#snapecase recs

[consistentsquash]

HP Fic Recs! Snapecase Sunday!

Check out Snapecase! The fest is still going on. Lots of Snape centric fics/art! I didn't get the time to read everything but I got some recs from my reading. Definitely check out the fest for yourself.

5 fav fics with 5 different vibes.

Candles Lit Against the Dark

Pairing - McGonagall/Grubbly Plank.

Length - 11000 words

Vibe - Feel good with a happy ending. BANTER!!!!

Author's summary - It's been a few months since Minerva's retirement, and she'd promised Wil a dinner out. Before she knows it, friends start turning up on her doorstep and then at the pub, not least among them a certain spy who came in from the cold.

Rec - READ THIS! The longest fic of the fest iirc. But also the best! My favorite fic of 2023 so far!! Don't miss this fic! I love literally everything about it. The prose, the really sharp banter, the characterizations, the dynamics of their relationships. A lot of times we get to see the postwar setting when stuff is really raw or when they sort of got over it. This fic has a really low stakes premise of a retirement party but the undercurrents of their history/war is super present. The writing has this really precise balance where it feels light but it is at the same time dealing with tons and tons of complicated PTSD and messy baggage. ALSO SNARRY! Technically background Snarry but not really. It's right in your face. McGonagall's face I mean! :D :D ALSO THE BANTER! Sorry but not sorry! This is an ALL CAPS SCREAMING fic. Some real Seinfeld moments with the sharp banter.

Vibe quote

Wil wasn't a smirker, but it was a near thing. "Not that our dear old Skunk isn't capable of riding a bucking broom into the nearest cloud all on his own, but I did put the wind up his bristles. The therapeutic effects of working with the herd get raised now and then when we're out on the hillside and Severus is in a receptive mood. Harry being one of our lad's personal Boggarts – not that that's ever been a secret – I thought it worth mentioning his recent distress. Divorce and all. Gave my opinion that somebody ought to nudge the lad into beneficial activity."

Rec note - the fic that made me late for work. No regrets.

Womb

Pairing - gen, Phineas POV

Length - 2900 words.

Vibe - Angst with a happy ending. GENDER!!!

Author's Summary - Phineas revisits the question of legacy.

Rec - a solid premise of Found Family with a twist like A Christmas Carol. Phineas thinks his legacy is over because Sirius is dead. But he starts to accept legacy isn't about blood and "adopts" Snape. I mean. Sort of. Technically he saves Snape. I mean. It's complicated! Read it read it read it!!!! OMG!!!! It's a beautiful and eerie fic with lots of unforgivable magic which you forgive anyway because the motive is love. Also lots of gender. Definitely be careful with this fic if you have some gender dysphoria. It has a lot of detach/remove and some really clever techniques to kind of abstract the harder stuff so it doesn't feel dysphoric but these things can be YMMV. Phineas POV! He is super hard to sympathize with because he's pretty much into the purity thing. But you can definitely see where he is coming from and why/how he changes. ALSO SNARRY PRESLASH??

Rec note - So this fic has some serious Giger vibes. Giger designed the chestburster Alien in the Alien franchise. A strange combo of gender imagery.

Vibe Quote

And out came bursting a stick-shaped, sour-shaped man, bawling as only a newborn could, naked as something sprung from the mother, with pigment smearing him in afterbirth.

Some Semblance of Family

Pairing - gen, Eileen POV

Length - 2200 words.

Vibe - Angst with Glass Onion vibes!

Author's Summary - Eileen returns to Prince House on familial business.

Rec - Hardcore Snape fam angst. Really brilliant/sharp Eileen characterization. Love the character study. Also really loved the world building in the fic! Shortfic but does a lot with the word count! It's going to break your heart.

Vibe quote

Eileen realised that her great uncle was right, that she was wrong, that she had allowed hope, as usual, to poison her, and with a bitter, eldritch shriek, she began unburdening herself of her own searing disappointment.

The Watched Pot

Genfic with Snape POV.

Length - 2100 words.

Vibe - Angst!

Author's Summary -In the aftermath, Severus has no plan other than a potion.

Rec - I don't want to spoil the fic because the suspense is a big part of this fic. It's a brilliant Snape POV fic with super sharp characterization of Eileen and her relationship with her son. Heartbreaking. But ofc it's Snape. That's his thing!

Vibe Quote

"It's an old wives' tale, you know," Eileen says. "What is?" "That a watched pot never boils. Eventually, with enough time and heat, everything boils."

It was Magic

Pairing - Tobias/Eileen

Length - 1100 words

Vibe - SCHEMING!

Author's Summary -Tobias and Eileen's wedding day is the result of a magical connection.

