Sandalwood Alert!
If you've read enough Severus Snape/Hermione Granger fanfic(*), I'm sure you've seen it. That moment when Hermione suddenly becomes aware of Severus as A MAN. He's standing near her, and she notices for the first time, his scent: sandalwood. Some stories add the scent of "herbs" and/or "potion ingredients". Some stories even add an undertone of something which is "purely masculine".
Maybe it had been that afternoon a week later when he stood behind her and leaned over her shoulder to inspect her potion. She had smelled his spicy scent, the citrus scent of bergamot and sweet tang of sandalwood mixing with the herbal smell of the sage they were using in the potion that day, and inexplicably her heart started to pound. -- (Prophecy's Pawns)
He wasn't a terribly handsome man just to look at him, but the whole package radiated seduction. [snip]
Hermione inhaled deeply and Snape thought she was taking in the fine day. But in fact the Weasley's had set off another Winds of Change cracker again and the breeze had caught Snape's musky scent. He smelled of sandalwood and potions ingredients. Snape's scent was familiar, and Hermione was a bit surprised that she could recognize it. -- (The Twenty)
To Hermione's shock, Snape moved from his chair to sit beside her on the bed, gathering her into his arms. She sobbed, keening out her torment against his chest, soaking his robes. A small, detached part of her mind noticed the scents of him: soap - sandalwood, she thought - and the various herbs and other ingredients in the potions he was so often brewing. It smelled masculine, enticing, beloved. She cried harder, and his arms tightened around her. -- (Compelling The Heart)
Snape looming over her was not an unfamiliar experience, but this was the first time she was overly conscious of the fact there was a body inside his clothes. Not an adult. Not a teacher. A male body, lean in places and hard in others.
Annoyed, Hermione refocused on the book, ignoring the slight hint of warm sandalwood and the brush of heavy fabric as he leaned in to stab one long finger at the book cover. -- (Spellcaster)
And those were the good stories.
Sandalwood.
REALLY?
I mean, REALLY?
Look, if Severus Snape is going to be smelling of anything, he's going to be smelling of slug guts and Aconite, possibly with a tinge of scorched wool, depending on how many cauldron explosions he's had that day.
Not sandalwood.
Well, perhaps he suddenly took up dousing himself in Old Spice, or replaced all the normal wood in his potions classroom with a mix of aromatic cedar and sandalwood. No?
When you think about it, the most likely person in Hogwarts to be smelling of sandalwood and herbs is the professor who burns incense: Sybil Trelawney.
I dare you. I dare you to write a story where Hermione smells sandalwood behind her and thinks that it's Severus... and it turns out to be Sybil.
(*) It's possible, even probable, that this also happens in other het fanfic, but since SS/HG is really my only 'ship, I haven't read much of other pairings. So I can only remark upon what I've noticed in SS/HG.
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) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.
Maybe it had been that afternoon a week later when he stood behind her and leaned over her shoulder to inspect her potion. She had smelled his spicy scent, the citrus scent of bergamot and sweet tang of sandalwood mixing with the herbal smell of the sage they were using in the potion that day, and inexplicably her heart started to pound. -- (Prophecy's Pawns)
He wasn't a terribly handsome man just to look at him, but the whole package radiated seduction. [snip]
Hermione inhaled deeply and Snape thought she was taking in the fine day. But in fact the Weasley's had set off another Winds of Change cracker again and the breeze had caught Snape's musky scent. He smelled of sandalwood and potions ingredients. Snape's scent was familiar, and Hermione was a bit surprised that she could recognize it. -- (The Twenty)
To Hermione's shock, Snape moved from his chair to sit beside her on the bed, gathering her into his arms. She sobbed, keening out her torment against his chest, soaking his robes. A small, detached part of her mind noticed the scents of him: soap - sandalwood, she thought - and the various herbs and other ingredients in the potions he was so often brewing. It smelled masculine, enticing, beloved. She cried harder, and his arms tightened around her. -- (Compelling The Heart)
Snape looming over her was not an unfamiliar experience, but this was the first time she was overly conscious of the fact there was a body inside his clothes. Not an adult. Not a teacher. A male body, lean in places and hard in others.
Annoyed, Hermione refocused on the book, ignoring the slight hint of warm sandalwood and the brush of heavy fabric as he leaned in to stab one long finger at the book cover. -- (Spellcaster)
And those were the good stories.
Sandalwood.
REALLY?
I mean, REALLY?
Look, if Severus Snape is going to be smelling of anything, he's going to be smelling of slug guts and Aconite, possibly with a tinge of scorched wool, depending on how many cauldron explosions he's had that day.
Not sandalwood.
Well, perhaps he suddenly took up dousing himself in Old Spice, or replaced all the normal wood in his potions classroom with a mix of aromatic cedar and sandalwood. No?
When you think about it, the most likely person in Hogwarts to be smelling of sandalwood and herbs is the professor who burns incense: Sybil Trelawney.
I dare you. I dare you to write a story where Hermione smells sandalwood behind her and thinks that it's Severus... and it turns out to be Sybil.
(*) It's possible, even probable, that this also happens in other het fanfic, but since SS/HG is really my only 'ship, I haven't read much of other pairings. So I can only remark upon what I've noticed in SS/HG.
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/969737.html. (Comments
) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.