OUT OF CHARACTER
NAME: JJ
AGE: 20
TIME ZONE: EST
AIM: faeriexlights
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Draco Malfoy. All other experience can be found at ![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif) faeriexlights.
IN CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Severus Snape.
BIRTH DATE: January 9, 1959.
AGE: 16.
BLOODLINE: Halfblood.
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.
HOUSE: Slytherin, 5th.
EXTRACURRICULARS: Slug Club.
AFFILIATION: Death Eater, although I'd like to think that Severus doesn't really understand the full weight of what this means at this point in his life. He's only fifteen years old, he's a half-blood, and for most of his life, he was brought up in a Muggle town in which he didn't really have a chance to interact with the aristocracy of the Wizarding world. He knows that the Dark Lord has power, and this is why Severus is so adamant about serving him - after all, a rise in You-Know-Who's power can only mean a rise in his own, right?
PB: Martin Starr? idk.
OPTIONAL HISTORY: so lyke, snape was born to a drunkard and a whiny bitch who liked gobstones a bit too much, ohohoho, and then he fell in like with lily evans and went 2 hogwarts where the mwpp made his life a ~living hell~ and pantsed him a whole lot, which made him feel violated and rebellious and want to get a tattoo. so he got the dark mark, which was totes badass, just like him, only then lily was all, psh you're a hater, only that hasn't happened yet because he's only in fifth year and oh btw this has DH spoilers so don't read if you haven't finished the book and o rite, voldemort kills snape, k bye.
PERSONALITY: Severus Snape is, perhaps, the most enigmatic character of the Harry Potter series: this is, perhaps, due to his ability to nearly always be fully in control of his emotions, no matter what sort of situation he finds himself in. Although Severus is indeed a flawed man - more flawed than most, even - he is also a man of many talents, one of which is his ability to keep up a facade under even the greatest of pressure, a thing that many would find incredibly difficult to do. This ability, however, to keep up just such a mask may be easier for Snape than for most due to his inherent tendency to keep his emotions to himself; he is a loner by default - Severus Snape is not the sort of soul that thrives in social settings, much preferring the comfort a quiet room and old books can provide. He is, for the most part, an introverted boy; after all, the cards life has dealt him have forced Snape to realise that perhaps keeping his emotions close to the heart is wiser than revealing them for the world to see. However, while Severus Snape is a master at the art of maintaining a mask, he's certainly not infallible - and, if one does manage to push him past his breaking point (for detailed instructions on how to do so, see one Sirius Black), he will lose control of his temper in a fabulously terrifying and spectacularly explosive way.
Although a relatively calm boy most of the time, Severus is far from a nice one - after years of living with a violent father at home, he refuses to let himself be struck and not strike back. Yes, he's prone to violence, and rather gruesome acts of violence, at that, but it should be noted that Snape doesn't usually instigate fights of his own accord. He fights back, but he hardly ever fights first - after all, as a Slytherin, Severus has a rather acute survival instinct, and inciting fights directly conflicts with such a trait. However, when Severus Snape is pulled into a fight, it's certain to say that he won't fight fair - again, he'd hardly be considered an upstanding member of Slytherin house if he did. Snape isn't opposed to striking when his enemy's back is turned, not if it gives him the advantage, nor when his enemy is down. He may not be an evil boy - Severus is merely fifteen years old - but he's no wide-eyed innocent, either.
In fact, a large aspect of Severus Snape's personality is his strong attraction to the Dark Arts - he's fascinated by the power they promise, their inherent mystery, the sheer destruction they can cause with a simple word. Severus' childhood was spent in poverty, it was one in which he was constantly forced to take care of his sick, weak mother and protect himself as best he could from his violently-prone father, and it is this very fact that has incited in him a desire to attain as much power as he possibly can. Snape wants to dominate the world, to own it, to be his own man and never be the little boy crying sullenly, helplessly, in the corner of the grubby little kitchen, ever again. The Dark Arts thus hold a certain incurable allure for Severus; he's attracted by the power they promise. Being the inherently ambitious soul that he is, Severus is determined to rise above his dilapidated upbringings and home - not only to escape them, but to conquer their memory: no, he isn't any mere half-blood. He's the Half-blood Prince, and he will rule.
