Snape makes the first move

[resonant]

There are a lot of HP stories where Harry gets up from the table at the Leaving Feast and blows off a chance of the party of the decade in order to go down to the dungeon, shout, "I'm not your student any more," and fling himself at Snape.

Sometimes Snape is expecting this, and sometimes he's as shocked as Warner Bros.' lawyers. Sometimes he accepts Harry's offer, and sometimes he nobly sends him away to get old enough to be interesting gain Useful Experience and Perspective so that he can Make An Informed Relationship Decision.

What I want to know is, why is it always Harry who makes the first move?

Because, really, can't you see it the other way around? After the Leaving Feast, Snape comes up to the Gryffindor common room and sends everybody scattering, and he talks for a while to Harry in private and then sweeps away, and the rest of the Gryfs come cautiously back in:

"What'd Snape want, Harry?"

"Probably wanted one last chance to assign him a detention."

"Er, Harry? I really think it's not terribly healthy to be casting Scouring Charms at your lips ..."

And then Harry goes off into the world to get old enough to be interesting gain Useful Experience and Perspective and Enough Distance To Become Intrigued.

But meanwhile, Snape's despairing of Harry's ever changing his mind, since Harry didn't say "No thank you" or "I'm flattered, but" or "It's not you, it's me" -- he said "Wha -- aaaaagh -- no, no, no, make it stop, make it stop --, god, the nightmares, where's my wand ..."

That's a story I would really like to read.

Comments

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Or it may simply be a characterization issue. Harry lacks fear; you could even say he lacks a sense of self-preservation. He's not cautious. Snape, on the other hand, seems bent on self-protection, to the point where it's difficult to imagine him making himself vulnerable.

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

I can just see Harry wandering around during the summer, all confused and vaguely turned on.

"Eew, Snape kissed me. Ew ew ew!"
"Hmmmm, I wonder if it's that revolting with other guys?"
*tries it out* "Not bad!"
*wet dream* "Ooh, oh... Snaaaap... ARGH!"
"I didn't dream about Snape blowing me. Nope."
"I bet he's had loads of practise. He's probably really good.
"Uh, hi Professor. I was just visiting..." *economy sized Snape-glomps*
"Woohoo!"

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I think I tend to put the less-needy person in the position of pursuer.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved that drabble! I should have told her that myself. I've read so many stories where Harry's a young god and Snape just can't believe that this firm-bodied young athlete, who's so strong and young and handsome and young, could possibly want him. They make me barf.

I'm still playing around with the idea, but I had such difficulty with it that I decided to throw it out and see if someone else might have a less self-protective version of Snape in her head, because my version of Snape was really resisting taking any emotional risks whatsoever.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe someone will write it. Maybe several someones will write it, and we can compare and contrast.

I don't really find it implausible that Harry would make the first move -- he's reckless, for one thing. Also, when you're seventeen, you have no idea how young seventeen is, whereas when you're thirtymumble,, you know all too well. (My best friend's son is seventeen. Cute, but my favorite boots are older than he is.)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said up there (http://www.livejournal.com/users/resonant8/44481.html?thread=489409#t489409), there are a lot of factors that make Harry and Snape's relationship more complicated than a simple student/teacher relationship. And the writer could certainly make things happen to push them in the direction of something more equal.

For instance, if Harry saves Snape's life a couple of times -- or if the Death Eaters get wise to Snape as a spy, and he has to hide, and Harry becomes his Secret Keeper and hence the person directly responsible for his safety -- or even if they just fight a couple of battles back to back -- in any of those cases, the power equalizes considerably.

It's also a personal conviction of mine that if you had a real culture in which people routinely lived to be 120, that culture would be a lot more accepting of age differences than ours is.

Try thinking of Harry as Emma and Snape as Mr. Knightley!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aw. Damn it. You beat us all and wrote the story first!

[tradescant.livejournal.com]

Seeker, of course, wrote The Unexpected series, back in the day.

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

I love to read HP, but I suck on a cosmic scale when I try to write it. I'll leave that to those better suited to the job ;)

The Sequel!

"Hey Snape, can I have a go on top?"
"Please?"
"Pretty please, with... really odd potion ingredients on top?"
"Woohoo!"

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Bunny! Bunny bunny! Someone adopt this bunny and give it a good hooooome!

[destina.livejournal.com]

Specifically, I could certainly get at a Snape who was attracted to Harry and waiting eagerly until the clock ticked over and Harry was fair game -- but I couldn't get at a Snape who was willing to risk humiliation by actually saying so.

I tinkered a little with writing your idea today, and I think you've articulated the exact issue I'm having. Well, that, and some other more complicated issues having to do with hatred and control. *g* But I hope someone with a better grasp than mine writes it, 'cause I'd like to read that story, too.

