The Things our Heart likes, without our Brain's Consent - A Severus Snape Story

Chapter Five - A subtle Breeze.

Affarinus Breeze had ideas that Severus would have never been able to articulate or come up with of his own accord. He was secretly very glad that he was alone, for his skin changed its tone many times as he read. It also made him truly feel like a lout, when he compared some of his choices and behaviours to the proper manner of being, outlined in the book.

When interacting with witches, all witches, you must keep in mind four things, Mr. Breeze wrote, namely, these:

Women are goddesses, woven with both light and dark, capable of giving you life or destroying you and everything around you with a few choice words, not necessarily spells.

Women are not your rivals. You do not compete with them, for both sexes were made for different things and have different talents, each specific to each one and un-recreatable to the opposite sex.

Women are tender beings. You should treat them like both queens and young girls - like they have power to kill you and ensure your everlasting innocent happiness with their presence and friendship, as well as being aware that their emotions are more delicate than most men's are.

When it comes to more intimate relationships - here, Severus Snape felt his throat throbbing with heat - namely, courtship, you must bear a few more things in mind, and that will be discussed on page 89.

Here, after some hesitation, but after deciding it was mere curiosity, Severus turned to page 89.

While, of course, Mr. Breeze wrote, it depends on the individual and the circumstance, most women like a man to take the upper hand. What is meant is this: you are the one who solves problems. You propose solutions, you pay for all their needs and desires, you make sure they do not have to fatigue themselves on unnecessary actions, even if they protest - in most cases, they do so to assure you that they have no trouble in doing it, which is predominantly true; you are the one who's job is to raise the voice, sort out scuffles and take the blame when sparks fly.

By unnecessary actions, it is meant actions like: opening doors; pushing in their own chairs; carrying heavy objects; doing manual work; bending down to pick something up, running to catch something. For the women who wish to remain elegant and not spoil their labour in maintaining themselves, a man who does these things is a very precious asset, for he shows his understanding and admiration of the fairer sex.

Hm. Now this was something he had never thought about.

However, Mr. Breeze continued to write, this service is all done subtly and without expecting anything in return, as it has been the custom for hundreds of years. When it comes to courtship, when you engage in forging a deeper relationship, you must remember that-

Severus shut the book, for he thought he had grown too interested in such a futile matter, and instead reopened it and focused his attention on things like social rules and conversation starters.

The more he read on, however, the more hope was lost, for this book demanded him to draw a lot of attention to himself. Not specifically to the reader, but to Severus Snape's own circumstances. If he suddenly made the effort to speak, or to end conflict properly, or to have more... dear heavens, patience... he would face flashes of eyes and smirks. Not to mention that he had zero idea on how to do any of these things, for he had been doing the opposite for the whole of his life.

"Oh well." he sighed, shutting the book, his defence mechanisms voice tolling in his head, "It does not matter, anyhow."

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