Name: Severus Snape
Occupation: Assistant at Slug and Jiggers Apothecary // Death Eater
Wand: Ebony, 12 inches, Dragon Heartstring core, rigid
Age and Birthdate: January 9th, 1960
Bloodline: Half-blood
Pet/Familiar: None at this time
Physical Description: Standing at what he considers to be an average height, Severus has learned to hold and to carry himself in such a way that commands a kind of respect. Where once there was a cowering young boy, there now stands a young man who owns himself as well as whomever enters his sphere of influence. Thin and gaunt looking from years of wiling away most of his time immersed in study, Severus is well-accustomed to being the pariah and the outcast, and has learned to move like one. Possessing a kind of prowling gait, Severus can manoeuvre himself almost silently; making himself heard only when he chooses to be. He is long past his years as the youth who used to walk with twitches and spasms more fitting for a hunted spider. Long, slender fingers, however, retain their spidery appearance, and rather than being plagued by spasms, they are sure and steady, able to perform the deftest of motions with a delicate grace. A sallow tint to his pale skin accompanies his emaciated appearance and adds to the assumption that young Mr. Snape may bear a terrible grudge against out-door sports.
His lean and colourless face is in perfect agreement with his forlorn looking figure in that it does not dissent in any way from the complete whole. The face is primarily dominated by a large, hooked nose framed by a face that is severe in its angles with many jagged and jutting angles of bone to shape it. Dark and somewhat heavy brows hang over eyes that are inky-black, and it is Severuss eyes that are his most striking feature (once you look past his nose): they are cold, brutal, and penetrating as if they could see right through to your soul to uncover all your deepest secrets. Yet, they are also eyes that can seem to be unfathomable and impossible to read as Severus has become very wise in the art of concealing his true feelings and emotions. He is not one to wear his heart upon his sleeve. Thin lips conceal teeth that are not terribly crooked, but his bottom row bears a strong resemblance to a fence gone slightly awry. The voice that issues from these lips is smooth like silk and drips like oil, but can cut like little razors at the slightest instance. There is a kind of cold quality to it, however, that resonates with each deliberate and carefully weighed word. Lastly, a veil of deep dark hair frames his face like curtains and falls to his shoulders slick with glistening and quivering oil.
While he once wore ill-fitting clothes that hung loose upon his thin frame, he has exchanged these for robes that are now more form fitting and are kept impeccably neat and tidy. Not one article of his attire, however, strays towards the decadent, as he prefers simple and elegant clothes that speak for themselves about the kind of person who dons them. However, the displaced young man always adds details that secretly infringe unspoken borders to subtly intensify the fact that he is different from the usual rabble. Whether this difference is in his skills, abilities, or rank, it is highlighted. Preferring subtlety, Severus wears dark colours most notably black, grey, and Slytherin green.
Personality Description: Severus Snape isn't the friendliest person you'll ever meet. Quite the opposite, in fact, he is well known for being cold, sarcastic, mean-spirited, and bitter to almost everyone he interacts with at some level. This way of his may have started out as a defence against the outside world, but there are many other reasons that come to mind to excuse such behaviour on his part: hed had a bad morning, they were asking for it, or he didnt deign them to be worth his sparse words of civility. However, the more readily available reason is that it is now more a force of habit than anything else. Following this it is easy to deduce that Severus probably doesnt have many people he calls friend. The relationship between himself and his friends would be more accurately described as the relationship between a master and his dog. He simply does not feel the need to be constantly surrounded by people requiring his assistance, wanting favours, and nor does he require the constant approval of such people. For Severus requires only one thing from others, that is to be recognised. And not just by anyone, of course, he desires this recognition only from those that he respects and holds in high esteem. For in the end, those are the only people that matter. However, even without these people, he has a great confidence in his own abilities.
Although he attempts to be cool and formal, he can become very passionate and speak with great eloquence about things that he is fond of. However, he deals in great self-censorship and it is a rare thing that may cause him to shed his stony demeanour. Stubborn to a fault, an opinion or attitude once taken is not easily changed or discarded for another without a vicious struggle, and he looks down on those who tend to be flippant in their beliefs. He cannot help but hand over some sliver of respect to those who stick to their guns though, be they friend or foe. But, although this trait could be ascribed to simple hard-headedness, it is more due to a refusal to lower high standards that he expects of other people or change principles that he stands by for these others.
He has a true and genuine thirst for knowledge, and reading and study have always been his route to elevating himself above others. But, Severus is not simply an avid devourer of knowledge, who consumes and then simply regurgitates said information, he is an innovator. His keen intellect is put to use improving upon the spells, enchantments, and potions that he studies so fervently, and quite often he has invented his own. He has a natural flair for the analytical, logical, and orderly subject of potions, possessing quite a few of the same traits that describe the art himself. However, given that he is this way he is never truly happy at what he produces, always seeing the little flaws that make things less than perfect, including himself. As well as knowledge being a passion for him, it is also a great weapon of protection as well as a tool of belittlement.
Severus hates triviality, even at his age he has already come to the realisation that life is bitter and that it is never fair nor is it every easy, and hence he has little patience for those who moan and groan about the little wrongs in life. From his own troubled past and his vast knowledge acquired through books he has a more mature outlook on the world than most of his peers. However, he can still be quite petty and can carry a grudge with an unparalleled skill and longevity, often establishing vendettas that last a lifetime. A patient individual Severus can bide his time until the opportune moment shows itself. Revenge is a dish best served cold, as the saying goes.
Severus also loves plans and is also never without direction, and he always has plans within plans within plans to confront every situation that may arise. A very serious downfall, however, is a certain possessive streak in his personality. Growing up, Severus did not have many things to call his own, so when he does come into ownership, he guards his things jealously and with singular attention. Unsurprisingly, he rarely lends out his things to others, and when he does it is only with the greatest effort and only for those he most trusts. It should be said that this possessiveness applies to people as well.
Brief History: The Half-Blood Princes story begins before his birth with his mother, Eileen Prince, a witch. Not only was Eileen any old witch though, she was a pure-blooded one who carried a formally illustrious wizarding name, although by Severuss time at Hogwarts it had long since sunk into obscurity. The family fortune too had been tapped out by decades worth of relations squandering many hundreds of galleons on fruitless investments and frivolous pursuits (such as continuously betting on the Chudley Cannons to win the Quidditch World Cup). And then, when the money had all but run out, many in the Prince family continued to live well beyond their means accumulating an enormous debt that drove the family into bankruptcy. By the time Eileens father, Eustace Prince, went to school the Princes had barely a knut to their name.