Rec - OMG! This fic! Tobias and Eileen are big little liars!! Lots of intrigue/mystery/complicated motives. But you also feel for them and also feel really scared for their future/Snape's future. Super sharp writing which keeps you guessing nonstop!

Vibe quote

It's a small wedding because neither Tobias nor Eileen have any family, at least, that's what they've told each other.

[danpuff-ao3]

Ooh! This has been on my TBR (if all goes well this will be the first thing I read March 1!) and now I can read it for the first time with the ✨ extra ✨ bits! 🤩

Reblogging before reading cuz it’s PI and ofc you should read it 🙌

Written for the 2023 Snape Showcase (Snapecase) fest. There’s a word count limit for fest entries, so I had to whittle down the fic to make it fit. Now that it’s re-posted to AO3, I’ve restored the missing 2500 words. There’s a little fleshing-out and a tiny subplot added, but if you read it on LiveJournal, it’s basically the same.

[broomsticks]

fic rec list: some not-on-AO3 faves

[FFN] End of the Line by shewhoguards: King’s Cross afterlife fic. HP canon compliant, discworld crossover but no familiarity with that needed. ignore the summary, it’s not Snape-centric beyond the first of eight chapters. ensemble fic, featuring a number of characters who died in DH and before. remadora, marauders friendship (the peter bits are my favorite part!!), black sisters, crouch family.

[FFN] A Feast In Azkaban by Nyx Fixx. A canon compliant look at Sirius’s years in Azkaban and preceding backstory. Loved the prank HC and Bellatrix HC. Darkfic, CWs for incest, noncon, underage.

[forgiving-eyes] Le Tourbillon // 35k, E // Wolfstar, Jily, Prongsfoot, Lilypad, implied SiriReg. delicious debauchery, summer sexcapades, enjoy the ride :D

Also taking this as a sign to go read through the HP Beholder fics from a lifetime and a half ago. So far, have really enjoyed:

Cat Ladies // 2k, PG/T // Arabella/Dolores. epistolary!! postwar! dismantling preconceived notions, regret and redemption!

Come Back to Haunt You // 4k, T // Myrtle/McGonagall. intriguing, such lovely tension and pacing, and I always love the viscerality of a good 1POV

.

Lots of pre-AO3 livejournal fics to rec too: I’m most familiar with the wolfstar folks remuslives23 and musesfool, and also the snapecase fest!

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There’s also Fiction Alley’s archive, which has a bunch of classic Wolfstar, like ignipes’ Man-Eaters of Kumaon - lost years Remus monster hunt angst — and KabeyK’s Dating Disasters of Sirius Black - a once upon a time ship classic!

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Some more wolfstar authors on FFN recced by a friend on the ship server (thanks julai!!)

oony

Children of the Shadows

DragonDi

--

please feel free to reblog with specific recs or links to more fics hosted outside of AO3!

[lee-bella]

HP Fests on Dreamwidth & Livejournal

The following HP fests are happening on Dreamwidth (DW) and/or Livejournal (LJ). Most of them are posting on AO3.

HP Halloween 2023 (LJ): A Hallowe'en/autumn themed double drabble exchange. 200 words. You can post treats even if you haven't signed up. See here for the wishlists. Works due on October 25. Reveals happening on AO3 on October 31.

Snapecase 2024: Severus centric anonymous fest on LJ. Write a fic or create art featuring Severus in the age range of your choice. Sign-up is currently open. Works due on November 30.

Harry Potter Kink Meme Round 2: Kink centric prompt meme on DW. Open to all medium. Anon posting allowed. DW account not required. Has both an anon and a non-anon AO3 collection. Runs from October 16 to December 31. You can also post fills for round 1 prompts.

Hoggy Warty Xmas: A LJ Christmas festival focusing on Hogwarts staff and older characters within the book series. See here for the character list. Will be running a book club (recs), fic & art prompt fest, and an event for all other medium. Sign-up may or may not be still open; contact the mods for more information. Everything is due on December 5.

Upcoming:

The Ice Royals' Valentines Extravaganza: Lucius/Narcissa prompt fest on DW. Prompting begins on November 1. Posting begins on February 14 on both DW and AO3.

Snarry-a-Thon24: Anonymous Severus/Harry prompt fest. Run by the snape_potter community on DW and LJ. Prompting & sign-up begins in January 2024. Posting begins on May 1.

[danpuff-ao3]

tag people you want to get to know better

Thanks for the tag, @ripeteeth 😘

Three ships: Snarry, Snarry, and Snarry. Thank you next....Just kidding (sort of.) How about...let's go for an age gap extravaganza. Snarry (obviously), Dremus, anddddd...Riddledore!

