{ Torture Headcanons }

• Judas Cradle: Would your muse rather suffer physically, or be humiliated?

Severus will bleed before his pride any day of the week honestly. He would rather drink poison he know will leave his body lacerated and seeping from boils than take humiliation from any in Voldemort’s court, and it’s as true in Death Eater circles as it is outside of it. Severus has so little in life that he hoards his pride with the same savagery a dragon hoards gold. He would much rather face physical torment than be publicly shamed and a lot of that stems from his childhood, and just developed darker as time carried on. 

• Heretic’s Fork: Is there something your muse will never confess to?

Of course, and far be it from me to give any of it away.

• Iron Chair: How easily does your muse cave to pressure?

It depends on the circumstance and what is at stake. When it is the lives of people he cares about, there is nothing that can make him shift – but when it is his pride, he can be triggered with. Shameful ease tbh.

• Brazen Bull: Has your muse ever been ‘hoist by their own petard?’
  

Do You Mean: The day Albus told him that Harry had to die so the Wizarding World may live?

• Pear of Anguish: In what ways is your muse sexually deviant, if at all?
  

Answered here actually. NSFW warning, obviously.

• Scold’s Bridle: Is your muse a gossip? Do they nag? Lie? Slander?

Severus is a spy – that is literally part of his job description. To listen in on conversation and relay it to other parties, to lie in the faces of people meant to trust him, and to degrade the names of the people he serves and stands beside. No matter what side he is playing, he’s spreading rumors, speaking in double meanings and maligning others names – it’s his primary weapon in the war, so yes – yes he absolutely does.

• Catherine Wheel: How much pain can your muse withstand?

A veritible fuckton. Much thanks to nerve damage and the fact he often he disassociates. 

• Mancudera: What is the most physical pain your muse has felt?

Probably a toss up between the time Tobias beat him within an inch of his life to keep Severus from finding out the truth of the family finances – preferring to brutalize his son than allow him to be another victim of Stephan ( 1976 ), the time he cast sectumsempra on himself, and the time he imbibed several poisons to prove their effectiveness to Voldemort as well as his loyalty to the cause, shortly after a bout of Cruciatus. This all took place following the death of Eric Avery. 

• Exposure: Would your muse rather freeze to death, or burn?

Having had exposure to both, he would take fire over cold.

• Crocodile Shears: Your muse must lose a body part. Which?

Severus would lose a foot or a leg; as he frequently hovers in his main verse to compensate, he has learned to function with the appearance of wholeness in public settings and recuperates his strength in private already; he can adapt to this loss easier than say, the loss of his hands, which are his means of living in so many ways. 

• Cat’s Paw:  What is your muse’s reaction to gore?

It dulls with time. In his youth he was easily alarmed – but after killing his father and the brutal death of Destin Wilkes, the various crimes he partook in in the first war — eventually he reached a point where he was numb to it, and even capable of inflicting it without damage to his own psyche.

• Garrote: Your muse must kill someone. How do they do it?
  

150% depends on why he is killing them. Violence, as seen above, is as likely as poison depending on the circumstance. 

• Saws: Would your muse rather die quick and painfully, or slow and painlessly? 
  

Quick and painful. He would rather be as efficient in death as he was in life.

{ Irrelevant Headcanons }

1. Severus hates the smell of fish and is not particularly fond of the flavor either. He doesn’t mind certain mild fishes but as most of the ones that don’t kick his gag reflex into high gear tend to be very expensive, he rarely eats any fish despite how healthy they are.

2. Severus is very absent minded about remembering to eat, especially when he is working or focused on a project. Despite his many years at Hogwarts, he never developed a sense of security in the abundance of food so he didn’t become too reliant on it. As a result he never really picks up any weight, and the only real change over the decades has been the fact he eats slowly when he does sit down for a meal.

3. Despite his ill attention to himself, Severus keeps a stringent eye on the Slytherin table and does call in students when he notices significant changes in appetite that could be marks of abuse, depression or disorder. He takes great care to ensure that the Slytherins under his watch do not fall to any of his old patterns, or symptoms he has learned over the years to recognize as dangerous to their health.

4. Although he is not a fan of sweets, Severus does have a significant soft spot for mint – while generally preferred in tea form, he does keep some dark chocolate in his desk infused with slight mint tones that he will take to when marking. 

