Rec: hp_beholder gift!

[sigune]

My hp_beholder gift has posted! Because of an IJ outage, it got a bit lost between the folds, and that's a shame.

A Mystery Author wrote Black Knight Moves Forward (PG-13), a story set during the summer preceding Philosopher's Stone. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall get to know each other better as they work on the defenses for the Philosopher's Stone. Initially, they don't fancy being stuck at school when they could be enjoying the sun in the south of France, but ... well, they're Snape and McGonagall, so the company could be worse :-).

Black Knight Moves Forward has everything you can want from a story on a pleasant summer's day (what can I say? we're having divine weather at the moment): Snape, McGonagall, humour, misunderstandings, fantastic beasts, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, adventure and friendship(+). Enjoy!

Comments

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

God, it turned out beautifully! I LOVE the frame! The black and white plus grey (and the fact that it's in the centre between them) and crimson red. I absolutely adore the way their hair seem to be continuously flowing from one head to the next. I'm very proud of being its foster-mother *sniff* (at least, that's how I feel about it)

I'll read your fic asap. In the meanwhile, in my own fic (of which, I'm sorry, you will have to hear something when you come) I'm struggling with the composition of the most difficult part, (not so) perhaps, i.e. Snape describing what happened between him and Dumbledore in the past. Urgh!
Yesterday I read the striking "In infinite remorse of the soul" (http://snapecase.livejournal.com/13716.html) by perverse_idyll, an uber-angst re-writing of the relationhip between Snape and Dumbledore (giving an homosexual interpretation to the whole matter). It really blew me away.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

LOL! I'm not supposed to pimp my own stuff before our identities have been revealed XD! I'm reccing the story I have received as a gift :-) - I have no idea who wrote it, as I haven't read any fanfic for ages (except a few of hoggywartyxmas's) and am completely out of touch.

Of course the drawback with art is that most of the time it's pretty obvious who is hiding behind the "Mystery Artist" :-). The only people who haven't recognised my hand must be people who've never seen any of my pictures before... In any case, I'm really happy that you like the result :D. I know I made everything flat again (and used a frame rather than a background), but I guess I am really looking for a style that is flat, but pretty and easy to read. Now I need to figure out to do backgrounds the same way (I feel like my backgrounds always look disconnected from the rest).

Here's another *hug* for the foster-mum :-). I, too, like how this turned out, and it wouldn't have been that way if you hadn't helped me out...

Maybe I can help with the difficult Snape-and-Dumbledore part - it sounds like an exciting topic for discussion :D. I don't mind debating stories at all (quite the contrary), even though they're SS/HG. As long as you don't expect me that Snape could prefer anyone to Brynhild... ;P

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

I've read the fic for you, in the meantime, and I deduce that McGonagall can function as a substitute Brynhild sometimes... ;)

Background in a flat style seems a right choice for me. Of course, they need to be precise and done with set squares (of course, I'm thinking about Bearsdley-esque backgrounds) :P

Well, my WIP is basically an autobiography (on many levels) masked as a SS/HG. Both SS and HG suffer from OCD as a result of the war, and that's what put them together (Snape plays almost the therapist to Hermione). At the same time, I'm trying to mix canon with our post-DH theories and my own theories about Snape's past. Therefore, Tobias (who's still alive and well, at 75) served in the trade unions, Snape joined the Death Eaters out of rebellion (as I have already told you) until a group of DE attacked Eileen for being married to a Muggle. (Note: Eileen too is an half-blood, being born of a witch and a Muggle of Jewish origins) .

Snape reflects, switches sides, urges Dumbledore to organise a plot agaist Voldemort. Dumbledore (for his own reasons) doesn't want to defeat Voldemort like that, he wants to create an invincible enemy, therefore sends Snape to Voldy with the prophecy. (the prophecy was concorded between them, as Red Hen suggests. Only that Snape hadn't seen Lily's death coming from this).

Lily dies, Snape is furious with Dumbledore, secretly blaming him of Lily's death. He believes the end of the world is close and hates Hogwarts' students because he doesn't see a reason for children to live when there's no future.
However, being used to follow a general, he stays at Dumbledore's side in the war. He even restrains from chasing the Horcruxes when Dumbledore forbids him to look for them (he is clever enough to know of their existence).


When DD asks him to kill him, Snape refuses and is determined not to kill him, until he's summoned to the Astronomy Tower (by Hermione herself, btw) and there he's forced to commit the deed. He thinks of how much Dumbledore betrayed both him and Lily in the past, and he considers his Avada Kedavra an act of vengeance. His last year at Hogwarts is a nightmare all the more because the portrait of Dumbledore is still with him.

In all of this, Snape's rage prevails over his sense of guilt, at least in my interpretation.

Do you see holes in this? I'm not so sure about its fluency and inner consistency.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

He believes the end of the world is close and hates Hogwarts' students because he doesn't see a reason for children to live when there's no future.
I can see why you do this, but I'm not sure that it works for me. In canon, Snape is very protective of the Hogwarts students, and he is outraged when Dumbledore tells him Harry has to die. That doesn't seem to match his doom scenario of 'we're all going to die anyway'. Or have you got that covered?

He even restrains from chasing the Horcruxes when Dumbledore forbids him to look for them (he is clever enough to know of their existence).
Yes, it has always seemed odd to me that Dumbledore needed so much confirmation on the HXs himself. I imagine that anyone who takes a serious interest in Dark Arts would at least have heard of the things.

In all of this, Snape's rage prevails over his sense of guilt, at least in my interpretation.
Thank goodness for that. I hate DH's miserable Snape >:-(. For me, Snape is driven by anger and ambition (and a very strong survival instinct, which has become totally un-canonical...).

