Brainstorming, Plot Ideas, and Story Help
Bellatrix acting antagonist to a young Snape would be canon complaint. Bellatrix showed jealousy towards Snape for having Voldemort's confidence and kept doubting his credibility in HBP. So a young Bellatrix, who's in love with Voldemort, having his attention towards a young half blood with potential can definitely make her antagonise him out of jealousy.
This idea is based on the upcoming TV series. It assumes that a.) Paapa Essiedu will be cast as Snape, and b.) the series will be canceled at some point. Also, it would be a bit of a crackfic, though (hopefully) in a good way.
THE PREMISE
Snape gets a look at Harry the summer before first year starts and decides he's not ready to deal with this shit. He gets the idea to pawn the job off on someone else, at least temporarily, assuming not much will happen during Harry's first year anyway.
Enter "Paapa Snape", who will henceforth be referred to as PS.
Snape knows PS isn't the ideal choice as far as appearance goes, but he's unknown in British wizarding society and also happens to be magically gifted. He obliviates PS, essentially reprogramming him with his own memories, tendencies, personality, etc.
So how does PS justify the drastic change in his appearance? He doesn't, which is sort of the punchline. I might have him attend a meeting (aka trial run) with Dumbledore before school starts, and when Dumbledore asks, PS will just say that he "doesn't want to talk about it". I mean, this is the magical world. I'm sure he wouldn't have been the first or the last to try and improve his appearance with unexpected results.
Side note: Snape would also be an Animagus in this story. More specifically, a bat.
His initial plan is just to have PS cover for him temporarily, though he quickly realizes that he doesn't really need to step back in. PS says and does exactly what real Snape would in any given situation, up to and including keeping Harry safe. He finds it easy to keep coming up with excuses not to switch back, knowing he can trust someone who's essentially a carbon copy of himself.
At that point, Snape decides to travel. It's something he's never gotten to do before because he felt like he had to be in close proximity at all times. He travels all over the world, has adventures, and gradually begins to heal. It turns out that once he's away from all the things that trigger his grief, it's much easier to recover and live a (somewhat) normal life.
Most of the story would be about his adventures, aka what the real Snape is up to when PS is on screen. I could even make it a "choose your own adventure" sort of thing where readers (assuming I have any lol) could help decide where he goes and what he does next.
CANCELLATION
If/when the show is canceled, I'd have that coincide with Snape getting his hands on some sort of time traveling device. This could have one of several outcomes:
He tries to go back and fix his mistakes (i.e. SWM, joining Voldemort), but it backfires and he finds himself in the Great Hall as Harry is being sorted. He's been returned to the canonical version of his story, almost as if PS never existed at all.
I could leave it there. If the whole point is to explain PS's existence while keeping book Snape as a character, it works. I mean, he does all this crazy shit just to wind up in the exact same place? People would hate me, I'm sure, but it is kind of funny. 😄
In that version, Snape's experiences throughout the story would effectively be erased. He'd revert to the normal version of his character at the start of Harry's first year. But... it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. If the story was going well and I wanted to continue, I could write a version where he retains his memories. That could be helpful when it came to dealing with things that hadn't happened yet, and the distance/healing could have an impact as well. I don't know if I'd go that route, but if I did, there would be potential to tell a very different story about Harry's time at Hogwarts and his interactions with Snape.
Beyond that...
I guess I could have him go back to other points in time, but that would probably result in me telling another version of his and Lily's story. I'm not opposed to that, obviously, but I don't think it's needed given the premise of this one.
Thoughts? It's just a silly idea, at least for now, but I'm sure it would be fun to explore.
I need this in my life
Its good fix for us Snape fans, and would keep us in hypothetical series while keeping your adventuring Snape in mind.
