Dinarosie

✧ Every post, a chapter in Snape's redemption✧

[starpeace]

i love when tragedies are like “the love was there. it didnt change anything. it didnt save anyone. there were just too many forces against it. but it still matters that the love was there”

[dinarosie]

Have you read snirius fics? Any suggestions on where to start?

Honestly, it kind of depends on what you’re into. Snirius is a very specific ship. Personally, I gravitate toward fics where the characterization stays as close to canon as possible and the relationship is messy, tense, and full of conflict rather than soft and idealized. I read a lot of Snirius fics years ago and don’t remember most of them clearly anymore, but these are the ones that really stuck with me.

Just a heads-up if you’re new to this ship: a lot of Snape/Sirius fic portrays a pretty toxic, emotionally volatile dynamic Definitely pay attention to the tags

Turmoil by Metalomagnetic

This is probably my personal favorite I’ve reread it more than once. It starts during the Marauders era, before the First Wizarding War, and continues all the way through the aftermath of Voldemort’s first defeat. Teen Sirius here feels very close to his canon self and his dynamic with Snape is intense and genuinely compelling.

⚠️Content warning for dubious consent

The War of the Roses by Asenora

This one is a slow burn and still a WIP. It’s told from Sirius Black’s POV and focuses heavily on his inner world and fractured mental state after Azkaban, set against the background of the Second Wizarding War. And honestly, Asenora’s reputation speaks for itself they’re a skilled writer who really understands psychological depth and complex characterization

Beyond The Veil by Adreamermusing, ashesashesshackles

I’m pretty sure most Snirius fans have either read this or at least heard of it. I don’t remember all the details clearly, but I do remember liking it and thinking the story was solid.

A Bat and His Dogs by The_Lady_Crane

This one’s very different in tone a softer, almost domestic post–Second War series where both Sirius and Snape survive, have kids, and build families. If you’re into post-war AUs, found family, and parenthood dynamics, it’s worth checking out. Despite all their flaws, both of them feel surprisingly believable as parents, and their interactions with the kids are genuinely interesting.

[reddieornotiamgay]

Draco Naming Their Kids

Harry: How about...James Sirius?

Draco: Your dad and your uncle?

Harry: Yeah.

Draco: That's sweet, yeah.

Harry: What about...Lily Luna?

Draco: I kind of like the way it flows, honestly.

Harry: I know, what about Albus Severus--

Draco: *smacks Harry upside the head*

Draco: Are you out of your damn mind?

Draco: One man raised you to die and the other one bullied you for seven years.

Draco: He creeped on your mom.

Draco: He stepped over her husband, ignored her crying son, and held her body when she never wanted anything to do with him in life.

Draco: He never heard of shampoo or conditioner.

Harry: But he--

Draco: *smacks him upside the head again*

Draco: His name is Remus Arthur Potter.

Draco: We're naming him after the two men who actually cared for you like a son, not a pawn.

Draco: You idiot.

Harry:

Harry:

Harry: Okay.

James in Heaven: Okay, I change my mind, I like him.

[dinarosie]

Albus Severus Potter is a name meant to remind us that Harry Potter survived, lived, and grew

A reminder that Severus Snape’s sacrifices were not meaningless. They gave Harry the chance to live, to grow up, to mature, and to see the world with the depth and complexity it truly has.

They taught him that life isn’t black and white, that no one is innocent or perfect, and that what matters most are the people who, despite their flaws and their mistakes, still choose the harder path, the path of humanity. The ones who stay loyal to what’s right even when it’s painful, even when it costs them everything, even when no one ever thanks them for it.

They taught him that some people carry wounds so deep and so unfair that they could easily fall into bitterness and hate and yet, there are still those who keep caring anyway. Who keep trying to make amends. Who keep saving others. Who stay faithful to their ideals. Who continue to love, even when life has given them every reason not to. Those people are rare. And precious.

So yes thank you, Severus Snape. His sacrifice gave Harry life and the ability to understand love, loyalty, and courage in ways he never could have otherwise. And Harry honored that. He honored it so deeply that he gave his son Snape’s name, ensuring that Severus would always have a place in his family, and a place in the future he helped create

[frederick-the-great]

The discussion between Dumbledore and Harry after Sirius’s death is a very interesting insight into how Dumbledore sees Snape. To begin with it is the only time in the books Dumbledore seems to understand the deepness of Snape’s trauma.

