#snapemort

[slitheringghost]

Something that’s interesting is that we see Voldemort is pretty clearly capable of all the emotions he’s discounted by the narrative as not being able to feel, and in fact displays them onscreen.

Love, in general, of course. He loves Bellatrix, he surely had friends he loved that are dead by canon era. He talks about it casually too - his mother fell in love with his father, his dear Nagini, his beloved castle. More on this in this meta.

He’s capable of grief. His intense grief for his mother, for Bellatrix.

He’s capable of empathy - he’s enraged by the suffering and abuse his mother went through. True, this empathy is for a dead woman, but it’s so intense with Merope that it has to extend to living people at other points. More on this in my meta Slytherin Locket Cave: The Life and Death of Merope Gaunt.

He’s capable of sacrificial love - he sacrificed his cover to save Bellatrix in the Department of Mysteries.

He’s capable of guilt and remorse - he repeatedly tries to justify his murder of Snape to himself and to Snape and clearly feels guilty for it, he compliments Snape rather than punishing him before he kills him, he apologizes and says that he regrets it (this ties back to empathy and grief as well).

That he feels these things, and also inflicts violence on the same people and capriciously oscillates between these emotions, can coexist.

[saintsenara]

ik the draw of snoldemort is that it's as delicious and healthy as fibreglass-riddled cotton candy but have you ever considered them being happy?

yes, all the fucking time.

i am genuinely of the opinion that snape and voldemort are each other's most plausible romantic pairing, and while i sustain that opinion mostly thought the power of being delusional, i do think there's a legitimate grain of potential for snapemort to actually be strangely wholesome.

and so, since this is not the first request I've had for such a thing...

...here comes the snapemort manifesto.

i am also of the opinion that the series presents an extremely narrow and unhealthy definition of love - love as suffering and sacrifice and secrecy - which voldemort can't allow himself to experience because his life has unsurprisingly made him unwilling to suffer or sacrifice and which snape forces himself to experience to the clear detriment of his physical and mental health.

but love is also - fundamentally - about comfort and pleasure and not being bored in someone's company.

the canonical voldemort clearly actually likes snape. he also clearly enjoys spending a substantial amount of time alone with him - especially in deathly hallows: voldemort teaches snape how to fly unaided [the only death eater he seems to do this for], which is canon proof they were going on lots of romantic midnight swoopings; snape is obviously voldemort's source for the information that tonks and lupin have recently married, which means they're gossiping over glasses of wine just as much as they're planning to take over the ministry of magic; voldemort visits snape at hogwarts while he's headmaster, and while that's to steal the elder wand, he does say that he'll join snape once his grave-robbing is done...

the two are clearly intellectually compatible - not simply in terms of level of intelligence but in how that intelligence manifests itself. snape has a very voldemort-ish view of magic as something whose boundaries can constantly be pushed and whose authorities must constantly be challenged - that magic is really about power [and those too weak to seek it] - and it's clear in canon that dumbledore's unease about allowing him near the defence against the dark arts job prior to half-blood prince [when snape agreeing to kill him - and revealing how his love-as-suffering for lily drives him - finally convinces him that snape has rejected the dark side entirely] is because he fears snape's way of understanding magic, since it reminds him of voldemort [and - in reminding him of voldemort - reminds him of grindelwald].

but snape and voldemort's intellectual compatibility has something underpinning it which goes beyond how they understand magic and its purpose in the world. they think the way they do about magic because of the similarities in their life experience.

as harry walks to the forest, he sets himself, snape, and voldemort up as a trio - the "abandoned boys", whose lives have all been shaped, to varying extents, by dumbledore. but, while harry and voldemort are each other's narrative mirror - due both to the overtly mystical pseudo-fraternal [or, if you're so inclined, soulmate] connection which voldemort establishes between them by making harry a horcrux, and to their shared experience of orphanhood - harry actually has much less in common with either half of snapemort than they have in common with each other.

for example, while they're all half-bloods, harry's pureblood parent is his father - which gives him a wizarding name, and the social cachet this brings in a world which is so obsessed with blood, family, and male lineage. snape and voldemort have muggle fathers and muggle names, and this gives them a radically different social standing - even if they are, ostensibly, within the same blood-category - to harry.

similarly, while lily is muggleborn, she is still a witch, attends hogwarts, is known and liked within wizarding society, and - like many muggleborns seem to - separates herself entirely from the world of her birth in young adulthood to live in a way indistinguishable from someone born and raised in a magical family.

tom riddle sr. and tobias snape are actual muggles - which means they exist in a world completely divided [and with that division scrupulously maintained by the ministry] from the magical one. while snape is brought up by his birth family and voldemort isn't, their lives are still dictated by their fathers' experiences of, fear of, and disconnection from magic - and this shapes their lives very differently even than harry's experiences with the dursleys.

harry also heavily resembles his pureblood father, which provides similar social cachet. one device which canon uses a lot is the idea that every member of a pureblood nuclear family unit looks alike - narcissa malfoy is blonde and pale, while her sisters are dark-haired, so that she is immediately identifiable as lucius malfoy's wife and draco malfoy's mother; molly weasley is red-haired and freckly, even though these are weasley, rather than prewett, traits, for the same reason.

in having harry look so much like james - while its primary intention in doing this was clearly to help obscure lily's role in the series' central mystery for as long as possible - the text allows him to smooth his path through the wizarding world because he looks like a pureblood, like someone who is understood to belong in the society through which he moves.

voldemort, in contrast, looks exactly like his muggle father. which parent snape resembles is more ambiguous - in deathly hallows, harry says that snape "greatly resembled" his mother, but both order of the phoenix and half-blood prince suggest this isn't the case, and the person he resembles is his father. this makes more sense, since snape resembling tobias means that he - like voldemort - lacks the visual connection to the wizarding world which would - like a pureblood surname - ease his way of belonging within it.

snape and voldemort are also from the same working-class background and have the same experience of childhood poverty. harry - no matter the financial aspect of the dursleys' neglect of him - is still middle-class in the muggle world by virtue of being raised in a place like little whinging by people like vernon and petunia.

and - crucially - harry's financial circumstances and class-status change utterly when he enters the wizarding world. he ascends to being upper-middle-class; he has the resources to buy everything needed for school new - meaning there's no visual distinction between him and his wealthy peers caused by him having, as voldemort does, secondhand possessions; he is able to treat these possessions casually; and he never, ever worries about being able to afford them [when his nimbus is smashed by the whomping willow, he's upset because he liked the broom so much and because he's embarrassed by the circumstances in which it was damaged, he doesn't worry one bit about not being able to afford a new one - he also considers buying himself a firebolt and, of all the things the one sirius buys means to him, it never seems to seriously cross his mind that it's a stupendously expensive thing for a teenager to own].

harry's class ascendance once he enters the wizarding world also gives him access to the ways of connection and network-forming which dictate how magical society runs. while much of this is voldemort's fault - since it's bound up in the fact that harry is a celebrity - it's also evident that this isn't entirely the case. slughorn's attitude towards harry is influenced just as much by his fondness for lily - and the clear reading of canon is that, if harry was the average hogwarts student and james and lily were still alive, harry would be "collected" for the slug club in the way that cormac mclaggen or regulus black are: people that slughorn wants to keep around in case they offer him something, not people he wants to keep around so that he can manipulate and control them.

voldemort and snape, in contrast, exist outside the social networks which govern wizarding society by virtue of their birth [hence why voldemort sets up a parallel social order - with him at the top - among his followers].

voldemort plays the game the way he's expected to while at school - sucking up to slughorn; leaning in to being, as he puts it, "poor but brilliant" - and then rejects a lifetime of being dependent on slughorn's patronage [he could be minister for magic, but only "if you keep sending me pineapple"!] for the only job he can get on his own merits.

snape rejects the idea of playing the game while at school - the teen snape we meet in order of the phoenix is conspicuous in his difference, not only in appearance but in behaviour, from his peers, and the marauders' bullying of him is motivated just as much by his existence outside wizarding social norms as it is by james' sexual jealousy of his friendship with lily and his own deliberate provocation of james and sirius.

and he also rejects the social convention the series values [by which i mean, the series thinks the class system is good as long as the good guys are the ones insisting on maintaining it] in young adulthood. i bang on about this a lot, but it's clear in canon that the reason snape becomes a death eater - and also the reason why he thinks the death eaters will help lily, even though this initially appears to be nonsensical - is because voldemort offers him a chance to transcend the limitations placed upon him in a world with such a restrictive class system. voldemort is the only person who offers him the things he desires - power, respect, recognition - in a context in which his background is [seemingly] irrelevant.

there's an element of snape seeing what he wants to see here, of course. he's clearly voldemort's exception in terms of social class [just as bellatrix is his exception in terms of gender], and this is a grooming technique on voldemort's part which sets snape apart from the other death eaters and makes him more dependent on maintaining voldemort's favour than men like lucius malfoy or rodolphus and rabastan lestrange, who are inherent insiders to the elite male social circle from which the majority of the dark lord's minions are drawn.

