Eve of fate

Here's a thought:

Sirius has been getting so much shit for the Prank and putting Snape's life in danger, but in The Prince's Tale, when Lily is griping about Snape's friends, and with the Prank still fresh, Snape has a perfect window to badmouth Sirius - arguably, the latter trying to kill him should be even worse than Avery and Mulciber's dark magic.

And yet Snape does not even mention Sirius. All he complains about is James Potter, his sneaking around with Remus and his fancying Lily.

Do you think that maybe, the supposedly hideous Prank wasn't such a big deal after all? Just some information that Snape stupidly decided to put to the test?

Do you think that maybe Snape knows he was the one that fucked up, which is why he doesn't try to put the blame on Sirius?

Do you think that maybe he was never in much danger, which is why James supposedly saving him is all the more annoying to him - because it gives James a chance to boast about being a heroic saviour when maybe all he did was just pull Snape back from the immobilized tree?

Do you think that maybe he later plays it up for pity points, in front of Harry who has not the slightest idea of what had really happened, knowing that Remus is guilt-prone and Sirius has a reputation as an unhinged murderer?

Not saying that Sirius had any sort of innocent intention, but I'm inclined to think it was more like "why should I care to protect him? He's a big boy and he thinks he's smart; if he wants to see what's going on, let him have it" rather than a nefarious plan to actually get him killed or bitten.

Snape was told - threatened, even - by Dumbledore not to speak of the incident at all. This makes enough sense, though it is pretty mean to Snape: Albus really stuck his neck out to allow Remus to have an education - during a war where Werewolves are typically aligned with Voldemort - if the truth of his Lycanthropy gets out worst case scenario is they both get sent to Azkaban. But that's how serious it is. Snape CANNOT be allowed to speak of the incident. Even a rumor could ruin Albus AND Remus' lives. You think he would risk getting expelled just to blab about it...? When the home he has to go to outside of Hogwarts is a 4 room house covered in smog with an abusive father - and an outdoor toilet half the street shares...? We SEE the effect the incident had on him in POA: He is SCARED of Remus. As a 33yr old man. He backs away after giving the potion. He allows Remus to get away with all sorts of passive-aggressive gaslighting comments at his expense when for anyone else - even Dumbledore - he would snap at them. He dotes every month on Remus to make sure he drinks it. He doesn't go 'well if he doesn't drink it, its his own fault and I can get him kicked out finally' - he nags and hangs around and gets antsy as the full moon approaches. To say its 'no big deal' and 'he used it for pity points'... The last thing Severus ever did to anyone was ask for pity. He HATED being pitied. His 'worst memory' is where he is being shown as pathetic - NOT the one where he almost died.

I don't even know why I'm bothering because I usually just ignore people like OP, but there's a glaringly obvious detail being overlooked here so fine, I'll bite.

We know the following:

Putting these three bits of info together tells us that not only was Snape in serious danger, but James did not even employ his most effective defensive against Lupin (and granted, there probably isn't much room to transform into a stag in the whomping willow tunnel, which is presumably so narrow in places to prevent a large animal like a werewolf using it to get back onto school grounds). So yes, I would assume that, given all the clues in the text, the werewolf prank put Snape in a lot of danger. It was likely James pulling him back through the narrower parts of the tunnel that kept werewolf-lupin at bay, but Snape, who had not been through that tunnel dozens of times like James, would not have known this and only been aware that a werewolf was in close range threatening his life.

On a related note, the Marauders had to learn to become animagi, taking several years to do so, in order to safely be around Lupin when he was a werewolf. Sirius sent Snape into Lupin's path knowing he didn't have this ability and was therefore vulnerable. I can only assume, based on how drastic a measure becoming an animagi seems to be, that there were no apparent simpler ways to defend oneself against a werewolf. So, again, it seems like encountering a full-grown werewolf is pretty clearly a life-threateningly dangerous situation.

The text lays out that Sirius had every intention of Snape doing exactly that, and that James finding out about the prank was coincidental and last-minute. Sirius even says in PoA, as a fully grown adult, that Snape would have deserved what he got had he met Lupin as a full-grown werewolf, and shows both a full understanding of his actions and no regret over them. So given all that, I'm not sure Snape was the one who fucked up here. But "maybe the kid who was almost killed is blowing it out of proportion and maybe the other kid who bullied him and thought it would be funny to use his friend as a murder weapon isn't so bad" sure is a hot take.

Owing your bully your life and having your best friend praise him, after getting outsmarted by Sirius, is such a singular humiliation that I'm very certain that Snape would have downplayed the whole damn thing, never mind the fear of a retaliation if he did get Sirius and Lupin in real trouble, and this is before Dumbledore's bit of institutional silencing.

Discworld witches for dear Ari ♥ Female characters are one reason why I love Discworld so much♥ Thanks, mister Pratchett for them, for writing just regular girls and ladies doing weird fantasy stuff ♥

idling after work🚬

I'm about to turn the age Snape was when he died and there's so much to do still, so many things to experience. And I haven't really given away 17 years in service to Dumbledore to repent for my great mistake, so... the man really didn't live, did he? I know he isn't real, but I still feel the waste and that we can't let our real lives pass us by.

And I owe him my life in a very real sense. Especially specific precious aspects of it.

So I really, really, appreciate the sacrifice. If I ever meet someone even a little like you, Sev, I hope I'll lighten their load.

