pet-genius

[pet-genius]

Owing your bully your life and having your best friend praise him, after getting outsmarted by Sirius, is such a singular humiliation that I'm very certain that Snape would have downplayed the whole damn thing, never mind the fear of a retaliation if he did get Sirius and Lupin in real trouble, and this is before Dumbledore's bit of institutional silencing.

Here's a thought:

Sirius has been getting so much shit for the Prank and putting Snape's life in danger, but in The Prince's Tale, when Lily is griping about Snape's friends, and with the Prank still fresh, Snape has a perfect window to badmouth Sirius - arguably, the latter trying to kill him should be even worse than Avery and Mulciber's dark magic.

And yet Snape does not even mention Sirius. All he complains about is James Potter, his sneaking around with Remus and his fancying Lily.

Do you think that maybe, the supposedly hideous Prank wasn't such a big deal after all? Just some information that Snape stupidly decided to put to the test?

Do you think that maybe Snape knows he was the one that fucked up, which is why he doesn't try to put the blame on Sirius?

Do you think that maybe he was never in much danger, which is why James supposedly saving him is all the more annoying to him - because it gives James a chance to boast about being a heroic saviour when maybe all he did was just pull Snape back from the immobilized tree?

Do you think that maybe he later plays it up for pity points, in front of Harry who has not the slightest idea of what had really happened, knowing that Remus is guilt-prone and Sirius has a reputation as an unhinged murderer?

Not saying that Sirius had any sort of innocent intention, but I'm inclined to think it was more like "why should I care to protect him? He's a big boy and he thinks he's smart; if he wants to see what's going on, let him have it" rather than a nefarious plan to actually get him killed or bitten.

[pet-genius]

I'm about to turn the age Snape was when he died and there's so much to do still, so many things to experience. And I haven't really given away 17 years in service to Dumbledore to repent for my great mistake, so... the man really didn't live, did he? I know he isn't real, but I still feel the waste and that we can't let our real lives pass us by.

And I owe him my life in a very real sense. Especially specific precious aspects of it.

So I really, really, appreciate the sacrifice. If I ever meet someone even a little like you, Sev, I hope I'll lighten their load.

#severus snape #harry potter #snape #pro severus snape #snape love #dementedlollipop

[pet-genius]

In my view, the strict definition of a bully means someone who picks on someone because he is weak. Snape picks on everyone, except the people he's lying to like Voldemort, who was self-important enough to buy the deferent act. He should not be picking on children, but it's not a bully, it's an asshole. I'm not British so I don't know the cultural norms there but I don't remember specifically being fond of the teachers who coddled us.

People will hate on Snape for being mean and sarcastic with children but he was mean and sarcastic with everyone. He was just treating his students with the same respect he gave everyone else, if you think about it.

[pet-genius]

Mrs. Evans One-Shot

Mrs. Evans's second pregnancy was... strange. Different. It seemed to announce itself not through nausea or tenderness or any of the usual signs: for these nine months, Lily's mother had had magic in her body and life had just become subtly and inexplicably easier. The car seemed to park itself, the groceries felt lighter, her eldest even seemed more disciplined and her husband more helpful. She would never forget those months, she knew - when Lily turned out to be a witch, it almost made sense. Her mother had experienced it to a minor degree first hand, and she had felt almost validated when the witch came from the school to explain it all, and she felt relieved when it came to pass, soon after, that Lily had known for two years, that she had made a magical friend.

When Lily was born, almost on the very second, before she even started crying, there was a blackout that nearly gave them all a heart attack - the first manifestation of magic by a terrified new-born, experiencing cold, hunger, and separation for the first time. Mrs. Evans had felt, then, that something had been taken from her, something more than just the baby. Life had become difficult again. Not bad, by any means – she had considered herself blessed and fortunate – but the easy-going smoothness was gone. She had lost the unconscious control she had exerted over the minor frustrations and nuisances, and with two daughters, an infant who seemed to have a supernatural ability to get her way (as it would turn out, she did), Mrs. Evans could not help but to feel the lack. Even so, it was worth it, of course it was, to watch her daughters growing into toddlers, children, girls, to watch the sisters learning they were sisters.