Eileen was sorted into Slytherin upon her arrival at Hogwarts, and little did she know that as she was beginning her schooling at the great school, that Lord Voldemort was completing his final year there, in the same house as she. However, she of course, never had the slightest inkling about who he really was. Her only memory of Tom Riddle, the Head Boy, was of being very intimidated by the seventh year and of doing her best to avoid him and his gang in the many hallways and corridors of Hogwarts. While the most feared dark wizard in the world was drawing up his plans of domination, Eileen Prince enjoyed her time at the school, it was better by far than being at home, in the presence of parents whose world had crumbled down on them and who didnt have clue about what to do about it. While there she was not a social butterfly by any means, but rather spent most of her days dutifully studying (her favourite class being Defence Against the Dark Arts) and spending what little money she was allotted or came across on Gobstones. Joining the schools official Gobstones team in her second year, her knack for the sport earned her its captainship in her fifth year. Leading her team to victory every year she was captain, her finest hour was when she and her team were photographed and interviewed for The Daily Prophet.
After leaving school, Eileen drifted in and out of odd-ended jobs never caring particularly for anything. The last job that she held though she did like well enough. It was a job with the Ministry of Magic as a field agent in the Invisibility Task Force, whose primary job was to cast various forms of invisibility and Muggle repellent charms to hide magical places and creatures from Muggle eyes. As this was her first real experience with the world of Muggles, Eileen became somewhat enamoured of their quaint ways and ability to live without the aid of magic. While her family had been pure-blood elitists in days long since gone by, they were no longer bothering with things that now seemed trivial, and by they Eileen meant her parents, as the rest of the Prince family had now since ceased to exist. Her day-to-day interactions however, did allow her to meet one particular Muggle with a rather large nose who would forever change her life: Tobias Snape, one of the locals who laboured in the huge mill that dominated the little town.
Tobias Snape, although a rather grumpy looking man a few years Eileens senior, always tipped his hat to her whenever they passed in the street. When they finally began to talk, Eileen who had never received much attention from men before, felt herself falling in love with this Muggle, although she didnt quite know why. He never let her pay for things (which was just as well, as those funny bits of paper that Muggles called money was still eluding her understanding). Although he seemed the quiet type, he frequently dominated and lead their conversation and decided where they were to go when they went out together. This slow exertion of power even came to a point where he decided what she should wear and where she should go. And while he seemed to dislike everything (he was frequently known as Mr. Rant behind his back as he tended to go off on small tirades against everything around him) he particularly did not like Eileens job. He absolutely loathed not knowing where she went as a door-to-door saleswoman, and he increasingly pressured her to give up her job, saying that if she agreed to marry him then she would never have to worry about money again. She agreed shortly after this proposal.
Cut off now from the wizarding world, she struggled internally with a great ordeal whether or not to tell Tobias about what she really was. On the one side, she was very in love with him and feared not only his wrath at finding out that she had lied to him all this time, she feared losing him if he were to find out that she was a witch. On the other side, if he were to find out by accident, she knew that he would be terrifically angry with her. Well, she would just make sure that he would never know the truth. It was easy at first, keeping her former life a secret, she had no close friends or contacts in the wizarding community, she hadnt spoken to her parents in years, and she had learnt to hide her magical abilities when Tobias was around. But when little Severus came around, well, he couldnt help but be magical right from the start.
An unnaturally stubborn baby, the very first word that Severus ever spoke was NO. And when he didnt want to have something done to him or didnt want to do something he let you know it. If he didnt want to eat his broccoli, it would fly ten feet into the air, smash a hole through the ceiling, and shoot out into the already polluted river by the Snapes little house on Spinners End. If he didnt want to go to bed his screams would be magnified at five times their normal volume, waking up the entire row of little derelict houses. And once he even managed to disappear out of his bath water and into the kitchen when he decided that bath time was over. Tobias knew that something was wrong with his son, and he rounded upon his wife in his frustrations.
In a terrible argument that woke up the entire row of all the little derelict houses on Spinners End, Eileen finally confessed to Tobias all the secrets that she had desperately tried to hide from him. While Eileens worst fears of him leaving her did not come to pass, Tobias did his best to make her miserable ever after. And while he had once liked Severus as much as he could like anything, he grew to hate his own son. Mother and Father now screamed at one another as though it were a daily ritual, oftentimes pulling Severus into it as well. And Tobias took back his promise to Eileen about providing for her if she agreed to marry him and quit her job, now he no longer gave any of his earnings to his wife and son, instead he hoarded it all for himself and spent most of it at the local bar, leaving his family to fend for themselves. They managed of course, but Severus was ever dressed terribly in mismatching clothes that did not fit his rail-thin body.
While Eileen had warmed up to Muggles, the state of affairs with her husband drove her to begin to hate them. And yet she could not find it within herself to leave Tobias. But, she would make sure that her son would enter into Hogwarts at the age of eleven not at a disadvantage to those children who had been raised within the magical community. The good thing about Tobias working at the mill was that his shifts were long, often lasting up to ten long hours on weekdays. She filled her sons head with all the information he would need to know to enter the magical world seamlessly. She told him old wizarding fairy tales and moral stories, and when he was older about things like Dementors who guarded Azkaban, a prison for wizards gone criminal, men who transformed into werewolves at the full moon, the glories of Slytherins noble house, and the illustrious history of the Prince family. And Severus listened with alert dark eyes and drank up every word. When he was older still she let him read all of her old magic books that she had magically hidden from Tobias, many of them on her favourite subjects: history and the Dark Arts. However, shortly after this spurt of interest in her son, Eileen slowly began to let neglect for Severus take over, and soon she only invested the bare minimum so as to keep him clothed and fed with a roof over his head that only leaked a little bit.
Dressed as he was, Severus did not play well with other children, but with his head filled with the sacred knowledge of what he really was and what they were not, he told himself that he really did not want to play with inferior children. Besides, he really was not sorely tempted when he found one of his own kind in the neighbourhood playground. Her name was Lily Evans and when he first saw her he knew that he loved her; she had long, dark red hair and the most beautiful green eyes that Severus had ever seen. And, she could fly. He barely noticed her horse-faced older sister that always accompanied her everywhere. He watched her for days, trying to pluck up the courage to talk to her and devising scheme after scheme on how their first meeting should be. But, when the moment finally came, it did not go at all the way it had done in his head. Forgetting that the term witch was an insulting term in the Muggle world, he called her one and she took offence to it, and the way that her older sister, Petunia, kept going on about him being a spy made him loose his cool and trip over his words. Rather than succeeding at winning Lilys affections at their first meeting, he had only made himself appear strange and rude.
