#UGH THAT MAN IS HJKASDFGJKLAGEFJK

[korpuskristae]

Jasmine and Rose - The Smell of June

Warnings: Mild swearing

Pairing: Severus Snape x Female Reader, Reader uses she/her pronouns

Word Count: 1500+

Summary: Severus handles his class with the utmost decorum… definitely…

Tag List: @likoplays (If you want to be tagged in the next chapter let me know!)

Part 1 Part 3

AN: Sorry for the abrupt ending of the last chapter but it was wayyy too long to post by itself, if I hadn't posted at least some of it I probably never would have posted it in the first place, I was a little intimidated by the length lol. Anyway, this is still inspired by the song Jasmine and Rose but I wanted to suggest another Sev song because I can go on for days about music I think he'd listen to/that describes him.

I love this song but I prefer the full-length version, if you like it, go listen to it!

̩͙‿ ༺ ♰ ༻ ‿̩͙‿ ☆ ‿̩͙‿ ༺ ♰ ༻ ‿̩͙‿

Read on AO3

Having written the instructions clearly on the blackboard, he stood at the front of his classroom waiting for his students to settle in. 

And so they did, eager to get the lesson done and over with.

“Today we will be brewing Amortentia, it is not a difficult potion to master but many of you may struggle with keeping on task, time is precious when brewing, and improper time management can lead to disastrous consequences,” he drawled, abruptly starting the lesson. 

Flicking his wand, the board flipped sides displaying a detailed history of Amortentia and its properties. “Amortentia, also known as the ‘Love Potion’, is among one of the most dangerous potions you will ever come across in my classroom.”

“It does not cause one to fall in love with another like many of you have been led to believe, instead, it causes obsessive infatuation that may border on insanity,” he continued reciting a summarized version of the board with practiced ease.

Pausing, the potions master spoke carefully in a much more severe tone to drive his point home, “Improperly brewed Amortentia can result in a number of severe negative results such as psychosis and irreversible insanity, so take care to follow my instructions carefully.” 

Continuing on, Severus walked over to the bench in the middle of the classroom used for demonstrations after he placed his wand on his desk. "The smell of Amortentia varies from person to person, manifesting as whatever attracts them most,” he lit a match and ignited a flame underneath his cauldron.

“Due to its potentially dangerous nature, it is one of the very few potions that is controlled and highly regulated by the ministry,” he said monotonously, setting his station up and arranging the ingredients accordingly.

“Pay close attention to my demonstration, I shall only show you once.” 

As disliked as he was, the students couldn’t deny how mesmerizing it truly was to watch the Potions Master work. Truly a master of his craft, his simple elegance, efficiency, and unwavering confidence when handling ingredients enraptured all who watched. While he could be just plain mean sometimes, he was never unfair, his standards were never unachievable, just high. In truth, he only wanted the best, to see his students succeed, if they weren’t given high standards they’d just expect everything to be handed to them. 

He’d be damned if he taught a generation of children to be like James Potter.

Admirably, he held himself to those same standards, abandoning his wand at his desk while he was brewing, managing his time expertly, and taking care to handle every ingredient delicately just as he expected of his students.

Once the water in the cauldron reached a rolling boil, Severus adjusted the flame accordingly. Adding in some powdered moonstone, he slowly stirred the mixture before adding powdered ashwinder eggs in too.

“The potion requires the usage of pearl dust, powdered ashwinder eggs, and powdered moonstone meaning you all will have to make use of your mortars.” Motioning to the mortar and pestle he used to grind up the ingredients before class, he added the pearl dust.

“Rose thorns and petals are used in this potion to represent the many sides of love, the beautiful, prickly, delicate, and complex are all acceptable answers for future written tests. I have supplied you all with a single rose, harvest the ingredients separately, like so,” holding the rose upright, he stood it up straight on the table taking his florist’s knife to gently rid the stem of its thorns.

“Once the thorns have been collected and added, cut the stem from the rose as close as you can.” Pausing to chop the flower from the stem, he held the flower up for the class to see. “Once you have done so, take the rose and twist the remaining attached stem, this will free all of the petals in one go,” holding the rose petals up, he showed his students before placing them aside in a bowl.

