wolfwind3

[wolfwind3]

Bemuse

Harry walked confidently into the Potions classroom and started to set up his workbench. Instead of chattering with his friends, he paid careful attention to the arrangement of his tools. 

When Snape stalked in and put the directions on the board with a wave of his wand, Harry took the time to read them through carefully before collecting his ingredients. He lined them up in the order he'd need them and made sure to double check each step. 

By the time he turned in his potion, Snape looked utterly bewildered. Harry smiled at him and left without a word.

[wolfwind3]

Litmus Test

Severus carefully poured three drops from the tiny vial into his cauldron, holding his breath so as not to inadvertently jostle the still surface of the liquid in any way. The glowing blue droplets sat atop the thick liquid for a long moment. Severus didn't move. Finally, they started to slowly sink deeper into the potion. Severus barely breathed until they completed their descent.

With most potions, at this stage Severus would cover it and go on with his other work. This, however, was not a normal portion. He stayed staring at the cauldron, watching for any hint of the color change which would mean that this batch failed. There wasn't one, but he still sniffed, identifying each element of the scent in case one gave a hint that it had gone bad. 

Wolfsbane had to be perfect. No other child would be terrorized like he had been.

[wolfwind3]

Convivial

Legolas stared open-mouthed at the great tree for a moment. Then he turned and pelted back into the palace as fast as his little legs could go.

He burst into the throne room at top speed. “Mama, Mama!” He ignored all the adults turning to look at him as he threw himself into his mother's lap. “It's green! Green leaves!”

His mother's smile was like the sunrise. “So it is, little leaf. Today we celebrate. Your father is already in the kitchens preparing the feast. Would you like to help him?”

He wiggled free. “No! I'm going outside!”

“Good choice.”

[wolfwind3]

CW: Suicide

Apologia

Severus ran his fingers along the shelf, mentally cataloguing his options. Old favorites like belladonna and arsenic were too easy. Destroying angels would liquidate his body from the inside out over the course of days - a fitting fate. Or he could mix a few things together, customize his punishment. What amount of suffering could be enough?

None, of course. Dumbledore's words echoed in his mind: What good would that do anyone?

Living was far more painful than anything he could brew. And he did not deserve the peace of oblivion. He would live with the weight of his sins.

[wolfwind3]

Garrulous

Severus set the cracked mug full of flowers carefully on the windowsill. His mother's face turned tiredly toward them.

“I brought you some flowers, Mam,” he said.

She almost smiled. “Thank you, Severus,” she said, voice breathy with exhaustion. “They're beautiful.”

“Me ‘n Lily found them down by the river.” He sat in the rickety old wooden chair and hitched it closer to the bed so he could hold her hand. “It was real pretty today.”

He chattered about anything he could think of, even if she only half paid attention. At least she was awake enough to listen some.

[wolfwind3]

Minutia

“And look! With the faceted mortar, the shells’ angle of refraction-”

Lily interrupted him with a sigh. “That's great, Sev.”

“But you don't understand, that means-”

“I get it, I'm not stupid! But there's more to life than grinding beetle shells, you know.”

“Like what?”

“Everything!” Her wave took in the castle, the grounds, and the world beyond. “Friends, and Hogsmeade, and Quidditch, and magic!”

He forced a smile. “Yeah. What new charms have you found, then?”

Her eyes lit up, and he relaxed as she started to chatter. They were still friends, after all. Growing up wouldn't change that.

[wolfwind3]

Eloquent

“... Even put a stop in death.” Severus cursed and turned away from the mirror. He had worked so hard to get rid of the stutter, but now he was mixing up the words? He couldn't do anything right.

He paced around the room, muttering to himself. “Stopper in, stopper in, put a stopper in…”

The words lost all meaning before he finally stopped and turned back to the mirror.

He didn't look like a professor. He was as small and skinny as ever, and much too young. But he had no choice. He straightened and began again. “You are here…”

[wolfwind3]

Bogus

Severus picked carefully through the turtle pearls, his anger rising.

Eventually, the seller nervously opened his mouth to speak.

Severus’ wand in his face cut him off.

“These are fake.”

The man's face contorted in terror. “No! No, sir, they're the finest…”

“Do you think you can cheat me?” Severus demanded. “Do you think you can cheat the Dark Lord?”

The man babbled excuses that Severus didn't bother listening to. Only a few of the turtle pearls were false, but one would be enough to turn a healing potion into something that would kill. The man deserved his fear.

[wolfwind3]

Tutelage

“Stop,” Severus barked.

Longbottom froze; he'd learned that much, at least, in these nightly detentions. Unfortunately, nothing else seemed to be sticking. He stared up at Severus with wide eyes instead of trying to figure out the problem.

