Severus Snape

Should anyone wish to send Severus an owl, this is where it will arrive and he will attend to it very shortly.


Contact information:

email is murduck at gmail dot com
AIM is mirorthauma
MSN is miror_thauma
Yahoo is miror_thauma
Twitter is Slytherenclaw
my journal World of Wonders
Severus' live journalVerus Janus
my live journalWorld of Wonders

Title: You Could Have Knocked Me Over with a Feather
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, Poppy Pomfrey
Rating: G
Word Count: 150
Warnings: het
Prompt: Severus/Poppy, September, feather, kiss,
Notes: Poppy stories are a gift to my dear friend 00sevvie and in no way extend the world of my otherwise consistent Severus.

( story! )

Title: Thrown from Death
Author: janus
Characters: Sirius, other characters unlisted for surprise value.
Rating: G
Word Count: 300
Warnings: silly. remember that these Saturday Night Drabbles are funny challenges and not what I would usually write. canon character deaths. Dark Magic.
Summary: Sirius escapes the veil and is thrown forward in time into an awkward situation.
Challenge: Saturday Night Drabbles

( story! )

Title: Black
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore
Rating: G
Word Count: 300
Warnings: out of character
Summary: Severus is obliged to don a Halloween costume for the feast. He does.
Challenge: Saturday Night Drabbles

( story! )

Title: Medicinal Cocoa
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, Poppy Pomfrey
Rating: G
Word Count: 200
Warnings: het
Summary: Poppy encounters Severus outside on a cold night collecting ingredients for her potions.
Challenge: Saturday Night Drabbles

( story! )

Title: Contrast
Author: janus
Characters: Gilderoy Lockhart
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Warnings: none
Summary: Gilderoy gathers writing inspiration.
Challenge: Saturday Night Drabbles

It was a dark and stormy night. No, it was... pre-stormy. Gilderoy Lockhart drank fine brew in a small County Kerry pub. At length, the pub's warmth and the excellence of the ale went to his head. He needed a short break from his telling of tales. Some country fool was stealing his thunder.

From a hedge, a horrible, aching, unmistakable scream erupted, cutting his very heart and throttling his very soul, presaging death and terror. He reached in, valiantly tearing from its tear-shaped nest: a thin bedraggled bird.

The pub advertised Augery Soup.

Gilderoy published Break with a Banshee.

---

prompt by Stefdarlin: "What really happened when Gilderoy Lockhart met the Banshee featured in his book: Break With A Banshee?"

Title: Where They Come
Author: janus
Characters: unknown
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100
Warnings: smut? tentacles?
Summary: A simple description of a trysting spot
Challenge: Saturday Night Drabbles

They always came together by the lake where the bushes rose to hide them. They had crushed the reeds beneath them so often they became a bed, springing under them, creaking wholesomely. They could never decide which time of day they preferred. In the afternoon the sky expanded widely above them, interrupted by insects buzzing curiously. Occasionally the squid drifted near to confirm their presence, reaching tentacles to gently touch their moving backs. But at night the warmth of sun lingered aromatically in the water, earth and air. The stars came out. They set wand-lights to float magically around them.

Prompt from Sunny33: A couple has found somewhere different to shag. Describe the place in 200-300 words, using NO adjectives. Poetry and dialogue alone not allowed.

This is only 100 words, but there are no adjectives!

Title: A Prince's Papers
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, A related Wizard
Rating: PG
Word Count: 250
Warnings: none
Prompt from 00sevvie: At some point in the recent past papers belonging to a somewhat distant Prince relative of Sev's bearing curious magical formulas were uncovered, greatly to Voldemort's interest. however, until now they haven't been able to get anything to work. Someone thinks they've found a key to the puzzle.


( story! )

Title: Taken to Me
Author: janus
Characters: Regulus Black, Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Rabastan Lestrange, Walpurga Black, Sirius Black, misc. others
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1685
Warnings: Mild slash, mild
Prompt: Abraxas Malfoy has some pretty convincing ways of recruiting new Death Eaters. Poor innocent Regulus Black doesn't stand a chance. Slashy goodness.
Challenge: From the hp_cross_fest on livejournal.

( story! )

And the next year, Abraxas would be dead, then Regulus.

I made a new banner for Dark Prince Rising.

And a new Affiliate banner.



Please click on the latter for the former on the community. It is large, so I have not posted it here.

