Severus's Quills

[valis2]

Character: Severus Snape
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Melodrama
Het, Slash or Gen: Gen
Description: Severus thinks about the quills that he owns.


Severus owns four quills.

One is creamy white, simple, from his mother. He keeps it in a box under his bed. He does not touch it.

One is green, tipped with Slytherin silver, a gift from Lucius Malfoy. It is on display, enhancing the mantel.

One is sturdy, well-worn, stained red from marking essays. It is perched familiarly on his desk.

One is black, pulled from the wing of a raven at the cross-roads. The only ink it will accept is his own blood. It has only been used once, on a night he cannot forget, when he traced the Dark Mark on parchment in front of the Dark Lord himself and felt it cutting into his own arm. Sometimes he brings it out, remembers the sting of the tip, the burn of the ink, the hesitation as he traced the serpent's tongue, knowing that one day it would betray him.

Comments

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Fascinating - how so much of Severus is revealed merely by the quills he owns.

White - the color of innocence and purity. Was it intentional symbolism? Very suggestive that Severus keeps it locked away...

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, in this one I really imagined Severus having a soft spot for his mum.

[randomspectator.livejournal.com]

I love this. Quills are somehow so evocative in general, and you've so perfectly captured something so right for each of them.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

For about three months straight I woke up with the sentence "Severus owns four quills" running through my head, until I finally wrote it. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[gmonkey42.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's lovely! I like the original method of making the Dark Mark.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I totally love that idea, too, that you have to actually draw it upon yourself as the ultimate act of giving yourself over...

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

That is fantastic, really powerful. I love the idea that Death Eaters have to tattoo themselves in the same way Umbridge made Harry cut his hand.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I really am in love with the idea that in order to totally surrender yourself over to the Dark Lord you have to permanently disfigure yourself. I've been pretty consumed with that ever since I wrote this!