Severus Snape, Harry Potter and that Pesky Canon, Barplaceshapedthing

[mixed_murder]

He's been locked up and away from the bar for nearly a week. He sort of prefers it that way, honestly. But even Severus can find a room stuffy and need some sort of stimulation after a week alone pouring over new notes and scrolls that Draco gave him

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[firstpotter]

It's quite doubtful that Snape will be pleased to notice a familiar looking young man writing on parchment nearby.

To be perfectly fair, this James Potter is not the bully that Snape would have been familiar with. Universal shifts are useful things on occasion.

[ooc: Couldn't resist. XD]

[bestunrevealed]

You know, it's been so long with his head down he at first thinks it's Harry. Really, they do look a lot alike. He slithers back in his seat, attempting to make himself small, considering avenues of escape.

He doesn't want to talk to any Potter; but part of him says that it will probably be unpleasantly necessary.

Won't he be in for a shot.

[firstpotter]

What would an interdimensional place be without certain shocks?

James finishes his line and waves the ink dry before setting the parchment aside. Looking around, he sees Snape.

Calm brown eyes, no scarred forehead, no overt hostility.

[bestunrevealed]

...funny how the clear lack of scar engenders a sudden tremor in his hands, his eyes going hard as flint as he locks eyes with this particular Potter.

If his hate were a physical blow, the impact would have turned Jamess' head. As it is, he merely stares like he's contemplating immediate murder at any costs.

[firstpotter]

The various dimensions of the place will wind up giving James a massive headache before long.

"May I presume that you are from a dimension where we existed or currently exist as enemies?" The question is placid enough and probably tells Snape more than he'd originally intended.

Good luck trying to breach his mind.

[bestunrevealed]

"If there is a dimension where you are anything other then swine, I can hardly believe it," Snape hisses, his voice ragged with restrained hate.

He wants to scream and shout and throw things; however, he has NO desire at all to touch Potter's mind. It'd be like wading into filth.

[firstpotter]

"I won't insult you by intimating that we are anything close to friends in mine," James retorts in a low voice. "Given all I have learned from the boy who would have been my son, I am spending my time trying to prevent that future from coming to pass. I have little time for petty rivalries, and even less time to apologise for whatever wrongs my counterpart has wrought upon you."

[bestunrevealed]

"Prevent? Short of not siring your son..." He pauses, and considers; this is food for thought, distracting him briefly from his rage. "The Dark Lord-- he'd -- chose..."

He'd...

It'd be Neville Longbottom.

But --

Snape would never beg for Mrs. Longbottom's life; he didn't know the woman at all. He wouldn't give her a moment to save her son, give the Dark Lord a reason to hesitate at all. He would never mark a child, because there would be no one to argue for the woman's life.

To have Harry marked, Snape's love must buy Lily time.

"I -- don't think that's possible," he says hollowing, the timber of his voice enduring a rough down into something like grief. "I'm afraid if he is to ever die, your son must be marked, and his destiny go forward in some form... Including your deaths."

He is not grieving for James; not that Potter would be stupid enough to assume. He's certain the boy knows about his feelings, and could give two tosses left. All the same: Time is it's own master, and Snape knows better then to attempt to re-write it.

[firstpotter]

"Dumbledore is already dead in Regulus Black's dimension," James replies, his voice low, serious. "He is separate from mine. I refuse to believe that all things must meet the same end."

[bestunrevealed]

Snape curls into his seat, nursing an old pain. He twists away from the other man, before he flicks his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Be gone, then. You are a repulsive man regardless of your origins and I have nothing to say to you."

He grows extremely tired of dealing with dopplegangers somewhat sideways of his universe. Everybody has some 'smarter' verision of events, where people are stronger, stranger, different from the truth he knows.

It makes for dissonance he cannot stand.

[firstpotter]

"I was here before you," James replies, his tone dry, "and I must admit a sense of disappointment that you are still content to wallow in misery."

[bestunrevealed]

"Content?" His eyes snap up -- and he rises, bringing himself to his full height. A tall man who didn't gain his fullness until his adult years, Severus is not head and shoulders above James Potter, but he is looking down at him, hissing like the serpant that marked his house. "You dare suggest I was content?"

You may as well have said that he serviced the Dark Lord as more then a double-agent.

"I put my life on the line for your ungrateful brat. I killed the only man I have ever known who has given me an ounce of respect because protecting your son brought him to ruin," he begins to enumerate reasons for his -- discontent, voice raising as he counts them each off, "I have put my life on the line spreading valueable disinformation, making sure the Orders goals were met -- and you accuse me of indulging in discontent?! Oh, NO, Potter! I'm sure that in that busy time you would have found time for parties and play -- because you couldn't ever think beyond the end of your nose, Potter -- you were stupid then, and you're probably stupid

[firstpotter]

"I have no doubt that you suffered grievously in your world, and I have no doubt that you are a man of honor above all other things. I am not engaging in frivolous pursuits now," James says lowly, refusing to rise to Snape's bait even though any of a number of delightful hexes are on the tip of his tongue.

"I will not speak for Harry's perceptions of you. If anything, he was remarkably grateful I was willing to call him son, even though he has yet to be born, if he ever shall be, in my universe. I do not believe you have an accurate image of him, Snape. You see only me--and as I stated, I will not apologise for whatever my counterpart did to you. I am not him. I can give you no vindication, justification, or even resolution."

[bestunrevealed]

Man of honor.

We sort too soon, Dumbledore had once said, but -- now it's an insult stead of a strange allowance for camraderie and compassion.

"Of course he was grateful," Snape murumurs, pupils dialated and his mind in another place. "You fool; a boy bereft of a loving father is grateful for anything he gets. He had several in his time... but the one the boy wanted most was out of reach, echoed in stolen memories and moving photos... something he could see, but never really know."

Honestly: Snape was simply one of Harry's many fathers, the one he was allowed to hate, the one who drove him unforgivingly. All the same, the man was as much a parent -- if not the best parent -- to Harry Potter as Remus or Sirius.

"As for you who are: I don't care. You offer nothing. You are nothing but a distorted mirror of the truth, some -- improved James Potter who has -- no flaws, or less flaws, or--" he waves his hand, as if clearing a foul smell. "You have nothnig to offer me but a distorted view of potential... and if I wanted that I'd get

[firstpotter]

"He desires the very thing that you did," James replies, looking back down towards his parchment and taking up his Quill again.

[bestunrevealed]

"You have no fathomable idea of what I want, James Potter," he says, spitting the name out like it's something slimy in his mouth. "Don't presume to even try."

With that, he whirls, cloak flaring around him like the beating of bat's wings, and stalks away.