Fic Rec: Unregistered by htdcd.
Title: Unregistered.
Author: htdcd.
Status: Complete.
Word Count: 70k+
Summary: Harry gets a unique opportunity to get to know Severus Snape. Who knew Snape would turn out to be a cat person? 8th year at Hogwarts, Snape!lives, animagus fic, rated M for later scenes of slash.
Warnings: None.
Themes: Understanding. Creature!Harry.
Genre: Romance. Fluff. LOTS OF IT.
Narrative: There is something that the author uses to make this otherwise cliché story to have a lot of heart. There are certain things that are glossed over, where I found myself thinking “Oh come on, this is too sudden I need some background info”. Then the more I read, the more I got the pace and the overall feeling of the story; understood I was expecting something that wasn’t going to be in the story, and that I had to pay attention in a different way. It’s, with the utmost respect, a quite simplistic story. It’s not complex and it doesn’t pretend to be, but that’s what makes it really special. Instead it wants to show you something else. Something more precious, that may or may not get in the way of your headcanons, but that I ultimately think is worth the read.
Brief Character Breakdown: The most noted changes are in Severus Snape. He is not mellow, sweet, nice or amicable, but there is certainly something softer about him. Something not quite so jaded and despairing. He is, for lack of a better word, “chill”, in a more private setting, which is what Harry gets to see. I like that duality. Harry is a little more playful than usual. Canon!Harry is delightfully sarcastic and caustic too, and I think that many fic authors sometimes don’t exploit that, and I always make notice of it when it doesn’t happen, but when I read this, I feel like the author replaced that dry, sarcastic wit with something else. Something that I think I can appreciate well. Harry is so playful here, lovely as always, and well meaning and also a little bit of a well-meaning but inconsiderate klutz, which I love about canon and fanon Harry.
My Opinion: Highly recommend it. The author is also a master at navigating UST. The fic is not exactly slow-burn but it makes you feel that way. There is a lot of flirting, which I think it’s an underused resource in fan fic. It’s also really sweet and fluffy. Not exactly something you can expect from a Snarry that takes itself seriously, but I mean cats just work magic so....
The duality of Snape’s persona in public and private, and the duality of his feelings for Harry in public and private is D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.