(no subject)
[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Murder
AGE: OLD :|
JOURNAL: amurderofcrows
IM: AlmostAMurder @ AIM
E-MAIL: storytelling.crow@gmail.com
RETURNING: 1, Raphael
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Severus Snape
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHRONOLOGY: End of DH
CLASS: Hero (reluctantly)
SUPERHERO NAME: The Potion Master
ALTER EGO: Hateful Alchemist
BACKGROUND:
Severus Snape is a horrible person.
However, like most horrible people, he had a hand in getting from 'innocent child' into 'not quite a complete monster'. We'll start at the root of the problem: an abusive household.
Tobias Snape was a man who beat his wife and child, locked his child in the basement as punishment, told him he was a freak like his freak wife, and did things like drank heavily, had a hard time holding a job, and resented that his wife had magical power but couldn't make all their troubles go away, and resented that his son was just like her in that respect, a freakish wizard that couldn't just whip up a pile of gold or otherwise make them live like kings. They were very poor, shared a home with other migrant factory workers, and shared a communal bath, leading a skittish and fearful boy to have a problem with hygiene as he grew older.
Spinner's End was in the Manchester miller's district; the very epitome of the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Rife with crime and poverty, where migrant workers from all over the poor of Europe came to earn a relatively honest dollar. Tobias Snape had trouble staying in work, but the dole was too much for his pride, and so he would get work, eventually screw it up with his bad temper and be demoted and fired, spend some time on welfare, and rinse and repeat this cycle year after year.
Severus lived in this unstable home his entire life. For the first seven years he had no friends - children may have come and went with other migrant families, but nobody lasted or stayed. His only constant was that his father was a tyrant and his mother was a coward. His father despised him and his mother loved him as much as she could when she wasn't crying in a corner. 1
What his mother did do was prepare him for life the best way she could. She knew the violence in his home and the violence of the street would eventually reach him, and so she taught him every mean trick she knew in the wizarding book. She taught him no one was going to look after him BUT him, and this became a truism for Snape's life. Nobody was going to save him. Nobody was going to love him but his mother, and she wouldn't even do that very well. She wouldn't leave Tobias, because she was afraid of the shame of being a witch with a half-blood child on the run from a Muggle husband, and she was afraid she had no place to go. The Princes weren't a well placed Pureblood family, but even they had pride and the Snapes were cut off from the family due to tensions centered around Tobias. 2
Then he met Lily Evans. He wanted what she had. He wanted her wonder and her joy and her family. He wanted her love, in it's way, but mostly he wanted what she represented: something better then what he had. Something better then Spinner's End. A place where families fought, but loved each other at the end of the day and resolved their problems without anybody screaming or being hit. A place where dinner wasn't cold beans out of a can. A place where people could laugh and smile without it being edged with bitterness and fear. She was as much a symbol of everything he could have, but didn't, as she was a person. 3
However, the cycle continued with Snape. He was already set in it - his father was an abuser, and he too wanted to take power and status like his father did, not understanding that it was that greed that was the root of their problems, not the rage and frustration that came from lack of fruition of Tobias' grand plans. He learned other lessons from his father at home as well. As he grew up he was prone to 'accidental' magical lash outs - at Petunia, at animals that bothered him, and so forth. Had his story gone one way instead of the other, Snape could have truly been a sociopath in the making.
But he wasn't. He still felt guilt. He still managed love, if a very greedy, unhappy one. He still wanted things to be right and good, and he knew that there could be better things than Tobias Snape and his angry little home in Spinner's End. What he didn't know what how to step outside that cycle and attain it.
There might have been opportunity during his schooling; however, there were opposite forces at work. Snape could have been prevented by a caring school master, perhaps, from becoming another one of Voldemort's supporters, but - hey, who cares about those Slytherin kids? There were obvious house divisions and outside forces such as Tom Riddle working to keep them in place.
There was also the trouble of double standards. There was Snape and the Slytherin children, always in trouble, and then there were the Gryffindor boys that sorted the same year he did: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The first two were bullies in the first right-- but also handsome, good at sports, and had everything handed to them on a platter, where Snape got nothing but disdain, even from some of the members of his own house. The latter two were their hanger-on pals, carried by the popularity of James and Sirius, who were flagrant in abusing it -- and abusing Snape. It also didn't help that James wanted what Snape wanted: Lily Evans. That only fueled the hate between them and kept it at a bubbling froth.
The hatred was destined; as they tormented him, he tormented them - but it was regularly four against one, and Snape often came out on the losing end, until he started running with a pack of his own Housemates... and that started causing problems with Lily, who was starting to notice that Snape's 'friends' within his House were much like James' - just as mean and sometimes worse. She wasn't sure she could know him anymore, as they got older and he became less comfortable with her family and she became less comfortable with who else he was seeing at school.
It would be a lie to say he was okay with that. He wasn't. He wanted that proverbial cake and to eat it too. But she made the choice for him when he let that dirty 'Mudblood' word drop during yet another clash with the Marauders. That blood insult, racist and terrible in wizarding circles, severed Lily's bond to Severus, and that was that. They were done. Severus Snape created his own damnation with one bloody slip of the tongue and he would rue the day forever, to the point that he would someday hide that terrible memory from all who might reach it. He was now completely without anchor in his better nature, and began the slide into the depths of dark magic and the Death Eaters. 4
To complicate matters, the last year at school, Snape would be tricked by Sirius Black -- who would have, without guilt, let Snape go to 'find' Remus Lupin in his werewolf state in the full moon, to be killed at best, or worse, mangled and infected with lycanthropy -- and had his life saved by James Potter. He would never believe it was for any other reason than to protect his friends, not his life -he could never credit James with much forethought and he couldn't understand any level of basic compassion directed at him.
After that, there was nothing to stop him from sinking into the quagmire of the Death Eaters after graduation, because he had no one else. No teacher that cared. No friends would try to save him. They were all marching straight to hell with him. He remained fast friends with the Malfoy's who tolerated his low blood status due to Snape's power and standing with the Dark Lord; he and Lucius were 'friendly' rivals for Voldemort's attention and it galled Lucius to no end that a half-blood attained a higher standing then his pureblooded Malfoy lineage. They managed a strange relationship, and eventually, a mutual respect.5
Worse yet, he was talented, powerful and full of hate that could be aimed like a heat seeking missile. Voldemort used him well as a torturer and interrogator and spy. It was the last thing that would get him into trouble. He heard the the true prophecy. He reported it to Voldemort. He signed, by his own clumsy hand, the death warrant for the Potters and consigned Neville Longbottom to misery through the madness of his parents. He destroyed everything he ever loved with his grasp at power. Just like his father; he ruined everything he could have been by grasping at a dream to large, a want too big to accommodate. Like father, like son.6
He betrayed it all in an instant for love of Lily Evans, when the Dark Lord began to suspect she was the mother of his nemesis. First, he begged Voldemort for her life. Not believing that would be enough, he then contacted Dumbledore and prostrated himself before him, begging him to save her. He said he would do anything if it meant saving her life. Everything he stood to gain with the Death Eaters mattered nothing before the thought of the loss of Lily Evan's light in this world. Nothing would ever be right again if he could not save her, even if she never loved him, even if she stayed with James and had a thousand Potter children. He didn't care. He wanted her to live and be happy. He gave up every secret he know, hoping each one would be the coin that bought Lily Evans life and happiness.
It was all a waste, though. When the Potter's home lit up with the backlash of the Death Curse rebounded from Harry Potter back to Voldemort, Snape was nearly lost to madness. He had betrayed the Death Eaters a thousand times over before they reached that point, desperate to save Lily. But to no avail. Voldemort did give her the option that he promised he would: if she would just step aside, she wouldn't have to die. He offered her one shot at mercy, at the price of the life of her son. Of course she refused it. Snape wouldn't have loved her, if she hadn't been Gryffindor brave, just like he was not.
The next ten years were trials and lies. Dumbledore covered for him. Snape was proclaimed an Order spy and protected by the elder wizard. He gained a teaching position he hated over children he didn't understand and often despised, but he had made Dumbledore a promise - since he could not save Lily, by Merlin, he would make sure her son lived. His single requirement was that no one be told that he had made such an agreement with Dumbledore. The older wizard agreed to 'hide the best of him' and keep his promise; he would never tell anyone that Snape was a guardian of the boy of his own free will, nor the cause behind this choice: that he loved Lily, now and forever.
So he did. When Harry Potter came to the school he was the picture of his father; thick glasses and tousled black hair and - Lily Evans's wide, green eyes. Snape hated the boy with the passion only the spurned could manage. But he kept his promise: the life debt passed from father to son, but the love for Lily that still burned in Snape's breast - never, ever was passed to her son. Dumbledore fretted but nothing could soften Snape's heart, but it didn't seem to matter, he did his job.
