Fan Pairings
This topic is dedicated to non-canon pairings and opinions on them, ranging from "I prefer this over canon" to "I hate this with every fiber of my being". Example:
- Snape/Lily: my favorite pairing, I prefer this over canon. I realize James/Lily has to happen for Harry Potter to exist, but that's irrelevant.
- James/Snape: absolutely disgusting to fetishize any bully/victim relationship. I hate this with the fire of one billion suns.
I feel the same way about Severus/Lily. They're my ultimate OTP. 😍😍😍
Also agree with you about Severus/James, though I'd extend that to all the Marauders. I just don't see him having a healthy relationship (or one that would make the least bit of sense) with any of them.
Beyond that… I have trouble shipping him with males in general. While I do enjoy slash pairings, including some in HP, I just don't see it with Severus. To me, everything about his character screams "heterosexual". The fact that his entire character/life story is shaped by his love for a woman certainly doesn't help. 😂
Now James/Sirius on the other hand… i completely buy (and have written about) them as a couple. They actually make way more sense to me than James/Lily… I personally believe they were the love of each other's lives.
Two other pairings that bother me: Draco/Harry and Draco/Hermione.
- Draco/Harry is almost the equivalent of James/Snape. It's not exactly a bully/victim relationship, as there's enough of a balance between their wins and losses against one another; these two are enemies almost from the very beginning in Diagon Alley.
- Draco/Hermione is fundamentally non-functional. Draco lives and breathes blood purity and actively despises Hermione, and Hermione is the living embodiment of everything he hates; this is in every scene in which they are present together. The bully/victim dynamic which I mentioned in James/Snape is present in this pairing as well, to a greater extent than with Draco/Harry. Just to emphasize how much this doesn't work, Draco has more chemistry with Moaning Myrtle than with Hermione.
I feel like this should be said before we go any further:
While I have strong preferences when it comes to ships, I absolutely support and respect those who feel differently. If anyone reading this loves Severus/James, Hermione/Draco, or any other pairing, please feel free to chime in. Even if it's one I personally dislike, I always enjoy hearing other people's perspectives/why they feel the way they do. Occasionally, I even change my mind about a pairing when it's presented to me the right way. That's certainly what happened with Severus/Hermione, a pairing that baffled me at first that I eventually grew to love. 💚
While I do read Draco/Hermione, it needs to be done right for it to work. The scenario should be AU enough for them to work and they ideally don't work in canon scenario.
Most of the Dramione fics, whitewash the character of Draco and bash Ron to make them work together.
A headcanon of mine is that Sirius had feelings for James, but that they were unrequited with James only having eyes for Lily.
As for my personal preferences, my favorite pairing is Severus/Lily. It started mostly as a "fuck you" to countless Jily (i.e. "what would piss off James the most?") fics where James acts like an outright creep unable to take no for an answer, and this was in James-positive fics... But since then I've liked the ship for its own sake.
Quote from FIQ on February 21, 2023, 2:01 amA headcanon of mine is that Sirius had feelings for James, but that they were unrequited with James only having eyes for Lily.
I could see that being the case
As for my personal preferences, my favorite pairing is Severus/Lily. It started mostly as a "fuck you" to countless Jily (i.e. "what would piss off James the most?") fics where James acts like an outright creep unable to take no for an answer, and this was in James-positive fics... But since then I've liked the ship for its own sake.
Just to clarify, you're saying that the James-positive fics portray him this way? Because that's, pardon my French, fucked.
You understood correctly. The fic called it romantic. I... disagreed.
I'm sorry, this was before May 2018. I didn't keep track of fic names back then, and I no longer read Jily fics at all. But 2 that come to mind was somewhat fluffy where Harry goes back in time to the Marauder-era. But it happened in other less fluffy Marauder-centric fics too. One fic had James "prank" Lily in 3rd year. Her explosive reaction gave James this reaction (paraphrasing): Man she's the most beautiful creature on Earth.
From that point he relentlessly pursued her until she basically couldn't avoid him because they were Head Boy and Head Girl and caved into his demands.