Title: Contrast
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, misc. OC
Rating: NC-17 for violence
Word Count: 717
Warnings: Extreme violence, Dark ideas
Summary: After a Death Eater murder, Severus and Lucius demonstrate the differences in their characters.
Challenge: For the_iscariot

( story! )

I have been making these icons for some time. Please take them to use if you wish. If you do, please credit "by <lj user="janus">." If you would let me know which you use in the comments, that would be wonderful as I am curious. They are all original, and I did the screen captures myself, though obviously not the photos, which are from google or captured from youtube. Thank you very kindly. If you have any questions about any of them, please ask.

( cut for 42 icons )

Meme stolen from several people.

1. Pick 10 of your favorite books or series.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.

As they are guessed, I will strike them through and put the answers beside them. I have ignored prefaces for the most part, in favour of lyrical true first lines. The fourth is not lyrical, but it is one of my favourites and I cannot leave it out. The third says more than it seems to say about the book.


1. Imagine that you are reading a book about the Cosmos. You find it so interesting that you got out and buy a telescope. One fine clear moonless night you set up your telescope and focus it on the brightest star in the sky.

2. This is the first time I've worked without a net. I want to tell the truth. At the same time, I don't want to start a feeding frenzy. You stick your neck out and you know what happens. It's obvious.

3. Now that the dust has settled, we can begin to look at our situation. Now that the last red tile has been laid out on the roof of the New House, now that the marriage contract is four years old. The town smells of summer, not very pleasant, that is, but the same as last year, the same as the years that follow. The New House smells of resin and wax polish; it has the sulphurous odor of family quarrels brewing.

4. "The book must be dropped."
"No, Arthur!"
"Perhaps only for a time. But for the present, it must be dropped. I need time to think."
The three trustees in the big penthouse drawing-room were beginning to shout, which destroyed all atmosphere of a business meeting - not that such an atmosphere had ever been strong.

5. In January 1942 I was escorted to the war by my parents in case I couldn't find it or met with accident on the way. In one hand I clutched my railway warrant - the first prize I had ever won; in the other I held a carefully wrapped black-market chicken.

6. There was a white horse, on a quiet winter morning when the snow covered the streets gently and was not deep, and the sky was swept with stars, except in the east, where dawn was beginning to light in a blue flood. The air was motionless, but would soon start to move as the sun came upand winds from Canada came charging down the Hudson.

7. Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw." that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn't. Now I think it does. And I think mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.

8. The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. He took off his hat and came slowly forward. The floorboards creaked under his boots. In his black suit he stood in the dark glass where the lilies leaned so palely from their waisted cutglass vase.

9. I shall begin my story with an experience I had when I was ten and attended our town's small Latin school.

The sweetness of many things from that time still stirs and touches me with melancholy; dark and well-lighted alleys, houses and towers, chimes and faces, rooms rich and comfortable, warm and relaxed, rooms pregnant with secrets.

10. Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars.

So, any guesses?

Greetings!
I've had a great deal of stress lately. My job changed suddenly. I've not been posting as much as I would have liked.
But tomorrow I am going on vacation! For a whole month! I saved up holidays for two years!
It is a magic convention on a ship, going down to LA and then I am staying with my dear Uncle and Aunt in Oceanside.
I will be offline until the 26th, or possibly the 27th or 28th, depending on internet availability in LA.

I'm working on some fests.
The Severus Big Bang Birthday Bash severusbigbang on insanejournal and livejournal. I've three projects there. One is going really well and makes me happy. The others I've not started.
Severus' Shorts severus_shorts on livejournal. I have a story of one of Severus' birthdays to write there.
HP Cross Gen Fest hp_cross_fest, which I have half-written - something totally different.
Snapely Holidays snapelyholidays on livejournal and insanejournal.

There are various things I have written in my head but that I have not typed up yet. Some for me, some for John, some for Sev. I hope to get a lot of work done.

And I will see my dear relations, and my dear friend also.

If you live near Oceanside, or San Diego, let me know and maybe we can work out some way to meet! I will be in LA also, but it is only a day or so.

I feel strange, and I still cannot believe I really get to go. Really? Me?

Best wishes and warm thoughts to you all. I should be back online in a few days.

You may see it drawn HERE.

