#Pro Severus Snape

[borsukuje]

Longer hair~

[maxdibert]

"Harry also had a shitty childhood and was bullied, but he didn’t turn out like Snape."

True, because:

Harry found refuge at Hogwarts, where he felt welcomed, supported, and protected from the very beginning. Severus did not.

Harry had adult figures who protected him, cared about him (Hagrid, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius...), and showed him affection over the years. Severus did not.

Harry had two friends who would have torn apart anyone who dared to strip him in front of the entire school. Severus did not.

Harry and Malfoy had a rivalry because they were on equal footing. Severus was bullied by a group of guys who attacked him together and were far above him socially and economically.

Harry was rich—disgustingly rich, to be exact. Severus was disgustingly poor.

Harry felt loved from the moment Hagrid came for him just after his 11th birthday. Severus never felt loved in his entire damn life.

Harry was favored by Dumbledore and other school staff on multiple occasions. Dumbledore forced Severus to stay silent about an attempted murder against him.

Harry had choices. Severus had nothing.

[sevwords]

i'm so tired of people thinking that fictional characters always need to overcome their traumas or ghosts from the past, move on and become "a better and kinder person". like, let the broken, bitter and unfriendly characters have their space too. as a reader, it's very interesting to analyze characters like that, they often generate controversy within the fandom and that's really funny.

anyway, severus snape, you will always be famous to me.

[coldnightdreamthewriter]

Okay but.. can we talk about Severus Snape in the bedroom for a second?👀🌚

What do you think his kinks are? Like..be honest😏there's no way that man doesn't have a few dark secrets tucked under those layers of black. And his favorite position? (Iykyk 😏🙈)

Drop your unholy theories. Let's suffer together.✨

[asphodelevans]

my babiessss i adore them

@doeprince-blog if u haven't seen this already, you should (and if you have. why haven't u sent it to me)

Snily 2nd year first kiss doodle!

[fafodill]

They're twelve.

All the writing credit goes to @maxdibert in this post.

[poisonedviolets]

This actually happened, I was there

[danadiadea]

"Severus would've never joined the DEs if he truly loved Lily!!!"

You know what Severus also loved? What every fucking human being actually loves? Being safe. Being protected. Not experiencing violence and humiliation constantly. Not being murder attempted. Not being discriminated against with barely any means to fight back. Not being left without financial, social, and moral resources after school.

It's completely wild that people expect a teen boy to love a friend so much he disregards his own basic needs completely, siding with people who abused him instead of people who offered him help and protection and belonging. Severus had life beyond Lily. I am very sorry it mattered to him too, and his whole existence didn't spin around ensuring she's safe and happy. Wait until Snape is 20 so he can go mentally unwell enough for that kind of self-sabotage, geez.

[greylittlebird]

Lily being like “why are you so obsessed with them anyways” when The Marauders were the ones who decided on the regular to physically and sexually abuse Severus “to liven things up”. It was like a hobby for them even AFTER they almost killed him (and got Remus executed in the process). That didn’t make them back off at all (the fact they faced zero consequences and were protected by the school no matter how far they went probably emboldened them). Girl, they were obsessed with him, Severus was “obsessed with” defending himself from a group of sadistic stalkers and abusers. That’s probably a large part of why he got interested in so-called “dark magic” to begin with. How else are you going to protect yourself when the adults around you enable your abusers and allow them to use any supposed “light magic” they want to torment and traumatize you?

