#Snarcissa

[cuntnikida]

Elaborate on snarcissa pls. Like i see the vibe but i dont understand it, but I'd like to understand it.

Somebody please convince me to jump on their Snape ship

I already ship Snupin but I need somebody to write Severus with when I'm writing Remus with someone else

open to literally any suggestions. give me your best pitch please i beg

[petrerpkr]

Got the snape brain worms again fanfic rec 🤠

Gen

On the Couch

facts and memories and anecdotes

An Unexpected Universe

Can Spring Be Far Behind?

You're a Parent, Severus

anchor of a different kind

On The Wings Of A Wish

Stories We Never Knew

The adventures of Snape slowly adopting Harry Potter

A Patchwork Family

The Potions Master and His Golden Boy

Methods of Care

Of Mice and Men

beyond repair

making do

Snarry

Snitches and Songs

Hesitation Marks

Don't Block Me Out (Don't Cut Me Off)

Brews And Rescues

World Enough, and Time

What are the Odds?

Lethe

Devotion

Snupin

when the wolfsbane blooms

Jeverus

Foxtrot and Bandit

Avarice

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Snarcissa

Guilt Weighs Heavier Than Anything

whereof are you made?

things Kayryn doesn't write but probably should

Something More

Snily

Snily’s Year: Severus and Lily’s NYE

A Token of Luck

Pinky Promise

Last Option

deuxième chance

Echoes

In the Fall of Their Friendship

[sneppu]

I sleep real restfully and soundly at night knowing that no matter what au or what scenario, Lucius and Narcissa are both full of adoration for and hopelessly in love with that strange Snape boy from Cokeworth in my brain. 👍

[lilvoidcreature13]

Why I enjoy the Ships I put Severus in / ships featuring Severus from fanfics that I've read and enjoyed.

Lily X Sev (Snilly): I absolutely adored it when it's done right. Especially when it's from Lily's point of view since she rarely gets expanded on in the canon as fell as in the fandom. I also really love it when it has some elements of queerness. I've read fics where 1. Sev is a girl who still loves Lily; 2. Lily or Sev has some queer feeling about their gender and/or sexuality (either are portrayed as gender-nonconforming/non binary and/or bisexual/ace spectrum) or 3. They genuinely having feeling for each other and just not working out. These elements that I can find in some Snilly Fanfics are absolutely divine, I feel like these fics aren't afraid to look at the reality of queerness in the 1970s, and the complexity of their relationship to one another.

Sirius X Severus (Snirius, Snack, HoundPrince?): there's fics tend to be toxic, sometimes even violent, which isnt everyones cup of tea and I myself have to be in the right mood for it, but I enjoy seeing how these two man mirror each other and also bring out the worst in each other. I, with all my heart, believe that Sirius sees his mom in Severus and Severus sees his dad in Sirius, and it drives them both crazy because neither of them wanted to end up like their parents but cant stop themselves from seeking out what is familiar to them. I also like how a lot of Snack fics explore their experiences with abuse, their lives seem so different yet also similar. There are also some fics where they actually grow to understand one another and start a healthy relationship too, but I don't think they're as prominent as the more toxic versions. I still very much ship them, though!

James X Severus (Jeverus, PrinceChaser): can be just as toxic as SevXSirius but there are more wholesome fics out there of them. I have a love /hate relationship with this particular ship. Like, I like fics where James unknowingly had a crush on Sev the whole time and tries to win him over, but I always end up rooting for Sev to reject him and make him realize his actions have consequences. I've also stopping shipping it as much because of Snape's Worst Memory. I only returned to the fandom this year, before that I was still a high schooler obsessed with shipping, and now that I've matured I see SWM in a new light and can't stand fics between James and Sev when they take place after SWM. There's still plenty of good fics of these two, but I'm not as into the pairing as I use to be. Also James Stan's are really annoying and if I look for content featuring James, I inevitably run into them, so that kind of hinders my enjoyment of the ship.

Remus X Severus (Snupin, MoonPrince? WolfPrince?): again, I have a love hate relationship with this ship. I love how theyre both considered quite, introverted, and nerdy. They also have similar social standing: Remus is a halfblood whose life in constantly in shambles, who finally finds a place where he feels excepted with people who don't hate him for his condition, who then has to sit back and be quite when his friends act up because he's too scared of loosing what he has. Severus was in a similar boat to Remus, except he probably didn't have genuine friendship with the people he spent time with. This is a pretty interesting dynamic to explore, but I can't always enjoy the ship,especially in fics where the impact of Remus' non-action is handwaved. I don't know about you guys, but having a partner who doesn't acknowledge the ways they may have hurt you, even if it's only through inaction, is not a green flag for a partner.

Licius X Narcissa X Severus

I'm just gonna combine the LuciusXSev, NarcissaXSev, & LuciusXNarcissaXSeverus ships into on section, I don't read enough of this ship to have any really strong opinions,but I absolutely adored it when it's platonic. I just love the idea of Narcissa & Lucius acting as Severus' big siblings / parental figures, lord knows he needs people like that in his life. I also don't mind when this ship is more romantic/sexual, but I'm really picky when it comes to those depictions because if Sev is gonna be their third, they gotta treat him right.