“Add them in slowly so as to not overflow your cauldron and then lastly add some mint before setting the potion aside to brew for three minutes. If you have followed my directions, you will be rewarded with spiraling steam and an iridescent appearance.” Flipping the board back over to the ingredients side, he walked over to his desk to grab his wand before returning to the demonstration bench.

 Severus stopped dead in his tracks once he caught a whiff of the potion. Momentarily losing his signature stoic composure, he uncovered the potion with a confused expression. Removing the lid, the potion looked absolutely perfect, as expected of a potions master of his caliber, it was an easy potion to brew after all. 

And yet… 

It smelled different.

His Amortentia smelled different.

Severus Snape, the man hopelessly in love with Lily Evans, the man who would do anything for her, was now the man who no longer smelled her in his Amortentia.

But Severus Snape was never a man to show any sort of weakness, he was the type of person who would grin and bear it… if by grin you meant scowl.

Gesturing to the cauldron containing the Amortentia, he inhaled deeply assuming his unfeeling persona, “This is a properly brewed Amortentia, note the vapor and the iridescent pearl color.” 

 Clearing his throat, he slammed the lid down on the cauldron quickly before extinguishing the flame “Begin. I expect a carbon copy of this very potion by the end of this class period, I shall walk around and monitor you should you need any assistance.”

He was calm, composed, and under control, one would even say he was having a completely normal reaction.

He spent nearly the entire class berating his students for the smallest slip-ups.

 A Hufflepuff for sneezing and blowing his powdered moonstone everywhere, a Ravenclaw for following the book’s instructions rather than the ones he wrote on the board, a Gryffindor for being… well… a Gryffindor, and perhaps the most surprising, a group of Slytherin girls for talking about spiking their crushes drinks with the potion.

Shockingly, for the first time ever in his own classroom no less, Severus took points from his own house. 

Nobody in the classroom, or the castle for that matter, dead or alive, had ever seen the Potions Master so angry.

By the end of the class, only three students out of the seventeen in his classroom produced potions for grading and only one of them was awarded a passing grade.

Not even Dumbledore, upon hearing about the incident, dared to confront the Potions Master. 

Instead of having to face everyone and answer people’s incessant questions, Severus opted to sulk in his office rather than go to dinner in the Great Hall. As a result, the students were able to freely discuss the events of the day’s class without fear of reprimanding.

And here he was now, the talk of Hogwarts… yet again.

He effortlessly found the small bottle of Amortentia he kept hidden in the store room behind some spirit of nostalgia. Although he’d rather die before he admitted it, Severus too was prone to moments of weakness.

 Whether it was plain sadness or alcohol-induced psychosis, he found comfort in the smell of Lily. 

In truth, he had no idea why he kept the bottle around, once post-drunk clarity hit him or he snapped out of it, he found himself feeling ashamed and pathetic for allowing himself to find any sort of solace in Lily’s memory. He deemed himself unworthy of any comfort since he was at fault for her death. 

Nevertheless, the bottle remained hidden in the back of his personal storeroom, not once did he even come close to disposing of it. As twisted as it was, it was the only thing he allowed himself to have, a respite from his raging guilt.

Uncorking the bottle, Severus held it at an arm's length before shakily bringing it up to his nose and sniffing it. 

The sybaritic aroma of jasmine, rose, and ambrosia flooded his senses causing him to stiffen and suck in a sharp breath.

 It was uniquely your scent, 

sensual and erotic while remaining subtle and tantalizing at the same time. 

He was no fool, he was far from one. He knew what this meant. He hadn’t meant to let you weasel your way into his heart, and yet, there was the irrefutable evidence that you had, right in front of him.

“That insufferable, conniving, wench!” He growled slamming the vial of Amortentia down on the shelf before storming out of the storeroom.

Who was he angry at? It seemed unreasonable to be angry at you and yet here he was, angry at you for making him fall in-

No. 

He wasn’t in love, he wouldn’t use that word. He wouldn’t delude himself into believing that he was capable of feeling love or even capable of mentally handling it if he could feel it.

This was a realization he knew even alcohol wouldn’t dull the sting of, he knew better than to get drunk after realizing his… predicament anyway, lest he act like a drunk fool professing his so-called “love” to you.

Instead, he opted to barricade himself in his chambers, far away from the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts. Hoping to find a rare moment of solitude to collect his rampaging thoughts.