subtle&exact

SEVERUS SNAPE nineteen // slytherin apothecary worker death eater

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

“Yes, the only injury - approximately twenty-four hours ago,” Lucius answered promptly, his wry good humor fading.

Severus knowing the counter-curse was definitely good news, and Lucius had been about to say so - but the younger wizard’s rather curt demeanor was worrying Lucius a little. Lucius had been under the impression that he was dealing with an irksome but ultimately solvable problem. Crabbe would pay if had managed to scar Lucius’ arm out of sheer clumsiness, of course, but that had been the worse case scenario in Lucius’ mind. He wondered if Severus knew the curse to be more serious than he was letting on - the man was always focused in this very manner when confronted with a technical challenge - or perhaps the curse became more difficult to heal with time.

“And the medi-wizard performed a few healing charms and some sort of foreign spell on it that he had to stop due to, ah, egregious side effects. None of the spells seemed to have made any difference to the cut. Will any of that… be an issue?”

Severus looked mildly shocked. His brow furrowed, and after a moment he spoke. “It’s remarkable that you haven’t bled out by now. Either that medi-wizard did something right -- which is doubtful -- or the curse was performed by someone... dreadfully incompetent.” 

Severus paused again when he realized realized he had absolutely no idea who had injured Lucius. He had assumed Lucius hadn’t done it to himself out of respect for the man’s intelligence, but the prospect hadn’t been completely eliminated, and if this was the case, Severus had just unknowingly insulted Lucius’ abilities. He considered amending his previous statement with an explanation on how, if it was accidentally brought upon oneself, that might also explain the dulled effect, but dismissed the idea in favor of answering Lucius’ questions. 

“The healing charms shouldn’t make a difference. I can’t say the same for this foreign spell unless you have a name for it, but the fact that it doesn’t look abnormal is a good sign. As far as scarring goes, time is a crucial element. If you had come to me sooner it could have been avoided completely, but after twenty four hours I would expect something minor,” he said. Then, wearing the same, serious expression but with a strange, wry glint in his eye, Severus added, “Not that it matters much either way, considering all the care you take to keep your sleeves down.”

As he took his wand in his hand, Severus looked down at the bleeding wound, and then back up at Lucius. “You’re very lucky, you know,” he said, gravely. “This curse can kill, regardless of what the caster intends.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

“Right.” Lucius gave himself a slight jerk and forcibly shed some of his sense of discomfort. “I, ah, ran into a spell that’s been causing me some trouble.”

Lucius pulled his right sleeve up and revealed the bandage around the arm, a stark red stain slowly spreading on it even as they spoke.

“That’s been bleeding for the whole day,” Lucius nodded at the injury, “I can’t get the cut to close - definitely a Dark curse, I know. I looked it up, naturally, couldn’t find it in any of the usual texts or even the more exotic ones in our library. Saw a medi-wizard - he was no use. But I’m due back tomorrow for a checkup if I don’t fix this tonight and I’d rather, ah, not.”

Lucius threw Severus a meaningful look: “I got it in rather awkward circumstances, and I’d prefer not to draw any more attention to it than I already have. Hence the urgency.”

“I think I can use Dittany as a last resort - I imagine it will heal, but poorly and leave a scar for me to explain,” Lucius continued, unwrapping the bandage and frowning at the long, but fairly shallow gash on his arm. “But I can’t be sure. It’s quite a devilish piece of work.” One couldn’t help but admire a well-constructed piece of Dark Magic, even at a time like this.

“Anyway, I was hoping you might know the counter-curse - or at least have heard of some variation of it. The incantation is, apparently, Sectumsempra.” Lucius smirked at Severus as if sharing a joke with him, “Aptly named, I know.”