5. Though Severus tends to stick to hearty, basic meals ( especially when cooking for himself ) when he is out and ordering for whatever reason, he tends to lean toward spicy dishes or sour ones depending on the cuisine. He consistently avoids dishes that involve an abundance of cream, butter or milk.

{ Irrelevant Headcanons } 

1. When he is not at Hogwarts, Severus forgoes the billowing robes in favor of sweaters that fit well and border toward obnoxiously soft, well pressed slacks and possibly a coat depending how cold it is outside. The whole ensemble he takes to at Hogwarts serves multiple purposes, but when he isn’t there, he dresses in a much more relaxed fashion.

1. Severus has spelled his robes to deflect a certain degree of mess, simply out of awareness brought forth from years of teaching that children are horrifically messy and disaster is not so much a possibility as it is a promise.

2. There have been times in which Severus has returned from a “gathering” with his wounds concealed by his clothes and straight-faced lied to Albus Dumbledore about whether or not he was in any danger during said meeting. Any chance Severus had to keep the man from learning the blood toll that came of the game he played, Severus took without hesitation.

   On one hand, he had no wish for the Headmaster’s kinder sensibilities to rise to the fore and jeopardize matters as a result of concern. On the other, he didn’t want to know how he would feel if those sensibilities didn’t bother to rise on his behalf, so he preferred to hide the truth than ever find out.
    

3. Harking back to the fact Eric was slaughtered in the Second War, that event took place before Umbridge chased Dumbledore out of the school – and thankfully on a day when she wasn’t conducting any investigations. Observant students may remember his robe didn’t billow that day and he was far more irritable than even for him was normal. This was due to the fact his robe was stiff from blood, and his back was littered in lacerations from his own punishment as a result of being so close to a traitor.

   Severus was mentally and emotionally absent that day and pretty much operated on sheer autopilot, but pain makes him harsh so chances are there was some severe house point loss that day and probably a stern talking to from Minerva the day after. Thankfully by that point he would have at least gotten himself better tended to.
    

4. Although Severus does everything in his power to avoid the universe throughout December-January, I don’t doubt for a second that he has a drawer filled with obnoxiously bright socks courtesy of Albus Dumbledore. Though many would think he wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them, fact is during the evenings after the school day is over he does tend to select a pair for while he is wandering around his rooms, as the castle floors are cold and he hates wearing shoes in his quarters.

{ Body Headcanons }

SKIN:

I write Severus as biracial, with his maternal side being Gaels who can trace their ancestry back to the 11th century and his paternal side being estranged from their Punjabi roots on account of decisions made by Tobias’ father. ( Tobias is himself biracial; his father the son of Punjabi immigrants whom he estranged himself from violently when he was in his early twenties and his mother a Caucasian Englishwoman. ) Tobias knew nothing of his extended family on the paternal side and his mother’s extended family held a firm and dominating hand over his own foundations, so he could say very little toward his own ancestry in that respect.

In any case, Tobias had dark, almond brown skin while Eileen, by contrast, was pale as marble. Severus took after Tobias in the majority of his looks from childhood – thick black hair, dark brown eyes and healthy, nut brown skin. As he aged, undernourishment and lack of sufficient sunlight caused him to gain an unhealthy pallor that was ill-suited to his natural coloring. He frequently looks pale and sickly as a result of this; what is more, due to certain hematomas absorbed in his youth, he has higher than average

bilirubin levels, causing some slight yelllowing of his skin along the lines of his cheek and in mottled portions of his back that resemble jaundice. 

Were Severus to alter his lifestyle, and gain more frequent access to sunlight, begin eating properly and on something vaguely resembling a schedule, his skin would return to it’s natural, darker hues and would look, overall, a great deal more robust and healthy as a result.      

NECK / SHOULDERS: 

Main!Severus has a slender neck, pronounced collarbones and relatively slim shoulders that overall match the rest of him. While in AU’s where his life took an alternative direction ( Edge of Revolution & March To Your Own ) Severus is much healthier, and has a somewhat thicker neck, rounder shoulders and collarbones that are padded by muscle, in most of his canon tales he is unhealthily underweight and his muscle concentration is overall on the lean side. 

While not out of shape and certainly capable of holding his own, Severus is prone to fractures and breaks in his bones due to an overall lack of muscle mass to defend them from impact. This is particularly notable with his collarbones, as he tends to fracture them fairly often as a result of impacts taken during duels.