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crack_van2009-06-01 05:32 pm
perverse-idyll.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2009-06-01 05:32 pm
Entry tags:
Fallen Far from the Tree by joanwilder aka Rae Whit (NC-17)
Hi, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
perverse_idyll here, and I'll be driving the Harry Potter van this month. I make my home on the Snarry side of fandom, but Severus Snape is my One True Character and I'm a fairly omnivorous reader if the fic meets my Snape standards. All of my recs this month will feature him, sometimes peripherally, but for the most part front and center in all his bastardly, multi-layered, semi-tragic glory.
To prove it, let's kick off the month with a fic that takes no prisoners.
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Severus Snape/Harry Potter, Severus Snape/Albus Severus Potter
Length: ~19,000
Author on LJ:joanwilder
Author Website: Fanfiction by Rae Whit
Why this must be read:
Because it's brilliant. The soft-hearted among you take heed: this story will gut you. Its centerpiece is the absolutely spot-on portrait of Headmaster Snape, who for this fic's purposes was not done in by lethal snakebite and who is more than equal to meting out venom himself. In this interpretation, he's both canon-compliant and canon-transcendent.joanwilder is better known for her more sympathetic and reasonable versions of Snape, but this time around she captures the man Snape would likely be if he'd lived: cold, frighteningly intelligent, sharp-tongued, sexually intense, morally ambiguous, an iron-willed and sophisticated administrator, and Slytherin to the tips of his fingernails (take that, oh Headmaster "We Sort Too Soon"!). Last but not least, he's still entangled with the Potter family in ways that will inevitably drag his vulnerabilities through the mud.
The ending left me breathless (and arguing in my mind with the author, begging for it not to be so). Because Snape triumphs by crushing what is most precious in him and to him. Given his history and what happens here, he's helpless not to retaliate, not to take revenge - and readers are led to recoil from him at the same time that we writhe with him in this trap of consuming emotions. The other characters are equally memorable - you'll ache for Harry and simultaneously want to land a boot in his arse, while young Albus Severus will make your stomach flip-flop. It took me three read-throughs to come to terms with this fic, and on each pass my admiration for the author grew. Not a feel-good fic, but exhilarating in its complexity, subtlety, and sheer ballsiness. So buckle your seatbelts and hang on for the ride.
Severus Snape lifted his eyes at the very last moment. Just before he slipped the spoonful of seafood bisque between his lips, he darted his eyes to the Gryffindor table.
He watched surreptitiously as Albus Severus slid into a seat beside his father, lifting his leg to straddle the bench. It occurred to Snape, then, that he'd been admiring three generations of Potter arses. This last one was perhaps the finest.
Yes, the Potters were there…son, daughter, mother and father, all gathered together for Parents Weekend. Next year only the girl would remain, so a blessed end would be in sight. He wondered idly where the eldest boy was now, then decided he didn't give a rat's arse, so long as it wasn't here. James Sirius Potter had been strikingly like his namesakes, so much so that in the beginning Snape'd had to remind himself that he was the headmaster and needn't resort to…juvenile retaliation to keep the whelp in his place. Not at all like his brother….
Snape's tablemate must've noticed his preoccupation, as she nudged him with an elbow. "Just think, Severus, in a few years, all the Potters will be gone. Until Harry and Ginny's grandchildren begin to arrive."
"Yes, something to look forward to…no Potters in these hallowed halls," he murmured as he tilted his bowl to capture the last of the bisque.
"Go on, I know you have a soft spot for the boy," she chided. "He's your namesake, after all. Doesn't remind me of Albus, though. More like his grandfather."
"You think so? Hmmm, I'm not sure."
"He's just like James was—intelligent, thoughtful, but not above a bit of fun." She paused, and when Snape didn't answer, she added, "Not like Harry at all. Harry was intelligent, of course, but so serious, with the burden he carried…." She shook her head as she clucked sympathetically.
"He was a cheeky little brat," Snape said dryly. "I saw that side of him often enough."
"But not with his classmates—he was always courteous and helpful. Proper in a way his father never was," she disagreed.
"Harry Potter, proper? At least outwardly, I suppose," he said as he sat back in his chair, watching the father and son with their heads bent toward each other, laughing over only god knew what.
Harry's skin glistened with sweat, his fingers clenched in the bed sheets as Snape leant in over him. "C'mon, c'mon, Severus, what're you waiting for, a bloody invitation?! God," he groaned out as he arched up off the bed. "Fuck!" he cried out when Snape cruelly twisted a slick sensitive nipple.
"I imagine he has his dirty little secrets, just like the rest of us," Snape said as he nonchalantly poured tea for his Deputy.