Snape with film-accurate hair :V

Mrs. Evans One-Shot

Mrs. Evans's second pregnancy was... strange. Different. It seemed to announce itself not through nausea or tenderness or any of the usual signs: for these nine months, Lily's mother had had magic in her body and life had just become subtly and inexplicably easier. The car seemed to park itself, the groceries felt lighter, her eldest even seemed more disciplined and her husband more helpful. She would never forget those months, she knew - when Lily turned out to be a witch, it almost made sense. Her mother had experienced it to a minor degree first hand, and she had felt almost validated when the witch came from the school to explain it all, and she felt relieved when it came to pass, soon after, that Lily had known for two years, that she had made a magical friend.

When Lily was born, almost on the very second, before she even started crying, there was a blackout that nearly gave them all a heart attack - the first manifestation of magic by a terrified new-born, experiencing cold, hunger, and separation for the first time. Mrs. Evans had felt, then, that something had been taken from her, something more than just the baby. Life had become difficult again. Not bad, by any means – she had considered herself blessed and fortunate – but the easy-going smoothness was gone. She had lost the unconscious control she had exerted over the minor frustrations and nuisances, and with two daughters, an infant who seemed to have a supernatural ability to get her way (as it would turn out, she did), Mrs. Evans could not help but to feel the lack. Even so, it was worth it, of course it was, to watch her daughters growing into toddlers, children, girls, to watch the sisters learning they were sisters.

It had not been the same for Eileen Prince, it turned out. Eager to talk to another woman who had carried a magical baby in her womb, Mrs. Evans tried to do the unthinkable and make a friend at Spinner's End. “He's been a pain since he was conceived,” Mr. Snape – on the dole, rotting on the threadbare sofa – answered for his wife. It seemed to Mrs. Evans that the man possessed supernatural hearing: the women were in the kitchen, and Mrs. Snape spoke in a very hushed tone. “Toby didn’t want him to be magical,” Eileen explained, stirring her tea for way too long. “It hurt him to be near me, when I was pregnant. The child must have felt it. And then of course, traveling to London so it wouldn’t cause a stir at the Muggle – the regular hospital, lest something strange happen....”

There seemed to be an inverse correlation between the two mothers’ experience, and Mrs. Evans couldn’t help but think something must be wrong with this woman. She had to be either stupid or wicked to be here, live like this, when she had the power Mrs. Evans had only glimpsed at and still missed.

“A man works and breaks his back to raise a family, and what does he get? A freak who looks down on him for having to work, owl droppings on his countertops!” Mr. Snape butted into the conversation from the other side of the house. How thin were those walls? Mrs. Evans thought it was a bit rich to complain about “breaking his back” whilst sitting on his sofa at midday, or worry about hygiene when the stench from the factory and the garbage strike meant everything had attracted flies.

She knew it was important for Lily to have other friends like her, especially if she was to go to a new school where she would be all alone, but she wished it had been another family – any other family. For the sake of her daughter, she swore she’d be cordial and correct, if nothing else. She would not keep the boy away from Lily until Lily had made new friends, better friends, who could show her how to use magic to improve herself. She was proud of her daughter, and she trusted her to make the best choices as soon as good choices presented themselves.

Saw someone be like "at least barty didn't bully kids when he was a teacher" but like, babe he literally did.

First of all, traumatizing the shit out of Neville (and the whole class honestly) with his demonstration of a curse that he literally used to torture Neville's parents (that's some deranged shit)

And then there was the whole turning Draco into am animal and flinging him around (I guess assault doesn't count if it's towards unlikable people)

Not to mention putting Harry's name in the goblet (which, idk, definitely feels like bullying)

"Barty didn't bully kids" he literally led a kid to their death what are you talking about?

But some respect on that murderous psycho's name

Totally agreed with your tags here @carried-away-with-cleverness, BCJ is a ruthless and terrifying antagonist, and I’ll never understand people who want to take that away from him.

Also, to add onto OP’s examples here, attacking a student like Malfoy wasn’t just a one-off thing. BCJ attacked Krum in the Forbidden Forest, stunning him and leaving him with a dazed and hurting head when he was awoken. Crouch also stunned Fleur in the Maze as she passed him, and then escalated to using the Imperius curse on Krum with the intent to have Krum “finish” Cedric, whatever that meant. Like, man made a habit out of attacking students.

BCJ literally a murdered a man in the Hogwarts grounds (his dad). He's not a bully, he's a full-on murderous, fanatical psychopath. Mad respect for his cunning and skills, but "bully" is a tame word for what he was.

I also think this is a good time to point out that just because antis think Snape is the worst and call him a bully doesn't mean that being a bully is the worst thing? Or even that Snape is the biggest one in the series. Unless you're contextualizing that with, "Snape was a bully to some of the students but also BCJ was a full-on psychopath who traumatized several of them."

BCJ is the best written baddie outside of Voldemort himself and the fact that he managed to manipulate Harry and others only makes him more compelling and evil, not less. Guys he was "nice" because he was trying to manipulate the kids so that Harry would die. If anything, he's the proof that Snape really really couldn't afford to be nice and had to be a cunt, which is an argument I hate because it whitewashes Snape too much.

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Snape of the Lake

soaring

like a wind, like a blade

Severus Snape in his 20s vs Snape in his late 40s

insta I twtr X I tiktok

he's acting

4 years after graduation wasn’t long enough for Filch to forget the silhouette of a spidery student skulking around in the dark.

I saw a post (can’t remember by whom) that said something along the line of Snape probably getting mistaken for a student by Argus Filch when he first started teaching at Hogwarts. I thought it was funny, so I put it into a drawing🌝