As soon as Lucius pulled up his sleeve, Severus suspected he knew what spell Lucius had ran into. There wasn’t any other curse that cut flesh like that — he would know — and as Lucius continued to explain, Severus’ suspicion was further confirmed. He felt oddly guilty, and took the chance to avoid Lucius’ eyes as he began unwrapping the bandage. This guilt, however, did not translate onto his face. At that moment, Severus’ expression was an odd one. It was one of mild concern, but mostly concentration, regarding the predicament as if it were a machine that needed fixing rather than an injured friend.

Only when Lucius revealed the incantation did Severus look up, and his expression had not changed. It did not occur to him for a second to claim ownership of the spell. Severus would do what he could to counteract the curse and prevent scarring, and either Lucius would become suspicious of his excessive knowledge and deduce the truth, or he would remain ignorant of the author. Severus didn’t care much one way or the other.

“I know the spell,” he said, nodding. “And a counter-curse that should work.” 

He spoke in a tone far less companionable than he usually used with Lucius, perhaps in compensation for the layers of fear that were stacking the longer he thought about the situation. He had performed the curse dozens of times, but the counter-curse he was less familiar with, despite having invented it himself. It was a far more difficult spell — because it is always harder to obliterate harm than it is to do harm — and Severus felt a small but painful twinge of doubt in his ability to successfully perform it, exacerbated by the knowledge that, should he fail, there was nowhere else that Lucius could turn.

“This was the only injury sustained? And you got it — when, exactly, how long ago?”

[halfseverus-blog]

regaldaffodil:

“By the end of the day? I am supposed to meet Lucius later this afternoon, now I will have to cancel on him. This is so humiliating, Severus!” She gestured to her hair with a quick flick of her hand.

“You don’t have to cancel on him, you look fine, and I seriously doubt he’ll care.”

[halfseverus-blog]

regaldaffodil:

Narcissa attempted to explain what had happened to her, she moved her lips and even felt them separate but no sound came out. The witch grumbled frustrated. “It must be part of the spell, I don’t know.”  

“Please tell me you know how to fix this, Severus. You don’t think it’s permanent, do you?”

“It’s not permanent. I don’t know how to fix it, but it’s not permanent, nothing this lowbrow would be. My bet is it will wear off by the end of the day.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

Lucius had long learned to avoid staring too obviously (or, Merlin forbid, condescendingly) at any of Severus’ possessions if Lucius didn’t actually intend to provoke the prickly man. Even so, he would have spared more attention for the interior of Severus’ home out of sheer curiosity if he was in any mood for it at all - unlike the case with most of Lucius’ associates, he had never visited Severus where the man lived before. As it were, Lucius merely cast a brief glance around to get his bearings, silently noting how Severus’ personality emanated mutely from every surface and artifact in the small, dimly-lit flat.

Following his host to the table, Lucius sat down slightly stiffly on one of the chairs as indicated, holding his right arm awkwardly level.

He rose his eyebrows slightly at the sight of the plant on the dusty surface between them.

“Didn’t know you were one for living decor, Severus.” Lucius tried to quip, breaking the silence. From, apparently, the mere disturbance of Lucius’ breath, one of the plant’s black, wilted leaves broke from the stem and fell limply into the pot.

“Apologies,” Lucius muttered, and mentally shook himself - he was trying to delay broaching the rather embarrassing subject by talking about a plant…

Severus glanced at the plant. “I forgot I had that,” he admitted, then looked back to Lucius, and paused expectantly. “You said it was urgent?” he said, the words more irritable than the intention. When people worried him, Severus tended to forget politeness.

[marymacxx]

Bang! It had only been the sound from a game of Exploding Snap, and yet the noise caused Mary to be shaken to her very core. A flash of a memory—hazy, unfinished—shot through her mind, the recollection of a similar banging and her fellow students laughter ringing in her ears. Although her recollection of what had happened to her in her Fifth Year was still foggy after so many years, there were still lasting effects. And this was one of them.

It took her a moment to even be able to move apart from shivering in paralyzed fear, and before anything else could happen in such a public setting, she was running for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her as quickly as she could. Tears came quickly, and she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold back whatever it was that had emerged.

