I learn by going where I have to go.

3 things Severus likes: potions, dark arts, and despising everyone, including himself.

There's a reason i drew this, it's part of something bigger you'll all see soon enough. :)

I already illustrated the aftermath of his assault; i never wanted to illustrate the actual act of it because 1., so many artists already have and 2., it's very uncomfortable to draw anyone, let alone a minor, in such a compromised position. But it happened, it's important, and it resonates with me. In a certain way, i know how he feels. Stripped bare, held against my will, the focal point of smiling faces and no help or end to the suffering in sight while my brain and nervous system were changed forever.

Severus is a survivor. One day I'll emphasize his survival, too.

That’s actually a really interesting character detail to think about, because either option says something quite different about Severus.

If he stayed in his childhood bedroom, it leans into the idea of emotional stagnation and unresolved trauma. Spinner’s End isn’t just a house, it’s basically a physical embodiment of everything he came from: poverty, neglect, violence, isolation. Sleeping in that same small room could suggest he never really “left” any of that psychologically. It fits with how stuck he is in the past (Lily, Hogwarts, the Marauders, etc.). There’s something very bleak but very in-character about him not even bothering to reclaim space or redefine the house, just existing in it as it always was. I lean more toward this option when speculating from a merely psychological side because I do think he uses Spinner’s End as a kind of prison, or as a reminder that he’s still trapped in the moment when he was still a teenager and received the Mark, that he hasn’t allowed himself to move forward because his past mistakes still haunt him. And part of denying himself that progress is remaining in the house he always saw as a cage, because it’s the place he always wanted to escape from as a child and where, in some way, he chooses to confine himself even though he could have moved anywhere else. It’s a form of self-imposed penance.

On the other hand, moving into his parents’ bedroom would signal a different kind of coping: control. Taking over the main bedroom could feel like reclaiming territory, almost rewriting the hierarchy of the house. The kid who had no power now occupies the dominant space. That would align with the more controlled, composed version of Snape we see as an adult, someone who’s very intentional about authority, boundaries, and presentation. But this doesn’t fit him as much to me, because it would imply that he engaged in some kind of power struggle at home, or direct confrontation to assert himself within the family dynamic, and that’s not something we ever see in Severus. He didn’t want to overpower his father or confront him to assert himself; he despised him so much that he completely rejected his muggle side and even joined a group that was actively against muggles, clearly turning his back on a substantial part of himself that tied him to that paternal figure. As a child, he always wanted to escape into the magical world because it represented hope in contrast to the misery of the muggle world, so it doesn’t really fit that he would want to claim a position of authority there as his own, because that’s not something he ever sought.

That said, there’s also a third option which I actually think fits his personality best outside of psychotherapeutic analysis and trauma-based speculation:

There’s always been this image—one they’ve very deliberately promoted—that people from old, upper-class families have “class”: they control their manners, they know how to behave in every situation, they measure their words, and it’s not just that they speak well, but that they use the right tone. They don’t raise their voices, because shouting has always been associated with poverty, with the working class, and with a lack of emotional control, which has traditionally been seen as a weakness.

So I think that more than trauma or anything like that, it’s very possible this comes from what he grew up around, an environment with shouting and maybe violence. And society likely made him associate speaking loudly or having a certain tone with vulgarity, poverty, and his humble origins. On the other hand, speaking softly, almost in a whisper, dragging out words and taking your time, that becomes a way of adopting stereotypical upper-class behaviors.

There was actually a journalist in Spain who said in an interview that powerful people—especially privileged men—always speak very slowly, because they own the space, they control the narrative. They can afford to take their time, not raise their voice, because people will listen to them anyway. Meanwhile, poorer people, women, queer people, etc. (his words) tend to speak quickly and loudly because they’re not given space, so whatever little space they get, they have to use it fully, say everything they need, and make themselves heard. I thought that was a really insightful point, because there’s a lot of truth to it.

There's something about those moments when Harry is asleep and Snape decides to show some emotion, knowing nothing will be noticed by the boy. I think I have a soft spot for it ɷ◡ɷ