— You’ll find him hunched over a simmering cauldron, sleeves rolled up, brows knitted in concentration. The soft burble of the potion fills the dungeons with a faint rhythm, steady and hypnotic. The room is cooler than usual, the stone walls whispering the chill of early evening, but a faint, oddly familiar warmth hangs in the air. Sweet. Warm. A little smoky. With the tiniest trace of vanilla and something darker—sensual, almost magnetic. Odd.

Severus doesn’t flinch easily, but even he pauses when something stirs inside him—an unsettling recognition. The amortentia. It’s supposed to mirror the scent of what draws you most, what you love, whether you know it or not. He leans closer. The smell sharpens. Still no answers. Only questions.

Then, without a knock—typical of you—you step in, a small stack of parchment in your hands. Your footsteps echo softly on the stone floor as you cross the room. You don’t rush. You never do. There’s a calm, casual confidence to the way you move, as if the dungeon belongs to you as much as it does to him.

And suddenly, everything makes sense.

The scent in the room blooms—stronger now. That warm vanilla in the air, soft and feminine, like the skin of someone just risen from tangled sheets. Underneath it, the dark pull of something musky and luxurious—like amber and spice lingering on warm fabric. It’s you. The faintest trace of your perfume that always lingers long after you’ve passed him in the corridor. The soft smell of parchment from the endless paperwork you carry. The electricity of your presence, unmistakable now that it’s tied to something so primal.

He doesn’t move. But something shifts inside him.

He stares at the cauldron like it’s revealed a secret he hadn’t meant to admit, not even to himself. The scent is no accident. It’s recognition. It’s revelation. And there, in the thick potion-scented air of the dungeon, Severus realizes that what draws him—what always has—is standing just a few feet away.

The amortentia smells like you. And it terrifies him more than he’ll ever let on.