but there is also an element of recognition in voldemort choosing snape which has a heavy blast of affection - platonic or otherwise - behind it.

one of the things which dumbledore gets wrong about voldemort throughout the six books in which he appears is that he believes that voldemort is secretive to the point of repression about his origins, childhood, and life experiences. instead, the canonical voldemort is a certified yapper - he needs virtually no prompting, as a child with dumbledore, a teen with harry, or an adult with harry, to start talking about his life in a way which gives quite a lot about himself away. the proto-death eaters we meet in half-blood prince know all about the teen voldemort's search for his lineage. barty crouch jr. knows his birth name. lucius malfoy is completely unbothered to hear harry state that he's a half-blood.

and this shouldn't surprise us - what orphan wouldn't be on a desperate quest to be perceived, to be understood?

snape is clearly one of voldemort's great favourites because he's someone the dark lord implicitly understands - a clever, awkward, lonely boy searching for respect and power which the stagnant wizarding world refuses to give him. it stands to reason, then, that snape is also one of voldemort's great favourites because the dark lord thinks that snape can understand him.

and, in a situation where he's actually given a chance to offer voldemort this understanding, snape therefore has the power to give the dark lord the thing he's been searching for his entire life - someone who knows who he really is behind the elaborate mask of unassailable majesty and loves him anyway.

none of this has to change the future - voldemort can still be a terrorist who kills his wife guy's only childhood friend, the snapemort will slap nonetheless.

but it still can.

[aloe-variance]

The flying boys

That reminds me: what if Severus taught Tom to fly, not vice versa? It is Severus who obsessively comes up with new spells, it is Severus who sees small Lily literally flying "like a trapeze artist through the air", and it is Severus who discovers the Levicorpus spell.

In the UK they are the only ones canonically doing it. Why would Tom otherwise not teach this useful spell to other Death Eaters? That is their date spell, that is why! Miggle-raised kids have a higher chance of coveting it instead of saying "Well, we have brooms and Apparition, what do we need flying for" like wizard-raised kids would.

[hp-confessions]

So I love Bellamort, Tomarrymort, and like what ever the hell Snape x Voldemort’s ship name is, but I cannot, cannot, for the life of me get into Tomione.

Like I don’t know what it is, that ship is just so….no, to me. And I literally love Hermione, so it has nothing to do with her.

Trying to imagine them together is like trying to put two magnets together, but all they keep doing is repelling each other. I just can’t see them.

~

[hirukochan]

Another fic completed 🤩

I am very happy to have this Snarrietmort fic finished! I love how it turned out. It was just supposed to be a couple of silly smutty chapters here and there and then I was violently tackled by plot too intriguing to not write and here we are. Almost 100k words later.

Thank you to anyone who followed along, left kudos or comments! I appreciate you all so so much. You have no idea how much motivation you have given me to write this fic.

[wretchedanddivinee]

ᡣ𐭩 •｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅ wretchedanddevine's masterlist ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

Hello everyone, my names wretched ! I decided to make a masterlist mostly to keep track of my fics and wip's :) if you have any questions my ask's are open !

⋆｡‧˚ʚ currently ongoing works... ɞ˚‧｡⋆

i know what it's like to chase flying by renaming the fall. 6/? [snarrymort]

Because the one thing Albus didn't account for, was Harry becoming Master of Death. He didn't account for Harry learning about Tom Riddle left in an orphanage during WW2, where he was believed to be possessed by the devil. Severus Snape in a house with Tobias Snape, a man who hurt Severus, who abused him for his magic and a mother who could not (would not) leave her husband. He did not account for Harry's will to live, for his vindictive streak. Tags include: Time Travel, Master of Death Harry Potter, Moral Ambiguous Characters, Morally Grey Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Ginny Weasley Bashing

scarcely can speak from my thinkin' 3/? [snarry, theville]

Neville didn't know how it happened, one moment he's furious and grieving the loss of one of his best friends at the battle of Hogwarts; All he can see is red as he cuts off the head of Voldemort's pet snake. The next he's waking up, that moment in the battle feeling like a fuzzy memory; It makes no sense, yet when he looks around he can see the telltale signs of his childhood bedroom *** Harry knew where he was the moment he regained consciousness, the very air itself felt different, the lack of magic was apparent. He was back in his cupboard, he knew he was coming here, but that didn't change the intense mix of emotions being back here brought up. If Death was to be believed though, he wouldn't be in the Dursley's care long enough for it to matter; For today was the day he was to receive his Hogwarts letter, only a week before his birthday. Tags Include: Time Travel, Master of Death Harry Potter, Slytherin Harry Potter, Heir of Slytherin, Black, Potter and Peverell Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter are Godbrothers, Dark Harry Potter, POV Harry Potter, POV Neville Longbottom, Anxious Neville Longbottom, Anxiety

all i've ever done is hide 1/? [gen]

Severus has lived life on a precarious tightrope, constantly pushed and pulled between two masters, never knowing peace. What happens when after Albus’ revelation, and subsequential death, he decides that enough is enough? What happens when he decides the risk to Harry's life is not worth the reward? He finds a way, nay- makes a way- to go back in time, of course. Tags Include: Time Travel, Severitus, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape are Siblings, Severus Snape-centric, Kidfic

laugh when it sinks in 1/? [snarry]

For the last time the Goblet turned green pulsing bright and ominous, sparks flashed and the stream of light left the last piece of paper to float down into Dumbledore's open hand. "The Hogwarts champion is," Dumbledore pauses a beat longer than when he had announced the previous Tournaments champions, his eyes scanning the paper and then flying towards Severus. A feeling of unease washes over him in that moment, because there is absolutely no way— "Severus Snape." Distantly Severus is aware of the sound of clapping and hollering in the background, but he can't really hear it. All he hears is s̴̘̣͍̦͑̒̓̃͆̓t̷̥̑͛ā̷̢̮͇͓̝̇̆̽̽͂t̶͎͓̠͙̹͐̔̒̿̌̍i̸̲̙͖͍̰̍̎c̵̯̜̳̬̫͂̍̓̆ Tags Include: Time Travel, Dimension Travel, Marauders Era, 1976, Alternate Universe - 1970's, Triwizard Tournament, Triwizard Tournament Hogwarts Champion is a Slytherin, Triwizard Tournament Happens Differently, Professor Harry Potter, Master of Death Harry Potter, Sugar Daddy Harry Potter, Young Severus Snape, Role Reversal, Post-Sirius Black's Prank on Severus Snape, Severus Snape-centric, POV Severus Snape

𐙚⋆.˚ one-shots ―୨୧⋆ ˚

it's better the hell we choose than the heaven where we were born wrong. 1/1 [gen, lucissa]

a fic based on plushybuttons headcanon on tumblr. "Narcissa and Lucius tried to sneak a first-year Severus Snape into Hogsmeade by making him cling to Narcissa's torso and hide him under her cloak. She claimed she was pregnant to Slughorn before they were about to leave. Severus lost his grip and fell out of her cloak. "Oh," Narcissa said, "I have given birth." "He looks just like us." Lucius chimed in. Snape was not snuck into Hogsmeade." except in this one he gets to go into Hogsmeade because I want some happy fluffy family feels. Tags include: Young Severus Snape, Young Narcissa Black Malfoy, Young Lucius Malfoy, Marauders Era, Fluff, Family Fluff, Family Feels, Hogsmeade, Family Bonding

a prayer in perfect piety 1/1 [snack, wolfstarprince]

He wanted to lay an alter at the feet of Severus and pray like the sinner he was. Pray that everything he had done would be paid back in kind, and then maybe he could rest with their relationship built anew. He didn't know what would come of it, but he knew that he would never be the same.  Tags include: POV Sirius Black, Severitus, Lily Potter Evans & Severus Snape are Siblings, Sirius Black Free from Azkaban, Canon Divergence

That's all I've posted so far on ao3 ! Its a lot of Harry Potter right now but I'm actually in quite a few fandoms !

More works to come in the following fandoms at some point (bc i am a multifandom trash panda):

anime

assassination classroom bnha/mha death note haikyuu one piece yuri on ice!!

dcu

batman/batfam superman/superfam flash justice league

mcu

agents of shield ironman/avengers daredevil spiderman venom xmen

movies

harry potter the hobbit the old guard twilight

tv shows

atla criminal minds good omens hannibal hawaii 5-0 merlin ncis sherlock stranger things suits teen wolf the witcher 9-1-1

i am also a multishipper but i do have my fav ships, if you wanna talk about them shoot me an ask !