First ever ship: Snarry, beloved 😍 (19 years & counting!)

Last song: "Galaxy" by Nine Lashes

Last movie: Jurassic Park

Currently reading: What I need to be reading are all the Adopt a Prompt and Snapecase fics. What I'm actually reading are posts on AITA and BORU 🤣 The heart wants what the heart wants, okay? 🙈

Currently watching: whatever video game my partner is playing!

Currently consuming: mozzarella!

Currently craving: sushiiiiiii

Tagging: @inarticulateimbecile, @fleetingdesires, @bluesundaycake, @mrviran, @luendland, @lizzy0305, @writcraft, @sitp-recs, @mxlfoydraco, @oliverwilde105, @cindle-writes, @acydpop, @consistentsquash, @roses-and-lightnings, @likelightinglass, @givereadersahug, @stonedregulus, @greenmegsnoham, @onbeinganangel, @sugareey-makes-stuff and whoever else wants to play! 🤗

[snapesources]

For fic recs: The Snape Chronicles by Rannaro on FanFiction is good. I also suggest looking at SnapeCase on LiveJournal, they have a lot of good Snape fic categorized by age brackets.

@mycrawft!

[consistentsquash]

HP Fic Recs - Snapecase Saturday!

Reveals are up!!

Signal boost for other rec lists

PI's recs on Tumblr

Kelly Chambliss recs on DW - Rec 1, Rec 2

You can also check out my Snapecase recs on Tumblr. But I am super behind on reading so the coverage is not that great.

@givereadersahug and I got our guesses right :D @perverse-idyll wrote the most wholesome fic ever. I don't even!!!

If you have Snapecase recs/selfrecs feel free to reblog/add/tag me!!

[perverse-idyll]

For anyone interested, read it here: Womb - Phineas Nigellus’s POV. Author anonymous for now (reveals in a couple of weeks!)

I need to make a real Snapecase rec post. But. Today's fic is insane.

[consistentsquash]

Author Love Letter - Scarlet

Folks, definitely chime in you want to add stuff because a lot of folks have probably met Scarlet in different contexts!

Also it's like 4am here so my spag and everything is going to be pretty bad. Sorry about that.

Scarlet, @givereadersahug on Tumblr and emeraldlove on AO3. Powerhouse of a human, brilliant multiship and multifandom writer, moderator, fest runner, community builder, absolute role model. 0% drama, 100% love. People first always. The Queen of giving without expectation.

We were like talking about having a Rec Fest sometime back in March 2023. Of course I was 100% talk 0% action. But Scarlet actually got a lot of great folks involved, started the fest, got comods to help out and literally just made it happen. That's a good TLDR intro: Make Things Happen Behind the Scenes. Like an iphone or something. Scarlet behind the scenes = it was going to work 100% without problems.

When I think about Snarry fandom, like any big and old fandom we have different folks with different strengths/contributions. Great writers, artists, podficcers, organizers. But it's pretty hard to find somebody whose first priority is making the fandom thrive because we are fans/fan creators, pretty attached to the stuff we are doing, we have time limits because fandom is a hobby and we have to prioritize between creating and community building a lot of times. Scarlet really said Community First, People First. I don't even know how to explain it but 0% transactional vibes.

Making space for people. Meeting folks where they are at. Obviously introverts have a hard time in communities sometimes. Some folks learn how to handle it. No judgment here because these experiences can be subjective. But I have seen Scarlet go the extra mile for folks who are new/introverted/feeling imposter syndrome/going through some complicated fandom experiences. Just being there for them and supporting them to get started.

Also a brilliant writer of darkfic!!! Scarlet's darkfic shorts are some of my all time favs because of how dark/delicious/intense they are. These fics really give me 2000s dirtyhotbadwrong vibes because of how totally out and proud they are about their fiction is not reality vibe. Tons of range and lots of genres but the darkfics get my special love because they are just dirtybadhotwrong shameless amazingness. Check out In His Bed to get a sense for that unique vibe! Her community building and cheerleading wins are huge but also her darkfic writing is some of my all time fav.

Also Queen of Attention to Detail. I have read some fests with her and she guessed authors just like that during anon phase. Just incredible observation Sherlock Holmes style.

My fav fest memory is doing Snapecase reading with her. She guessed the author for Candles Lit Against the Dark, @perverse-idyll based on the title because she noticed/connected a lot of the flame/shadow imagery in the author's other Snarry fics. I am pretty good about guessing some authors myself because I can identify their style but guessing from the title is advanced superpowers. I can't even!! So extra, Scarlet. So totally extra and I love love love <3

Another fav memory I have is about analyzing fics with her. When HotD was airing eldritcher's Ossuarium was being written episode by episode. It was an insane time. We had a brilliant time analyzing those fics :D We were both passionate but Scarlet was so extra passionate, noticed tons of detail that was totally lost on me, really good at connecting the dots, just a hardcore close reader.