After a time though, he did manage to win her over (although he knew that she didnt feel the same way about him that he felt about her) as he of course had all the answers to the questions about her true nature. He told her a great deal about the wizarding world that he promised she would one day belong to. There were some pieces of information that he did hide from her of course, the most notable being the prejudice of many of the most prominent families against Muggle-borns like Lily. But he decided that she didnt need to know that, and he thought that if he prepared her enough that no one would have to find out that she was a Muggle-born. Of course, he had never been able to win over Petunia, and neither did he care to. Ultimately she was a Muggle and, therefore, couldnt possibly matter in the great scheme of things, and whatever Lily thought, would never join the two of them at Hogwarts.
While Severus had often used the idea of going off to Hogwarts with Lily Evans as a beacon of hope that he would one day escape from his parents and Spinners End, the school was, he admitted better than home, but it was not the haven that he had dreamt it to be. He was sorted into Slytherin and Lily into Gryffindor, and it was the worst match he could have imagined the two great houses had been the bitterest of enemies for hundreds of years. Not only was he separated from Lily, but he was often the victim of a gang of four Gryffindor boys who styled themselves as the Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. It was James and Sirius that he grew to hate more than the others, but it would always be James whom he despised the most. James was always the instigator of all the worst tortures that they inflicted on him, and Severus knew that he had designs on his Lily Evans.
However, his mothers training had paid off, and even in his first year he knew more about dark magic than his peers, and he even surpassed many of the upperclassmen. No one in Slytherin doubted his heritage. Over the years he did gain a circle of friends including current Death Eaters, Avery and Mulciber. He also excelled at Potions, and essentially re-wrote the entire sixth year textbook single-handedly. And the tattered hand-me down book from his mothers time at Hogwarts also became a receptacle for spells and charms that he himself invented during dry lectures while he simultaneously learned the required lessons. It was during this time that he privately used the name The Half-Blood Prince as his alias. These spells included Levicorpus which somehow escaped from his private knowledge and became quite popular during his fifth year, Muffliato, and Langlock.
However, despite all of these accomplishments, Severuss primary ambition became to expose the Marauders true nature as far more sinister than everyone believed them to be. He especially attempted to convince Lily of this fact, whom he feared was drifting ever farther away from him and closer into the outstretched arms of James Potter. As he began his investigations, his curiosity about where and why Remus Lupin left Hogwarts every month steadily grew until it seemed to him that if he could discover this one answer than he would have everything that he needed. He therefore took to watching Remus like a hawk, scrutinising his every action as though with a microscope, and combing through everything he had ever heard him or the other Marauders say. The answers werent, by any means, appearing instantaneously, and his unhealthy curiosity had been slightly dampened by how disinterested Lily seemed in Remuss repeated and regular disappearances. But then Sirius let something slip to him: a secret passageway that led under the ferocious Whomping Willow tree. At the time, Severus believed it to have been an honest slip of the tongue on Siriuss part, but he later learned different. That night he snuck in through the secret entrance that he had been told of, and emerged on the other side to the monstrous noises that the villagers of Hogsmeade had taken to be ghosts, only to come face-to-face with Remus Lupin, the werewolf. He would have been dead that night, and a great many ghastly things might have been different, if Potter hadnt turned up and saved his life.
Now Severus had his answers, but then Dumbledore forever swore him to absolute secrecy about Lupin's condition and he could only tell Lily that Lupin was a werewolf by means of a cryptic theory that she ended up simply dismissing. Almost worse still was that she knew that James had saved Severuss life thanks to the wild rumours that had swept the school about that fateful night. His fury at and hatred of Potter and his gang only increased, and Severus knew that James hadnt saved his life as a result of some noble Gryffindor act of heroism, but as an act of pure cowardice. The animosity between Severus and the Marauders increased exponentially from that point forward as he mercilessly taunted Remus about his furry little problem and James and company acted in kind. It was also at this point that Severuss scribbling and scrawling of new spells took a decidedly darker turn, and it was at this time that he invented the Sectumsempra spell. In fact, almost everything about him took such a turn as his Death Eater friends swept him up into their cause, and although at first he had only acted like them on the outside, he slowly began to internalise many of their beliefs and ideas about Muggles and Muggle-borns. But as always, Lily was forever the one great exception for everything.
It was the last day of their O.W.L. examinations and it was quite possibly the worst day of Severus Snapes life. Sitting under a huge oak tree, with his nose buried in a book, James and the Marauders struck. Potter hoisted him into the air using Severuss own self-invented spell, Levicorpus, hung him upside down and the whole lot of them ganged up on him, cruelly humiliating him in front of the entire school. The whole event was whirl of distress and anger, and even as Lily tried to intervene on his behalf, for one second she wasnt the greatest exception any more, she was a Mudblood, and he told her so in front of everyone. He tried to apologize to her, to make it up to her, but it was no good. She would not forgive him. The severing of their friendship hadnt come on like a sudden blow, though it seemed as much at the time for Severus. As his love affair with the dark arts deepened and he gained an ominous reputation around Hogwarts as a pure-blood elitist, Lily became more and mroe disturbed by his behaviour as time went on. But this had been the last straw and she finally let her former best friend go.
Severus tried for what seemed like a hundred years to make it up to her, but to no avail. And quietly he slipped away, cursing all of the Marauders as he went. He finished his studies at Hogwarts, earning some of the best grades as he did so. And while he did all these things he gained a grudging respect from his fellow Slytherins and began making a name for himself with friends whom he knew or suspected of already being Death Eaters, while all the while loathing himself for his one, tragic slip up that cost him the dearest thing in the world. However, he could not completely fathom what had taken place as he could not fully comprehend Lilys aversion to his fascination for dark magic. While he perceived it as a kind of privilege that bestowed power upon those brave enough to seek it, she did not. But he could not help thinking that if he did succeed in becoming a part of something bigger than himself, part of the revolution that would shake the world that Lily would come back to him. This was why he did not trade people like Avery and Mulciber away for Lilys sake: he wanted to live in both worlds, and he thought that he could have it all.
He did succeed though in one half of the dream. He did become a Death Eater, almost right after graduation, and it didnt surprise him one bit. In fact, it almost seemed like a natural extension in his life course: almost all of the people he mingled with at Hogwarts had gone on to swell the Dark Lords ranks as Death Eaters, his obsession with the dark side of magic rivalled his love for Lily Evans, and his prodigious skills in magic were well known amongst his friends (he is, at this moment in time, attempting to train himself in occlumency and legilimency). When he was approached by one of his former housemates for recruitment into the Death Eaters, there was no other answer to give except for an affirmation.