But I forgot — another old man’s mistake — that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father — I was wrong.”

“Some wounds run too deeply for the healing” is an indirect acknowledgment that Snape’s inability to get over what was done to him is not a show of pettiness; rather it speaks of something much deeper that could not be simply sorted through.

When Harry - angry that Dumbledore’s defending Snape - asks “so it’s okay for Snape to hate my father but not for Sirius to hate Kreacher”, Dumbledore only addresses the question of Sirius. Remark:

Sirius did not hate Kreacher,” said Dumbledore. “He regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike... The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward…Sirius was not a cruel man, he was kind to house-elves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius had hated.”

This is fascinating for many reasons. First, Dumbledore never answers the first part of Harry’s question. Is it okay for Snape to hate James? Dumbledore doesn’t answer.  But it is not okay for Sirius to be so dismissive of Kreacher only because Kreacher reminded him of the home Sirius hated.

Dumbledore saying “indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike” is a direct comparison between Sirius and Snape. Snape hated James (and as a consequence he hates Harry). However, Dumbledore knows that despite hating Harry, Snape is still protecting him. Dumbledore knows, in fact, that although Snape asked for Lily’s protection and didn’t care for James and Harry, when called out on it, he asked Dumbledore to protect them all. Snape’s love for Lily was more important than his hatred of James - he accepts turning on Voldemort in exchange for Lily’s protection, a deal that necessarily carried the protection of James and Harry. In this sense, Dumbledore is subtly contrasting Sirius’s and Snape’s attitudes. At the end, Sirius’s indifference towards Kreacher does more damage than Snape’s hatred of James because it produces nothing good. Snape’s hatred of James doesn’t stop him from protecting Harry.

Dumbledore does seem to be blaming Sirius for his own death: “we wizards have abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward” so much so that Harry yells “So Sirius deserved what he got, didn’t he”. Dumbledore denies the accusation, and we have every reason to believe that he is sincere. However, the parallel established between Sirius and Snape is very interesting. The implication is that, unlike Sirius, Snape was a cruel man, but Dumbledore is oddly silent about whether Snape’s hatred of hJames was justified - the narrative can’t deny that after Snape’s worst memory. Dumbledore is very clear in saying that Sirius’s treatment of Kreacher was unjust. He makes no such claim about Snape hating James, possibly because he knows such hatred is not unwarranted. He knows that Snape’s wounds run too deep to heal. This is noteworthy because it is perhaps the only time in the series when Snape’s feelings about his past are not reduced to pettiness or a character flaw, but treated with their due seriousness.

[najaspeak]

"snape is a terrible person" you are WEAK. snape compared to some other antagonists or even protagonists is the equivalent of a cute cupcake. you wouldn't survive a truly terrible person. YOU ARE WEAK.

[eraofserendipity]

Ok so I disagree. Imagine u are a student. Your genuine terror of a teacher in YOUR SCHOOL is so much that he appears as your boggart. ONE other of the boggarts: A DEMENTOR. SNAPE was a bully. He responded to not getting his girl by terrorizing students

[najaspeak]

my dear little snowflake, didn't you stop to think that the boggart part is there precisely to show the contrast between the childish, silly, and irrational fears of harry's classmates and harry's more mature fear? are you still not capable of interpreting a text properly?

and i'm going to ignore what you said at the end because it's pure nonsense.

[dinarosie]

I will never understand how ships like James/Regulus, Mary/Marlene and Barty/Evan people who never even breathed in the same scene are somehow more popular on AO3 than Snape/Sirius.

The tension. The chemistry. The mutual loathing with a side of unresolved trauma. It’s right there.

They’re literally the blueprint for every enemies-to-lovers, mutual loathing that turns into obsession, redemption, “I hate you so much I’d die for you” trope ever written and yet this ship stays criminally underrated.

This ship should be running the HP fandom, not lurking in the shadows.😭

[dinarosie]

Oh yeah, a disproportionate percentage of this fandom just straight up can't read lol. It's fascinating to watch, if rather horrifying.

Something about the word “Snape” seems to short-circuit people’s sense of logic, especially on Reddit.