Also dead dove fics! 100% supporter of folks writing dead dove, incest, darkfics.

Also reccing older fics! Her Dudley phase was insane and she was finding fics from like 2000s on wayback just like that with some superhuman skills. On like websites I didn't even know existed. Really Sherlock Holmes <3

Also smaller fests. Scarlet supported a ton of Dreamwidth fests and got new folks to join them/introduced them to Dreamwidth culture and literally was the bridge between different types of fandom culture a lot of times.

Also reccing fic! Her recs for For I Have Found Salvation by @lumosatnight and also for @wilfriede's podfics have so much love/passion/enthusiasm and I just love those works 2x because of the emotional connect of her reccing <3

Also nwhiker! I really got into this author's Snack fic, Second Life because of Scarlet's passionate, passionate reccing. When Scarlet got into something the reccing happened with big big love and for me that was like the best thing ever because folks who love things with big love are just super special <3

Also my concrit buddy for movies. Ingmar Bergman to Audrey Hepburn to Past Lives just a total knowledge wikipedia about movies/movie making/movie meta/movie crit. I really changed my perspective about movies after learning from her. Also shows! Watching HotD and doing episode reviews with Scarlet is like one of my best memories ever ever ever <3 Also books!

Also moderator of Snarry discords like @houseofsnarry, participated, started and ran a ton of communities and fests including the @hprecfest which is just finishing this week <3 <3

If I have to describe Scarlet in like one word I am going to say Connection. 100% about connection, 100% heart led. So special. Love, love, love.

pic source Los Angeles Street Art photography by bigcitiesbrightlights

[consistentsquash]

2023 HP Fic Recs

HP Fics written and completed in 2023 which I read and loved. My recs are based on my reading + taste.

Snarry

OTP!

For I Have Found Salvation by @lumosatnight

Severus is a priest, and Harry is the parishioner who may just make him break his vows of celibacy.

Enough said. Hot, wrong, dirty. So totally Snarry!!! Also with a twist you don't see coming! Rated E. 7100 words. From Snarry AUctober Fest 2023 collection.

  Snake Charmer by @perverse-idyll

Sometimes all Severus had to do was turn thirty-plus years of repressed hunger upon him, and Harry would start shaking.

They are total disaster failmarriage hotness! Feel really sorry for everybody around them. Like a lot! The opening line is giving one really bad vampire in Hunger so much for me :D :D It's like a snippet/draft from WARM my beloved! <3 3200 words. Rated T.

  Devotion by @danpuff-ao3

Is there anything more undignified than needing someone so much?

26000 words. Rated E. Maximum hotness. Maximum wrongness. Maximum dirty bad delicious Snarry. This is the longest HP fic I read this year and 100% worth it!!! I am a big fan of Danni's Snarry and this fic is one of my all time fav Snarries. From Snarry-a-thon 2023 collection.

  In His Bed by @givereadersahug

Jealousy flooded Harry at their familiarity with each other's bodies. Resentment at their ease in getting each other off — the passion, the eagerness, the joy. All so different from his relationship with Severus.

Harry is super Slytherin here! Using the memories in order to learn what makes Snape tick! I really loved the dirtybadhotness of this fic! 450 words. Rated E. HP Kinktober collection.

  Coda to "Soft Touch" by @perverse-idyll

He'd thrown the bait. Would Snape catch it? Yes, he would, and throw it back.

Soft Touch is the Most ethical Massage Therapy fic ever :D Dirty, bad, hot, wrong. So it's incredible to get this really sweet and wholesome coda. You can see the undercurrents of the more complicated themes but also really sweet. 3300 words. Rated T. This is as fluffy as PI Snarry gets :D :D

  Femslash

Nymphadora, Nymphet by @thistlecatfics

Could this woman be a relative of her mother’s?

Bellatrix/Tonks, Bellatrix/Andromeda. 20200 words. Rated E. From Women of the House of Black fest 2023 collection. Really hot, dirty, wrong on literally every single level :D Obviously I love it! The femslash Lolita fic HP fandom really really needed :D

  Candles Lit Against the Dark by @perverse-idyll

Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank/Minerva McGonagall. 13600 words. Rated G. My favorite fic of 2023. From Snapecase 2023 fest collection. Beautiful, beautiful fic which is kind of my personal epilogue for the books at this point. Lost count of rereads. It's packed with beautiful friendships, people focusing on the sweet instead of the bitter, people moving on together, people forgiving each other. It's an incredible fic with perfect execution on some classic tropes like matchmaking and friends who are going to help you whether or not you asked for it. Also some not so classic tropes like celebrating a female character's life/happiness/love being the center of a rich fic. Ultimately this is Minerva McGonagall's fic and I am so here for it.