Mulciber X Sev:

I adore this ship, it wasn't around when I was first in the fandom but I like how much Bruce is portrayed as a guy who actually loves Severus from the beginning. They very rarely any animosity between the two, which make it easy to consume fluff fics with them because I can buy into the fluff very easily. (Ps. I love it when Bruce calls Sev 'Potions' it's such a jock thing to do, and is also a unique term of endearment.)

Xenophilius Lovegood X Sev:

This stems purely from TikTok and the handful of fics I could find of this pair. Idk where it came from but I love the idea of Luna's oddball dad having a strange relationship with Severus. We've all see that post where the HP characters are matched up with characters from the first war (Harry-James, Ron-Sirius, Remus-Hermione, Neville-Peter, Ginny-Lily, Luna-Severus) and I fully believe that Luna does partially mirror Sev, what with them both being outcasts. Xenophillius, as we saw, also had some strange ideas and had his head in the sky, which I think would clash with Severus personality at first, until Sev eventually learns to tolerate Xenophilius. This ship is pure Crack and I am an addicted for it.

Kingsley Shacklebolt X Severus:

I have no idea why I like this ship, I'm not even a big Kingsley enjoyed but the fanfics are so good. There's one where they get into an arranged marriage and Kingsley is such a good husband!!

Fic is called Come What May by ShadowAceSeverus https://archiveofourown.org/works/48388618

It's what got me addicted to this ship.

[severussnapeconfessions]

What’s your favorite fanfic for severus?

I have far too many and my memory is rubbish with titles, plots and authors. I will open this question to all of you. Drop your reccomendations in the replies!

They don't have to be romantic!

[saintsenara]

Hi for ships, if you don’t mine what do you think of Snape/Narcissa/Lucius and also Snape with each of them individually?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

lucius malfoy/severus snape

i've answered this one here.

narcissa malfoy/severus snape

i sincerely, sincerely believe that this is implied by canon - not only because the unbreakable vow scene is so intimate but because it's so sensual, but also because narcissa is the only plausible candidate for voldemort to be speaking about in his final confrontation with harry, in response to harry bringing up that snape loved his mother:

He desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier than him.

there is, i think, no universe in which snape and voldemort are sitting down for a little casual chat about girls, and there's also no universe in which voldemort would care about snape having a crush on any random woman, pureblood or not. but, if voldemort suspected that snape had a thing - whether or not that thing was requited and/or consummated - with narcissa, then he finds himself able to humiliate snape, narcissa, lucius, draco, bellatrix, and the memory of lily in one fell swoop, and it would - therefore - be information he would go out of his way to uncover.

[that voldemort is lying is, of course, the other potential here. but something that's very striking across the seven-book canon is that - since the narrative usually needs him to provide information to harry that either snape or dumbledore couldn't reveal without blowing their series-long arcs, he usually speaks the truth whenever he appears in person in the text.]

and i think, as with snucius, you have very interesting potential for narcissa to be one of the few people who sees and knows the "real" snape - there is the heavy implication in spinner's end that she recognises that snape is not blindly loyal to voldemort [in the way, for example, that bellatrix is], even if she doesn't doubt his commitment to the death eaters' cause. she evidently trusts and respects him. and she clearly values his wider relationship with her family.

i think you can do a lot with that, especially during the period in which lucius is in prison and narcissa probably needs a little hurt/comfort...

lucius malfoy/narcissa malfoy/severus snape

yes. they saw him across the slytherin table and they liked his vibe.

[picklesonjupiter]

Severus could have a harem full of the Black family. Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and I bet he could also charm Orion and Walburga (slightly joking about that last part 😂). Severus has infinite rizz with the Blacks.

[wookiecookiesfactory]

Severus is definitly into milfs, he is not step father material tho, those kids are being sent to a boarding school as soon as he gets the chance

[littleorangecactus]

WIP’s coming soon:

Hello! I have had a list of WIP’s in my notes for close to 2 years that need to be cleared out and published. This is my list of them, if you are interested, please send me an ask and let me know what you think!

Here is a list of all of the ships I have, and a synopsis of what the fic will entail. Everything I post here, I cross post on AO3, same username. I will be doing a linked post for them when they are finished so it’s easier to access. This is list will be multi fandoms, multi media. It’s a little bit of all the things I’m interested in. I know it’s a lot but please bear with me. 

HARRY POTTER

SNARCISSA: Severus is a spy, which we all know, but what if he had help that no one knew about besides Dumbledore? What if one day Narcissa got hurt and had to be taken to the Order headquarters to be healed, leaving everyone to wonder who exactly the second spy is, and why they are there.

SNAPE ANGST: Hagrid comes rushing in to the great hall carrying a body that’s been dropped off at the gates. The woman bears a resemblance to our snarky potions master, but who they believe she is, physically cannot be possible. Who is this woman? And what does this mean for Sev?

