Severus Snape

Worth Dying For

2009-11-27T07:03:14Z

Title: Worth Dying For
Author: janus
Characters: Severus, Abraxas, Lucius
Rating: G
Word Count: 200
Warnings: dark thoughts, war, violence

It was war.

Severus fought and killed, and so he died a little, inside, as happens in war.

His side had the dreams. Was it always that the offensive side was the one with the dreams? Those on the defence dreamt only of peace, an end to fighting.

Perhaps Abraxas had asked or arranged it - his squire and his son - but Severus was always paired with Lucius on missions for their Dark Lord. Lucius, for all his concrete sublimity, dreamt stronger than anyone, as if his dreams were a certainty, a formula, that only needed time and this constant duty of violence to reach inevitable fulfillment. His future was assured.

Severus' own dreams were more aethereal. He dreamt of a chance, pride, a life, straining to the stars of possibility, or... beyond mere stars. He pictured a straight burning phosphorescent line into endless space, trailing an arrow of greatness. He pictured the arrow shot from his soul, his hand, his ingenuity.

This shone for him, illuminating Abaxas' and Lucius' perfect alabaster world of purity and right by magic.

Magic, freed and all-triumphant, was everything. It was worth fighting for. It was worth killing for. It was worth dying for.

Sorting Cat Drabbles

2009-11-25T06:20:01Z

TUPPERWARE??!!!
Author: janus
Recipient: wyomingnot
Prompt: Snape/anyone. timing. temerity. Tupperware.
Word count: 100
Rating: none

Severus bent, frowning, to the first years' scrolls. None of them read their books beforehand. None. He blinked. Two stood out, written cheekily in rainbow-coloured ink. Fred and George Weasley.

Someone knocked. "Enter."

"Excuse me, sir. My father discovered these containers. They have snap-down lids to keep food fresh. You could use them for your potion ingredients, sir. To preserve them. Look - different colours!"

"You have the temerity to disturb me with this muggle rubbish? Plastic? PLASTIC? Do you have any idea how that would taint even the simplest material? GET OUT!"

Percy's timing could not have been worse.

Recruitment Strategies
Author: purplefluffycat
Recipient: verus_janus
Prompt: A cheery merry Gellert breaks out of Nurmengard in '79 luring Snape and Abraxas to his cause.
Word count: 108
Rating: Um, PG-13 for implications, perhaps?

**************************************************************************

The manor's drawing room was dark and foreboding; it's crackling fireplace barely emitted warmth. No, to Severus, the only source of light was the stranger lounging in the wingbacked chair - golden curls a halo, smile a crescent moon.

“A little more wine, Abraxas? I have so missed it.”

Their host poured graciously. “I do hope you'll stay with us awhile, Herr Grindelwald. It is indeed a privilege to welcome Prussia's future ruler.”

The stranger chuckled. Glancing at Severus: “The dark haired boy is a delight. And I hear that your son is equally lovely. May I?”

Abraxas smiled, home and dry. “Please do.”

snape100 challenge: Wikipedia: "Honi soit qui mal y pense"

2009-11-25T05:13:39Z

Title: Shame
Author: janus
Characters: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall
Rating: G
Challenge: Written for snape100's prompt #309: "Honi soit qui mal y pense" "Let him who thinks ill there be shamed."
Word Count: 200
Warnings: None

"Don't call me Coward!" he had cried, propelling fury, pain and desperation from him with the explosive power of sheer feeling required for a Patronus.

After he had betrayed his soul, his honour and any fine feeling for himself he had ever wanted to possess, this was the one thing he had left: He was not a coward.

At breakfast he read The Daily Prophet, but also The Times to gage Wizarding effects on the Muggle world. The standard caught his eye, and he deciphered its words of old French via Latin. "Let him who thinks ill there be shamed."

That would teach them, if they read it. He remembered the garter story from his first, Muggle school. McGonagall ought to be ashamed of thinking poorly of him after everything she should have seen and deduced.

