A Sad and Happy Story

Please note that I do this with a certain feeling of unease. It seems somehow wrong to post and not have a chapter, but I feel an explanation is in order.

Hi, friends who are kind enough to read my ramblings. If you would indulge me, I would like to take a moment and explain my interpretation of the character that is Severus Snape. It has been pointed out to me multiple times that I write a sensitive Severus, which evidently stands out. I must confess that I myself would never have written such things in a million years before reading Spinner’s End, or more importantly, The Prince’s Tale, which had a profound effect on my thinking. I never thought that our man was Voldemort’s, but it was looking questionable there for a while.

Our first peek at his humanity, I believe, happened at the beginning of book six, when Narcissa invades his home and forces him, more or less, to promise her that if it came down to it, he would commit murder for her (crudely wrapped up in one sentence). Now as a crowd, Brits don’t so much do emotion, compared with a random sampling of other cultures (it was a scientific study, actually—kidding). His willingness to enter into such a contract cannot be purely put off on Bellatrix’s shenanigans, as I am certain that if he so wished he could have put a cleaver spin on the truth (as he did throughout their conversation) and gotten out of it. Or he could have cut them off at the pass, and not allowed Narcissa to say what was on her mind. It was subtle, but I don’t think I’m imagining it (and we know how he feels about subtlety).

The deal-clincher for me was, like I said, in The Prince’s Tale (which, by the way, also shaped how I perceive and write Lily). When he is in number 12, crying over the letter and picture, and also just down the page when he says with force to the portrait, “Do not use that word!” All of this has convinced me he is capable of being more than an intimidating bat/greasy git/Snivellus, and that a large part of what he needs is a good cry, but someone needs to tell him that’s okay (enter Hermione).

Also, as I read through The Prince’s Tale, I appreciated for the first time (though I picked up on it in book four when Dumbledore said “if you are prepared”) just how on-going this double-life was. They all knew that Voldemort was coming back, and when he did, he wouldn’t want a softie as a right-hand man.

Although Harry seemed to think that “nobody is that good an actor,” I would disagree—anyone who has never explored himself and only known, developed, and nurtured an act through his entire adult life probably is. Further, such a person would likely out of survival not cultivate another personality, meaning that all they would really know is the act. I don’t think it’s too much of a leap to suggest that such an individual is likely still a teenager (or at least highly vulnerable), emotionally, once the façade is broken down.

That is the short version of my theory, and a brief explanation of why I write as I do.

Well, I feel better. Now, on with the show…