I am here. Still reading everything. I'm having a tough time at work - my job changed suddenly.
I've not been writing so much.
Here are some eggs.
lil!sevvie for severusbigbang is progressing at least. A successful craft project. He's developing personality.
Going to the magic convention soon, and California.
I will write a lot there.
I'm performing a 15 minute magic set at the picnic this Sunday.

Title: Loss
Character(s): Regulus Black, Narcissa Black
Pairing(s): Gen
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Challenge(s): Brothers and Sisters
Word count: 100
Author's notes: 1972.

Regulus had waited months. He visited his uncle’s home, where they sat uncomfortable in the drawing room nibbling insubstantial finger foods with elaborate politeness.

Finally, he was alone with cool blond elegant Narcissa, walking in the garden.

“How does it feel, cousin? What should I do?” His curly head lowered earnestly, his normally cheerful face serious and confidential. “What did you do, when your sister deserted the family?”

“There is nothing that we can do. They made their choices.”

“I miss my brother.”

Almost quiet as breath: “I miss my sister.” She took his ten year old hand, sadly, comforting.

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! And I will answer them all in a new post.

Severus was the big hit of the Magic Convention Cruise!
All the magicians were amazed and impressed with his levitation trick!

Watch it being drawn HERE!

I'm having computer problems with the heat, but Severus was counting on me to give him a proper holiday! How could I let him down? I'm giving him my holiday.

Come to mctabby's
The Sorting Cat's Birthday HP Drabblethon 5!

Despite my writer's block (no excuse for the paucity of writing, I know, alas, alack) I have signed up, excitedly, gleefully, joyously.

And so should YOU!

Hurrah!

(new icon. from the fair last weekend. red shirt day! note the enormous steam-punk goggles)

Rabastan

Rabastan stands by the open window, curtain drawn slightly to the side so he can peer out onto the street, lost in thought. Today they are going out to buy the plants that they had decided on, having poured over all the books and debated over what would be best for their garden. Though Rabastan has been outside whenever he has had the chance, the only person he has interacted with has been Severus. And seeing children running up and down the street, the occasional adult talking to another over hedges, and groups of teens walking up and down the block like small gangs, makes him a bit… apprehensive. He doesn’t like the thought of walking amongst people, about the inevitable brushes of shoulders or bumps into his person, and he somehow feels as if he is too weak to handle such indifferent interaction. Each will jar him to his bones, it feels, until they rattle them from their sockets and Rabastan will be left skeletal on the sidewalk. It doesn’t help that he is not allowed his wizarding robes, as shabby as they are, for they are going to a muggle market and undoubtedly he would stand out. But now he is even more aware of how thin he has become, the bones in his wrists jutting out like the end of a wand, and he can feel his ribs beneath his fingers when he breathes. And though the clothes fit as well as he could have hoped, they are alien. Strange. He walked a few curious paces around the room to see how they felt, and it was disjointed. The top and the bottom were separate entities, and it looks odd to be able to see his legs go through the motion of walking. Bellatrix would scoff, he knew, if she would see him dressed such, would narrow her dark eyes as if she could burn such offending garments off of him with her disdain alone. The old Rodolphus would have laughed, delighted at his no doubt clownish appearance. For a moment he is both sad that they are not here, disapproving and mocking, and glad that they are not. They are not the same people anymore, either. It would be hard, to know how they would react. Everything feels odd, surreal, as if Rabastan is not here. But where else would he be?

But, he reasons to himself as he lets the curtains fall closed, turning to head downstairs, that he has kept Severus waiting long enough. He is a convict yes, but not to muggles. He is nobody to them. The thought is as comforting as it is terrifying. He can be anyone now. He can be no one. It is all up to him. And for the moment, he wants to be a nobody. He feels as insubstantial as one, as foreign. Being here has already been therapeutic, he is excited to start a garden, he can safely say, but a trip to the market? What can he expect? But even prisoners have to be let out sometime, he supposes, or else they just wilt and die. And Rabastan has fought too long and hard to do the latter. So, nervously, ignoring the urge to fidget like a child in hand me down clothing, he descends the stairs, looking for Severus.

“I am ready.” He says when he finds his friend, even if the words are rather far from the truth.

You may watch it being drawn HERE!

Title: Severus Visits Paris Alone
Character(s): Severus
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None.
Challenge(s): snape100 #287: The Solar System: Mars
Word count: 100
Author's notes: April 5, 1794 Danton, Desmoulins et al were beheaded at the Place de la Révolution. Desmoulins had led the assault on the Bastille in 1789. You probably know, but just in case...

