(Anonymous)
One of the unbridgeable fandom divides is between people who think a character's (presumed) canon sexuality should be normative, and those who disagree. While some characters are obviously slashier than others, I don't believe there are any unslashable characters, because everyone sees canon differently. In canon Snape presents as weakly heterosexual, so to speak. There's hints that he's drawn to women, though we never see him act on any such desires, but nothing that says he couldn't be attracted to men as well. For all we know he was having it off with Mulciber while pining for Lily. (As per JKR, "He wanted Lily and he wanted Mulciber too".)
Unfortunalely, since Mulciber is hardly more than a name it's not that satisfying of a ship. I prefer characters who make me think they'd be a good fit for Snape, and there aren't that many of those. Mostly, other put-upon outsiders like Percy, Filch and Neville. I realize Snape's behaved very badly to Neville and doesn't exactly deserve him, but despite his fear, Neville never seems to have hated Snape. That suggests to me that he's strong and tolerant enough to forgive Snape, and just maybe accept him.
However, the two pairings that feel most canon-compatible to me after DH are Snape/Harry and Snape/Lupin. A relationship as intense as that of Snape and Harry has to have some sort of payoff. I've shipped them since Book 5 and Book 7 sealed the deal. For Snape to transfer his fixation on dead Lily to her living son feels psychologically plausible. Not exactly healthy, but then Snape isn't the poster boy for healthy relationships.
I didn't see Snape/Lupin until DH. PoA, frankly, gave the impression that they were enemies and immature about it to boot. Snape acted like he hated Lupin's guts and Lupin got in a lot of petty sniping under cover of politeness. But over the course of the later books, Lupin grew up a bit. His assessment of Snape in HBP was far more balanced. By DH, I got a strong impression that if he'd known Snape was DDM, he would have started to consider befriending Snape. They were the last of the Marauders' generation, where Lupin's heart belongs (all those golden young men -- so much more brilliant and promising than the current crop). And he needs a pack leader, as well. Snape's changed too since PoA, and I think in the end he'd be okay with Lupin approaching him. I really like the idea of them finding some private peace together after the war.
-L
Unfortunalely, since Mulciber is hardly more than a name it's not that satisfying of a ship. I prefer characters who make me think they'd be a good fit for Snape, and there aren't that many of those. Mostly, other put-upon outsiders like Percy, Filch and Neville. I realize Snape's behaved very badly to Neville and doesn't exactly deserve him, but despite his fear, Neville never seems to have hated Snape. That suggests to me that he's strong and tolerant enough to forgive Snape, and just maybe accept him.
However, the two pairings that feel most canon-compatible to me after DH are Snape/Harry and Snape/Lupin. A relationship as intense as that of Snape and Harry has to have some sort of payoff. I've shipped them since Book 5 and Book 7 sealed the deal. For Snape to transfer his fixation on dead Lily to her living son feels psychologically plausible. Not exactly healthy, but then Snape isn't the poster boy for healthy relationships.
I didn't see Snape/Lupin until DH. PoA, frankly, gave the impression that they were enemies and immature about it to boot. Snape acted like he hated Lupin's guts and Lupin got in a lot of petty sniping under cover of politeness. But over the course of the later books, Lupin grew up a bit. His assessment of Snape in HBP was far more balanced. By DH, I got a strong impression that if he'd known Snape was DDM, he would have started to consider befriending Snape. They were the last of the Marauders' generation, where Lupin's heart belongs (all those golden young men -- so much more brilliant and promising than the current crop). And he needs a pack leader, as well. Snape's changed too since PoA, and I think in the end he'd be okay with Lupin approaching him. I really like the idea of them finding some private peace together after the war.
-L