But he thought ill of himself also, he realised. So much he had done sickened him. If he heeded the motto, he could be ashamed for judging himself so. If he did not heed it, he could condemn himself without shame. He lifted the corners of his mouth bitterly, appreciating the irony.

He vanished the newspaper and turned back to far more damning concerns.

You Could Have Knocked Me Over with a Feather (for 00sevvie)

2009-11-17T21:17:50Z

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.

It was September. Summer had lost its shine and, looking out the window, one's mind turned naturally to dread of approaching winter. Severus turned back into the room.

There was solace for his thoughts of coming bleakness. He carefully pressed on his pillow, drawing out a feather of down when its tail pricked the cover. It would provide excuse.

Pinching it, he hurried to the hospital wing, pausing before the door. He vigourously dusted the underside of his distinguished and generously-sized nose. He knocked, then tickled himself again.

"A-A-A-Tish-Ooooo," he sneezed.

The door opened. Poppy saw the feather and barely managed to hold in her laugh. "I have something to cure your ailments. Come inside at once."

He obeyed, bemused and sheepish, but after he entered and she firmly shut the door, she turned and raised her hands to bring his face down into her restorative kiss. "Is that better?"

Whisked from Death (Saturday Night Drabbles)

2009-11-16T22:01:05Z

Title: Whisked 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

It was his cousin's spell that had thrown him through the veil. He tried to pull away, to wander into the new strange dream-world, as blank-faced and impelled as the other souls. Bellatrix moved about the true world, but something in her wand left him pressed up against veil's boundary. It was a long, timeless existence, waiting to be dead, not permitted to be alive.

Power then. One day there was a surge, and he felt himself thrown from the veil, but still controlled, as if he were a puppet whisked suddenly from its box into a velvet theatre. No, not velvet. Everything was dust-coloured. He faced a backdrop of books. No. He spun and saw: there a distinct black, there a rich emerald, there an angry red. Clothing.

The world resolved into focus, but he had no idea where he was. Bellatrix was unfolding another powerful spell, and some miscalculation had dragged him from death. Just in the nick of time, apparently. Snape and Narcissa were... what? Pledging troth? Enacting some stupid Death Eater rite? He flung himself at the clasped hands. "Traitor!" he spit. "Traitor! I'll stop you! I will!"

Fire leapt from Bellatrix's wand just as he spoke, wrapping his hands and arms together with Snape's and Narcissa's. It was red hot, binding, burning - barbed wire infused with Dark Magic. Everyone was nonplussed. The silence rang. He had spoken with Snape, at the same time. "I will."

"Jinx!" He almost wanted to cry, but that was ridiculously childish. The one who spoke next would take a vicious punch in the arm.

"Really?" Snape lifted a brow. "So... you will take on Draco's task if he fails, and are bound to protect him to death."

That was how Sirius Black came to kill Albus Dumbledore.

Author's Note: Kindly beta'd by astopperindeath.
Saturday Night Prompt from ApollinaV: Sirius didn’t die. The curtained portal propelled him forward in time. He reappears at a very inopportune moment of your choice. Bonus points for extra awkwardness.

Black (Halloween Silly Drabble)

2009-11-16T16:46:53Z

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

You have to come. As Head of House, it is your responsibility to chaperone. You know that. And you must wear a costume. Come, Severus. What will you wear?"

Snape frowned and pinched his lips together.

"Tell me."

"I will give you a hint, if I must. Black."

Black. Severus always wore black. His greasy hair was black, his eyes were black. Did he own a garment in any other colour, except his old Slytherin scarf? Ah, but there were other Blacks. The dead Death Eater, the prisoner - both servants of his former master. He could picture the room emptying in panic at Severus' entrance as the Dementor-kissed husk, or in the mask and cloak that had sent terror into the children's parents' souls, so indelible it had perhaps been bred into the children. Dumbledore frowned. "Tell me."

"It is not something anyone would expect me to dare to wear."

Dumbledore monitored the situation in his own way, ready to step in.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open to the dance, and there at the head-table, an unexpected sight greeted the students.