For the first three years of Harry's life, they were at best tense, at worst, hostile. During Harry's first year at Hogwart's, the boy immediately suspected that the other man was a dark wizard. This was made worse by Snape's open antagonizing, blatant favoritism of his own house and specific mentoring of Harry's in-year rival, Draco Malfoy. He openly mentored the younger Malfoy, due in part for being friends with the Malfoy family and also keeping his Death Eater contacts close.
Snape was set on fire while trying to save Harry's life from the actual Death Eater plant in the school (this would not be the last time Harry's friends attacked Snape), and while he got no apology, it hardly stopped him from doing his job; he helped protect the immortality-granting Philosopher's Stone, as well as Harry. While Voldemort escaped -- to possibly return again -- Snape was exonerated of any loyalty to the monstre Dumbledore vouched for Snape to Harry, but nothing would repair the rift that was already growing between them.
Snape may have given up his Death Eater ways, but bitterness had left him with a sharp tongue and a resentment for Harry's existence - Snape saw too much of James and not enough of Lily in the boy, and refused to give him a chance to earn Snape's respet. It was simply asking too much - Snape, who never gained Lily's forgiveness and never could repent for his failure, had forgotten to forgive others in turn.
The second year was equally upsetting, though Snape was less directly involved in Harry's trouble; he was busy dealing with damage control with the latest Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. The other wizard seemed a prancing dandy and incompetent -- though he had fantastic hair and drove the young women wild -- but Snape endured requests such as overseeing the short-lived dueling club that Lockhart set in motion. This would teach Harry some valuable skills, as well as displayed just how dangerous Snape could be; Severus defeated Lockhart in every practice match without breaking a sweat.
Still no appearance of Voldemort come third year; Snape was busy all the same with the return of two school mates from his past. Remus Lupin, the werewolf that Sirius Black had nearly fed him to, was placed in the school out of kindness by Dumbledore. Snape provided him the potion that kept him safe -- something designed in the last few years that kept his wolf under control. Snape filled in while Remus was 'ill' under the full moon, and outted Remus to his students quite blatantly.
Sirius Black, however, was another problem. He was a convict in Azkaban and suspected of being the ones who had revealed the Potter's location to Voldemort; Snape wanted him dead in no uncertain terms. Revenge was foremost on his mind -- but things went south; between the sudden discovery that Ron's pet rat was Wormtail, otherwise known as Peter Pettigrew, who had actually been the keeper of the Fidelus charm that protected the Potter's secret location, Sirius and Remus both wanted Wormtail dead... and Remus had missed a dose of Wolfsbane. The whole thing went mad, but Snape missed most of it, having been knocked unconscious and then carted about magically like a sack of potatoes - Harry's disrespect was only magnified by Sirius Black, and would only get worse from this point on as Sirius had his influence on Harry. Unable to see Black killed for his 'crimes' against the Potter's, he got Remus sacked - he genuinely believed the man was a threat, but there was no small amount of satisfaction to having him removed from the school, finally having power over the boys who had tormented him.
In Harry's fourth year, everything changed. Voldemort came back -- allowing the chaos of the Triward Tournament to cover his actions and the plants of dark wizards among the Hogwarts staff; Barty Crouch Jr infiltrated the castle as 'Mad Eye' Moody, he made sure Harry lived to see the end of the game; where Voldemort killed a boy and proceeded to take Harry's blood and make it into his own, rendering the protection of a mother's love, which Lily had left to her son with her death to save his life. Snape could not be there at the ritual, due to other things going on in the Triwizard Chaos, but in the end had to resume his role as spy within the Death Eater ranks. Harry's mistrust was not assuaged -- and neither was several members of the order, for that matter
Come fifth year and enduring the loss of the protection's of his mother's last act, HArry was now vulnerable. Snape was asked by Dumbledore to give Harry private lessons in a specific magic -- occulumency. Snape was a Legilimens and an Occulumens both, which served him well as a spy. Both endure the presence of Umbridge, who rankles Snape to no end with her stupidity, and he finds himself slyly aiding Harry and Dumbledore's Army on the sly while the headmaster was otherwise busy. This lead to one single moment of trust, from Harry to Snape: Harry leaves a hint about their trip to the ministry of magic, and without Snape's action, the Death Eaters would have killed Harry and all the children.
However, all that Harry would remember is that Sirius Black came rushing out, and died. He would blame Snape for his godfather's death, and Snape, frankly, didn't give a damn. The loss of an order member stung -- in an abstract sense. He was growing tired of burying those he could not save, Sirius included. But the grief was impersonal. Sirius was a man that had made his life miserable, and he didn't mourn the man himself greatly; it merely fed Snape's frustration that he wasn't saving any lives - that others, just like Lily, were dying despite his actions. This would be the first step toward Snape the active protector, as opposed to Snape the reluctant guardian. But it seemed to almost come to late, for in Harry's sixth year, everything would begin to unravel.
For Snape, the end game was just beginning. Voldemort was back. His power was growing exponentially, both magically and politically. Snape was worked ragged trying to play both sides. Worse, Albus was taking more and more risk, and one finally caught up with him. A curse -- on one of the the 'horcruxes' into what voldemort had split his soul to make sure that he had a way to survive anything -- had caught him, and despite Snape's work in counter-cursing and his in-depth knowledge of dark magic did what Dumbledore could not: gave the older wizard more time. All the same, he would be dead before the year was out. Snape was asked to -- handle things, for Albus, before the Death Eaters did. He was only going to grow weaker as time went by, and soon, even the great Albus Dumbledore would be easy prey for the likes of Bellatrix and Greyback.
With this knowledge, there was no danger to Snape when he made the unbreakable oath before Bellatrix and Narcissa, to do what Draco had been tasked to do, but could not: kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore assured Snape that giving him a mercy death would spare Draco's soul the burden of his murder, and as Snape knew that Dumbledore would die regardless, saving him the pain of a protracted death or, worse, death at the hands of Voldemort's followers, would not scar Snape's spirit as it would Draco's. Snape had agreed, reluctantly.
The end was upon them with these plans in motion. Snape was treated to full disclosure of everything Dumbledore knew and planned; how Harry had to live, when Harry had to die, and how he would live again. What Snape must do to ensure that he was guided to the right point, and strengthen him to make the final stand against Voldemort.
To signal this end game, Snape took the position of the cursed Defense Against The Dark Arts class, and another teacher was called back to teach potions. Snape didn't like that Harry did so well at potions when he wasn't teaching, but discovered that one of his old school books -- with all the spells and modifications he wrote within it -- had become Harry's.
He could no more get the book returned then he could stop Malfoy from setting the plans in motion. But he could not allow his student-- who he did care about, who he was godfather for7-- to take that first step down the path of the Death Eater, and make his first kill. True to his promise of mercy, he took the life of his one and only friends, and his protection from the Order died with Dumbledore.
The summer was spent rebuilding - Harry was on the run and Snape was working from the inside. He got the position of Headmaster and now worked as Dumbledore would have -- as much from his own want as from instruction. He protected his students -- all of them, from Gryffindors to Hufflepuffs -- from the majority of the abuses he could, and did his best to keep them safe, as well as tried to use them to find and protect Harry. He watched over Harry's friends closely and kept them alive as best he could. Things weren't always the way he wanted -- he didn't MEAN to cost George his ear, for instance -- but he did his best with what he had, while trying to maintain his cover. It was not an easy balance.
But inevitably, Harry had to return. He had to face his destiny. Snape knew that. Snape kept him prepared and protected--sent his patronous, a silver doe, to find Harry and lead him to the sword of Godric Gryffindor, made sure they were covered for when he could, and when he couldn't, kept other Death Eaters busy with other things. Despite all this, the other teachers eventually joined together and drove him from the school, retaking it from the 'enemy', and unknowingly, driving Snape to Voldemort... and to his death.
The Elder Wand that Dumbledore had possessed and Voldemort believed would help grand him true immortality, had passed to Draco Malfoy, and then to Harry -- but Voldemort did not realize that. He thought the man who killed Dumbledore became its master, not the boy who had disarmed him, and then the boy who disarmed Draco in turn...
Voldemort said he was sorry-- and didn't mean a word for it. He killed Snape as swiftly a he could, thinking this would make him the Elder Wand's master, and simply left him to die in a pool of his own blood. He couldn't even be bothered to get his hands dirty - he let Nagini, his serpent, do it, and left him to die in the shrieking shack where Remus had once hidden his werewolf affliction, where Snape had nearly lost his life, where James had saved him from dismemberment.
Harry was there, hidden. Snape had no idea-- but seeing the boy and his confusion, he knew he had one last chance to save him and avenge Lily. Using the last of his energy, he released his memories, dripping away from him like silver tears, and asked him to take it, and then to look at him -- one last time. At the end, something broke inside. He was not a monster; he was a deeply flawed man. He knew that about himself, and embraced it. Made it his strength. Fed on his own hatred to sustain himself over the years Harry was in school. He had one last chance to be known as something better, to make everything he had done wrong as close to right again, when the boy looked down at him as he bled and the poison worked in his body.