  Once of Eden by eldritcher.

Lily/Eileen. 2000 words. Rated M. Poignant and super sharp character study of Lily. Lots of storms inside her head about her family/war/Petunia/Snape. This is right before her marriage but she has this feeling she doesn't fit into that life and she doesn't want to let go of her past. Like a lot of us, she's also seeing her past/childhood through these nostalgic glasses but at the same time she's also noticing adults in her life and has this bittersweet feeling that she's an adult now/making adult choices now. Serious Catcher in the Rye vibes. This fic has the Lily for me. Really like Harry, really Gryffindor. It's a really beautiful, sensitive, unique, powerfully human fic.

  Leather by @saintsenara

Tonks/Fleur, Tonks/Charlie, Tonks/Remus, Tonks/OFC. 2900 words. Legit character studies of bi characters are super rare in our fandom. I don't really go for self-discovery type fics but this one is whoa! Love, love, love and highly recommend this one. It's out and proud and amazing. <3 From Ladies of HP Fest Collection.

  Rare slash

Rare as in the only fic on AO3 for the pairing :D

The Ice Cream Man and the Potions Master by @squibstress

Florean Fortescue/Snape. 9000 words. Rated G. From Hoggywartyxmas 2022 fest collection. This is definitely my fav slash fic of the year <3 I feel like a lot of times especially with OTPs the preslash part is kind of assumed to happen in the background. This fic does an incredibly amazing job of setting up the preslash and it's just ultra convincing. New Snape ship dropped <3

Gen

Yeah, I read gen! Tbh I don't except when a character study fic or an author's writing style really grabs me :D

October by @ashesandhackles

Insanely amazing character studies. Rated G. The Barty Crouch Jr. character study, Disappointing Fathers, is probably my all time fav genfic with him. I came out of this super sympathetic for Barty which is something that never happened to me before. So well written and brilliantly characterized.

  Womb by eldritcher

3000 words. Rated M. Phineas Nigellus Black character study with a beautiful friendship with Snape. Dark and intense but the fic has my fav Snape resurrection of all time <3 From Snapecase 2023 fest collection.

  Birds of Paradise by eldritcher

2700 words. Rated G. Fawkes character study with a beautiful friendship with Albus Dumbledore. Really beautiful, ethereal fic. eldritcher can write non-human characters with their own "type" of emotional connect. Normally they use this superpower for writing interspecies :D But this is a beautiful gen fic. From Pandemic, my most beloved. Obviously each and every eldritcher fic has a really special place in my heart but Pandemic is just insanely generous giving something special at the right time when it was needed and it made a huge difference for me personally. Love and anarchy, always!

  The Octaves and the Circumsion of Our Lord by eldritcher

The Dark Lord is circumcised. Nobody knows how everybody knows, but everybody knows.

2300 words. Rated M. Regulus Black character study with a beautiful friendship with Kreacher. Dark and intense fic about Regulus getting radicalized but also showing how he actually buys into those beliefs. Normally I avoid Regulus fics because the characterizations just don't work for me. This is exactly how I imagine Canon Regulus.

  Al Najid by eldritcher

She has come here to make an example of this woman for the son to find. Snape should know that betrayal comes with consequences.

2800 words. Rated M. Bellatrix Black character study set just before she tortures the Longbottoms. A complicated situationship with Eileen. Dark and hot mess Black family fic.

Het

Oof. Literally zero reason to trust my hetfic recs but you got to trust me :D These fics are amazing!

Ariadne by @ashesandhackles

Surrealistic, beautiful character study of Cho. It's got Harry/Cho, Cedric/Cho for pairings but this is 100% her fic. 1100 words. Rated G.

Exploring Cho's feelings for Harry in wake of her grief for Cedric's death, with symbolism from myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur

  Four Christmases Pomona Sprout Loved and One She Hated by @kellychambliss.

Aberforth/Pomona. 6800 words. Rated T. This fic keeps it real. I really felt her pain because when you are an adult making new friends is super hard! The BEST Aberforth Dumbledore Snarkiest!!!! <3 I am a big fan of how this author writes The Abe D! Actually I am a big fan of this author. FAVE! <3 A lot of times rarepairs can feel kind of hard to believe because the characters don't have canon time together. You are totally going to be convinced. ALSO BANTER. I love relationship progression with banter. Things get bittersweet because of the war but it's got a really beautiful earned happy ending <3 My fav het fic of the year. Best fic to end this list :D

[consistentsquash]

This rec list from eldritcher probably got lost on Dreamwidth posts. But I got permission to crosspost so I am gonna copy/signal boost here.