SNARRY: Severus and Harry continue to butt heads after the war, Harry having come back for his final year. The more Snape tries to only see Potter in him, the more he realizes that they are two separate people. What is he to do with this new found attraction and knowledge?

SNUPIN: An order meeting turns upside down when Severus storms in the house, covered in blood, with a look in his eyes that no one has seen before. He is in an almost catatonic state after what LV asked Severus for this time, and the Order has never seen this side of him.

PLATONIC SNILY: Set after the end of their friendship. The bullying has only gotten worse. A treasured item from Sev’s mom gets destroyed by the boys and he completely breaks down. Lilly cannot help but come to his aid when she and the entire school witness this act, and the effects it has on Snape afterwards.

PLATONIC SNILY: Lilly is homesick, tired of fighting with Petunia over being a witch. Sev is there to comfort her after getting a rude letter. The Marauders try to be the assholes we all know they are, but Lilly isn’t having it. Cute friendship fic.

SNAPE ANGST: The order is feeling distrustful of Snape, him being late to the current meeting being held doesn’t help his side. When he comes in, he is disheveled and hurt, nothing like they’ve seen before. The Order gets an inside on the punishments DE face, and they cannot look at him the same way again. (Explicit tags for this one, trigger warnings will be posted)

BADASS SEVERUS: Final battle, Snape doesn’t go to meet Voldemort. Instead he hides in the shadows and bides his time. When the battle reaches the school grounds, he comes from the darkness ready to strike. No one is prepared for what he’s about to unleash, nor do they know where his allegiance lies.

SEVERITUS: Lilly and James have passed, leaving little Harry behind. I changed his age so he is around 2-3 here. The Order has taken him from his awful relatives, but they aren’t quite sure what to do with him now. Severus is tasked with being his guardian, which he isn’t at all happy about. Mainly my two fave boys, but there’s wolfstar and some other pairings as well.

SNEGULUS: Marauders era. Regulus and Snape centered, but the others will be here too. The marauders get to see an inside to the snakes they never thought they would get to before. Lilly and Snape are friends, regulus is obsessed with quidditch, Snape loves to piss off Sirius by dating his brother.

SNILY: this is a silly, goofy fic but I love it. Instead of the frog choir preforming, Dumbledore asked for a volunteer to preform at a ceremony for the school. Of course Lilly offers her and Sev to be the entertainment, leading to a lot of revelations. jealous James, Snape is a hormonal mess and can’t say no to his crush.

SNAPE ANGST: Severus is hurt and at the Order hideout, poppy has been called to heal him. The Order members get to see what it’s like going on a DE mission and what he sacrifices every day. Poppy/minerva as Snape’s adoptive parents bc I love my little lesbians. Lots of hurt and comfort.

Bellamione: ABO, omega Hermione, alpha Bellatrix. (I needed to write at least one of these and I have no shame in doing so.) Bellatrix is a professor at the school, with the same personality just a little less crazy. Protective Alpha golden boys, asshole Slytherin bullies. Hermione is the glue for the trio and basically runs their group.

Bellamione: They are both teachers, but completely opposite. The tensions between muggleborn and pureblood is getting ridiculous so Hermione comes up with a group activity to get them to see things from other perspectives. Sharing of cultures, cute lil fic on acceptance.

ER

I just found this show and I am obsessed. The fandom might be dead but I’m not, so buckle up.

Kerry/susan: Dr. Kerry Weaver is new to County general, and no one is enjoying her arrival. Her attitude and structured rules are driving everyone up the walls. Being such a private person, the others don’t get to see a lot into her personal life. That’s all going to change when someone from her past comes to visit and the skeletons in the closet can’t hide much longer.

Kerry/elizabeth: Mark is gone, Sandy is gone. Two broken women with their children remain behind. Can they get past their grievances and help each other, or will the past stop the future from becoming reality.

Kerry/Abby: starts off as a mentor fic, Abby seems like the only person who truly understands Kerry and her behaviors. When they are pushed together by events out of their control, will they allow the sparks to fly, or will one of them run away like they are prone to do?

platonic Kerry and Carter: John Carter is suffering and no one seems to be able to see it. No one except his boss who seems to be watching his every move. Kerry has been in his shoes and knows what he’s going through. Sometimes a little help can go a long way.

[ashesandhackles]

Fic recs

Other Women and of Purer Blood by @saintsenara

Summary: Narcissa is adrift, rattling around Malfoy Manor, when an equally lonely man comes into her lonely life.

Thoughts: I have been wanting a story that contextualises the sexual charge and familiarity we see between Snape and Narcissa in Spinner's End for ages (canon compliant, that is) and this story is a lovely backstory to that. It also captures Snape in transition: Snape still ironing out his northern accent, how his movements are still spider-like. He is in the process of becoming the adult Snape we see in canon: whose speeches are a performance, and how he irons out the awkwardness of his movements in adulthood.

Excerpt:

Snape looks completely wrong in the flowery bower where Dobby has set out tea. His sallow awkwardness seems to repel the summer, even though Narcissa suspects he must be baking in his layers of shabby black robes. 