Now, though Severuss impressive talents in potions should have garnered him enough ability to land himself a job with the Ministry of Magic or St. Mungo's that would pay him handsomely for his abilities, Severus has instead taken up with Slug and Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley. The job pays decently enough for Severus to keep up a small flat and live a decent life. However, within the apothecary the young potions master has access to various ingredients and instruments, an occupation that he has been finding extremely useful in his double life.
Important Relationships:
Eileen (ne Prince) Snape: While Severus is forever thankful for the role his mother played in giving him his first magical education, there is a part of him that resents her bitterly. His mother had power, such power that she could have used to take him and herself away from his controlling and dominating father who let them live in squalor. She could have left Spinners End and rejoined the magical community, but she didnt. She chose for her only son to suffer. And after he graduated, he cut her out of his life.
Tobias Snape: If there is one person whom Severus despises more than James Potter it is his father. Abusive and domineering he made Severuss early life a living hell, and Severus has spent many long nights dreaming up fantastic new ways in which he could die. Every time he came across a particularly terrible curse or jinx, he would always imagine his father first under its influence. Tobias has also been instrumental in making it far easier for Severus to generalize all Muggles to be like his father, and therefore deserving of being dominated by wizards.
Lily Evans: Simply put, Lily is the love of Severuss life, and while there have been other girls that he has admired or found attractive none of them can compare to Lily. Once he thinks of her, whatever feelings he may have had for a girl evaporate completely, ending whatever could have been. However, he has lost her now, but has not yet given up all hope of winning back her affections.
James Potter and the Marauders: Hate. Pure hatred. Loathing. Severus has a vendetta that calls out for blood against these four boys, especially James and Sirius. While he is infinitely glad that he is no longer trapped with them inside Hogwarts, and can be away from them, his hate for them has not diminished in the slightest. He holds them, all of them, responsible for his loss of Lily.
Loyalties - Personal and Family: Severus Snape is a Death Eater, but his loyalties are far more complicated than could possibly be stated by this simple title. While he holds many of the Dark Lords ideals close to his heart, Severus is firstly loyal to himself and his own goals, and with his aptitude for stubbornness and his long memory, it is unlikely that he could be persuaded to go against them. However, after so many years of being a loner, a seeming pariah existing on the fringes of society, Severus has grown in many ways to like belonging to an organization bigger, stronger, and more powerful than himself alone. He feels significant, and this feeling is not one that he will abandon readily. Unlike his brothers and sisters in the Death Eaters, Severus does not despise Muggle-borns as much as could be expected. Calling Lily a Mudblood was the last time he ever used that word. As for his family, his mother is to disconnected from the wizarding world to know that there is even a war raging, and his father is a Muggle, whose only connection to Severuss world is his disconnected mother.
Likes/Dislikes:
Likes: Like his father (though hed probably sectumsempra your nose off if you said it) there arent many things that Severus actually likes. The short list goes thusly: Lily Evans, apples, potions, dark magic, reading, tea (especially Darjeeling tea), and snow.
Dislikes: The condensed version: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Muggles, blackberries (the little thorny things get stuck in your teeth), most holidays, people who talk too much, house elves, any drink with bubbles in it, Turkish delight, mess and disorder, and humanity in general (another subcategory in itself).
PB/Avatar to be used: Im currently having trouble finding someone who looks the part, so for now Ill just go with Alec Hopkins.
ALL other ezboard IDs you use on PI, including the names of the characters you play on EACH: Vespers Nine Regulus Black
Contact Information: In General Discussion
Roleplay Sample: Dim rays of early morning sunlight filtered coldly through the store front windows, illuminating the tiny dust particles that hung in the air. Everything was quite still inside the store; even the figure dressed all in black that sat perched like a raven upon the stool behind the counter ledge. Every once in a great while though, an arm would move to turn the page of a large tome that was laid out in front of him, breaking both the motionless aura of the place as well as its silence.
The store through which witches and wizards in search of magical ingredients and fully brewed potions entered was small, and crammed to exploding with jars of different powders and herbs, and bundles of miscellaneous animal parts hung suspended from the ceiling. The place also had a peculiar smell to it, but the young man who was absorbed in his book had long since ceased to notice it. In fact, he had never been bothered by it at all in the first place, unlike many who entered it. After all it was the expected smell of potions brewing and ingredients waiting to be combined and compiled.
Another page turned just as the heavy clunking of the bells above the doors sounded, to alert the shopkeeper that someone had entered the apothecary. But the darkly dressed man behind the counter did not seem to have registered the appearance of a guest within the shop he was supposed to be minding, so deeply absorbed in his book he was; or perhaps he was simply ignoring the new presence. In actuality, he was doing both. He would have been a fool to let himself get so wrapped up that he wouldnt notice someone entering the store, after all many people possessed a tendency towards thievery On the other hand, Severus Snape absolutely loathed the relationship between proprietors of goods and the customers that the latter expected. After all, most possessed the ludicrous idea that shopkeeper was synonymous with my personal servant whom I can use and abuse while I am in your store. Severus had long since learned that ignoring customers until they were forced to approach him gave him the upper hand in the upcoming battle.
Sure enough after a few minutes of feet shuffling uncertainly from place to place, carrying a person who was pretending to be interested in a bundle of batwings that hung above her head while waiting for an offer of help that would not be extended. Finally the feet brought her to the counter. Excuse me, came the sharp voice. Severus slowly drew his gaze from the tiny writing that filled the yellowed page, said nothing, and merely proceeded to peer at the visitor, just waiting for her to state her intentions.
You know in Brighton they sell these for far cheaper! She said shrilly.
He stared at her for a few seconds with an acidic look, bent over his book again, and said in a chilly voice, Then get out of my store and go to Brighton.
The customers heavy cheeks turned a nasty shade and she took a step closer to the counter while he continued to read his book. I expected far better from the apothecary in Diagon Alley! Both in service and in price! Do you know who I am? I work at the Ministry of Magic. You should give me thirty percent off these boiled batwings, its only fair after your rudeness.
Long fingers retrieved the red satin place-marker that hung from the book, and placed it carefully inside before closing the its pages softly. His cold eyes regarded the middle-aged witch on the other side of the counter. Why should I even give an ounce of my time to someone who has nothing better to do with her pathetic little life than to go around from store to store hassling shopkeepers. Youre a waste of air." He slid his fingers between the pages to find his place again. "Now, I think you should leave before I say something unkind."
