#i'm also not a 'slytherin skittle' fan but it is also interesting how only evan's parents would've actually wanted even to be a death eater

[enbysiriusblack]

i'm not really a barty fan, but he's still very interesting to me (from how i see him)

like. him growing up with a very distant and abusive father and a very caring mother. him getting into ravenclaw house, the same house as his father, and getting scared he'll grow up to be just like him. and so he starts rebelling. he gets detentions, he gets angry at teachers telling him what to do, he gets angry at the fact he still loves learning and listening in class and reading and revising and getting good marks because it means his father will be happy and think he can still control him and is still on his way to being him. but he can't help himself- he loves learning too much. so instead he befriends slytherins, notably a rosier and a black, the kinda people his father despises and is publicly against. and his father talks about and works on getting higher up in the government with his anti-death eater agenda and so barty starts getting into the small wannabe death eater circle at school. and then he gets to go to his first meeting and he gets the mark and he gets to go on missions and his father can't stop him, can't control him anymore, and he doesn't even realise he's lost his son until barty's getting arrested.

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

#26 for any hogwarts professor 😁

Thanks for the ask, @evesaintyves!

Since 26 is a freebie question, I'll go with #8 and Severus Snape.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

All right, so laying out the cards right away: I am truly very neutral about Severus Snape. I don't hate him and I don't think he's an evil bag of evil. I also don't think he's the greatest character, though he is certainly one of the most interesting ones in the series.

I would say that what I hate that the fandom does with Snape is swing too far in either direction of worship or hatred. I think hatred is where I see a lot of people land, and though I'm not Snape's biggest fan, I don't think the hatred is necessary. Dislike, yes, but outright hatred and writing him to be an evil gargoyle stuffed with tons of evil little slugs that all poop evil, is just not right to me.

It also speaks volumes to me that Snape is not conventionally attractive by any means, and while he is hyper complex, I don't see people woobifying him or making him into a soft boy like they do with Regulus or Barty Crouch Jr. Or Evan Rosier. Or any of those "Slytherin Skittles." We have a truly grey character on our hands, and the best I see from a lot of the Marauders fandom is hatred and dismissal of him, in favor of conventionally attractive boys.

Anyway.

Snape is arguably one of the most interesting characters in the entire series. He's a dick, but he's got a clever and dry sense of humor. He's a potions genius, but he's not a kind man. He's not a fuzzy or cute character, but he plays a pivotal role and he plays it well.

I have compassion for Severus. He grew up poor alongside Lily, and then he got sorted into the worst possible house for his social situation. Not only was he a half-blood, but a poor one, so he would've had to work hard to get to the point of being socially accepted. Even then, he was never truly going to fit in because of his blood status and poverty. I'm confident he had a difficult time as a young Slytherin, who was BFFs with a Muggleborn, and that was made worse by the terrorizing Marauders.

No, Snape isn't innocent, either. Remus (a VERY flawed character, we all know) said Snape gave as good as he got. But remember how unreliable of a narrator Remus is - he's going to say and do whatever it takes to save face. Snape created some truly nasty spells and presumably used them. He called Lily a Mudblood, but to put that in context, it was after James put soap in his mouth, hung him upside down, and threatened to take his pants off. Pants = underpants, so that's even worse to expose someone like that in front of a crowd.

My issue with adult Snape is that he's a gigantic shithead at the kids. On the one hand, I totally get the need to be strict in an environment like the potions lab, where one mistake could literally melt people's faces off. On the other hand, it's extremely cruel to make fun of children and bully them. I'm sure he had lots of amusement from his own quips, which are legitimately funny sometimes, but it's still such a dick move to make fun of kids.

That doesn't make him evil. It just makes him human (and petty AF). I don't write him often because I don't feel I get his voice right, but when I have written him, I try to have some compassion, as well as some critique, because while Snape is not a bucket of sunshine and rainbows, he has a critical role and without it, Harry couldn't have succeeded.

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