He doesn’t have the fine manners of the sort of person who normally comes to tea with the Malfoys. He eats quickly, and slurps his tea, and looks at the cakes with the greedy eyes of a boy who isn’t used to treats. Lucius would be disgusted, to have a greasy half-blood at his table spraying crumbs everywhere. She imagines the expression of horrified confusion on his pointy face and giggles.

Snape immediately goes scarlet and puts down his tea-cup.

In Infinite Remorse of Soul by @perverse-idyll

Summary: Albus Dumbledore never makes the same mistake twice. Certainly not in love.

Thoughts: My very first Snumbledore, which is a frightening meditation on the very vast power dynamics between Snape and Dumbledore from the hilltop scene in Deathly Hallows and expanding the very personal reaction Dumbledore had towards the wayward young Death Eater. Perverse Idyll is among the best writers in the fandom, brimming with words and fantastic imagery that just stays with you.

Excerpt:

"My boy," Albus says almost kindly, because kindness is something that mystifies his young servant. Severus' eyes dart upwards, apprehensive, accusing, and Albus can see the darkness inside the boy clawing to reach him. Guilt calling to guilt.

The moment quivers and thins until he judges that Severus has had enough and is about to rebel. A harsh rasp draws his attention. He looks down at the bruised, blackened fingernail scraping across stone.

"My boy," he sighs. "You never fail to disgust me."

The ritual word strikes Severus down. His obstinate body shrinks, wings of hair flapping forward to shut his scowling face from view.

To Build A Home by @mblematic

Summary: 1978-1981: Sirius stumbles on something in the woods, Sirius and Remus stumble into each other, everyone stumbles into the war.

Thoughts: First War hijinks, dysfunctional Wolfstar - I was fed! I cannot rave enough about the gorgeous, subtle writing of relationships (the author really captures this raw, visceral vulnerability between two friends who are attracted to each other and how it explodes in heightened tension of war) and there is some fantastic world building and mirroring. Excerpt: Later, Sirius would remember almost everything from this night with crystal clarity except the sky, which in reality was clouded but in his memory would be open, star-studded, expansive and unknowable as the future. He’d remember, correctly, that the wolf was different than it had been at Hogwarts. He’d remember the restless, brutal, snarling fury, all of it undercut with a fear so intense it had its own meaty weight. The night took Sirius by surprise and he spent the whole long stretch of it trying to put himself back on track, trying to reacquaint himself with the wolf, and trying to convince them both that they remembered each other. At one point he found himself literally between Remus’ jaws, helpless and pliant, mewling like a supplicant. This, too, he would remember for the rest of his life. 

Second Life by Cassandra, nwhiker Summary: What happens when two men are given a second chance.

Thoughts: I finally got around to reading one of the most recommended Snirius fics out there. Beautiful, understated, deeply emotional - the authors take you on a journey with the two of them post war. It also feels....old?? As in, the kind of perspective this fic has is the perspective of someone in late 30s (which both Snape and Sirius are in this fic, post war). There is a fragile, "who else will understand what our generation went through?" running through the vein of this fic.

Excerpt:

It was like walking into a tiny garden in the tropics, and he was reminded of some of the places he'd visited while on the run after his escape from Azkaban. There were hundreds of plants, most of them unfamiliar, and a large table was filled with orchids. There was a tree, which turned out to be a frangipani, its white flowers soft and sweet. A delicate white flower with an exquisite fragrance that Snape said was bouvardia. Along one wall were plants Sirius recognised from Potions classes, wolfsbane and asphodel, wormwood and sopohorous, a shrivelfig tree, and others he'd seen but didn't know the names of.

"I'm not supposed to have them," Snape said.

Sirius turned to him. Snape was staring down an orchid, brushing planting mix from the edge of its pot.

Al Aaraaf by eldritcher

Summary: There is a place between heaven and hell.

Thoughts: An unsettling, poetic horror fic featuring a grieving Walburga Black. The whole fic is structured like a poem, with rhythm and repetition and metaphor shining through.

Excerpt:

He had her face. He had her scowl. He had her loathsome, loathing heart that mourned and loved. Hell dwelled in him, as a warm and heartful thing calved of mother.

The last of earth's make she held was son. His hands were placed in prayerful clasp over her belly.

The lamb in her was of Tartary, born of son fed and killed with milk and honey, birthed of widow's mourning.

"It is all right," Sirius said, and held her to him as if she weren't damned.

Runaway Boys by Delphi

Summary: Severus dreams of pirates, and Lily closes the nursery window. Thoughts: I'm not sure if I have recommended this fic before, but I am recommending it again, just in case. This is a wonderfully strange coming of age, a tale of puberty told in dreams/ fantasies featuring Snape and Captain Hook. Excerpt:

"Severus S—" He cuts himself off and then tentatively amends: "Prince. Severus Prince."

It's a better name, he's decided. His new friends at school know the Princes, but they've never heard of any Snapes.

"That is a fine name, Mr. Prince," the man says. "As for me, I am Captain James Hook."