@hprecfest folks ofc don't reblog if you already have it.

I've brought a few cherished fics to this lovely fest. 1. A favorite fic under 5k: Blishen's Firewhiskey, written by @givereadersahug Draco/Lucius. A sinister ficlet. 2. A comfort fic: All of Time and Space. Dudley, Ninth Doctor. All of time and space, indeed! 4. A fic with art: Bringing up Babymort, created by @my--witch and grooot, a terrific Snapecase entry. Severus Snape/the marvellous Hermione Granger. 5. A non-AO3 fic: The Wandering Hat, written by whimsickle. A bright ray of sunshine in a bleak life. Severus Snape, as a child. A terrific Snapecase entry. 6. An unreliable narrator fic: The Residue of His Mind, written by @paulamcg. Sirius, in the throes of dissociation. The pairing is Sirius Black/Remus Lupin. 7. A canon-compliant fic: Before I Am Old, written by @maeglinyedi. Tom Riddle, in his youth. This ficlet has had an enduring influence on my works (when I'd scribbled stories in that corner of fandom). 8. A canon-divergence fic: Friday's Child, written by deslea. This piece has had an enduring influence on how I've written Narcissa Malfoy (when I'd scribbled stories in that corner of fandom). 9. A rare pair fic (less than 2000 fics on AO3): New Joys by @paulamcg. Tenderly wistful. Amelia/Molly. 10. A fest fic: Candles Lit Against the Dark, written by @perverse-idyll. The pairing is Minerva McGonagall/Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank. A terrific Snapecase entry. 11. A dark fic: Too Old for Playing, written by @paulamcg. A brooding, unhappy piece. How could it be anything else? This is Severus Snape's Worst Memory. 16. A fic that made you laughed: Jeeves and the Secret Society, written by @perverse-idyll. I did feel sorry for Severus Snape, but Jeeves and Wooster sailed me over to an ocean of laughter. Albus Dumbledore/Severus Snape. 17. A fic that made you cry: Work is Good, written by iulia_linnea. Deeply moving and heartwrenching. The pairing is Tobias/Eileen. 19. Fic with the hottest smut: A Slytherin Gathers His Rosebuds, written by @kellychambliss. A ravishing concoction of Minerva/Severus. 20. A fic rated G: Egg Nog, written by delphipsmith. A terrific Snapecase entry. Severus Snape. 21. A thought-provoking fic: Teardrop in Your Palm, written by @danpuff-ao3. A wretched soul wants something he can't have, and stoops to despairing lows. Scorpius Malfoy (Draco's son)/Harry. 24. A holiday fic: How do you solve a problem like a DADA teacher?, written by gracelessmary. Assorted Hogwarts residents. 25. A fic rated T: The Ice cream Man and the Potions Master, written by @squibstress. I would gladly join the queue at Florean's shop (and not only for the ice-cream). Florean Fortescue and Severus Snape. 26. A fic with an ending you can’t stop thinking about: Sybil Trelawney and the Unexpected Gift, written by @squibstress. Satirical, intimate, clear-eyed, and flayingly insightful. Trelawney. 28. An under-rated fic: Gossip and Mischief by bluedreaming. Assorted Hogwarts residents. 29. A post-canon fic: The Eyes Have It, written by lash_larue. A Hoggywartyxmas present, written for me! I couldn't have foreseen this marvel in my wildest dreams. I am utterly in love with it! Ollivander and Trelawney. 31. A fav amongst favs: Accommodations , written by @kellychambliss. An unforgettable entry from Minerva Fest. Minerva/Severus.

[I'd also wanted to say it's wonderful to have a fest like this. Thank you for running it, and for running it on Dreamwidth as well.]

(source)

[consistentsquash]

Actually there is a Snarry fic!!! Sneaky Snarry in a femslash fic. But lots of it! @danpuff-ao3 go for this one. It's absolutely amazing!!!

Link: Candles Lit Against the Dark Type: Fic Age-Range Category: Five Character(s)/Pairing(s): Severus, Minerva/Wilhelmina, assorted others Rating: PG Summary: It's been a few months since Minerva's retirement, and she'd promised Wil a dinner out. Before she knows it, friends start turning up on her doorstep and then at the pub, not least among them a certain spy who came in from the cold.