Presonally I'd be curious to know why Dumbledore wants Voldemort to be invincible. Also, does it mean Dumbledore *counts* on Harry dying? Because the most obvious interpretation of Puppetmaster!Dumbledore in canon is that he leaks the Prophecy on purpose in order to create the ultimate weapon against Voldemort - that is, to make Voldemort create his own nemesis.

Personally I have always found prophecies terribly silly. In my version, Snape tries to get a job at Hogwarts because he is about to defect and wants to stay safe at the school, but Dumbledore doesn't hire him. Voldemort now knows that Snape went to Hogwarts and is a potential traitor, but by passing on the Prophecy, Snape can convince Voldemort that he actually went there to spy. He doesn't think there's any harm in passing on the Prophecy because he thinks prophecies are rubbish - plus, Dumbledore didn't seem to care much about the thing either as he caught Snape and just let him go. But actually Snape is being played: Dumbledore *wanted* Voldemort to hear that particular part of the Prophecy so that he would create his own nemesis.

my WIP is basically an autobiography (on many levels)
That's why it will work :-).
I used to identify with Hermione, but that stopped during HBP (because suddenly she was obsessed with boys, I guess). I identify with Snape a lot, though. When I write him, it is as a highly exaggerated, bigotted, cruel, devious, very intelligent, dark version of myself. Which is tremendous fun :D... I was looking at pr_snape and pr_brynhild again the other day and thinking what an amazing experience that was. I kind of miss it.

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

He believes the end of the world is close and hates Hogwarts' students because he doesn't see a reason for children to live when there's no future.
That was at the beginning of his career, during 1981-83, let's say. This initial hatred for children helps him to shape his authoritarian teaching persona, which later allows him to feel control over his classes. By the '90 he is no more sincerely hating children, though he keeps a strict attitute toward them. (In this fic, at least).

I hate DH's miserable Snape >:-(. For me, Snape is driven by anger and ambition (and a very strong survival instinct, which has become totally un-canonical
I agree, and this is explain also why he is so proud of his Slytherins (a really depressed man is *not* sincerely proud of anything). However, in my fic Snape develops suicidal obsessions after Nagini's bite, but that's another story and depends exactly on his own anxiety. Btw, in this WIP Snape was left without any magic after the bite.

Dumbledore *wanted* Voldemort to hear that particular part of the Prophecy so that he would create his own nemesis
In my version, the whole Prophecy is actually made up by Dumbledore. Trelawney just learns it by heart and repeat it. My idea is that Dumbledore suffered of a complex because he wasn't able to defeat Voldy with his own hands, thus created a weapon to act at his place (Harry) without personal ideas. In a certain sense he was jealous of Snape and the Order of the Phoenix and didn't let them do as they wished against Voldy. He was an untrusty general for them.
(ah, how much I'd preferred Dumbledore to be a kind, white-bearded mentor. There was no need for puppetmaster!Dumbledore in DH, IMHO, but that's what is left for us).

The most difficult part to explain is maybe why did Snape stay with Dumbledore after Lily's death and his own disillusionment about the man. I'm trying to explain that by saying that Snape saw only two possible parties in the war, you and your enemy, and since their enemy was the same (Voldy) he would continue to fight at DD's side instead of forming another party. What do you think about it?

Have you noticed that Dumbledore and Voldemort are almost acronyms, by the way?

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Hum. For a literary scholar, I am really bad at stuff like acronyms :P.

I don't think it's that difficult to explain why Snape stayed with Dumbledore, at least if you can see him as an opportunist. If you assume that Voldemort is the villain JKR thought she was creating and not the ineffectual idiot he eventually turned into, then Snape has no way of defeating him on his own. Dumbledore has resources that Snape cannot possibly have. He's revered, he has influence over the Ministry and he has international contacts. He also has the Order of the Phoenix. He looks like the best ally you can have if you want to bring Voldemort down. Dumbledore is a charismatic leader; Snape is not. Snape is a loner. He'll criticise leading figures, but I really can't see him starting his own movement. And he doesn't have the money to buy himself into anything.

how much I'd preferred Dumbledore to be a kind, white-bearded mentor. There was no need for puppetmaster!Dumbledore in DH, IMHO
Same here. Quirky, benevolent and powerful Dumbledore was my second favourite character in the series. Now I can't bear him anymore. The cynicism, the hypocrisy, the cruelty, the emotional abuse - GACK!

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

I’d say strategist, not opportunist. Just because I don’t want to give up the notion that Snape is a good spy, despite the fact that in canon he actually does nothing to prove it. He believed that staying with Dumbledore was a good strategy.
In my fic, Snape is currently writing an historical mystery saga whose protagonist is a spy, Jacob Norton aka Funnel. By chance, Funnel is Richard III’s man.

Snape is also not used to be the leader. He’s accustomed to stay in the background, following someone who does the stage job. Dumbledore provides that exposure role, while Snape can remains in the shadows.

I don’t know if I identify myself with Snape. I like(d) him from a literary point of view, I enjoyed the game of he’s-not-really-evil-but-has-a-mysterious-past until JKR over-exploited it. He’s certainly not like Richard III or Petronius Arbiter in my list of male characters I look/looked at as models.
A Summer in York is written from Hermione’s POV, and Snape for her is quite alien, especially at the beginning. In the fic, Snape functions more or less like the Other, whom Hermione slowly learns to accept. Of course, I’m putting some personal sides in this Snape, but he’s based mostly on other people I know. I’m not always inside his head, I’m describing him more from the outside.