[dinarosie]

So apparently, this post I made a few months ago somehow ended up on Reddit, and reading the comments was like one of those moments when you regret ever opening the internet.

The thing is, that post was deliberately written to sound ridiculous. I used the dumbest, most illogical, utterly ridiculous arguments I could think of to highlight just how absurd most anti-Snape “logic” actually is. It was satire. Obvious satire.

And yet… people took it seriously.

They were in the comments arguing things like: ‘Why would the author have such a shallow, nonsensical view of the characters?’ ‘Wait, how could Harry still be in danger if James and Lily weren’t even married?’ ‘It’s ridiculous that this person is blaming Sirius for the Potters' deaths how could he have known?’ And my personal favorite: ‘These are all weak arguments, and you can’t just judge characters like this without any context!’

So… here’s where we’re at: Somehow my attempt to show just how ridiculous these arguments can get turned into a serious debate about my own logic. And honestly, I’m not even mad I’m just amazed. I mean if some people are reading Harry Potter with the same level of comprehension they brought to that post then no wonder the fandom’s full of wild, bizarre takes on Snape.

[dinarosie]

why Snape couldn’t let go?

People often ask: why Snape couldn’t let go? Why did he never forgive the Marauders, why did he stay hung up on Harry’s mistakes, why did he seem unable to move past anyone’s worst moments?

But Snape didn’t just hold grudges; he lived inside them. Forgiveness was something he never learned to give, not because he was cruel, but because he never learned to give it to himself and until he did, forgiving others was impossible.

(Most people see their mistakes as something to learn from, something that becomes a part of who they are. But Snape wasn’t like that. For him, a mistake was identity, his own and everyone else’s.)

At nineteen, he made a choice that filled him with shame so deep it became the foundation of his identity. Psychologists call it a “shame-based identity” when the mind stops separating who you are from what you did. Snape didn’t just carry guilt he built himself out of it. And once guilt becomes your structure you start seeing everyone else through the same lens. He judged others by their guilt, just as he was defined by his own.

When shame and guilt become identity, forgiveness stops being a moral act it becomes a threat to the only framework that felt real to him. Letting go would mean losing the very structure that kept him standing.

[said-snape-softly]

Masterlist

Links to my meta, headcanons, observations and discussions about HP characters, mainly Snape. Not comprehensive, but somewhere to start!

I also reblog other users’ meta under #hp meta or #hp thoughts.

Vocal Descriptor Analyses:

Said Snape

Said Malfoy

Said Voldemort

Snape:

Snape’s first appearance in COS

Felix Felicis hints at Snape's loyalties

Perspective-taking: POA Snape

Snape's feelings about the Half-Blood Prince are complicated

Snape's fear of Voldemort

Snape probably wasn't in the Slug Club

Snape's other Pensieve Memories (@sideprince's original post)

Snape rejects his past blood prejudice

Teaching DADA in potions

Snape's work for the Order

Thoughts on Snape's personal vs professional relationship with Order members (@severus-snaps's original post)

Snape and drink: canon mentions + headcanon

Snape & Dumbledore:

How Dumbledore's death speaks to Snape's moral evolution

Snape kills Dumbledore knowing it will result in his own death / Dumbledore asking Snape to kill him reflects Dumbledore's faith in his redemption

Snape and Dumbledore weren't feuding in GOF

Snape & Harry:

Clashing communication styles (@lines-in-limbo's original post)

Occlumency, projection, and connection (@seriousbrat's original post)

Occlumency lessons mark a shift in Snape's attitude towards Harry

Snape & Sirius:

Grimmauld Place & Spinner's End parallels

Barty Crouch Jr:

Master of Manipulation Part 1: The Four Champions

Master of Manipulation Part 2: The Egg & The Eye 1

Barty was not openly rebellious as a teen

Voldemort:

Voldemort's first line in The Dark Lord Ascending

Musings about Peter Pettigrew's defection

Why did Voldemort agree to spare Lily's life?

Did Voldemort teach Snape unsupported flight?

"Only then will the Dark Lord trust you completely": a misunderstanding of Voldemort and a flattening of Dumbledore & Snape

Timeline of Voldemort hunting down the Potters

Miscellaneous:

Pensieve memories are accurate and objective

On Lily & James Potter

Questions for the fandom:

How much of Snape & Draco's relationship is genuine?