A large hand extends into the branches, and after a moment, Severus carefully leans down and shakes it.

"Pleased to meet you," Severus says.

"Are those friends of yours?" the captain asks, nodding towards the neighbouring island, where the boys are now riding wild ponies bareback, jousting with each other using lances made of hollow reeds.

Severus shrugs. Of course, he thinks, the man would rather know them.

Note: Please check the pairings and tags in each of these fics and keep in mind your own triggers :)

[severussnapemylove]

Okay, heres a question- outside of reader, not that I'm complaining, is there anyone you'd ship Sev with?

Hmmmm probably Narcissa or Charity. Sev and Narcissa just have so much potential; how they both secretly defy Voldermort, they can be the secret love trope, they're the rich girl-poor boy, the spy and the villains wife. So much good stuff to work with there. Musicmelis on AO3 wrote a brilliant blended family fic with Sev as Harry's adopted dad. And Charity, I've started liking because not much is known about her as a character and it's fun to try to flesh out undeveloped characters. And with her being the Muggle studies teacher, I like the idea of their developing friendship. Because he's learned (at heart always knew) that discriminating against Muggles was wrong but honestly I don't think he has any good associations with Muggles either. So to have them developing a friendship and him getting to see the muggle world in a new light I think would be sweet. And friendship to love ships are just so sweet and cute.

[petrerpkr]

In my~sev era~ again :fanfic rec

Jeverus

Redemption

Knowledge of the Gods

snakes symbolise healing and rebirth

Gen

The Gryffindor Sort

Cripple Me

For a Muggleborn

I Pretend to be a Cynic

Snarcissa

What Lies Beneath

Reverus

Variants of Gray

[cissykenway]

Rules: you will be given a word. then you share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your word!

I was tagged by @lizzy0305 with the word BITCH... 😏😁 I'm sharing bits from a Snarcissa fic that I started 4 (🙈) years ago... This rarepair deserves more attention. 💚

„Because I want it to be you.“ „Why? Why me of all people?“ „Because I know you. Because I trust you.“ She smiles. „Because I like you.“ Many people know him. Some trust him. Few like him. „In the Forbidden Forest?“ „Wouldn't be the first time,“ she replies mockingly. Snape cocks an eyebrow. „Seventh year“, Narcissa explains. „Lucius just wanted to make sure I was treated well since he had left Hogwarts.“ „That was very kind of him,“ Snape notes. What he would have given to see that. Those two blonde devils fucking against a tree during her break between Potions and Defence against the Dark Arts. „Cave Inimicum“ he whispers and moves his wand. „Salvio Hexia.“ He performs a few other spells, as well. “How long did it take you to get over Evans?” Evans she says. She had no trouble with her, but she calls her by her surname out of respect for him. It makes him smile.

Tagging @charlotterhea, your word is ANGST.

[gabrielestonehill]

Autora de fanfics apaixonada por construir histórias cheias de mistério e romance. Explorando novos mundos e personagens enquanto reinvento universos conhecidos.

[indigo-scarf]

consider: sapphic narcissa/trans girl snape aka popular girl/weird creepy girl

[saintsenara]

rare pair tag game

thanks for the tag, @said-snape-softly :)

i'm pretty sure everyone has done this by now, but if you'd like to, please consider this a blanket tag.

apart from all the tomarry and the odd dabble in remadora, i am a rare-pair enthusiast, so i am delighted to spread some propaganda here... the criterion i've used for a rare-pair is less than 2500 works on ao3.

pairs, little metas, fic recommendations, and some suggestions for authors to follow under the cut.

sirius black/severus snape

why i ship it:

this one can just about claim to be a rare-pair.

sirius and severus are narrative mirrors, whose complicated relationship to themselves and to each other is crucial for driving several of the most important arcs in the series.

in particular, sirius - constantly haunted by guilt and grief over his role in the death of the man he loved [you can decide if his love for james is platonic or not, but i definitely think the text thinks it isn't...], trapped in his childhood home, unable to have his real loyalties acknowledged before his death by the fact he's on the run - leads harry through his journey in hero-worshipping, then being disappointed in, then forgiving james. and then promptly dies.

this is one of harry's most significant areas of personal growth - it begins to chip away at his rather black-and-white morality, which is finally destroyed by his ability to confront the complexity of dumbledore in deathly hallows - but it is also key narratively: harry coming to understand james starts to hint to the reader that it is lily - otherwise absent from her son's conception of himself - who is the key to the mystery...

which brings us to severus - constantly haunted by guilt and grief over his role in the death of the woman he loved, trapped in his childhood home, unable to have his real loyalties acknowledged before his death by the fact he's a spy - who gives harry, and us, the final piece of the puzzle. and then promptly dies.

put them together, though? well, you get the delicious tension of two fundamentally broken people - who cannot comprehend the possibility of their own redemption - bound to each other. can they forgive each other and themselves? is it a disaster? the story can go either way.

and even in fluff there is so much potential for d r a m a between sirius' recklessness and severus' cunning, sirius' emotional control and severus' temper, the fact that sirius is canonically hot and severus is canonically not, how they react to harry and draco [i don't usually accept the fanon that severus is his godfather, except when it means snack can be fighting about it], and so on.