Harry had inched over until he was standing knee to knee with Severus. "You'd be surprised. I've developed an interest in a lot of things I never thought I would."

I’m reminded by the fact I forgot to post about my latest chapter that Snapecase has been running for weeks now and I need to promote that, too! I’m participating in this round, along with a lovely group of writers and at least one artist. I’ve read most of the fics and commented on about half (I’m perpetually behind, this should not be news to anybody), and there are many fascinating, sometimes sad, sometimes perceptive and funny stories this year. The majority of the entries make for quick reading, and I never cease to marvel at new takes and new angles on each decade of Severus’s life. He is, shall we say, the gift that keeps on giving. The fest has at least a week of posting left, I believe. I highly recommend it, and not just because I signed up for it!

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How did you get good at finding fics which are outside the top ten everybody talks about?

Hiya! Sorry it took me forever <3

Personally I dont use kudos sort or sort anything with popularity. They have zero relevance for my tastes esp in big fandoms like HP. Actually they are generally the opposite signal for me. YMMV. Searching directly on AO3 with some filters for my squicks worked great for me so far.

Sometimes I find really cool fics in fest collections like HP Beholder, Snapecase, HP Rare Pair Fest, HP Trans Fest, HP WLW Big Bang, Hoggywartyxmas

Also if you are looking for unique hp recs outside the popular stats stuff maybe check out some of these rec collections

Huge list of variety fic recs by @squibstress. probably one of the most comprehensive fic rec collections out there! <3

Lots of variety Snape slash fic recs by @perverse-idyll. Highly recommend esp for some shorter fic gems you arent going to otherwise find.

Old school cool hp rare pair femslash fic recs by @kellychambliss. Rare pairs and femslash. I mean!

WLW library A lot of femslash variety esp if you like marauder era/trio era/next gen femslash by @hpsaffics

if you are looking for some big ship like snarry/drarry/tomarry/wolfstar maybe search Tumblr tags. Lots of fic rec lists for those :D

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He dead! 5 Snape MCD Snarry recs

MCD Fridays! Five fic recs where Snape is really dead. No ambiguous endings. No coming back. No afterlife. He really dead. Because we got to show some love for the fics that really commit to MCD! Folks don't normally read them which means not a lot of these get written in the first place!

Actually wanted to do 10 recs but it was insanely hard finding fics with this criteria!!

Snuff Out by naatz

Rated M. 2800 words.

The Harry characterization!!!! Their dynamic. Seriously surreal fic. Intense. A lot of feeling w/o a lot of words. Love the HBP vibes. There had to be some other way to solve everything; some way other than death and desolation and the ruins of a room with a green bed. This fic is from the Snarry Games Team Angst.

Dangling Conversation by LoupGarou

Rated M. 16300 words.

Also dead. Of course the author is really cruel and we keep hoping maybe maybe it's going to work out. Nope! Dead! But the fic is super brilliant with how it does a lot of plot twists/tricks to get you hoping. Suspense like a Halloween movie!!! One of my all time fav Snarry fics. Really intense! Also from Snarry Olympics Games Team Angst.

Leman by eldritcher

Rated M. 3600 words.

Rec - Harry needs a powerful wand to defeat Voldemort. So of course Snape makes him a wand from his own heartstring. Fairytale horror. Also the hottest shaving scene. Hot shaving kink + human sacrifice is the vibe here. Also Snape the competent wandmaker! Gosh lovelovelove this fic. This is from Snapecase fest. The 2023 fest is going on right now. So definitely go check it out if you want new fic!

Always Hungry by melora88

Rated M. 6700 words.

Rec - Harry falls into a DE trap. Snape saves him. But the death is 100x worse than his canon death. Read this when you want to get wrecked. Really romantic horror. Also the emotions are real Snape style. Also Snape is ultra competent and doing really scary magic for good/bad reasons. One of my fav fics of all time. You just get pulled into the fic. Get wrecked big time Oldschool Snarry Wartime style. This fic is also from the Snarry Games Team Angst.

Seven Sins of Severus Snape by riffraff84

Rated E. 7700 words.

Rec - Character Study!!! Character study + MCD! So the best combo ever. Snape ofc is a total glutton for punishment. For folks into Catholic vibes this fic has serious Catholic vibes. This used to be a thing in Snarry fic for Snape characterization. We need to bring it back. Because the angst is amazing!!! Want to be convinced? Check out this fic!!!!

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monthly wrapup

Short month but big month!

Reading

Finished reading Snapecase fics. Lots of awesome Snape fics. You can read them on AO3. Need to write comments but that’s going to be a March project.