Severus sat in his place, but instead of the fine wool, the silk, the linen, there was fur. True, it was bedraggled slick black fur, but it covered him completely. His frame was still lank and thin; his nose still jutted. His eyes were still black; his mouth had its small twitch of superiority and irony.

He was an underfed, long-limbed, baleful rabbit, with stringy ears laid back, almost flat. Within their protected inner surface and within his curled palms was vulnerable thin skin, pink with veins. The students recoiled.

Prompt from debjunk: Severus' Halloween costume is so surprising that no one recognizes him. What is he?
They recognised him, but he had a costume, and it was surprising!

Medicinal Cocoa

2009-11-16T16:38:05Z

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

"Professor Snape! What are you doing, crouched there in the snow?" Poppy was surprised - she had almost fallen over him. She pinched her lips together sternly. He was shivering, and had clearly been out some time without a proper coat."

He started as well as her shadow passed over him and the area on which he was concentrating so intently. "I needed some snow-lichen for the Florid Fever potion before the Hospital Wing overflows with wretched, wailing children. I've walked half a mile, and look! Here it is, attached to the edge of this stone staircase." His voice was apologetic, something it only became for her.

The lichen fairly glowed, brilliant, fiery orange-red against the white snow.

She watched as he carefully scraped it off into one of his vials.

"Now, please join me in the warmth of my office. I will make you some hot cocoa. Do not protest. I insist. It is medicinal." But she smiled fondly.

"Thank you, my dear." He rose and gestured, ushering her politely up the stairs before him, again admiring the clean crispness of her nurse's cap. "I know how to take my medicine."

"I have some sugar-cakes as well..."

Prompt from 00sevvie, as this is one of her favourite pairings: Poppy Pomfrey/Severus Snape, and use two or more of these: staircase, surprise, snow, shadow, warmth, "my dear."

Thank you to peppermint for the beta.

Before the Rain

2009-11-16T06:52:53Z

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?"

Where They Come

2009-11-16T06:41:48Z

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!

A Prince's Papers

2009-11-16T05:50:37Z

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.

Severus was proud. He was on a mission for the Dark Lord, all by himself, and it was a mission only he could perform. He carried the green scroll bag carefully, very conscious of it over his shoulder, very conscious of its soft dragon-hide and the papers it protected. He moved carefully lest he bend them.

The small cafe was quiet and elegant. He took a seat in a corner, away from the windows, as he had been instructed. He ordered tea, with milk and sugar.

"So, a Prince, are you? Let me see." The man looking down at him was immensely tall and thin with fine clothes and a finer distinguished nose.

Severus stood, remembering his best Malfoy-taught manners. "Yes, sir."

He laid the papers before the man, who brought out a gilded deck of wizard playing cards. Some of the symbols he had pored over matched them, and Severus diligently and exactly wrote down the co-ordinates of the cards from which their permutations arose. The man copied Severus' papers in a neat hand.

He wondered about the man, but knew better than to ask. It was his to exchange only - the information Voldemort had from his family for the design of the man's enigmatic cards. There was always danger, but some small almost-buried part of him wanted to ask as a child would, "Are you my grandfather? My great uncle?"

He was too disciplined, and was not offered so much as the man's name.

Taken to Me

2009-11-16T05:36:36Z

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.

They stood at the window, looking down at the grounds and their sons below. One was missing, and the other two were practising Quidditch moves. The elder threw the snitch for the younger and it flashed in the sun as it disappeared, a winking beautiful golden spark. The smaller boy was slight and quick with dark curly hair, his face a concentrated little frown until he saw the flash he sought. His smile broke then, naturally open and excited and he darted after it, determined, enjoying himself, a little proud but still fluid. The elder boy was almost a man, and he stood cool but also smiling. His hair was long, perfect, silver-white and even at sport he moved with languor and dignity. He offered useful points of flying advice, applauding gladly when the younger boy seized the snitch and turned to show him, triumphant.

"Everyone loves Regulus," Walburga said. It was true. Lucius was enjoying himself even though he was almost twice his age.