and i'm a sucker for two bitter old men getting a happy ending. sue me.

want to give it a read?

if you trust nothing else i say in my life [and why should you] you can trust this - second life by nwhiker and cassandra7 is one of the greatest pieces of writing i have ever seen, not only in this pairing but in this fandom full stop. it's a profound and solemn meditation on loving and grieving, choice and chance, and the great pain caused by the divide between the magical and the muggle worlds.

then, for gorgeous angst with a happy ending - two boys kissing by @writcraft and the merit in trying by brightened

albus dumbledore/tom riddle | voldemort

why i ship it:

the facetious answer is because they wouldn't be so obsessed with each other if there wasn't some sexual tension underneath it.

the facetious and nsfw answer is because it appeals to the part of me whose favourite book aged 11 was lolita

the serious answer is that they should be horrifying together: they're both liars; both incredibly self-righteous; both living behind masks which conceal their true emotions and motivations; dumbledore took one look at tom as an eleven-year-old, said "he reminds me of gellert", and then did nothing about it; tom thinks dumbledore's a hypocrite and is right, although not for the reasons he thinks; there is a colossal age gap; there is virtually no scenario in any timeline where they could be openly in a relationship unless one of them is concealing his identity; and - really, this seems quite minor in the grand scheme of things - they are constantly trying to destroy each other.

but.

intellectually, they are the only two characters in the series who could be the other's equal - i'm sure that violent arguments about the twelve uses of dragon's blood trigger the majority of their sexual encounters, and a man who's passionate about your research is hot.

if either of them ever fancy being honest - so, no - there is a shared cavernous [although, in tom's case, unacknowledged] grief in their lives which has shaped their not-as-divergent-as-the-text-thinks-they-are views on death, love, duty and so on. their active refusal to understand each other [i.e. dumbledore entirely misreading voldemort's motivations in the job interview scene] and commitment to constantly underestimating each other [i.e. voldemort bouncing around like an idiot in the chamber of secrets instead of using his brain and remembering what a phoenix is] could, in time, lead to something almost resembling acceptance. i mean, just imagine the hurt/comfort sex which happens when voldemort finds out about grindledore.

the way dumbledore describes the young riddle - "self-sufficient, secretive, and, apparently, friendless" - is also an exact description of him. that each sees himself in the other canonically drives their hatred of each other, but it could also appeal to two very vain men in a much racier way. after all, who doesn't want to bang their narrative mirror?

and being an orphan probably doesn't seem so bad when you realise your boyfriend's family is aberforth.

want to give it a read?

i can't recommend concordance by @laeveteinn enough, particularly for one of the best-written dumbledores i've ever seen. i find dumbledore is often written either as far more whimsical than i'd like, or far more fiery and radical [when one of his most interesting personality traits in canon is his tendency towards inaction], but this dumbledore is the perfect balance of contradictions, while tom is his canonical feral self, longing to perceived, rather than the emotionless sociopath of so many other stories.

i also recommend as an entire ocean in a drop by eldritcher, which really leans into just how similar these two are underneath all the artifice.

albus dumbledore/severus snape

why i ship it:

well, we've had dumbledore with one lost boy, let's have him with another [i haven't been brave enough to venture into dumbledore/harry yet, but i'll take recommendations...]

as with riddledore, we have the potential for horror here: a vast power imbalance; enormous age gap; the fact dumbledore sends snape out to potentially die every time he goes off to voldemort; and - this is the crucial one - the fact that dumbledore's recognition of himself in snape is pure self-loathing ["you disgust me"] manifested in punishment [allowing snape to be humiliated in front of fudge, not stopping the presumed-to-be-real moody searching his office, making him give harry occlumency lessons, not letting him teach defence against the dark arts].

but then this stops, when snape does the tremendously brave thing of agreeing to kill dumbledore, and their dynamic equalises, as dumbledore recognises that snape is courageous, steadfast, and redeemed. i'm always struck in half-blood prince by the fact that dumbledore has it with harry's sniping about snape and straight-up tells him to shut up, as well as by the fact that he very nearly gives the game away and confesses why snape switched sides [the thing he promised not to do] when harry finds out it was snape who gave voldemort the prophecy.

and within this equalised dynamic - so this hot geriatric sex is happening in the afterlife, i guess - we have two men who are intellectual close-to-equals, who understand grief and guilt, whose aesthetic senses are charmingly mismatched, who are rarely honest but might be for each other, and who have lots of profound similarities which might lead somewhere...

want to give it a read?

cheerfully disregarding everything i've just said about how snumbledore could work, i highly recommend in infinite remorse of soul by @perverse-idyll, which is a chilling look at how dumbledore uses the power imbalance between the two to assuage his own guilt through snape's humiliation.

for something much more wholesome, i'm a big fan of byzantium by eldritcher

petunia dursley/severus snape

why i ship it:

because vernon is a dick.