Usually, Severus takes vacation at school, which is home; or Spinners End, which is not. Easter, 1994 he crosses the channel to Paris - 200 years after another failed revolution.

He stands in the centre of the Champ de Mars, his black high-buttoned clothing appearing almost revolutionary. Marat perhaps, though he is the age the young adjutant - Desmoulins - died.

He stretches out his arms in shape of crucifixion, to feel some trace of surging idealism gone awry, ending in rivers of blood. He tries. The breeze touches his cheek, but no finger of the cold past.

His friends are in Azkaban.

When... we stormed through the wall - of the prison - they told us - would outlast us all.

Sign-ups open until June 30!

There is half a month left for sign ups, time enough to spread the word and invite your friends.

Sign ups are open for writers, artists/artisans and betas/cheerleaders.
This isn't a traditional big bang, we are open to almost anything. We want for our birthday boy to have a resounding bang of your creativity as a gift, no matter which genre or ship you prefer.

So, please read the Rules and our steadily growing FAQ, and sign up.

The sign up posts can be found here:

For fic: Writer sign up page

For art and crafts: Artist and artisan sign up page

For betas and cheerleaders: Beta and cheerleader sign up page

Though you may not have time or inclination to sign up to write, do artwork, or make something special, we enthusiastically welcome betas and cheerleaders!

by Arrogant Mage


"I'm not your imaginary friend," the brown-haired boy insisted.

"There's no such place as Midgard, or Flenceburg. The most famous wizard is not some woman named Lorenta, it's Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of my school. There's no such place as Valhalla except in mythology and folktales. And there is no way you can do the things you say you can do." Severus rattled off the list of his reasons, eyes shut tight against the once-welcome visitor. "I don't believe in you. I made you up when I was lonely, and I don't need you any more."

The brown-haired boy laughed. It was no longer a comforting sound. "You made up my name?"

"That's why it's such a preposterous name. Lezard Valeth. Like a fairy-tale name."

"You never had any use for fairy tales," said the brown-haired boy. "You were always too old for those stories, even when you were young. You and I are alike in that too. Those books are only good as quarries for what's true in them. The Deathly Hallows, for instance, hmm? The Philosopher's Stone? I'm still looking for the Philosopher's Stone, here in Midgard, and one day soon I'll find it, you know."

Severus resisted the temptation to plug his ears with his fingers. It would be childish, and the imaginary boy would laugh at him, if he did that. "Go away. I have a real life now. I'm going to have a patron, and be a potions master."

"I will be a greater patron than any old man your world can offer," the boy insisted. Boy, really, still; though he and Severus were both sixteen now -- Severus sixteen, anyway, and the other boy at least that old. "And I will have more wealth than any of them, too. Forget Slytherin; what other friends do you need? I can travel between dimensions already, and soon I'll be able to bring you back with me..."

"You're imaginary," Severus snapped. "Enough!"

The voice was silent for a moment, and behind screwed-shut eyelids Severus wondered if that had done the trick, banished the illusion. This time there was not even the laughter he'd grown half to love, half to dread.

Instead -- a weight tugged the pillow his head rested on, a soft clove-scented breath stirred his lank hair. Lips brushed Severus' ear.

"Can an imaginary friend do this?"

"Silent magic" (Severus, G, Word 100)
Title: Silent Magic
Character(s): Severus
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Challenge(s): Free-for-all: Coin
Word count: 100
Author's notes: None

Eileen had grudgingly handed him a pound note. "Beans and cigs. Mind you bring back every extra penny. I'll be counting."

But his pockets were torn. One hand for the tin, one for packet and change.

Tobias waited on the porch. "Where've you been, boy?"

Severus jogged jerkily, dropped the coin, watched it roll beneath the step. Sixpence. There it shone, beyond his fingertips. His eyes darted to Tobias, who forbade magic with violence.

Accio. Accio. Accio coin. Wandless, desperate, he willed. It rolled back to nudge his bare toe. He thanked the stars he had not yet started school.

Werewolves. I believe that Severus' antipathy to werewolves was due to something he believed to be Remus’ betrayal. Remus had never tormented him. That would have meant a great deal Severus, as a lonely teenager. There are two times we read about Severus following someone and spying on them for his own ends. One is Lily, in the playground, (which naturally implies more such incidents.) The other is his spying on the Marauders.

