Snapedom

This was too long as a reply, so I thought I'd post it as a mini-essay:( Read more... )

was suggested by territesting

Severus and the Dark Arts!

Was he fascinated by the Dark Arts? Did he love them, as Harry suspected? Was he seduced by them?

Or did he fear them? Was that why he became such an outstanding DADA teacher? Was he driven to defend himself because he was almost killed by a Dark Creature, Remus Lupin in his werewolf form?

Was he so good at DADA because he loved or feared the Dark Arts? Or did he have to be interested to endear himself to his Dark Lord?

Where did he learn about them? Did he read about them in his mother's books? Did she teach him? Or did he learn them in Slytherin?

I didn't have time this month to do a full essay, but here are a few thoughts about Snape and his fears...

The October challenge was suggested by <lj user="00sevvie">:

<i>One of the things that gets repeatedly connected to Severus is the notion of bravery, and how courageous he is. So perhaps it might be interesting to take a look at the flip side of that, fear - explore what Severus might be afraid of, or how he would react to fear, etc.</i>

Therefore we have:

The October Challenge

Severus and his fears.

I'm mainly a slash fan, and of Snupin in particular, so contemplating the topic of Snape and His Women is something new for me, but it was interesting looking at Snape from a different point of view...
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Severus and his women:
This is a brief exploration of Severus and his non-sexual relationships with women. (I hope it's okay to discuss the non-sexual and non-romantic aspects of his relationships with women here.)
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As announced last month, this month we'll talk about

Snape and His Women

We know that he was in love with Lily Potter and that this was a love he held on to. He probably needed to, to survive, but that was topic of the 'Severus and Lily' challenge.

Voldemort asked after his return if Severus hadn't found 'worthier women'. Severus agreed, certainly for tactical reasons. But what's his attitude towards women, really? And I don't only mean that in the sexual sense. Many of thought that he was friendly with Minerva, but her nastiness towards him, although he knew that he didn't betray her as an Order member, shows that this was fanon wishful thinking. HGSS shippers (like moi) find the impassioned 'don't call her a mudblood' a rather promising phrase for the ship, on the other hand, we've been busy for years to write around his callous 'I see no difference.' There are many more het ships out there, and friendships. Tell us why you think they work, but if you think they don't, please think about other people's feelings. All ships are fanon, none is better than another, even if it is your OTP. We all are fans and our love for Severus unites us.

My OTP is Snape/Lupin, but as I already wrote a Snupin ship essay a couple of years ago, I won't reiterate all the same points, but will discuss the ship more briefly, take a look at a few other Snape slash pairings, and discuss how my perceptions of Snape slash changed with the release of Deathly Hallows.

I did post my HBP review publicly over on my dreamwidth account, in case anyone is interested.

SPOILER WARNING - Enter at own risk.
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Back when the third movie was due to come out, I remember that I had enjoyed the first two movies, and I was really looking forward to seeing Prisoner of Azkaban. It was my favorite book, and had a lot of emphasis on my favorite two characters, Snape and Lupin, and the photos and previews that I saw looked great. Well, I wasn't so thrilled about Lupin's mustache and tweedy appearance, but that was a minor quibble.

Oh yes, I know, I'm way behind with banners. But you will get them. The main sign ups on the severusbigbang are over, I have a bit more adminning to do, and then I have a bit more free time for fun things like banner making.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet: sign ups for beta readers and cheerleaders remain open, a week of latecomer sign ups gives you another chance to sign up as an artist or writer.

There's been a lot of interesting debate about the flying issue: did Voldemort teach Snape to fly, as McGonagall assumes, or was it Snape who taught Voldemort, as many Snape fans have suggested?

Snape and werewolves--as a Snupin shipper, this is a subject dear to my heart! I think that there are a couple of different ways you can look at Snape relating to werewolves...

This challenge was suggested by 00sevvie:

Based on Severus' history (the Shrieking Shack incident) and his interactions with Lupin, it seems to me that the subject of Snape and Werewolves could be a meaty one (yes, that was deliberate).

We know there's already a prejudice against werewolves in the WW, and that Snape has some kind of particular fear/horror/hatred of werewolves - particularly Lupin - stemming from the Shack incident. Yet he learns how to brew the Wolfsbane, a complex potion that demands time, care, energy and material resources and for which we never see him receive any actual remuneration (outside of keeping Lupin sane) or other public acknowledgement. Possibly he just likes the challenge, possibly it's also tied in with his desire to keep Lupin sane and therefore relatively harmless. It could be interesting to delve deeper into his views of and feelings about werewolves, including V's use of them in the war, their position in society, etc.

Also, how do you think Severus would react, in the short and long term, to being turned into a werewolf himself (either by acccident or as a punishment from Voldie)?