A motion by the gate and the missing boy appeared, slouching and swatting at the bushes with his new wand, bored, resentful, his sweater a contrasting red to the cool green of Abraxas' garden.

Walburga sighed. "Impossible traitor. I fully expect I will be sooner or later obliged to take him from the family tree. Like my niece, Andromeda. Married a Muggle! A Muggle, I tell you! But I ask a boon, for our long association and for our mutual interests. Save Regulus; take him under your wing, arrange his friendships, his associations. I know you retain a hand in the school. I would send him to Durmstrang, but the students there are so foreign."

Below, Regulus' head nodded, still smiling, as he listened to Lucius' advice and looked for his approval as he changed his hold on the broomstick and adjusted its angle between his legs.

"Please." Walburga never said 'please.'

"I have taken on a protégé already. Lucius brought him to me. A Prince. He is eager, but his family has disowned his mother." Abraxas tapped on the glass as Walburga's face fell and her lips began to pinch. He watched as Lucius, below, gestured towards the house and Regulus looked up, waving, brandishing the snitch happily. Raising his hand in reply and smiling in return, he knew what Regulus would need to win him, to hold him. Warmth, affection. The things his mother did not give. "This boy will ensure Regulus makes the right friends. I hear your other son fell in with a bad lot on the first day."

His companion's face cleared. "Thank you. I will leave him to your tender mercies."

Abraxas met the Blacks at the entrance to Diagon Alley, with Lucius and a recently appropriated boy with lank black hair. He was just in time, for Walburga's older son was just transforming from a sullen foot-dragging boy into a straighter young man, tossing his hair back from his face as he espied a shabby tawny-haired boy and a finely-dressed dark one in spectacles, both smiling.

"Regulus, these are my friends. Let's go with them..."

Abraxas moved forward to shake Regulus' hand and to ruffle his hair fondly. "We've come to see you are properly prepared for your first year at school. Lucius would like to present you with a broom—to further your Quidditch pursuits."

The older boy moved off with a slight sneer at them all, but particularly at the young waiting black-haired boy at Abraxas' side. "This is Severus. He will acquaint you with your House and the school. He will be your first friend at Hogwarts, as Lucius has left. If you want for anything, please, simply let me know."

He received Regulus' warm up-turned smile and his smooth cool hand placed Regulus' small firm one into Severus' bony dry one. He noted the contrasts marking the differences between them. Lucius smiled beside him as Walburga stood behind Regulus. It was almost a tableau, and one that effectively excluded the House traitor.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, sir. Pleased to meet you, Severus." They were the same height, though Regulus was slender where Severus was skinny. Regulus bent politely over his clasped hand, then released it with perfect manners. His look at Severus was curious and friendly, far from his brother's scorn.

"Perhaps I will kidnap him for a couple of hours if I may, Walburga, allow them to become acquainted?"

He bought them sweets and conducted them to the Quidditch store where Lucius and Regulus weighed the merits of various brooms. The Lestrange brothers were at Fortescue's, the younger a particular friend of Severus', and they were introduced. Abraxas bought them all ice-cream.

"Of course you will be in Slytherin," They all reassured him confidently. "It's really the only House, if you want to be a great wizard. Don't worry, if you want to be in Slytherin, if you fit in, you won't be sorted otherwise. That's a nice broom, are you good at Quidditch?"

He watched the boy's gaze noting the shyly private laced fingers of Severus and the younger Lestrange, greeting one another after the holidays. It then moved up to Abraxas' own eyes, asking.

Deliberately mistaking the question, he smiled, nodded and twined Regulus' fingers in his. Receiving answering happiness and the boy drawing closer, he inwardly smiled also. So innocent.

The boy was getting his start, and Severus had his instructions.

In the staff box above the school Quidditch pitch, Abraxas tightened his cloak against the chill. He looked down again at the Slytherin section, his presence as always more an act of favour than interest in the children's games. Severus knew, and looked up to watch him, as he would also have preferred the workroom or library. It was important for Regulus to see them. Abraxas allowed Severus to meet his gaze. Just then he saw Rabastan touch the boy's sleeve and point, more graceful and aware of the crowd. As Severus followed his gesture, Abraxas did as well.

