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edenfallingI have a small, irrational fondness for Harry/Snape. This is particularly weird since I don't like Snape with pretty much anyone else, and I think student/teacher relationships are icky. (Hermione/Snape is one of the few "standard" pairings that actually squicks me, for example.) Yet my Harry/Snape fondness persists.
I don't, however, write Harry/Snape. This is what happened the only time I tried.
Warning: lots of pseudo-intellectual babble-ese, and a first person plural narrative voice. Read at your own risk.
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Theories of Attraction, or, Why I'm Probably Never Going To Write Harry/Snape
---------------------------------------------
Observe a boy and a man. Our goal is to bring them together, either in friendship or in love -- it is difficult to say which will be less problematic. At the moment, they detest each other, with varying degrees of justification.
Let us therefore examine our players. The boy is young, sixteen, angry at the world and convinced it hates him. Most sixteen year old boys are, but this one can give chapter and verse as evidence and the evidence is not unconvincing. His life has been shaped by a maddeningly vague prophecy that led a madman to murder his parents while he was a baby. His godfather was accused of betraying them and thrown in jail for the supposed murder of the true traitor. His surrogate godfather, being a werewolf, could not get custody. So the boy was left to his mother's sister.
He has suffered physical and emotional neglect, mild to moderate physical abuse, extreme emotional abuse, and heavy verbal abuse from his aunt, her husband, and her son. Even after his friends discovered this -- having rescued him from a barred and locked room, in which he was kept on a starvation diet -- his guardians still left him with that family.
Meanwhile, the boy was thrust into an unfamiliar world and forced to play the role of celebrity savior. Considering he had always been told he was a worthless freak, this was a bit of a shock. Then every year he and at least one other child fell into mortal danger, and his guardians either supported this or were unable to prevent it. For three years he scraped through by the skin of his teeth, apparently suffering nothing worse than the social embarrassment of losing at Quidditch. Somehow he pushed aside the fact that he was technically a murderer at eleven, though it was clearly self-defense. Somehow, he got around the knowledge of his godfather's inability to gain a fair trial, of the hungry desire people in this world had both to watch him fall and to force him to save them, and of how unimportant his own desires still were, even away from his abusive family.
In the fourth year, reality caught up with him. His companion died, struck down in careless disdain, and the madman who murdered his parents returned to life using the boy's own blood. In his fifth year, not only were his remaining illusions stripped away, but he also lost his godfather, whom he had only barely begun to know. This loss was due to many factors, including the boy's own willfulness and hero complex, but also the godfather's recklessness. The boy, however, chose to place blame on the second player in our little drama: the man.
The man is perhaps as young as thirty-five, or perhaps as old as forty. He is exactly old enough to be the boy's father, as he attended school with the father for seven years. The man, also, is angry at the world, and can quote chapter and verse as evidence. His evidence is perhaps more horrific than the boy's, but not nearly so concentrated, and it does not begin as early.
We know little about his home life, but he was born into an old magical family and taught dark arts from a young age. Whether his home life was pleasant or unpleasant, we do not know. What we do know, however, is that upon his arrival at the magical school that was to be his home for the next seven years, he became the target of a quartet of popular boys, who used their popularity to ensure that few people would aid or sympathize with the man, then a young boy.
This rivalry grew intense enough that one of his tormentors, who later became the boy's godfather, attempted to kill him by tricking the man into finding the werewolf during his transformation. The man was saved at the last minute by the boy's father, but has never forgiven any of the four friends for that crime.
Later, the man turned to darkness and served the madman who killed the boy's parents. We do not know what his motives were, nor why or when exactly he repented of his darkness, but the man turned against the madman, even as one of his former tormentors turned traitor to his friends. And so the boy's parents died, the godfather went to prison, the traitor went into hiding, and the werewolf drifted. And the man returned to the school where he suffered seven years of emotional and physical abuse, where he lived for the next twelve years, until the boy came to be his student.
The man hates the boy for many reasons. First and foremost, the boy resembles his father, whom the man hated, and to whom he owed a wizard's debt for rescuing him from the werewolf. Secondly, the man believes in rules, which the boy breaks with distressing frequency. Thirdly, the boy made a fool of the man during his third year as a student, by helping his godfather escape justice. Fourthly, the boy has seen the man's private memories, of his youth, which he deliberately hid so that the boy would not find them. Fifthly, the man believes the boy wastes his natural intelligence and abilities. Sixthly, the man resents the way all his troubles are ignored in favor of the prophecy about the boy. And lastly, the man is an embittered bastard, who dislikes most people on general principles.
