Severus Snape was considered pestiferous by the vast majority of the Wizarding World. Despite his fortune, his intelligence, and his extraordinary power and strange sense of integrity and morals, parents kept their girls far away from him. No overbearing mothers pushed their daughters in his path for him to meet, no slightly sheepish fathers tried to arrange dinner dates at their wives' insistence, no aunts and uncles promised to set him up with their wonderful nieces.
He was rich, intelligent, powerful, moral, but he was also surprisingly dark. Forbidding. Dangerous.
Of course no one wanted their daughters to meet him, to become interested in him. And they often became interested anyway. The perfect villain, the redefinition of 'tall, dark, and mysterious,' the dark power… it was alluring, promising… threatening.
So mothers and fathers paid special attention in his company, and absolutely no one pressed him to meet "sweet little Sylvie – you'll adore her!"
Severus liked it that way.
Besides, he had no interest in their blasted daughters anyway. He considered it rather egotistical of them to assume that he would be interested in their vapid, insipid, horrifically dull and vacuous daughters.
And he knew just how vacuous they were.
Because while no one was interested in him, they were all very interested in his husband. It bothered none of them that Harry cheerfully walked down the street holding Severus' hand, that a wedding ring rested peacefully on Harry's finger at all times, that Harry looked at Severus with the utmost love, tenderness, and affection.
Their daughter would be able to reform the gay wizard. Their daughter was just the woman to make him straight again. Their daughter would break up the marriage between the Wizarding World's savior and arguably the most undesirable wizard in Britain. Their daughter would make Harry happy in a way Severus couldn't (Harry rather doubted this, unless they could make his arse as gloriously sore as Severus could – and then tease him about it in the morning in classic Snape (er… Potter-Snape) fashion).
Their daughter never failed to do anything more than to stare at her shoes in embarrassment and mutter something. The girls were very interested in Harry, naturally, but they simply couldn't show it. They were awe-struck.
They were vacuous, as Severus liked to say. Stupid. Idiotic. And completely undeserving of his or Harry's attention or time.
Today was absolutely no different from any other time they had dared set foot in public.
Severus tapped his foot impatiently while Harry tried to patiently explain to a mother that he was married and very happy, and thereby had absolutely no desire to meet her daughter.
Severus would've been very content to simply say 'bugger off,' but Harry – irritating Gryffindor that he was – always felt that he should be polite and courteous.
"Ma'am, I have absolutely no interest in your daughter. None. Whatsoever. I'm married."
"Of course," the pestiferous woman answered, but it was clear she didn't find Severus a worthy mate. Too bad. Harry did.
Pestiferous – adj. 1. Bearing or bringing disease. 2. Infected with or contaminated by a pestilential disease. 3. Morally evil or dangerous to society; pernicious. 4. Bothersome; troublesome; annoying. Word of the Day, February 17, 2008).