It had not been the same for Eileen Prince, it turned out. Eager to talk to another woman who had carried a magical baby in her womb, Mrs. Evans tried to do the unthinkable and make a friend at Spinner's End. “He's been a pain since he was conceived,” Mr. Snape – on the dole, rotting on the threadbare sofa – answered for his wife. It seemed to Mrs. Evans that the man possessed supernatural hearing: the women were in the kitchen, and Mrs. Snape spoke in a very hushed tone. “Toby didn’t want him to be magical,” Eileen explained, stirring her tea for way too long. “It hurt him to be near me, when I was pregnant. The child must have felt it. And then of course, traveling to London so it wouldn’t cause a stir at the Muggle – the regular hospital, lest something strange happen....”

There seemed to be an inverse correlation between the two mothers’ experience, and Mrs. Evans couldn’t help but think something must be wrong with this woman. She had to be either stupid or wicked to be here, live like this, when she had the power Mrs. Evans had only glimpsed at and still missed.

“A man works and breaks his back to raise a family, and what does he get? A freak who looks down on him for having to work, owl droppings on his countertops!” Mr. Snape butted into the conversation from the other side of the house. How thin were those walls? Mrs. Evans thought it was a bit rich to complain about “breaking his back” whilst sitting on his sofa at midday, or worry about hygiene when the stench from the factory and the garbage strike meant everything had attracted flies.

She knew it was important for Lily to have other friends like her, especially if she was to go to a new school where she would be all alone, but she wished it had been another family – any other family. For the sake of her daughter, she swore she’d be cordial and correct, if nothing else. She would not keep the boy away from Lily until Lily had made new friends, better friends, who could show her how to use magic to improve herself. She was proud of her daughter, and she trusted her to make the best choices as soon as good choices presented themselves.

[pet-genius]

BCJ is the best written baddie outside of Voldemort himself and the fact that he managed to manipulate Harry and others only makes him more compelling and evil, not less. Guys he was "nice" because he was trying to manipulate the kids so that Harry would die. If anything, he's the proof that Snape really really couldn't afford to be nice and had to be a cunt, which is an argument I hate because it whitewashes Snape too much.

Saw someone be like "at least barty didn't bully kids when he was a teacher" but like, babe he literally did.

First of all, traumatizing the shit out of Neville (and the whole class honestly) with his demonstration of a curse that he literally used to torture Neville's parents (that's some deranged shit)

And then there was the whole turning Draco into am animal and flinging him around (I guess assault doesn't count if it's towards unlikable people)

Not to mention putting Harry's name in the goblet (which, idk, definitely feels like bullying)

"Barty didn't bully kids" he literally led a kid to their death what are you talking about?

But some respect on that murderous psycho's name

[pet-genius]

This is adorable

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter, Petunia Evans Dursley Additional Tags: Cokeworth (Harry Potter), Adventure, Free-Range Children, Playgrounds, Cussing, Young Severus Snape, Young Lily Evans Potter, Young Petunia Evans - Freeform, Children being children, Imagination Summary:

After seeing a film they shouldn’t have seen, young Severus and Lily wander about their hometown during their summer holidays, finding its shadows a tad too deep.

[pet-genius]

And Harry. He also believes Lupin and Sirius are colluding to get Harry. And he is not entirely wrong that Lupin is hiding something. In any case, this is approved curriculum in the book that is either the standard for 3rd years or that Lupin set himself. Who cares?

snape trying to teach everyone to kill werewolves in 3rd year is a lot more reasonable when you remember that at that point snape thinks lupin was in on a plot to use his werewolf form to murder him

[pet-genius]

"His character is all about male entitlement," Snape is an impoverished half blood among the rich pures as a student, he invests effort into everything as a young man and as an adult, and he resents entitlement above nearly everything. His character is about, if anything, resentment of others' entitlement and how it warped his views of people like Harry. Among other things. Because there is not one single theme that accounts for his entire character. As for male, he is male, so I guess yes his character is about male... something. "he was obsessed with her at Hogwarts and then showed to have no boundaries as he went into her house to cradle her dead body in front of her traumatized kid." No he wasn't or one of the many people who knew both of them would have said something. The dead body scene is not in the books, but nor would it show a lack of boundaries if it was, and the traumatized kid (15 months old) sure as fuck wanted to be comforted by a stranger and gave a lot of shit about who was cradling his mother. Yes. "He only saw Lily as a trophy to be possessed," He might have not understood Lily due to their very different lives but he valued her as a human and he valued her ideals. Snape didn't write "L.E." on an object designed for catching at a sport. "which you can see from the way he hated Harry, because Harry reminded him Lily wasn't his and that Lily had sex with another man." I think he knew tbh, but sorry, he treated Harry poorly because of complex interrelated reasons, from his resemblance to James to his resentment of Harry's fame, that Snape knew belonged to Lily. The fact that Lily died for this kid. The fact that Harry is a walking reminder of his guilt. The fact that he dedicated his life to protecting this kid and had ten years of an unwanted teaching career behind him by the time Harry showed up. None of this is fair to Harry. None of it is about Lily's sex life except in the sense that Lily had sex to make a baby. "His interest in the Death Eaters was only secondary to his obsession with Lily and I think Lily rejecting him pushed him toward joining the Death Eaters, because, once again, his male ego was bruised and he needed to replace it with something else." Minor corrections aside, I agree that SWM is the Worst Memory because it is the beginning of the end for Snape, that he feels that if he had not pushed Lily away, their lives might have been different, and that Lily was the only thing that tethered him to his ethical self. As such, Lily was an ideal that he abandoned but then dedicated himself to again. This makes him, in a roundabout way, an idealist. His ideals were to save and protect as many people as he could, promote excellence and merit, and not calling people mudbloods. And all thanks to his reverence to a woman. What a feminist icon.