The boy returns this hatred with interest. He hates the man because the man hates him. He hates the man because he feels the man doesn't see him, but only sees memories of his father and an imaginary picture of a spoiled brat. He hates the man because the man abuses his authority, just like his family did. He hates the man because the man interfered with his attempt to get his godfather exonerated for the death of the traitor. And he hates the man because their mutual hatred sabotaged his attempts at blocking the madman from his mind, which contributed to his godfather's death; furthermore, the boy hates that the man still seems to consider him spoiled despite having seen pieces of his unpleasant childhood. The boy also bitterly resents that invasion of his privacy.
So. Those are our players. That is their history. How, then, given their mutual hatred, yet their oddly similar backgrounds, can they be brought together?
One common suggestion is a love potion, which is made somewhat plausible by the fact that the man teaches Potions at the magical school, and one of the boy's classmates is known for creative mishaps. But that smacks of cheating, somehow. We will set this option aside unless we find no better ones.
Another suggestion is to wait until the boy is older, until they must fight the madman together. This seems more plausible, as teenage hatreds sometimes soften with age, but consider the man and the godfather and the boy's father, whose hatred never died. Also, the boy and man have already attempted to work together, to keep the madman from the boy's mind, and that has led only to greater hatred, not to a lessening of tension.
We will therefore set this option aside as well.
A third option says that somehow the two become acquainted in a context where their true identities remain unknown, and the attraction survives the revelation. This seems unnecessarily convoluted, and requires far too much authorial contortion. It is also incredibly silly. Let us agree to discard this option. Forever.
Other options include the man rescuing the boy from his family, who have suddenly grown vastly more abusive; he then realizes the error of his ways, and comes to care for the injured boy. We discard that one as out of character for the boy's family, whose abusive is mostly verbal or by neglect, rather than by direct action.
Sometimes the man is forced to put the boy up for the summer, in order to keep him from the madman. We discard this option as incredibly stupid, considering that the man is currently serving as a double-agent, and his doings are therefore known to the madman; his home is one of the least safe places for the boy.
And finally, on occasion the man is hurt and the boy must tend to him, which somehow allows him to grow sympathetic toward the man's plight, while his care breaks through the man's defensive shell. We discard this option as unforgivably melodramatic.
At this point the author must confess that she has run out of readily available options, and therefore wishes to return to option two, in which the man and boy must work together to fight the madman. In order to be at all effective, this partnership must not be particularly personal for either one, nor should it involve the type of mind-attacks that sabotaged their last attempt to work together. However, considering that the man and boy have vastly different talents and positions in the war against the madman, it begins to seem that their only possible link is that very type of mental magic.
This is troubling. It begins to seem that our task is impossible, as the man has proven to be a master at holding an implacable grudge, and the boy, while perhaps still more flexible, has already held one grudge -- against a fellow student -- for five years.
How, then, are we to ease tensions between the man and the boy, when at the moment, the problem seems unsolvable?
We shall return to this question later, by means of a thought-problem approach: we shall imagine that such a situation exists and watch what happens to our two players, giving them an authorial nudge if such should seem necessary to keep them on our desired path. In this manner, we may yet determine a method for bringing the boy and man together.
---------------------------------------------
No, I'm not really insane. I just have insomnia.
I don't, however, write Harry/Snape. This is what happened the only time I tried.
Warning: lots of pseudo-intellectual babble-ese, and a first person plural narrative voice. Read at your own risk.
---------------------------------------------
Theories of Attraction, or, Why I'm Probably Never Going To Write Harry/Snape
---------------------------------------------
Observe a boy and a man. Our goal is to bring them together, either in friendship or in love -- it is difficult to say which will be less problematic. At the moment, they detest each other, with varying degrees of justification.
Let us therefore examine our players. The boy is young, sixteen, angry at the world and convinced it hates him. Most sixteen year old boys are, but this one can give chapter and verse as evidence and the evidence is not unconvincing. His life has been shaped by a maddeningly vague prophecy that led a madman to murder his parents while he was a baby. His godfather was accused of betraying them and thrown in jail for the supposed murder of the true traitor. His surrogate godfather, being a werewolf, could not get custody. So the boy was left to his mother's sister.