She had hoped that no one had seen her, but a faint knock at the door told her otherwise. No one could see her like this. If anyone did, they’d think she was weak. Unstable, even. Her tears paused, if only temporarily, and she held her breath, hoping whoever it was would simply move on and forget about her.

[halfseverus-blog]

Severus was not in his most diligent state of mind. He had been sitting as far away from every living person as he possibly could be, and was lost in abstract thought, staring vacantly into space. It happened that the spot he was staring at was someone’s purse, and it didn’t quite register to him that it was Mary Macdonald’s purse until she abruptly left the room, and then didn’t stop staring vacantly until a pair of furtive hands began poking around inside. This sight disturbed him somewhat -- he had been the victim of theft in multiple occasions throughout his life, and part of his mind, still enveloped in half-formed thoughts and ideas, criticized a person stupid enough to leave their things unattended without even conjuring up some sort of anti-pickpocket charm. Does that exist? he thought. It should. But another part of his mind urged him to take action, at the very least to cause the thief misfortune and embarrassment, because Merlin knew Mary didn’t need any more of that. Why did he just have that thought? He didn’t care about Mary, had no relationship with her -- positive or negative, but especially not positive -- why did he suddenly care? Maybe it was because he had always felt indebted to Mary for her annoyingly excessive, although still kind, forbearance. Maybe it was because he had once stood idly by when Mary had been the victim of something much worse. Maybe it was because, if nobody who might judge him for helping a mudblood was looking, he could have an impact on another person’s life and happiness. He always liked that. Not for any benevolent reason, really, just because it made him feel important. Powerful. And that was the reason that he would conclude, later, to be his spur into action, even if he didn’t know that as he crossed the pub to intervene. He did so silently (he felt as if his mind was silent, too, that he was operating on something other than logic, which was rare, he thought), stopped directly behind the potential thief, and said, in a soft but unmistakably threatening voice, “I don’t believe that belongs to you.”

The physical jump that the stranger did was priceless, and he wondered if this was how Mulciber felt when he was controlling peoples minds, because if it was, then he completely understood the appeal. Next, Severus did something even less logical. He stepped closer to the purse and picked it up himself. It was clearly a women’s purse, but he didn’t know that, nor did he care if it looked like he was stealing it himself, because he wasn’t, and that was good enough for him.

Still operating on what he would normally refer to as idiotic whim, he went towards the door behind which Mary had disappeared (he hadn’t noticed it was a bathroom, he was that disoriented), and knocked several times. Upon doing so, he was back to full consciousness, and he felt his stomach lurch. He briefly and stupidly wondered if he had been under the imperious curse, and then went on to wondering what the fuck was he going to do now.

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

“Sev-” Lucius had raised his hand to knock again when the door swung sharply open with an impressive whoosh beneath his knuckles.

“Ah. Good evening. Severus. I apologize for the lateness of my call but the matter is of some urgency and if you cannot help me I will be quickly on my way.” Out of habit, Lucius observed all the perfunctory niceties, but those who know him well will notice his general bearing is distinctly less cocky than usual…

He coughed quietly once:

“May I come in?”

Severus’ eyes were wide and remained so as he began his futile attempt to see past Lucius’ manufactured politeness and into whatever problem he might have. He didn’t speak, he only nodded once and stepped to make room for Lucius to enter. 

With a glance at the light on the wall, Severus willed a flame to appear within it, which lit up the previously pitch-dark room. It suddenly occurred to him that Lucius had never seen his flat, and shortly after came the realization why: it was in abysmal shape. Aside from the scuttling of creatures in the walls and generally poor shape of the building, his own room was cramped and uncomfortable. It was obvious that some attempt at organization had once been made, but it had lacked conviction, so many books and boxes and cauldrons and jars had just been shoved up against the walls and the bookshelves that lined them (all of which were packed to excess with books).

