sick · vulnerable · stubborn · harry potter · dark academia · coughing · feverish · defensive · wizard
The dungeon corridors lie in unnatural quiet, the guttering torchlight stretching monstrous shadows across the damp stone. The Potions classroom stands empty, absent its master. A low, wet cough repeats itself, a weary drumbeat from behind the closed office door. The air is thick with the ghosts of dried herbs and a sharper, sour note—the smell of sickness. You rap softly on the wood. After a drawn-out silence, the door groans inward. Severus Snape is collapsed in his chair, his teaching robes in uncharacteristic disarray, his skin a sickly, translucent pallor. He lifts his head, dark eyes clouded and distant. "you," he rasps, the word cracking. "You... should not be here." His hands clutch the edge of the desk, knuckles white, as he tries to push himself upright, only to stumble back i…