Bring Back the Bastard

Congratulations to the winners of our guessing game! The GOLD MEDAL goes to cabepfir (with twelve correct guesses); SILVER is a tie between bvizen and enname (both with ten correct guesses); and the BRONZE MEDAL goes to kellychambliss (with eight correct guesses). Hooray!




Since our top three winners did, ahem, cheat a little capitalise most admirably on previous knowledge, loads of points have been awarded to Slytherin House in recognition of their skill. Professor Snape is rather proud of you lot.

In fact, let's just write this whole fest down as a big WIN for Slytherin House and Professor Snape, shall we not? You, dear friends, took up a challenge and made something fierce and surprising and insightful of it. Your forty-three entries remembered a side of Professor Snape that often, in these post-war halcyon days, is more easily left forgotten: that he was not always a hero, and not at all a pleasant sort of person. Instead of decrying this side of Professor Snape, you analysed it, aimed it a level gaze, proved it need not be unenjoyable or unworthy of interest. You proved there were still lessons here to be learned, that goodness and nastiness can coexist, that ambiguity and paradoxes and yes, even horrible acts still have much to teach us. This is tremendous, simply tremendous, and you should all treat yourselves to an enormous round of applause. That includes you, dear readers and reccers and commenters: you made this fest come alive.

Speaking of which, a special award goes to cabepfir for commenting on every single entry!

Heartfelt thanks are also due to the many, many patient souls who helped me behind the scenes and without whom this fest would not exist: bvizen, cabepfir, dueltastic, enname, iulia_linnea, kellychambliss, o_mayari, pale_moonlite, perverse_idyll, shyfoxling, and wandlorean, amongst many others.

You're absolute gems.

But now, onto the Reveal (this means you may now post your entries under your name and wherever you like, dear creators):

( Reveal beneath the cut )