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| kittylefish | 2008.05.14 - 08:02PM | 7: Boggart and Patronus | Signed |
| oh.my.god. i've struggled a lot with what we never saw about snape in the books, which of course were from harry's viewpoint, and were written by jkr who i don't think saw snape as actually a hero. but this chapter was just amazing in the way you showed him coming to terms with the meaning of his life, really. how he has defined himself through his choice, and that it is a choice. ack. not being very articulate, i fear, because i really want to run off and read more now. Author's Response: "Out of love, and because it needs doing." is the epigraph for the next chapter. I think for years Snape has defined himself by the disastrous choice he made when he was 17; he needs to see that he's defined by his choice now, and that what he chooses now is unselfish love, even if he can never say those words. By "needs to see" I mean needs to see in order to truly be able to do ALL in his power to protect his children; he's spent his adult life half crippled by guilt and self-hatred, and he can't afford that any more. | |||
| kittylefish | 2008.05.14 - 07:48PM | 6: Potter's Son | Signed |
| this was another amazing chapter. your whole analysis of the dynamic between them was eye-opening. i loved how you imagined snape deliberately engineering harry getting his potions text, which in light of other events, does not seem at all unreasonable. and the notion that snape TRUSTED harry on some level. you make a very compelling case. i'm so happy work has stayed slow this afternoon, as i am off to read the next! Author's Response: It was my friend Jon who pointed out that Snape had to have either engineered it himself or allowed it (the gig would have been up otherwise as soon as Sluggy said something in the staffroom about Harry's winning the Felix). At first I resisted the idea, and then when I let it sink in, my whole idea of how Severus REALLY viewed Harry changed.... Severus, of course, would have died before admitting that he wanted Harry's trust and admiration, had it not been for his potion. The interesting thing is JKR seemed to have put more in that she herself was willing to notice.... but I think maybe she, like Severus and Harry, is not always self-aware. | |||
| kittylefish | 2008.05.14 - 05:48PM | 2: The Potions Master | Signed |
| well, i had thought i'd just read the rest and review at the end, but i had to mention how much i appreciated listening to snape's musings about what quality neville has that makes him a 'hero', although i'm sure that's not the word either of them would choose. and also your detailed musings about the alterations to the potion - i'm always amazed when people can write about that stuff so naturally. i'm frankly amazed that this was your first foray into fanfic. Author's Response: I used to be a software engineer; redesigning a potion follows much the same rules. You break the problem down into smaller steps, and solve each sub-problem.... I think Neville is the Gryffindor child Snape comes to admire the most--aside from his potions-brewing skills. In one of Duj's fictions, Snape comments to an adult Neville (a propos of Snape's being his boggart) "yet you never missed a class." | |||
| kittylefish | 2008.05.14 - 05:17PM | 1: Breath and Paint | Signed |
| yikes! having read some of your other fics, i've been meaning to read this story for a while, now, and i'm glad i finally started it. very powerful stuff. i'm off to read more! Author's Response: Thanks! Hope you enjoy this too. It's way too much "talking head" (not plural, since much of it is purely inside Snape), but I was compelled to write it. | |||
| MW Waters | 2008.05.12 - 02:05PM | 8: The Master of Misdirection | Signed |
| This story keeps getting better and better! Author's Response: Then it's too bad it's over--I just posted the Epilogue, it should be up soon. Thanks for your praise. I am working on a year seven at Hogwarts fiction followup to this, but it's still very rough. You can see chapters on my lj, territesting. | |||
| inverness | 2008.05.12 - 08:17AM | 9: An Argument between Colleagues | Signed |
| The way you write Snape is just awesome! Author's Response: Thank you! Thanks for reviewing. | |||
| tigerlily2 | 2008.05.08 - 08:51PM | 9: An Argument between Colleagues | Signed |
| VERY, very good! Excellent chapter! Thanks! Author's Response: Glad you enjoyed it; I wanted to see Severus grapple with D's betrayal... Just one more, an epilogue: Dumbledore extracts a new promise (Snape doesn't learn, does he?). | |||
| fumseck_62442 | 2008.05.01 - 07:25AM | 1: Breath and Paint | Signed |
| Thank you for your beautiful fanfic. I read-it in French, the translation by EmmaD. I'm not so sure about my English to read the original. In some days, perhaps.
I like your perception of Snape. It's a new eyes on the character. Your novel give me a lot of emotions, so thank you again. Author's Response: Merci du compliment! Le compliment est le plus grand parce qu'il me semble que tu t'en mis un membre a' Occlumencie pour me le donner! L'anglais a' toi, c'est beaucoup mieux que le francais a' moi; j'espere que tu comprends ce que je te dis. Je seus heureuse que tu es d'accord avec mon perception de Rogue. Ce que tu as dis, c'est bien un encouragement de finir le chapitre prochaine. Merci encore pour la revue. | |||
| Melousine | 2008.04.30 - 04:59PM | 8: The Master of Misdirection | Signed |
| That was brilliant! I read all the chapters up to 8 in a row, couldn't stop, because your story is so extremely well done. The most profound Severus-story I came across in a long time! No annoying and far-fetched plot, no display of Severus' sex-life all over again, even no self-pitying indulgence in old hurts and grudges. You showed us a strong, disciplined, in the best sense possible severe but yet sensible and vulnerable person, so very Severus indeed, so very Slytherin. His scheming, wow! I mean, he has a reputation for his brilliant mind, but you allowed him to use it for real.
