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| Vocalion | 2005.04.30 - 05:39AM | 12: Think of It, a Secret Engagement | Signed |
| Snape certainly knows how to spread his own brand of Christmas joy and cheer. Whatever his motivation may be at this point, and I am not good at guessing, his technique is so Slytherin. | |||
| Vocalion | 2005.04.30 - 12:52AM | 9: He's With Me, Even Now | Signed |
| Interesting transformation of the Room of Requirement in this chapter, and an unexpected conversation between Snape and Sarah. His power seems to be slipping. | |||
| Vocalion | 2005.04.30 - 12:02AM | 7: Surrender to Your Darkest Dreams | Signed |
| You are writing the characters so well and handling Snape's dialogue nicely. I find myself not liking Snape at all, which means you are weaving an interesting tale and making me believe it. -- "Most of her father’s Muggle tenants had raised sheep for wool. She remembered chasing them as a child, remembered a shearing day, remembered burying her hands in the clean white fleeces, heavy and thick with the oily, waxy lanolin that left her hands so smooth that her mother delighted in stroking them for days. While his hair was not heavy, nor rough and curly like wool, the feeling was otherwise much the same. Curious, but not horrible." What a marvelous description! Author's Response: Hardly any fics deal honestly with the ramifications of Snape's canon appearance. I wanted to have a go at it. | |||
| Arsinoe de Blassenville | 2005.04.29 - 08:02PM | 16: Let's Not Argue...Please Pretend | Signed |
| I read through the whole thing yesterday, and had to think about it at length. There's a lot to consider in this story. I'm not usually one for angst, but you handle it very well, and I think there's a lot of psychological truth here.
I was appalled at Dumbledore and McGonagall, but I agree that such behaviour is quite probable. The wizarding world is small and parochial, and small-mindedness seems common in cannon. McGonagall's hostility could well be her own guilt projected onto Sarah. WTF!? She was waiting for Sarah to act out and THEN she'd help her? That's just pathetic. Even if the spells caused her to ignore her on a casual basis, it's inexcusable for her not to schedule interviews with her own house students on a regular basis. We only really know much about Gryffindor in canon, but the only formal interview with students appears to occur late in their fifth year! (Really too late at that point--OWLS pretty much determine the kids destiny at 15!) Otherwise, there's no guidance, no assistance--and eleven year olds are allowed to sink or swim (unless they're *important.*) Scandalous neglect for a boarding school, which must be in loco parentis for the students! But I've always thought that Hogwarts must be hell for the less talented, with its distant, authoritarian teachers, its questionable curriculum (crap Muggle Studies, and lousy DADA teachers, for the most part0, and its discreetly permitted bullying. It's certainly no place I'd want to send an eleven-year-old of mine!
And Dumbledore--the apprenticeship could indeed be described as a "wedding gift." However, it's more a payoff to Sarah for not going to the Ministry to report the scandalous goings-on. Shameful. But Dumbledore's use of Snape--a man who is plainly unfit to teach children--is pretty cynical. Sorry, y'all--I love Snape as a character, too--but a teacher who throws heavy objects at students, verbally abuses and belittles them regularly, and (in this story) has sex with a teenager should not be allowed within miles of Hogwarts. But then Dumbledore has never put education first. I will only touch on the whole Harry/penseive debacle, which I'm convinced Snape carefully set up. Even more cynical is allowing Snape to assume to the persona of a suspected Death Eater, thus influencing Slytherin House in that directioin. Dumbledore seems prepared to simply throw those children away. But of course they must be evil, since they did not choose their parents more carefully.
Ranting, I know, and I'm sorry, but your story really got me going.
It's so abominable for them to blame Sarah, but I know it happens. That shabby forced wedding was really affecting. To pretend that a young teen could possibly fully understand what she was getting into is cruel and unreasonable. I'm not criticizing teens or making light of their feelings--it's just that Snape was the adult there, and the person with all the power. He should have controlled himself. Failing that, he could have given her a contraceptive potiion straight away--and should have. He could have left Sarah alone at Christmas, and her plans might have worked out reasonably well, iwith her aunt's sympathy and support. All of these possibilities make me believe that he meant (perhaps subconsciously) to trap her from the beginning.
I do hope that Sarah snubs McGonagall and Dumbledore as they deserve. The first twinkle Dumbledore dared send my way, and I'd slap his manipulative old face! They knew they were doing wrong, when they chose to cover up a serious ethics lapse. No wonder they're so sanctimonious about it! Yeah, yeah, it's "wartime," but there's no reason Dumbledore couldn't come down hard on Snape, and found some other way to help Sarah. Unless, of course, he really doubts his ultimate loyalties and doesn't dare... Hmm...
