This is the longer and only partially edited version of a drabble I posted to snape100. It's only partially edited because it's late and I want to get some sleep and I won't have a chance to do anything with it for another week or so, by which time I will probably have moved on to something else. Anyway.

Title: Conditioned Response (Director's Cut)
Challenge: Colour
Rating: G
Word Count: 273 (word)



Severus Snape always wore black.

No matter the amount of cajoling from peers and betters, no matter the weather, the occasion, the time of day, Snape always, inevitably wore black. Oh, for certain rare events calling for a high degree of formality he might splash out a bit with some embroidery in house or family colours, but one could easily be forgiven for suspecting that the only reason he wore a long-sleeved white under-shirt was because he had been unable to procure a suitable garment in his favoured matte black.

To a greater extent he was infamous for this peculiarity and, as with most forms of infamy or eccentricity, speculation was rife as to the original cause. Some believed that it was for the purpose of concealment. Others, perversely insisted that it was to add to his over-all threatening appearance or to stand out in the crowd of his gaudily-clad wizard brethren. The practical pointed out that black is an excellent colour for hiding the inevitable results of placing volatile Potion ingredients in the hands of the likes of Neville Longbottom. The sentimental suggested that he was in mourning over someone or something; a woman, perhaps, or innocence lost.

But the truth was, as befitting a man head of Slytherin House, rather more subtle and cunning, something he had discovered as a teenager that still held true today.

Severus Snape always wore black. Ergo, a man not wearing black could not possibly be Severus Snape.

It was funny how the human mind worked, Snape mused as his nervous target passed within two feet of his red-cloaked figure without a second glance, funny indeed.

Current Mood: creative