[albi-bumblebee]

Snape/Voldemort

well snape was his…right hand…man😏 and we all know sev feels like he should be punished for his history😏i’m not saying snape was voldy’s sub…but i’m not not saying that😏

(i feel so icky rn *cries*)

[slitheringghost]

"And Cain Repented Not Of What He Had Done": Harry Potter as Retelling of Cain and Abel, Part 2

Read Part 1

In part 1, I began to explore how HP is a retelling of Cain and Abel, weaving together passages from all the different interpretations of Cain and Abel with the corresponding passages in HP.

In this part I’ll focus largely on brother-sister dynamics, on the murders of Ariana, Merope, and Lily by their real or symbolic “brothers” and how they tie into the Cain and Abel narrative, because as mentioned in part 1, in some interpretations of the story Cain and Abel have twin sisters.

This post won’t make sense if you haven’t read part 1, so please read that first.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Section 3.0

3.1 But when Abel fell down upon the ground, seeing that his brother meant to kill him, he said to Cain, “O, my brother, have pity on me. By the breasts we have sucked, smite me not! By the womb that bare us and that brought us into the world, smite me not unto death with that staff! If you will kill me, take one of these large stones, and kill me outright.” Then Cain, the hard-hearted and cruel murderer, took a large stone and smote his brother with it upon the head, until his brains oozed out, and he weltered in his blood, before him. And Cain repented not of what he had done.

“O, my brother, have pity on me” and “If you will kill me, take one of these large stones, and kill me outright” corresponds to Lily begging Voldemort to "have mercy, have mercy" and "kill me instead".

The "large stone" in this passage is very significant - it's represented by the Resurrection Stone placed in the Gaunt ring.

Harry noticed a ring on his uninjured hand that he had never seen Dumbledore wear before: It was large, rather clumsily made of what looked like gold, and was set with a heavy black stone that had cracked down the middle. Slughorn’s eyes lingered for a moment on the ring too, and Harry saw a tiny frown momentarily crease his wide forehead. (HBP) Sitting on one of the little spindle-legged tables that supported so many frail-looking silver instruments, was an ugly gold ring set with a large, cracked, black stone. (HBP)

Other than 'took a large stone and smote his brother with it upon the head" being an obvious reference to the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, it's also heavily tied to specifically brother-sister violence: Marvolo wears this ring - who presumably murdered his sister (Merope and Morfin's mother), and wore the ring while he strangled Merope. It's then passed down to Morfin - who attempted to kill his sister, and worn when he nearly kills Tom Riddle. Dumbledore meets his death due to a curse on that ring - who killed his sister Ariana, and the Resurrection Stone is tied to Dumbledore wishing to see Ariana again. The ring is finally passed down from Morfin to Tom Riddle - who killed his symbolic "sister" Lily.

The link between the Stone and Voldemort and Lily as "brother and sister" is demonstrated in HBP - Slughorn notices the ring, then soon begins describing Lily - who he describes exactly like Tom Riddle in Slughorn's memory where Tom is wearing that ring, drawing a significant parallel between them (see also: this post), which threads to Harry ultimately using Lily's murder ("You don't want to get rid of the wizard who killed Lily Evans?") to get the real memory.

It’s difficult to spot all the specific allusions to “the cruel and hard hearted murderer” since words like "cruel" and "heart" are used very often, but the most important one is likely the phrases used in the Godric's Hollow graveyard, the pivotal scene of the Cain and Abel narrative thread, where Harry goes with his “sister” Hermione, wearing Merope’s locket which symbolizes a sister’s murder by her brother Morfin, where the grave of the sister Dumbledore killed lies, and finally where Voldemort arrives and has a flashback to killing his “sister” Lily:

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” on Ariana's grave, also echoing the words engraved on the Mirror of Erised - I show not your face but your heart's desire

Also important is that the locket horcrux is repeatedly described as a heart, particularly right before Voldemort appears in Godric's Hollow and has the flashback to Lily's murder, and then the locket leaves a mark on Harry's heart right after he sees the full memory of Lily's death, echoing the Mark of Cain and representing Harry feeling like Cain via guilt about Lily dying for him:

Was it his own blood pulsing through his veins that he could feel, or was it something beating inside the locket, like a tiny metal heart? (DH) A metal heart was banging outside his chest, and now he was flying, flying (DH)

“I couldn’t get the Horcrux off you,” Hermione said […] “It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You’ve got a mark; I’m sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake bit you too, but I’ve cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it. . . .” He pulled the sweaty T-shirt he was wearing away from himself and looked down. There was a scarlet oval over his heart where the locket had burned him. (DH)

As for Cain weltering in Abel's blood, the idea of a brother shedding a sibling's blood is alluded to in several instances - Peter as Cain taking Harry's blood in GoF and Voldemort as Cain using Harry's blood/Lily’s sacrifice to rebuild his body, and similarly the words about Voldemort’s murder of Lily in OoTP; Morfin's bloody knife in the Gaunt shack with the implication that Morfin as Cain was violent to Merope with that knife; and Dumbledore and Harry as Cain in the Cave (see section 3.3)

“I wanted Harry Potter’s blood. I wanted the blood of the one who had stripped me of power thirteen years ago... for the lingering protection his mother once gave him would then reside in my veins too...” (GoF) “While you can still call home the place where your mother’s blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge” (OoTP) he [Morfin] was brandishing a wand in one hand and a short and rather bloody knife in the other. [...] With a roar of rage, Morfin leapt out of his chair and ran at Ogden, brandishing his bloody knife and firing hexes indiscriminately from his wand. Ogden ran for his life. Dumbledore indicated that they ought to follow and Harry obeyed, Merope’s screams echoing in his ears. “Where’s the locket, eh, where’s Slytherin’s locket?” Voldemort did not answer. Morfin was working himself into a rage again; he brandished his knife and shouted, “Dishonored us, she did, that little slut! (HBP)

The words "until his brains oozed out" inspired the scene in the DoM with the brains that strangle Ron, Ron who starts to perform the part of Voldemort, this representing the memory of Lily's death strangling Voldemort:

“Honest, Harry, they’re brains — look — Accio Brain!” [...] Harry, Ginny, and Neville and each of the Death Eaters turned in spite of themselves to watch the top of the tank as a brain burst from the green liquid like a leaping fish. For a moment it seemed suspended in midair, then it soared toward Ron, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film — “Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it —” said Ron, watching it disgorge its gaudy innards. “Harry, come and touch it, bet it’s weird —” “RON, NO!” Harry did not know what would happen if Ron touched the tentacles of thought now flying behind the brain, but he was sure it would not be anything good. (OoTP)

(A meta on how the DoM sequence is a step-by-step reenactment of the events between Voldemort, Lily, and Harry, much like the Slytherin locket cave is a step-by-step reenactment of the Life and Death of Merope Gaunt, coming at some point.)

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

3.2 According to the Book of Jubilees, Cain murdered his brother with a stone. Afterwards, Cain was killed by the same instrument he used against his brother; his house fell on him and he was killed by its stones. A heavenly law was cited after the narrative of Cain's death saying:

With the instrument with which a man kills his neighbour with the same shall he be killed; after the manner that he wounded him, in like manner shall they deal with him.

This one’s particularly interesting and could have many meanings. The most basic reference is likely Cain's house falling down on him linking to the roof of the Godric's Hollow house being blasted apart:

Most of the cottage was still standing […] but the right side of the top floor had been blown apart; that, Harry was sure, was where the curse had backfired. He and Hermione stood at the gate, gazing up at the wreck of what must once have been a cottage just like those that flanked it. “I wonder why nobody’s ever rebuilt it?” whispered Hermione. “Maybe you can’t rebuild it?” Harry replied. “Maybe it’s like the injuries from Dark Magic and you can’t repair the damage?” (DH) And then he broke: He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away... far away... (DH)

But more interesting is the cyclical violence this passage links to - it was Dumbledore’s obsession with the Deathly Hallows that led to neglect of Ariana and in a way her death, and Dumbledore is then killed by that same obsession, with the Resurrection Stone, fatally cursed by the horcrux that is symbolically linked to Ariana's murder:

“And at the heart of our schemes, the Deathly Hallows! How they fascinated him, how they fascinated both of us! The unbeatable wand, the weapon that would lead us to power! The Resurrection Stone -- [...] To me, I confess, it meant the return of my parents, and the lifting of all responsibility from my shoulders.” (DH) After another short pause Harry said, “You tried to use the Resurrection Stone.” Dumbledore nodded. “When I discovered it, after all those years, buried in the abandoned home of the Gaunts — the Hallow I had craved most of all, though in my youth I had wanted it for very different reasons — I lost my head, Harry. I quite forgot that it was now a Horcrux, that the ring was sure to carry a curse. I picked it up, and I put it on, and for a second I imagined that I was about to see Ariana, and my mother, and my father, and to tell them how very, very sorry I was..." (DH)

Dumbledore is then weakened further by Merope's locket, which is also linked to Merope's murder by her brother and during which Dumbledore sees himself kill Ariana, repeatedly alluding to brother-sister violence.

