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snarrymod (snarrymod) wrote in snarry_games,
@ 2009-08-28 08:02:00

Entry tags:

fic, snitch

Team Snitch Entry (FIC): "By Sulfur and Salt" by Elfwreck
Title: By Sulfur and Salt
Author: elfwreck
Team: Snitching Victory!
Genre(s): Gender Bender and/or Crossdressing
Prompt(s): Doppelganger, Alchemy
Rating/Warnings/Kinks: NC-17; Highlight if you wish to know: *Explicit Snape/Lily. Identity issues.*
Word Count: ~16,000
Author Notes/Disclaimers/Betas: Many thanks to joanwilder for beta reading at odd hours and a ridiculous amount of hand-holding. Special bonus points (whatever those are) to naatz who nudged me into this prompt and walked me through last-minute beta help, to chaosraven who helped me sort out POV issues, and the Team Snitch Random Beta Crew, who are too many to mention and all deserve medals. The team was wonderful; any flaws remaining are mine.

Summary: Snape's idyllic life with Lily is disrupted when the Ministry of Magic takes an interest in them.

"By Sulfur and Salt"

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undomielregina
2009-11-17 07:06 am UTC (link)

Having just read the fic, I'm now considering the logistics of this. Given that taking Harry's blood when he's Lily doesn't work for the super polyjuice, I can only imagine that this would end up having Unfortunate Consequences for the 'verse you've created here. Granted, given how much Harry hates James, it's impossible that he would do such a thing at all, but it's still something that is somewhat mind-boggling.

I wonder how surrogacy works? Does an egg removed from Harry's body vanish when the polyjuice wears off? Does it turn into semen as the nearest male counterpart? Does that mean that Harry could accidentally impregnate a surrogate instead of having her carry Lily's baby? The possiblities for crack fic appear to be neverending.

(btw, since I just realized I didn't say it, I really enjoyed reading this. It was a completely novel idea executed very well.)

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elfwreck
2009-11-17 02:30 pm UTC (link)

In my imagined universe, it's not possible; the polyjuice can only be stretched so far, and a new dose "rewrites" the body back to the basic state. It wouldn't work to heal, and therefore sperm might stick around, but there's no fertility to work with--the uterine lining would go back to its original condition (whatever that is), and the body wouldn't make the necessary changes for pregnancy. I suppose that, as I've set it up, fertility isn't possible; the body's not around long enough to ovulate.

However, someone else could write a variant where there is year-long polyjuice, or polyjuice-with-an-extender, or something like that, and in that case, Harry could go back in time & seduce James. (And *that* Harry might not hate James quite so much.) That idea makes my brain hurt, and I'm torn between "nobody should ever write that; it's too much crack" and "hmm, someone should make that work."

Or that Harry could go back and take the original Lily's place after she's killed, remaining there as Lily to raise himself (and get attached to Snape, of course). An alternate on the "one parent lives" AU trope.

And there are several dozen other crackfic options that I'm trying really, really hard not to think too closely about. I hadn't considered that sperm could *stay* in the body when it switched back, and wind up being used on a third party. That has... fascinating possibilities. Whatever wizards use instead of DNA tests to confirm parentage suddenly become important.

You made my head hurt. Thank you. I think.

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