"What if ... ?" scenarios
Quote from Dark Angel on August 14, 2023, 3:43 pmNow that I think of it... maybe that is why Severus is so sensitive to being called a coward.
Godric keeps telling him he's a coward whenever Snape tries to use his cunning than brute force and recklessly throwing himself into dangerous situations.
I could very well imagine that Godric does that, trying to get him to be more of a Gryffindor than a Slytherin.
But at the same time Godric does get pissed when someone else does call Sev a coward because he feels like he is meant with that too.
Avatar: The Last Gryffindor
What if Harry Potter had been sorted into Slytherin? How would that have affected Severus' treatment of the boy in your opinion?
Quote from Dark Angel on August 29, 2023, 9:59 amWhat if Harry Potter had been sorted into Slytherin? How would that have affected Severus' treatment of the boy in your opinion?
Severus wouldn't have treated Harry like Severitus or a mentor! Snape fics, that's for sure.
I think Severus's perception of Harry as James 2.0 would shatter upon his sorting to Slytherin; he might see Harry as his own individual, at least in a bare minimum capacity.
He would still get triggered by Harry's face, his antics, and his rule-breaking mentality.
He won't be bad to Harry publicly, like in canon, because he doesn't behave harshly against Slytherins in public settings, but he could possibly be a lot more strict to Harry and assign him more detentions in compensation for subtracting house points for any sign of James-like behavior.
Eventually, Harry and Severus won't love each other, but they'll respect each other. Severus would be a dependable adult teacher for him, and Harry wouldn't be a mirror image of James to Severus. He's a ward, and Severus looks out for his Slytherins despite his personal feelings on the matter.
Tldr: Severus won't show warmth to Harry but he won't be a dick either and they'd respect each other in professional capacity.
Quote from Dark Angel on August 29, 2023, 9:59 amWhat if Harry Potter had been sorted into Slytherin? How would that have affected Severus' treatment of the boy in your opinion?
I think that question's an entire list of what-ifs on its own since it will start a chain reaction, but I'll answer for the first few weeks when Harry wouldn't have been that influenced by his new potential friends and enemies.
I don't think Snape would've treated him any differently. That Harry was sorted into Gryffindor was only a small part of why Snape despised him so. He'd still make comments about his father and so on. He might not have taken those 2 points 😱 in his first class, but he wouldn't have awarded any either. I'm pretty sure there's not a single instance in the books where he awards points to Slytherin.
Harry's treatment was not Gryffindor's treatment, it was the treatment of James Potter's son specifically. So unless Harry managed to convince Snape he wasn't a copy of his father (which he might), he'd suffer all the same.
@kris very realistic take with it not going down the usual Severitus or Mentor Snape route (despite me devouring those fics) and I do agree with you on most points!
@salvyus it definitely needs seven years of what ifs.
So I do agree that just because Harry is sorted into Slytherin doesn't mean that Snape would welcome him with open arms but I do believe he'd suffer an initial shock. Snape's feud with the Marauders began on the Hogwarts train exactly because he and James had different House preferences, Mini-James with Lily's eyes being sorted into Slytherin would definitely be a surprise for everyone. Then, Snape would also panic internally because the boy who lived is sorted into the house of his parents' murderer and happens to be full of the offspring of said murderer's followers. How the hell is he supposed to keep the child safe? Given that he is so close to Harry, Voldemort would expect Snape to kidnap the kid and present him on a silver platter.
Snape would probably, over time, realize that Harry is not the spoiled brat that his father was but he would also not be cano Harry. I see him as making few friends and most of his house being wary of him or simply despising him. Snape wouldn't openly antagonize the child due to matters of house unity but I agree that he would heap detentions on the kid in private and put on a good show of hating the boy for the Junior Death Eaters.
So I do believe that the sorting into Slytherin may shatter Snape's initial opinion of Harry but his overall treatment wouldn't change because even if Snape overcomes his grudge, he'd still have a role to play.
I would like to think that after the occlumency lessons, Harry and Snape may start to undertsand and respect each other more, they would never be besties or develop a pseudo father-son relationship but it would be slightly better than the animosity they had in canon.
@darkangel Reading your post made me realize Harry's sorting into Gryffindor was a good outcome; sure, he got on the bad side of Severus, but he made good friends and got to experience some normalcy.
So unless he never gets on the bad side of Draco and Severus, which he'd always do, Gryffindor is the best place for him.
Well, most Slytherin Harry fics do not go down that route. They have him either become a mini Dark Lord in the making or he still manages to befriend more neutral Slytherins, his Gryffindor squad (Ron needs some time to come around but eventually he becomes a friend or is replaced by the twins) and sometimes he even manages to get some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws on his side. So in some fics, he's even better off because his Slytherin cunning allows him to forge more connections.
I presented what I see as the most realistic route rather than the most favorable. The neutral Slytherins would be too afraid to associate with him lest the junior Death Eaters start antagonizing them as well. Other students would be suspicious of Harry for being a Slytherin and may even start a rumor that he wants to be the next Dark Lord and the teachers who were fond of him exactly because he reminded them of his valiant parents, would now have trouble seeing him as James and Lily's legacy
So I thought about SWM and Harry looking into his pensieve. What if he saw something entirely different? The whole scene can be used for an interesting Severitus fic where Harry stumbles upon a very intimate memory of Snape with Lily and a later one where she tells Snape she is pregnant and he tells her to abort (in part, because he thinks she mad ethis up so she can manipulate him into leaving the Death Eaters). I imagine that in both memories Lily attempts to get Severus away from the Death Eaters but he insists on his chosen path. Once she loses all hope of getting back her old Sev, she is hellbent on keeping her child's father secret and rushes a relationship with James.
Severus shares the prophecy with Voldemort just like canon but only finds out that he's Harry's father after Lily's death. He chooses to not get involved in Harry's life until Harry pieces together the truth.
Some weird idea floating through my head.
And yes, I'm aware it's ooc.
I've always wondered what Harry would've seen if he'd kept watching after SWM. In the first Occlumency lesson Snape puts three memories into the pensive which, coincidentally or not, means the two memories you talked about would fit. I'm curious, though, do you have anything in mind for how Snape finds out he's the father?
As for the "what-if" aspect of this, I imagine Harry would still run off to Sirius for some sort of explanation and this would cause a lot of extra drama. Sounds like a fun fic idea
