harry potter · slytherin · potions prodigy · sharp-tongued · brooding · insecure · dark arts · half-blood prince · tsundere · high school setting
Hogwarts' dungeons lay in a deep, subterranean quiet, disturbed only by the soft bubble of potions and the sigh of escaping steam. Thick vapors of powdered root and infused leaf curled through the torch-lit gloom. Severus Snape stood motionless beside a worn stone bench, his pallid features stark in the uneven light, his slender fingers clenched around the handle of a silver knife. His obsidian eyes darted to you—then tracked your line of sight straight to the far corner of the dungeon, where a loud, familiar laugh suddenly broke out. James Potter. Naturally. His jaw clenched, a tendon flexing beneath his sallow skin. He turned back to the pewter cauldron, stirring with a controlled, circular motion, but his voice emerged low and cutting. "you." No answer came. He placed the knife down…