He didn't need to give him so much, to ensure Voldemort's death and Harry's survival. There was no reason to give him snippets of his childhood, especially the memories he had once guarded from Harry. He didn't need to know the truth behind everything -- he could have died with the boy hating him. But he didn't want to, Perhaps Snape had seen, from his distant watch over Harry and his friends, that there was Lily in the boy, and that part of him deserved an explanation. Maybe Snape simply wanted one person to know the truth. There was only one place to do it - laying there, bleeding, as Nagini's poison was shutting down his nervous system. There was no other time to give himself wholly to the boy and let him see it all in his shame and foolishness. His last act fed his need for absolution from the only person who could give it, the only other person who had suffered so the loss of Lily Evans in a way Snape could understand...
Her son.
Damn his eyes: the last thing he sees before the City saves his life.
PERSONALITY:
Snape is a man marked by cruelty -- both inflicted against him, and cruelty he dealt to others. Flavored with gravitas, discipline, arrogance, and a heaping helping of lies, one must accept that to know Severus Snape, one is only knowing what Severus Snape allows to be seen, and the rest is distorted and obscured at best. He is a spy to his core, an actor who changes roles as needed and turns around himself that at times he has come close to losing himself. One thing keeps him anchored throughout all the chaos, however: his love for a woman who never returned his affections.
Coming from a background of abuse and neglect, Snape has been taught self-reliance, mistrust and hate at an early age. He was not empowered in his youth through family or educators, and so fell easy prey to the Death Eaters who made promises that Snape's soul couldn't keep . In his youth this expressed itself in various ways; embracing the Death Eaters was Snape's way of seeking empowerment and thus, respect and standing where he had none via circumstance of birth (halfblood), looks (yeah right) or skill in popular subjects or sports. His friends, beyond Lily, were out of convenience; it was safer to run with a pack, which Severus grudgingly accepted, and he hoped in some way that getting his own friends and being a ring-leader among the Death Eaters, he would somehow impress Lily with his strength. He was dead wrong, and eventually, Lily was simply dead.
However, Snape underwent huge changes with the massive shock he took upon failing Lily; he truly believed that Dumbledore could save her. A secret romantic at heart who had once believed that if he grew strong enough, Lily could see the true him and his love for her, he definitely believed that by giving up everything he gained, he could save Lily's life even if it meant not attaining her love. His faith in Dumbledore was absolute -- it had to be, or he would be lost. However, it was misplaced, just like James and Lily's trust in Peter, and his hope was dashed. It would be end of any hopefulness for Severus Snape.
When Lily died, he was nearly gone to the tides of madness and grief. He was a changed man; gone was the lust for power and in it's place was empty bitterness. He had been the architect of his own damnation. He emptied himself of any personal desire -- as Dumbledore asked of him, he had become a spy and double agent and played the roles he was given surprisingly well. When he advises Harry to 'empty himself', it is because it is the only way he knows how to deal with things -- to empty himself of what has hurt him, compartmentalize it, and store it away just like he does with his thoughts as an Occulumens.
But he was still Severus Snape. Given the role of teacher, he embraced discipline and gave favoritism where he chose just as others had done to him. He cast aside fear and vulnerability and embraced what he was: a dark wizard spy, a Judas of the highest caliber. He was a changed man; grim, foreboding. There was no joy -- the sun had set in his world and would never rise again. What pleasure he took was in a job well done, a potion well brewed, and making sure that no threats rose again. However, there were things that could shake this cold place where he dwelled; Harry was one of them, of course, but there were others.
His friendship with the Malfoys, such as it was, gave him something else to do or deal with. IT is a careful, guarded thing -- one he controls to keep himself safe (for that vulnerability he pretends does not exist certainly does). Draco has the misfortune -- or good fortune -- of being someone that Snape actually allows himself to care about without any baggage. This doesn't mean he's not a domineering or controlling man with Draco -- he still is. He's also not always spared Snape's sharp tongue. But he is well guarded with Snape in his corner.
Dumbledore provides another emotional outlet; allowing friendship and some honesty and vulnerability as Albus had already seen. There was little to hide and so Severus did not have to guard himself so closely. He was also able to question Albus in a way no one else could. However for all their relationship was friendly, the power imbalance was clear and left Snape at an emotional disadvantage. He traded in a terrorist father-figure for Albus, who manipulated him less harshly, but certainly manipulated him all the same. Snape did not always respond so well to that, challenging Dumbledore when he could, but in the end, he usually capitulated.
The Potters are the without a doubt the most complex emotional relationship he has; even Albus does not compare. James Potter was a bully and thug but then he had to ruin the easy malice between them by saving Snape's life. This made it much harder to simply hate James for existing, but frustration only made Snape worse-- he turned that on Harry later in life, but all the same, he paid his debts to Lily and James by protecting their son until his death. It was not an easy debt to bear-- James made it all the harder with that one glimmering moment of being a person in Snape's eyes, which Snape could not handle. Lily held his love, and there's no way to overstate that point in how it affects everything Snape does. and of course, there's Harry -- who Snape both resents, understands and defends, despite that he cannot bring himself to show the boy much compassion. One cannot know how much was a farce and how much was real animosity for the boy (complicated by issue with James), but there were some serious issues rooted there that never truly saw resolution before Snape's death. One thing is certain, though-- he wanted Harry to understand him, and perhaps forgive him for what he had been.
THis brings us to Snape's issues with himself and his past; while he pantomimes friendship and camraderie -- in his own, aloof way as he was even less emotionally expressive after Lily's death than before it -- with the Death Eaters while required, it's uncertain how many of them he genuinely liked or cared about at any time, or otherwise simply ran with due to desire for power as a teenager or obligation to the Order's cause as an adult. In particular, Peter Pettigrew earns derision and abuse while forced to live with him; Snape openly despises the turncoat that replaced Sirius Black as the most hated Marauder alive, but cannot act on his hate for the man who betrayed the Potters and sealed Lily's fate. Anything he had with the Death Eaters outside of the Malfoys -- who trust him enough to leave their son in his care, take over his mission and keep him safe -- is fake now, however.
As for being the 'bravest man' that Harry ever knew -- we can look at Snape's willingness to do whatever it took as bravery, perhaps, to make sure a job was done and done right. Or we could look at the fact that Snape admitted to being wrong to make things right again -- even if he failed to save Lily's life, he managed to save his own soul from the abyss by acting to do what was right, even if perhaps it was not for the most heroic of reasons. He would risk his life to keep the students of Hogwarts safe in his one and only year as Headmaster, and he would keep the Carrows contained. He gained nothing for this but the hate of his peers that did not understand the grandness of Dumbledore's plans, but he went forward with it anyway -- knowing that he would never know laurels, medals or other accolades.
He is a man who has given up a quest for vast power (though he still indulges his need for control where his students are concerned) in exchange for a wounded nobility of spirit. Snape would never speak of himself in such a manner -- having accepted his role as a spy, and eventual unsung martyr for the cause long ago -- but the things he sacrificed speak volumes. He never married, never engaged any other relationships, and worked with the drive of a man haunted by his failures and determined to not see them repeated, no matter the cost. Every person he failed, every death he could not prevent, only fueled this flame. Every step forward might cost him his life and everything he worked for, everything he had to make up for -- but he kept going forward, knowing he had to do this to rectify all the wrong he had done... that is why he earns that title from Harry Potter. He was not improperly Sorted; only a Slytherin could do the harsh work that a Gryffindor never could.
POWER:
++ MAGIC ++
Severus Snape is a wizard of the Harry Potter variety, and worse, he is a (arguably former) Dark Wizard of some power who was the right hand of Lord Voldemort and knew many of the dark lord's secret magics and blacker rituals.
The generic magic - transfiguration, flying on brooms, and 'vagueness and latin' used to cast spells that move objects, conjure items, transform items from other items and so forth which is well documented in Harry Potter is a catch all for useful spells that handle mundane tasks. There's a spell to clean places, a spell to repair things, a spell for - well, just about everything, quite frankly, in the Harry Potter universe. If there's even a vague analogy to a tool or technology, magic can likely do it. Need to make a phone call? Use flue powder to speak from fire place to fire place with someone else whose 'flue address' you know, and so forth.
Snape is sufficiently advanced in magic that he can use magic without a vocal or somatic (wand) component, but this sort of magic is much more difficult. Wands are very important tools and very few powerful spells (death curse, most dueling spells except for shields, etc) can be used without them. Snape, of course, will have his wand with him at nearly all times.
To elaborate on every possible spell would take forever, and since we have other HP canon in game at this time, we're not going for the purpose of this application. Instead, we're going to focus on what set Snape apart from most wizards. Beyond 'wand waving frippery' which Snape mostly disdains, Snape has five areas of expertise; Potion Mastery, Legilimency and Occlumency, Duelling and Dark Magic.
