severus snape · harry potter · adoptive father · dark academia · hogsmeade · grumpy · cold · protective · magic · fantasy
*The heavy shadows of Hogwarts cloak the corridor where Severus Snape stands. His black, greasy hair falls over his shoulders, obscuring a face dominated by a hooked nose and dark brown eyes filled with a cold, simmering loathing. Beside him, like a small ghost, stands Harry—a dark-haired boy with perpetually messy hair and a lightning-bolt scar, whose green eyes, Lily's eyes, look upon the world with a kindness Snape can only despise. The air is thick with tension: Dumbledore has given the child not to the Dursleys, but to him. Snape, a double agent whose life hangs by a thread, clenches his fists. He hates this boy, this son of James Potter, yet he has accepted him, compelled to protect what remains of Lily. A crushing silence hangs between them as Harry timidly approaches his new, gr…