Thoughts on Snape?

I think he is a very good representation of a man who felt insecure in his manhood; his male ego was permanently wounded by James' bullying and he decided to make it everyone else's problem by being the most insufferable teacher at Hogwarts. Add to this that he is a halfblood and only his mother was around, iirc? Snape, Voldemort and Harry all act like foils of each other in that sense, but whereas Voldemort fixated on his blood status as the main reason for his insecurities, Snape fixated on Lily. His character is all about male entitlement, he was obsessed with her at Hogwarts and then showed to have no boundaries as he went into her house to cradle her dead body in front of her traumatized kid. He only saw Lily as a trophy to be possessed, which you can see from the way he hated Harry, because Harry reminded him Lily wasn't his and that Lily had sex with another man. His interest in the Death Eaters was only secondary to his obsession with Lily and I think Lily rejecting him pushed him toward joining the Death Eaters, because, once again, his male ego was bruised and he needed to replace it with something else.

He remained mysterious up till the end and his back-and-forth with treason was very compelling to read about. So I hate him (as a "person") but he is such a good character narrative-wise and he is very interesting to study

[pet-genius]

Hack: Get inspired by a real or fictional example of strategic genius and work it into your story. We don't need to invent the wheel, I think most people are aware of idk the Trojan Horse gambit but not necessarily other things, so idk steal

[pet-genius]

Damn

stories

@snapetober day 11 - scars

[pet-genius]

Uru you are an underrated gem

Writers growing up in the age of the internet and being terminally online is probably going to be bad for art, insofar as they take cues from fandom. Fandom spaces are mostly (though not entirely) populated by philistines, who should be ignored.

[pet-genius]

Social media platforms can't get rid of pedophiles and Nazis but it's a very sensible ask for Tumblr to ban... A franchise with a huge and active fandom that makes it a lot of money and is not illegal yet

Tumblr just put a fcuking harry potter post on my feed as a "recommendation based on your likes"

Why not recommend me smallpox next. Or arthritis maybe.

[pet-genius]

It's true @sideprince, I think sometimes Snape is actually such a shining example of an ethical person (as an adult) people don't really believe it can be possible, certainly not of someone who was a Death Eater. I won't get into the misanthropic undercurrent that basically says you are born good or bad and then that's that for you. But yeah, that Snape's drive was sexual or even romantic just doesn't fit, or it would have been extinguished when Lily had died (among the other reasons it doesn't actually fit, at all, ever). And thank you! <3

How? How the fuck is snape obsessed with lily? I’ve seen so many people say this, and it makes no sense. Remus is still mourning his friends but he’s not obsessed. Sirius is no way over James, but he’s not obsessed. The logic is so idiotic. He’s obsessed because what? he’s still thinking about her? Yeah they were friends from a very young age and he blames himself for her death, of course he’s still gonna be thinking about her! If you genuinely think that severus was obsessed with lily, please explain it to me.

[pet-genius]

In no sense whatsoever, except for his obsessive guilt over getting her killed maybe, not unlike Sirius's guilt. There isn't and there never has been anything possessive or sinister about the love for Lily. At worst, I can see how as they grew distant, he sort of forgot who she was and that she had a life he was not a part of, while still being attached to the friend he remembered, which has led to his difficulty relating to her love for James and Harry early on (but he also didn't really follow why she would care about a fight with Petunia, because he did not experience loving family relations, and could not understand what they meant to her, even when he was 11, so it's all more to do with trauma than with obsession imo).