And the potion-testing, well, it's a lesson for all of us. How many little crimes do we commit on a daily basis in this global world and DO NOT CARE? Buying cheap clothes, manufactured by some poor exploited women in some far-off country. Contaminating the environment. Exporting our rubbish to some african third-world state so that we don't have to see it in front of our nice front-gardens. Not protesting against the multiple human rights violations taking place all over the planet, but sitting in an easy chair with a good book. Not donating so much as a penny for cancer research till we're struck by it ourselves. Etcetera etcetera. We KNOW there's suffering and injustice anywhere around us and that we add to it, but we normally DO NOT CARE as long as it doesn't affect us personally! Severus committed a huge crime by delivering that prophecy for he knew it meant death. He delivered it because it served his purpose, it would advance his rise in Voldemorts ranks. Only when he saw what his deed was about to do to himself he opened his eyes, horrified and guilt-stricken all of a sudden. I always thought of it as the worst and most unforgivable thing he’d ever done, at least as far as we know from the books. He acted utterly selfish and there's no excuse for his behavior. But I think few of us have the right to condemn him. And, most prominently: Lily is not as well. She has failed her best friend when he needed her most. I won't blame her too much, because she was a very young girl then, but I will not support the picture of an innocent angel, who did well in abandoning her anyhow lost and “evil” friend. Lily realized what was right to do on a higher, political level for she fought Voldemort; she did not see it on the level of her personal responsibilities. She must have known most of Severus' struggles; she was most likely his only real friend, but SHE DIDN'T CARE, she wasn't interested anymore. The insult gave her a reason to cut Severus out of her life, but her interest in him has most likely ceased long before. She showed no hurt, no desperation while she ditched him. She was quick to insult him in return down by the lake. There were no tears, no hurt exclamations like "Severus, how could you!", but cold eyes and even colder words. She was not interested in his answers for she was convinced she did already know them. A thousand times she had asked him to abandon those evil housemates of his, hadn’t she? Well, he wouldn’t listen and that’s where it has got him. Is that what one would call true friendship? Lily seemed not to have given Severus any constructive advice or help. Instead she kept reproaching him for not pushing away the people who apparently didn’t bully him, while she found no comforting words at all for him after the werewolf-incident. Obviously she’d changed sides. Life was offering her new options; I think she simply didn’t want to cope with her complicated, misguided and unpopular Slytherin friend anymore. Remember how she’d smirked while James taunted Severus down by the lake? Well. Lily went on with her life without caring what became of her old childhood-friend. In my opinion she has failed him as much as he has failed her. But it probably wouldn’t do Severus much good to recognize this truth. That he’d loved a phantom. That Lily always was so much more to him than he had ever been to her. That she’d not wept over losing him. That there’s no such thing like angels in this world. So I’m glad it was not part of his reaction to that potion. Still, I felt I had to point it out here.
I’m looking forward to your update! Thank you very much!
Author's Response: Thank you for your long, detailed, and kind review! (Though I suppose an equal length of criticism would have been useful, I'd have enjoyed it much less!) Yes, we all commit little crimes and ignore the consequences until they come home to those we love; I think Severus (drug-assisted!) achieves a level of responsibility at the end that far transcends most of us. Regarding Lily, I agree with you; on one of the Snapedom posts on this question, I quoted Dorothy Sayers: "One may have an important love for an unimportant person." Not that Lily was a complete waste of space, but I think he loved her more because he willed to than because she deserved that degree of devotion. I don't think he truly understood until SWM that Lily was demanding that he choose between her and his Slytherin allies--I think he thought until then he could have both. She did, after all: hold his devoted friendship while flirting with the bully who was tormenting him. But yes, that wasn't what he needed to understand here, so that never came up. How I see it is, Snape's early life taught him to close his heart to all but one person--and he had to learn, slowly and very painfully, to open it again. And he never admitted aloud that he had done so... but actions speak louder than words. He never hesitated, after all, before giving that first stiff nod. | |||
| tigerlily2 | 2008.04.29 - 09:24PM | 8: The Master of Misdirection | Signed |
| Very clever!
Yes, I could see him enjoying that, but I feel sorry for him anyway. It is too bad that none of the teachers know what is going on - who is there for Snape? Author's Response: You know, another writer (wish I could reference it) commented on the "emotional isolation" of Snape's last year, but actually I think it was BETTER than he'd ever had it. He never seemed to get more than grudging acceptance, enforced by D., from other members of the Order and other staff. Having this converted to outright loathing must have hurt, but he didn't actually lose support. He only ever had Dumbledore's trust and support, and he still has that via the portrait. Plus the trust and support of the other past heads' portraits, plus I think they could have let the House Ghosts and a few of the senior house elves into the secret--anyone with the judgment not to spill it accidentally and impervious to Legilimency and Veritaserum. Granted, that leaves him with no living humans supporting him, but this is different from the past fifteen years how? | |||
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