i'm fond of petunia, who i think is one of the most interesting characters in the series because of how full of contradictions she is, and who i think is also a victim in fandom spaces of how the adult cast was aged up for the films [in canon, she's only in her early twenties when lily dies, and the implication is that vernon is a good deal older than her)] which makes her inadequacies, such as her inability to truly care for either child in the household, seem much more nuanced than they do if she's pictured as a middle-aged woman with considerable life experience.

like snape, she teeters on a knife edge between various chasms: she is a working-class girl from the midlands made good in middle-class surrey, he is a working-class half-blood boy who spends most of his life in pureblood circles; she ends up with her whole life wrapped up in a square little house when she's barely out of her teens, he ends up with his whole life wrapped up in spying at the same age; she hates the wizarding world and yet covets it, he hates the muggle world and yet cannot escape it; she loves lily and she hates her and she loathes her for dying, he... well, you know the rest.

want to give it a read?

i was first convinced by this pairing by the lovely regretfully yours by @maria-de-salinas, which takes both snape and petunia's awkwardness and bitterness and moulds it into something really tender.

i also highly recommend barking at the moon by rinsbane, the summary of which speaks for itself.

merope gaunt/tom riddle sr.

why i ship it:

our first canon pairing, and probably the most problematic of the canon relationships, since the series never acknowledges that tom sr. is a rape victim.

but i have found myself recently in my merope era and, in particular, in an attempt to give her more nuance than she gets in canon. as i've said to anyone who'll listen in the three broomsticks discord server, i loathe the implication in canon that merope dies because she just cba to live [since it directly justifies voldemort's belief that her death was shameful] and prefer to see her as someone who was desperate to escape a truly horrifying life [the fact she's going to be forced into an incestuous relationship with morfin is right there in canon...] and so did something she didn't have the capacity to understand the implications of [this is not a woman who's ever heard of consent] because she thought it would give her the first chance to be happy in her life, watched it all crash and burn around her, and would have very much liked to have lived to raise her son.

i doubt there was anything real or tender in her relationship with tom sr., of course, and his escape - while merely a brief stay of execution from his son's perspective - is tremendously brave. it's impossible to write tom/merope fluff [although i respect you if you're inclined to try] but fanfiction gives a space to explore the intricacies of their relationship which canon doesn't allow, and i'm obsessed.

want to give it a read?

i'm recommending myself here, and assuring you that you will enjoy: enchanter's nightshade, which explores how merope's attempts to keep her husband enslaved fail; the snow child, which treats the relationship as folk-horror; and the shack at the end of the lane, in which there is redemption, in the end.

the best exploration of tom sr. dealing with the fallout of the relationship is @phantomato's exquisite ganymede, which feels so truly embodied that you can't pull yourself away from the page.

bellatrix lestrange/tom riddle | voldemort

why i ship it:

our second canon pairing, i am obsessed with these two and the tragedy and - to some extent - tenderness bound up in their relationship [which can be proven to be there because noted softy @whinlatter loves them].

i've written before about my conviction - in contrast to a lot of bellatrix fans - that her relationship with rodolphus is utterly miserable, and that voldemort is the only man in her life who can understand her desire to make a life for herself which is not constrained by the gendered expectations of her social class.

obviously, lord voldemort is not a shining paragon of a boyfriend [and he is an awful choice as a baby daddy, bella, get it together], but i think the enormous power imbalance is perhaps slightly less enormous than is sometimes assumed - certainly, she tells him to his face in half-blood prince that he's wrong to trust snape [she's a clever woman], voldemort never physically punishes her for anything [rip to lucius malfoy, who seems to get picked for this in her stead], and voldemort tolerates a surprising amount of nonsense from her which shatters his mystique.

all of which is to say... the scream when she dies isn't just because he's losing the war.

want to give it a read?

tee hee, i'm recommending myself again, and encouraging you to take a look at: atramentum, bellamort's last afternoon together before voldemort goes to the potters; nor all that glisters gold, bellatrix's life - including her relationship with voldemort - through sirius' eyes; and death (eaters) in paradise, because murderous psychopaths deserve crack fics too.

draco malfoy/tom riddle | voldemort

why i ship it:

because the ship name is taco.

these two are a pairing which i enjoy with my tongue firmly in my cheek [and tom's tongue firmly in draco's], as i do with most other things in which draco is a main character [do i want to read drarry angst? no! do i want to chuckle? absolutely!], although this should not be taken as saying that many of taco's fabulous authors don't manage to make the pairing entirely plausible.

in fact, consensual taco [non-con is, of course, its own beast] often has some of the best characterisation of both tom [fretful, mercurial, stubborn, and nowhere near as charming as he thinks he is] and draco [prissy, a very good judge of character, someone who likes being taken care of, and much braver than he appears if he absolutely has to be] i've seen in the fandom, largely because - unlike other voldemort-centric ships [especially tomarry, but also voldemort + any of the adult death eaters] - there's no sense of inevitability there. these two aren't connected by a shared bit of soul, or a prophecy, or having gone to school together, or having been hooked in by voldemort in the first war when he was unassailable.