How did you hear about PI?: I do not remember a time before PI
Occupation: Assistant at Slug and Jiggers Apothecary // Death Eater
Wand: Ebony, 12 inches, Dragon Heartstring core, rigid
Age and Birthdate: January 9th, 1960
Bloodline: Half-blood
Pet/Familiar: None at this time
Physical Description: Standing at what he considers to be an average height, Severus has learned to hold and to carry himself in such a way that commands a kind of respect. Where once there was a cowering young boy, there now stands a young man who owns himself as well as whomever enters his sphere of influence. Thin and gaunt looking from years of wiling away most of his time immersed in study, Severus is well-accustomed to being the pariah and the outcast, and has learned to move like one. Possessing a kind of prowling gait, Severus can manoeuvre himself almost silently; making himself heard only when he chooses to be. He is long past his years as the youth who used to walk with twitches and spasms more fitting for a hunted spider. Long, slender fingers, however, retain their spidery appearance, and rather than being plagued by spasms, they are sure and steady, able to perform the deftest of motions with a delicate grace. A sallow tint to his pale skin accompanies his emaciated appearance and adds to the assumption that young Mr. Snape may bear a terrible grudge against out-door sports.
His lean and colourless face is in perfect agreement with his forlorn looking figure in that it does not dissent in any way from the complete whole. The face is primarily dominated by a large, hooked nose framed by a face that is severe in its angles with many jagged and jutting angles of bone to shape it. Dark and somewhat heavy brows hang over eyes that are inky-black, and it is Severuss eyes that are his most striking feature (once you look past his nose): they are cold, brutal, and penetrating as if they could see right through to your soul to uncover all your deepest secrets. Yet, they are also eyes that can seem to be unfathomable and impossible to read as Severus has become very wise in the art of concealing his true feelings and emotions. He is not one to wear his heart upon his sleeve. Thin lips conceal teeth that are not terribly crooked, but his bottom row bears a strong resemblance to a fence gone slightly awry. The voice that issues from these lips is smooth like silk and drips like oil, but can cut like little razors at the slightest instance. There is a kind of cold quality to it, however, that resonates with each deliberate and carefully weighed word. Lastly, a veil of deep dark hair frames his face like curtains and falls to his shoulders slick with glistening and quivering oil.
While he once wore ill-fitting clothes that hung loose upon his thin frame, he has exchanged these for robes that are now more form fitting and are kept impeccably neat and tidy. Not one article of his attire, however, strays towards the decadent, as he prefers simple and elegant clothes that speak for themselves about the kind of person who dons them. However, the displaced young man always adds details that secretly infringe unspoken borders to subtly intensify the fact that he is different from the usual rabble. Whether this difference is in his skills, abilities, or rank, it is highlighted. Preferring subtlety, Severus wears dark colours most notably black, grey, and Slytherin green.
Personality Description: Severus Snape isn't the friendliest person you'll ever meet. Quite the opposite, in fact, he is well known for being cold, sarcastic, mean-spirited, and bitter to almost everyone he interacts with at some level. This way of his may have started out as a defence against the outside world, but there are many other reasons that come to mind to excuse such behaviour on his part: hed had a bad morning, they were asking for it, or he didnt deign them to be worth his sparse words of civility. However, the more readily available reason is that it is now more a force of habit than anything else. Following this it is easy to deduce that Severus probably doesnt have many people he calls friend. The relationship between himself and his friends would be more accurately described as the relationship between a master and his dog. He simply does not feel the need to be constantly surrounded by people requiring his assistance, wanting favours, and nor does he require the constant approval of such people. For Severus requires only one thing from others, that is to be recognised. And not just by anyone, of course, he desires this recognition only from those that he respects and holds in high esteem. For in the end, those are the only people that matter. However, even without these people, he has a great confidence in his own abilities.
Although he attempts to be cool and formal, he can become very passionate and speak with great eloquence about things that he is fond of. However, he deals in great self-censorship and it is a rare thing that may cause him to shed his stony demeanour. Stubborn to a fault, an opinion or attitude once taken is not easily changed or discarded for another without a vicious struggle, and he looks down on those who tend to be flippant in their beliefs. He cannot help but hand over some sliver of respect to those who stick to their guns though, be they friend or foe. But, although this trait could be ascribed to simple hard-headedness, it is more due to a refusal to lower high standards that he expects of other people or change principles that he stands by for these others.
He has a true and genuine thirst for knowledge, and reading and study have always been his route to elevating himself above others. But, Severus is not simply an avid devourer of knowledge, who consumes and then simply regurgitates said information, he is an innovator. His keen intellect is put to use improving upon the spells, enchantments, and potions that he studies so fervently, and quite often he has invented his own. He has a natural flair for the analytical, logical, and orderly subject of potions, possessing quite a few of the same traits that describe the art himself. However, given that he is this way he is never truly happy at what he produces, always seeing the little flaws that make things less than perfect, including himself. As well as knowledge being a passion for him, it is also a great weapon of protection as well as a tool of belittlement.
Severus hates triviality, even at his age he has already come to the realisation that life is bitter and that it is never fair nor is it every easy, and hence he has little patience for those who moan and groan about the little wrongs in life. From his own troubled past and his vast knowledge acquired through books he has a more mature outlook on the world than most of his peers. However, he can still be quite petty and can carry a grudge with an unparalleled skill and longevity, often establishing vendettas that last a lifetime. A patient individual Severus can bide his time until the opportune moment shows itself. Revenge is a dish best served cold, as the saying goes.
Severus also loves plans and is also never without direction, and he always has plans within plans within plans to confront every situation that may arise. A very serious downfall, however, is a certain possessive streak in his personality. Growing up, Severus did not have many things to call his own, so when he does come into ownership, he guards his things jealously and with singular attention. Unsurprisingly, he rarely lends out his things to others, and when he does it is only with the greatest effort and only for those he most trusts. It should be said that this possessiveness applies to people as well.
Brief History: The Half-Blood Princes story begins before his birth with his mother, Eileen Prince, a witch. Not only was Eileen any old witch though, she was a pure-blooded one who carried a formally illustrious wizarding name, although by Severuss time at Hogwarts it had long since sunk into obscurity. The family fortune too had been tapped out by decades worth of relations squandering many hundreds of galleons on fruitless investments and frivolous pursuits (such as continuously betting on the Chudley Cannons to win the Quidditch World Cup). And then, when the money had all but run out, many in the Prince family continued to live well beyond their means accumulating an enormous debt that drove the family into bankruptcy. By the time Eileens father, Eustace Prince, went to school the Princes had barely a knut to their name.