He has suffered physical and emotional neglect, mild to moderate physical abuse, extreme emotional abuse, and heavy verbal abuse from his aunt, her husband, and her son. Even after his friends discovered this -- having rescued him from a barred and locked room, in which he was kept on a starvation diet -- his guardians still left him with that family.
Meanwhile, the boy was thrust into an unfamiliar world and forced to play the role of celebrity savior. Considering he had always been told he was a worthless freak, this was a bit of a shock. Then every year he and at least one other child fell into mortal danger, and his guardians either supported this or were unable to prevent it. For three years he scraped through by the skin of his teeth, apparently suffering nothing worse than the social embarrassment of losing at Quidditch. Somehow he pushed aside the fact that he was technically a murderer at eleven, though it was clearly self-defense. Somehow, he got around the knowledge of his godfather's inability to gain a fair trial, of the hungry desire people in this world had both to watch him fall and to force him to save them, and of how unimportant his own desires still were, even away from his abusive family.
In the fourth year, reality caught up with him. His companion died, struck down in careless disdain, and the madman who murdered his parents returned to life using the boy's own blood. In his fifth year, not only were his remaining illusions stripped away, but he also lost his godfather, whom he had only barely begun to know. This loss was due to many factors, including the boy's own willfulness and hero complex, but also the godfather's recklessness. The boy, however, chose to place blame on the second player in our little drama: the man.
The man is perhaps as young as thirty-five, or perhaps as old as forty. He is exactly old enough to be the boy's father, as he attended school with the father for seven years. The man, also, is angry at the world, and can quote chapter and verse as evidence. His evidence is perhaps more horrific than the boy's, but not nearly so concentrated, and it does not begin as early.
We know little about his home life, but he was born into an old magical family and taught dark arts from a young age. Whether his home life was pleasant or unpleasant, we do not know. What we do know, however, is that upon his arrival at the magical school that was to be his home for the next seven years, he became the target of a quartet of popular boys, who used their popularity to ensure that few people would aid or sympathize with the man, then a young boy.
This rivalry grew intense enough that one of his tormentors, who later became the boy's godfather, attempted to kill him by tricking the man into finding the werewolf during his transformation. The man was saved at the last minute by the boy's father, but has never forgiven any of the four friends for that crime.
Later, the man turned to darkness and served the madman who killed the boy's parents. We do not know what his motives were, nor why or when exactly he repented of his darkness, but the man turned against the madman, even as one of his former tormentors turned traitor to his friends. And so the boy's parents died, the godfather went to prison, the traitor went into hiding, and the werewolf drifted. And the man returned to the school where he suffered seven years of emotional and physical abuse, where he lived for the next twelve years, until the boy came to be his student.
The man hates the boy for many reasons. First and foremost, the boy resembles his father, whom the man hated, and to whom he owed a wizard's debt for rescuing him from the werewolf. Secondly, the man believes in rules, which the boy breaks with distressing frequency. Thirdly, the boy made a fool of the man during his third year as a student, by helping his godfather escape justice. Fourthly, the boy has seen the man's private memories, of his youth, which he deliberately hid so that the boy would not find them. Fifthly, the man believes the boy wastes his natural intelligence and abilities. Sixthly, the man resents the way all his troubles are ignored in favor of the prophecy about the boy. And lastly, the man is an embittered bastard, who dislikes most people on general principles.
The boy returns this hatred with interest. He hates the man because the man hates him. He hates the man because he feels the man doesn't see him, but only sees memories of his father and an imaginary picture of a spoiled brat. He hates the man because the man abuses his authority, just like his family did. He hates the man because the man interfered with his attempt to get his godfather exonerated for the death of the traitor. And he hates the man because their mutual hatred sabotaged his attempts at blocking the madman from his mind, which contributed to his godfather's death; furthermore, the boy hates that the man still seems to consider him spoiled despite having seen pieces of his unpleasant childhood. The boy also bitterly resents that invasion of his privacy.
So. Those are our players. That is their history. How, then, given their mutual hatred, yet their oddly similar backgrounds, can they be brought together?