Potion Mastery covers the fact that there are few better then Severus Snape in the creation of magical draughts, potions, liquors, ointments or other brews. Much like the 'vagueness and Latin' that accompanies the wand-based magic, there is really no limit given to the things that Snape can do, IF he has the proper time, equipment and ingredients requires. He can create potions that heal, harm transform, confuse, kill or create odd or humorous effect. However, each potion must be brewed in a precise manner, from the right cauldron type, size, ingredients, right down to the type of stirrer used. While some of this will be easy to find - most of it won't be. Some potions take months of proper care to brew - one wrong move, one stirring missed, and the potion will be ruined. If Snape cannot maintain that sort of schedule, many of his most advanced brews will never see creation (Luck, Transfiguration, etc). Even veritaserum takes a month to properly create.
Legilimency and Occulumency are twin arts; one penetrates the mind and the other occludes it. Snape is a master of both these magics, and they were invaluable during his time as a spy against the most powerful dark wizards to ever live. It is said that his 'eyes that see right through you', often noted by students that were on the receiving end of his investigative skills were not aware that their minds were being read, but during very deep probes - such as his 'teaching' experiments with Harry during duels - can be felt and experienced by the person probed if he is being 'blunt' about it - it's a violating and unhappy experience for the probed. However, surface thoughts can be lifted with no detection by even skilled telepaths or occulumens.
Occulmency, it's twins, create shields, fogs of misdirection, fake thoughts and feelings; a legilmens can be fed false information, denied important information (It's simply 'not there' or they 'don't know'). Snape is a greater occulumens then he is a legilimens, but that's like saying he can compose slightly better symphonies then he can opera. They have roots in the same art, and only a fellow master would see where his legilimency is not quite as fantastic in scope as his occulumency. (Like the only better legilimens or occulumens then either Voldemort or Snape; Albus Dumbledore.)
Duelling covers a very specific set of wand-based magic; attack and defense. Snape is a master duellist, well known for his combat reflexes, merciless offense and swift defense and. He is a master of single combat, but is no slouch in a wizardly 'fire fight', either. He is able to create shields on the fly, and is well versed in a variety of hexes and curses that go from humiliating to debilitating, from damaging to deadly. He is not and never has been a wizard to be trifled with.
When it comes to Dark Magic, this covers Unforgivable Curses (Mind Control, Agony, and Death, in sum up), rituals that do terrible and unspeakable things (drinking unicorn blood for health, etc) as well as strange magics like flight without a broom. As 'reformed' as Snape is, his expertise here is more 'academic' then practical, as he's not about to cut off anybody's hands to rebuild his body or health. Oh, he'll fly without a broom if he must, but that's one of the more benign magics that Snape learned from Voldemort, and even that's weird for Snape, and that's saying something.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
[TEXT; FILTERED TO ANDROMEDA TONKS.]
Andromeda;
Forgive the lack of proper owl; this Muggle "network" is useful in the way a crowded pub at happy hour is -- the incessant shouting occasionally having morsels of information floating in a sea of drunken drivel -- but I confess I find it is much less elegant then a proper missive delivered by owlflight. This will have to suffice for now.
I have taken time to digest everything you have told me - both of this place, and of our now-vanished home. I admit I am two minds of it, but in the grand scheme of things, it is unimportant. I know what I need to know; Harry Potter yet lives, and He Who Is Not Named is dead, and for the moment, I live here. Albus would have liked to have seen this, but I think, perhaps, it is best that he did not. Those we cannot save, we grieve all the harder for, and Albus had his share of that long before this war began. More deaths, that we could not foresee or prevent, would have weighed all the more heavily on him.
Your candid information was not unappreciated; dealing with the fall out of coming from so many times here, your work to smooth things with the rat-tag Order has been noticed in this chaotic transition. I'm sure you understand that I am a man who pays his debts, and that I am now in yours.
Don't abuse it.
-- S. S.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
It was not the dungeon, but it would have to do. It would not have the solace of cold stone safety, nor the secrets he had learned by heart over the last twenty years etched deep as scars and twice as lasting. This place, in all it's mundane glory, would never thrum with a life of it's own, but he couldn't afford a castle. If it hadn't been for various initiatives in the city for imPorts, he wouldn't' have afforded this damn hole in the wall, either. Thank Merlin for small blessings: he had to go through all the bloody motions to get it, and so that made it all the more valuable - a little debt (his debt, his money) and a bit of work, not a little bit of schmoozing, and the right palms greased had made his shop a reality.
His shop. An apothecary. A proper one. He can't say it had been the job of his dreams but frankly, any thing that was his without being given, foisted upon or otherwise debted to anybody beyond a banker was welcome here. Dumbledore hadn't finagled it with his connections. Voldemort hadn't suggested it by candlelight to the right lackey. No; this was Snape's and that was important. He had so few things that were wholly his that the possessiveness he felt immediately for the miserable little building was shocking even to himself.
The apothecary was his. It was a hole in a wall, in a neighborhood that was less then fantastic, He could live with that, because it was his. He could handle himself against any foolishness this city threw at him, he was sure. The fact that he dressed in wool robes in the middle of a sweltering hot New York summer, spoke funny and didn't hide his imPort dog tags kept the baser riffraf from his doorstep. Oh, he'd step over the homeless on his way to work in the morning, but he'd be damned if he cared.
The rest, he'd deal with as it came.
The place would need a scrubbing, stock put to shelves and more made as swiftly as he could manage. Security for his sole, hard won possession would need wards in all the right place; he didn't count then among enemies, but he didn't put it past Sirirus to stir up old grudges out of spite -- after all, he'd do the same to the other man, given a worthy opportunity. The basement would be a laboratory in which to serve his needs and allow himself another place to be that wasn't the bloody MAC surrounded by strangers using bizarre magics willy-nilly. Away from the noise and the bustle.
Away from Lily and James and Harry.
He couldn't find enough space from that happy, reunited family to soothe his hurts, but he would do his best. This place was a second lease on life; he was not in some pauper's grave. It was what he had, and he had to make the best of it. Relocating from the City would be impossible for a time, but that's what the shop was for. A stepping stone -- to perhaps return to England, to otherwise vanish somewhere, once enough money was saved to start somewhere else and create himself completely anew, away from all the lies and doublespeak that the Order had defined him with.
For now, he knew he wouldn't feel alive until he had smooth glass bottles, iron cauldrons, silver stirrers... all of them, under one roof, bent to his will, creating what he demanded.
He shed his heavy cloak and overcoat, rolled up his sleeves and went to work. He hadn't been there fifteen minutes when the door chime from the last owner rang tinnily in his ears -- and he dreaded who it might be; Luna knew of his little project, and the little Ravenclaw could have spilled already, for her own inscrutable reasons. Then, Lily might find out.
He went silent, listening. The chime did not ring again. Whoever they were, they were waiting in the open space of the shop. He heard steps, shuffling. Strange. He rolled down his sleeves, hiding the Dark Mark that slept on his skin, and picked up his wand, before he peered into the other room.
No Lily, no Luna -- not even Bellatrix. No, this was a common, filth street person, looking at the battered old till left here as if might cough up pennies from heaven at any minute.
"We are not open, that has not a damned thing in it, and you are not welcome here," he said sharply, rewarded then the filthy man jumped and startled. He didn't wait for any response -- only lifted his wand. "Begone, layabout!"
The man didn't need to be told twice; leaving Snape alone in a hurry. He sighed, and pocketed his wand. Yes, wards would have to go up immediately in this part of town.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
THE FOOT NOTES ARE HERE:
1: This is based off the images of Snape and his mother cowering with his mother, his father shouting, as well as the information we gain about Spinner's End canonically (On a river, mired with industrial waste, smells bad, Bellatrix refers to the location as a 'Muggle Dunghill'.)
2. Headcanon, based on the fact we never hear of or meet the Princes at all in Snape's life, as well as wizard blood politics rife at the time; Snape was born within a generation of the Grindelwald wars, and thus blood purity issues are still fresh in the mind in the last two generations.
3. Pure headcanon, but based in his behaviors around Lily, including having difficulty about caring about Petunia, hinting at mocking her for writing a letter to Dumbledore to take her to wizard school -- her family still let him come over, and so forth, so they were accepting of this boy from the wrong side of the tracks, perhaps hoping to be a good influence on him rather then letting him be a bad influence on Lily.
4. What we see of Snape's youth is entirely from his perspective and this is what this canon is based off of; a flawed perspective to be certain, but it's how Snape sees how things worked out for him in school with his mates versus the Gryffindor boys.
5. Headcanon, based on the Malfoys trusting Snape with their son on multiple occasions -- especially during the latter books. Narcissa is willing to go to Snape, knowing he is Voldemort's right hand, and ask him to save her son. Lucius occasionally challenges Snape on matters of Death Eater loyalty, but it's not very powerful. They are friends, as much as Snape OR the Malfoys manage to have 'friends'.
6. Based on real life organization of terrorist groups. The people calling the shots are the ones that never get their hands very dirty directly.
7. Another headcanon ref, but makes sense considering Narcissa's request of him, and her trust of Snape with her son, etc.
