Long-term Fanfiction Ideas
The Black Raven
(Initially set in Severus Snape's 5th/6th year)
Severus Snape realizes his best friend is never coming back after calling her a "mudblood". Feeling betrayed by his ambitions, the Half Blood Prince feels lost. One fateful night, Snape overhears his housemates plotting against Lily Evans. Feeling helpless to save his old friend, Severus unorthodoxly visits the headmaster. As Snape leaves his meeting, curiosity gets the best of him. In a complete shock, he hears the Sorting Hat belch "Ravenclaw". For the first time in Hogwarts history a student is Re-sorted. Eventual Snape x Lily.
Venomous Ink
After miraculously surviving Nagini's wrath, Severus Snape is stuck as the full-time Headmaster at Hogwarts. Severus decides to dedicate the D.A.D.A classroom to Albus Dumbledore, and his old potions classroom to Lily Evans (Potter). Left with a life of grief, Snape becomes a poet.
The Bird Bites
(Starts in Snape's 3rd year)
Severus Snape has had enough of his father's abuse. Against his mother's wishes, young Snape turns his father into an owl. Now living in a better home, Snape vows to become the greatest Potioneer ever.
Buckshot
(A few months after the Lake Incident)
James Potter having humiliated Severus Snape in front of the entire school, left the Half Blood Prince in tears. Snape grows chronically depressed and becomes hellbent on revenge. Severus notices that James is trying to charm "his" Lily into a relationship. Snape manipulates the sorting hat into Re-sorting him into Gryffindor. James can only watch as "Snivellus" wins back his best friend and becomes the golden boy of Gryffindor. Eventual Snape x Lily.
My Thoughts on Severus Snape:
- He essentially Raised himself
- He easily has the qualities to be a Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or a Gryffindor
- Snape is by far a better wizard than any of the Marauders
- Behind Harry Potter, Snape is the second most important character in the franchise
- Snape was a prodigy
I voted for The Bird Bites. I'd love to read a Gen fic where Snape does well without a predetermined pairing and resorting to other houses.
He easily has the qualities to be a Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or a Gryffindor
I personally believe he has the qualities to be in all four houses. Granted, Hufflepuff might not seem like an obvious choice, but their dominant quality is loyalty. Severus is loyal above all things, which is a huge motivating factor behind his bravery, his cunning, and to some extent, his pursuit of knowledge.
That said, I personally think the sorting system is bullshit. Human beings are way too complicated to be sorted into one of four categories, especially when they're that young and don't even have fully developed personalities yet. We saw in canon that some students (including Harry himself) get to select their own houses, and there are situations where a person's house doesn't fit them at all (e.g Peter Pettigrew ).
I think it's a bit of a "chicken vs egg" situation. In other words, do students get sorted into Slytherin because they have Slytherin tendencies, or do they develop those tendencies because they were sorted into Slytherin? I'd be more inclined to believe the latter, especially when you factor in outside expectations/peer pressure.
Point is, I think you can sort Severus into any house and make it plausible, even Hufflepuff. I also find it fascinating that such a silly, unnecessary, and divisive system can have such a profound impact on the course of someone's life. Seriously, can you imagine how different things would've been if Severus had been sorted into Hufflepuff? Crazy to think about..
Bird bites cause it starts with him in 3rd year without his wreck of a home life. The changes should be profound and could lead up to something interesting. While Buckshot and Black Raven sound fairly interesting (Black Raven more so), I feel like it would focus too much on the pairing.
Although with Bird Bites, one might ask where is the obstacle that stands in his way after he has turned his father into an owl?