One common suggestion is a love potion, which is made somewhat plausible by the fact that the man teaches Potions at the magical school, and one of the boy's classmates is known for creative mishaps. But that smacks of cheating, somehow. We will set this option aside unless we find no better ones.
Another suggestion is to wait until the boy is older, until they must fight the madman together. This seems more plausible, as teenage hatreds sometimes soften with age, but consider the man and the godfather and the boy's father, whose hatred never died. Also, the boy and man have already attempted to work together, to keep the madman from the boy's mind, and that has led only to greater hatred, not to a lessening of tension.
We will therefore set this option aside as well.
A third option says that somehow the two become acquainted in a context where their true identities remain unknown, and the attraction survives the revelation. This seems unnecessarily convoluted, and requires far too much authorial contortion. It is also incredibly silly. Let us agree to discard this option. Forever.
Other options include the man rescuing the boy from his family, who have suddenly grown vastly more abusive; he then realizes the error of his ways, and comes to care for the injured boy. We discard that one as out of character for the boy's family, whose abusive is mostly verbal or by neglect, rather than by direct action.
Sometimes the man is forced to put the boy up for the summer, in order to keep him from the madman. We discard this option as incredibly stupid, considering that the man is currently serving as a double-agent, and his doings are therefore known to the madman; his home is one of the least safe places for the boy.
And finally, on occasion the man is hurt and the boy must tend to him, which somehow allows him to grow sympathetic toward the man's plight, while his care breaks through the man's defensive shell. We discard this option as unforgivably melodramatic.
At this point the author must confess that she has run out of readily available options, and therefore wishes to return to option two, in which the man and boy must work together to fight the madman. In order to be at all effective, this partnership must not be particularly personal for either one, nor should it involve the type of mind-attacks that sabotaged their last attempt to work together. However, considering that the man and boy have vastly different talents and positions in the war against the madman, it begins to seem that their only possible link is that very type of mental magic.
This is troubling. It begins to seem that our task is impossible, as the man has proven to be a master at holding an implacable grudge, and the boy, while perhaps still more flexible, has already held one grudge -- against a fellow student -- for five years.
How, then, are we to ease tensions between the man and the boy, when at the moment, the problem seems unsolvable?
We shall return to this question later, by means of a thought-problem approach: we shall imagine that such a situation exists and watch what happens to our two players, giving them an authorial nudge if such should seem necessary to keep them on our desired path. In this manner, we may yet determine a method for bringing the boy and man together.
---------------------------------------------
No, I'm not really insane. I just have insomnia.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-01 01:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-01 04:43 pm (UTC)As to understanding the ship... I asked my tiny inner Harry/Snape shipper (she's usually drowned out by the part of me that thinks most pairings are overrated, as are all my inner shippers) and her reasoning for Harry/Snape goes like this:
1) Hate-to-love is a dramatic, involving story. Plus, think of all the family issues they have to work through, and the way they might die fighting Voldemort, and the trust issues, and the self-esteem issues... darkness all the way, baby! (And there are times I need a good dose of angst.)
2) They have such similar backgrounds! They could understand each other so well if they just tried!
3) They're so different! They could teach each other so much!
4) I like Harry and I like Snape and I don't like seeing characters I like dislike each other.
5) And finally, they obviously have strong emotions for each other already, even if they are negative right now.
*looks at list* I'm not sure how convincing she actually is. Then again, what romance is ever completely rational anyway?
A few more thoughts on this...
Date: 2004-05-02 02:24 am (UTC)First--there’s one other premise for the Snarry pairing that I see, feel and seek out in my fics that I read. That’s the notion that, through Snape, Harry tries to atone for his father’s actions towards the man. Here, Harry decides to accept Snape’s past treatment of him as justified and initiates a new understanding. Also slightly related, is where Harry tries to seek validation as a worthy/lovable person (for who he is alone) by becoming accepted by the only person who has been 100% completely oblivious to Harry’s charm as the Boy Who Lived. (If Snape can suddenly get to know Harry and not hate him, then Harry might feel this is more of an accomplishment than anyone else not hating him.) Hmm, now I’m also thinking of another one-- the one where Harry feels alienated by his belief that he is a pawn of Dumbledore’s and of Fate and feels this in common with the duplicitous Snape. In this scenario, Harry shirks away from Dumbledore and those whose motives he can’t discern; he might move closer to Snape to get a fresh perspective from someone who never once tried to sugarcoat things for him. Oh and then there’s the whole thing where, after so many years of confusing “care” in his upbringing, Harry may have a very non-existent line between love\hate, pleasure\pain, etc.