NAME: Murder
AGE: OLD :|
JOURNAL: amurderofcrows
IM: AlmostAMurder @ AIM
E-MAIL: storytelling.crow@gmail.com
RETURNING: 1, Raphael
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Severus Snape
FANDOM: Harry Potter
CHRONOLOGY: End of DH
CLASS: Hero (reluctantly)
SUPERHERO NAME: The Potion Master
ALTER EGO: Hateful Alchemist
BACKGROUND:
Severus Snape is a horrible person.
However, like most horrible people, he had a hand in getting from 'innocent child' into 'not quite a complete monster'. We'll start at the root of the problem: an abusive household.
Tobias Snape was a man who beat his wife and child, locked his child in the basement as punishment, told him he was a freak like his freak wife, and did things like drank heavily, had a hard time holding a job, and resented that his wife had magical power but couldn't make all their troubles go away, and resented that his son was just like her in that respect, a freakish wizard that couldn't just whip up a pile of gold or otherwise make them live like kings. They were very poor, shared a home with other migrant factory workers, and shared a communal bath, leading a skittish and fearful boy to have a problem with hygiene as he grew older.
Spinner's End was in the Manchester miller's district; the very epitome of the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Rife with crime and poverty, where migrant workers from all over the poor of Europe came to earn a relatively honest dollar. Tobias Snape had trouble staying in work, but the dole was too much for his pride, and so he would get work, eventually screw it up with his bad temper and be demoted and fired, spend some time on welfare, and rinse and repeat this cycle year after year.
Severus lived in this unstable home his entire life. For the first seven years he had no friends - children may have come and went with other migrant families, but nobody lasted or stayed. His only constant was that his father was a tyrant and his mother was a coward. His father despised him and his mother loved him as much as she could when she wasn't crying in a corner. 1
What his mother did do was prepare him for life the best way she could. She knew the violence in his home and the violence of the street would eventually reach him, and so she taught him every mean trick she knew in the wizarding book. She taught him no one was going to look after him BUT him, and this became a truism for Snape's life. Nobody was going to save him. Nobody was going to love him but his mother, and she wouldn't even do that very well. She wouldn't leave Tobias, because she was afraid of the shame of being a witch with a half-blood child on the run from a Muggle husband, and she was afraid she had no place to go. The Princes weren't a well placed Pureblood family, but even they had pride and the Snapes were cut off from the family due to tensions centered around Tobias. 2
Then he met Lily Evans. He wanted what she had. He wanted her wonder and her joy and her family. He wanted her love, in it's way, but mostly he wanted what she represented: something better then what he had. Something better then Spinner's End. A place where families fought, but loved each other at the end of the day and resolved their problems without anybody screaming or being hit. A place where dinner wasn't cold beans out of a can. A place where people could laugh and smile without it being edged with bitterness and fear. She was as much a symbol of everything he could have, but didn't, as she was a person. 3
However, the cycle continued with Snape. He was already set in it - his father was an abuser, and he too wanted to take power and status like his father did, not understanding that it was that greed that was the root of their problems, not the rage and frustration that came from lack of fruition of Tobias' grand plans. He learned other lessons from his father at home as well. As he grew up he was prone to 'accidental' magical lash outs - at Petunia, at animals that bothered him, and so forth. Had his story gone one way instead of the other, Snape could have truly been a sociopath in the making.
But he wasn't. He still felt guilt. He still managed love, if a very greedy, unhappy one. He still wanted things to be right and good, and he knew that there could be better things than Tobias Snape and his angry little home in Spinner's End. What he didn't know what how to step outside that cycle and attain it.
There might have been opportunity during his schooling; however, there were opposite forces at work. Snape could have been prevented by a caring school master, perhaps, from becoming another one of Voldemort's supporters, but - hey, who cares about those Slytherin kids? There were obvious house divisions and outside forces such as Tom Riddle working to keep them in place.
There was also the trouble of double standards. There was Snape and the Slytherin children, always in trouble, and then there were the Gryffindor boys that sorted the same year he did: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The first two were bullies in the first right-- but also handsome, good at sports, and had everything handed to them on a platter, where Snape got nothing but disdain, even from some of the members of his own house. The latter two were their hanger-on pals, carried by the popularity of James and Sirius, who were flagrant in abusing it -- and abusing Snape. It also didn't help that James wanted what Snape wanted: Lily Evans. That only fueled the hate between them and kept it at a bubbling froth.
The hatred was destined; as they tormented him, he tormented them - but it was regularly four against one, and Snape often came out on the losing end, until he started running with a pack of his own Housemates... and that started causing problems with Lily, who was starting to notice that Snape's 'friends' within his House were much like James' - just as mean and sometimes worse. She wasn't sure she could know him anymore, as they got older and he became less comfortable with her family and she became less comfortable with who else he was seeing at school.
It would be a lie to say he was okay with that. He wasn't. He wanted that proverbial cake and to eat it too. But she made the choice for him when he let that dirty 'Mudblood' word drop during yet another clash with the Marauders. That blood insult, racist and terrible in wizarding circles, severed Lily's bond to Severus, and that was that. They were done. Severus Snape created his own damnation with one bloody slip of the tongue and he would rue the day forever, to the point that he would someday hide that terrible memory from all who might reach it. He was now completely without anchor in his better nature, and began the slide into the depths of dark magic and the Death Eaters. 4
To complicate matters, the last year at school, Snape would be tricked by Sirius Black -- who would have, without guilt, let Snape go to 'find' Remus Lupin in his werewolf state in the full moon, to be killed at best, or worse, mangled and infected with lycanthropy -- and had his life saved by James Potter. He would never believe it was for any other reason than to protect his friends, not his life -he could never credit James with much forethought and he couldn't understand any level of basic compassion directed at him.
After that, there was nothing to stop him from sinking into the quagmire of the Death Eaters after graduation, because he had no one else. No teacher that cared. No friends would try to save him. They were all marching straight to hell with him. He remained fast friends with the Malfoy's who tolerated his low blood status due to Snape's power and standing with the Dark Lord; he and Lucius were 'friendly' rivals for Voldemort's attention and it galled Lucius to no end that a half-blood attained a higher standing then his pureblooded Malfoy lineage. They managed a strange relationship, and eventually, a mutual respect.5
Worse yet, he was talented, powerful and full of hate that could be aimed like a heat seeking missile. Voldemort used him well as a torturer and interrogator and spy. It was the last thing that would get him into trouble. He heard the the true prophecy. He reported it to Voldemort. He signed, by his own clumsy hand, the death warrant for the Potters and consigned Neville Longbottom to misery through the madness of his parents. He destroyed everything he ever loved with his grasp at power. Just like his father; he ruined everything he could have been by grasping at a dream to large, a want too big to accommodate. Like father, like son.6
He betrayed it all in an instant for love of Lily Evans, when the Dark Lord began to suspect she was the mother of his nemesis. First, he begged Voldemort for her life. Not believing that would be enough, he then contacted Dumbledore and prostrated himself before him, begging him to save her. He said he would do anything if it meant saving her life. Everything he stood to gain with the Death Eaters mattered nothing before the thought of the loss of Lily Evan's light in this world. Nothing would ever be right again if he could not save her, even if she never loved him, even if she stayed with James and had a thousand Potter children. He didn't care. He wanted her to live and be happy. He gave up every secret he know, hoping each one would be the coin that bought Lily Evans life and happiness.
It was all a waste, though. When the Potter's home lit up with the backlash of the Death Curse rebounded from Harry Potter back to Voldemort, Snape was nearly lost to madness. He had betrayed the Death Eaters a thousand times over before they reached that point, desperate to save Lily. But to no avail. Voldemort did give her the option that he promised he would: if she would just step aside, she wouldn't have to die. He offered her one shot at mercy, at the price of the life of her son. Of course she refused it. Snape wouldn't have loved her, if she hadn't been Gryffindor brave, just like he was not.
The next ten years were trials and lies. Dumbledore covered for him. Snape was proclaimed an Order spy and protected by the elder wizard. He gained a teaching position he hated over children he didn't understand and often despised, but he had made Dumbledore a promise - since he could not save Lily, by Merlin, he would make sure her son lived. His single requirement was that no one be told that he had made such an agreement with Dumbledore. The older wizard agreed to 'hide the best of him' and keep his promise; he would never tell anyone that Snape was a guardian of the boy of his own free will, nor the cause behind this choice: that he loved Lily, now and forever.
So he did. When Harry Potter came to the school he was the picture of his father; thick glasses and tousled black hair and - Lily Evans's wide, green eyes. Snape hated the boy with the passion only the spurned could manage. But he kept his promise: the life debt passed from father to son, but the love for Lily that still burned in Snape's breast - never, ever was passed to her son. Dumbledore fretted but nothing could soften Snape's heart, but it didn't seem to matter, he did his job.
