severus' tale ( snapetober 2021 )

xvii. strange phenomena

"WITCHING HOUR"

***

a regular potions class.

nothing had happened much, you had been brewing the same potions for 2 weeks now, but it was part of the curriculum and you needed to pass regardless. you looked over at your potions professor who had seemed to approve of your potion before turning to your classmate who seemed to have put too much exploding frogs in his.

severus sighed to himself, waving his wand to get rid of the mess and then deducting at least 10 points from gryffindor.

once potions class was over, handing in your vials and parchment papers on said potion. you were the last to do so, you placed the assigned potion and the papers on his desk.

"thank you for this class. have a good day professor." you said, smiling kindly at him before grabbing your things and walking off to your next class.

severus was taken aback at the words, no one had ever wished him a good day. they always feared him or if they were brave enough, they hurled insults at the potions master. to hear someone wishing him well, to him at least warmed his icy cold heart.

he had his eye on you for quite a while, he didn't know what exactly drew him to you but there was potential, you could be really good in the potions field. he placed the box of completed vials to one side and the parchments on the other side.

from what he gathered, the day was february 13th. valentines day was tomorrow, his face sneered.

he hated it.

every february 14th, there would be some prank that gave him some false hope that some woman out there loved him but he knew that he wasn't loved. there was quite frankly no one out there that loved him.

he was quite lucky that he didn't have another class. the end of the day rolled around quite quickly than anticipated, he sat down at his desk with his back slightly hunched over as he grabbed his quill and marked through submitted assignments for the day.

a knock on the door was heard, he got up with his cloak slowly following after him. he opened the door and there he saw you. "miss l/n, you should be in the great hall having dinner." he said.

"i know but i thought i'd bring dinner to you...to us of course. but only if you want to of course." you said, stumbling on your words.

"are you trying to bribe me miss l/n? you should know better." he said.

"no no...i noticed you looked quite tired lately so maybe you needed some company." you offered.

severus looked at the plate of food that was in your grasp. his stomach faintly growled at the sight of the food, severus sighed as he then made some space for you to at least enter the class. you placed the food on his desk.

it wasn't anything fancy. it was just plain.

you had noted that he wasn't huge on any food with any flavours.

"it's not much but this was all i could get that wasn't going to blow your mouth off." you said, your lips perking a little to cover your embarrassment.

severus looked a little closer at the food, plain chicken breast with boiled vegetables and mashed potatoes was on the plate. he summoned a knife and fork, but looked over at the assignments that needed to be marked. you could sense his worry from a mile away.

"i can mark those for you...if its not too much trouble." you offered.

"you're a simple seventh year miss l/n, you won't know." he said. you looked at the paper on top.