[jackcryptid]

Severus and his younger self. (Vid format is on tiktok)

[severus-snaps]

Just thinking about how this scene in PS:

Perhaps Snape had left the book in there? It was worth a try. He pushed the door ajar and peered inside — and a horrible scene met his eyes. Snape and Filch were inside, alone. Snape was holding his robes above his knees. One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages. “Blasted thing,” Snape was saying. “How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?” Harry tried to shut the door quietly, but — "POTTER!" Snape’s face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg. Harry gulped. “I just wondered if I could have my book back.” “GET OUT! OUT!” Harry left, before Snape could take any more points from Gryffindor. He sprinted back upstairs. “Did you get it?” Ron asked as Harry joined them. “What’s the matter?” In a low whisper, Harry told them what he’d seen.

lowkey reminded me of SWM:

James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants. * There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside down in the air. “Who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?” * It was scary: Snape’s lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared. “Amusing man, your father, wasn’t he?” said Snape, shaking Harry so hard that his glasses slipped down his nose. “I — didn’t —” Snape threw Harry from him with all his might. Harry fell hard onto the dungeon floor. “You will not tell anybody what you saw!” Snape bellowed. “No,” said Harry, getting to his feet as far from Snape as he could. “No, of course I w — ” “Get out, get out, I don’t want to see you in this office ever again!” And as Harry hurtled toward the door, a jar of dead cockroaches exploded over his head. He wrenched the door open and flew away up the corridor, stopping only when he had put three floors between himself and Snape.

More rambling under the cut about the two scenes, Snape's potential trauma re: being physically exposed, the Marauders, SWM, and my pet theory that the Marauders used Sectumsempra.

cw for discussions of sexual assault/trauma

Scene similarities:

Harry stumbles into a scene involving Snape that is unpleasant for Harry to see (and for Snape to experience)

Snape is furious, or perhaps afraid, of what Harry has seen - and seems to know by OotP that unless told otherwise, the information will make it back to Harry's friends

Both scenes involve Snape being physically harmed - Cerberus attack vs choked with soap, immobilised, etc

Both also involve Snape's legs/general lower body being exposed to Harry (and to others) against his will

Snape's face is twisted with fury, lips shaking, and he is yelling - illustrated alternately as ALL CAPS and by "bellowing" - which, as @sideprince points out here, "He is consistently described as speaking dangerously softly when he's angry or vindictive, and there's a significant break from this only when he's triggered, like in PoA in the Shrieking Shack and when Black escapes."

Plus this incredible analysis showing how Snape is usually... well... speaking softly.

At this point, the usual caveat: the first 3 or so books are written slightly differently owing to a younger readership etc etc. But still.

One of the only other times we see Snape entirely lose it, besides when Sirius escaped, is when Harry attempts to use Levicorpus on him in HBP:

In that instant, he cared not whether he lived or died. Pushing himself to his feet again, he staggered blindly toward Snape, the man he now hated as much as he hated Voldemort himself — “Sectum —!” Snape flicked his wand and the curse was repelled yet again; but Harry was mere feet away now and he could see Snape’s face clearly at last: He was no longer sneering or jeering; the blazing flames showed a face full of rage. Mustering all his powers of concentration, Harry thought, Levi — “No, Potter!” screamed Snape. ... Snape’s pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed Dumbledore.

So if we consider:

SWM: Impedimenta cast on Snape >> Scourgify cast on Snape >> Snape casts Sectumsempra >> James casts Levicorpus >> Snape dropped on ground (Liberacorpus) >> Petrificus Totalus cast on Snape >> Snape released >> James casts Levicorpus again >> Snape's underwear potentially removed

HBP: Snape blocks (almost*) all of the following spells that Harry casts: Crucio x2 >> Incarcerus >> Stupefy >> Impedimenta (interrupted by another DE) >> Sectumsempra >> Levicorpus

He starts to look more upset and lose the sneering facade around Sectumsempra

Crucially, Snape had been sneering and jeering and basically offering advice to Harry packaged in insult ("Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth

shut and your mind closed") all the way through the twice-attempted Unforgivable "Crucio", plus several other attack/defense spells

But it wasn't until Levicorpus specifically that Snape switches to rage, and he is once again screaming

I don't think he was upset specifically because Harry used his spells - he was angry but did not overreact when Harry used Sectumsempra on Draco, for example, and Snape is pretty chill, all things considered, when Harry hexes him in Occlumency lessons; he makes no moves to punish the students for Disarming him (and knocking him out) in PoA - and again, Snape is fairly unbothered when Harry is hexing him at the end of HBP, even when Unforgivables are involved.