Extremely interesting story, and I look forward to the updates. Author's Response: Thank you for posting so many thoughts! I love that sort of thing. :~) One of my old friends from college who is also an HP fic fan pointed out to me that Harry Potter (the canon) is very Roald Dahl-esque. The way grown-ups behave toward children (beginning with the Dursleys keeping Harry in a cupboard under the stairs) is exaggerated and bizarre. I totally agree with you about the educational quality of Hogwarts (ironically, I think Snape really may be the very best teacher there--certainly his lessons have more practical applicability than any of the others'), but I think it seems to be par for the course in the Wizarding world as a whole. And perhaps something that Dumbledore himself, being very much a part of that world, would never think of as being unacceptable or in need of changing. I, too, found it appalling that the students didn't get any career information until they were just about ready to take the exams that would decide what careers they could pursue--outrageous! And I still wonder what the deal is with Slytherin House--surely not *every* Slytherin student is evil? I hope we get to see some decent Slytherins before the end of the story. And if Rowling decides in the end that Snape really is unreformed, thereby sending the message that a) all Slytherins really are evil, and b) redemption is not possible, I'm going to be VERY VERY irritated with her. Incidentally, your thoughts about my Snape's intentions are amazingly near the target. More will be revealed in time. Have you read Red Hen's essays? She shares your belief that the Pensieve incident was a set-up. Here's the essay on that: link here. I don't agree with all her theories about Snape, but they make for interesting reading. My version of Snape's background was heavily informed by what she has to say about it. Anyway, I'm glad you found some psychological truth in my story. I have been working very hard to try to achieve versimilitude; I'm glad it has at least in part succeeded. | |||
| Vocalion | 2005.04.29 - 11:14AM | 5: Past the Point of No Return | Signed |
| Well, that wasn't what I was expecting at all, so thank you for surprising me. A very different take, and a most welcome one. | |||
| Vocalion | 2005.04.29 - 10:57AM | 4: No Second Thoughts | Signed |
| "Nonsense, you’ve been walking since you were a year old. A step then. And another." --very nice tension in this chapter. Can't say more because I'm too eager to get to the next chapter. | |||
| Vocalion | 2005.04.29 - 10:11AM | 3: My Instructions Should Be Clear | Signed |
| I took a peek at "La Musique Consolatrice". It's nice to see who I'm reading about. I haven't the slightest idea how one does that sort of thing, but I admire those who have the talent and brains to figure it out. This story is drawing me in. Your Snape is IC, your writing style is superb, and even though Snape/of age student is not my favorite pairing, I'm afraid it's too late for me to turn back and I will have to keep reading and reviewing your story. :-) | |||
| Melpomene Erato | 2005.04.28 - 07:00PM | 16: Let's Not Argue...Please Pretend | Anonymous |
| Oh, well, sorry. The whole rape thing just threw me. Author's Response: Quite understandably! It wasn't a nice thing to do. | |||
| Melpomene Erato | 2005.04.28 - 07:53AM | 16: Let's Not Argue...Please Pretend | Signed |
| “If I ever get that curious, I’m sure I will,” Sarah answered. “And then you can have the pleasure of telling me it’s none of my business. But at the moment, I really don’t give a damn.”
Thaaaaat's my girl! “I’ve never done anything in my life,” he murmured, “to deserve this.” Strange to hear such a sentimental comment from him. Still, quite moving. Author's Response: -hits readers over the head with a rather large mallet- By this moment -smack- the reader should possibly have noticed -smack- that he really does care for her -smack-. ;~) Author's Response: Yes, I know it was awfully sentimental for him. Maybe too much so. But even Snape must have an occasional moment of weakness. :~) | |||
| Floris | 2005.04.28 - 04:22AM | 16: Let's Not Argue...Please Pretend | Signed |
| "In expectation of what?" - Um...of the baby Sarah? Due to that and her comment about only dealing with things of the moment I'm guessing that she's not thought about actually having the baby and raising it with Snape. I know she had ruminated about the fact that it would be a boy and even what she would name it but she seems to have set the child's actual future aside now that that future will take place with Snape. “I’ve never done anything in my life,” he murmured, “to deserve this.” Interesting reaction for him to have at that moment. I have to say that I'm dying to get a peek inside of *his* head! Author's Response: Oh, she understands the surface meaning of the inscription. She just doesn't trust it! And yes, Snape has thrown a rather large wrench into her plans for herself and the baby. She has bigger problems now than just being pregnant. Author's Response: I really wish that I could have put in his thought processes at that moment, but the comment is meant to come across to Sarah as something she can't quite track, so I had no real way of peeking into his head for the reader. I think her comment prior to his ("not even if you killed me") brought home to him that this girl has the guts, the spirit, and the iron will to survive a relationship with him. That and the reminder that if things go wrong, he could lose her oh-so-easily, at his own hand. | |||
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