Eileen was sorted into Slytherin upon her arrival at Hogwarts, and little did she know that as she was beginning her schooling at the great school, that Lord Voldemort was completing his final year there, in the same house as she. However, she of course, never had the slightest inkling about who he really was. Her only memory of Tom Riddle, the Head Boy, was of being very intimidated by the seventh year and of doing her best to avoid him and his gang in the many hallways and corridors of Hogwarts. While the most feared dark wizard in the world was drawing up his plans of domination, Eileen Prince enjoyed her time at the school, it was better by far than being at home, in the presence of parents whose world had crumbled down on them and who didnt have clue about what to do about it. While there she was not a social butterfly by any means, but rather spent most of her days dutifully studying (her favourite class being Defence Against the Dark Arts) and spending what little money she was allotted or came across on Gobstones. Joining the schools official Gobstones team in her second year, her knack for the sport earned her its captainship in her fifth year. Leading her team to victory every year she was captain, her finest hour was when she and her team were photographed and interviewed for The Daily Prophet.
After leaving school, Eileen drifted in and out of odd-ended jobs never caring particularly for anything. The last job that she held though she did like well enough. It was a job with the Ministry of Magic as a field agent in the Invisibility Task Force, whose primary job was to cast various forms of invisibility and Muggle repellent charms to hide magical places and creatures from Muggle eyes. As this was her first real experience with the world of Muggles, Eileen became somewhat enamoured of their quaint ways and ability to live without the aid of magic. While her family had been pure-blood elitists in days long since gone by, they were no longer bothering with things that now seemed trivial, and by they Eileen meant her parents, as the rest of the Prince family had now since ceased to exist. Her day-to-day interactions however, did allow her to meet one particular Muggle with a rather large nose who would forever change her life: Tobias Snape, one of the locals who laboured in the huge mill that dominated the little town.
Tobias Snape, although a rather grumpy looking man a few years Eileens senior, always tipped his hat to her whenever they passed in the street. When they finally began to talk, Eileen who had never received much attention from men before, felt herself falling in love with this Muggle, although she didnt quite know why. He never let her pay for things (which was just as well, as those funny bits of paper that Muggles called money was still eluding her understanding). Although he seemed the quiet type, he frequently dominated and lead their conversation and decided where they were to go when they went out together. This slow exertion of power even came to a point where he decided what she should wear and where she should go. And while he seemed to dislike everything (he was frequently known as Mr. Rant behind his back as he tended to go off on small tirades against everything around him) he particularly did not like Eileens job. He absolutely loathed not knowing where she went as a door-to-door saleswoman, and he increasingly pressured her to give up her job, saying that if she agreed to marry him then she would never have to worry about money again. She agreed shortly after this proposal.
Cut off now from the wizarding world, she struggled internally with a great ordeal whether or not to tell Tobias about what she really was. On the one side, she was very in love with him and feared not only his wrath at finding out that she had lied to him all this time, she feared losing him if he were to find out that she was a witch. On the other side, if he were to find out by accident, she knew that he would be terrifically angry with her. Well, she would just make sure that he would never know the truth. It was easy at first, keeping her former life a secret, she had no close friends or contacts in the wizarding community, she hadnt spoken to her parents in years, and she had learnt to hide her magical abilities when Tobias was around. But when little Severus came around, well, he couldnt help but be magical right from the start.
An unnaturally stubborn baby, the very first word that Severus ever spoke was NO. And when he didnt want to have something done to him or didnt want to do something he let you know it. If he didnt want to eat his broccoli, it would fly ten feet into the air, smash a hole through the ceiling, and shoot out into the already polluted river by the Snapes little house on Spinners End. If he didnt want to go to bed his screams would be magnified at five times their normal volume, waking up the entire row of little derelict houses. And once he even managed to disappear out of his bath water and into the kitchen when he decided that bath time was over. Tobias knew that something was wrong with his son, and he rounded upon his wife in his frustrations.
In a terrible argument that woke up the entire row of all the little derelict houses on Spinners End, Eileen finally confessed to Tobias all the secrets that she had desperately tried to hide from him. While Eileens worst fears of him leaving her did not come to pass, Tobias did his best to make her miserable ever after. And while he had once liked Severus as much as he could like anything, he grew to hate his own son. Mother and Father now screamed at one another as though it were a daily ritual, oftentimes pulling Severus into it as well. And Tobias took back his promise to Eileen about providing for her if she agreed to marry him and quit her job, now he no longer gave any of his earnings to his wife and son, instead he hoarded it all for himself and spent most of it at the local bar, leaving his family to fend for themselves. They managed of course, but Severus was ever dressed terribly in mismatching clothes that did not fit his rail-thin body.
While Eileen had warmed up to Muggles, the state of affairs with her husband drove her to begin to hate them. And yet she could not find it within herself to leave Tobias. But, she would make sure that her son would enter into Hogwarts at the age of eleven not at a disadvantage to those children who had been raised within the magical community. The good thing about Tobias working at the mill was that his shifts were long, often lasting up to ten long hours on weekdays. She filled her sons head with all the information he would need to know to enter the magical world seamlessly. She told him old wizarding fairy tales and moral stories, and when he was older about things like Dementors who guarded Azkaban, a prison for wizards gone criminal, men who transformed into werewolves at the full moon, the glories of Slytherins noble house, and the illustrious history of the Prince family. And Severus listened with alert dark eyes and drank up every word. When he was older still she let him read all of her old magic books that she had magically hidden from Tobias, many of them on her favourite subjects: history and the Dark Arts. However, shortly after this spurt of interest in her son, Eileen slowly began to let neglect for Severus take over, and soon she only invested the bare minimum so as to keep him clothed and fed with a roof over his head that only leaked a little bit.
Dressed as he was, Severus did not play well with other children, but with his head filled with the sacred knowledge of what he really was and what they were not, he told himself that he really did not want to play with inferior children. Besides, he really was not sorely tempted when he found one of his own kind in the neighbourhood playground. Her name was Lily Evans and when he first saw her he knew that he loved her; she had long, dark red hair and the most beautiful green eyes that Severus had ever seen. And, she could fly. He barely noticed her horse-faced older sister that always accompanied her everywhere. He watched her for days, trying to pluck up the courage to talk to her and devising scheme after scheme on how their first meeting should be. But, when the moment finally came, it did not go at all the way it had done in his head. Forgetting that the term witch was an insulting term in the Muggle world, he called her one and she took offence to it, and the way that her older sister, Petunia, kept going on about him being a spy made him loose his cool and trip over his words. Rather than succeeding at winning Lilys affections at their first meeting, he had only made himself appear strange and rude.