By definition, Severus is a Slytherin: he is clever, perhaps exceedingly so, and it is an intelligence that doesn't go unnoticed by his own self. Although there are many aspects of himself that Severus does have reason to feel insecure about (his looks, for example, are a thing that Snape knows are far from extraordinary), he is very much confident in his intellectual capabilities, most notably in the area of potions. His affinity for this subject in particular is unparalleled; while some students may be able to follow the instructions in the textbook to a T, Severus tends to eschew these instructions altogether, and seems to succeed all the more for it. A loner by default and an intellectual by nature, Severus often spends much time in the library, although unfortunately, his subjects of interest are more often than not related rather closely to the Dark Arts. Nevertheless, it is via books and novels that Severus pushes people away; not much of a conversationalist, he'll often reject conversation by claiming he has to study instead - and, if you aren't one of the few he deigns worthy of his company in the first place, he'll cut you to pieces with a few choice words for interrupting his reading time, as well.
This tendency to be sarcastic is yet another critical aspect of Severus's personality: he often tends to push people away with biting insults or, if you're truly on his bad side, reduce you to tears with a verbal diatribe on your many, many faults. Although not a Ravenclaw, Severus does have more than his share of wit: his sense of humour tends to err on the sarcastic side, and he scorns jokes that are brash and slapstick (read: anything and everything the Marauders find amusing). Although not one to use grandiose vocabulary in his day-to-day speech, Snape's intelligence shouldn't be underestimated - if you do get him going, either in an actual debate or simply in insulting you, he'll bring out every single SAT-word he knows, and yes, he does know quite a few. Snape's eloquence is simply reserved for rare occasions - never one to care about how others perceive him, he doesn't see the point in trying to sound smart when he already knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he most certainly is. Nevertheless, although this may seem somewhat contradictory, Severus does have the ability to impress those he wants to, such as those who may be in a higher position of power than he himself is.
While Severus Snape may have traits that exemplify both Ravenclaw and Slytherin house, he also has that one critical attribute that Gryffindor prized above all others: courage. Although this courage is hidden deep within, and it isn't even something Severus himself sees - as he's been taught, throughout all his life, that all he is is a Slytherin, ambitious and cunning and ruthless, it is intrinsic, and it's most certainly there. If forced, Severus will stand up and do what he has to, even if the end result is an injury to his own person. He's no martyr, and he's not about to stick his neck out for anyone - save, perhaps, one - but courage isn't a trait found in many in Slytherin house, and this in itself makes Severus Snape an oddity.
SAMPLE ENTRY: No. No, no, and no. While I have no doubt that Black and Potter's latest prank has amused more than a few of you, as it is quite clear that many at Hogwarts share their primitive, juvenile, and entirely unremarkable sense of humour, I am similarly certain that even Slughorn, with his sickeningly sycophantic nature, can no longer overlook their antics in class. What, Black, did you expect that wayward firework that landed in my cauldron to do me actual harm? Another one of your hilariously well-planned pranks, was it? How incredibly droll. I'm sure you'll forgive me, however, for being entirely unamused.
You're a foolish, halfwitted idiot, Black, you and your little friends who, as I'm sure you know by now, could have caused the entire classroom to go up in flame, were it not for my own quick thinking and efficiency at Potions. However, considering the outrageously unfair stance this school seems to take on discipline, most notably in regards to the likes of the Headmaster's precious Gryffindors, I won't be at all surprised when Black gets off with nothing but a light slap on the wrist and a warning never to be naughty again.
I'll be in the library. I know this may be difficult for some of you to comprehend, but I would so like to be left alone. Don't bother trying to find me.
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