Half-Blood Prince edition differences in the Lighting Struck Tower

How does Moody's Grimmauld Place curse work?

Why does Snape block Harry in GOF?

Why was Snape the one to raise the alarm in OOTP?

Has Snape ever lied to Harry? (@severus-snaps checked! here's their response)

On fandom:

Why I like Snape: a response

Media literacy & analysis: "Bad writing" means what, exactly? | Your hot take still needs support

Snape Morality Survey: Results & Analysis

HP Podcasts: Tips for Snape Fans

Finally, responses to asks and ask games are tagged #thanks for the ask!

[dinarosie]

Scorpius: Thank you for being my light in the darkness. Snape looks at him, every inch a hero, he softly smiles. Snape: Tell Albus - tell Albus Severus - I’m proud he carries my name. [Cursed Child - Part II Act 3, scene 9]

In every world, in every timeline, the death of Severus Snape is heavy with unsaid words and the quiet ache of an unfinished heart.

In both deaths, there are no demands. Not a name etched in gold, not a monument, Not even justice.

All he ever wanted at the very end was to, for once, speak his truths. To unearth the love and the care he had long carried for others in silence. To let it be known freely, openly, without fear without mask. A grace life had never allowed him, a power the world had buried too deep inside him.

[dinarosie]

I know many people believe Snape’s friendship with the Malfoys was nothing more than politics and convenience. But I can’t stop thinking that they might have been the only ones who ever truly saw him.

Lucius Malfoy, the first to welcome a lonely boy named Severus Snape at Hogwarts. Years later, in another timeline, Scorpius Malfoy the last to acknowledge his sacrifice, calling him “my light in the darkness.”

The first and the last. Both Malfoys the only ones who ever looked at him and saw him as a person.

[dadadurmut]

Sirius: you called yourself the Half-Blood Prince? Lmao Sniv you’re such a weirdo.

Severus: Okay, Padfoot.

[doomsbury]

This is coming from a place of curiosity, but what made you see snape in a different light? I'm just a casual hp fan lol and I didn't really have any strong feelings for the whole marauders fandom, including snape until I saw the unnecessary and frankly hypocritical vitriol against him. For a while it made me really concerned because the marauders fandom, which predominantly consists of people in their teens and early 20s seem to find it extremely hard to offer any grace for one of the only few complex working class characters in the entire series. It's a recurring trend to play dress up your doll with hcs of sexuality and ethnicity in fandom but somehow understanding that class hierarchy also plays an important role in a character's dynamics somehow evades the young demographics consciousness. So it's very rare to see someone not only breakaway from that but also willing to admit it. It's totally fine if you don't want to respond btw!

HEY!!!

so, let me be completely honest, up until about three months ago i absolutely despised snape's character. and it was for the same redundant reasons; "he's obsessed with lily" or "he's an ex-death eater" "he bullied kids" etc etc and i completely and wholly believed i was right because... well im a teenager and i thought everything that rebelled against the norm (in other words, canon) to be correct until i was forced into a position to understand it.

now, im not opposed to looking out for autistic/queer/cultural traits in characters and shipping them with whoever you want to, but the complete rewrite of canon CAN be exhausting. and it did become exhausting. it gave you so much but at the cost of completely sidelining the more important ESSENTIAL details of what made the franchise popular and culturally important in the first place.

then there was the very obvious disregard for severus snape that, for the longest time i didn't get for what it was until i actually indulged in the pro snape side of the fandom.

he was not pretty. he was not rich. he had no friends that didn't want to use him/had pure intentions and, canonically, he was sour and bitter to everyone except lily. and that apparently equated to obsession. i didn't understand how wrong that was until i actually took the time out to figure out why. they took a canonically complex character for an arse simply because everything about him was canon and therefore it was wrong.

the only part of the prank that they ever acknowledged was remus's feelings. (not that sirius disregarded two human lives)

snape's worst memory was NEVER addressed resulting in any new additions to the fandom never finding out about it (if they were in a similar position to me where they had not read the books for a while). a very VERY important part of the pre-golden trio era.

