Snapedom

In my February essay on Snape and Unconditional Love, which can be found both here on IJ and at the original LJ post, I was talking about how Snape was used by Dumbledore as a tool, and how it seems like there was no one who truly loved him unconditionally. I was wondering how different his life would have been if he'd had someone in his life who actually cared about him, just for himself, and this fic is like an answer to that question:

Title: Banished
Author: zephyr_macabee
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Rating: PG
Word Count: 46k + in 56 chapters
Summary: To punish Severus for 'outing' Remus as a werewolf, Albus banishes him to Arizona. It's the best thing that ever happened to him.

Notes/Warnings: "The story goes AU at the end of  'Prisoner of Azkaban'. This is a rather chaste Snupin and Remus does not appear in the flesh until chapter 28. Severus is OOC for canon. This story was unbetaed, but I have proofed it repeatedly."

Additional warning: Not-So-Warm-and-Fuzzy-Dumbledore!

The first chapter begins here.

Out of this World, 2104 words, by velja. Drama, basically; not slash unless you squint reeeeeallly hard.

This short piece tries a different angle on the nature of the memories Severus gives to Harry. Rather than just being straight up experiences, they are memories of what Severus was feeling at those points in time. (It doesn't follow the DH script; they are memories pertaining to the relationship between Severus and Harry.) It's a songfic, which is usually a device I dislike, but I was able to gloss over it here because I liked the emotional content. Overall I thought a play-out like is presented in this fic would have made a better basis on which to later construct the fact of Albus Severus's name, i.e., Harry feeling empathy for Severus.

Excerpt:

Harry watched every possible step he’d ever made in his life at Hogwarts, everything he’d ever gone through, like a movie playing before his very eyes, a silent movie, filled not with voices and sounds but with emotions.

Emotions that belonged to Snape.

Rushing through Harry’s body, through his insides and head, filling every fiber and every vein, were Snape’s feelings throughout the years they’d known each other. Anger… annoyance… fury… exasperation… irritation… dread…

And pain.

I recced this a while back over on Snapedom at LiveJournal, and then posted a bit there last Friday too, as there have been so many chapters updated since I last recced it, but I thought I might as well post it over here this Friday. "The Alchemist" is a novel length work-in-progress AU Severus/Lily fic. It can be found right here! 

Title: "The Alchemist"
Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Evans-Potter (pretty much everyone else is here too)
Spoilers: Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows
Rating: PG 13
Status: In Progress
Chapters: 35 so far
Warnings: some domestic violence

Today I'm bringing two short stories from the </a></strong></a>snape_after_dh fest. They are very different in style and address two different periods of Snape's life, but both are thoughtful and very engaging.

The first one is To Make the Heart Grow Fonder, by </a></strong></a>bluestocking79. 

Summary: At the age of 15, Severus was already confident in his ability to bottle fame, brew glory and stopper death. There are some things, however, that even potions can’t accomplish. Written for the Snape After Deathly Hallows fest, for the prompt 'Amortentia.' 

Genre: Angst
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: DH spoilers
Word Count: 5614

Why I liked this: Bluestocking's writing is crystal clear, calm and understated. Young Severus begins to brew Amortentia as an experience, without a very definite aim. As the potion goes through the three stages of its very long maturation, Severus' feelings, by a quasi-alchemical process, parallel its development, until they reach the "selfless, consuming and unconditional" perfection of love. How this perfect love manifests in a little gesture is something I'll let you discover by yourself.


The second story is </a></strong></a>camillo1978's Cool Hand Luke.

Summary: Even Scary Death Eater Headmasters need some help now and then.

Genre: Humour
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: DH spoilers
Word Count: 2588

Why I liked this: it's wickedly funny, while being also very tender and understanding. It has the originality of finding humour in what we may imagine as the bleakest period of Snape's life, the year he spent as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Because keeping in check the Carrows wasn't an easy task, Severus needed all the help he could get, and Cool Luke's help was invaluable. 

Camillo completed her story with two wonderful watercolours. Just go and see!