The books speak of him hiding in the bushes, watching Lily with hunger. He was not a predator, but despite everything, despite planning and cunning, he was something much more innocent. He wanted a friend.

I believe it was in the same spirit that he watched the marauders. It is true, he was amongst a gang of Slytherins, who nearly all turned out to be Death-Eaters, but they were Slytherin. They were the powerful rich old families, pure-blood, wanting for nothing. The demands put on the neglected boy we see on the train must have been enormous, and they would have had to be hidden, must be demonstrated immediately even as they were developing.

How lonely he must have been, would have been, even had Sirius, James and probably others, not tormented him while their followers jeered.

He would have noticed Remus with them, shabby and poor as himself, another boy who would have been an outcast. He would have seen the apology in Remus' eyes, the awkwardness, the inability to prevent his friends, the disinclination to participate. Intrigued, he would have watched, noticed the illnesses, the absences, perhaps scratches and minor wounds. In his mind he would have conjured sympathy in Remus - not pity, but possibility of understanding, fellow-feeling, even... even friendship.
( cut for 728 words )

There are many Severus'. And each Severus has his own canon. In that of my Severus, I have made certain choices. It is certainly due to the influence of my friend's story that I have taken these positions. Since it was written the Snape-shaped hole appeared. This delighted me.

Voldemort is the only other person in the books who is mentioned as flying, and when they learn of it everyone is amazed. He is in the habit of arbitrarily punishing and rewarding. Snape had killed Dumbledore, the only person who Voldemort feared. In my world, it is not only Headmastership of Hogwarts he is granted, and a seat at the Dark Lord's right hand, but the gift of flight.

It has been argued, when I mentioned this in the Voldemort writing, that the Dark Lord was not inclined to give or to share knowledge or skills. I think, however that he was capricious, and it pleased him to act with benevolence as well as cruelty. 'A Merciful Lord,' he said, and perhaps he wanted to prove himself a generous one also. He would want to bear positive attributes, to show himself that he was a wise and good leader of men. If he had been a hard and vicious man always, I do not think he would have gained power and followers from the high old families.

It is true, he punished his followers, either with immediate Crucio, as with Thorfinn, or with long-term elaborate harm such as turning Draco into a murderer in vengeance against Lucius. Nevertheless, I believe that the service Severus rendered him, of that he believed Severus rendered him, was significant enough to warrant significant reward.

In my canon, Severus is aware of what price he paid for his gift. He knows it is blood money or meant to be blood money. On the one hand, when he flies he thinks of Dumbledore, of killing him. On the other hand, flight is wonderful, and the physical feeling is free, the control and solitude - all are at once triumphant and peaceful even in the midst of war. It is a beautiful miracle. It is another tool in an array of personal tactics. It allows him to... escape, to literally rise above. Wonder and horror.

( cut for length and more prosaic details )

words: 1019
warnings: none

Title: Inertia
Character(s): Severus
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None. *edit: Exhausting, even Sisyphusian*
Challenge(s): snape100 #284 Random Word (the Third)
Word count: 100
Author's notes: My word was obviously 'inertia.'

Inertia was his enemy. Most followed its lead as if it were the pied piper. They whiled away their waking hours in sports rivalries or trading... paramours. Those working seriously tended to be still more firmly grasped by Severus' arch enemy, cramming themselves with rote and the obvious curriculum.

Severus mind was quicksilver. Rather than succumbing to secure relaxing absorption of coursework, he wrested usefulness from it, teased it, bent it, broke it, used it as a springboard for his aerial cartwheels of innovation.

To him inertia provided a touchstone. While he was challenging it, conquering it, he was justified.

You can watch it being painted brush-by-brush HERE

Sev has used his potions to make his special polishing materials for his precious beloved wand. And there he is, cradling itin his Slytherin-decorated room. In love.

Title: Motive for Metaphor
Character(s): Gellert, Albus
Pairing(s): Albus/Gellert
Rating: G
Warning(s): hint of dark ideas
Challenge(s): Motive for Metaphor by Wallace Stevens
Word count: 2x100
Author's notes: for lemondrop_party on LJ

This time was worth anything, in the best place in the wide world to be. Sleep was a waste. Gellert leaned, head on his elbow, arm stretched out, hand splayed in the air, index finger raised, curved as if suspended from the ceiling. His sleepy eyes smiled, intrigued, appreciative. Almost cheeky. His hair curled over the desk.

