~Sequentia~ Harry Potter One-Shots [Long]

Essence in Practicality [Severus Snape]

Severus Snape x Reader

[Theme: Young Adult]

Aah... The weekend. The best part of any week. Perfect for spreading out your legs, relaxing and letting time fly past you... Could it get any better than this? 

Well, that's what I would be thinking had my moment of respite not been interrupted by the post-owl crashing into my window. I got up in a hurry to open the window, took the post from its beak and tried to pretend that this hadn't been the norm for the past three months. 

"Honestly," I let out exasperated and flung myself back atop my bed, "you'd think after a dozen complaints that they'd change that owl. I wonder if I could whip something up to help it... Nah, it would probably bite my finger if I gave it anything other than Sickles."

Shrugging the thought off, I took a look at what it had delivered: the normal bill, some coupons that would likely expire by the time I'd remember to use them, and today's edition of The Daily Prophet. The inside of the newspaper was filled with small tabloid articles about scandals in the wizarding community. Rita Skeeter always did find a way to turn a boring story into a sensation. It was one of the reasons I refused to be interviewed by her.

The Alchemy Academia section was the one that took my interest. Some days, they would cover ancient wizards who had made great contributions to anything alchemy-related; my main fascination being potions.  Today's issue was about Gregory the Smarmy: a great wizard who created the Unctuous Unction potion. 

The Unctuous Unction potion made the drinker become the person who gave the potion's best friend. Such a concoction seemed innocent on the surface to the average wizard. To me, it was terrifyingly alluring. The ability to use it on an unwilling person and make them possibly do anything you wanted... it was devious. 

Of course, I would never do something like that. My approach was more studious than anything. That was what caught my eye in the corner of the page.

Best Selling Books This Week:
1. Magical Maladies and Polish Potions by Y/N L/N

A smile crept up on my lips. Five weeks at the top of the best-seller list. Perhaps it may end up replacing the current Hogwarts textbooks, although I'm sure Professor Snape would rather die than allow someone he taught to take over his teachings. He had this manner of doing things his way or no way at all. I could recall many of my peers asking him why he would deviate from the book so much. It was because of him that I probably grew to ask questions about the current methods.

My book was about working on improving and refining current strategies in healing and potion brewing, as well as opening up old out-of-use methods for further discussion. For only having graduated a few years ago, many were in disbelief at how young I was. 

My thoughts were taken away by me when my finger brushed against the page of the newspaper. It was clearly made out of a different material but still paper. It was slightly thick too. Something must be hidden there.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I went downstairs to my lab, grabbed my goggles and got out the old trusty Bunsen burner. Sure, there were more magical ways of doing it, such as lighting a fire with my wand, but this needed extra special precision. Not to mention it was one of the methods I promoted in my book so I kind of had to use it. 

I ripped the page out of the newspaper and already it felt heavier than it should. The flames of the Bunsen erupted and I gingerly held the page into its flame. It started by shrivelling into black, as expected, but when the flame hit the new material, it turned into a pristine white. The rest of the newspaper faded away and all that was left was a pearly-white envelope with an unforgettable logo.