How? How the fuck is snape obsessed with lily? I’ve seen so many people say this, and it makes no sense. Remus is still mourning his friends but he’s not obsessed. Sirius is no way over James, but he’s not obsessed. The logic is so idiotic. He’s obsessed because what? he’s still thinking about her? Yeah they were friends from a very young age and he blames himself for her death, of course he’s still gonna be thinking about her! If you genuinely think that severus was obsessed with lily, please explain it to me.

[pet-genius]

Has "shut the fuck up about what other people like and you're boring for caring" stopped being an option

One of the unfortunate consequences of losing the concept of cringe in fandom spaces is that it’s clearly something people still feel, but they can’t really say it anymore. Now you gotta say that a shitty tumblr ship dynamic is “fascism”, or “fascism unless lesbian”

[pet-genius]

Paula is a superb artist and an incredible friend. Please consider taking a commission from her for this important cause

My sister’s surgery and why I am opening commissions!

Hi there! I have decided to access this platform to try and find a solution to my sister’s current situation… It has been too long at this point and I really do not know what else to do… so here goes nothing!

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Some doctors suggested physical therapy and exercise to try to nurse her knee back to health, yet deeper tests showed that she requires a reconstructive surgery to fix her injury, since the ligament that snapped is the only one that cannot regenerate on its own. According to medical professionals, if she does not get this surgery, with time she will most likely lose her ability to walk normally, since her leg won't be able to sustain her weight properly, and she won’t be able to dance again, which is what she loves to do the most in life.

We are two young adults living in Costa Rica (my sister just turned 20) and the amount required for the surgery is too big for us, since we also fend for ourselves in every other economical aspect related to studies and housing, as well as other living conditions. There is no one else that can help us, our small family is dysfunctional as well as economically unstable, so I have resorted to posting what happened here, in hopes of finding any sort of help possible.

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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14PLVqEe4E1GWB8oy_NCH2jOAq2D_YnW0?usp=drive_link

Both documents are in Spanish, since the operation will take place here, in Costa Rica.

I will also leave my Ko-Fi link here, in case you would like to request any commissions or send any donations through there. I sincerely thank you for anything you can do to contribute to this, whether it is a commission, a small coffee donation, or just mere messages of support. The idea of being able to help my sister continue with her life means everything to me. Thank you so much for your time, we truly appreciate it!

[pet-genius]

I am so honored to be mentioned by, to, and alongside all these people! I know I've been less active but I promise you I love Snape and the Snapedom and it means so much to me that my posts touched on something for people and people remember them!

Hi! So I was going through your snape tag (btw sorry for the million notifications you probably got), and I noticed you weren’t very much a fan way back on the early days of your blog. Feel free to completely ignore this if you don’t feel like answering (it is truly none of my business), but I’m always fond of hearing people’s “how I came to like this character” or “why I changed my mind about this character” stories and I was wondering what yours was :)

Hiii! Thanks for the ask! (No worries on the notification spam lol) and I appreciate that you reached out!

Yes! I think he was one of the characters I had the most difficulty empathizing with because I had such a strong, emotional reaction to him. Especially after OotP forward. He's divisive! (Also looking back through my Snape tag has me internally cringing a bit with how little grace I extended to the poor guy...ah well. With age/maturity comes wisdom...? D: )

I'm ngl, after reviewing some of the earlier posts, my immediate reaction is to delete them as my opinions have definitely changed, but maybe it's good to leave it as a record of my evolving mindset towards the character? lol

Ok, so what changed?

Well, it certainly helps I'm now closer to adult Snape's age from Book 1 than Harry's age when I was first reading the HP series as it was being published. I didn't give much thought to Snape beyond he was a mean teacher and a bully, for the first four books at least.

I got into the HP fandom around when GoF had been released so I was discovering plenty of fanfic and fan meta. Snape was one of the more ... well ... fans reactions to him that liked him or even wrote him sexually with the cast confused middle-school me, to be honest. I was more interested in the child characters than the adults, so I was vaguely aware of how he was portrayed in fandom but didn't really engage.

This changed after OotP was released, and we finally got some explicit Severus Snape backstory and history with the Occlumency lessons. I had a really an emotional reaction to SWM and some of the memories we got a glimpse of. I was empathetic and not completely surprised to learn Snape was from an abusive home, that he had possible trauma and issues that explained his actions and why he was so cold and angry. Like Harry, I was really disappointed in how his father and Sirius treated Snape. There's just no excuse for how they sought him out to pick on him for fun. I was on Harry's side with confronting Sirius and Lupin about how his dad and they acted.

