Sandalwood Alert!

[kerravonsen]

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.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

Am I just incurably filthy-minded, or is

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.

put in a quite unfortunate manner? Unless it's a PWP...

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.

Snerk!

[kerravonsen]

put in a quite unfortunate manner? Unless it's a PWP...
Well, it wasn't a PWP, it was a rather epic Marriage Law story which was adult rated, but they weren't Doing It in that particular scene.

[watervole]

"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."

Giggle

Too busy to write it, but I feel the temptation!

[kerravonsen]

8-)

[avanti_90]

Oh, dear god, I just found this:

Resting her arms on her upraised knees, her hands tucked into the voluminous sleeves, Hermione buried her nose into her crossed arms. Breathing deeply she noticed the scents of sandalwood and honeyed beeswax that clung to the fabric. It was a warm, comforting scent, rather at odds she thought, with the man himself.

You weren't exaggerating!

[kerravonsen]

Nope. Pervasive, it is. (grin)

What story was that, pray tell? Nevermind, I found it: Pet Project. One of my favourites.

[avanti-90.livejournal.com]

*laughing*

I am not an SS/HG person, but these were so funny. Sandalwood? Snape? No, the two really do not go together in my head.

It's amazing how these tiny things spread in fandom.

[kerravonsen]

It's amazing how these tiny things spread in fandom.

Indeed.
Clichés become clichés because they are attractive and everyone wants to use them, and then they get overused and/or used as a short-cut.

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

I know two couples who had known each other for years as friends before they started dating, and I asked them, what changed? And in each case, one of them described a "moment" when they looked at the other and suddenly were "aware" of them in this way.

In one case, it was because the other one had finally decided to act on his desires, and his wife describes it as looking into his eyes and everything changed. His intent was just "there" and the universe shifted. (They are both writers.)

In the other case, the "other" was the woman, and when the guy finally looked at her and she saw the shift in HIS eyes, the fact that he was suddenly aware of her as a woman--she was thinking, it's about fucking time!

[kerravonsen]

Oh, I don't disagree that there can be Such A Moment, not at all. I just find it rather bizzare that so many SSHG authors choose to mark the moment with a scent that is so un-Snape-like.

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

I am not sure how sandalwood became the norm, except that it's old-fashioned and even historical, as many people prefer to see the wizarding world.

As for whether he would wear any scent at all--a man who is aware that he is seen as distateful, greasy, etc. might do so in an effort to dispell such impressions. Or if he had to fight the less pleasant odors he might carry with him.

In both cases they would probably indicate a man who actually cared what people thought.

And finally, it might be his own nose he's trying to please.

I agree with you that this is a trope/cliche of the ship, though!

[kerravonsen]

And finally, it might be his own nose he's trying to please.
Ha! That hadn't occurred to me. (grin)

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

I can't wear scents because they give my husband's sensitive nose fits. So it makes me enjoy them even more when I get to wear them.

In Snape's case, as someone who supposedly has a highly developed sense of smell, he might struggle to rid himself of unsavory smells so he can stand to be around himself! Ha!

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

That is at least one scent I won't be using in a fic. Apart from anything else, the stuff makes me sneeze explosively, so not at all romantic as far as I'm concerned.

I suppose it might be considered a masculine scent and hence the choice, but not by me!

Severus smelling of potion ingredients though implies he's a mite careless in his handling of them - I wouldn't be brave enough to suggest that - he'd glare at me!

Now Potion fumes ( which puzzles me - what do they use to heat the cauldrons?) are far more likely and a challenge to the author to describe.

Actually sandalwood and bergamot sounds like he's been washing in a soap popular in regency romance novels. Perhaps we needn't look far to find the author's source of inspiration, at least they didn't add bay rum, also a popular male scent. :¬D