Fallen Far from the Tree
perverse_idyll here, and I'll be driving the Harry Potter van this month. I make my home on the Snarry side of fandom, but Severus Snape is my One True Character and I'm a fairly omnivorous reader if the fic meets my Snape standards. All of my recs this month will feature him, sometimes peripherally, but for the most part front and center in all his bastardly, multi-layered, semi-tragic glory.To prove it, let's kick off the month with a fic that takes no prisoners.
Fandom: HARRY POTTER
Pairing: Severus Snape/Harry Potter, Severus Snape/Albus Severus Potter
Length: ~19,000
Author on LJ:
joanwilderAuthor Website: Fanfiction by Rae Whit
Why this must be read:
Because it's brilliant. The soft-hearted among you take heed: this story will gut you. Its centerpiece is the absolutely spot-on portrait of Headmaster Snape, who for this fic's purposes was not done in by lethal snakebite and who is more than equal to meting out venom himself. In this interpretation, he's both canon-compliant and canon-transcendent.
joanwilder is better known for her more sympathetic and reasonable versions of Snape, but this time around she captures the man Snape would likely be if he'd lived: cold, frighteningly intelligent, sharp-tongued, sexually intense, morally ambiguous, an iron-willed and sophisticated administrator, and Slytherin to the tips of his fingernails (take that, oh Headmaster "We Sort Too Soon"!). Last but not least, he's still entangled with the Potter family in ways that will inevitably drag his vulnerabilities through the mud.The ending left me breathless (and arguing in my mind with the author, begging for it not to be so). Because Snape triumphs by crushing what is most precious in him and to him. Given his history and what happens here, he's helpless not to retaliate, not to take revenge - and readers are led to recoil from him at the same time that we writhe with him in this trap of consuming emotions. The other characters are equally memorable - you'll ache for Harry and simultaneously want to land a boot in his arse, while young Albus Severus will make your stomach flip-flop. It took me three read-throughs to come to terms with this fic, and on each pass my admiration for the author grew. Not a feel-good fic, but exhilarating in its complexity, subtlety, and sheer ballsiness. So buckle your seatbelts and hang on for the ride.
Severus Snape lifted his eyes at the very last moment. Just before he slipped the spoonful of seafood bisque between his lips, he darted his eyes to the Gryffindor table.
He watched surreptitiously as Albus Severus slid into a seat beside his father, lifting his leg to straddle the bench. It occurred to Snape, then, that he'd been admiring three generations of Potter arses. This last one was perhaps the finest.
Yes, the Potters were there…son, daughter, mother and father, all gathered together for Parents Weekend. Next year only the girl would remain, so a blessed end would be in sight. He wondered idly where the eldest boy was now, then decided he didn't give a rat's arse, so long as it wasn't here. James Sirius Potter had been strikingly like his namesakes, so much so that in the beginning Snape'd had to remind himself that he was the headmaster and needn't resort to…juvenile retaliation to keep the whelp in his place. Not at all like his brother….
Snape's tablemate must've noticed his preoccupation, as she nudged him with an elbow. "Just think, Severus, in a few years, all the Potters will be gone. Until Harry and Ginny's grandchildren begin to arrive."
"Yes, something to look forward to…no Potters in these hallowed halls," he murmured as he tilted his bowl to capture the last of the bisque.
"Go on, I know you have a soft spot for the boy," she chided. "He's your namesake, after all. Doesn't remind me of Albus, though. More like his grandfather."
"You think so? Hmmm, I'm not sure."
"He's just like James was—intelligent, thoughtful, but not above a bit of fun." She paused, and when Snape didn't answer, she added, "Not like Harry at all. Harry was intelligent, of course, but so serious, with the burden he carried…." She shook her head as she clucked sympathetically.
"He was a cheeky little brat," Snape said dryly. "I saw that side of him often enough."
"But not with his classmates—he was always courteous and helpful. Proper in a way his father never was," she disagreed.
"Harry Potter, proper? At least outwardly, I suppose," he said as he sat back in his chair, watching the father and son with their heads bent toward each other, laughing over only god knew what.
Harry's skin glistened with sweat, his fingers clenched in the bed sheets as Snape leant in over him. "C'mon, c'mon, Severus, what're you waiting for, a bloody invitation?! God," he groaned out as he arched up off the bed. "Fuck!" he cried out when Snape cruelly twisted a slick sensitive nipple.
"I imagine he has his dirty little secrets, just like the rest of us," Snape said as he nonchalantly poured tea for his Deputy.
Fallen Far from the Tree