Something else notable is that Dumbledore doesn’t die immediately - his death is drawn out, suffering under the Gaunt ring curse for a year. This parallels how Voldemort’s death is drawn out after murdering his "sister" and trying to murder his "brother" Harry, spending 13 years in Albania and then a few chasing after Harry.

Other than the obvious of the rebounding Killing Curse, you could say it was similarly Voldemort’s obsession with a Deathly Hallow - the Elder Wand - that killed his “brother” Snape, and Voldemort is then defeated by the Elder Wand.

It could also apply to the Resurrection Stone with regards to Voldemort and Lily, Voldemort symbolically killing Lily with the "large stone", and in one interpretation being defeated by the Resurrection Stone/the Deathly Hallows if you accept that was why Harry survived.

Interestingly 1) Harry has a dream with Nagini (Voldemort's symbolic mother) going through the Gaunt ring with the Resurrection Stone and then Lily's grave - in the same chapter the Silver Doe appears, and only a chapter after he visits Lily's grave and sees the memory of her murder 2) The Lily from the Resurrection Stone parallels Morfin while he's wearing the Gaunt ring with the Stone in it - both of these again hinting at a brother killing a sister with the "large stone" in the Cain and Abel retelling:

Harry’s dreams were confused and disturbing: Nagini wove in and out of them, first through a gigantic, cracked ring, then through a wreath of Christmas roses. (DH) Lily’s smile was widest of all. She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough. (DH) Morfin pushed the hair out of his dirty face, the better to see Riddle, and Harry saw that he wore Marvolo’s black-stoned ring on his right hand. (HBP)

This ultimately threads to it being Lily's soul that came out of the Resurrection Stone and created the versions of James, Sirius, and Remus, the way the locket creates Riddle-Harry and Riddle-Hermione (more on this in future metas).

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

3.3 However, there is a cave, called the "Blood Cave", in a mountain located to the northern part of Syria. It is thought to be the scene of the crime where Cain killed his brother Abel. […] Ahmed came to know from Abel -who took an oath of that- it was his own blood (that was spilt there (in that very cave)). Abel said that he had asked Allah Almighty to make the invocations and supplications offered in that place acceptable […] However, it is to be stated that this narration represents only a vision.

The Blood Cave corresponds to Slytherin locket cave, which is constructed by Voldemort as a symbolic representation of the Gaunt shack - hence being the scene of the crime where Cain killed Abel; it represents the house in which Merope was murdered by her brother (see my meta Slytherin Locket Cave: The Life and Death of Merope Gaunt), and fitting the thread of sisters murdered by brothers, Dumbledore drinks the Emerald potion in that cave and sees himself killing Ariana:

“I rather think,” said Dumbledore, putting his uninjured hand inside his robes and drawing out a short silver knife of the kind Harry used to chop potion ingredients, “that we are required to make payment to pass.” “Payment?” said Harry. “You’ve got to give the door something?” “Yes,” said Dumbledore. “Blood, if I am not much mistaken.” “Blood?” [...] There was a flash of silver, and a spurt of scarlet; the rock face was peppered with dark, glistening drops. “You are very kind, Harry,” said Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed instantly [...] “But your blood is worth more than mine. Ah, that seems to have done the trick, doesn’t it?” The blazing silver outline of an arch had appeared in the wall once more, and this time it did not fade away: The blood-spattered rock within it simply vanished, leaving an opening [...] (HBP)

“The archway will have sealed again... My knife...” “There’s no need, I got cut on the rock,” said Harry firmly. “Just tell me where...” “Here...” Harry wiped his grazed forearm upon the stone: Having received its tribute of blood, the archway reopened instantly. (HBP)

This is another interesting detail in the Cave scene:

Harry saw his face reflected, upside down, in the smooth surface of the green potion. Harry hesitated, looking into the blue eyes that had turned green in the reflected light of the basin. (HBP)

Dumbledore and Harry both have their blood spilled by the “blood ward” that echoes Lily’s blood ward resulting from her murder by her “brothers; Dumbledore and Harry both also reflect the Emerald Potion symbolizing Merope’s murder by her family - a.k.a. they’re both reflecting Voldemort as Cain who regularly kills his family. This again alludes to Harry's helplessness and feeling like Cain regarding Lily's death (and Sirius, and marked to be a brother-killer due to being prophesied to kill his “brother” Voldemort, etc etc), and Dumbledore’s same feeling about Ariana.

But Dumbledore's eyes reflecting green also refers to him reflecting Lily, as Dumbledore's words while drinking the potion echoes Lily's last words:

“Don’t hurt them, don’t hurt them, please, please, it’s my fault, hurt me instead... ” [...] “Please, please, please, no... not that, not that, I’ll do anything...” [...] Dumbledore drank, and no sooner had he finished than he yelled, “KILL ME!” (HBP) “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!” [...] “Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —” [...] “Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I’ll do anything —” (DH)

The significance of this is double-edged, again emphasizing both of them as Cain; Dumbledore's words are about him killing his sister Ariana, and Lily's last words are the verbal agreement that kills her "brother" Voldemort.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

3.4 Significantly the Quran, in which Cain and Abel are called Qabil and Habil, is the text in which Cain shows remorse for killing Abel in one interpretation, hence why Voldemort is given a chance for remorse (there's different wording used in different translations - one uses "remorse", another "regret" and JKR incorporated both into the text).

Allah Almighty says: {Then, Allah sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him how to hide the dead body of his brother. He (the murderer) said: "Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of my brother? "Then he became one of those who regretted} // Then he became full of remorse at his doing.

Some interpreters said: "After Cain had killed his brother, he carried him on his back for a full year (not knowing what to do with his brother's corpse!)." Others said: He carried him on his back for one hundred years till Allah Almighty sent two crows who fought against one another. One of them was killed. The murderer scratched the ground to hide the body of the dead crow. Seeing him doing that, Cain said: Woe to me! Am I not even able to do as this crow and to hide the dead body of my brother? Then, he buried the body of his dead brother and covered it with earth.

Not sure what the crows refers to - maybe the phoenix cores fighting against one another. Cain carrying Abel's dead body on his back may refer to the horcrux inside Harry, or Harry's blood and Lily's protection inside Voldemort.

And with a few exceptions, whenever the word remorse comes up, it isn’t about remorse for a character’s crimes in general, it’s an (often indirect) allusion to remorse about killing a sister or brother, tying it to the Cain and Abel thread.

I’ll now go through the relevant instances the word “remorse” appears and demonstrate this:

The man with the cold voice had killed a woman. He was talking about it without any kind of remorse — with amusement. He was dangerous — a madman. And he was planning more murders — this boy, Harry Potter, whoever he was — was in danger — (GoF) After a minute or so, he looked down at Harry again, a cruel smile twisting his snakelike face. “You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father,” he hissed softly. “A Muggle and a fool... very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death...” Voldemort laughed again. (GoF)

While the first quote refers to Bertha Jorkins, it's meant to evoke Lily's murder (JKR does this often - i.e. sometimes there will be phrases like "a woman screamed" and it'll be about someone else but is also meant to be an allusion to Lily). Voldemort similarly talks about Lily’s murder with amusement, and he also refers to Bertha as “useful” 4 times, just like how he refers to Lily.

Voldemort had "killed a woman" evoking Lily a.k.a. Cain killing Abel, the first murder on Earth and Cain as the first murderer, and was "planning more murders", that after killing his "sister" Lily with no remorse he planned to kill his "brother" Harry.

“This discussion is getting us nowhere,” said Ogden firmly. “It is clear from your son’s attitude that he feels no remorse for his actions.” (HBP)

The above quote is about Morfin’s actions of attacking Riddle Sr, which Morfin did specifically in retaliation for Merope’s attraction to him - and then, while bragging, Morfin uses that to sell out Merope to Marvolo, leading Marvolo to nearly kill her. Thereby the true meaning of this is about Morfin feeling no remorse for trying to kill his sister.

Right after the quote about Morfin, Voldemort is referred to as remorseless:

“No, I did not. Though he had shown no hint of remorse, it was possible that he felt sorry for how he had behaved before and was resolved to turn over a fresh leaf. I chose to give him that chance.” (HBP)

This echoes the quote about Bertha Jorkins - similar to that, while Dumbledore is literally describing Tom's actions at the orphanage, this also evokes the idea that Voldemort had a choice after killing his sister Lily, the "first" murder - to turn over a fresh leaf and not to commit more murders of his "family", not to kill his “brother” Harry too, but he doesn’t take the chance and continues to go after him.

