what are your headcanons on Severus as head of house? How do u think he acts towards snakes
I think there’s a very specific cognitive dissonance going on with Severus and Slytherin, because despite the fact that most Slytherin students come from wealthy pure-blood families and privileged social environments, I genuinely think Severus internalised the stigma against Slytherin as something deeply personal. Not just because of other students bullying him, but because authority figures —teachers included— repeatedly stood by and allowed that bullying to happen.
So I think in his mind, being a Slytherin became inseparable from being socially condemned, mistrusted and left unprotected. And yes, objectively speaking, a huge factor in why he suffered so much was poverty, social isolation and lack of protection or support systems. But trauma is not always rational. Trauma simplifies things emotionally. So I think Severus ends up associating a lot of that pain specifically with the identity of being a Slytherin. Which is why I think he becomes intensely protective of Slytherin students later in life. Not because he necessarily agrees with every single thing they do, but because in his mind they are children who, from the age of eleven, are already going to walk into Hogwarts with a target on their backs and assumptions made about them before they even open their mouths.
And unlike Slughorn, who desperately wanted approval from wealthy elites and influential families, Severus genuinely does not give a shit about social acceptance. He doesn’t care about being liked. He doesn’t care about networking. He doesn’t care about pleasing people. So I think part of his mentality becomes: “No one protected me. Fine. I’ll protect them.” And I think that’s also why his resentment toward Gryffindor runs so deep specifically. Because we never really see Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff students having personal issues with Snape. The hostility is overwhelmingly tied to Gryffindor, the house associated with the people who abused him and the institutional bias that protected them.
Especially considering that Dumbledore himself was a Gryffindor, McGonagall was a Gryffindor, the school culture clearly favoured Gryffindor students in many ways, and the Marauders were essentially treated like mischievous golden boys despite repeatedly crossing lines that would absolutely be considered abusive. So from Severus’s perspective, Gryffindor represents not bravery or heroism, but a system that rewarded charismatic cruelty while dismissing his suffering. And I think that deeply shaped how he approached teaching.
Honestly, I think Severus was emotionally distant but structurally protective. I do not think he was the kind of teacher students went to crying about personal drama. I think that would make him deeply uncomfortable. He’s emotionally repressed, highly guarded and extremely rigid with boundaries. Especially because he started teaching so young —the age gap between him and some students was tiny at first— so I think he intentionally built very thick professional walls from the beginning. There is always a line: He is Professor Snape first, everything else second. But at the same time, I absolutely think his students knew that if they were genuinely being treated unfairly, he would go to war for them. Not in a warm or nurturing way. Not in a soft, emotionally available way. But in a very harsh, almost paternalistic way rooted in trauma.
Like the type of parent who publicly defends their child with their life, then privately tears them apart afterward for behaving like an idiot. That’s exactly the energy Snape gives me. Publicly? “My students did nothing wrong.” Privately in the common room? “You absolute morons, do you have any idea how stupid that was?”
And honestly, I think he valued effort more than likability. Outside of obvious exceptions like Harry and his immediate circle —because Harry was psychologically triggering to him in ways that completely compromised his objectivity— I actually think Severus was relatively fair academically. Demanding? Absolutely. Strict? Definitely. Harsh? Constantly. But I think he respected intelligence, discipline, talent and hard work. If a student genuinely applied themselves, I think he respected that regardless of whether he liked them personally.
And that’s why I think his students probably experienced him as emotionally inaccessible but fundamentally reliable. Not someone you cry to, not someone you seek comfort from, but someone you know will stand between you and injustice if it really matters.
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