Severus Snape/Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)
Title: The Buried Life
Author: idlerat
Spoilers: through OotP; spoilers for one fic are set off with spoiler space
The Buried Life*
Snape/Hermione is one of the most ficced pairings in Harry Potter fandom, even though their canon relationship sometimes seems like it can be boiled down to four infamous words: "I see no difference." (This is Snape's remark after Draco magically enlarges Hermione's already prominent front teeth in Goblet of Fire, UK ed. 263). This essay will explain why I think so many fans have written terrific stories placing these two characters in a relationship, in spite of these apparently unpromising materials, and provide an overview of classics in the subgenre.
Two caveats: first, I am not, in any traditional sense, a Snape/Hermione shipper. I've read a lot of Snape/Hermione fic, but I don't "support" the pairing: I don't find it canonically plausible, I like fic about other pairings at least as well, and, in fact, I haven't read much Snape/Hermione fic in the past year, and my essay is based on earlier works. I hope that Snape/Hermione fans who take a different view will comment on this post with their own perspective, and in particular that they will supplement my list of fics with more recent suggestions.
Second, I am convinced that the reason for the popularity of this pairing, even more than for some others, is that it allows people to tell the kind of stories they want to tell and read. I do not believe that Snape/Hermione fans are as concerned with canonicity as fans in some other parts of the fandom. Again, commentators will hopefully provide alternate views!
Because I think the center of Snape/Hermione is the fic, not canon, I have commented on many of the more famous works in this tradition. Again, your mileage will vary, and other comments are most welcome.
The kinds of stories we want to tell and read
I think my own experience of getting into Snape/Hermione was probably fairly typical. I'm one of those people who saw the first two movies before reading the books, and, just based on the movies, I found myself asking why Hermione wasn't the hero. She's so smart and brave and cool, and the author is a woman and it's the turn of the 21st century after all. What would happen if Hermione were the main character, the one who matters most?
After reading the books, and with a lingering taste of Alan Rickman on the mind's tongue, I added a further profound insight: Snape is HAWT, not to mention the most intriguing character in the story. So, based on my interest in these two characters on their own merits, shortly after "discovering" fan fiction I started looking for good stories about them, hopefully stories that would place the unreflecting boyishness of Rowling's Hogwarts in a different perspective. What I found was Kaz's Falling Further In, and I, well, fell further in. (Something flourish once said leads me to believe that quite a few people had been drawn into HP fandom by this fic).
When I turned to other Snape/Hermione fics, I started finding a lot of stories with a scholarly emphasis, where the authors were obviously well-read and wanted to include reflections on art, poetry, music, and philosophy in their work: this appealed to me also. Snape/Hermione is known as the subgenre of HP most allied with the traditional, bodice-ripper type romance, with an older, dark, mysterious, powerful, nasty, and (in many stories) rich hero and a younger, idealistic heroine who steals his heart. But it's equally important to remember that this is the teacher/student ship par excellance, since Hermione builds her identity around being a student so much more than any other of the young characters in the series. This one of the most popular pairings for people who like the idea of a bond based on intellectual affinity. It appeals to those who place a lot of importance on the fact that the HP series is set in a school, even when the stories are set after Hermione has finished at Hogwarts. There are other types of Snape/Hermione fic as well, but this is a very common approach.
And, as laurelwood commented to me recently, Snape/Hermione fic is a good place to read about smoother, sexier, more likeable Snapes, if that's what you're looking for. The pairing also attracts extremely long epics (you'll notice most of the fics on my list are novel-length), so if you're looking for long, you've come to the right place.
The characters:
Severus Snape is so well known, not only within HP but across fandom, that he hardly needs an introduction, and has been ably introduced by other essayists in this community. Harry's "least favorite professor" knows how the bring Teh Snark: mean, bitter, ugly, and articulate, with (probably) a core of morality and honor, the Potions Master is a huge favorite with slash and het fans alike. He dresses all in black; he's the Head of Slytherin House (stop giggling!); he joined the Death Eaters as a young man and later spied for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix "at great personal risk." In the time-frame of the books, he is in his mid- to late-30s. He hates Harry on sight, probably because he hated Harry's father, who bullied him at school. He is played in the films by sad-eyed, deep-voiced, notoriously sexy Alan Rickman. Rickman is a lot older and better-looking than canon-Snape, but he has certainly influenced many Snapes in this part of the fandom.
Hermione Granger is one of Harry's two close friends. She is the best student in her year at Hogwarts: she is both very intelligent and almost pathologically studious, and quite competitive as well. She is highly opinionated and not at all shy about sharing her opinions and showing off her knowledge. She has her hand in the air every time a teacher asks a question, and many times when they don't. (This cuts no ice with Professor Snape, at least in canon.) Her many opinions tend to have an ethical cast, and she is very interested in social and political issues; in Goblet of Fire, she begins a campaign to end House-Elf slavery. As the series goes on, she becomes increasingly perceptive about people's emotional lives, although she can be undiplomatic in pursuit of something she thinks is right or important. She's not particularly concerned with minding her own business.
