Sirius Black attempted to murder Snape and used Lupin as a murder weapon.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

James Potter assaults, chokes and publicly humiliates Snape.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

James Potter continues to bully Snape behind Lily's back.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

Remus Lupin forgets to drink the wolfsbane potion thus endangering the lives of the students.

Lily Potter from her grave: He don't use dark magic, though.

Sirius Black starts a fight with Snape when he comes to inform Harry about upcoming Occlumency classes.

Lily Potter from her grave: He don't use dark magic, though.

this says a lot about Snape's character development for me. There are many parallels drawn throughout the series between Harry and Snape; obviously, they're very different characters but there are similarities too.

I think here Snape is talking about himself. The teenaged Snape we see in the Pensieve is very much like this- emotional, heart on his sleeve, easily provoked, a definite wallower in sad memories... weak. Adult Snape, though he retains some of these characteristics that do emerge in stressful moments (in PoA we see how angrily he reacts to Sirius's escape, for instance) on the whole is a great deal more thoughtful, reserved, calculating, measured.

I think that Snape at some point had to force himself to become this. I think he actually relates to Harry here, and is giving him advice based on personal experience. In my fic he begins to learn to control his emotions partially out of a desire to protect Lily; he's fully aware that she's his weakness (or really, his strength, viewed a different way) and that openly displaying any sort of emotion towards her at all makes her vulnerable to the likes of Avery and Mulciber, who will have the perfect weapon to get to him if they want to.

Severus doesn't have the advantages of his peers, he's not pureblood, he wasn't born into money. If he wants to join the Death Eaters and rise in their ranks, he needs to be subtle, cunning, careful. he can't afford to be careless and entitled like mulciber or bellatrix or even sirius. what he's got to offer isn't his name or his money, it's his sheer talent and cleverness. moving on:

When Voldemort decides to go after Lily this becomes even more important. Imo the reason why Voldemort believes that Snape only "desired" Lily is because that's what Snape told him. He lied to Voldemort's face and told him something probably disgusting tbh because that's the only way Voldemort would accept it and agree, if it was a selfish, callous request that Voldemort could understand. We can see evidence of this here:

Asking Voldemort to spare a mudblood because he was in love with her would likely not have gone over well- and as we know, Voldemort actually bore his request in mind, though obv didn't give enough of a fuck about Snape to follow through. Because although asking voldemort to spare her must have taken serious balls, Snape's mistake here was trusting someone inherently selfish to do something selfless for him.

Clearly he immediately realises this and goes to Dumbledore, which is when controlling his emotions becomes of paramount importance, because now he's working against perhaps the most highly accomplished legilimens of all time.

It's also interesting to me that Snape in this conversation is probably the character who is most forthright and informative with Harry in the whole of OotP until Dumbledore at the end; Harry actually learns a lot in this conversation. And Snape also kind of gives him credit which is interesting too:

like for Snape that's high praise lmao. A shame because if he wasn't so bitter (i.e. didn't wear his heart on his sleeve so much around harry) then he might have actually been pretty helpful to Harry and a decent teacher. Again, during the Occlumency lessons his unrestrained emotion brought up by memories of James is a hindrance. He defies Dumbledore's orders to teach Harry Occlumency because of his emotional response to SWM, as well as honestly doing kind of a shit job before that (by not being empathetic and teaching Harry in a way that would've been actually productive.)

At this point Dumbledore believes that Harry learning Occlumency and controlling his emotions is of vital importance; he turns out to be wrong about this. In Harry's case, it turns out to be his emotional nature that saves him- unlike Snape, who is the opposite. Snape's journey is about learning that some things are more important than his selfish need to give into his own emotions.

By DH Snape's learned this lesson fully; his old hatred for James doesn't stop him from doing what has to be done, from giving Harry the tools he needs. Even in the final moments of his life, he can look past James and see Lily in Harry- and, by giving Harry the information that leads to his self-sacrifice, he can let her go.

Love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves it's own mark. To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.

The Marauders Era. Part II: SEVERUS SNAPE   ………………………………………………

This has probably been said before but the quote

'You can not heal in the same environment that hurt you'

is actually so relevant to Snapes character. Hogwarts is the place that hurt him, where he experienced so much trauma and grooming. And he was forced to return to that place after only a short time away and then spent the rest of his life there. And it's not only about the place but also the people. His former teachers who stood by and did nothing when he was harassed and assaulted were now his colleagues. Maybe some of his own students in his first years as a professor were kids who stood by and laughed when he was assaulted publically since they went to school at the same time at one point. He really did never get a chance to heal, he couldn't possibly in the environment he was in, with no support or anything, who would not be miserable and bitter in this situation? Ultimately this sacrifice he made redeemed him and this is what truly shows that he was dedicated to the cause and changed as a person.

you promise?

The fact that Snape, a character routinely described as unpleasant both in looks and personality, can produce such a beautiful patronus will never cease to be one of my favorite things about the series.

this is what it feels like straying too far from my circle of mutuals on tumblr dot com

Sirius Black attempted to murder Snape and used Lupin as a murder weapon.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

James Potter assaults, chokes and publicly humiliates Snape.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

James Potter continues to bully Snape behind Lily's back.

Lily Evans: He don't use dark magic, though.

Remus Lupin forgets to drink the wolfsbane potion thus endangering the lives of the students.

Lily Potter from her grave: He don't use dark magic, though.

Sirius Black starts a fight with Snape when he comes to inform Harry about upcoming Occlumency classes.

Lily Potter from her grave: He don't use dark magic, though.

Coming 2024: Severitus Big Bang and Reverse Big Bang!

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I am going to host a Severitus Big Bang and Reverse Big Bang next year!

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Coming 2024: Severitus Big Bang and Reverse Big Bang!

Setup in progress; meanwhile, please fill out above form and follow @severitus-big-bang if you are interested in participating!

Looking forward to your responses!

rereading one of my favorite fanfics has me ruminating on one of my favorite found family dynamics more than usual

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Snape, hoarsely: I think I’m losing my voice.

Harry: Well, that means you won’t have to yell at us all day!!

*Later*

Harry: As it turns out, Professor Snape is much scarier when he’s quiet.

terfs & radfems fuck off <3

He hated bullies.

One day he will be able to pay them all back.

Whatever it takes.

Decision

Drawn in 2023

Hogwarts staff if they weren't wizards.

In muggle clothing, teaching muggle subjects. ♥︎