they have to choose each other. or, more accurately, draco has to choose tom, and tom has to get chosen.

and the results have me entertained.

want to give it a read?

then you will want to have a look at the travelling cabinet by @the-paper-monkey [and its sequel, bluebeard], truly the gold standard of taco content with an absolutely brilliant draco, whose sheer capacity to cling on and make himself an irremovable part of tom's life may just end up changing the course of history.

narcissa malfoy/severus snape

why i ship it:

because i am in deep with the conspiracy theory that it's canon. i am absolutely certain that narcissa is the person that voldemort is referring to at the end of deathly hallows - "he desired her, that was all, but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him". it seems highly unlikely to me that the canonical voldemort would give a shit about snape fancying any random pureblood [although the snapemort version is, naturally, hugely jealous], but snape having had some sort of liaison with narcissa, and the ability knowing this gives voldemort to humiliate snape, narcissa, the memory of lily, bellatrix, lucius, and draco is definitely information he would go out of his way to remember...

plus, how do you know where he lives, babe? v suspicious.

want to give it a read?

if you want some fluff, you will very much enjoy the incredibly sweet the reformed man by gingertart50, which features narcissa nursing snape back to health post-nagini and is a favourite re-read for me when i'm drunk and it's christmas.

if you want some very-much-not-fluff, other women and of purer blood by yours truly will scratch the itch...

minerva mcgonagall/severus snape

why i ship it:

because i'm an equal-opportunity age-gap fan, and there is far too little older woman/younger man in the fandom.

and look, i'll admit it, i'm a fan of the fanon that snape and mcgonagall are friends prior to dumbledore's death - i'm not sure it's canonically plausible, but this sign can't stop me because i can't read - and i like the idea of that blossoming into something more, especially in fics where snape survives the second war. after all, he is a man who definitely needs to be treated quite strictly [and i don't just mean in the staff room], there is a shared loneliness and grief to them both, they're intellectual equals despite the age gap, and bickering about quidditch is absolutely fine as a method of foreplay.

plus, you can't tell me dumbledore's portrait doesn't ship it.

want to give it a read?

for a fic which shows minerva at her acerbic - and yet still sensual - best, always but not necessarily forever by gingertart50 is an old, fluffy, and very funny, favourite.

for something much more bittersweet, that good night by kelly_chambliss has my heart.

severus snape/tom riddle | voldemort

why i ship it:

because voldemort is canonically down bad for it - there is no need to believe snape's ridiculous cover story for not attending his resurrection, to try and spare lily as a treat for his man, and to give him a nice, painful death which allows the narrative to move on and harry to defeat him if the dark lord isn't firmly in his simp era.

more seriously, they obviously have an enormous amount in common, particularly in terms of their backgrounds [harry draws a connection between all three of them, but actually the fact that harry is rich in the wizarding world, not a slytherin, and with a muggle mother, therefore giving him a pureblood name, means he can't relate to the post-childhood experience of both halves of snapemort].

as a result, i think snape is the death eater who comes the closest to understanding voldemort's motivations - above all, the fact that he's not seeking an oligarchy, which the malfoys etc. obviously believe - while voldemort is someone snape feels understands his intellectual interests and his creativity.

want to give it a read?

boy, are you in luck, because i myself have a snapemort wip - scylla and charybdis. it is not wholesome.

tom riddle/myrtle warren

why i ship it:

because it started as crack and now i love them.

in particular, i just have so much respect for being incredibly annoying as a method of seduction, and i think myrtle's commitment to just following tom around chattering at him - and, therefore, without her realising it, preventing him from committing all sorts of crimes - is iconic.

want to give it a read?

then my unhinged rom-com - bookbinding - shall provide.

tom riddle | voldemort/ginny weasley

why i ship it:

because i enjoy seeing my dear friends who ship hinny shake and cry.

but also because ginny and tom have an enormous number of similarities, right down to the fact that they both have yew wands [if you're sick of people saying harry has an oedipus complex, you'll be delighted to be confronted with the mountain of evidence ginny reminds him of the villain who keeps trying to kill him instead].

they are both very good liars, quick thinking, remarkably resistant to shame, possessed of nerves of steel, predisposed to violence, brown-eyed, so hot they have harry gagged, and the profound enemy of someone whose surname is smith.

despite what he claims, tom was absolutely not just sat politely in that diary gritting his teeth while ginny complained about having second hand robes and idiot brothers. as he says, he opted "to start feeding [her] a few of my secrets", and i think it's justifiable from canon that they were at the very least half-truths [for example, i would not be shocked to discover he tells her he's a half-blood orphan brought up against his will in the muggle world - there's no other reason, i think, for him to successfully make her tell him these things about harry without it], which means that ginny has lots of lovely emotional leverage over him.

plus, as with tomarry, you have the element of "this is kind of inevitable" in the relationship, and the mysteries of fate are always sexy.

want to give it a read?

this is a tommary/hinny/tominny triad, but it has had me in a chokehold since the first time i read it - shameful company by merrivale, which, truly iconically, manages to be epilogue compliant.