Severus waved at the board. “What are you supposed to be doing right now?”

“Um… ch-chopping the flobberworms into one - one inch cubes?”

“And what are you actually doing?”

The boy's gaze darted around the room frantically, searching for an answer. “Uh … Not that?”

Severus sighed and strode over to fix things before the idiot boy blew up his classroom again

[wolfwind3]

I absolutely can't get over the fact Albus brought a fucking 21yo traumatised child to teach a dangerous obligatory subject and be a head of House. With some of his students being 18. He was a 21yo responsible for teaching and managing 18yo people. And Snape totally did it. He actually nailed it. Snape's house (that kinda just lost the war, in fact) started to win the house cup when Snape was 24 and kept the streak going for 7 (8 if we are fair and don't give Harry and Co points for breaking the rules) years.

I am so proud of him, you don't even understand.

[wolfwind3]

Nascent

She came back.

She came back.

Severus could hardly contain his excitement. She was a witch, and she came back, and he wasn't alone anymore.

He burst out of the bushes without stopping to think. “Hi, witch!”

The older girl looked affronted, but before she could speak, the witch said, “Hi, boy-witch!”

Severus snorted. “You mean wizard.”

“Why?” the girl asked.

“Witches are always girls, everybody knows that.”

“But why are boys wizards, and not magicians or something?”

Severus wasn't about to let go of his position as knowledge-giver, even if he had no idea what the answer was.

[wolfwind3]

Fiasco

Severus finished vanishing the mess of failed potions and spilled ingredients and sank into his chair with a sigh. It was Friday, but he couldn't seem to muster any enthusiasm for two days without having to try to get dunderheads to brew a simple portion without hurting themselves. He was just too tired.

The door opened without so much as a knock. He recognized the sound of McGonagall’s heels clicking on the stone floor and didn't bother looking up.

“One of those weeks, was it?” she said, briskly but not unkindly. “Come on, Severus. We'll have drinks and compare fiascoes.”

[wolfwind3]

Interminable

Another day, another interminable staff meeting. Severus did his best to ignore the way Gilderoy was prosing on about himself. They'd all gotten a great deal of practice in that recently. Finally, though, the man got to the point.

“It would be a shame to deprive the students of the chance to learn from an accomplished dueller like myself…”

Severus could feel the anger rolling off Filius, but he couldn't worry about that. This was more important than hurt feelings. 

“Of course, I'll need someone to demonstrate on…” He took his time looking around, impervious to their stony expressions. 

“Severus.”

[wolfwind3]

Commemorate 

“You did what?”

Harry felt as though he were back in the potions classroom at Hogwarts. He shoved that aside. “I named him for you. Well, partly. He's Albus Severus.”

“Albus Severus… Merlin’s beard.” Snape rubbed a hand over his face. “And you claim to care for this child?”

“Hey!” Harry bristled. “I named him after the two bravest men I ever knew.”

“Merlin’s beard,” Snape repeated, under his breath this time. 

Harry waited for only a moment. “Well? Will you come?”

Snape sighed. “I'm going to have to fake my death again to get away from you, aren't I?”

[wolfwind3]

Impervious

Severus felt the icy water seeping through the cracks in his shoes and cursed. His impervious charm has failed, which meant that the leather was too old to hold any more magic. He was going to have to come up with a new pair from somewhere. 

Between searching for the plants he needed and worrying about finding new shoes, he was distracted enough that the voice behind him scared him nearly out of his skin. 

“What're ya doin’ in the Forbidden Forest?”

“Hagrid! I, uh-”

The groundskeeper sighed. “Don’ bother lying. Let's get you out of here and warmed up.”

[wolfwind3]

Scuttlebutt

“I'm telling you, mate, he’s a vampire,” the boy hissed to his friend. “He's white as a corpse and lives in the dungeons; it's totally obvious.”

“But surely Dumbledore wouldn't let him…” The other boy looked around nervously and utterly failed to see Severus. “I mean, where would he get the blood?”

“I hear he sneaks out into the Forbidden Forest at night and…”

Severus was out of earshot by then, but he still smirked to himself. And Poppy wanted him to ‘get outside more’ and ‘get some color in his cheeks.’ Where would be the fun in that?

[wolfwind3]

Apotropaic 

The ritual started on autopilot: stumbling into the bathroom, treating what injuries he could, standing under scalding water in a futile attempt to wash away the past few hours.

 Next, gathering the clothing he'd left scattered across the bathroom floor and cleaning it, first with spells, then with its own scrub in scalding water and soap harsh enough to make the skin on his knuckles crack. 

Finally, scrubbing every trace of himself from the bathroom until it was pristine. Every trace of what had just happened was gone. It couldn't touch his life here. It couldn't touch his snakes.