Why I Love HBP Snape (and Salman Rushdie Does too!)

[harmony_bites]

I was just discussing with gioiamia, who like me recs on KIA, why I love Snape. She's involved with a LJ Community that speculates about Book 7, called hpbook7thoughts. That group isn't particularly SS/HG oriented, and Gioia actually considers Harry/Ginny her OTP. She says that everyone she knows in her corner of the fandom, Snape fan or not, believes Snape is still one

Comments

[mundungus42]

Ooh! Ooh! One more Snape defense to share! My second LJ post ever (about a month after HBP came out) contains my lawyer friend's strategy for defending Snape in a court of law. Great stuff!

I don't know about other SS/HG writers, but HBP was a welcome inspiration. I've already written four SS/HG stories in the time since it came out, which is freakishly high output for me. I LOVE HBP Snape, I savored every interaction we got to see (like with Bellatrix and Narcissa in Spinner's End).

Exchange piece? I'm about 1,800 words in. I have a vague outline but it's going to be hard to write, especially if I continue not getting enough sleep and/or losing my sense of humor. Best of luck with muses and carrots!

[shiv5468]

Your lawyer friend ... yeah that's not going to get him off the charge of murder. Oh no.

[harmony_bites]

I tend, sadly, to agree. I can't think of any criminal defense that could get Snape off. Not "assisted suicide" and not exigencies of war. The best we can hope for really would be a pardon, which doesn't depend on Snape being formally exonerated.

Well, in terms of RL law. Who knows what standards the Wizengamot goes by?

[shiv5468]

Well neither of those defences are known in UK law, so that wouldn't help at all.

Nor do we have pardons for people. Unless they are dead.

But there are ways of getting him off the charges. Proper, lawyery ways that are sneaky and devious and dirty.

[mollyssister]

I really enjoyed the article from the Baltimore Sun. I forwarded it to some friends who think Im nuts for having an "I trust Snape" bumper sticker on my car. I am not the only one!!!!!!!

[harmony_bites]

Acutally, if we go by that article, you're in the majority, particularly among adults. And if Gioa is right, you've even in the majority in the fanficcers community.

[mollyssister]

Well I do feel like the only one. None of my friends or family participate in fanfiction. Only a few have actually read the books. Going to Lumos was fantastic to meet others like me. But cant be doing that every year $$ That is why being a part of LJ is so fulfilling for me. A community is a good thing.

[wade_scott]

Well, you know my position on Snape. HBP was my deal-breaker, too. Before I was ambivalent at best, but now I'm firmly trenched on the White Hat side of the line. I think I was convinced by Spinner's End.

Does that mean I like the man? Hell, no. He's bitter, he's a bully to the kids (exhibiting the same behaviors he so vocally hates James for), and he's incredibly low-class (spitting on the Quidditch pitch and freaking out on Fudge). Personally, I think he needs a long vacation after the war, to get his head out of his ass and find himself a new life. His current one is too damaged.

So if I dislike Snape so much, why do I ship SS/HG? Because I like to see how writers bridge the gap between the two people. Especially post-HBP.

[harmony_bites]

I do like Snape, if by like you mean sympathy. Yes, he's flawed. Much of the "bullying" behavior I can see being explained. I once read this really fascinating article for instance dealing with Snape as a teacher, Good Snape is Not a Square Circle. I think both Duj in "Everything I've Ever Done" and Caeria in "Pet Project" do beautifully by that

[wade_scott]

Oh, yes, I definitely give him the sympathy factor. I probably like him like Dumbledore does. I'm very sure Dumbles does not like everything Snape does. However, Dumbles sees beyond that and values Snape on Snape's terms.

Then again, isn't that how every relationship in life goes? I may not agree with everything my friends do, but I love them despite their flaws. Family members aren't perfect, but we love them anyway.

It's like Lupin (?) said: The world isn't devided between the good and the Death Eaters. It's hard to believe that someone can still be "good" even if they do something "bad" like killing. Perhaps that's why they plug their ears and close their eyes and pretend that HBP doesn't exist. Because it's easier than trying to reconcile the fact that good doesn't always equal innocent.

[wade_scott]

PS: Good to see you back. ::Sends lots of crunchy carrots to the stumped plot bunny::

[e_danae]

I've started to be interested in Snape after reading book four. I just thought - hey, here comes a well-written character! There might be one or two web pages about him! - and fall into the deep deep Snape-verse

[harmony_bites]

I suppose that is true--that canon has narrowed. But I think shippers narrow it even further by stubborning telling the same stories over and over. You know how much I love Thirty Pieces (which itself is post-HBP) and part of what I love is that it's not the five hundredth apprentice or 1,001st seventh year fic or the 2,002nd MLC. There was something Shiv once said on WIKTT about MLC fics that resonated with me. That the shame about them wasn't the stories told, but the ones that weren't. Where were the stories about Hermione with her own business, or championing elf-rights, or finding a cure for Lycanthopy

[e_danae]

You know how much I love Thirty Pieces (which itself is post-HBP) and part of what I love is that it's not the five hundredth apprentice or 1,001st seventh year fic or the 2,002nd MLC.

Wow, that's encouraging! One of the reason might be that wade_scott made a vow we will kick the ass of every single cliche which will dare to enter the story. Still trying :)

I know the Red Hen essay of "Dumbledore Lives" and I think this scenario isn't entirely impossible. Unfortunately, Dumbledore alive steals a lot of tension and strength from the HBP spirit. That's why I don't see it as a very good base for a post-HBP fic. But a good story might convince me...
Dumbledore already dying at the Astronomic Tower, probably even poisoned by Harry, is my favorite scenario. Could work for Wizengamot and save him for happier years :)

Uh oh. Does this mean every time I try to get you to write more Thirty Pieces you're going to mention Book of Shadows to me?Try me

[harmony_bites]

I know the Red Hen essay of "Dumbledore Lives" and I think this scenario isn't entirely impossible.

I'm afraid it is because JKR has said so. She said at a question and answer session to a question of Salman Rushdie that Dumbledore is definately dead. So it's not really possible it'll work that way, but there's nothing in the actual canon--ie what is already written--that would make it impossible.

I agree it's something of a cop out though. One that robs us of the questions Snape's act in killing Dumbledore brings up. Issues of whether such a killing can ever be morally, even if not legally justifiable and if you can commit such an act and yet be a good person, even heroic. And can it be forgiven? By Harry or anyone else.

Thanks for the kind words about BOS--though I always intended to take it from HOW to WHAT and continue beyond HBP, though I'm not sure how I'd feel about that once the next book comes out.

I'm afraid I won't be able to resist asking for more Thirty Pieces. I think that story has tremendous potential. If you guys

[e_danae]

To be absolutely honest, the main reason why I'm a bit careful in enforcing more chapters of BOS might be my hufflepuffness. I simply need to know first if this approach would bother you or encourage you. Hufflepuffs care more of what people feel then what they do ;)

If there is a slightest possibility of a new chapter being posted, I would do my best to convince you that you really should do it. Because as far as I can know, this is an extraordinary story and each new chapter of it would write a new chapter in the HG/SS shipping.
On the other hand, you might be simply somewhere else now, and BOS is a closed book now. In that case, I'm thankful for what you've done; for the effort and spirit you put into it. Because these qualities are the reasons why it works so well even unfinished.

I don't see a reason to bother you or play a guilty game or make you feel bad because this is over.

[wade_scott]

I've been needling her to finish BOS, too. And I haven't read it.

I think I just needle to get even with Harmony for needling me. Unlike Danae, I am not a Hufflepuff. ;)