Written for the April 2009 challenge, "Severus as a Squib." This essay plays a bit fast and loose with the topic, but it also features a classic Elton John song, so dive right in...

I proposed the Squib Snape challenge, but to be honest, I find it very hard to picture Snape as a Squib. Maybe that was why I suggested it, to get other people's viewpoints on the subject. It's just that, for me, magic seems such an intrinsic part of Snape that it's difficult to separate the two.

Hi - just a brief ramble, perhaps 200 words, on the subject of Snape living as a Muggle. I expect most of you know that this is exactly what I envisioned for him after reading HBP, and DH certainly didn't make me change my mind! I thought - and still think - not only that the Wizarding World is very imperfect, but that its imperfections were bad for him, and that he would not be able to find a place there after the war. Many of you surely read my story, Gift and Burden which I posted here at the end of November, 2007. Slashpine made some lovely comments on the story, and here are my responses to a couple of comments of hers:

What Snape did with no magic any more - I'm starting to wonder if he isn't a chemistry teacher, after all? Lily, as you'll have gathered, is a born scientist, and she and her father have a love of chemistry in common. But, originally, I had him working in his Muggle friend Tim Fawkes's garage, keeping the books, and then in the local hospital, where his wife also works. The one thing I know for sure is that he is still a brewer: he and Jane collect wild plants on the family's Sunday hikes and Michael concocts herbals for sale.

Which is altogether too much information, isn't it? ) Thanks again for your comment, and I hope you'll enjoy the others in the series. Then, after Slashpine's response, I continued-


in this au novel I'm not writing (rather like the comic Sydpad is not drawing; have you *seen* that!?), Jane and Severus met in the summer of 1996, just before that dreadful 6th year. They met arguing over a patient - Maggie Fawkes, or "Aunt Maggie", who's Tim's mam - whom Severus had treated for a heart condition. Jane actually went to his house to read him the law, and ended up with an explanation and a potion to test. Because Severus really cared about Maggie - in my alternate universe, little Sev was not the racist he was in canon, precisely because of the Fawkes family. Maggie was his Molly Weasley.

Anyway. You're quite right about the Post traumatic stress disorder, and the challenges Severus faces in getting his life together. One of the things that draws him to Jane is that she actually recognizes what he's going through; her younger brother was a veteran of the Gulf war who committed suicide afterwards. At one point she says, "Sorrow kills. I know. It killed my brother. I won't let it kill Severus." (This was around the time of the trial, in which she and the Fawkes family all testify for him. The WW is totally shocked at all these Muggles speaking up for SNAPE, of all people.)

So much for the novel I'm not writing.

And - I'm still not writing it! I see no need. But I am convinced, even though DH proved that Snape had (apparently) no friends in the ordinary world, that he could adapt and survive there. Not only survive: I think he might, eventually, find more happiness living as a Squib than he ever did living as a Wizard. It would, of course, be a horrible blow to lose his magic, but, in my original conception, this and the near-death experience would be blows he needed to evaluate and remake his life. He'd also need some counselling and some real friends; something he never had in the Wizarding World. And how does magic connect to the personality, anyway? Severus Snape, in canon, had a sharp wit, a logical mind, a capacity for creativity, considerable courage, and great loyalty. These qualities are intrinsic to him and he wouldn't suddenly lose them just because he lost his magic. They would help him to live in the real world, and, eventually - assuming he found the friendship and support he needed - to live well.

Just my two cents.

In response to 00sevvie's response to my Severus and Voldemort post.
00sevvie is a brilliant name, by the way. I am all admiration.

I hope I've answered some of your questions. Again - its really too long for comments. And again, I ramble on and on and on... I love to talk about Snape.

( cut for 2500 words of rambles )
He is the perfect adjutant - capable, with nothing to lose and nothing to gain. To want - anything - is to be cheated, to lose. From Voldemort's point of view, love can turn to hate, belief can turn to a feeling of betrayal. Severus is useful. Usefulness does not fail. Usefulness is what he gains from Dumbledore, why he serves him as well, and there are the years of use teaching and perhaps spying on his young charges during the time in which Voldemort was vanquished. Usefulness is what he gains from Voldemort. That is why he is valued by Voldemort, because it is pure and it is hunger, even terror that he will fall into nothingness.

What joy, you ask? Memory. And the things he always loved. Spells, potions, Slytherin House, learning, understanding from wizards. The hope for a fleeting, momentary look or hand of approval, praise, trust. A striving for redemption through service, penance through work.

April Challenge: Squib Snape

This month's challenge comes from geri_chan :

1) Squib Snape--there seem to be a lot of fanfics where Snape loses his magic post-war, either permanently or temporarily. How does he react? Is it traumatizing to lose his magic, or does he find it easy to leave the wizarding world behind and slip into an anonymous Muggle life?

Have fun with it.