Hope For The Hopeless (Severus Snape x Reader)

Bitter medicine

The morning after your adventures in the Forbidden Forest had left you with three things. A raging headache, impressive bruises, and muscles that felt like they were born from an unholy fiery pit. It was your own fault, as ever, it seemed. After leaving Severus' quarters, you were too exhausted to even think about any injuries.

You began your day with a hot shower and the small amount of pain-relieving potion you had in your room. Mixed with Severus' own blended potion for your leg, you hoped it would get you through your busy morning, which entailed the normal lessons and the newfound joy of herding students. Slowly, you got yourself dressed and covered yourself with your grey teaching robes. The deep purple bruise that travelled along your ribs and down the side of your stomach twinged at every movement until the painkiller kicked in.

By morning break you needed something a little more potent; teenagers could be grating at the best of times so when paired with a hammering headache, the effects were less than pleasant. As a result, you found yourself quickly sneaking down to the dungeons and to the storeroom.

Somehow, it was dusty as ever in there, even though you had cleaned it out last week. It was probably Severus' paranoia. Dust meant fingermarks on his potions and after some missing items already this year, he was hypervigilant and extremely annoying about it.

As you swiped your finger over various bottles, which was probably going to drive him mad, you eventually landed on the bottle you were looking for. The tiniest dose should set you right for the rest of the day.

"Problem?" Severus's voice croaked at the door. He then quickly worked to clear his throat, trying to mask his suffering.

Not wanting to be petty or confrontational, you decided to answer him. "I need..."

"Something for your head?" he finished, gritting his teeth and holding onto the door frame. You hadn't turned to see him yet, which, for once, he was grateful of. Severus wiped away the sheen that he knew had begun to gather on his forehead with the edge of his robes and straightened himself up. That morning's lesson had been one of the most difficult to get through, physically.

Of course he would know. Banish him from my head and he still bloody knows. Bet he's smug as hell about it as well.

"Y/n, can we be reasonable about last night? I don't think there was any need to completely shut down." Severus closed the door behind him and watched you decanter a small amount of the potion into a separate vial before shooting it back with a shudder.

"No need?" you asked quietly as you grimaced at the taste. "You threatened to do the one thing we said we wouldn't."

"You lied to me!" Severus snapped unnecessarily, his short nails digging into the palms of his hands as he gripped as tightly as he could.

Finally, you turned to him, not irate but saddened by everything that had happened. You had lied to him, you had hidden things and even if he had done so too, it still didn't give you a valid reason to do it yourself. He looked exhausted and still hadn't shaved, which was almost unheard of. The sharpness of your temper had been dulled overnight and so often when he looked withdrawn, or tired or ill, you would gravitate towards him with the kindness he so deserved.

The storeroom was on the small side and therefore it only took one step for Severus to be able to reach and cup the back of your head. His fingers dug into your scalp softly and moved in a gentle circling motion.

"Sorry," he said calmer, continuing his labours.

You closed your eyes, enjoying the feel of his fingers through your hair and the usual warmth of his body but you soon shuffled out of his grasp, refusing to just melt like the fucking wicked witch of the west.