Author's note:

Dear readers,

another update for you to enjoy. I'm blown away by your positive response to my story update and thank you all for your reviews, favorite votes or subscriptions. I love that you like reading my story and every positive comment puts a huge smile on my face and motivates me to write a new chapter. I hope that I'll be able to stick to my weekly update schedule.

Best wishes,

Vani12

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.

Humming a tune to himself, he put the smaller pot on the stove, checked the state of the water in the bigger pot and accioed some olive oil into the heated smaller pot. He braised the onions lightly and gazed lovingly over his back to Petunia who was admiring his cooking spells with a dreamy look. Damn, she looked so in love that it warmed his heart. In his unconcentrated moment, he let nearly boil the water over and burn the onions. But a quick Stasis and Cooling-down Spell saved his reputation as an excellent chef. He seasoned the boiling water with salt and summoned 250-gram Penne into the pot. He would let everything simmer for 9 minutes, for the Penne would be all dente then. He poured the braised onions with 250-gram tomato puree, seasoned everything with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano and heated the sauce shortly, before letting it simmer for 8 minutes. To keep the time in mind, he managed to create two countdowns for every pot with a wandless Tempum Numera.

Severus walked with a beaming smile on his face to Petunia, embraced her and whispered into her ear, "Are you impressed with my talents in the kitchen yet? I must admit that you have nearly managed to distract me with your beauty. But I'm not a wizard for nothing, and this cooking spells are really handy. Would you like to drink a nice Bordeaux to your pasta?"

Petunia basked in his tight embrace. She couldn't fathom how sweet and considerate he was. He had cooked an Italian dish for her that would undoubtedly taste delicious. And he had declared his love to her with a sweet speech before showing off his magic in the kitchen. She felt so happy that she nearly feared to burst with it. He loved her for being herself and she loved him for being himself. She had never before felt so loved and carefree. Caressing his cheek gently, Petunia kissed him lovingly on the lips and breathe in his earthy scent,

"I'm stunned by your talents in the kitchen to be totally honest, Severus. Your graceful movements and the buzzing of your magic made my skin tingle and my heart beat faster. You' re a truly amazing magical chef and so you that I had to restrain myself from snogging the hell out of you. Damn, you don't realize how hard it is to watch your toned back and smug smirk without being able to touch or kiss you. And the delicious smell of your pasta waters my mouth. I can't wait to test it, for it will be the first meal that someone cooked only for me with two extra ingredients: love and magic. I love you for being this sweet, honest and snarky wizard because you make me feel so special and loved. I love you for being you and my heart melts whenever your obsidian eyes sparkle out of joy, your intoxicating lips brush against my lips or your sexy voice declares your love to me. You make me truly happy and express myself. So, thank you for being you. And I would love to share a bottle of Bordeaux with you, Mr. Snarky."

Severus' heart felt inflamed. He peppered Petunia's face with kisses and caressed her sides gently, for he wanted to worship every single part of her body. His brain conjured sensual images of them in passion in front of his mind, and he noticed how his body reacted enthusiastically to them. He managed to suppress his sexual urges with thoughts on Dumbledore in his bathing trunks and was thankfully saved from an embarrassing moment by an ear-deafening alarm.

"I truly enjoy our kisses, Petunia. But I have to look after my Italian dish now, for it will be ruined otherwise. So, please excuse me for a minute", Severus husked while drawing with a longing look inside his onyx eyes away from his temptress. Turning the heat of the pots down with a non-verbal, wandless Reducto Calorem, he let the pasta pot fly with a non-verbal, wandless Wingardium Leviosa above the sink and drained it with a Flipendo into the sieve. After that, he used a Mobilcorpus to sieve the pasta and a Flipendo to put it into an accioed china bowl. Next, he turned around, set the table with two apple-green placemats, that he had transfigured from two green serviettes, two white stylish china dinner plates, that he had transfigured from two paper dishes, two green serviettes in serviette holders, two wine glasses, that he had transfigured from two paper cups, two sets of steel silver cutlery, one crystal vase with a single red rose, that he had formed out of a bottle-opener and one monochrome white china candlestick with an apple green candle, that he had transfigured from a broken candelabrum.

He inflamed the candle with a wandless Incendio, summoned the sauce pot and the pasta bowl with Wingardium Leviosa and accioed a bottle of Bordeaux, pasta tongs, ladle and corkscrew on their table. To optimize the Italian atmosphere, he let the melody of an Italian love song play with a Music-Playing Charm. Feeling invigorated by his buzzing magical energies, Severus let the cooking utensils wash and dry themselves above the sink with a wandless Washing and Drying Charm. Beaming brightly at his girlfriend, Severus set down opposite her, took her delicate right hand into grace it with a kiss and gazed lovingly in her happy blue eyes,

"My love, I hope that my Penne Napolitana will taste as delicious as they look. If I haven't managed to mess anything up with my mum's recipe, they should taste as good as in an Italian restaurant. I'm honored to spend my first candlelight dinner with you, for your beauty and spirit are the light of my life. I can't wait to spend many easy evenings with you, enjoying a home-cooked meal, reading a fascinating book or listening to classical music. As long as I can spend my evenings with you, talking with you, embracing you and kissing you, I know that everything will turn out right. So, thank you for turning me into an optimistic, self-confident and besotted wizard in mere hours. And let's enjoy our meal and wine now before everything turns cold."

Severus opened the wine bottle with the corkscrew, poured some Bordeaux in their glasses and served them each pasta with the help of magic. Petunia couldn't help herself but sigh dreamily as his magic brushed against her skin. A single happy tear moved down her cheek, for she hadn't felt this happy and loved before. Looking in his blazing obsidian eyes, she gushed in an awed voice,

"Severus, I can't fathom my luck. Thank you for this amazing candlelight dinner. It will be the first time that I feel butterflies in my stomach while sitting in candlelight and enjoying an Italian dish. You really managed to transport the Italian summer into your home, for the Italian song is so romantic and your Penne Napolitana smell like the Toskana. Your self-confident, smug and powerful aura looks sexy as hell on you. And I can't wait to snog the daylights out of you after this dinner. But first, let's eat your Penne Napolitana." Petunia took a hefty bite of her pasta and moaned as it graced her tasting buds. It tasted amazing: a delicious aroma of basil and oregano, an intoxicating tomato flavor and al dente cooked Penne. "Wow, Severus. It really tastes amazing, like fresh out of Italy. Thank you for cooking this delicious dinner in this romantic atmosphere for me." Petunia bumped her wine glass against Severus', flavored the sweet tasting Bordeaux and smiled at her love. Italian food could make your heart beat faster, especially if it had been prepared with love and magic.