Severus Snape

Severus Snape was holding the first Potions lesson of the year, standing behind his lectern, looking around at all the students with a cold, stern gaze, and deigned to say:

You have come here to study Potion-Making: a subtle science and a precise art.
The silly waving of a magic wand has little to do with my subject, so many of you will hardly understand its magic. I do not expect you to fully appreciate the beauty of a simmering cauldron and the shimmering steam above it, the hidden power of liquids that, penetrating human veins, enslave the mind and intoxicate the senses... I can teach you how to bottle glory, how to brew triumph, how to cork death - provided your class is not a collection of blockheads, which is what I usually have to teach.

I write a lecture on potions, feeling the professor's gaze

-What are you writing down, Miss?...
The professor asked, adjusting his robe. His gaze was cold and contemptuous.