Hermione is Muggleborn--she has non-magical parents, which makes her the butt of prejudice and in fact potentially puts her in a lot of danger from reactionary fanatics (the Death Eaters and their sympathizers) who believe that only wizards and witches of "pure-blood" should be allowed full rights in the magical world. She knows a great deal about the Wizarding World because she is such an avid reader, but she begins the series as an outsider. We never meet Hermione's parents, but we know that they are both dentists, and it's reasonable to imagine this as an aspirational middle-class family that puts a strong emphasis on education, since education has provided her parents with solid (and extremely mundane) careers. Although JKR has said that she once planned to give Hermione a sister, this character has never materialized, and it seems safe to assume that Hermione is an only child.
Hermione's status as an only child and an outsider in the WW, combined with her independent mind, have the potential to isolate her. The episode that is the catalyst for her friendship with Harry and Ron is important for understanding how her character is developed in fan fiction. After Hermione out-performs the wizard-raised Ron in Charms class, and is congratulated and awarded house points by Professor Flitwick, she overhears Ron say, "It's no wonder no one can stand her" (PS, UK ed., 127). Here, it sounds like she can't have friends because she is such a good and competitive student (and perhaps because she is a girl who refuses to hide her achievements under a bushel.) Later that night, when the students are sent to their Houses to protect them from a troll that has been set loose in the castle, Hermione doesn't hear the warning because she is hiding in the girl's toilets and crying, stung by Ron's remark; aware of this, Ron and Harry go to rescue her, and the duo becomes a trio from then on.
Isolation and Social Position
So, while Hermione sometimes seems very independent, her strong personality and her need to follow her own path sometimes isolates her, and she needs friends. This tension, between an acute need for the regard of others and a tendency to become isolated, is the main thing that ties her character to Snape's. Snape and Hermione both have very intense and troubled relationships with public recognition and institutional advancement. Hermione is obsessed with excelling at school, and always wants her achievements recognized, although she is willing to risk this when she decides to defy school rules in pursuit of justice, to protect her friends, or to fight Voldemort. Snape has always wanted a job teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, which he has never been given. In PoA, we learn that he badly wants official recognition in the form of an Order of Merlin.
The fanfic tradition tends to emphasize how unfairly Snape has been treated by the establishment. The key element in this is the infamous Shrieking Shack incident, aka "the Prank": for reasons that have still not been thoroughly explained, back when they were at Hogwarts Sirius tried to lure Snape out to where Lupin was busy being a werewolf. James, Harry's father, found out and intervened to save Snape. Most fan writers have assumed that Sirius was not severely punished, at least not expelled, and Remus was certainly not expelled; Snape may have felt betrayed by Dumbledore, who put his favoritism of these Gryffindors (as Snape saw it) above Snape's safety, and some have speculated that this may have contributed to the alienation that led him to join the Death Eaters.
Before OotP, many readers assumed that Snape was rich because of his position as head of Slytherin House, with its aristocratic traditions. More important, to my mind, was the tradition of the Gothic hero: Snape seemed like a candidate for this role, after GoF, because of his tortured past, his clever, sarcastic manners, and his black wardrobe. The tradition of Snape Manor is particularly associated with SS/HG because of its roots in the romance tradition, but, to be fair, filthyricharistocratic!Snape appears often in slash as well. This way of looking at Snape was damaged, it seems to me, by OotP, partly because the view we get of Snape as a teenaged loser was inconsistent with the mighty autonomy of the Gothic hero and also because of the flashes Harry sees, during Occlumency lessons, of the abusive household Snape grew up in. Rich households are just as likely as others to be the site of abuse, but I do think this scene clashed with expectations, at least for American readers. Not all SS/HG writers give Snape an aristocratic background; The Fire and the Rose, for example, gives a terrific portrait of a grim, and not at all wealthy, Snape family background.
In SS/HG, two very different characters who both find it hard to fit in, and maybe hard to love, find they can help each other to lead more fully human lives.
An aside: the Ron factor
One thing worth noting in Snape/Hermione fic is its general contempt for the Ron/Hermione pairing, which figures so largely in other parts of the fandom (Ron and Hermione are often a couple in the background of fics about other characters, as well as in Ron/Hermione fic proper.) This stems from the conviction that to hook up with Ron, especially to marry him, would be a kind of death for Hermione. People look at Molly Weasley's life and think, that's what Ron wants in a partner, and that's not Hermione. Snape/Hermione fans want to see Hermione paired with a character who is as smart as she is, who can keep up with her intellectually, who can challenge her and not be overwhelmed (or simply oblivious) in the face of her strong personality, and who will not expect her to stay home, cleaning and feeding a dozen offspring. There are exceptions. I wrote another essay on this in hp_fictalk a while back.