He's also not that easily riled by unexpected things generally, e.g. when the fireworks explode in CoS so Harry/Hermione/Ron can steal ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion, he initially 'roars' "SILENCE!" but this is because the class is shrieking and people's heads are blowing up, so I expect it was chaos - afterwards, he immediately turns to restoring everyone's various body parts to the normal size, and remains composed: “If I ever find out who threw this,” Snape whispered, “I shall make sure that person is expelled.”

So I think it is something else in PS that makes him yell - namely, that Snape is deeply traumatised by James' treatment of him using Levicorpus specifically, but mostly because of how it was used to (threaten to, but probably actually to) strip him, and remove his underwear in front of a crowd.

Snape has a Thing about being physically exposed (that Thing is trauma)

And it's made 100% worse when he is witnessed/it is caused by a James Potter lookalike

And that is why we see some advanced shouty Snape in PS - because his leg was injured, and Harry came in, unexpected, to see Snape vulnerable, and both physically and emotionally exposed

Counter-argument: Snape is comfortable enough to walk around Hogwarts in his nightshirt, so perhaps he's not that worried about being physically exposed? Or perhaps he knows the students wouldn't dare to pull a prank on him, or do that to him in any way... until Harry

“You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them — I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you’d turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don’t think so… no!” Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. “Kill me then,” panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. “Kill me like you killed him, you coward —” “DON’T —” screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them — “CALL ME COWARD!”

A couple of things to note here, specifically:

The usual plug for my theory that James & Co. knew about Sectumsempra, or found out about it - and that they used it on Snape

If I nosedive into that theory/hc a little further, we could also speculate that - just like the main interaction we see between the Marauders and Snape in SWM - they are more focused on the hunt, on the attack, the offense, whereas Snape used Sectumsempra in self-defence/retaliation

Morbid headcanon that James/Sirius used Sectumsempra on Snape in the section of SWM we didn't get to see because Adult Snape interrupted the memory

Little additional morbid hc - they slashed up his leg or something, for additional Fluffy injury parallels

"How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?" - the three heads are James, Sirius, and Peter, all of whom have a more violent streak than Lupin, who typically just pretended not to see anything (and is engaging in a life-long habit of pretending he's just a friendly little guy, distancing himself from the werewolf guilt and fear of violence that it entails)

(Lupin knew the incantation, after all - how would he know that, if it was Snape's own spell, which Snape could cast nonverbally, unless Lupin had also used/heard it?)

[chhayaaaa]

Ouch, that hurt

Apologies once again in advance-

What if the reason Severus was able to easily sacrifice himself for people that didn’t care for him BECAUSE they didn’t care for him? All his life he’s been abused and rejected by everyone around him- his only friend sided with his bullies and he lost her twice. The only person he KNEW cared for him. As a teacher he kept his distance, kept an intimidating persona up around the students that made him disliked among them. Perhaps to make it easier. To make his sacrifice easier on him. Severus didn’t have anyone, and that’s what drove him to put his life on the line for everyone. He went through so much pain, trauma and abuse- something he didn’t want others to go through. Something he didn’t want to inflict on others. He kept his distance, he was cold, he was bitter, he was aloof not only to protect himself but to protect others too. He was scared of hurting those he cared about. He didn’t want people to be hurt by his death. So he made himself unlikable as an adult. He could’ve gotten friends- he could’ve been a well liked teacher despite the trauma he went through but he didn’t feel like he deserved it. He didn’t want to end up hurting those around once he was gone- he thought he was doing everyone a favor. What he didn’t know though, was that people had already started to care for him despite how he was. They saw through his wall, they saw his pain and trauma. Maybe not directly but through his actions they could tell. They cared, as much as Severus didn’t want them to. They cared.