“Yeah… Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum,” said Harry. Slughorn gave a great shudder, but he did not seem able to tear his horrified gaze away from Harry’s face. “He told her to get out of the way,” said Harry remorselessly. “He told me she needn’t have died. He only wanted me. She could have run.” (HBP)

Notice how above it specifically says “remorselessly” when Harry starts describing the moments of Lily’s death - alluding to Voldemort being remorseless and repenting not of what he���d done in killing his “sister” Lily.

“You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realized how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry. I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned —” (HBP)

The word remorse is used for Snape thrice, always referring to his murder of his "sister" Lily, and the "greatest regret of his life" echoes "Then he [Cain] became one of those who regretted".

In the following quotes, notice the phrasing and how it echoes Voldemort’s destruction by the Killing Curse rebounding, and how "Remorse. You've got to really feel what you've done" echoes "Cain repented not of what he had done".

“Remorse,” said Hermione. “You’ve got to really feel what you’ve done [...] Apparently the pain of it can destroy you. I can’t see Voldemort attempting it somehow, can you?” (DH)

“My curse was deflected by the woman’s foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah... pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it. I was ripped from my body, I was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost” (GoF) here, within sight of that house where he had come so close to knowing what it was to die… to die... The pain was so terrible… ripped from his body… (DH)

The word remorseless is again used in relation to Lily’s sacrificial protection and blood wards, resulting from her “brother” Voldemort’s murder of her, again tying it to Cain and Abel:

“— Kingsley and Mr. Weasley explained it all as well,” Harry pressed on remorselessly. “Once I’m seventeen, the protective charm that keeps me safe will break, and that exposes you as well as me.” (DH)

Then Harry feels remorse in relation to Molly, his mother figure who's a replacement for Lily:

She looked at him, a long, searching look, then smiled a little sadly, straightened up, and walked away. Harry watched as she waved her wand near the washing line, and the damp clothes rose into the air to hang themselves up, and suddenly he felt a great wave of remorse for the inconvenience and the pain he was giving her. (DH)

Molly's sad smile here evokes Lily "crying but smiling" at Harry from the Mirror of Erised (as well as Lily giving a "sad little smile" to Snape in The Prince's Tale).

Ron responded by maintaining an unnaturally somber demeanor in her presence as an outward sign of continuing remorse. (DH)

The above is Ron's remorse for hurting his "sister" Hermione, and he echoes Cain here because in the locket scene and in his jealous and hot-tempered demeanor he reflected Voldemort as Cain (see section 2.3 in Part 1)

“I regret it,” said Voldemort coldly. He turned away; there was no sadness in him, no remorse. (DH)

The above refers to Voldemort’s lack of remorse for killing his “brother” Snape.

“I picked it up, and I put it on, and for a second I imagined that I was about to see Ariana, and my mother, and my father, and to tell them how very, very sorry I was...” “He ran, while I was left to bury my sister, and learn to live with my guilt and my terrible grief, the price of my shame.” (DH) “They say he showed remorse in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that it is true. I would like to think he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends... to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow...” (DH)

Notice the phrasing here - the "horror and shame" Grindelwald felt echoes the "price of Dumbledore's shame" that's specifically about Ariana's murder, and how "feel the horror and shame of what he had done" echoes "Cain repented not of what he had done" - linking the remorse Grindelwald feels to Ariana's death, his "sister"/"sister-in-law's" death (a brother-in-law's violence to a sister-in-law is additionally explored in DH via Lucius Malfoy putting his hands on Bellatrix).

Interestingly, the Gray Lady's story about the Bloody Baron also echoes that of Cain and Abel:

“The Bloody Baron, yes,” said the Gray Lady, and she lifted aside the cloak she wore to reveal a single dark wound in her white chest. “When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence… as he should,” she added bitterly. (DH)

The Baron feels remorse for killing the Gray Lady, and kills himself with the same weapon that claimed her life, just like Cain is killed by the instrument that claimed Abel's life. Additionally "When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse" echoes "Cain repented not of what he had done".

The Gray Lady has many, many ties to Lily - her and the Baron represent Lily and Snape but also represent Lily and Voldemort (alluding to the thread of Cain wanting to marry his twin sister - see below), but I'll save that for another meta.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

3.5 As mentioned before, in many versions, Cain and Abel have twin sisters, and the interpretations surrounding the twin sisters vary as well. In some interpretations, Cain and Abel each have one twin sister. In others, Abel has two twin sisters and Cain one. Still in others, Abel has two sisters and Cain none. Etc.

And instead of whose sacrifice was favored by God causing the murder, Cain killing Abel is caused by them fighting over which one of them would marry their sister(s).

[...] Adam used to get the male brought by one birth married to the female brought by the other. Hence, it was supposed that Abel would get married to Cain's sister who was better and more beautiful than anyone else. At the same time, Cain wanted to keep her for himself. Adam ordered him to allow Abel to marry her, but he totally refused. [...] Later, a fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice offered by Abel and left untouched that of Cain. Cain became livid with rage and said to his brother: I will kill you so as not to marry my sister

In one interpretation you could read Lily as Voldemort's twin sister and Hermione as Harry's, or else in another reading Lily and Hermione are both Harry's twin sisters, in another they’re both Voldemort’s, etc. (Something to note is that Harry and Hermione fit the twin/sibling naming patterns - i.e. Parvati and Padma, Albus Aberforth and Ariana, Amycus and Alecto, Rodolphus and Rabastan, etc.)

Locket Riddle creates a version of Harry as Cain who wants to marry his twin sister Hermione - Riddle-Harry and Riddle-Hermione stand side by side in the mirrors of the locket like husband and wife James and Lily stand next to each other in the Mirror of Erised; they’re like trees with a common root aka on the same family tree aka cousins/“brother and sister”; they’re described as having the same hair, the same eyes, the same voice - they look exactly alike, like twins, like family.

But of course, the real Harry rejects this version:

the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root “Who wouldn’t prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him,” crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and entwined herself around Riddle-Harry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met. “She’s like my sister,” he went on. “I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It’s always been like that. I thought you knew.” (DH)

And then notice how the wording in the following quote echoes the Cain and Abel passage - that “it was supposed that Abel would get married to Cain's sister who was better and more beautiful than anyone else”

“Presumption!” echoed the Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione (DH)

(This thread surrounding Hermione as the twin sister is also referred to in the Godric's Hollow graveyard scene, which I'll get into in future metas) Everything in this scene ties back to this being Merope’s locket - who also would’ve had to marry her brother, and presumably traditionally that locket's two windows would've contained portraits of Morfin and Merope.

As for Voldemort himself, he has several symbolic marriages with his "twins". The thread of Cain wanting to marry his twin sister exists with Voldemort and Lily too (highly symbolically), and with Voldemort and Ginny, which I’ll elaborate on that in other metas.

There's Snape and Voldemort as a symbolic marriage emphasized by Ravenclaw's diadem associated with Snape and likened to Fleur's wedding tiara:

He strode right up to the marble woman, and she seemed to look back at him with a quizzical half smile on her face, beautiful yet slightly intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet had been reproduced in marble on top of her head. It was not unlike the tiara Fleur had worn at her wedding. (DH) There it was, right ahead, the blistered old cupboard in which he had hidden his old Potions book, and on top of it, the pockmarked stone warlock wearing a dusty old wig and what looked like an ancient, discolored tiara. (DH)

The description "pockmarked warlock" with the "dusty wig" also evokes Snape's appearance, who isn't specifically described as pockmarked, but Elphias Doge is in DH - Doge parallels Snape in having a "pockmarked visage and greenish hue", like Snape's greasy curtains of hair and sallow greasy skin, and Doge's friendship with Dumbledore of two outsiders reflects Snape and Lily's friendship.

Snape is also connected to the diadam via this passage, while Voldemort's agonizing over losing Hufflepuff's cup, which Voldemort entrusted to Bellatrix, his symbolic "wife":

To tell Snape why the boy might return would be foolish, of course; it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy: Didn’t their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust? (DH)

Voldemort of course doesn't tell Snape the truth about the diadem, but the wording here suggests that under other circumstances he might've trusted Snape enough and told him it was a horcrux, and it was his feelings of betrayal and fear of vulnerability after the Cup's loss that kept him from doing so.

The diadem is further linked female figures in the passage where it's destroyed:

all around them the last few objects unburned by the devouring flames were flung into the air, as the creatures of the cursed fire cast them high in celebration: cups and shields, a sparkling necklace, and an old, discolored tiara — (DH)

The cups evoke Hepzibah Smith's/Helga Hufflepuff's cup, the shields refer to Lily (see my meta "When Lily Cast Her Life As A Shield": Analysis of the Shield Charm), the necklace an obvious reference to Merope's locket, and then Rowena and Helena Ravenclaw's diadem.

Voldemort's symbolic marriage with Harry is implied in the Dracula allusions that you can read about in this post.

