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snarrymod (snarrymod) wrote in snarry_games,
@ 2008-05-15 08:06:00

Entry tags:

entry, team phoenix, vain

TEAM PHOENIX ENTRY: Vain "To Stay the Shadow"
Title: To Stay the Shadow
Author: Vain vain
Team: Phoenix
Genres: Angst
Prompt: Reckoning & Ashes of Youth
Rating/Warnings: R; *Book 6 & 7 S.P.O.I.L.E.R.S. Please note, this story is NOT Book 7 compliant; AU-ish; language; angst.*
Word Count: ~25,400
Summary: Once upon a time Severus Snape fell in love. And then everything went wrong.
A/N: All the definitions preceding the chapters are taken from "The Devil's Dictionary," by Ambrose Bierce, originally published in newspapers in a serialized version between 1881 and 1906 as "The Cynic's Word Book," and then bound and republished in 1911 under its current name.
Special Thanks once again to the mods for not killing me after email # 3, and especially to my invaluable betas venivincere, alisanne, & ziasudra for beating me with Spelling, Grammar, and Diction Sticks. They are now my personal heroes and made this story a thousand times better; all remaining errors are solely my own. Also, much love to the rest of Team Phoenix for all their help and support. This would never have been completed if not for you guys’ feedback and encouragement. ♥
Plagiarism is no one’s friend.

"To Stay the Shadow by Vain"
Don't forget to review!

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slashpine
2008-05-16 06:53 am UTC (link)

Ouch. Emotionally Dense Harry meets Depressively Quiet Severus. Sort of like an immovable object meeting an insensate force. Or fog rolling across a empty polar shore: a gray clammy day becomes slightly grayer and clammier. Poor dumb Harry and mute Severus are stuck, and no one else cares, or can do anything constructive to help them even if they do. A Howler and a heart-to-heart, pretty fitful responses.

It's a compelling depiction, not simply because of the polished writing aimed unswervingly toward their dismal denouement. I'm not sure I know how to appreciate the value of depicting them as so utterly unable to grow and learn anything. Bleh. Not my kind of people *or* characters. However, the story was so well written, I did read all the way through in the hopes of something happening. But rather like in the books, Harry proved consistently unable to mature enough to understand another person, and Snape retained his deep-seated reluctance to try to explain his feelings. (Although I'm not sure I find any satisfaction in the faithfulness to that aspect of canon.) It's like they cancel each other out, and all that's left from start to end is numbness and going through the motions.

Pretty unmitigatedly bleak, all in all, so I suppose that's a solid success on the scale of angst, if not in this reader's mood. :D

*goes off to imagine that first, a companionship of several years duration would have included at least one actually happy moment, and second, that this Harry eventually grows up enough to figure things out.*

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	effie_chan 2008-05-16 11:40 am UTC (link)
	You see that's what I was trying to say but you put it in so much better words. sigh (Reply to this) (Parent)

vain
2008-05-18 11:19 pm UTC (link)

Thank you! :-)

I would actually argue that, of the two of them, Harry does show potential to grow, as is evidenced by his final decision to walk away. Severus's stagnation, on the other hand, is probably the most IC thing in the story. He's stuck in the past and doesn't understand that, even if he lets it go, he will still have something left in Harry. But his attachment to Harry is largely based on his past. It's a catch-22 for him. In Harry's view leaving, while it is probably the worst thing he can do to Severus, it's also the best thing he can do for Severus, and for himself as well.

But you're correct in that that's only the dimmest of insights on Harry's part--more instinctual than anything else. Maybe he's too hung up on his own sense of betrayal; he has the potential to grow past it, though. They were happy at some point though (in my mind at least). In my mind's eye, years after the end of this story, I imagine that Harry will look back on his relationship with Severus when he gets old with wistful regret and affection. If nothing else, Harry has always shown the capacity to forgive--something that Severus lacks, especially when it comes to forgiving himself.

Thank you for your review and I'm glad you liked the story.

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