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| emmaD | 2008.04.29 - 02:13PM | 8: The Master of Misdirection | Signed |
| I love this chapter. It seemed impossible to me, that Snape should agree to be laughed at but you and Dumbledore did it! What a wizard he is and what a writer you are... Author's Response: Only the prospect of helping the children could make him do it... that and appealing to his love of manipulation, of course, which Dumbledore well could empathize with. I imagine D. had been laughing up his sleeve for years at all the folk who thought him dotty, so he was well placed to coach Snape in this.... And I thought it the last thing he needed to heal, and not one he could do himself, so I had to work out a way for D. to do it. Glad you're continuing to enjoy! | |||
| MW Waters | 2008.04.20 - 10:40PM | 6: Potter's Son | Signed |
| I've finally caught up on your story and am really enjoying your insights into Snape's character. Keep up the good work! Author's Response: Thanks! I sidetracked to add another story, COMPLETELY different, but there are two more chapters and an epilogue coming up. | |||
| tigerlily2 | 2008.04.19 - 05:27PM | 7: Boggart and Patronus | Signed |
| Very nice! Thank you very much!!! Author's Response: Thank you! Glad you're continuing to enjoy | |||
| crowtato | 2008.04.18 - 06:30PM | 7: Boggart and Patronus | Signed |
| Aaand [to ramble a bit more] I don't think you have to see some of the alternative interpretations as artistic failure on your part, especially considering Snape's complexity--there are so many interpretations of how we [want to] define his (or any) morality. Here's where I really don't know if I'm actually saying what I mean, but I'll give it (or maybe something entirely different) another go: If Snape defined himself by his choices, he'd still acknowledge that he couldn't control the longer-term & potentially-very-bad consequences (for others as well as for himself, as was keenly written in the end of this recent chapter). But beyond that, I can't help thinking he'd be likely to have an even more dispirited (but no less rational/honest) view of the difference between a choice's intentions and likely consequences--maybe that would come back up in later dwellings? (Especially in this situation where even if "his path is clear," he sees life & [a lot of] death at stake, and slim chances of all working out in the end. Would spite or resentment haunt him [again?] at some point when the situation roughened up and his potion wore off [assuming it would]?) ...But my arguments often relate more to swiss cheese than to reason. I'm curious which holes might seem most blatant, but more interested to see your future chapters! Author's Response: I have some less-finished stories posted over on my lj--terri_testing--including the first in my Headmaster Snape series which follows this one. On his very first full day, his so-clever plan to save the Hufflepuffs almost gets two students killed.... Yes, I think Severus is very aware of the difference--as in, almost total disconnect--between intentions, likely consequences, and actual effects.... One of the things that has to drive him maddest about Harry is how Harry keeps totally evading the most likely consequences of his well-intentioned but rash choices. (Personally I ascribe Harry's luck to the effect of Lily's sacrifice--and his luck in DH after his majority to Dumbledore's dedicating HIS voluntary sacrifice to protecting Harry's final quest. No other way could Harry so consistently do the Stupid but Noble thing and get away with it. And when Dumble's protection wears off too, Harry's gonna be in trouble with the bad habits he's developed.... Grins. Wanna write it?) Will spite and resentment haunt Snape again? Well, his potion's effects are designed to be permanent, and he IS a potions master. But insight is very different from habit... Moreover, realistically, how could we tell, in Snape's last year, if he were feeling spiteful or resentful? He's got to be acting worse than ever, given the role he's playing. Though Dumbledore does have one more hoop for him to jump through which may help.... | |||
| crowtato | 2008.04.18 - 06:22PM | 1: Breath and Paint | Signed |
| Excellent chapter--still going with the intricate thought processes! The only big issue I had was in believing [maybe more in "wanting to believe"] Snape's ""horror" response to realizing he has manipulated/used children--I would've expected him to be more "calmly disgusted" upon making his realization (granted, the Snape I keep in my head has probably been raised on too many AU-ish fics and not enough canon to be a very legitimate Snape--or even "3d" human). In any event, his shock here makes sense in the context of the story & your characterization. (And it's fitting for this truth potion to make someone a little edgy...) Author's Response: Yes, do bear in mind that he's drugged to the gills with a potion that makes it impossible for him to lie to himself about what he really feels... I'm sure in more normal circumstances he'd have reacted differently, except of course he'd have had nothing to react to. Someone in a discussion on Snapedom about S. as a teacher made the point that if S. had been physically abused as a child, he might have thought that only physical abuse "counted" and not admitted that he was emotionally/verbally abusive. And given how physically protective of children he is in canon, I do think he'd be as horrified at the realization that he'd been abusing children to satisfy his emotional needs as he would have been at the thought he'd been doing it to satisfy sexual needs, i.e. was a clinical sadist.... You think you'd be, ah, edgy on that potion? Snort. | |||