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3.6 Now there were born with Abel two daughters, his sisters. Then said Cain, 'I will take the ​one I choose, I am the eldest;' Abel said, 'They were born with me, and I will have them both to wife.' And when they fought, Abel flung Cain down and was above him; and he lay on Cain. Then Cain said to Abel, 'Are we not both sons of one father; why wilt thou kill me?' And Abel had compassion, and let Cain get up. And so Cain fell on him and killed him. From this we learn not to render good to the evil, for, because Abel showed mercy to Cain, Cain took advantage of it to slay Abel.

The following corresponds to the sentence “And when they fought, Abel flung Cain down and was above him; and he lay on Cain”:

The stairs were steep and narrow: Harry was half tempted to place his hands on stout Bathilda’s backside to ensure that she did not topple over backward on top of him, which seemed only too likely. He could not get enough breath into his lungs to call back: Then a heavy smooth mass smashed him to the floor and he felt it slide over him, powerful, muscular — “No!” he gasped, pinned to the floor. (DH) “It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!” Harry felt himself lowered onto the grass. “You see?” said Voldemort, and Harry felt him striding backward and forward right beside the place where he lay. (DH)

And the below quotes is Harry as Abel showing compassion to Voldemort as Cain - and right after Harry shows him mercy, Voldemort tries to kill him:

Small and fragile and wounded though it was, he did not want to approach it. Nevertheless he drew slowly nearer, ready to jump back at any moment. Soon he stood near enough to touch it, yet he could not bring himself to do it. He felt like a coward. He ought to comfort it, but it repulsed him. “You cannot help.”

He was distracted by the whimpering and thumping of the agonized creature behind them and glanced back at it yet again. “Are you sure we can’t do anything?” “There is no help possible.” (DH)

“But before you try to kill me, I’d advise you to think about what you’ve done... Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle...” [...] “It’s your one last chance,” said Harry, “it’s all you’ve got left... I’ve seen what you’ll be otherwise... Be a man... try... Try for some remorse...” (DH)

Notice how the wording echoes Dumbledore’s - Lily’s sacrifice is Voldemort’s “one last hope for himself” and remorse is his “one last chance”, plus “Think about what you’ve done” echoes “Cain repented not of what he had done”.

Interestingly, Harry’s words here mirror Voldemort’s words to him in the graveyard in GoF, during which Voldemort’s words echo what Frank Bryce says to him:

“Is that right?” said Frank roughly. “Lord, is it? Well, I don’t think much of your manners, my Lord. Turn ’round and face me like a man, why don’t you?” “But I am not a man, Muggle,” said the cold voice, barely audible now over the crackling of the flames. “I am much, much more than a man. However... why not? I will face you... Wormtail, come turn my chair around.” (GoF)

“And now you face me, like a man... straight-backed and proud, the way your father died...” (GoF)

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Part 3 weaving the text and the Cain and Abel passage in Genesis together is coming soon.

[saintsenara]

okay but voldemort having to use nagini to kill sev cause he couldn't hate him enough to use the avada is so loverboy of him

it is a truth universally acknowledged that when you fully deep that voldemort brings about his own destruction twice - via offering lily a choice to stand aside and refusing to use the killing curse on him - in order to do something "nice" [for him!] for snape...

you end up in snapemort nation.

[iamnmbr3]

This is an absolutely outstandingly written piece of meta and a complete delight to read. I agree that Snape and Tom's relationship is utterly fascinating and completely unique.

In the context of Snape and Tom's special relationship, I think this bit from book 4 is also very interesting.

Either Snape is the Death Eater who is "too cowardly to return" or the one who has "left...forever," and either reading proves really interesting when we think about these two characters.

Now I believe the intended reading here is that Snape is the Death Eater whom Voldemort believes has left him forever and intends to kill until Snape is able to get him to change his mind (even though actually his first instinct was correct) and Karkaroff is the one who is too cowardly to return. EXCEPT that actually the Death Eater who is killed shortly after this speech is not Snape, but Karkaroff who tries to flee and is eventually hunted down. Which suggests that Snape is actually he one who is too cowardly to return.

This argument is strengthened by the fact that if Voldemort wanted Snape dead he could very easily have ordered Barty Crouch Jr. to carry it out. But Crouch doesn't seem to have any such orders. As far as he knows after Harry touches the cup he'll be transported to the graveyard and killed so there's no reason to wait around and not go straight for Snape if he had orders to do so. But he doesn't.

If we assume then that Snape is not the Death Eater whom Voldemort intends to kill that is quite extraordinary because Snape has failed to show up when his Dark Mark burned and has shown no particular signs of remaining loyal to Voldemort. And yet Tom is apparently willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He speaks nebulously of punishing him (not even by name) but seems willing to accept him back into the fold.

Alternately, if Snape is indeed the Death Eater whom Voldemort intended to kill then it's even more amazing. Karkaroff ultimately loses his life for fleeing. But Snape, who Voldemort believes has left him forever and who he specifically states he plans to kill (and in that context the use of the phrase "has left me forever" is interestingly personal) shows up late and is not killed on sight but rather given a chance to explain himself. And that explanation is actually accepted.

This adds on to other things, like the fact that he actually apologizes to Snape before killing him - seems almost desperate, in fact, to explain himself. And that apology not only shows his regret but also serves to give Snape a warning and a chance to defend himself if he wants so he can have a more "honorable" death or perhaps even a fighting chance.

Furthermore it's interesting that Tom doesn't use the killing curse on Snape. Even Charity Burbage gets a quick and clean death before getting fed to Nagini. Why should Snape not be granted the same privilege? Perhaps the reason Tom deviates from his usual MO and doesn't use the killing curse on Snape is because he literally can't. Powerful spells in Harry Potter require you to mean them. Tom may not be able to muster up enough will to hurt Snape to be able to use the killing curse or even a lesser but still deadly spell. Naginia is his Horcrux and thus is "him" in a sense so using her might be his best attempt.

Please tell us more about Voldemort's relationship with Severus, and why you think it differs so much from Voldemort's other relationships

Whatever it is that lingers between Tom and Severus—power, manipulation, some dark bond none of us can fully grasp—it naturally ignites chaos in the mind of the beholders. And if you’re eager to feel that burn, I’ll gladly embrace you in it. To you brave, reckless souls, I say this: your wish is my command.

So, here we are, picking apart how Severus Snape—mudblood, poor, and bruised from the heavy hand of a Muggle father—managed to land himself a spot at the table with the most rabid pack of blood purists you’ve ever seen. A table, mind you, he had no business sitting at. The Death Eaters, that tight little clique of privileged purebloods, had no real reason to let in this scruffy little outsider. Sure, Snape was useful. Very useful. His skills were sharp as knives, and he could do their dirty work, get his hands filthy so they didn’t have to. But useful doesn’t mean welcome. Useful doesn’t mean accepted. You know who else was useful? Fenrir Greyback and his mangy lot. They brought terror to the doorsteps of half the wizarding world, and did Voldemort’s cause no small service. But did they get a place at the inner circle? Did they get respect? Hell no. They were the dirt beneath the boots of the real Death Eaters. Useful filth. And then there’s Snape, embodying everything these purists claim to despise—a half-blood with a tainted surname, living in squalor, dragged through the muck by a Muggle brute of a father. By all accounts, Death Eaters should have spat in his face and tossed him out like yesterday’s rubbish. But no. Not only does he get a seat at the table, he rises. He’s placed on a pedestal, standing closer to Voldemort than some of the most loyal, purest-blooded lackeys in the room. Voldemort, in all his cold-blooded glory, didn’t just tolerate Severus. He raised him up, right in front of their sneering, offended faces. Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. If you think Voldemort did this out of some sense of gratitude, you’ve missed the point entirely. Tom Riddle doesn’t do gratitude. That kind of sentiment is beneath him, an alien concept. Voldemort doesn’t reward; he uses. Deeds done in his name are expected, not appreciated. You’re not going to get a pat on the back from a man who thinks the world owes him its loyalty. Snape’s service should’ve earned him nothing more than a brief reprieve from pain. A loosening of the noose around his neck, if he was lucky. That’s Voldemort’s way—keep them all desperate, keep them all afraid. So why did Snape, of all people, get raised up? Why did he, the least likely among them, become a favorite?

Mind, it’s not just me declaring Snape as Voldemort’s favorite. That dark, twisted bond is laced into nearly every interaction between the two, as if something unspoken and festering passes between them. But it’s Narcissa Malfoy who lays it bare. A woman born into the highest echelons of pure-blood privilege, the very foundation on which Voldemort’s so-called supremacy stands, doesn’t hesitate when she calls him “the Dark Lord’s favorite, his most trusted advisor.” Let that sink in.

Here is the wife of Lucius Malfoy, a man whose lineage is steeped in the darkest of traditions. But when her family’s future is on the edge of a wand, when her son’s life dangles by a thread, she doesn’t rely on Lucius, doesn’t turn to Bellatrix. No, she comes to Severus, because deep down, she knows. They all do.