For the first three years of Harry's life, they were at best tense, at worst, hostile. During Harry's first year at Hogwart's, the boy immediately suspected that the other man was a dark wizard. This was made worse by Snape's open antagonizing, blatant favoritism of his own house and specific mentoring of Harry's in-year rival, Draco Malfoy. He openly mentored the younger Malfoy, due in part for being friends with the Malfoy family and also keeping his Death Eater contacts close.
Snape was set on fire while trying to save Harry's life from the actual Death Eater plant in the school (this would not be the last time Harry's friends attacked Snape), and while he got no apology, it hardly stopped him from doing his job; he helped protect the immortality-granting Philosopher's Stone, as well as Harry. While Voldemort escaped -- to possibly return again -- Snape was exonerated of any loyalty to the monstre Dumbledore vouched for Snape to Harry, but nothing would repair the rift that was already growing between them.
Snape may have given up his Death Eater ways, but bitterness had left him with a sharp tongue and a resentment for Harry's existence - Snape saw too much of James and not enough of Lily in the boy, and refused to give him a chance to earn Snape's respet. It was simply asking too much - Snape, who never gained Lily's forgiveness and never could repent for his failure, had forgotten to forgive others in turn.
The second year was equally upsetting, though Snape was less directly involved in Harry's trouble; he was busy dealing with damage control with the latest Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. The other wizard seemed a prancing dandy and incompetent -- though he had fantastic hair and drove the young women wild -- but Snape endured requests such as overseeing the short-lived dueling club that Lockhart set in motion. This would teach Harry some valuable skills, as well as displayed just how dangerous Snape could be; Severus defeated Lockhart in every practice match without breaking a sweat.
Still no appearance of Voldemort come third year; Snape was busy all the same with the return of two school mates from his past. Remus Lupin, the werewolf that Sirius Black had nearly fed him to, was placed in the school out of kindness by Dumbledore. Snape provided him the potion that kept him safe -- something designed in the last few years that kept his wolf under control. Snape filled in while Remus was 'ill' under the full moon, and outted Remus to his students quite blatantly.
Sirius Black, however, was another problem. He was a convict in Azkaban and suspected of being the ones who had revealed the Potter's location to Voldemort; Snape wanted him dead in no uncertain terms. Revenge was foremost on his mind -- but things went south; between the sudden discovery that Ron's pet rat was Wormtail, otherwise known as Peter Pettigrew, who had actually been the keeper of the Fidelus charm that protected the Potter's secret location, Sirius and Remus both wanted Wormtail dead... and Remus had missed a dose of Wolfsbane. The whole thing went mad, but Snape missed most of it, having been knocked unconscious and then carted about magically like a sack of potatoes - Harry's disrespect was only magnified by Sirius Black, and would only get worse from this point on as Sirius had his influence on Harry. Unable to see Black killed for his 'crimes' against the Potter's, he got Remus sacked - he genuinely believed the man was a threat, but there was no small amount of satisfaction to having him removed from the school, finally having power over the boys who had tormented him.
In Harry's fourth year, everything changed. Voldemort came back -- allowing the chaos of the Triward Tournament to cover his actions and the plants of dark wizards among the Hogwarts staff; Barty Crouch Jr infiltrated the castle as 'Mad Eye' Moody, he made sure Harry lived to see the end of the game; where Voldemort killed a boy and proceeded to take Harry's blood and make it into his own, rendering the protection of a mother's love, which Lily had left to her son with her death to save his life. Snape could not be there at the ritual, due to other things going on in the Triwizard Chaos, but in the end had to resume his role as spy within the Death Eater ranks. Harry's mistrust was not assuaged -- and neither was several members of the order, for that matter
Come fifth year and enduring the loss of the protection's of his mother's last act, HArry was now vulnerable. Snape was asked by Dumbledore to give Harry private lessons in a specific magic -- occulumency. Snape was a Legilimens and an Occulumens both, which served him well as a spy. Both endure the presence of Umbridge, who rankles Snape to no end with her stupidity, and he finds himself slyly aiding Harry and Dumbledore's Army on the sly while the headmaster was otherwise busy. This lead to one single moment of trust, from Harry to Snape: Harry leaves a hint about their trip to the ministry of magic, and without Snape's action, the Death Eaters would have killed Harry and all the children.
However, all that Harry would remember is that Sirius Black came rushing out, and died. He would blame Snape for his godfather's death, and Snape, frankly, didn't give a damn. The loss of an order member stung -- in an abstract sense. He was growing tired of burying those he could not save, Sirius included. But the grief was impersonal. Sirius was a man that had made his life miserable, and he didn't mourn the man himself greatly; it merely fed Snape's frustration that he wasn't saving any lives - that others, just like Lily, were dying despite his actions. This would be the first step toward Snape the active protector, as opposed to Snape the reluctant guardian. But it seemed to almost come to late, for in Harry's sixth year, everything would begin to unravel.
For Snape, the end game was just beginning. Voldemort was back. His power was growing exponentially, both magically and politically. Snape was worked ragged trying to play both sides. Worse, Albus was taking more and more risk, and one finally caught up with him. A curse -- on one of the the 'horcruxes' into what voldemort had split his soul to make sure that he had a way to survive anything -- had caught him, and despite Snape's work in counter-cursing and his in-depth knowledge of dark magic did what Dumbledore could not: gave the older wizard more time. All the same, he would be dead before the year was out. Snape was asked to -- handle things, for Albus, before the Death Eaters did. He was only going to grow weaker as time went by, and soon, even the great Albus Dumbledore would be easy prey for the likes of Bellatrix and Greyback.
With this knowledge, there was no danger to Snape when he made the unbreakable oath before Bellatrix and Narcissa, to do what Draco had been tasked to do, but could not: kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore assured Snape that giving him a mercy death would spare Draco's soul the burden of his murder, and as Snape knew that Dumbledore would die regardless, saving him the pain of a protracted death or, worse, death at the hands of Voldemort's followers, would not scar Snape's spirit as it would Draco's. Snape had agreed, reluctantly.
The end was upon them with these plans in motion. Snape was treated to full disclosure of everything Dumbledore knew and planned; how Harry had to live, when Harry had to die, and how he would live again. What Snape must do to ensure that he was guided to the right point, and strengthen him to make the final stand against Voldemort.
To signal this end game, Snape took the position of the cursed Defense Against The Dark Arts class, and another teacher was called back to teach potions. Snape didn't like that Harry did so well at potions when he wasn't teaching, but discovered that one of his old school books -- with all the spells and modifications he wrote within it -- had become Harry's.
He could no more get the book returned then he could stop Malfoy from setting the plans in motion. But he could not allow his student-- who he did care about, who he was godfather for7-- to take that first step down the path of the Death Eater, and make his first kill. True to his promise of mercy, he took the life of his one and only friends, and his protection from the Order died with Dumbledore.
The summer was spent rebuilding - Harry was on the run and Snape was working from the inside. He got the position of Headmaster and now worked as Dumbledore would have -- as much from his own want as from instruction. He protected his students -- all of them, from Gryffindors to Hufflepuffs -- from the majority of the abuses he could, and did his best to keep them safe, as well as tried to use them to find and protect Harry. He watched over Harry's friends closely and kept them alive as best he could. Things weren't always the way he wanted -- he didn't MEAN to cost George his ear, for instance -- but he did his best with what he had, while trying to maintain his cover. It was not an easy balance.
But inevitably, Harry had to return. He had to face his destiny. Snape knew that. Snape kept him prepared and protected--sent his patronous, a silver doe, to find Harry and lead him to the sword of Godric Gryffindor, made sure they were covered for when he could, and when he couldn't, kept other Death Eaters busy with other things. Despite all this, the other teachers eventually joined together and drove him from the school, retaking it from the 'enemy', and unknowingly, driving Snape to Voldemort... and to his death.
The Elder Wand that Dumbledore had possessed and Voldemort believed would help grand him true immortality, had passed to Draco Malfoy, and then to Harry -- but Voldemort did not realize that. He thought the man who killed Dumbledore became its master, not the boy who had disarmed him, and then the boy who disarmed Draco in turn...
Voldemort said he was sorry-- and didn't mean a word for it. He killed Snape as swiftly a he could, thinking this would make him the Elder Wand's master, and simply left him to die in a pool of his own blood. He couldn't even be bothered to get his hands dirty - he let Nagini, his serpent, do it, and left him to die in the shrieking shack where Remus had once hidden his werewolf affliction, where Snape had nearly lost his life, where James had saved him from dismemberment.
Harry was there, hidden. Snape had no idea-- but seeing the boy and his confusion, he knew he had one last chance to save him and avenge Lily. Using the last of his energy, he released his memories, dripping away from him like silver tears, and asked him to take it, and then to look at him -- one last time. At the end, something broke inside. He was not a monster; he was a deeply flawed man. He knew that about himself, and embraced it. Made it his strength. Fed on his own hatred to sustain himself over the years Harry was in school. He had one last chance to be known as something better, to make everything he had done wrong as close to right again, when the boy looked down at him as he bled and the poison worked in his body.