Conclusion
Snape/Hermione fic is based on the spark that arises from contrast combined with a sense that some underlying values can transcend certain types of difference. A basically happy person with a deep optimism; a deeply unhappy person full of cynicism and bitterness. Someone who has led a fairly sheltered life, such that her worst fear, at 13, is that McGonagall will tell her she has failed her classes; a former Death Eater. What they share is fierce moral conviction--strong enough, in Snape's case, to make him betray Voldemort and humble himself (he is very proud) before Dumbledore, and in Hermione's to take on the Hogwarts she reveres in a campaign for House Elf rights. Someone who thought he was beyond love is redeemed and brought back to the land of the living: someone who is very cerebral finds herself overcome by passion. This is the underlying dynamic played out in a fanfic tradition in which the teacher discovers he has something to learn from his student. It is, in a way, a version of the Pride and Prejudice model: a powerful, basically decent, but unpleasant man finds himself in love with a woman he believed to be his inferior, and his life is transformed.
*As you can see from the list of fics, I took this title from Kalina. It is the title of one of the best fics in this part of the fandom, and I think it expresses an underlying theme of much Snape/Hermione fic.
Resources
The premier center for discussion of this pairing has long been the Yahoo group "WIKTT" ("When I Kissed the Teacher"), which maintains a very comprehensive listing of Snape/Hermione fics, with summaries and ratings that you can vote on, called Dark Sarcasm. Beware the "most popular" list at the front--this is self perpetuating, since new users go to these first, and doesn't necessarily represent the most-recced fics.
Ashwinder (formerly, I kid you not, "Lord and Lady Snape") and Whispers are Snape/Hermione archives. Quite a few Snape/Hermione classics are also archived at La Societe des Femmes Dangereuses (sorry about the absent diacritic).
Some famous SS/HG fics
Double stars mark my absolute favorites; my other recs get single stars. Alphabetical by author.
I've given opinions but not summaries for these fics: please click links to get summaries, and add dissenting opinions (as well as additional recs) in comments.
*Abby, The Other Side of Darkness and Survivals and Remembrances. Atmospheric and well-written; more canonical Snape than some others in this genre. Cool magic.
*Abby and Domina, The Fire and the Rose. A long fic, posted a chapter a week for a year. Very sustained body-switching device, leading to lots of masturbation experiments (I <<33 wank fic), humorous dilemmas, and, IIRC, a very moving section where Hermione must visit Snape's family home as Snape. As with many SS/HGs, there's a lot in here about clothes, and Snape proves to have simply mahvelous taste.
**Amanuensis (amanuensis1), "Love's Appalling Adverbs." A parody of the genre by a famous slasher. Metafic, with implications for fan fiction and erotic fiction that go well beyond Snape/Hermione. Amanuensis plays an uncharacteristically mature Snape and casts the Snape/Hermione writer as Hermione. Ingenious.
Amy McWilliams (mcamy), A Matter of Honor. An early trilogy that set the pattern for many later school-based Snape/Hermione fics. I adore Amy.
Anna (coldcoffeeeyes), the Travelogue (or "Classic Cinema Series")-- i.e. Roman Holiday, Jewel of the Nile, and Last Tango in Paris (WIP: only 47 chapters of the last volume!). Extremely well written, with gallons of plot. Also HG/DM and HG/BW. This is the queen of a large SS/HG sub-genre I call "year-at-the-Sorbonne-fic"; Anna's Hermione is often accused of being a Sue--"Who was this minx, and what had she done with disheveled, bookish Hermione?" She travels around the Continent and beyond having enriching experiences (Anna is a music teacher, and classical music plays a prominent role), though she also suffers terrible losses, as does Snape. The series leaves Hogwarts and the WW as you know it far behind. Very popular and, as I said, beautifully written. Some great sex scenes and original magic.
Domina (formerly Anne), Round Midnight. Much recced, and I liked it. An academic fic, set at least partly at Oxford, with, IIRC, a somewhat unhappy and isolated adult Hermione.
*Didodikali (trickofthedark), Teacher's Pet. A classic. I've seen it listed as a children's story, which it isn't, though it has the sweetness and the adorable illos and animals and basic lovableness of everyone (including Snape) that one finds in D's work generally. Funny. Available in an astonishing number of languages.
**Kalina (kalinalea), The Buried Life, and other stories. This is the fic I always recommend to everyone, whether they read this pairing or not. Beautifully written and plotted, with a deeply humane sensibility. Her characterizations and settings are impeccable, and her story well-paced. Give it a few chapters to get going, and bring a hankie for the fourth quarter. Among her short stories, I love "Still Here," but "The Last Word" is perhaps more generally popular. Her unfinished novel-length fic (which she does not plan to finish) Desperate Measures is brilliant also, if you can handle unfinished fic. You can read my reviews here.