But again that’s just a what if!

[maxdibert]

So how did you end up becoming a Snape fan? What changed your mind about him?

At first, I found him pretty relatable, but it drove me crazy that his motivation was based on trying to make up for a woman who was a complete piece of shit. Because even before I became a Snape fan, I already hated James Potter with a passion and thought Lily was a fucking hypocrite. Over time, I met a lot of people with emotional issues and dependent personalities, and I eventually realized that, as much as Snape’s passive attitude pissed me off, it was incredibly realistic and human if you look at the full context. In fact, I came to see him as the most human character in the entire series. And if you add to that the fact that he’s the one who gets dumped on the most without actually deserving it, well… that’s how I became the monster I am today, hahahaha.

[24hrsofgrace]

“Omg but imagine if Harry was a girl that l-looked like lllilly!! Just imagine what snape would’ve done!!” I’m so fucking sick of this headcanon?? Like?? What?? If you’re going to hate snape and try to justify it, hate him for literally ANYTHING else. Like. He has so many flaws somebody could take and be like “well, because of this, he isn’t my favorite!” And that would be fine!! I don’t know why marauders fans are so eager to headcanon somebody to be a child predator? Lily would hate you mfs 😭

Edit: actually scratch that?? Not just Lily. The marauders would also find you guys weird as fuck for this

[achingless]

CW: Mention of SA.

I was inspired to draw this after reading Snape's Worst Memory; an SA that happened to a minor at the hands of his bullies. Most readers regarded the event so, so callously because the bullies grew up to become heroic figures while the victim didn't. People didn't even consider it SA and called it a schoolyard rivalry. Some people had the audacity to call it deserved because he grows up to become a controversial figure. As if cause and effect weren't a thing. As if any fifteen year old deserves to be publically stripped, pointed and laughed at while they hung in the air.

I was torn up about it for days. I wanted to draw it in a way that captured exactly why what happened was horrifying. I stripped the event of its idyllic scenery and highlighted every horror taking place.

His mouth is silenced because they were literally washing it out with soap, and cast a spell on him that gave him a speech impediment. And the headmaster didn't want him talking about a certain prank that almost got him killed—he was physically and metaphorically silenced. His limbs are paralysed because they strung him upside down, essentially crucified in the air.

They stripped him naked amidst a crowd of his peers. He was unpopular, so everyone laughed at his skinny, pale legs and fraying underpants—things that are the product of his impoverished upbringing. That's why his ribs are showing and his stomach is depicted with a cavernous hole—this is what starvation looks and feels like. This is the thing the people are laughing about. It's not so funny, is it?

His eyes are big and empty and horrified. His body is emaciated, without strength, made of lines barely holding him together. Shaking apart. His hands and feet are barely discernible because they can't do anything. He can't do anything but cry. His chest is empty because how could he still have a heart after this?

The 'x'es are made of red and gold—Gryffindor colours, regal colours—because they represent the actions of his wealthy, heralded bullies. There are dark, spidery lines amidst the red and gold to depict the corruption in their regal exterior. The corruption in their actions.

The faces are especially cruel and shallow because anyone who is amused by a scene like this is especially cruel and shallow. The crowd is a monolith, a giant monster. They surround him. Their laughter is suffocating. Their eyes pin him down. Their grinning mouths are eating alive his dignity. It magnifies the hurt he's undergoing at the hands of his bullies. If the background was completely black, without the faces, the horror would significantly recede. 

The art style is similar to how traumatised children draw their traumas. Because he was a kid. He was a minor who had something horrible and inexcusable done to him, and anyone who thinks it was deserved is simply foolish.

I crumble underneath the weight

Pressures of a new place roll my way

Jumpsuit, jumpsuit, cover me

Jumpsuit, jumpsuit, cover me

Or, Snape's worst memory.