Comments | severus_shorts: BFS ENTRY: No Room for the Weak (PG; Eileen, Harry, Severus)

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BFS ENTRY: No Room for the Weak (PG; Eileen, Harry, Severus)

Feb 07, 2010 09:00

Title: No Room for the Weak
Category: Four (31- to 40-years-old)
Characters: Eileen, Harry, Severus
Author: perverse_idyll
Beta Reader: loupgarou1750
Rating: PG
(Highlight to View) Warning(s): None.
Word Count: +/- 10,400
Author's Note: I seem to have convinced myself that Joy Division's 1979 album "Unknown Pleasures" is the ultimate soundtrack to Snape's life.
Summary: ( Read more... )

bfs entry, author: perverse_idyll

Comments 101

iulia_linnea February 7 2010, 14:06:51 UTC

Oh, this is astonishing work, full of bite and strange softness, stern and bitter love. Your Eileen is a revelation; I love her most of all, but I love your Harrys, too. So. Much.

Eileen's acidic inner sarcasm and outward hostile civility, how she loves her boy, how she wants to make up her own mind (and why!), her wager, and the chance that she takes-all of these things are divine; if I made a proper list, it would be too long and the quoting-back too much. Suffice it to say, again, that I love your Eileen.

So. Much!

perverse_idyll February 12 2010, 04:24:20 UTC

Thank you, my dear! Fic-wise, I appear to have a mother-fixation; after tackling Lily, I had to circle back and give Eileen a voice, too. And it seemed to me that if Eileen were alive after the Dark Lord fell, her feelings about her son would be obsessive and conflicted - just like his. It was a pleasure seeing things through her eyes, even if the view was somewhat terrifying.

Btw, thank you so much for giving me the chance to pit myself against the short story form. The necessary leanness brought Eileen that much more into focus, I think. Her speech patterns came so naturally that I've actually toyed with the idea of recording a podfic of this, if only I could get the accent right. :)

iulia_linnea February 12 2010, 18:30:57 UTC

I enjoy your mother fixation, and I'm incredibly pleased that you took the chance to write something short; you excel at the short form. *smooches*

shiv5468 February 7 2010, 17:38:08 UTC

Oh my oh my. I do like your Severus here, and Eileen, imagined as strong and darkish herself. So much more inteersting and complex than the usual Eileens we see.

perverse_idyll February 12 2010, 04:27:55 UTC

Severus is so clearly a product of his upbringing, not just his experiences as an outcast at school. Ever since The Prince's Tale, I've been fascinated by our glimpses of his background, that curious combination of Muggle poverty and inherent, inherited difference.

Thank you so much for reading!

centaury_squill February 7 2010, 18:44:18 UTC

Oh yes. You can definitely see who Severus inherited his Slytherin character from. Brilliant!

perverse_idyll February 12 2010, 04:31:43 UTC

Heh. Yes, I can see Severus taking after his mother in most ways, since he obviously preferred to identify with the magical half of his heritage. I imagine them sharing certain tragic flaws that lead to irrevocable mistakes.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it. :)

aeryun247 February 7 2010, 19:13:47 UTC

As a mother, your Elieen makes me so sad. That she has lost hope for her son, and the ability to see the good in him. I think that was her true failure in the end.

perverse_idyll February 12 2010, 04:35:44 UTC

I think the Snape family saga is sad. But I wanted to hold out some hope. If Eileen truly believed her son was guilty, she would have gone through with her plan. There's just enough glimmer of self-doubt and stubborn love to stay her hand at the end.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

dickgloucester February 7 2010, 19:39:20 UTC

Wow - what a complex and conflicted portrait of Eileen. And of Severus, too, of course, but it's Eileen who is the star here, torn and bitter because of her love for her son. Not beautiful people in any way, but I feel you've opened the way for them to have a better future, if only they will accept it.

perverse_idyll February 12 2010, 05:07:29 UTC

Well, there seems to have been very little beauty in Severus' childhood; at least, that's how the clues add up for me. I tried to envision Eileen through the prism of memories we see concerning child!Snape, and to imagine what poverty and constricted ambition in a non-magical world would do to a witch. Also, there's a bit of "like mother, like son" thrown in.

I did want the ending to have that little burst of relief due to tragedy averted. Hope lies in the fact that Severus is free now, not beholden to any lord or master. It remains to be seen whether Eileen has been damaged beyond repair by their mutual choices.