I also have a theory about why women love to read male/male slash. (I came up with this about a month ago and for some reason never posted it to my journal. I’ll do that now, I think.) I think that many of us are very much enamoured with one (or more of) the characters we ship and *identify* as at least one half of the ship. Kind of like, I personally have always first and foremost identified as Harry. When I read something (no matter the PoV), in my mind, I am Harry. I wold say half the people who’ve read HP, identify with Harry as he is--duh--the main character. I also have an unmistakeable attraction to the dark and dangerous Sevvy. Other popular fetishes include younger girls pining after the cool blond looks of the only-redeemable-in-fanfiction Draco Malfoy.
So, I think it might just be a natural progression for someone to take the character in the universe that they identify with and ship them with the one they are attracted to. At least, that’s how it might start. (Once you learn how incredible it is to envisions two men together...well, for me, hee, hee, hee...I’m still looking to get that fantasy into my bedroom on a regular basis!)
I came up with this theory when I compared how I liked reading Het fics versus slash fics. The slash fics always made me swoon much more because I (as Harry) was being seduced (hopefully) by a male. It was the more submissive postion that I personally prefer in an actual relationship. Het fics, at least the ones that manage to remain in Harry’s pov, place you in a position to ‘be the boy to the girl’ and so I think for many het women--that is not necessarily their cup of tea.
I myself am the author of a post-ootp, 6th year fic that is primarily canon-based so I decided to take my het ship for it (H/Hr). It’s a very different feel to read and write it then my slash. I remain in Harry’s PoV almost exclusively and use my own experiences of being with a woman (don’t ask, I’ll answer) to create life-like detail and events. I (consequently, I think) have a very large marjority of male readers (something I was shocked about when I found out because, starting as a reader of slash fanfics, I thought it was almost all women who read HP fanfic!) and many have commented that they really get into the smut scenes I have. Again, I see this as het guys identfying with a het Harry. Speaking of het guys reading fanfics, there is also the voyeur perspective--if you tend not to identify as one particular character, you’re likely reading smut as a voyeur--a worthy and completely justifiable kink for anyone. It explains het guys reading femslash--well, that and the fact that many guys feel like a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
Just a few thoughts,
Arya
Re: A few more thoughts on this...
Date: 2004-05-02 02:57 am (UTC)Through Snape, Harry tries to atone for his father’s actions towards the man. Here, Harry decides to accept Snape’s past treatment of him as justified and initiates a new understanding.
I'd discard that one also, as I cannot see Harry feeling that Snape's treatment was in any way justified. Ever. The sins of the father are NOT the son's responsibility to redress. Besides, if he felt he needed to atone for James, well, I think growing up with the Dursleys and already suffering as Snape's student has already paid that debt in full.
Harry tries to seek validation as a worthy/lovable person (for who he is alone) by becoming accepted by the only person who has been 100% completely oblivious to Harry’s charm as the Boy Who Lived.
Hmmm. Harry IS needy, but I don't think he recognizes that. He's used to ignoring any need for attention or love; the only need he seems to be aware of is a need to be doing something, to be needed. And Snape doesn't need him. At all. Furthermore, by this point Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys DO see him as Harry instead of the Boy Who Lived. So I can't justify that one either.
Harry feels alienated by his belief that he is a pawn of Dumbledore’s and of Fate and feels this in common with the duplicitous Snape.
Harry feeling that he's Dumbledore's pawn, yes. Harry suddenly realizing that Snape is also a pawn (both of Dumbledore and Voldemort) and discarding years of hatred? No. I think if anything, his logic would go like this: "Dumbledore is using me and manipulating my life. Dumbledore is also using Snape, but unlike me, Snape has the option of just disappearing, whereas I'm a kid and Voldemort will hunt me down anywhere. So Snape must be agreeing to help Dumbledore run my life. That greasy b*stard!"
After so many years of confusing “care” in his upbringing, Harry may have a very non-existent line between love\hate, pleasure\pain, etc.
