Severus Snape and the Half-Blood Prince (34)
I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by recently and left comments. It's very encouraging and, along with a certain amount of self-obsession, is the main reason I keep writing down what I imagine Snape's backstory to be
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Although, not being all that familiar with that trope, I could be full of it. But, suffice it to say, they aren't going to using numchucks or katanas or running around with black cloths around their faces... if that's any comfort.
I struggled with that character. Originally it was a man, but it took on the dreaded (to me) predatory old man trope. And since this was just about the time that JKR came out with the Dumbledore is Fabulous! news, it seemed even more distasteful to me.
She's Japanese (which I don't state because Snape actually can't distinguish Japanese from Chinese from Korean from vaguely exotic) because I needed the architecture. At one point, I was seriously considering making her Mrs. Zabini, but then that sort of created issues with Blaise that I didn't want to get into... but also, I couldn't really get the right metaphor with anything I associate with African architecture. Huts don't work, neither do majestic pyramids or large mudbrick mausoleums.
But it's necessary that he learn this aspect of Occlumency, because that's the only thing that's really going to get him through Voldemort's scrutiny.
Oh, also, the game is the Japanese version of chess. It's called Shogi, and I'm really bad at playing it. Apparently, it has a lot of its own variations, including one played by women with queens instead of kings. The key difference is that the pieces look exactly the same (there is no black and white). Once you capture a piece, you can drop it on the board in almost any square you like, as your own piece.
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