Albus sat opposite, smiling too, leaning forward, close, a slight crease of thought between his brows. He had not smiled in the beginning, responsibilities smothering him. Gellert wanted to embody promise - life. Albus was beautiful, richness of mind lighting even this sad house.



"We are beacons. Doesn't it waste... history, if we don't shine? Doesn't it waste us, to the world's sorrow, to leave it in darkness? We should illuminate it - not just for us - for our brethren; for those like us, not yet born; for those helpless ones, scrabbling in their dirt.

"We could instigate true glory forever - fulfilment of the potential of...everyone. And ours!

"Waiting to be, waiting to do, waiting... That is eternal February - almost aware, waking eternally, eyes half open. The pain of desolate winter is gone, but summer... summer never comes. My friend."

Gellert's voice mused, cajoling.

Title: For Scarring Left by Thoughts
Character(s): Severus, Draco, Albus, a misc. Gryffindor, and Goyle jr.
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Challenge(s): Cauldrons and Snitches
Word count: 100
Author's notes: Team Cauldron!

Severus had nurtured the Oblivious Unction long evenings, patiently brewing its components, adding precise variations. For Draco, it must be perfect. This night was the last, most delicate phase. He had skipped supper. Albus would understand. They wanted to save the boy what they could.

Some intrepid Gryffindor rapped on his door, telling tales again. Goyle had taken his sweets again. Entitled, he pushed on the door.

Severus risked a half-second glance from the creation in his cauldron to look for the flash of a shining white head, like his father's, his grandfather's. Not seeing it, he snarled.

"Get Out!"

"Oaths and Vows" (Severus Snape, G, 2x100)
Title: Oaths and Vows
Character(s): Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore,
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Challenge(s): Seal
Word count: 2x100
Author's notes: A series of two interconnected drabbles. X-posted.

His eyes emptied everything into those of his new merciful lord. Dumbledore. The bottomless void gaped, terrifying. He poured out loss, fear, selfishness, guilt, broken pride. His mind lay naked. He knelt, eyes red, face wet.

"A teacher? But... even with... How will they accept..." He thrust back his sleeve to reveal the yawning skull, the twisting snakes - seal of committed treason.

"Do not fear. You'll work for me. I'll make you Head of Slytherin."

Their hands clasped. Dumbledore's wand bound them in fire.

"Will you serve my Order; serve my school?"

"I will."

Red flame sealed his new commitment.

---

Still, the brand on his arm - his Dark Mark - itched with the lives of his jailed, mourning friends. No remorse, no terror, not even the death of his Dark Lord himself - and all Severus' hope - could remove this bond, still precious.

No one had left that Band of Brothers save by death. They were bound by awareness indelible, by soft-hearted ties none outside could guess, their oaths sealed by darkness.

This alone, he kept back, locked. After all, the Mark had been laid upon him when this man, now offering succour, had betrayed Severus and all his House. His family.

Title: Free Fall
Character(s): Severus, Dumbledore, The Dark Lord
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Challenge(s): slytherin100 prompt 40 Fly
Word count: 100
Author's notes: X-posted.

Air smoothes against Severus' cheeks. Free, he streaks or glides. He floats. There is no possibility of falling, no need to clutch tense fingers around an undignified broom handle, no reliance on steed or creature. He is under his own control, with the view of a god. Escape is possible. Solitary contemplation is his. Exhilaration. Peace.

The Dark Lord rewards his faithful.

But still, the old face, familiar and fatherly, haunts him, begging him, encouraging him with imperative. To murder. Then it crumples, devoid of humanity, over and over again.

This is his reward, his bounty, his blood money - flight.

Title: Polishing his Wand
Author: janus
Characters and Pairings: Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, ___ Nott
Rating: PG-13
Challenge #280: The Lusty Month of May.
Word Count: 100
Warnings: Suggestion of auto-stimulation
Notes: Still writing gen here... poor wee Sev.

In May the dormitory became restless with expectancy. Soft movements and muffled gasps kept the room alive. Waking early, Severus observed Nott's elbow moving rhythmically, his other arm steady, close to his body. The younger boy could not quite see. It was strange.

"What's he doing?" Severus asked as they dressed.

"He's polishing his wand." Lucius moved his head dismissively.

"But that seems a good idea."

