this girl for they had already exchanged a wet, awkward kiss on the lips their fourth year in Hogwarts. Foor experimenting reasons as Lily had labeled it. He had been madly in love with her since and she had been his absolute dream girl with her stunning emerald eyes, shining dark red hair, kind heart, and magical brilliance. Merlin, his experience in kissing was reduced to this awkward, foolish first kiss, some "Truth or Dare" peck on the lips with a female Slytherin yearmate in his fifth year and a few passionate kisses with the Rawenclaw outcast Pandora Rosenstein behind a library bookshelf in his sixth year. Well, his love life or better lack thereof was rather pathetic. And he hoped that he could change this in the future. Perhaps, he could make some new experiences with Petunia because he was really attracted to her, comfortable in her company and loved being physically close to her. And it seemed that she shared his sentiments if he could trust her shy blushes, tight hugs, and happy smiles. He would test out the waters this night if he could muster up all his courage.

First, he really needed to face the issue of renovating his kitchen. Petunia had done an amazing job of helping him redesign his living room and he would need her help in the kitchen too. He was so grateful that she offered her help and support, for the kitchen would be a different story as his living room because his mum had been slaughtered there. Breathing deeply, he gazed back into Petunia's sapphire eyes, squeezed her hand gently and answered.

"Although I must confess that redesigning my kitchen will be a difficult task, I know that I can master everything with your help. Therefore, I would tackle this issue now because we really should have a nice place where I can cook an easy dinner for us later. Thank you so much for your help, you're really a lifesaver and talented interior designer. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I promise that we will brew the Laughing Potion in one hour. But first, let's head to the kitchen." Severus grabbed her hand, held it easily, smiled at her and let her to his kitchen. There was much work to do.