Awesome fic
So, after abandoning the HP fandom for SGA for awhile (and OMG do I have things to share with you all), I returned. The result is that a lot of fanfiction has been updated, and I was able to finish some stories I'd begun a long time ago.
Thus - recs!
The first of these is Never Say Remember, by Malora. The story is unique for a number of reasons, the first of which is when in the continuum it takes place.
(More than any other fandom, for reasons quite unknown to me, Harry Potter fanfiction authors have a morbid fear of the label 'AU'. They often re-write their entire fics to make them 'canon-compliant', even if they wrote their original story before a specific volume of HP was released, while Ranma fans gleefully ignore whole chunks of canon they prefer not to use.)
*minor spoilers ahead*
Malora, however, has chosen to write her story as taking place at the end of the third book, stamping it with the (apparently) evil stigma of 'AU'. Harry is sitting in the Hospital Wing after Sirius's and Buckbeak's escape, with Dumbledore, Snape, Ron and Hermione surrounding him, when he feels dizzy. Apparently, his encounter with the Dementors has taken a toll on him, and his soul has not completely re-settled into his form. The world around him is not immediately discernably different, afterwards: Harry is still in the Wing, Snape is still standing there, along with Dumbledore and Hermione. At first, Harry is unaware of anything out of the ordinary, except the dizziness itself.
It quickly becomes clear, however, what has occurred: canon!Harry has been transported to a strange new world, that has such people in it - and the other Harry has taken his place back home.
*moderate spoilers ahead!*
In a story where one of the central mysteries is the unfolding of the backstory of an alternate universe - and the characters of Harry, Lily, and Snape - it is difficult to write even a basic synopsis of the tale without giving everything important away. Despite the length of the tale, I find myself limited to the following: Voldemort did not kill Lily Potter at Godric's Hollow; instead, he took away all her memories of James and tossed her at Snape, like a gift. Snape eventually married her and adopted Harry, who became Harry Snape. How he can possibly justify this action is one of the central mysteries of the tale; and while we readers are willing to patiently wait for his (undoubtedly good) explanation, canon!Harry is less understanding.
Harry in his new position as Snape's son is a fish out of water in a world that is, frankly, more complex than his own. First of all, it certainly seems to Harry that Snape is taking advantage of Lily because she doesn't know any better, because she can't take care of herself. Anyone observing Lily's character will quickly understand that this is not the case, but Malora writes canon!Harry just like Rowling does - and Harry often ignores reality if it contrasts with his a priori assumptions. Harry reacts, at first, through violence and petulance, refusing Snape's simplest suggestions, including things like 'sit down'.
What is perhaps the most surprising move by the author is that, however badly Harry wants to believe in Snape's evil, it is plain almost from the start that he also longs to be proven wrong. Early in the story, when Snape is holding Lily,
"He turned his head to see that Harry was still kneeling on the sofa, his throat gulping wildly as though
suffering from a great thirst. [Snape] held out a hand toward Harry, but the boy jerked away and bolted from
the sofa."
Even this early in the story (the second chapter or so) the reader can see the longing for a real family working on Harry, eating at his resolve to continue in his hatred of Snape. While Harry fights his warm feelings towards Snape admirably, he finds himself increasingly confused, at the mercy of his desperate desire for adults who care for him, for this warm vision of a caring family to be real.
Snape's and Lily's rules and expectations are numerous and intricate, especially to a boy who's never had parents before, and most especially in regards to his interactions with Lily; he is treated to a crash-course in how to behave around a magically-attacked invalid. All too frequently, he finds himself inadequate to the task of caring for Lily; it is with this discovery that he is finally forced to admit that he does need to rely on someone for support, and that this person must be Snape. The scene in which Harry comes to grip with this was poignant and heartwrenching without being the slightest bit maudlin; Harry blames himself for his failures with his mum, and Snape, in his own, unique way, soothes Harry's fears easily, as though he's been doing it all his life. As far as Severus is concerned, he has.
Meanwhile, in the canon universe, Harry Snape finds himself more than equal to the situation of being yanked into another reality, despite his frustration with his father refusing to behave like - well, his father - and his very real pain at his mother's absence.
Malora writes a perfect extrapolation of who Harry might have become with love and guidance. Like our Harry, his primary qualities are a brilliant capacity for love, and a cheerful stubbornness; but unlike Harry, he has developed both a strong responsibility grown by necessity in the wake of his mother's condition, and an interest in scholastics, honed by the presence of his father... not to mention his rather Slytherin tendencies, which nonetheless seem only to be exercised in the name of a good cause - Harry is a very Slytherin-ish Gryffindor.
Harry Snape manages to manipulate his 'father' (canon!Snape) into spending more time with him by using memories of Lily as the carrot. This scene was by far the most wonderful of the story because Malora answers the question, "...is it really ethical for Snape to be taking care of Lily when he is most of the reason she's ill?" with "...Snape doesn't just take care of Lily - she takes care of him." Lily's memories may be messy, but Severus is an emotional cripple, one who needs her just as badly as she needs him, and the memories Harry reveals prove it unequivocally.
The story is, unfortunately, still a WIP. At the current point in the plot, Harry has realized he can't help his mum without accepting Snape's help; and Snape, in the canon universe, has realized he desperately wants what Harry Snape can show him. At the heart of it, this fic is about love, and the longing for it, and the way we fight against that need when we feel it cannot be answered. It is by far one of the best I've read in ages, and definitely long enough to begin reading, as the author updates regularly.
Go read and have fun!
-K