Severus approached Filch for supplies - wax, oil, fine steel wool, soft cloth. Soon his own elbow was energetically pumping in the mornings. The wood of his wand became smooth as glass, reflecting even moonlight.

Title: Reputation
Quote: 2. Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do a thing. -Paul Theroux (1941 - )

Among young men born and trained to recognise and manipulate status, Severus was keenly aware how fragile a thing was reputation. He fed his carefully, exceeding all expectations, adopting every suggestion or task from Abraxas or his Dark Lord, stopping short only of servility - also disaster.

It was a reaction of near-paranoia. He was defensive, sensitive to any suspicion or slight.

The others had families and pride of place. He could not afford to fail anything, lest he find himself cast into a void of inactive purposelessness. He toiled, often sleeplessly, in the dungeons to bolster his right to work.

Severus thought effective masks should not conceal but reveal. Ideally they were faces themselves - visible, open, showing shadows of wariness and vulnerability, obfuscating more critical truth. Such masks would be accepted unquestioned.

These were not masks so much as threats. The smooth superior gold showed only eyes looking into those of their victims - eyes drunk on blood, violence and dark magic. No humanity of a lip caught between resolute teeth must show; no vulnerability of fine hair against a still-soft cheek.

Their natural skin and forms were neutralised, leaving only their soul-baring eyes naked to their Dark Lord.

I made banners! Click on them for the severusbigbang com!

Title: Perhaps You'll Make Your Real Friends

Severus incisively evaluated the new Death Eaters. Lucius, assuming his rightful place, was a young lord; Antonin a colleague; Bellatrix a dangerous fanatic; Regulus a prodigy; Mulciber, Avery and Nott fulfilled parental expectations. Some few, inbred, were soldiers to be led.

He found himself drawn to the younger LeStrange brother, who watched listening, thinking more than he said. His half-smile held a hint of weary knowingness. Severus felt himself judged, not with condemnation but curiosity.

He was intrigued, hungry to be known, to have a friend. Rabastan interested him in himself. Perhaps, after all, Severus could be a friend.

After other mourners had filed away, Severus returned to the sepulchre, moving across the grounds in the shadows. His superstitious fingers stroked the cold white marble above the body. The body, not the soul.

"Father." Not his father, but alone he permitted himself this. "You taught me. You made me. What will become of me now?"

He lay prostrate, cold close-cropped grass absorbing his tears. Severus never cried, but now shook silently, bereft.

"You kept me when there was nowhere else."

Narcissa found him, comforting hand at his shoulder. No one touched him. "Come. Abraxas would not have wanted this."

Severus had worried during the night, set wards to wake him if Rabastan had started or exhibited disturbance. They had not been triggered, but he himself had woken repeatedly, listening carefully, not wanting to interrupt him or embarrass him without need. Soft sounds of motion in the other bedroom, a creak in the parlour, on the stairs. Severus worried. But there was a part of him selfishly comforted too, glad of the company and fellow humanity in the house. He was pleased to wake and know that Rabastan was there, that he had not been kissed by dementors. He thought of potions, half-dreaming. Somehow, his friend must sleep too. His soul needed a healthy mind to heal. Perhaps after a whole day of good food and work he would be able.

Eventually morning came. Eggs. Bacon. Tomatoes. Beans. More of the new bread, toasted this time. Juice and milk. There had been a cup of potion too, Draught of Peace, and a small vial of Oblivious Unction for scarring left by thought. "It is medicine," he had explained. "It is not to rely on when you are well, but for now, I think it is necessary. There are no side-effects."

After breakfast, after they had cleaned the kitchen, with the day still morning-cool and the grass wet, he drew the curtain from the window to the garden. He had obscured it so for a surprise. A small surprise, but a place where Rabastan could become used to air and light, to the sky, to earth and green. It was ringed with a brick wall and a white gate stood at the far end, opening into a field, weeds grown long against the far side. A stone hut with a wooden roof was snugged against the wall for tools. It was empty, but scoured.

Severus had kept the garden clear, as tidy as everything in the small house. In his childhood it had been overgrown, though his father had sometimes sat baking in the sun in a singlet, throwing rocks at the rats that crept through the tangle of brambles. There was a small porch that had held Tobias' old wooden white chair with the broken slats. It now sat empty, because Severus had burnt it along with all the other memories. Now the garden was empty, simple grass. It was warded as thoroughly and as secretly as the rest of the home, secure. A gnome's face scowled through the gate at the dearth of useful vegetation, then disappeared.