Read the latest updates on The Afterlight. I am not really a WIP reader but PI’s fics are my one big exception. Like give me a good reason not to read 10K of hot Snarry mess updates. Gosh they are so messed up and perfect.  Need to write a comment which is not just GUH!!

Started catching up with Danni’s prolific February. Gray Eyes (Tell No Lies) is the hottest Draco/Sirius I have read. Also Hatefuck is perfect Snarry vibes. Also Lovestruck has tons of possessive Harry which is one of my favorite things ever. Plus it’s set in Contemptverse, my fav Snarry fic of 2022!!  HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Started reading ALOTO series Love & Baseball by Billsfangearring who had a prolific February with some amazing fics. Also behind on commenting.

Finished group crying with some HotD friends about the last cut piece from eldritcher’s Ossuarium. This was pretty emotional because the fic was so huge for us in the last few months. Also respect for eldritcher who not only completed 250K of the formal fic in like 2 months but also posted every single last cut/draft when folks requested it...which was an additional 320K. So we got 570K of Ossuarium and it’s honestly the best thing I have read. Sometimes fics drag on for too long or kind of drag in the beginning/middle/towards the end. Ossuarium is super compact despite the word count and doesn’t really have a single dragging moment. Absolutely phenomenal. I was also personally really sad to see it ending because eldritcher has been pretty vocal for months that this is the last symphonic cycle they are doing in fic which is why they went above and beyond. I hope that’s not the case. But it’s definitely the best series I have read. It was super thrilling to follow it from the beginning. Also really behind on commenting

Recs

10 Femslash Fic recs with 10 Age Gap Pairings with Hermione for Femslash February.

5 snapecase recs

Need to make AO3 collections for them.  Pretty behind on reccing. 

Movies/Books

I saw Cocaine Bear! Life changing. Is it any good? Nope. But it’s definitely more fun compared to MCU anything. YMMV of course.

Also finished reading The Furrows by Namwali Sepwell. Actually if you like imagery/poetry you are probably going to like this book. I liked the first half but I feel like it didn’t really emotionally connect with me after that. Which is pretty unexpected because normally I am a sucker for this type of prose. Maybe I need to read it again sometime. 

RL has been busy so I am just kind of behind on fandom stuff.  Layoffs at work but I kept my job for now which is nice. Super busy and somehow doing more work to compensate for the folks laid off... Also into capitalism sucks memes right now for some reason :D 

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5 Quotes from 5 Fics

Got a day off. Catching up with fic. Read some really memorable lines today so got to quote rec!

The Afterlight update from @perverse-idyll !!!!! This chapter had a lot of rollercoaster moments. Starting from the opening scene of Harry's retro. Honestly I am really living the funny fucked up vibe of this fic. Before the angst starts because it is PI. <3

He rolled onto his back and stared blearily at the ceiling. Black leather gloves. Pyjamas. Orgasm. Not necessarily in that order. He'd - oh bugger, he'd brought Severus Snape back to his flat. Practically abducted him, in fact. He observed a strict policy of never bringing sexual partners here, never. Certainly not for the hell of it. And there were no hazy feel-good doubts about what had happened afterward. Snape's fingers in his mouth. Snape's hand manipulating his cock. Harry had been about as drunk as one of Aberforth's goats horns-down in a Hog's Head beer barrel, and he'd still come like a garden hose with Snape whispering in his ear.

2. The Ice Cream Man & the Potions Master by @squibstress. This is probably my fav fic of 2023 so far!!! Snape making ice cream. I mean. Magical ice cream. The best ice cream. I really need to rec this fic but meanwhile I am going to rec this quote about Florean checking out Snape doing what he does best <3

Florean watched as he moved it through the mixture in slow, generous arcs, his wrists seeming to undulate in concert with his elbows. His face seemed to relax, brows parting slightly, jaw unclenching, eyes losing their darting, avian alertness to focus on the task at hand. He was, in short, graceful and, Florean thought, happy.

3. Ossuarium's epilogue!!!!! from eldritcher. Loads of angst/bittersweet literary stuff which deserves a real rec to talk about but this gem of a line needs to be on a coffee mug or something!

Only teenage boys name their cocks.

4. A Much-Needed Kneading from anonymous. This is a Snapecase fic. Normally I don't go for Snamione. But this one was super cute. Snape naming their cats just like that!!!

"Hickory, Dickory, and Dock seem to be eating well enough."

5. Post Mortem by @inarticulateimbecile. Got the rec from Danni and omg love this fic. It's 100% Snarry. Loads and loads of characterization quotes but this one really stuck with me!! <3

(Whose hand did he last hold before him? Lily's, on a humid summer day? Albus's, as it rotted away under his touch?)