It’s something more insidious, something that slips through the cracks in the floorboards of Voldemort’s ideology. He is the one Voldemort trusts, the one Voldemort leans on, the one whose counsel can shift the dark winds of fate. That is real power, raw and untouchable. Narcissa sees it—how could she not? Even with all her aristocratic pride, even with the weight of her name and her family’s legacy pressing down on her, she understands that none of it means a damn thing next to what Snape has. Narcissa, with her family’s long, proud heritage, has to grovel before someone who, by the very logic of Voldemort’s cause, should be inferior. But Snape is different, and everyone knows it. They may not say it, they may not even want to admit it, but they know. He operates outside the lines, above the fray, immune to the very rules that were meant to keep people like him down. Snape, the half-blood, the one with the muddied past, holds a kind of sway that no one else in Voldemort’s ranks can claim.

Oh, there comes the bitter irony of Peter Pettigrew. After years of scraping and groveling, thinking he’d earned his place in the Dark Lord’s favor, Peter is handed over like a rag for Severus to wring out. Peter, one of the smug Marauders who’d gleefully hounded Snape through school, reduced now to something just shy of a house-elf, bowing and cringing under Snape’s very roof. A cruel twist of fate, no doubt arranged with Voldemort’s signature malevolence. Was this some attempt to plant a spy in Snape's house? Maybe, if you take it at face value. But think for a moment—Voldemort, who couldn’t pry Snape's treachery from his skull with all the power of Legilimency, putting his trust in Wormtail to do the job? The rat that couldn't outsmart a dormitory prank, never mind a master of deception like Severus?

No, this isn’t espionage; this is karma. Cruel, twisted karma orchestrated by the Dark Lord himself. You can almost picture Severus watching Peter scuttle about his house, casting him those withering, superior glances—knowing full well that Tom has given him this indulgence, this little taste of vengeance. Snape treats Wormtail with open contempt, because he knows he can. He knows it’s allowed, expected even. It’s as if the tables have turned in the most bitter of ways, a humiliating reversal of fortune. Pettigrew, who once revelled in Snape’s humiliation, now reduced to the lowest of roles, while Snape—Voldemort’s golden boy—sits at the top. Isn’t it delicious? You’d have to be blind to chalk it up to coincidence. Moreover, Pettigrew’s fate is all the proof you’ll ever need that Voldemort’s rule isn’t founded on something as simple or sentimental as loyalty. Loyalty? Sacrifice? Please. Pettigrew’s life was one long, groveling act of desperation to stay in the Dark Lord’s good graces. You bring your master back from the brink of death itself, and still, all you get is contempt. Voldemort demands service, sure. But service? Guarantees nothing. And when you set Severus and Peter side by side, the question gnaws at you. Why? Why is Snape the favored one, the exception, the enigma in Voldemort’s otherwise brutal, predictable hierarchy? What makes him different? There’s something between them—something that doesn’t follow the usual logic of power and punishment. Voldemort doesn’t just tolerate Snape’s defiance; he rewards it, bends the system to accommodate it. Something unspoken, something hidden behind the masks they both wear, grants Snape a level of favor that Pettigrew could only dream of.

What’s crucial to grasp here is that Voldemort doesn’t spare anyone. His entire ideology is rooted in cruelty, in domination, in the ruthless obliteration of all who oppose him. He doesn’t just eliminate enemies; he obliterates them, wipes them from existence without a second thought. And yet, here’s the anomaly: Lily Evans, mother of Harry Potter, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and a Muggle-born witch, is offered a chance to live. Live. This decision, however, is directly tied to Snape. Snape had begged Voldemort to spare her, and it is this plea—Snape’s plea—that softens the Dark Lord’s otherwise unyielding cruelty.

To truly grasp the enormity of this act, we need to take a step back and consider Snape’s position in all of this. Remember, Severus was just 21 years old when he found himself pleading with Voldemort, one of the most dangerous dark wizard in history, to spare Lily Evans.

Snape wasn’t the imposing, confident figure we often associate with him thanks to Alan Rickman’s performance—he wasn’t a man exuding quiet menace, seemingly capable of standing toe-to-toe with Voldemort. No, at this point in canon, he was barely more than a boy, a young man fresh out of Hogwarts, with no powerful lineage or wealth to protect him.

And yet, despite this—despite the sheer imbalance of power between them—Snape dared to approach Voldemort. Voldemort. With a plea. Not for himself, but for a Muggle-born witch. At best, Snape’s request might have been laughed off, dismissed as the desperate wish of a foolish young Death Eater. But it wasn’t. For some reason, Voldemort didn’t just tolerate Snape’s plea—he actually acted on it.

Consider how critical this moment was to Voldemort’s larger agenda. At the heart of his entire scheme is a singular, consuming fixation: the annihilation of the child prophesied to be his undoing. Harry Potter is Voldemort’s obsession, the one threat he must eliminate to secure his dominion. The Potters were no longer just enemies—they were the key to his future, and Harry was the focus of his most crucial mission. In this context, sparing anyone even remotely connected to Harry was an extraordinary risk. Leniency wasn’t just unnecessary—it was dangerous. By showing mercy to Lily, Voldemort risked undermining his own carefully constructed agenda. And this wasn’t a moment where Voldemort could afford to make mistakes.

This unprecedented act of “mercy,” this concession Voldemort granted Snape, became the very thing that led to his downfall. Had Voldemort simply killed Lily Evans on the spot, as he did James, she would never have had the chance to sacrifice herself for Harry. The protection her sacrifice invoked—the ancient magic that saved Harry’s life and turned Voldemort’s killing curse back on him—would never have existed. Voldemort, the cold strategist, fell because he didn’t bend for anyone—except, inexplicably, for Snape. And that single, dangerous deviation cost him everything. That’s how it’s all started.

And there it is— how it’s all ends. Voldemort’s final words to Severus Snape before he executes him. But pay attention to how he begins. “Clever man,” he calls him. He suggests that Snape might’ve already known the truth of the Elder Wand’s treachery. Tom would never acknowledge someone’s cleverness if it undermined his own intellectual abilities. If he implies that Snape may have already unraveled the mystery of the Elder Wand, it undoubtedly indicates that Voldemort had recognized Snape’s crucial role in the wand’s problems long before. It’s not just idle chatter or casual flattery. No, it’s a bloody confirmation that Voldemort himself had long ago pieced together the mystery of Snape’s involvement with the wand. This wasn’t some last-minute realization that forced his hand. It wasn’t ignorance that delayed Snape’s death, not at all. It was deliberation. Voldemort, for all his cruelty, wasn’t stupid. He suspected, long before that moment, that Snape was at the center of the problem with the wand’s loyalty. He just chose not to act on it until the very last moment.

He held back from executing him, searching for any other way around the wand’s limitations, trying to find a solution that didn’t involve killing Snape. But when it came down to it, when all other options were exhausted, Voldemort finally made his move.

And what does he do? He delivers a speech. A bloody speech, full of regret and excuses—“I regret what must happen.” Does that sound like the Voldemort we know? The Dark Lord who kills without a second thought, who carves his empire from the bones of the disobedient? Hell no. This is the man who thrives on fear, on swift, brutal punishment. And yet, here he is, delivering justifications like some guilty executioner. This isn’t Voldemort’s usual method. This isn’t the whip coming down fast and hard. This is something altogether more… hesitant.

That speech, soaked in rationalizations, tells us everything we need to know. Snape’s death wasn’t just business—it was personal. It’s a messy, ugly end to the unexplainable dynamic between them. Even at the very end, Voldemort is bending, twisting, trying to justify his actions to the one man who had managed to worm his way under his skin. And in that second, we see something rare—a glimpse of the complexity in their relationship. Voldemort’s usual ruthless efficiency is absent.

His “I regret it,” spoken once more, stands out like a blade in the gut, sharp and unexpected, slicing straight through Voldemort’s usual cold indifference. The Dark Lord, who has never spared a thought for the wreckage in his wake, lets these words hang in the air, unnatural as they are. A man who’s never known the weight of remorse now offers something that almost feels like regret. Not true regret, of course—Voldemort doesn’t have the luxury of feeling something so weak, so human. But still, It’s not a sentiment he offers to anyone else. It’s almost as if Voldemort doesn’t know how to process this lingering attachment, as though Snape’s mere existence demands something from him that Voldemort is incapable of giving. Snape occupies some strange corner of Voldemort’s mind, twisted and dark it may be, that not even the Dark Lord himself seems to understand. Despite the fact that I’ve painted a whole canvas of tangled thoughts on the strange relationship between Severus and Tom, I’ve barely begun to tug at the thread of their inexplicable dynamic. There’s so much more I could unearth, layers of intrigue and tension that ripple through every scene between them, and I could easily go on for hours about the small, delicious details woven into their story. But, as it happens, my full-time job is already sharpening its knife and aiming for my back, so I'll have to bring this whole saga to a close with the following quote:

For me, the intensity of this scene speaks volumes about their relationship, capturing the very essence of what makes these two so bloody fascinating. The way their gaze alone can make Death Eaters flinch under the weight of their unspoken understanding. It’s not fear, not exactly. It’s something colder, something deeper. As though they’re witnessing a bond forged in the dark, a grim understanding that none of them can ever be a part of.

