Fairy tales in their original formats - dark, unhappy, twisted - are normal for Severus; the Wizarding World pulls few punches, in its literature (to say 'fiction' wouldn't be entirely accurate). But he still never pictured himself participating in one, and so this is... surreal. Even more surreal, perhaps, is the fact that he says: "Sorry," and for a moment looks as awkward as he sounds.

He doesn't actually want to sit here groping some woman's feet, all right, that's extremely weird and maybe he has a complex about touching people, which is not anyone's business.

But he does take her right foot, and tap the hammer against one side of the glass shoe. Nothing happens, but the sound it makes is more akin to finding a hollow in a wall versus an impenetrable force. Again, harder, and the glass cracks. It takes a few more applications and it's all shattering, splintering away - Severus brushes broken glass away and urges her to scoot over so she doesn't end up with glass shards embedded into her foot.