**Kaz (called "KazVL" at FA and "kaz2" at FFnet), Falling Further In (WIP and, IMO, unlikely to be completed). I have so much to say about this fic that I hardly know how to say just a little. It's messy, baroque, excessive, and where it is good it is absolutely brilliant. Definitely in the romance tradition, with a very strong, super-sexy, and decent Snape (who gets tortured a lot), this is both the most beloved and in some quarters perhaps the most reviled SS/HG fic. Kaz sets her story during a summer at Hogwarts, which enables her to draw a sweeping portrait of the school from the faculty's perspective (Hermione, whose parents have been killed by LV, is the only student there). At her best, her characterization and dialogue are exceptional, her devices and descriptions are inventive, and she comes up with turns of phrase that just knock me out. At her worst, she mixes metaphors, invokes cliches, and can seem incredibly heavy, even stilted. She makes full characters out of McGonagall, Sprout, Hooch, and above all Pomfrey, giving us a cast of adult women, distinct and with distinct relationships between them, that is rare and wonderful. Her Hogwarts sometimes feels like an idealized elective family. I love her confident Hermione: this fic epitomizes the Snape/Hermione tradition of refocusing HP around a female hero. (Harry, when he finally appears, is a nightmare, anticipating OotP pretty well!) If you'd like to read something shorter, set much later but in the same universe, I highly recommend "Who By Fire," but that's just the two main characters.
Luthien (luthien67), "In Whiskey Veritas." Luthien has said, I believe, that her goal in this fic was to be very true to the canon characters and see if she could still pull the pairing off. These are not the same characters found in most other fics in the genre, and they don't really match my ideas of the canon characters either, but it's a good fic.
*Meri-Todd Webster (mommybird)'s 'Absence' series--actually Snape/Harry/Hermione, but should appeal to many SS/HG fans. Sweet and loveable porn.
Quillusion, Soul Searching. Started out as a PWP metafic (Snape discovers the WIKTT archives; Hermione spies on him), but it was a huge hit and Quillusion expanded it into a very plotty story full of ancient magicks. You can still read the first couple chapters on their own if you're so inclined.
Ramos, The Hinge of Fate. A monster hit.
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Snape forced to rape Hermione! Supersperm finds the egg! Hermione realizes "DNA" spells "potions genius"! Career must be abandoned! Barefoot and pregnant hippie wedding! Cottage! Cheese! Luv is all around! Sprogs galore! SNAPE GROWS BEARD!
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END SPOILERS FOR HOF
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*Resmiranda, The Shadows Trilogy (Door of the Morning, Interlude: Dreary Hour, Like Shadows on the Winter Sky). Dark, not a romance. This Snape shares the virtues of many others (intellect, some strongly held ethical convictions) but is a much darker and scarier person than most Snapes in this pairing (or in slash, for that matter). Very inventive magic and poetic sensibility. The author confesses at the end that her favorite novel is Voltaire's Candide, which explains a lot (including the source of the final scene). Resmiranda also wrote what may be the funniest short piece in the pairing, "A Little to the Left Professor" (known in my mind as "the duck fic").
Riley, Pawn to Queen (unfinished and the author does not plan to finish it. Very long anyway). By far the most controversial fic in this sector of the fandom, not excluding FFI, PtQ was the center of what has to have been the second longest single-fic kerfuffle in HP, the 8-month "PtQ Wars" that raged on WIKTT circa 2002. Fascinating. By a very young author, it has some great inventions in it, some elements that I don't think anyone who has read it will forget. It can also be overwrought and pretentious and worse, boring. Please note Minerva McTabby's (mctabby) parody "PtQ in a Nutshell."
Susanna (pigwidgeon37), various fics. Her biggest and best known is perhaps The Sybil's Oracle, but I haven't read it. I have read About a Potions Master, which was not to my taste but has many admirers, and From Hell--an early fic with much to recommend it but some language difficulties (Susanna is, I think, Austrian). Susanna's done a lot of helpful work for other members of the fandom (betaing, reccing, helping with Latin).
*TextualSphinx, A Decoding of the Heart (WIP: may not be finished). TextualSphinx's "Letter from Exile One Merciful Morning", which she later decided was a sequel to the events in the main part of this fic, was one of the very first Snape/Hermione stories, and it remains exceptional, if for no other reason than that Snape actually gets in trouble for bonking a student :). She writes beautifully and her work is loaded with that highbrow stuff I love. I particularly recommend the little interlude "Why Slytherins Are Sexier" (also, theoretically, part of Decoding), which is the source of the infamous Gryffindor sex manual Quidditch in Bed.
theatresm. As Aashby, theatresm became widely known for her Snape/OFC trilogy Brave New World, which I enjoyed. She is currently posting a Snape/Hermione novel, Chaos Is Come Again, as a WIP on LJ. I have not been keeping up with it, but I can recommend her as a writer.
*Yahtzee (yahtzee63), The Bloody Stare of Mars. Very very well written, and atypical of the genre. In fact, it's borderline Snape/Hermione (it's also Ron/Hermione, which is usually anathema to SS/HG shippers). Dystopian future with a terrific subplot involving Remus and an unpleasant Snape.