Regulus, having spied the snitch, careened left as a black-haired Gryffindor hurtled at him head on. His broom wavered, but Lucius had chosen well for him, and it brought him around almost in a pirouette, as the other boy abruptly turned upwards into a sharp vertical climb. Regulus reached out his arm and let the snitch fly into his open hand. Everyone was standing. Even Severus was smiling and cheering for once. Slytherin. Abraxas amplified his slow clap, his eyes on Regulus, who searched out his form from his and Lucius' white-lit heads in the stands. A wave, and Abraxas raised his arm in return, gathering his robes to descend to the fields in congratulations.

It was to Abraxas that the boys carried their seeker, Slughorn a distant second, huffing a little at the exertion of hurrying down the stairs. All the children of the Dark Lord, he thought. Rosier, Mulciber, Avery, Nott, the elder Lestrange boy, and coming from the sidelines, Severus and Rabastan. On their shoulders rode Regulus, triumphant, proud, excited, tending to be modestly shy at the attention. He was not just one of them, he was the best: clear-eyed, happy, a champion. He took of his leather helmet, revealing his dark curls, clipped neatly at his neck and around his ears. It was at Abraxas he waved, though, who smiled back, regal—if not their king, their regent.

Ah, between them, he and Severus had been successful.

When they reached him, he moved the boy from their shoulders to his own with an extension of his wand. Regulus was light as cork and stretched his arms out for balance and victory. But as they neared the castle Abraxas felt a hand in his hair, gentle, tentative, and a palm against his cheek, fingertips scarcely touching his jaw-line.

"Everyone loves Regulus," He heard from behind him, one boy explaining to another, or perhaps to him. It was true, but it was he who Regulus loved.

Sixteen. Regulus leant against him. He had not cried, sworn, shouted. Adjustment had appeared almost instantaneous. There was only the caught breath and occasional shudder with a wave of intensified pain, a wave of strengthened contact with the others. He was the youngest and quietest to have ever received the Mark.

Abraxas met the hazel-gold eyes, slightly unfocussed but looking for him. He held them, reassuring. His arm was about the boy, a young man now, the thin body hot against his, occasionally vibrating. "Well done," he said gently. "Well done."

"I can feel them all... you all... us... Him..."

Abraxas knew the urge to tear at the creepy alien presence within the freshly blackened skin, still leaking dark blood, redolent with magic. Through his own, older Mark, he could feel the boy as well now, the sense of his heart added to those of the older members, a tie that bound them together and to the Dark Lord. Regulus was giving no sign, apart from the restless tension. Again he admired him. Others had tried to rip apart the new wounds, scrabbling and swearing ineffectively at their own flesh. "You will soon become accustomed to it—that feeling. You will never be alone now."

Gradually the boy relaxed, and Abraxas lifted him for the last time in his arms, head cradled in the hollow of his shoulder. Sixteen, a man, though the wizarding world would not recognise it for another year. "Come to bed, now. Marked, you will know me, body, heart and mind."

A soft answer. "I've waited." And his faithful house-elf, unusually stroking Regulus' other hand, faded obediently.

The next year it would be Severus, Rabastan, the Rosier boy and the others. He had wanted Regulus to be first of them, after his own son, though he was youngest.

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

Dark Prince Rising

2009-11-16T04:14:47Z

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.

Contrast

2009-11-15T18:26:32Z

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

Lucius had been turning as he had slit the man's throat, scribing a silver arc of steel at the end. The blood had thrown a delineated wash across the front of his coat, and now it was dripping down in combed streams of red on dark grey, almost as if it had been arranged to do so with deliberate care.

He had cast the Morsmordre above the house while Severus had been arranging the body. The village had been quiet but not deserted. Perhaps the man had thought that might serve to protect him, but carrying names in a chain of information only ensured that more of the bearers would die.

Lucius’ lip curled. Stupidity. And there was Severus, his cuffs and dark clothes smeared rust. Lucius held the silver portkey – a real key this time – out to the other man, avoiding the stained fingers.