The door stuck slightly, for the house was old and had shifted since it was built. Somehow he had never fixed this small thing. "Here," He told his friend, with the contained excitement of someone holding a gift, anticipating its acceptance and the pleasure it would bring. "We can do whatever you wish with it."

He let Rabastan precede him into the sun and open air. An aroma of earth and meadow entered from the field beyond. It had rained during the night.

Headmaster Dumbledore,
Dear Sir, may I please have permission to return to the school early? I find it impossible to work on my studies without the ability to experiment with my potion modifications. I will not give anyone any trouble. I just want to be able to sleep and work. Though I will need some food, I do not eat much. It is difficult to concentrate on my schoolwork and it is so important to study hard. My parents are unable to give consent at this time. Please, let me come home.

Yours sincerely, thanking you in advance,
Severus Snape.

* * * *

I found this and noticed I had written it but, alas, not posted it in a timely manner.

You may watch it being drawn HERE

Hiding out in the muggle school library, he noticed the book when he was very young. The Little Prince He was immediately attracted...

I love you.

You can view it as it was drawn HERE!

Seveus does not have affinity for many muggle things. Here is his radio from the story, and I have bought him an ipod.

In response to 00sevvie's response to my Severus and Voldemort post.
00sevvie is a brilliant name, by the way. I am all admiration.

I hope I've answered some of your questions. Again - its really too long for comments. And again, I ramble on and on and on... I love to talk about Snape.

( cut for 2500 words of rambles )
He is the perfect adjutant - capable, with nothing to lose and nothing to gain. To want - anything - is to be cheated, to lose. From Voldemort's point of view, love can turn to hate, belief can turn to a feeling of betrayal. Severus is useful. Usefulness does not fail. Usefulness is what he gains from Dumbledore, why he serves him as well, and there are the years of use teaching and perhaps spying on his young charges during the time in which Voldemort was vanquished. Usefulness is what he gains from Voldemort. That is why he is valued by Voldemort, because it is pure and it is hunger, even terror that he will fall into nothingness.

What joy, you ask? Memory. And the things he always loved. Spells, potions, Slytherin House, learning, understanding from wizards. The hope for a fleeting, momentary look or hand of approval, praise, trust. A striving for redemption through service, penance through work.

There was something that amazed everyone, a skill unprecedented that caused even Voldemort's enemies to exclaim in admiration. He was a brilliant wizard - the most advanced in decades. He really had power, and advanced magic. He had won awards at school, feared none but Dumbledore. His accomplishments were extraordinary. None of these elicits comment from his enemies, save one. Voldemort could fly.

There is no mention of anyone else flying unaided in the books. This was something remarkable, something he must have developed on his own. He was not a generous man; not one to instruct, to teach, to give; not one to take on protégés, to mentor or aid his followers or recruits. There is no mention of phalanxes of Deatheaters pursuing anyone freely through the air. Yet Voldemort taught Snape to fly.
( Cut for 900 words of wild justification of my own position, writing Snape and Voldemort )
But that did not happen. Voldemort took Snape under his almost literal wings, branded his arm, taught him, used him, valued him. Snape was, in my world, Voldemort's man as surely as he was Dumbledore's. Janus, I named him - the embodiment of contradictions, he who held good and evil, light and darkness, past and future, all simultaneously within himself. With sincerity.

I did not name Severus, of course. But I selected a journal name.

I started his journal on InsaneJournal. One of the things I wanted to explore was his membership in the Deatheaters and his membership in the Order. Based on conversations, he was loyal to both simultaneously. He was a spy, drawing small instincts from within himself, and not lying, but amplifying them to make them into truths while hiding other truths. He was a halfblood, violently torn between his muggle father and his wizard mother from early childhood. It seemed to fit so perfectly. Love and hate for nearly everything, nearly everyone. Longing and revulsion.

Janus then - embodiment of dichotomy. His birthday was coincidentally in January as well! The more I thought about it, the more this position seemed to represent every aspect of his life.

The name was, to my mind, perfect.

When I found a need to start a journal on LiveJournal, the name Janus was taken, not surprisingly. True Janus, I suggested to my friend, but she asked why I did not simply say it in Latin. We talk often of Latin. Thus: verus_janus. Besides, it rhymes and has a certain symmetry. I am still sorry it is not simply janus here, but there you have it.