Author: idlerat
Spoilers: through OotP; spoilers for one fic are set off with spoiler space
The Buried Life*
Snape/Hermione is one of the most ficced pairings in Harry Potter fandom, even though their canon relationship sometimes seems like it can be boiled down to four infamous words: "I see no difference." (This is Snape's remark after Draco magically enlarges Hermione's already prominent front teeth in Goblet of Fire, UK ed. 263). This essay will explain why I think so many fans have written terrific stories placing these two characters in a relationship, in spite of these apparently unpromising materials, and provide an overview of classics in the subgenre.
Two caveats: first, I am not, in any traditional sense, a Snape/Hermione shipper. I've read a lot of Snape/Hermione fic, but I don't "support" the pairing: I don't find it canonically plausible, I like fic about other pairings at least as well, and, in fact, I haven't read much Snape/Hermione fic in the past year, and my essay is based on earlier works. I hope that Snape/Hermione fans who take a different view will comment on this post with their own perspective, and in particular that they will supplement my list of fics with more recent suggestions.
Second, I am convinced that the reason for the popularity of this pairing, even more than for some others, is that it allows people to tell the kind of stories they want to tell and read. I do not believe that Snape/Hermione fans are as concerned with canonicity as fans in some other parts of the fandom. Again, commentators will hopefully provide alternate views!
Because I think the center of Snape/Hermione is the fic, not canon, I have commented on many of the more famous works in this tradition. Again, your mileage will vary, and other comments are most welcome.
The kinds of stories we want to tell and read
I think my own experience of getting into Snape/Hermione was probably fairly typical. I'm one of those people who saw the first two movies before reading the books, and, just based on the movies, I found myself asking why Hermione wasn't the hero. She's so smart and brave and cool, and the author is a woman and it's the turn of the 21st century after all. What would happen if Hermione were the main character, the one who matters most?
After reading the books, and with a lingering taste of Alan Rickman on the mind's tongue, I added a further profound insight: Snape is HAWT, not to mention the most intriguing character in the story. So, based on my interest in these two characters on their own merits, shortly after "discovering" fan fiction I started looking for good stories about them, hopefully stories that would place the unreflecting boyishness of Rowling's Hogwarts in a different perspective. What I found was Kaz's Falling Further In, and I, well, fell further in. (Something flourish once said leads me to believe that quite a few people had been drawn into HP fandom by this fic).
When I turned to other Snape/Hermione fics, I started finding a lot of stories with a scholarly emphasis, where the authors were obviously well-read and wanted to include reflections on art, poetry, music, and philosophy in their work: this appealed to me also. Snape/Hermione is known as the subgenre of HP most allied with the traditional, bodice-ripper type romance, with an older, dark, mysterious, powerful, nasty, and (in many stories) rich hero and a younger, idealistic heroine who steals his heart. But it's equally important to remember that this is the teacher/student ship par excellance, since Hermione builds her identity around being a student so much more than any other of the young characters in the series. This one of the most popular pairings for people who like the idea of a bond based on intellectual affinity. It appeals to those who place a lot of importance on the fact that the HP series is set in a school, even when the stories are set after Hermione has finished at Hogwarts. There are other types of Snape/Hermione fic as well, but this is a very common approach.
And, as laurelwood commented to me recently, Snape/Hermione fic is a good place to read about smoother, sexier, more likeable Snapes, if that's what you're looking for. The pairing also attracts extremely long epics (you'll notice most of the fics on my list are novel-length), so if you're looking for long, you've come to the right place.
The characters:
Severus Snape is so well known, not only within HP but across fandom, that he hardly needs an introduction, and has been ably introduced by other essayists in this community. Harry's "least favorite professor" knows how the bring Teh Snark: mean, bitter, ugly, and articulate, with (probably) a core of morality and honor, the Potions Master is a huge favorite with slash and het fans alike. He dresses all in black; he's the Head of Slytherin House (stop giggling!); he joined the Death Eaters as a young man and later spied for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix "at great personal risk." In the time-frame of the books, he is in his mid- to late-30s. He hates Harry on sight, probably because he hated Harry's father, who bullied him at school. He is played in the films by sad-eyed, deep-voiced, notoriously sexy Alan Rickman. Rickman is a lot older and better-looking than canon-Snape, but he has certainly influenced many Snapes in this part of the fandom.
Hermione Granger is one of Harry's two close friends. She is the best student in her year at Hogwarts: she is both very intelligent and almost pathologically studious, and quite competitive as well. She is highly opinionated and not at all shy about sharing her opinions and showing off her knowledge. She has her hand in the air every time a teacher asks a question, and many times when they don't. (This cuts no ice with Professor Snape, at least in canon.) Her many opinions tend to have an ethical cast, and she is very interested in social and political issues; in Goblet of Fire, she begins a campaign to end House-Elf slavery. As the series goes on, she becomes increasingly perceptive about people's emotional lives, although she can be undiplomatic in pursuit of something she thinks is right or important. She's not particularly concerned with minding her own business.