Severus’ hair was wet at the back of his neck, dampening his collar as he waited for Lucius. When they had arrived at the manor, Lucius had asked him to bathe at once. Pure in everything, he never liked anything to mar his immaculate home, even in the short time before the house-elves could correct each imperceptible hint of disorder or speck of the unclean. When Severus emerged from the bath his clothes had been lying spotless, folded or neatly hung, and he had donned them once again, closely buttoned head to toe, showing no trace of the ended life.

Severus moved around restlessly, waiting for Lucius. Inactive, his mind replayed portions of the afternoon, almost superimposed on the Malfoy sitting room. He remembered the man’s eyes, each time the Cruciatis had been lifted, looking up more and more wildly into his own eyes as Severus had cradled his head, forcing his jaw tight to prevent the screams. The man's eyes had still looked up at him in this way when his teeth had shattered at Severus’ hands.

It was a technique – letting victims consciously or subconsciously realise the Death Eaters had no fear or weakness; had no need even to set protective spells. Prudence was enforced with brutal hands. At first the man had asked him aloud, then only his eyes had pleaded for mercy.

Severus knew what it was like. He had felt the curse himself, simply in pure pain at whim of the Dark Lord. He himself had been without the option of unburdening himself to end the literal excruciation. He knew and felt the Dark spell arcing through the man as he held him. Eventually, of course, spitting blood and broken porcelain, the man had told them what they had asked. The man’s endurance had been strong. He had held on to hope of life somehow, irrationally yet instinctively, through that agony they inflicted. It had been for nothing but Lucius’ knife.

When they arrived he had offered them tea, hoping perhaps to convince them to spare him. Masked, they had not accepted it, and his matching teacups lay smashed on his hearth, near his now-smashed head.

Lucius came from the bath, smelling of subtle cool lilac, dressed in embroidered white silk lounge-wear and robes that curved, flowing around him when he moved rather than folding. His hair was dry and curled, tied back with a ribbon. “A drink before you go? Whiskey?”

“Please.”

For himself he opened and poured a chill white wine from a newly-developed grape. Its overtones were dry and slightly floral. When he turned back Severus’ whiskey was gone. Lucius shook his head slightly. He was still lacking nonchalance, after all this time. “I had meant to toast success.”

Severus idly took a photo of Draco from the white-painted mantel, formal but laughing. The boy was displaying a new ring that caught the light of some past day in the sun. Severus looked at him, spoiled yet proud of such a small thing. He brushed his fingertips over it. He thought of Draco’s grandfather, Severus' own patron. He thought of Draco as he might be years from now, holding a knife dripping red as Lucius’ had been today. He thought of Lucius himself, treating the boy as matter-of-factly as he did Severus.

Long elegant fingers plucked the little portrait from his hand and replaced it on the mantel.

“My son.”

Free Severus Snape Icons to Good Homes!

2009-11-15T00:30:49Z

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.

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Created with angelamaria's Icon Table Generator @ Bauble

Guess the books!

2009-11-09T02:58:31Z

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?

Vacation! Really? No, really! What? It's true!

2009-09-21T05:40:02Z

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.

Severus' Pet - August Snape Art Contest

2009-09-06T07:04:09Z

You may see it drawn HERE.

janus @ 2009-08-27T18:58:00

2009-08-28T02:07:47Z

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.

Loss (Regulus Black, Narcissa Black/Gen, G, 100)

2009-08-12T03:45:51Z

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.

meme! from rm and delphi

2009-08-10T04:34:29Z

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 on Holiday - July Snape Art Contest

2009-08-01T20:04:06Z

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.

Fun Times!

2009-07-24T21:14:51Z

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 and Severus Take an Excursion

2009-07-01T05:05:16Z

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.

Alternative Career - June Snape Art Contest

2009-06-27T22:24:52Z

You may watch it being drawn HERE!

snape100 challenge #287: The Solar System: Mars

2009-06-26T20:43:07Z

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.