He didn't need to give him so much, to ensure Voldemort's death and Harry's survival. There was no reason to give him snippets of his childhood, especially the memories he had once guarded from Harry. He didn't need to know the truth behind everything -- he could have died with the boy hating him. But he didn't want to, Perhaps Snape had seen, from his distant watch over Harry and his friends, that there was Lily in the boy, and that part of him deserved an explanation. Maybe Snape simply wanted one person to know the truth. There was only one place to do it - laying there, bleeding, as Nagini's poison was shutting down his nervous system. There was no other time to give himself wholly to the boy and let him see it all in his shame and foolishness. His last act fed his need for absolution from the only person who could give it, the only other person who had suffered so the loss of Lily Evans in a way Snape could understand...
Her son.
Damn his eyes: the last thing he sees before the City saves his life.
PERSONALITY:
Snape is a man marked by cruelty -- both inflicted against him, and cruelty he dealt to others. Flavored with gravitas, discipline, arrogance, and a heaping helping of lies, one must accept that to know Severus Snape, one is only knowing what Severus Snape allows to be seen, and the rest is distorted and obscured at best. He is a spy to his core, an actor who changes roles as needed and turns around himself that at times he has come close to losing himself. One thing keeps him anchored throughout all the chaos, however: his love for a woman who never returned his affections.
Coming from a background of abuse and neglect, Snape has been taught self-reliance, mistrust and hate at an early age. He was not empowered in his youth through family or educators, and so fell easy prey to the Death Eaters who made promises that Snape's soul couldn't keep . In his youth this expressed itself in various ways; embracing the Death Eaters was Snape's way of seeking empowerment and thus, respect and standing where he had none via circumstance of birth (halfblood), looks (yeah right) or skill in popular subjects or sports. His friends, beyond Lily, were out of convenience; it was safer to run with a pack, which Severus grudgingly accepted, and he hoped in some way that getting his own friends and being a ring-leader among the Death Eaters, he would somehow impress Lily with his strength. He was dead wrong, and eventually, Lily was simply dead.
However, Snape underwent huge changes with the massive shock he took upon failing Lily; he truly believed that Dumbledore could save her. A secret romantic at heart who had once believed that if he grew strong enough, Lily could see the true him and his love for her, he definitely believed that by giving up everything he gained, he could save Lily's life even if it meant not attaining her love. His faith in Dumbledore was absolute -- it had to be, or he would be lost. However, it was misplaced, just like James and Lily's trust in Peter, and his hope was dashed. It would be end of any hopefulness for Severus Snape.
When Lily died, he was nearly gone to the tides of madness and grief. He was a changed man; gone was the lust for power and in it's place was empty bitterness. He had been the architect of his own damnation. He emptied himself of any personal desire -- as Dumbledore asked of him, he had become a spy and double agent and played the roles he was given surprisingly well. When he advises Harry to 'empty himself', it is because it is the only way he knows how to deal with things -- to empty himself of what has hurt him, compartmentalize it, and store it away just like he does with his thoughts as an Occulumens.
But he was still Severus Snape. Given the role of teacher, he embraced discipline and gave favoritism where he chose just as others had done to him. He cast aside fear and vulnerability and embraced what he was: a dark wizard spy, a Judas of the highest caliber. He was a changed man; grim, foreboding. There was no joy -- the sun had set in his world and would never rise again. What pleasure he took was in a job well done, a potion well brewed, and making sure that no threats rose again. However, there were things that could shake this cold place where he dwelled; Harry was one of them, of course, but there were others.
His friendship with the Malfoys, such as it was, gave him something else to do or deal with. IT is a careful, guarded thing -- one he controls to keep himself safe (for that vulnerability he pretends does not exist certainly does). Draco has the misfortune -- or good fortune -- of being someone that Snape actually allows himself to care about without any baggage. This doesn't mean he's not a domineering or controlling man with Draco -- he still is. He's also not always spared Snape's sharp tongue. But he is well guarded with Snape in his corner.
Dumbledore provides another emotional outlet; allowing friendship and some honesty and vulnerability as Albus had already seen. There was little to hide and so Severus did not have to guard himself so closely. He was also able to question Albus in a way no one else could. However for all their relationship was friendly, the power imbalance was clear and left Snape at an emotional disadvantage. He traded in a terrorist father-figure for Albus, who manipulated him less harshly, but certainly manipulated him all the same. Snape did not always respond so well to that, challenging Dumbledore when he could, but in the end, he usually capitulated.
The Potters are the without a doubt the most complex emotional relationship he has; even Albus does not compare. James Potter was a bully and thug but then he had to ruin the easy malice between them by saving Snape's life. This made it much harder to simply hate James for existing, but frustration only made Snape worse-- he turned that on Harry later in life, but all the same, he paid his debts to Lily and James by protecting their son until his death. It was not an easy debt to bear-- James made it all the harder with that one glimmering moment of being a person in Snape's eyes, which Snape could not handle. Lily held his love, and there's no way to overstate that point in how it affects everything Snape does. and of course, there's Harry -- who Snape both resents, understands and defends, despite that he cannot bring himself to show the boy much compassion. One cannot know how much was a farce and how much was real animosity for the boy (complicated by issue with James), but there were some serious issues rooted there that never truly saw resolution before Snape's death. One thing is certain, though-- he wanted Harry to understand him, and perhaps forgive him for what he had been.
THis brings us to Snape's issues with himself and his past; while he pantomimes friendship and camraderie -- in his own, aloof way as he was even less emotionally expressive after Lily's death than before it -- with the Death Eaters while required, it's uncertain how many of them he genuinely liked or cared about at any time, or otherwise simply ran with due to desire for power as a teenager or obligation to the Order's cause as an adult. In particular, Peter Pettigrew earns derision and abuse while forced to live with him; Snape openly despises the turncoat that replaced Sirius Black as the most hated Marauder alive, but cannot act on his hate for the man who betrayed the Potters and sealed Lily's fate. Anything he had with the Death Eaters outside of the Malfoys -- who trust him enough to leave their son in his care, take over his mission and keep him safe -- is fake now, however.
As for being the 'bravest man' that Harry ever knew -- we can look at Snape's willingness to do whatever it took as bravery, perhaps, to make sure a job was done and done right. Or we could look at the fact that Snape admitted to being wrong to make things right again -- even if he failed to save Lily's life, he managed to save his own soul from the abyss by acting to do what was right, even if perhaps it was not for the most heroic of reasons. He would risk his life to keep the students of Hogwarts safe in his one and only year as Headmaster, and he would keep the Carrows contained. He gained nothing for this but the hate of his peers that did not understand the grandness of Dumbledore's plans, but he went forward with it anyway -- knowing that he would never know laurels, medals or other accolades.
He is a man who has given up a quest for vast power (though he still indulges his need for control where his students are concerned) in exchange for a wounded nobility of spirit. Snape would never speak of himself in such a manner -- having accepted his role as a spy, and eventual unsung martyr for the cause long ago -- but the things he sacrificed speak volumes. He never married, never engaged any other relationships, and worked with the drive of a man haunted by his failures and determined to not see them repeated, no matter the cost. Every person he failed, every death he could not prevent, only fueled this flame. Every step forward might cost him his life and everything he worked for, everything he had to make up for -- but he kept going forward, knowing he had to do this to rectify all the wrong he had done... that is why he earns that title from Harry Potter. He was not improperly Sorted; only a Slytherin could do the harsh work that a Gryffindor never could.
POWER:
++ MAGIC ++
Severus Snape is a wizard of the Harry Potter variety, and worse, he is a (arguably former) Dark Wizard of some power who was the right hand of Lord Voldemort and knew many of the dark lord's secret magics and blacker rituals.
The generic magic - transfiguration, flying on brooms, and 'vagueness and latin' used to cast spells that move objects, conjure items, transform items from other items and so forth which is well documented in Harry Potter is a catch all for useful spells that handle mundane tasks. There's a spell to clean places, a spell to repair things, a spell for - well, just about everything, quite frankly, in the Harry Potter universe. If there's even a vague analogy to a tool or technology, magic can likely do it. Need to make a phone call? Use flue powder to speak from fire place to fire place with someone else whose 'flue address' you know, and so forth.
Snape is sufficiently advanced in magic that he can use magic without a vocal or somatic (wand) component, but this sort of magic is much more difficult. Wands are very important tools and very few powerful spells (death curse, most dueling spells except for shields, etc) can be used without them. Snape, of course, will have his wand with him at nearly all times.
To elaborate on every possible spell would take forever, and since we have other HP canon in game at this time, we're not going for the purpose of this application. Instead, we're going to focus on what set Snape apart from most wizards. Beyond 'wand waving frippery' which Snape mostly disdains, Snape has five areas of expertise; Potion Mastery, Legilimency and Occlumency, Duelling and Dark Magic.