Hermione is Muggleborn--she has non-magical parents, which makes her the butt of prejudice and in fact potentially puts her in a lot of danger from reactionary fanatics (the Death Eaters and their sympathizers) who believe that only wizards and witches of "pure-blood" should be allowed full rights in the magical world. She knows a great deal about the Wizarding World because she is such an avid reader, but she begins the series as an outsider. We never meet Hermione's parents, but we know that they are both dentists, and it's reasonable to imagine this as an aspirational middle-class family that puts a strong emphasis on education, since education has provided her parents with solid (and extremely mundane) careers. Although JKR has said that she once planned to give Hermione a sister, this character has never materialized, and it seems safe to assume that Hermione is an only child.
Hermione's status as an only child and an outsider in the WW, combined with her independent mind, have the potential to isolate her. The episode that is the catalyst for her friendship with Harry and Ron is important for understanding how her character is developed in fan fiction. After Hermione out-performs the wizard-raised Ron in Charms class, and is congratulated and awarded house points by Professor Flitwick, she overhears Ron say, "It's no wonder no one can stand her" (PS, UK ed., 127). Here, it sounds like she can't have friends because she is such a good and competitive student (and perhaps because she is a girl who refuses to hide her achievements under a bushel.) Later that night, when the students are sent to their Houses to protect them from a troll that has been set loose in the castle, Hermione doesn't hear the warning because she is hiding in the girl's toilets and crying, stung by Ron's remark; aware of this, Ron and Harry go to rescue her, and the duo becomes a trio from then on.
Isolation and Social Position
So, while Hermione sometimes seems very independent, her strong personality and her need to follow her own path sometimes isolates her, and she needs friends. This tension, between an acute need for the regard of others and a tendency to become isolated, is the main thing that ties her character to Snape's. Snape and Hermione both have very intense and troubled relationships with public recognition and institutional advancement. Hermione is obsessed with excelling at school, and always wants her achievements recognized, although she is willing to risk this when she decides to defy school rules in pursuit of justice, to protect her friends, or to fight Voldemort. Snape has always wanted a job teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, which he has never been given. In PoA, we learn that he badly wants official recognition in the form of an Order of Merlin.
The fanfic tradition tends to emphasize how unfairly Snape has been treated by the establishment. The key element in this is the infamous Shrieking Shack incident, aka "the Prank": for reasons that have still not been thoroughly explained, back when they were at Hogwarts Sirius tried to lure Snape out to where Lupin was busy being a werewolf. James, Harry's father, found out and intervened to save Snape. Most fan writers have assumed that Sirius was not severely punished, at least not expelled, and Remus was certainly not expelled; Snape may have felt betrayed by Dumbledore, who put his favoritism of these Gryffindors (as Snape saw it) above Snape's safety, and some have speculated that this may have contributed to the alienation that led him to join the Death Eaters.
Before OotP, many readers assumed that Snape was rich because of his position as head of Slytherin House, with its aristocratic traditions. More important, to my mind, was the tradition of the Gothic hero: Snape seemed like a candidate for this role, after GoF, because of his tortured past, his clever, sarcastic manners, and his black wardrobe. The tradition of Snape Manor is particularly associated with SS/HG because of its roots in the romance tradition, but, to be fair, filthyricharistocratic!Snape appears often in slash as well. This way of looking at Snape was damaged, it seems to me, by OotP, partly because the view we get of Snape as a teenaged loser was inconsistent with the mighty autonomy of the Gothic hero and also because of the flashes Harry sees, during Occlumency lessons, of the abusive household Snape grew up in. Rich households are just as likely as others to be the site of abuse, but I do think this scene clashed with expectations, at least for American readers. Not all SS/HG writers give Snape an aristocratic background; The Fire and the Rose, for example, gives a terrific portrait of a grim, and not at all wealthy, Snape family background.
In SS/HG, two very different characters who both find it hard to fit in, and maybe hard to love, find they can help each other to lead more fully human lives.
An aside: the Ron factor
One thing worth noting in Snape/Hermione fic is its general contempt for the Ron/Hermione pairing, which figures so largely in other parts of the fandom (Ron and Hermione are often a couple in the background of fics about other characters, as well as in Ron/Hermione fic proper.) This stems from the conviction that to hook up with Ron, especially to marry him, would be a kind of death for Hermione. People look at Molly Weasley's life and think, that's what Ron wants in a partner, and that's not Hermione. Snape/Hermione fans want to see Hermione paired with a character who is as smart as she is, who can keep up with her intellectually, who can challenge her and not be overwhelmed (or simply oblivious) in the face of her strong personality, and who will not expect her to stay home, cleaning and feeding a dozen offspring. There are exceptions. I wrote another essay on this in hp_fictalk a while back.