That’s what keeps dragging me back to these two. The tension, the labyrinth of contradictions, the complex tangle of manipulation. I want to look away—hell, I should look away, just like the Death Eaters did. But there’s something about it, something that coils around me, tightening like a serpent’s embrace. Can you blame me?

[ashesandhackles]

🛳️ and 😂 for the fic recs ask!

🛳️ - it's The White Road by perverse-idyll who I believe is one of the best writers in the fandom. The ship in question is Snarry - it's not a ship I would have sought out, but here we are.

😂 - it's Inhuman Resources by @saintsenara . Set on the premise that Umbridge tried to get herself recruited into Death Eaters and even Death Eaters are like "uh no". I wheezed through the entire fic. Asenora's work always has this delightful sense of humour (Bellatrix on holiday in Spain, Snapemort she is currently writing), but she unleashed the full force of it in this fic.

Fic rec asks

[albi-bumblebee]

Snapemort coded tbh

[saintsenara]

thank you so much for the shoutout to both scylla and charybdis and other women and of purer blood - especially in such illustrious company! i really appreciate it <3

My favorite HP fanfics of all time:

#1: Beautiful Sleepyhead by Phantomato. Thoros Nott/Voldemort, 24k words, E. I also highly recommend reading Interlude in First and Oily Water from this series. This is the only fic I couldn't even guess how many times I've read it. It's so unspeakably beautiful, beyond words to me, the relationship these two characters have, the characterization of Voldemort and his professional and domestic lives, the strikingly beautifully written and raw erotica, the intense humanity of all of it. I recommend reading everything with Thoros/Voldemort. I'll read them anywhere and doing anything. In general I consider Phantomato the best writer I've ever read in my entire life, in any context and in any genre. The way they use words is not the way other people use words. Reading their writing changes the way I think. You make me need to write @phantomato I LOVE YOU

#2: Immortal Misconceptions by PinsandKneazles. Bellatrix/Voldemort, 3.4k, M. Bellatrix and Voldemort try to conceive Delphini. This is so so so so fucking funny. Genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I can't even look at this right now without scream laughing. Every line of this is laugh out loud worthy and it doesn't ever get any less funny even if you read it 20 times.

#3: The Warrior and the Snake by Lady_Escapist. Bellatrix/Voldemort, 150k, M. My favorite Bellamort fic (ignore the above...), and goes through the whole story of both wars which I adore. Lady_Escapist writes the best characterized Voldemort I've ever read, who speaks and acts and thinks like he does in canon, and he has an intensely complex relationship with Bellatrix that feels so incredibly believable, and so compelling. The chemistry between them is palpable. The type of story that impacts your view of the series when you read it.

#4: Dissonance by Metalomagnetic. Abraxas Malfoy/Tom Riddle, 17k, E, underage warning. Beautiful use of words, such evocative language, really feels like it's written in the real HP universe, and some of the most well-written sex I've ever read. It's really impressive to me how complex and individual and human these characters are in so few words. Metalomagnetic is another person who knows how to use words in a way most writers can't do. @metalomagnetic I LOVE YOU

#5: Scylla and Charybdis by Asenora. Snape/Voldemort, 44k, E. Transcendent experience of Snape and his relationship with Voldemort, woven together like a web interconnected through time. Delicious little Bellamort bits. Another brilliant writer who has a way with words I can barely fathom. Have never forgotten the description of Rodolphus's face as aquiline. @saintsenara I LOVE YOU

#6: Self-Worship by Phantomato. Diary Tom Riddle/real Tom Riddle, 21k, E. The diary horcrux gets a body, and there's only one bed... As brilliantly written as anything of theirs. So real, so visceral.

and:

Stop all the clocks by Metalomagnetic. Rodolphus/Voldemort, 9k, M. Rodolphus's POV of his intense adoration and devotion to Voldemort. Amazing writing of a Death Eater's love for the Dark Lord.

Penitence. Lucius/Voldemort, 810 words, E, non-con warning. Lucius has to suck Voldemort's dick in front of a ton of Death Eaters. So good.

Holiday by Phantomato. Thoros Nott/Voldemort, 23k, E. Fake engagement, you know what happens.

Other Women and of Purer Blood by Asenora. Narcissa/Snape, 7.7k, E. Super well-written, beautiful descriptions and narrative, so many compelling ideas, and an insane sex scene.

The Black Family Shield in Malfoy Manor by FelixPhial. Draco/Narcissa, 8.2k, E, non-con warning and maybe underage. Draco and Narcissa have to have passionate sex in front of all the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

Lord of the Manor by jadiss. Lucius/Snape, 3.2k, E. Little snippets on their relationship, from Hogwarts to death.

The Chronicles by yletylyf. 11k, M. Snape's experience as a double agent. Valuable ideas on canon plot and Snape's relationship with Voldemort. And a delicious little Bellamort moment. @yletylyf

A phantom pain by RiddleRedCoats. Bellatrix/Voldemort, 4.2k, general. Voldemort returns, finds out Bellatrix died in Azkaban, looks for her everywhere.

Real by deslea. Bellatrix & Rodolphus, 2.6k, M. The last scene of this has stuck with me among the most of any scene from any fic I've read.

Innocence by hervissa. 717 words, teen & up. Lucius finds out about Bellatrix & Voldemort. Really well-written and so funny, will never forget Lucius's reaction to the aftershave line.

a learning experience by Laeveteinn. Tom Riddle/Hepzibah Smith, 9k, teen & up. 'Hepzibah Smith is an acquired taste. Slowly but surely, Tom finds himself acquiring it.'

Adtitulo by jazminesays. Draco/Voldemort, Abraxas Malfoy/Voldemort, 144k, E, underage warning and probably non-con warning. Voldemort had a love affair with Abraxas in his youth and has Draco pretend to be Abraxas. I've read only the first half of this, not the Drarry. I love the relationships between the Slytherins, particularly Draco and Pansy, and their little traditions and human qualities and calling the alcove Candyland.

surrogate by 8623S44. Bellatrix/Voldemort, 179k, E. I need to reread this. One of the first fics I saved on AO3 and one I've always thought of as one of my favorites. What I remember most is the Voldemort POV rewrites of the scenes from Deathly Hallows. Full story of the first and second wars I think, but non-chronological.

Beauty and the Beast by Metalomagnetic. Bellatrix/Voldemort, 21k, M. One of the first fics I saved, and I have this labeled as a favorite, need to reread.

[ao3feed-snape]

Bloom

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/37a9Esl

by theoddsunprince

"Welcome to Wool's Orphanage, sweetheart."

--

Young Harian Potter is abandoned on the street at age 6. A disowned witch named Aurelia Rosier takes him in, giving him a home in Wool's Orphanage among fellow outcasts and so-called "freaks". There he discovers himself, giving him a confidence he never would have dreamed of, and setting him on a path in the wizarding world.

(later drarry and snapemort)

Words: 2160, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Tom Riddle, Voldemort (Harry Potter), Marvolo Gaunt, Severus Snape, Weasley Family (Harry Potter), Original Characters, Harry Potter Characters

Relationships: Tom Riddle/Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter

Additional Tags: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Harry Potter, LGBTQ Themes, Child Abuse, Molly Weasley Bashing, Ginny Weasley Bashing, Weasley Family Bashing (Harry Potter), Good Severus Snape, Sane Tom Riddle, Sane Voldemort (Harry Potter), Good Draco Malfoy, Bisexual Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy, Original Character(s), Slurs, Homophobia, Hufflepuff Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Draco Malfoy

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/37a9Esl

[saintsenara]

I enjoyed reading your post about Snapemort, I'm curious what reward Voldemort gave Snape for killing Dumbledore. Was learning to fly the reward for killing Dumbledore?

a blowjob.

[vivihar]

Oh my God this!!!!

The flying boys

That reminds me: what if Severus taught Tom to fly, not vice versa? It is Severus who obsessively comes up with new spells, it is Severus who sees small Lily literally flying "like a trapeze artist through the air", and it is Severus who discovers the Levicorpus spell.

In the UK they are the only ones canonically doing it. Why would Tom otherwise not teach this useful spell to other Death Eaters? That is their date spell, that is why! Miggle-raised kids have a higher chance of coveting it instead of saying "Well, we have brooms and Apparition, what do we need flying for" like wizard-raised kids would.