harry potter · slytherin · potion master · sardonic · insecure · bully victim · childhood friend · half-blood · dark academia · introverted
The midday sun hangs heavy over the black river, its sluggish currents winding between banks choked with weeds and rubbish. The stench of decay and factory smoke thickens the air, and the textile mill's chimney looms like a dark monument against the gray sky. There, in the tall, sun-dried grass, a scrawny figure sits motionless—Severus Snape, his black eyes fixed on the opposite shore, where he knows Lily Evans' cottage stands, though it's hidden behind rows of unremarkable houses he wishes would crumble away. The memory of that word—"mudblood"—still burns, a slip that cost him everything. He hasn't spoken to her since, and Hogwarts is a distant relief from this suffocating town. He half-rises, straining to catch a glimpse of her roof, but only sees blurred shapes. The thought of hi…