Conclusion
Snape/Hermione fic is based on the spark that arises from contrast combined with a sense that some underlying values can transcend certain types of difference. A basically happy person with a deep optimism; a deeply unhappy person full of cynicism and bitterness. Someone who has led a fairly sheltered life, such that her worst fear, at 13, is that McGonagall will tell her she has failed her classes; a former Death Eater. What they share is fierce moral conviction--strong enough, in Snape's case, to make him betray Voldemort and humble himself (he is very proud) before Dumbledore, and in Hermione's to take on the Hogwarts she reveres in a campaign for House Elf rights. Someone who thought he was beyond love is redeemed and brought back to the land of the living: someone who is very cerebral finds herself overcome by passion. This is the underlying dynamic played out in a fanfic tradition in which the teacher discovers he has something to learn from his student. It is, in a way, a version of the Pride and Prejudice model: a powerful, basically decent, but unpleasant man finds himself in love with a woman he believed to be his inferior, and his life is transformed.
*As you can see from the list of fics, I took this title from Kalina. It is the title of one of the best fics in this part of the fandom, and I think it expresses an underlying theme of much Snape/Hermione fic.
Resources
The premier center for discussion of this pairing has long been the Yahoo group "WIKTT" ("When I Kissed the Teacher"), which maintains a very comprehensive listing of Snape/Hermione fics, with summaries and ratings that you can vote on, called Dark Sarcasm. Beware the "most popular" list at the front--this is self perpetuating, since new users go to these first, and doesn't necessarily represent the most-recced fics.
Ashwinder (formerly, I kid you not, "Lord and Lady Snape") and Whispers are Snape/Hermione archives. Quite a few Snape/Hermione classics are also archived at La Societe des Femmes Dangereuses (sorry about the absent diacritic).
Some famous SS/HG fics
Double stars mark my absolute favorites; my other recs get single stars. Alphabetical by author.
I've given opinions but not summaries for these fics: please click links to get summaries, and add dissenting opinions (as well as additional recs) in comments.
*Abby, The Other Side of Darkness and Survivals and Remembrances. Atmospheric and well-written; more canonical Snape than some others in this genre. Cool magic.
*Abby and Domina, The Fire and the Rose. A long fic, posted a chapter a week for a year. Very sustained body-switching device, leading to lots of masturbation experiments (I <<33 wank fic), humorous dilemmas, and, IIRC, a very moving section where Hermione must visit Snape's family home as Snape. As with many SS/HGs, there's a lot in here about clothes, and Snape proves to have simply mahvelous taste.
**Amanuensis (amanuensis1), "Love's Appalling Adverbs." A parody of the genre by a famous slasher. Metafic, with implications for fan fiction and erotic fiction that go well beyond Snape/Hermione. Amanuensis plays an uncharacteristically mature Snape and casts the Snape/Hermione writer as Hermione. Ingenious.
Amy McWilliams (mcamy), A Matter of Honor. An early trilogy that set the pattern for many later school-based Snape/Hermione fics. I adore Amy.
Anna (coldcoffeeeyes), the Travelogue (or "Classic Cinema Series")-- i.e. Roman Holiday, Jewel of the Nile, and Last Tango in Paris (WIP: only 47 chapters of the last volume!). Extremely well written, with gallons of plot. Also HG/DM and HG/BW. This is the queen of a large SS/HG sub-genre I call "year-at-the-Sorbonne-fic"; Anna's Hermione is often accused of being a Sue--"Who was this minx, and what had she done with disheveled, bookish Hermione?" She travels around the Continent and beyond having enriching experiences (Anna is a music teacher, and classical music plays a prominent role), though she also suffers terrible losses, as does Snape. The series leaves Hogwarts and the WW as you know it far behind. Very popular and, as I said, beautifully written. Some great sex scenes and original magic.
Domina (formerly Anne), Round Midnight. Much recced, and I liked it. An academic fic, set at least partly at Oxford, with, IIRC, a somewhat unhappy and isolated adult Hermione.
*Didodikali (trickofthedark), Teacher's Pet. A classic. I've seen it listed as a children's story, which it isn't, though it has the sweetness and the adorable illos and animals and basic lovableness of everyone (including Snape) that one finds in D's work generally. Funny. Available in an astonishing number of languages.
**Kalina (kalinalea), The Buried Life, and other stories. This is the fic I always recommend to everyone, whether they read this pairing or not. Beautifully written and plotted, with a deeply humane sensibility. Her characterizations and settings are impeccable, and her story well-paced. Give it a few chapters to get going, and bring a hankie for the fourth quarter. Among her short stories, I love "Still Here," but "The Last Word" is perhaps more generally popular. Her unfinished novel-length fic (which she does not plan to finish) Desperate Measures is brilliant also, if you can handle unfinished fic. You can read my reviews here.
