Advanced Potion-Making

[maraudermods]

Title: Advanced Potion-Making
Author: fire_everything
Beta, cheerleader and all-around facilitator: brighty18
Artists: lilmisblack (banner), niccc (all other art)
Pairing: Snape/Lily
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Authorial presumption, profanity, magical dub-con, mild kink, possibly disturbing reproductive issues/procedures, angst, excessive length
Word Count: Um…shorter than Half-Blood Prince

Comments

[fire_everything]

So much nerdy Ravenclaw goodness in this comment! *is happy*

I'm not sure Voldemort would have revealed this bit of information, partly for the reason Snape himself ponders.

I'm sure Jo's Voldy would never have done so. But I frankly admit that I'm trying to subvert canon Voldy here, replacing him with an alternate Voldy who courts Snape hard and is willing to take some personal risks in doing so. And there's more to come along those lines.

I guess he must have changed policy not long thereafter, to take sixteen-year-old Regulus?

Yes, this is a plot flaw which you're absolutely right to point out. For narrative reasons (suspense, etc.), I wanted there to be a lag between Snape's first meeting with Voldemort and his joining up as a Death Eater, so I invented this fake "DEs must be 17" rule. Then I remembered the counterexample of Draco, who joined at sixteen, but figured I could still justify my decision based on the supposition that upon returning from exile, Voldemort would have gotten more aggressive in his recruiting, with fewer scruples about who he let in (kind of like the U.S. Army post-9/11, so strapped and overextended it's happy to lower its standards and let in felons). But I'd forgotten about the first-war case of Regulus. I can't get to my copy of Deathly Hallows at the moment (I'm at work), and the HP Wikia is vague on this point - what are the details on Regulus' joining? Is there any ambiguity/wiggle room here?

If not, there's always the "inconsistencies and fuckups make it a more authentic, JKR-like reading experience!" fallback defense. I have no doubt I'll need to resort to that one at some point over the course of this fic anyway. ;)

*Miss Piggy voice* Editorial comment? Moi?

Love that you got the wolverine thing without help! I wouldn't have. ;)

[shyfoxling]

I invented this fake "DEs must be 17" rule.

It's not unreasonable; for one thing, they might not be able to Apparate.

what are the details on Regulus' joining? Is there any ambiguity/wiggle room here?

Kreacher states unequivocally that he was sixteen:

But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns ... and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve ...

In fact it almost sounds like he had been wanting to and turning sixteen was the magic number that somehow made him eligible, even if he wasn't "of age". It could possibly be related to school-leaving age, which is sixteen in the UK as far as I know; children of that age get more self-determination than a sixteen-year-old does in the US.

"inconsistencies and fuckups make it a more authentic, JKR-like reading experience!" fallback defense.

*grins*

[fire_everything]

Damn Kreacher! Of COURSE he'd have to lay it all out in full sycophantic detail. Fuckin' arse. !@$%^&#

OK, my new story is that the "you must be 17" rule is specific to Snape, because Voldemort wanted him to stay in school and do well on his N.E.W.T.s. So nice, so protective of Voldemort!

Except that, in Chapter 5, Snape does join the DEs before taking the N.E.W.T.s. Fuck!

Sooo...guess it's back to Ye Olde "Hey, JKR Fucked Up ALL THE TIME!" Defense. Or the Apparating defense. Yeah, that one has potential. Gotta be able to Apparate to be of use to the Dark Lord, right? 'Cause otherwise, how can you come to him immediately when your Dark Mark burns??

(Fuckin' Regulus! Just WAIT a year like everyone else, you fuckin' entitled twat!)

[shyfoxling]

Except that, in Chapter 5, Snape does join the DEs before taking the N.E.W.T.s. Fuck!

No problem; Severus's birthday is in January. He turns 17 halfway through his sixth year.

'Cause otherwise, how can you come to him immediately when your Dark Mark burns??

Have learned to Apparate without a license? The rules were different 20 years before Harry's time? Exemption for such people and/or control is fine enough he could not call them in the first place (after all, you can't Disapparate at Hogwarts, and he'd know that, not to mention it'd be ridiculously revealing)?

Actually, as far as Draco, we don't know that he was Marked. There's a lot of suspicious hints in the text, but they could be red herrings. And it's possible that while Regulus might have joined when he was 16, that he too was not Marked, or not until later.