[verstehen.livejournal.com]

Which is funny because Harry does spend so much time trying to avoid pain and death. He's entirely devoted to self-protection when it comes to his body (and the Dursleys). *shrugs* I don't know, really. But you're right in that it's a characterization issue to a certain extent. What it is and how far it extends... That's another story. ^_-

[verstehen.livejournal.com]

Yes, that too. It's been a while since I've read Seeker's stuff as well. ^_^

[miraminx.livejournal.com]

torch's "Pale Green", if memory serves,g has an appalled Harry scrubbing his mouth, although no Scouring Charm is harmed in the writing of the story used. It's here: http://strangeplaces.net/torch/palegreen.html

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

The more interesting it might be if you made *such* Snape take a step. It would be worth many other approaches.

[villeinage.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't write this story, since I have a deep-seated humiliation squick.

But a few words on Snape's characterization that might make his role as the pursuer more plausible:

Control: I see Snape as someone who is frequently *out* of control, certainly of many of his feelings and of his larger life situation. His vindictivnesss and impotent raging at Harry, Sirius, etc. (there are places where he's practically frothing at the mouth)are one example.

Also, he's not particularly attuned to emotional nuances (his own or others). I can easily imagine a scene where an under-the-influence-Snape(pick your preferred influencing agent)makes a pass at Harry and is brutally rejected. Because a little influence is probably all it would take.

It's harder for me to imagine a scenario where Snape makes a well-thought-out pass at a very young Harry. (As an aside isolde's story, Pragmatic Magics, features Snape planning Hagrid's seduction, and she makes very good use of Snape's emotional cluelessness.)

[bowdlerized.livejournal.com]

Urgh, I'm really late in replying, but I think a lot of it might be that Snape is almost obsessed with maintaining his dignity, so it's hard to imagine Snape making himself vulnerable in that way and giving Harry the upper hand. And in light of the stigma of a teacher pursuing a student, Snape would be risking even more by laying himself bare.

But I would love to read a well written fic with this scenario.

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

True enough about the reckless bit, but he's never given any indication of having any feelings towards Snape except dislike verging onto hatred... well, maybe shading to very grudging respect laced with distrust in OotP. So to me it is implausible. Not impossible, but implausible. Which is not to say I haven't/won't read it. But it would be, hm, interesting, to see Snape as the primum mobile. If you hear of someone writing it, do share!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

he's never given any indication of having any feelings towards Snape except dislike verging onto hatred.

But that's the First Law of Slash: All intensity is sexual intensity.

(I once saw a cartoon where Popeye and Bluto were at a party, holding hands, and one of them was telling one of the other partygoers, "We finally figured out where all that anger was coming from.")

I find Harry/Snape quite compelling; it isn't so much that the canon supports it, as that it does something for me. I think it's all that loneliness -- it's very satisfying to take two characters with such depths of emotional emptiness and give them both what they need in one fell swoop.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It's an award-winning series!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

That is a fabulous story. One of my all-time favorites. Though a little too realistic to be completely satisfying to the "give 'em eternal happiness and great sex" part of my personality.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

These are good points. I agree that it's easier to imagine Snape doing such a thing on impulse, in anger, or under the influence than actually doing it calmly according to a plan -- and I agree that it would be kind of painful to read The Tale of Snape's Drunken Pass.

Now, one thing I can see (thinking about it further) is Snape making, not a sexual pass or a romantic proposal, but a practical proposition. "As a young man with no partner, you undoubtedly are troubled by certain urges; I will make fewer demands than a partner your own age,and also have the advantage of a greater level of experience; certain observations I have made during your Occlumency practices lead me to believe that we would be highly compatible; so I believe an arrangement would be mutually agreeable."

(Harry, meanwhile, has either gotten derailed at the third polysyllable, or is blushing so hard that there's no blood left to power his brain ...)

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

Yay! *shines up a space on the ego page*

It's a Trilogy!

"Uh, Sev... honey... what are you doing?"
"Eeek! That's not the proper function of a racing broom!"
"Oh. Um. Actually, that looks like fun. Can I...?"
"Woohoo!"

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

First Law of Slash: All intensity is sexual intensity.

Humph. Well, yes, okay, I know that's a common attitude. But gets boring, says I. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

I've certainly enjoyed reading your Harry/Snape - I don't actually read very much in the HP fandom, so I don't know what the more popular slash pairings are or how they're typically handled. *cough* No untoward implications intended. In general if the author of a fic can convince me of the plausibility of the situation, and the emotions, I'm happy. "Transfigurations" did that especially well, I felt.

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

It's funny -- Harry/Snape creeped me out wildly when I first started reading HP, but over time, familiarity has taken the ick out of it, for me.

I'm fine with them as adults - I wouldn't write it, but I wouldn't mind. And even 15-year-old Harry wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the teacher thing.

See, I've had a teacher who started dating a student (dumped his wife for her and everything). And that's uncomfortable for the entire class, because there are certain roles you're supposed to take as student and teacher and suddenly the teacher doesn't respect that. Everyone else might be "safe", but it doesn't feel that way.

A teacher responding to a student's advances is behaving rather unprofessionally, but a teacher who'd be the first to make advances is much, much worse.