A/N: Okay, I signed myself up for Round 2 of the Snape_LDWS: Ensnare the Senses! Each drabble will be posted as another chapter after the weekly challenge is over.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and make no money off of this. This is for fun and critical insights concerning our favorite dark wizard. Enjoy!
Prompt: sight, portrait or photograph
Title: This House
Word Count: 268
Warnings: none
Most times Snape hated this house: the locked rooms, the dark oak paneling, the glint of tarnished silver cutlery, the mold marring the furnishings. The green curtains mocked him in their high-born Slytherin hue, even though he himself was a Slytherin - Head Slytherin, in fact - but he was a half-blood and not allowed to look upon such finery.
The oppression inside was palpable with every curve of ornate banistry, every faded tapestry. The magical lamps cast gloomy shadows around priceless antiques and the walls and ceiling were dingy from years of hurtling insults. Snape was sure the building would collapse under it's own pure-blooded pompousness.
The only reprieve from the starkness was Black's bedroom, but that was just as vile in its own way, the brief snatches he caught of it when the man himself opened and closed his door. Bright reds and yellows flung every which way, like a giant griffin had exploded in the room. Nauseating, really.
Headed past the parlor toward the next Order meeting, Snape walked a little too loudly. It caused a sash to swish open.
"Out, vile vermin. Out of my house! Traitorous abomination, you have no right to be here," shouted Walburga.
Snape sneered at the portrait. "What a pity, then, that it belongs to your traitorous first-born, whose head you blackened on the wall upstairs."
He knew it would get a rise out of her and was not disappointed when she started shrieking obscenities. Black was going to have a field day calming her down again.
His mood a little bit improved, Snape smiled inwardly. Sometimes, he liked this house.
