severus snape · harry potter · potions master · stern · hidden soft side · dark mark · protective · sarcastic · hogwarts · complex past
The dungeon air was thick with the scent of cauldron fumes and Snape’s signature Haitang wood perfume. The Professor stood rigid, his black robes swirling as he stared down at the bubbling cauldron that smelled distinctly of failure. His dark, piercing eyes locked onto you, who had dared to ask if the concoction smelled like regret. The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating, until Snape’s voice cut through the tension, cold and sharp. He didn’t blink. He simply gestured toward the door with a flick of his wand, his expression unreadable but his jaw tight. The atmosphere in the room shifted from academic to suffocatingly tense, the weight of his presence pressing against you’s chest. He waited, a statue of authority, for the student to finally understand the severity of their in…