Potion Mastery covers the fact that there are few better then Severus Snape in the creation of magical draughts, potions, liquors, ointments or other brews. Much like the 'vagueness and Latin' that accompanies the wand-based magic, there is really no limit given to the things that Snape can do, IF he has the proper time, equipment and ingredients requires. He can create potions that heal, harm transform, confuse, kill or create odd or humorous effect. However, each potion must be brewed in a precise manner, from the right cauldron type, size, ingredients, right down to the type of stirrer used. While some of this will be easy to find - most of it won't be. Some potions take months of proper care to brew - one wrong move, one stirring missed, and the potion will be ruined. If Snape cannot maintain that sort of schedule, many of his most advanced brews will never see creation (Luck, Transfiguration, etc). Even veritaserum takes a month to properly create.
Legilimency and Occulumency are twin arts; one penetrates the mind and the other occludes it. Snape is a master of both these magics, and they were invaluable during his time as a spy against the most powerful dark wizards to ever live. It is said that his 'eyes that see right through you', often noted by students that were on the receiving end of his investigative skills were not aware that their minds were being read, but during very deep probes - such as his 'teaching' experiments with Harry during duels - can be felt and experienced by the person probed if he is being 'blunt' about it - it's a violating and unhappy experience for the probed. However, surface thoughts can be lifted with no detection by even skilled telepaths or occulumens.
Occulmency, it's twins, create shields, fogs of misdirection, fake thoughts and feelings; a legilmens can be fed false information, denied important information (It's simply 'not there' or they 'don't know'). Snape is a greater occulumens then he is a legilimens, but that's like saying he can compose slightly better symphonies then he can opera. They have roots in the same art, and only a fellow master would see where his legilimency is not quite as fantastic in scope as his occulumency. (Like the only better legilimens or occulumens then either Voldemort or Snape; Albus Dumbledore.)
Duelling covers a very specific set of wand-based magic; attack and defense. Snape is a master duellist, well known for his combat reflexes, merciless offense and swift defense and. He is a master of single combat, but is no slouch in a wizardly 'fire fight', either. He is able to create shields on the fly, and is well versed in a variety of hexes and curses that go from humiliating to debilitating, from damaging to deadly. He is not and never has been a wizard to be trifled with.
When it comes to Dark Magic, this covers Unforgivable Curses (Mind Control, Agony, and Death, in sum up), rituals that do terrible and unspeakable things (drinking unicorn blood for health, etc) as well as strange magics like flight without a broom. As 'reformed' as Snape is, his expertise here is more 'academic' then practical, as he's not about to cut off anybody's hands to rebuild his body or health. Oh, he'll fly without a broom if he must, but that's one of the more benign magics that Snape learned from Voldemort, and even that's weird for Snape, and that's saying something.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
[TEXT; FILTERED TO ANDROMEDA TONKS.]
Andromeda;
Forgive the lack of proper owl; this Muggle "network" is useful in the way a crowded pub at happy hour is -- the incessant shouting occasionally having morsels of information floating in a sea of drunken drivel -- but I confess I find it is much less elegant then a proper missive delivered by owlflight. This will have to suffice for now.
I have taken time to digest everything you have told me - both of this place, and of our now-vanished home. I admit I am two minds of it, but in the grand scheme of things, it is unimportant. I know what I need to know; Harry Potter yet lives, and He Who Is Not Named is dead, and for the moment, I live here. Albus would have liked to have seen this, but I think, perhaps, it is best that he did not. Those we cannot save, we grieve all the harder for, and Albus had his share of that long before this war began. More deaths, that we could not foresee or prevent, would have weighed all the more heavily on him.
Your candid information was not unappreciated; dealing with the fall out of coming from so many times here, your work to smooth things with the rat-tag Order has been noticed in this chaotic transition. I'm sure you understand that I am a man who pays his debts, and that I am now in yours.
Don't abuse it.
-- S. S.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
It was not the dungeon, but it would have to do. It would not have the solace of cold stone safety, nor the secrets he had learned by heart over the last twenty years etched deep as scars and twice as lasting. This place, in all it's mundane glory, would never thrum with a life of it's own, but he couldn't afford a castle. If it hadn't been for various initiatives in the city for imPorts, he wouldn't' have afforded this damn hole in the wall, either. Thank Merlin for small blessings: he had to go through all the bloody motions to get it, and so that made it all the more valuable - a little debt (his debt, his money) and a bit of work, not a little bit of schmoozing, and the right palms greased had made his shop a reality.
His shop. An apothecary. A proper one. He can't say it had been the job of his dreams but frankly, any thing that was his without being given, foisted upon or otherwise debted to anybody beyond a banker was welcome here. Dumbledore hadn't finagled it with his connections. Voldemort hadn't suggested it by candlelight to the right lackey. No; this was Snape's and that was important. He had so few things that were wholly his that the possessiveness he felt immediately for the miserable little building was shocking even to himself.
The apothecary was his. It was a hole in a wall, in a neighborhood that was less then fantastic, He could live with that, because it was his. He could handle himself against any foolishness this city threw at him, he was sure. The fact that he dressed in wool robes in the middle of a sweltering hot New York summer, spoke funny and didn't hide his imPort dog tags kept the baser riffraf from his doorstep. Oh, he'd step over the homeless on his way to work in the morning, but he'd be damned if he cared.
The rest, he'd deal with as it came.
The place would need a scrubbing, stock put to shelves and more made as swiftly as he could manage. Security for his sole, hard won possession would need wards in all the right place; he didn't count then among enemies, but he didn't put it past Sirirus to stir up old grudges out of spite -- after all, he'd do the same to the other man, given a worthy opportunity. The basement would be a laboratory in which to serve his needs and allow himself another place to be that wasn't the bloody MAC surrounded by strangers using bizarre magics willy-nilly. Away from the noise and the bustle.
Away from Lily and James and Harry.
He couldn't find enough space from that happy, reunited family to soothe his hurts, but he would do his best. This place was a second lease on life; he was not in some pauper's grave. It was what he had, and he had to make the best of it. Relocating from the City would be impossible for a time, but that's what the shop was for. A stepping stone -- to perhaps return to England, to otherwise vanish somewhere, once enough money was saved to start somewhere else and create himself completely anew, away from all the lies and doublespeak that the Order had defined him with.
For now, he knew he wouldn't feel alive until he had smooth glass bottles, iron cauldrons, silver stirrers... all of them, under one roof, bent to his will, creating what he demanded.
He shed his heavy cloak and overcoat, rolled up his sleeves and went to work. He hadn't been there fifteen minutes when the door chime from the last owner rang tinnily in his ears -- and he dreaded who it might be; Luna knew of his little project, and the little Ravenclaw could have spilled already, for her own inscrutable reasons. Then, Lily might find out.
He went silent, listening. The chime did not ring again. Whoever they were, they were waiting in the open space of the shop. He heard steps, shuffling. Strange. He rolled down his sleeves, hiding the Dark Mark that slept on his skin, and picked up his wand, before he peered into the other room.
No Lily, no Luna -- not even Bellatrix. No, this was a common, filth street person, looking at the battered old till left here as if might cough up pennies from heaven at any minute.
"We are not open, that has not a damned thing in it, and you are not welcome here," he said sharply, rewarded then the filthy man jumped and startled. He didn't wait for any response -- only lifted his wand. "Begone, layabout!"
The man didn't need to be told twice; leaving Snape alone in a hurry. He sighed, and pocketed his wand. Yes, wards would have to go up immediately in this part of town.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
THE FOOT NOTES ARE HERE:
1: This is based off the images of Snape and his mother cowering with his mother, his father shouting, as well as the information we gain about Spinner's End canonically (On a river, mired with industrial waste, smells bad, Bellatrix refers to the location as a 'Muggle Dunghill'.)
2. Headcanon, based on the fact we never hear of or meet the Princes at all in Snape's life, as well as wizard blood politics rife at the time; Snape was born within a generation of the Grindelwald wars, and thus blood purity issues are still fresh in the mind in the last two generations.
3. Pure headcanon, but based in his behaviors around Lily, including having difficulty about caring about Petunia, hinting at mocking her for writing a letter to Dumbledore to take her to wizard school -- her family still let him come over, and so forth, so they were accepting of this boy from the wrong side of the tracks, perhaps hoping to be a good influence on him rather then letting him be a bad influence on Lily.
4. What we see of Snape's youth is entirely from his perspective and this is what this canon is based off of; a flawed perspective to be certain, but it's how Snape sees how things worked out for him in school with his mates versus the Gryffindor boys.
5. Headcanon, based on the Malfoys trusting Snape with their son on multiple occasions -- especially during the latter books. Narcissa is willing to go to Snape, knowing he is Voldemort's right hand, and ask him to save her son. Lucius occasionally challenges Snape on matters of Death Eater loyalty, but it's not very powerful. They are friends, as much as Snape OR the Malfoys manage to have 'friends'.
6. Based on real life organization of terrorist groups. The people calling the shots are the ones that never get their hands very dirty directly.
7. Another headcanon ref, but makes sense considering Narcissa's request of him, and her trust of Snape with her son, etc.