Hi! Good point about canon!Harry's lack of application--sometimes I'm not a huge fan of canon!Harry. Especially in book 7. Was it just me, or did he seem a little cardboard? Like--too bombastic in his language and too intuitive...? But at the same time, I think Snape fell down a bit on the job when he refused to continue teaching Harry Occlumency--I felt that the Snape that Alan Rickman portrayed would not have done that, and that somehow seems more authentic...although that probably doesn't make much sense in that JKR is the creator. ;)
I'm glad the ending here was all right to you because lately I've been having the darndest time getting Snape to actually make a move on Harry. :D It's like, he won't go, or something!! So I'm working on a fic to try to fix that, ha ha. Your comments re opaqueness were like, the ego-booster of the week for me. :D You're absolutely right--that's why it happens, because I just don't feel right about writing Snape with explanations when I'm not writing from his perspective. I'm just not that creative--I can't think of plausible reasons for him to communicate his thoughts, feelings, etc to someone else, especially Harry. There'd have to be Veritaserum or Legilimency or torture or something, because love wouldn't be enough (okay, maybe not torture, but you know)--and to be honest, sometimes I'm too tired to build in the support for those devices. You can't just drop in a sudden vial of Veritaserum out of the blue (although it would be funny, right?? :D For crack fic!) and have Snape abruptly admitting to affection...But anyway. :D The trouble with writing Snape that way is that it can be confusing to read--and I know when I'm reading fic where I don't understand the character's motivation, I lose interest. So it's a thing I struggle with, writing only what I feel is plausible for Snape, on the one hand, and writing something that might be more engaging for the reader, on the other. I know I get a kick out of reading more gregarious characterizations of Snape, ones that allow him to pursue and seduce and grasp at Harry in an intense, overt (and seriously fascinating!) way. Do you ever get that sense, when you read or write fic? Have you gotten the chance to write much lately?