☆ what it is like to be in slytherin ☆
"The ease of a snake lies in its patience; its strike is swift but never rushed."
○°•☆●° 𝖇𝖎𝖗𝖉𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 °●☆•°○
i've noticed slytherins take a lot of pride in their house. even more than the gryffindors. i mean, we clearly are the best, but it gets excessive at some point. unfortunately some clichés are indeed true and a majority of the students in slytherin are from pureblood families. however, they are not nearly as hostile towards halfblooded students and muggleborns as people may want to believe. first and foremost all of us are slytherins, and slytherins stick together.
as a whole slytherins are very close, even across years with everyone looking for the best connections and alliances. there is an unspoken code all slytherins follow: we protect each other, we help each other out, and we keep each other's secrets.
if there is something all slytherins are great at, it's keeping up a front. they make a collective effort to seem calm and collected, to portray the epitome of unity inside their house. in reality, slytherins are quite chaotic and tend to easily freak out internally about even small things that bother them. they just know how to hide it well.
most of the students in slytherin are under a lot of pressure from their family and society. this oftentimes manifests in the form of issues with eating disorders and/or substance abuse. most older slytherins smoke regularly (discretely of course).
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○°•☆●° 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖔𝖓 𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖒 °●☆•°○
light, tinged green and faintly blue by the lake water, is filtering through the gigantic windows all around the room. you can see fish flitter by, an enormous tentacle press against the glass and if you watch very carefully you might be able to see merfolk swim by. the enormous domed roof and the massive stone walls make you feel small, and that is okay. it keeps you humble.
it is always cold down here in the dungeons. you will find most students huddled around the giant fireplace, entangled with each other on the lavish leather couches, wrapped with soft blankets and propped up by fluffy pillows. if you can stand the cold, you can venture to one of the big tables all around the room to study, read, or play a game of wizarding chess.
old heavy carpets muffle your steps as you walk through the room, and even older tapestries tell you their anchient truths and as you make your way past them. this room feels like home, and you will miss it dearly once you are gone.
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once you make your way down to your dorm, you are greeted with heavy double doors that lead you into a round room. both the floor and the walls are made of stone, which really doesn't help the freezing temperatures.
a fireplace is necessary down in the dungeons. i love to cuddle up in one of the armchairs around it and gossip with my roommates. there are multiple ornate carpets all over the floor and curtains draped along the windowless walls. of course, the canopies and curtains are green. a very deep emerald colour that reflects firelight prettily.
three canopy beds line the wall on one side of the room. each one has a bedside table on one side and a wardrobe on the other. at the foot of each bed, the owner's school trunk is placed. a round table in the middle of the room can be used to study and is usually overflowing with scrolls and (quite possibly illegal) books on dark magic. also a bunch of jewellery, makeup, and nail polish.
another set of slightly less heavy doors lead to an adjacent bathroom with a toilet, a sink, and a tub. every surface and every shelf is overflowing with various potions and creams. it is a little messy and me and my roommates mix up your things constantly, but it doesn't really matter all that much.
my roommates and i grew really close our years at hogwarts, so every night is basically a sleepover. braiding each others hair, beauty treatments and gossiping until the late hours of the night is a common occurrence.
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○°•☆●° 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖊 °●☆•°○
snape really isn't all that bad when you are in slytherin. very deep down, he cares for us. he gives safety talks on alcohol and other drugs every year because he knows how most of us cope with stress. he knows because he does the same. once we snuck to our secret smoking spot behind the school, just to find snape already smoking there. we ended up just smoking together, under the condition that we never mention it again.
in general snape won't actively prevent any smuggling of alcohol or anything else, as long as we don't get caught by other professors, because that would just give him more work disciplining the perpetrators. of course if he catches you red handed he will not only punish you for it but also scold you for getting caught.
snape is just really done with his slytherins' bullshit and too tired to do anything about it. in general you can get away with a lot, as long as any rule breaking you do won't become known outside of slytherin. what can i say, the man is not even 40 and is already getting gray hairs. though, those gray hairs are mostly caused by gryffindors, with slytherins at most in second place. (only first place we don't want)