Um. I don't really accept that idea, mostly because it's fairly clear from the word go that Harry doesn't like the Dursleys, doesn't respect the Dursleys, and knows they don't really like him either. Remember, he's seen them show real affection to Dudley; I think he's pretty clear that what he gets ain't love and care. He also doesn't deliberately provoke their anger in order to get attention, which I'd think would happen if he equated hate with love; instead, he tries to stay out of their way.
As to the rest of it, well, I do identify with Harry while reading JKR's actual writing, but that's because he's the POV character and I almost always identify with the POV character of whatever I'm reading. So I don't really have that anti-het bias, because I'm not necessarily identifying with the guy in the relationship; I'm identifying with whoever is the POV character at the moment. And even if that's the guy, well, variety is a good thing, and I'm not the world's most submissive or feminine person anyway, so "playing" the guy doesn't bother me at all.
And I'm not attracted to Snape at all, really; I think he's an unpleasant bastard, though with a certain amount of justification for his unpleasantness. I like him only in the sense that he's a fascinating character, and I love trying to figure out complicated characters. Which is why I am still kind of baffled that I like him with Harry. I am forced to conclude that I must be pairing them because of their twisted backstory, and the fact that I think they have complementary angst.
Re: A few more thoughts on this...
Date: 2004-05-02 04:00 am (UTC)I wonder which type of Snape characterization you like/buy in the fics of this pairing that you like.
Arya
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-02 04:11 am (UTC)I also found my way here through
Very interesting theories, and very insightful.
As primarily a fanfic reader (I don't write, although I would love to make my brain work that way), I have always stayed away from H/Snape. Just way too eeewwww for me. And your reasons state much more eloquently than I ever could my lack of desire to read H/Snape.
Very good.
Are there more theories yet to devulge?
Re: A few more thoughts on this...
Date: 2004-05-02 04:40 am (UTC)Um, let me see... the first H/S I read was, I think, Midnight Blue's The Mirror of Maybe. Which has its problems, but made me realize that, y'know, Harry and Snape do have a lot in common. And could maybe be good together, if you could figure out a way to make them realize that. At that point ff.net still allowed smut, and so I read a lot of smut over the next month or so. Can't remember what all it was, though. *sigh*
Anyway, I have read a fair number of potion stories, Snape rescues Harry from the Dursleys stories, Harry stays with Snape over the summer stories, and just plain flat-out smutty BDSM stories. And I do like a lot of them. It's just that while I can read those stories, I have yet to figure out a way that I could get them together that wouldn't take, say, a whole novel. Which I do not have the time or patience to write.
As for Snape characterization... I do not buy fluffy!Snape. Of any variety. Nor secretly-wounded!Snape. I believe that he really is a nasty, bitter, misanthropic person. But he has a moral sense, however cockeyed and abused it may be, and he does have some sense of fair play. And he does have emotions; it's just that, like Harry, I don't think he recognizes that a lot of them exist. He internalizes and sublimates a lot of stuff.
Um, so a very prickly Snape. Who isn't particularly good looking. And who's always going to be hard to live with. And who has some very set ideas. But he can be worked with. And while he's never going to be a nice person, he is a good person. Sort-of.
I wouldn't like Snape at all in real life. But as a character, I like him, because he has such interesting raw edges and buried history.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-02 04:56 am (UTC)Not really, unless you have a burning desire to watch me run in mental circles trying to dissect Tom Riddle for Secrets, my current evil WIP.
Of course, some of my fic should really be classified as character studies rather than stories. Two of those are up at my Dark Arts page: "Family" and "Lies," about Petunia Dursley and Ginny Weasley, respectively. And there's a Luna Lovegood piece here and a Peter Pettigrew piece here.
Re: A few more thoughts on this...
Date: 2005-10-18 10:12 pm (UTC)I thought I might recommend some Harry/Snape stories that I though had good characterization on the thought you might get ideas or merely enjoy them.
Civil War by Sushi1
This was originally on FF.net, but was pulled due to rating. It has a Snarry relationship, and while I do not believe the characters are valid after the fifth book, it was quite good (and written before it had come out) the first story in this series is _Marching Off to War_ and can be found at Sushi1's website, accessible from her FF.net account.
Apparently by JiM1
This is a new one-shot, and I'll just give you the author's summary: "Who could ever think of Snape as a father?" Awsomely good and very in-character.