**Kaz (called "KazVL" at FA and "kaz2" at FFnet), Falling Further In (WIP and, IMO, unlikely to be completed). I have so much to say about this fic that I hardly know how to say just a little. It's messy, baroque, excessive, and where it is good it is absolutely brilliant. Definitely in the romance tradition, with a very strong, super-sexy, and decent Snape (who gets tortured a lot), this is both the most beloved and in some quarters perhaps the most reviled SS/HG fic. Kaz sets her story during a summer at Hogwarts, which enables her to draw a sweeping portrait of the school from the faculty's perspective (Hermione, whose parents have been killed by LV, is the only student there). At her best, her characterization and dialogue are exceptional, her devices and descriptions are inventive, and she comes up with turns of phrase that just knock me out. At her worst, she mixes metaphors, invokes cliches, and can seem incredibly heavy, even stilted. She makes full characters out of McGonagall, Sprout, Hooch, and above all Pomfrey, giving us a cast of adult women, distinct and with distinct relationships between them, that is rare and wonderful. Her Hogwarts sometimes feels like an idealized elective family. I love her confident Hermione: this fic epitomizes the Snape/Hermione tradition of refocusing HP around a female hero. (Harry, when he finally appears, is a nightmare, anticipating OotP pretty well!) If you'd like to read something shorter, set much later but in the same universe, I highly recommend "Who By Fire," but that's just the two main characters.
Luthien (luthien67), "In Whiskey Veritas." Luthien has said, I believe, that her goal in this fic was to be very true to the canon characters and see if she could still pull the pairing off. These are not the same characters found in most other fics in the genre, and they don't really match my ideas of the canon characters either, but it's a good fic.
*Meri-Todd Webster (mommybird)'s 'Absence' series--actually Snape/Harry/Hermione, but should appeal to many SS/HG fans. Sweet and loveable porn.
Quillusion, Soul Searching. Started out as a PWP metafic (Snape discovers the WIKTT archives; Hermione spies on him), but it was a huge hit and Quillusion expanded it into a very plotty story full of ancient magicks. You can still read the first couple chapters on their own if you're so inclined.
Ramos, The Hinge of Fate. A monster hit.
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Snape forced to rape Hermione! Supersperm finds the egg! Hermione realizes "DNA" spells "potions genius"! Career must be abandoned! Barefoot and pregnant hippie wedding! Cottage! Cheese! Luv is all around! Sprogs galore! SNAPE GROWS BEARD!
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END SPOILERS FOR HOF
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*Resmiranda, The Shadows Trilogy (Door of the Morning, Interlude: Dreary Hour, Like Shadows on the Winter Sky). Dark, not a romance. This Snape shares the virtues of many others (intellect, some strongly held ethical convictions) but is a much darker and scarier person than most Snapes in this pairing (or in slash, for that matter). Very inventive magic and poetic sensibility. The author confesses at the end that her favorite novel is Voltaire's Candide, which explains a lot (including the source of the final scene). Resmiranda also wrote what may be the funniest short piece in the pairing, "A Little to the Left Professor" (known in my mind as "the duck fic").
Riley, Pawn to Queen (unfinished and the author does not plan to finish it. Very long anyway). By far the most controversial fic in this sector of the fandom, not excluding FFI, PtQ was the center of what has to have been the second longest single-fic kerfuffle in HP, the 8-month "PtQ Wars" that raged on WIKTT circa 2002. Fascinating. By a very young author, it has some great inventions in it, some elements that I don't think anyone who has read it will forget. It can also be overwrought and pretentious and worse, boring. Please note Minerva McTabby's (mctabby) parody "PtQ in a Nutshell."
Susanna (pigwidgeon37), various fics. Her biggest and best known is perhaps The Sybil's Oracle, but I haven't read it. I have read About a Potions Master, which was not to my taste but has many admirers, and From Hell--an early fic with much to recommend it but some language difficulties (Susanna is, I think, Austrian). Susanna's done a lot of helpful work for other members of the fandom (betaing, reccing, helping with Latin).
*TextualSphinx, A Decoding of the Heart (WIP: may not be finished). TextualSphinx's "Letter from Exile One Merciful Morning", which she later decided was a sequel to the events in the main part of this fic, was one of the very first Snape/Hermione stories, and it remains exceptional, if for no other reason than that Snape actually gets in trouble for bonking a student :). She writes beautifully and her work is loaded with that highbrow stuff I love. I particularly recommend the little interlude "Why Slytherins Are Sexier" (also, theoretically, part of Decoding), which is the source of the infamous Gryffindor sex manual Quidditch in Bed.
theatresm. As Aashby, theatresm became widely known for her Snape/OFC trilogy Brave New World, which I enjoyed. She is currently posting a Snape/Hermione novel, Chaos Is Come Again, as a WIP on LJ. I have not been keeping up with it, but I can recommend her as a writer.
*Yahtzee (yahtzee63), The Bloody Stare of Mars. Very very well written, and atypical of the genre. In fact, it's borderline Snape/Hermione (it's also Ron/Hermione, which is usually anathema to SS/HG shippers). Dystopian future with a terrific subplot involving Remus and an unpleasant Snape.