Also, I read everything with shipper eyes, and immediately felt there was more to Severus and Lily's relationship beyond her just coming over and reacting to James actions lol. They called Jily a crack!ship but it looks like they were validated in the end lol.

However what really made me emotionally react with anger was that we are basically being shown that Severus knows what it's like to be a scared child being abused and tormented by authority figures and other children, but he does it to his students?? I could not understand his actions at a time but I would get genuinely angry when I did think about it. To child me, this felt like a betrayal, both for a fictional character and when actual people did this. Looking back I was reacting so strongly due to my own personal experience with trauma in the home and with authority figures abusing children.

I recall not caring much about him in HBP or DH. I was much more upset with Sirius' death than Dumbledore's, so Snape's "betrayal" was just not something I recall reacting emotionally to. In DH, I definitely remember reading his memories and just feeling irritated with him. To me, he was a guy with trauma and emotional issues, sure, but I felt his behavior towards Harry, Hermione, and Neville was not excused for me. At most I felt begrudging respect for him and acknowledged he was not a completely terrible person. Harry naming one of his son's after him felt so bizarre, and I just could not understand why Harry wanted to honor him. Forgive him, sure I could understand Harry doing that, but naming his child after Snape just left me feeling confused. I could not understand how Snape could have loved Lily so much, but treated her son like he did.

I know I'm basically rambling, but it really has been a journey. :P

When I grew out of HP and the fandom after DH was published, I never gave much thought to him or his circumstances until I (unexpectedly) returned to the HP fandom last summer. I reread all of the books as an adult and I had the life experience and maturity to understand that:

A) Snape was funny! A lot funnier than I remember.

B) His actions throughout the book were too subtle for teenage me, but they made me really question my previous feelings for the character.

C) Everyone Dumbledore was kind of terrible to him!

I read a lot of really well written meta on the characters and HP. Specifically I think it was @pet-genius posts on reddit I found that really helped me put my thoughts and feelings regarding HP, primarily Harry, in order. And I can't help but compare and contrast Harry and Severus as characters and how they each approach their trauma and grief.

@ashesandhackles metas on Snape was also really helpful in highlighting the examples in the text that showed how Snape's actions sometimes directly contradict with what he said, especially to Harry. He's always presenting himself as this cold and controlled person, disparaging emotional reactions and connections. Yet he's one of the most emotionally reactive characters in the series next to Harry!

I was able to see clearer a lot of things I liked about him. That he's an incredibly skilled and hardworking person. That he cares very deeply for people he does allow himself to have feelings for and connections to. That he was scared, so scared, probably all the time after Voldemort's return to power, but he never wavered in his determination to continue to show up and fulfill his duty. Him making the Vow with Narcissa to try to protect Draco. The incredible pain he must have been in when he used the Killing Curse on Dumbledore, the one person left that knew everything about him and still valued him. That he dies keeping silent about the Elder Wand ownership, protecting Draco from becoming Voldemort's next target.

I also viewed his relationship with Lily as so much more complex than unrequited love. There's a meta out there (I will edit this post and link it if I find it again) that argues Snape wasn't really in love with Lily, and that "Always" quote is so much deeper than a romantic, or sexual, type of feelings for her. I think it argues that Snape elevated Lily to a symbol of Good, or at least used her memory to guide him on morality. I felt so much more respect for the guy that he had dedicated his life as penance, basically, for betraying his once-best friend once more.

This is getting long, I hope this wasn't too much. I have changed my feelings on how Severus treated Harry and the other kids close to him in that year's class. Looking at how he acts to others and comparing to how he acts with Harry, I now now I feel Harry was a very specific trigger for Severus and he showed Harry and Harry's potions class a side of him that he generally did not show to anyone else. This is just my personal interpretation based on how other adults, from Dumbledore to even Lupin, and kids speak of Snape as a professor and seem to think Harry is just exaggerating that Snape hates him. When, no, Snape really is projecting his hate and rage and grief about James and Lily onto Harry and he does actually hate the kid. Which, it's probably easier for Severus to think he hates Harry rather than hates himself.

I could keep going but I will stop here for now. I hope that answers the question? But feel free to chat more :) I hope you don't mind I responded with a blog post, I can take it down if you would rather it be answered privately lol.

I suppose the tl;dr version is that Snape makes me angry because he makes me feel things about myself that I don't like, but with age and reading other people's thoughts on the character has definitely made me come around to they guy!