they never considered what it would mean for sirius (an emotionally stunted, anger-prone, sadist) to be locked away until he was 11, estranged at 15, sent to war at 17, and subsequently imprisoned at 21 until the age of 33.

they chalked up remus' 'shyness' to his infatuation with sirius and the alleged abuse from his father (which is not even remotely supported by canon) rather than his CANONICAL cowardice in the face of consequences.

and for some reason, they're able to have a 'pro-peter' tag without even stopping to consider how hypocritical it is to make excuses for a canonical betrayal for the sake of power-tripping and purposely endangering people's lives rather than actually indulging in a character who's backstory and ENTIRE PURPOSE is to be the morally grey antihero.

i don't even want to get into the butchering of james and lily potter.

i don't even want to talk about the slytherin skittles or the valkyries.

atp, you could find barbie dolls of them. labubus if you will.

at the end of the day it became so exhausting that i left the fandom for nine months and when i returned i was smacked in the face with incest and ships that just

didn't

make

sense.

characters that didn't even get screen time were made to be gold encrusted martyrs.

and then i read don't let the light go out by @bitterarm and my entire world spun out of control.

i was so disgusted by myself for hating on a character without any comprehensible reason other than claiming he was a power-tripping, obsessive, abuser.

that man was more traumatised than fucking harry potter and tom riddle combined and i had the gall to call him an ugly jughead. rereading the hp series only added fuel to the fire because i realised just how much i had forgotten in the last 8 years

i read harry potter at 11 so... this was a big thing for me. i don't think ive ever felt this much shame before. and what's worse, i can't even bring myself to properly hate the marauders fandom. that's where i spent my teen years. while the marauders fandom is a great escape (music, fanart, fics, etc) it is so damaging to the franchise.

anyway im 19 now, i work in childcare and i fucking get it.

[dinarosie]

Sirius Black, unlike Severus Snape, ‘grew’ and ‘matured.’ The evidence? He loved his godson, treated him kindly, and would do anything to protect him.

Meanwhile, in the background, there’s Severus Snape:

Carrying the round-the-clock responsibility of safeguarding an entire castle full of students.

Risking his life as a double agent to protect the wizarding world.

Bearing the lifelong task of keeping Harry james Potter alive, even when it broke him.

And finally, swearing a deadly oath to protect Draco Malfoy, knowing it would cost him his own life.

[ashlunes]

Professor Snape and his little snakes 🐍

[dinarosie]

Remus Lupin’s expulsion and the exposure of his secret to the Slytherins happened entirely with Dumbledore’s approval:

Has anyone ever thought about this? If Severus Snape was someone who could so easily get Lupin fired, then why didn’t he do it on the very first day? If he had that power, why didn’t he stop Lupin’s hiring at all? Why, if Snape could simply reveal Lupin’s secret and immediately cause his dismissal, didn’t he do exactly that in the early days of teaching? Why did he instead allow his living trauma to walk in front of him for months, forcing him into anxiety and stress, even to the point of having to brew Wolfsbane to make things easier for Lupin?

Because all of this was done with Dumbledore’s decision, authority, and approval.

Severus Snape was not responsible for hiring or firing any teacher. He would never have allowed himself to interfere in that process, because such interference would mean openly challenging Dumbledore’s power and authority something completely at odds with Snape’s character.

Throughout the books, Snape is consistently written as a character who has a special respect for hierarchy. He expects others to respect that hierarchy as well. He is always loyal and respectful toward the Headmaster’s decisions and position. He never deliberately undermines the Headmaster’s authority, and when others do so, he is visibly displeased. He never acts against Dumbledore’s plans even if he personally despises those plans.

(If Severus Snape had even the slightest power in the hiring and firing of staff, do you really think he would have ever allowed people like Quirrell and Lockhart to set foot in that school?)

So, even with his personal grudges, it is simply not in Snape’s character to act impulsively, interfere without consultation, or move against the staff without Dumbledore’s knowledge and approval. That’s not the dynamic between him and Dumbledore.

[dinarosie]

When you're chilling in your cozy Snape corner of Tumblr surrounded by brilliant metas, stunning art, and actually cool people and then suddenly remember that people on TikTok are still making "If Harry were a girl, Snape would assault her" videos... and they go viral. With top comments like: "Well he was a terrorist and a Nazi."