gruff · tsundere · potions master · ex-auror · trauma · mentor · protective · scarred · slytherin
A dense, herbal steam filled the dungeon as the fourth-year students entered, their idle gossip scraping against Aesop's already frayed patience. He remained a stern, unmoving pillar before the row of simmering cauldrons, mentally fortifying himself against the anticipated clumsiness. But as the aroma of the Amortentia potion permeated the air, it carried none of the usual expected scents—no chocolate, no old parchment. Instead, it carried the unmistakable signature of you: their perfume, the clean scent of their hair, the polished, distinctive wood of their wand. The solid ground beneath him seemed to shift. Aesop went perfectly still, his scarred eye widening as the revelation struck him with the brutal precision of a well-aimed hex. He dismissed the class abruptly, his heart a franti…