Severus Snape (delicate_power) wrote in ridgewayresort, @ 2010-08-19 11:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | severus snape, x-23 |
WHO: Severus and OPEN (to Kaylee and Laura, at least, or anybody who pops 'round for a visit)
WHEN: Thursday evening
WHERE: Cabin 12
WHAT: He's reading
RATING: Depends on who shows up
STATUS: Incomplete
The first chapter made him cry, though not because the chapter itself was especially sad. In fact, from the way it was written, Severus gathered it was meant to be humorous, and he had to admit the bit about Lily's 'good-for-nothing husband' made him smile, at least. But the story opened right after Lily's death, and he hadn't expected that. Just as he hadn't expected to find a photo of her at 12 Grimmauld Place when he'd visited, looking for any clues as to Potter's whereabouts. And that surprise had made him cry, as well, even if no one who knew him would ever have believed it.
Even with the cameo early on by one Minerva McGonagall, Severus found very little in that chapter amusing at all. Even if Lily was alive here, it was still a bit difficult to take. Not even the mention of Minerva giving Petunia's husband a stern look (because she excelled at that, even in cat form) caused him to crack a smile. How could he? The opening chapter of this book was attempting to glorify the absolute worst period of his life. When he had only just kept himself from downing a vial of poison nearly every night by telling himself that he needed to live in order to look after Lily's son.
By the end of the chapter, however, he was scowling from anger rather than sadness. First of all, leaving a one-year-old outside on the Dursleys' doorstep all night in early November was ridiculously negligent, blankets or no blankets. Especially considering that babies were even more prone to hypothermia than adults. Not only that, but even if the blood protection from living with Petunia protected him from the Dark Lord, it wouldn't protect him from traffic, if he happened to wriggle free from the blankets and crawl out into the street.
And that wasn't even addressing Dumbledore's obvious plan to isolate the boy away from the wizarding world. Placed in a household that was neglectful at best and abusive at worst, Potter certainly would feel an unshakable loyalty to Dumbledore as his 'savior'. Severus himself had experienced something along those lines upon going to Hogwarts. At least until the Headmaster showed he was willing to cover up an attempted murder in order to protect his precious Gryffindors. After all, he was only a Slytherin. What did his life matter?
And that was well before the charming piece of narrative misdirection aimed at convincing the reader that he was the villain simply because he had been speaking to Quirrell when Potter's scar hurt him. Never mind that Quirrell just happened to have the Dark Lord sharing his skull at that precise moment, when Severus mentioned the boy's name. He forced himself to set down the book when he realized that he was grinding his teeth. He needed to teach himself to use that sphygmomanometer at the medical center, because these books could not be good for his blood pressure.