There's no doubt in my mind who wrote this. :-) Your style and gift for magical detail are unparalleled. Also the way your themes are so carefully constructed, building by the end to an almost overwhelming experience of love - of recognition, rightness, of being set free by the other's existence. You work in so many strands, both original and canon-inspired, of magic and nature and mystery and freakishness, of beauty and belonging. The storytelling is exuberant, and you’ve always handled the blend of dark with light in a way that pays tribute to them both.
The first paragraph is masterful, accomplishing so much with a few deft strokes. Plus it just . . tastes good, the words, I mean. After that, oh, so many dazzling things. The way the circus starts out like a horror story, genuinely creepy and disconcerting. The macabre possibility that Snape may have ended up as an Inferius. I love Harry's thought at this moment: but apparently death had been kind to him. Probably the only thing in Snape’s world that ever had been kind. Then, everything concerning the voodoo-doll puppet-mastery of the Inferi is clever, slightly grotesque, and almost endearing. Luscus dancing with himself! The group hug! *snort*
Making Snape into a snake-charmer and a Parselmouth is just utterly brilliant. It fits him perfectly, and is such a believable result of what might happen if he actually did recover from Nagini’s fangs. Also, the way you portray his resilience, his adaptation to his new circumstances, is so very satisfying. For example, the lists he makes, of the kinds of snakes and their individual needs, gradually converting scientific interest into a genuine relationship that requires names. I was absolutely smitten with the posters Harry finds, that show Snape performing as a human skeleton and an hermaphrodite. I'm fiercely pleased by the fact that Snape's dignity and dark power are restored to him. It helps mitigate memories of DH. And the snakes themselves, gossipy, pushy, inhuman, affectionate – the rattlesnake with the hobby of giving Snape headaches – and oh god, the moment when Snape holds the python he calls Mother up to his face, as if to say, “See the resemblance?” Sheer genius.
The descriptions of circus life are marvelous, and Snape’s turn in the ring is genuinely mesmerizing. And sexy. His oiled arms and upper body, with snakes twined around them? Perversely hot. And I love the moment a malicious heckler slings an angry viper at Snape, and he catches it.
I also adore your imagery: Harry’s patronus was following Snape, its silvery-blue antlers a reverse image of the shadowed trees, just to choose one at random. Then when Harry accompanies Snape in search of potions ingredients, the delicacy of the description, of the hillside, the leaves, the pooled water, conjures up such a perfect mood. Harry tumbling golden leaves onto Snape’s head and Snape spinning them into a laurel wreath is a lovely moment of rapport and gentle flirting between them.