| Trickie Woo | 2008.04.14 - 09:13PM | 7: Boggart and Patronus | Signed |
| His choices since that night when he confessed all to Dumbledore have proven him to be a very moral person, too bad he can't see that himself. He was the most moral adult character in the books, probbaly the most moral of all the characters adults and children. Author's Response: Your "too bad he can't see that himself" comment distresses me a bit, as it appears I have failed artistically. I had thought that the final thing his truth serum would make him--very unwillingly!--see was that he was defined by his choices now, not just his 20-year-ago mistakes. But apparently my ending failed to convey that. | |||
| Trickie Woo | 2008.04.14 - 08:54PM | 6: Potter's Son | Signed |
| You raised points in this chapter that I never realized, that there actually was a deeply hidden bond of trust between Snape and Harry. I don't think Rowling realized that herself even though she wrote it that way. I've said it before and I must say it again, her conscious mind has no idea of what her unconscious mind has written inbetween the lines. She created the most Byronic and romantic character in well over 100 years and never saw it. Her ego has no idea of who or what her id is. Author's Response: Actually it was my friend Jon who pointed out that Snape had to have either engineered, or been in on, Harry's getting his Potions text. When I thought about the implications of that, and of how Harry instinctively responds to Snape when Snape isn't stage-managing Harry's reaction (ie the Prince and the patronus), well, it started to fall into place. But it would take a REALLY powerful potion to make Snape admit it, even to himself--you know what he thinks of fools who wear their hearts on their sleeves. Agree with you on your comments on JKR, by the way--in fact I just said something similar in my review of Xenasquill's chapter on Draco. But then that gap between what JKR wrote and what she seemed to have intended--and the corresponding unfinished business in her stories--is what got me writing anyhow, so I suppose I should be grateful. | |||
| Trickie Woo | 2008.04.14 - 03:24PM | 4: House Rivalries | Signed |
| I've never understood the house system in British boarding/public/private schools. I don't know if there is there is antagonistic rivalry between the houses in any British schools. In the Potter books the antagonism was actually encouraged at Hogwarts. I wondered from the beginning why Dumbledore never bothered with inter house bonding and cooperation. If he had done that, especially between Slytherin and each of the other houses, things probably wouldn't have gotten to this point. Except for the born bigots like Bellatrix, there would be pool of Slytherin recruits to supply "He Who I Find Most Tiresome's" need for an Army of Death Eaters. He would have no power base and a megalomaniac without a power base would be cosidered insane. He would have ended up in Azkaban being kissed by his dementor friends. Tradition has it's own very important place and function, but the tradition of antagonism between the houses is a bad tradition that should have been dropped as soon as DD became headmaster. Author's Response: I don't pretend (and certainly don'' pretend to exploit!!) the British House system. Suffice for going on with, that I think DD could have stopped the problem (SS) decades ago, and she really could have ecouraged at the end. | |||
| tigerlily2 | 2008.04.12 - 11:31PM | 6: Potter's Son | Signed |
| Good chapter! Thank you very much! Author's Response: Glad you're enjoying it--hope you continue to do so. | |||
| MW Waters | 2008.04.11 - 11:36PM | 3: Charity’s Thesis | Signed |
| Just getting back to your story. You're doing a great job and have cleaned up the grammar--it's much easier to understand now. Man, where do you come up with these ideas! The logic is fascinating to follow. Author's Response: Thanks! I have a naturally devious mind (buffs her fingernails modestly), and I like playing with the holes in the story and following ideas to their conclusion. This one, though I'm only now posting, is the first fanfiction I wrote--in the post-DH heat. Thanks for your input. | |||
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