After a time though, he did manage to win her over (although he knew that she didnt feel the same way about him that he felt about her) as he of course had all the answers to the questions about her true nature. He told her a great deal about the wizarding world that he promised she would one day belong to. There were some pieces of information that he did hide from her of course, the most notable being the prejudice of many of the most prominent families against Muggle-borns like Lily. But he decided that she didnt need to know that, and he thought that if he prepared her enough that no one would have to find out that she was a Muggle-born. Of course, he had never been able to win over Petunia, and neither did he care to. Ultimately she was a Muggle and, therefore, couldnt possibly matter in the great scheme of things, and whatever Lily thought, would never join the two of them at Hogwarts.
While Severus had often used the idea of going off to Hogwarts with Lily Evans as a beacon of hope that he would one day escape from his parents and Spinners End, the school was, he admitted better than home, but it was not the haven that he had dreamt it to be. He was sorted into Slytherin and Lily into Gryffindor, and it was the worst match he could have imagined the two great houses had been the bitterest of enemies for hundreds of years. Not only was he separated from Lily, but he was often the victim of a gang of four Gryffindor boys who styled themselves as the Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. It was James and Sirius that he grew to hate more than the others, but it would always be James whom he despised the most. James was always the instigator of all the worst tortures that they inflicted on him, and Severus knew that he had designs on his Lily Evans.
However, his mothers training had paid off, and even in his first year he knew more about dark magic than his peers, and he even surpassed many of the upperclassmen. No one in Slytherin doubted his heritage. Over the years he did gain a circle of friends including current Death Eaters, Avery and Mulciber. He also excelled at Potions, and essentially re-wrote the entire sixth year textbook single-handedly. And the tattered hand-me down book from his mothers time at Hogwarts also became a receptacle for spells and charms that he himself invented during dry lectures while he simultaneously learned the required lessons. It was during this time that he privately used the name The Half-Blood Prince as his alias. These spells included Levicorpus which somehow escaped from his private knowledge and became quite popular during his fifth year, Muffliato, and Langlock.
However, despite all of these accomplishments, Severuss primary ambition became to expose the Marauders true nature as far more sinister than everyone believed them to be. He especially attempted to convince Lily of this fact, whom he feared was drifting ever farther away from him and closer into the outstretched arms of James Potter. As he began his investigations, his curiosity about where and why Remus Lupin left Hogwarts every month steadily grew until it seemed to him that if he could discover this one answer than he would have everything that he needed. He therefore took to watching Remus like a hawk, scrutinising his every action as though with a microscope, and combing through everything he had ever heard him or the other Marauders say. The answers werent, by any means, appearing instantaneously, and his unhealthy curiosity had been slightly dampened by how disinterested Lily seemed in Remuss repeated and regular disappearances. But then Sirius let something slip to him: a secret passageway that led under the ferocious Whomping Willow tree. At the time, Severus believed it to have been an honest slip of the tongue on Siriuss part, but he later learned different. That night he snuck in through the secret entrance that he had been told of, and emerged on the other side to the monstrous noises that the villagers of Hogsmeade had taken to be ghosts, only to come face-to-face with Remus Lupin, the werewolf. He would have been dead that night, and a great many ghastly things might have been different, if Potter hadnt turned up and saved his life.
Now Severus had his answers, but then Dumbledore forever swore him to absolute secrecy about Lupin's condition and he could only tell Lily that Lupin was a werewolf by means of a cryptic theory that she ended up simply dismissing. Almost worse still was that she knew that James had saved Severuss life thanks to the wild rumours that had swept the school about that fateful night. His fury at and hatred of Potter and his gang only increased, and Severus knew that James hadnt saved his life as a result of some noble Gryffindor act of heroism, but as an act of pure cowardice. The animosity between Severus and the Marauders increased exponentially from that point forward as he mercilessly taunted Remus about his furry little problem and James and company acted in kind. It was also at this point that Severuss scribbling and scrawling of new spells took a decidedly darker turn, and it was at this time that he invented the Sectumsempra spell. In fact, almost everything about him took such a turn as his Death Eater friends swept him up into their cause, and although at first he had only acted like them on the outside, he slowly began to internalise many of their beliefs and ideas about Muggles and Muggle-borns. But as always, Lily was forever the one great exception for everything.
It was the last day of their O.W.L. examinations and it was quite possibly the worst day of Severus Snapes life. Sitting under a huge oak tree, with his nose buried in a book, James and the Marauders struck. Potter hoisted him into the air using Severuss own self-invented spell, Levicorpus, hung him upside down and the whole lot of them ganged up on him, cruelly humiliating him in front of the entire school. The whole event was whirl of distress and anger, and even as Lily tried to intervene on his behalf, for one second she wasnt the greatest exception any more, she was a Mudblood, and he told her so in front of everyone. He tried to apologize to her, to make it up to her, but it was no good. She would not forgive him. The severing of their friendship hadnt come on like a sudden blow, though it seemed as much at the time for Severus. As his love affair with the dark arts deepened and he gained an ominous reputation around Hogwarts as a pure-blood elitist, Lily became more and mroe disturbed by his behaviour as time went on. But this had been the last straw and she finally let her former best friend go.
Severus tried for what seemed like a hundred years to make it up to her, but to no avail. And quietly he slipped away, cursing all of the Marauders as he went. He finished his studies at Hogwarts, earning some of the best grades as he did so. And while he did all these things he gained a grudging respect from his fellow Slytherins and began making a name for himself with friends whom he knew or suspected of already being Death Eaters, while all the while loathing himself for his one, tragic slip up that cost him the dearest thing in the world. However, he could not completely fathom what had taken place as he could not fully comprehend Lilys aversion to his fascination for dark magic. While he perceived it as a kind of privilege that bestowed power upon those brave enough to seek it, she did not. But he could not help thinking that if he did succeed in becoming a part of something bigger than himself, part of the revolution that would shake the world that Lily would come back to him. This was why he did not trade people like Avery and Mulciber away for Lilys sake: he wanted to live in both worlds, and he thought that he could have it all.
He did succeed though in one half of the dream. He did become a Death Eater, almost right after graduation, and it didnt surprise him one bit. In fact, it almost seemed like a natural extension in his life course: almost all of the people he mingled with at Hogwarts had gone on to swell the Dark Lords ranks as Death Eaters, his obsession with the dark side of magic rivalled his love for Lily Evans, and his prodigious skills in magic were well known amongst his friends (he is, at this moment in time, attempting to train himself in occlumency and legilimency). When he was approached by one of his former housemates for recruitment into the Death Eaters, there was no other answer to give except for an affirmation.