In the opposite corner of the room, there was a table between two chairs. A very sad looking plant sat on that small table, surrounded by miscellaneous papers and odd trinkets that didn’t have an obvious place elsewhere. Wilted and neglected with black leaves that hung off of a skinny stem, one might observe that the plant bore some resemblance to its evidently unfit caretaker. The rest of the table was covered in dust. Severus did not notice any of this as he instinctually gravitated to that corner of the room, as it was the only place in the entire flat that was fit for more than one person.

[regaldaffodil-blog]

“Don’t you dare laugh at me." 

[halfseverus-blog]

“--I wasn’t going to. What kind of f-- I mean-- h-how?”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

Lucius paused on the doorstep to take another swallow of Blood-Replenishing Potion, grimacing at the coppery taste. One arm was held slightly stiffly at his side; he could feel it bleeding again under its bandage. It wasn’t even a very deep cut, yet he would have bled out if it weren’t for the potion he kept dosing himself with. Whatever the spell “Sectumsempra” came from, it was certainly aptly named. 

Lucius made a mental note to properly interrogate Crabbe at the first chance for exactly where he learned the spell he had accidentally hit Lucius with - though not before Lucius had tried his utmost to have it healed. Admitting to Crabbe that a spell he used had caused Lucius such trouble was an indignity that Lucius was not yet ready to bear.

As it were, after a visit to St. Mungo’s and half a night of research, Lucius was already down to the first of his last resorts.

He raised his good arm and rapped sharply on the door. It was the dead of the night, but Lucius was slightly desperate, and, with any luck, the occupant was still up.

“Severus? It’s me.”

@halfseverus

Severus wasn’t asleep. He had begun, in the past year, to conclude that he did not, in fact, require sleep to function, which only added to the naive and stupid feeling of invincibility that many boys of his age suffered from. Despite not having been asleep in the moment that the knock was heard, he was still, on principle, bothered by whoever it was who thought this was an appropriate time to go around knocking on doors. Upon hearing the voice, however, his irritation vanished, and was replaced with bewilderment and a rising concern. 

He opened the door within seconds of Lucius’ call, silently and suddenly swinging it open with the accidental dramatic flair that came naturally to him. In normal situations he would have worked to appear more stoic, but it was late, this was strange, and it didn’t pass his mind not to look worried as he took in this sight of Lucius in a distinctly troubled state.

“Lucius,” he said quietly, in way of greeting, “what’s the matter?”

[halfseverus-blog]

groovekinnon:

“So are you buying the damn thing, or not?”

Severus narrowed his eyes. He didn’t really want to buy it, but neither did he want her to think that her input had been valuable, so he thought that maybe he should. After a moment, feeling somewhat childish, he drew his mouth into a straight line, and said as sarcastically as he possibly could, “Only because you care so much.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

“Of course,” said Lucius, suppressing most of the instinctual, self-satisfied smirk and leaning back against the counter lazily once more.

“Well, I think I’ve taken up your time long enough, haven’t I, Severus? I shall… see you at the bachelor party, I suppose?” He grinned at the thought.

Severus groaned and covered his face with his hands, but he was just slightly smiling. In defeated acquiescence, he sighed, “I suppose you shall.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

Lucius was quiet a moment before he finally winded down and cracked a wry smirk:

“Well, you do always have an almost artistic way of provoking responses. And dear Bellatrix is… difficult to resist, isn’t she?” He threw Severus a knowing look. Then he sighed: 

“Considering it happened so many weeks ago, it probably is most sensible to simply let the matter lie. But for future reference, you would have been in the wrong if she had not reacted so rashly. She had better channels to raise grievances - she could have come to Narcissa or me for a private resolution. And -” he lowered his voice “- as reasonably tolerant as he may be of internal politics, I don’t think the Dark Lord would take well to actual in-fighting among the ranks, now would he? An argument to keep in mind, should the same situation arise again.”

His voice returned to normal: “But we’ll see to it that it doesn’t of course - Narcissa and I will be using the occasion of our wedding to smooth over any lingering antagonism, naturally. I do appreciate you informing me of this, Severus, it does clear up the situation.”

