The small Things
These are some of my headcanons for @happy-snape-week.
@brewing-snapefest
Our esteemed potion master is a very private Person. While on my internship for the Daily Prophet I learned a few tricks from Rita Skeeter and so was able to bring you this report of Hogwarts most feared teacher’ s interactions:
⦁ Every Thursday evening there is a teacher meeting. All attribute Snape's sour mood on Friday to the fact that he had to suffer his colleagues presence. Only Minerva McGonagall knows that our dear potions master is suffering from a nasty hangover. The two of them have a ritual of drinking a glass of wine, or something stronger, after these meetings- usually a glass turns into quite a few. To this day Snape is mystified how the far smaller woman is able to hold her liquor better than him.
Hogwarts inhabitants often scratch their head at some interactions between the pair on Friday mornings. A very untypical cheerful greeting, from the otherwise so stoic witch, is often witnessed by students passing the teachers table at breakfast: "What a wonderful morning this is, don't you agree Severus!?"; or "Why do you look so glum today, my dear colleague?" are not uncommon to be heard.
This far to bright- and loud- mocking tone is often answered by an incomprehensible grumbling of Snape into his cup of coffee - he is clutching on to for dear life.
⦁ All the Slytherin's transgressions, while not punished by their head of house, is collected by Snape as ammunition against their annoying parents:
The most satisfactory use is interrupting Lucius Malfoy's monologues about the Malfoy's inherited elegance and intellect in Deatheater meetings. "Indeed, your son's exploding cauldron and his resulting boil covered face was a true enrichment of my lesson."
To this day Wormtail could have sworn he saw a quick mischievous grin pass over the dark lord's face at that particular exchange. It was disturbing.
⦁ You can always trust for Madam Pomfrey to fuss over Snape's health:
"Severus I swear to you: I'll force dinner down your throat personally if you don't start to attend meals regularly!" , "Severus you need to get out of that dungeon and see some sunlight! I almost mistook you for a ghost."
To everyone's surprise: There comes no angry retort or scathing remark from the bat of the dungeons, simply an annoyed growl- also one usually finds Severus attending meals more frequently after a tongue lashing by the mediwitch.
Snape will deny to his dying day that the annoyance at the woman's scolding is always mixed with a somewhat warm feeling spreading in his chest.
⦁ The Slytherin's head of house enjoys the sound of rain. On a stormy day he can be found in the owlery, abandoned from every sane student in this weather, peering over the grounds and listening to the relaxing drizzle of water hitting the ancient stone of the castle walls.
⦁ In the 'year of hell'-not named like this due to the Basilisk's rampage- as Lockhart was searching for a dueling partner, for his defense club, he asked Flitwick for advice. Flitwick's expertise in dueling was well-known- sadly the hero did not want to challenge a person older than himself: Otherwise, he would have of course loved to face him! The old Ravenclaw confined in Gilderoy, with a traitorous glint in his small eyes, that he considered Severus to be sometimes a little clumsy while dueling.
It was the first year Flitwick received a christmas present from Snape, attached with a letter reading: Some opportunities are hard to come by. Thank you for providing me with this one.
The year of hell marked the beginning of their Christmas gift exchange, as well as a monthly dueling practice. Sometimes McGonagall joins their 'infantile' measuring contest. More often than not the smallest wizard comes out on top, while the other two seem to be rather evenly matched- much to their ire and Flitwick's glee.
Their annoyance over a dueling-draw is known to enhance their annual quidditch competition- much to the horror of their students, except for Oliver Wood who thinks it motivates his team - it does not.
The other teachers are rather amused by their snark until questioned which team they are favoring. Obviously, Gryffindor or Slytherin are a bad response, but woe to the poor soul answering Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff: This results in both teachers bonding over the common enemy and voicing each weakness in the other house's teams.
⦁ There are certain rare plants, expensive potions ingredients, found only in the forbidden forest. Some mornings Severus finds a batch of them lying on his classroom table. On the other side of the grounds Hagrid is sometimes greeted by a bottle of Bourbon or a pepper up potion, in the cold weather, standing on his door step.
The two men have never exchanged a word over this: Passing nods is all they need to understand the other.
⦁ Professor Sprout is not surprised when in the middle of working on her plants she becomes aware of her fellow teacher striding through the Greenhouse. Snape once admitted that the ambiance helps him focus on certain problems. Although, the older woman catches him peering over her shoulder more frequently these days, she suspects even the personified student's nightmare enjoys calm companionship: Resulting in the seemingly 'increased rate of problems' the man claims to have nowadays.