Now, though Severuss impressive talents in potions should have garnered him enough ability to land himself a job with the Ministry of Magic or St. Mungo's that would pay him handsomely for his abilities, Severus has instead taken up with Slug and Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley. The job pays decently enough for Severus to keep up a small flat and live a decent life. However, within the apothecary the young potions master has access to various ingredients and instruments, an occupation that he has been finding extremely useful in his double life.
Important Relationships:
Eileen (ne Prince) Snape: While Severus is forever thankful for the role his mother played in giving him his first magical education, there is a part of him that resents her bitterly. His mother had power, such power that she could have used to take him and herself away from his controlling and dominating father who let them live in squalor. She could have left Spinners End and rejoined the magical community, but she didnt. She chose for her only son to suffer. And after he graduated, he cut her out of his life.
Tobias Snape: If there is one person whom Severus despises more than James Potter it is his father. Abusive and domineering he made Severuss early life a living hell, and Severus has spent many long nights dreaming up fantastic new ways in which he could die. Every time he came across a particularly terrible curse or jinx, he would always imagine his father first under its influence. Tobias has also been instrumental in making it far easier for Severus to generalize all Muggles to be like his father, and therefore deserving of being dominated by wizards.
Lily Evans: Simply put, Lily is the love of Severuss life, and while there have been other girls that he has admired or found attractive none of them can compare to Lily. Once he thinks of her, whatever feelings he may have had for a girl evaporate completely, ending whatever could have been. However, he has lost her now, but has not yet given up all hope of winning back her affections.
James Potter and the Marauders: Hate. Pure hatred. Loathing. Severus has a vendetta that calls out for blood against these four boys, especially James and Sirius. While he is infinitely glad that he is no longer trapped with them inside Hogwarts, and can be away from them, his hate for them has not diminished in the slightest. He holds them, all of them, responsible for his loss of Lily.
Loyalties - Personal and Family: Severus Snape is a Death Eater, but his loyalties are far more complicated than could possibly be stated by this simple title. While he holds many of the Dark Lords ideals close to his heart, Severus is firstly loyal to himself and his own goals, and with his aptitude for stubbornness and his long memory, it is unlikely that he could be persuaded to go against them. However, after so many years of being a loner, a seeming pariah existing on the fringes of society, Severus has grown in many ways to like belonging to an organization bigger, stronger, and more powerful than himself alone. He feels significant, and this feeling is not one that he will abandon readily. Unlike his brothers and sisters in the Death Eaters, Severus does not despise Muggle-borns as much as could be expected. Calling Lily a Mudblood was the last time he ever used that word. As for his family, his mother is to disconnected from the wizarding world to know that there is even a war raging, and his father is a Muggle, whose only connection to Severuss world is his disconnected mother.
Likes/Dislikes:
Likes: Like his father (though hed probably sectumsempra your nose off if you said it) there arent many things that Severus actually likes. The short list goes thusly: Lily Evans, apples, potions, dark magic, reading, tea (especially Darjeeling tea), and snow.
Dislikes: The condensed version: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Muggles, blackberries (the little thorny things get stuck in your teeth), most holidays, people who talk too much, house elves, any drink with bubbles in it, Turkish delight, mess and disorder, and humanity in general (another subcategory in itself).
PB/Avatar to be used: Im currently having trouble finding someone who looks the part, so for now Ill just go with Alec Hopkins.
ALL other ezboard IDs you use on PI, including the names of the characters you play on EACH: Vespers Nine Regulus Black
Contact Information: In General Discussion
Roleplay Sample: Dim rays of early morning sunlight filtered coldly through the store front windows, illuminating the tiny dust particles that hung in the air. Everything was quite still inside the store; even the figure dressed all in black that sat perched like a raven upon the stool behind the counter ledge. Every once in a great while though, an arm would move to turn the page of a large tome that was laid out in front of him, breaking both the motionless aura of the place as well as its silence.
The store through which witches and wizards in search of magical ingredients and fully brewed potions entered was small, and crammed to exploding with jars of different powders and herbs, and bundles of miscellaneous animal parts hung suspended from the ceiling. The place also had a peculiar smell to it, but the young man who was absorbed in his book had long since ceased to notice it. In fact, he had never been bothered by it at all in the first place, unlike many who entered it. After all it was the expected smell of potions brewing and ingredients waiting to be combined and compiled.
Another page turned just as the heavy clunking of the bells above the doors sounded, to alert the shopkeeper that someone had entered the apothecary. But the darkly dressed man behind the counter did not seem to have registered the appearance of a guest within the shop he was supposed to be minding, so deeply absorbed in his book he was; or perhaps he was simply ignoring the new presence. In actuality, he was doing both. He would have been a fool to let himself get so wrapped up that he wouldnt notice someone entering the store, after all many people possessed a tendency towards thievery On the other hand, Severus Snape absolutely loathed the relationship between proprietors of goods and the customers that the latter expected. After all, most possessed the ludicrous idea that shopkeeper was synonymous with my personal servant whom I can use and abuse while I am in your store. Severus had long since learned that ignoring customers until they were forced to approach him gave him the upper hand in the upcoming battle.
Sure enough after a few minutes of feet shuffling uncertainly from place to place, carrying a person who was pretending to be interested in a bundle of batwings that hung above her head while waiting for an offer of help that would not be extended. Finally the feet brought her to the counter. Excuse me, came the sharp voice. Severus slowly drew his gaze from the tiny writing that filled the yellowed page, said nothing, and merely proceeded to peer at the visitor, just waiting for her to state her intentions.
You know in Brighton they sell these for far cheaper! She said shrilly.
He stared at her for a few seconds with an acidic look, bent over his book again, and said in a chilly voice, Then get out of my store and go to Brighton.
The customers heavy cheeks turned a nasty shade and she took a step closer to the counter while he continued to read his book. I expected far better from the apothecary in Diagon Alley! Both in service and in price! Do you know who I am? I work at the Ministry of Magic. You should give me thirty percent off these boiled batwings, its only fair after your rudeness.
Long fingers retrieved the red satin place-marker that hung from the book, and placed it carefully inside before closing the its pages softly. His cold eyes regarded the middle-aged witch on the other side of the counter. Why should I even give an ounce of my time to someone who has nothing better to do with her pathetic little life than to go around from store to store hassling shopkeepers. Youre a waste of air." He slid his fingers between the pages to find his place again. "Now, I think you should leave before I say something unkind."
How did you hear about PI?: I do not remember a time before PI