Severus tensed and looked down at the reference to the Dark Lord. Surely Lucius couldn’t believe there was any possible way he would think Bellatrix was in the wrong if he was brought into this. He held his tongue, however; he wished to move past this subject and any further arguing would be futile considering his opponent.

He smiled slightly, but in his mind this smile was compensation for the irritation he felt creeping up on him. He wasn’t finding Lucius’ stiff, authoritative manner particularly endearing at the moment -- if anything, it felt a bit condescending. 

He blinked a few times, willing away all the negative thoughts towards Lucius that had come up uninvited. Lucius was not deserving of them, he thought. There were many people whom he would not spare judgement, but Lucius should not be one of them. He thought of how much worse off he would have been in any encounter with Bellatrix without Lucius’ friendship as a protection.

Looking up, he smiled again, this time more genuinely. “Thank you.”

[halfseverus-blog]

groovekinnon:

“But they’re all so—different.”

Severus raised his eyebrows questioningly, though he didn’t give the impression that he was open to a different answer. “Are they?”

[hestiajones-wik]

“It’s awful, isn’t it?” Hestia shuddered as she turned her head away from the headline on the abandoned copy of today’s Prophet that had been left on the table before she’d arrived. “An entire family, simply— Oh, I can’t imagine what their loved ones must be going through.”

[halfseverus-blog]

“...Truly heartbreaking.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

“All of her other…” Lucius’ expression suddenly became inscrutable. Recollections from certain memorable nights were coming to mind…

He spoke slowly, almost to himself: “I know Bellatrix’s preferred method of marking her… subjects.” Lucius had laughed about it, along with the others who had gathered around to watch. 

But those had been enemies, deserving traitors or utterly unimportant filth. Associates and fellow members of the fold, his associates - that was entirely another matter. Surely Bellatrix understood the glaring difference, surely she had not… And yet could Lucius truly put it past her? And what else could rattle Severus like this, that his expression would flicker at the very thought, that he would go to such lengths to avoid discussing it?

Lucius speech became crisp again, recovering: “I appreciate your consideration for Narcissa and the wedding. In fact, I will be counting on it. I’ll decide, however, whether this impacts me.”

“Forgive me if I’m blunt, but I need to be certain I understand. She attacked you? This was not a duel, or some scuffle?”

A thought suddenly occurs - 

“And is that the only… physical wound?” Lucius’ gaze flickers from Severus’ cheek to his arm…

Severus could hear his heart beat. He shouldn’t have said anything, he should have denied it. His head was swimming, he couldn’t think clearly, and he spoke before he had come up with something clear to say. “It’s-- yes, that was all, she didn’t--” He took a breath in an attempt to stop his stammering, but when he continued speaking, he spoke faster than usual. “Listen, it wasn’t just her attacking me because she felt like it, I-- I practically brought it upon myself, I was being stupid, I didn’t know what I was messing with, so she showed me, and now I do, so, can we just-- stop?”

[halfseverus-blog]

groovekinnon:

“Neither do I, but it’s, like, impossible to ignore with all the signs up around the shops and whatnot, isn’t it?”

Severus looked around, and then shrugged. “I keep my head down,” he said, quietly. “The holidays all blend together, anyway.”

[halfseverus-blog]

luciusofmalfoy:

Lucius sat back, realization setting in.

“Our conversation, a couple of months ago.”

He nodded. After a pause, he laughed humorlessly, and spoke with an unpleasant edge in his voice that he had managed to keep out for the entire conversation until now. “Funny, a week later she seemed to hardly remember what she’d done. I suppose I blend in with all of her other--” Severus cut himself off and shut his eyes quickly. For a few moments, he remained still -- other than the slight twitching of his mouth, which was, for him, a common symptom of distress.

When he spoke again, his voice was calm and even again. “It hardly matters,” he said softly, looking directly into Lucius’ eyes in reassurance. “It won’t have any impact on you, Narcissa, or any part of the wedding.”