"I am an honourable and reasonable man, as you know, Severus. You have my word. As a Warlock, and a gentleman."
Lord Voldemort
Severus Snape.
Lord Voldemort.
A Warlock, and a gentleman.
But which is which?
Two men, whose lives are so closely intertwined.
Both muggle reared.
So different.
Yet so alike.
The men behind the masks...
Ginny Weasley.
Her best friend. Her only friend, in First Year.
A boy in a book.
Into which she poured her heart and soul…
She internalised the trauma for years.
But now.
He's back.
7th Year AU: the Harry Potter books are true up to end of Harry's 6th year, but Voldemort is publicly leading wizarding Britain. Look at favourite canon characters beyond the books, further into their private lives, their personalities.
Voldemort wishes to seduce, and recruit, Ginny. To the Death Eaters.
Flirting. Fighting. Bitching. Biting.
Strategy. Espionage. Intrigue.
Politics and High Society.
In the wizarding world. And its murky overlap with that of the muggles...
Featuring OC 'Sarah', Severus Snape's MI5 handler, and sundry student OCs in Ginny's and other year groups at Hogwarts (along with our favourite canon characters).
Chapter One
Dinner with the Devil
"Weasley! Stay behind."
Ginny was in no hurry to pack up.
She slammed her defence book shut.
One of the few things she could do, in these times.
Rebel.
Well. Little acts of rebellion. Here and there.
She continued to take her time, rather than approach his desk promptly. She made to scribble in her homework diary. As if she'd just remembered to add the deadline, or some other point of significance.
He couldn't have a go at her for being the model, diligent student, could he?
Snape.
SNAPE!
"MERLIN'S BUTTOCKS!"
The man towered over her.
"Read it."
She clasped the letter that he thrust at her.
And promptly dropped it. Unopened.
"Read it."
"Dear God-"
"In... silence," he hissed.
Ginny's hands shook.
She recognised the handwriting, then?
Here come the waterworks!
Severus raised an eyebrow.
Teenage tantrums and theatrics are so tedious.
"What does he want?" she whispered.
"Well if you were to follow my instructions, Weasley," his impatience and sarcasm were plain to hear, from his sudden, higher pitched tone of voice, "perhaps you might enlighten us both!"
"You mean… you don't know?"
"I haven't read it," he replied, quietly.
Not the same thing.
Severus pulled up a bench opposite her, and sat, mastering his emotions. Suppressing them.
Behind the mask that had nearly cracked seconds ago...
"Dinner?!"
What on earth could that mean?
"What should I wear?"
Having hidden her emotions thus far (more successfully, he resentfully noted, than he had), Ginny Weasley's tone was now pathetically pleading. Childish.
Severus observed that she realised, mortified, how ridiculous the question had sounded.
"I should advise that you wear your usual dress robes. The more drab and faded your outer garments, the more he shall enjoy giving you a dressing down, as it were. Insulting your appearance. And poverty. That can only be a good thing. It will distract him from… other things."
For how long, however, was another matter entirely-
"I don't have any dress robes."
"I have seen you in the same sorry set no less than seven times."
The number of parties there had been since he came back. Him-With-A-Capital-H.
Severus remembered the number.
Remembered noting them. Observing them. Counting them. Thinking.
How can people swan about enjoying themselves?
Flirting. Fighting. Dancing.
When he's back?
And there had Ginevra Weasley been. Always in the same patched, moth-eaten set of velvet robes. Originally fuchsia, now faded. With its lacey ruff-like collar, once, presumably, white. Now washed out. Grey. The same dress robes he had seen her mother wear at school, to every occasion requiring formal dress. The large pink bow which tied together at the neck these days had, at least, been replaced, evident from its lack of frayed edging, and bright colour (the last one had been in a sorry state indeed). The clear contrast however between the new, the fresh. The bright, the pristine. That large, loud bow. And the rest. It was laughable.
So he had overheard: you can't polish a turd... Since, on top of the rest, there were so many visible repairs. To the shoulders. Under the arms. Not all of the stitched-in pearls had fallen off, however, becoming lost. Those that remained were simply visibly cracked...
Poor girl. In her faded finery. Bullied, in all likelihood, Severus assumed.
He could predict more than most, on that score. How one's peers might react. To unfashionable frocks, and the like...
Might have been nice, once. Her only set of borrowed formal wear. Well. If you liked that sort of thing. Opulent. Extravagant. When new.
In about 1880...
"They're Mum's... She was handed them down when she was in Third Year, at Hogwarts. She lent them to me but, well, given the war, you know? Didn't think there'd be any occasion to wear them this year. There's nothing to celebrate. No parties and that-"
"So she asked you to leave them at home with her?"
Not that something so old and worn and ugly needed to be kept safe specially, in Severus's humble opinion.
"Can you send for them?"
"They won't arrive before tonight! Can't I just go as I am?"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
Ginny was shocked.
Severus Snape hardly ever raised his voice. Always spoke in a voice barely above the volume of a whisper.
"I do not wish to burden you more than necessary. But neither am I inclined to sugarcoat the truth. He's a man."
"I'm afraid I don't quite follow-"
"You're a young woman... not completely devoid of all attributes and merits."
Is Snape saying I'm fit?!
"He's got a thing for girls in uniforms. Don't wear yours."
A/N:
Daily updates for the first week! Will switch to twice weekly after a bit (don't want you to run out of chapters!)
Brief British Cultural Notes:
'fit' is British slang for attractive, good looking. Equivalent to 'hot' (which we don't really say, that's more American).
Thank you for reading. Really appreciate any feedback, by comments or messages going forward. I want to write what you like, want to know what you want to see more of, etc. NB: dunno why but messages don't reach me on the app, so feel free to write by phone or PC on the website messenger (reviews seem to work by both app and website). I also take plot requests :) I'll be sure to thank you for any and all reviews, comments etc. :)
Feel free to read/ skim/ skip the below:
I don't assume anyone reading this has prior knowledge of my writing: with all my stories I jump straight into the action and dialogue and the character relationships etc. quickly become apparent. So if you're new to my writing, I hope you enjoy it, and you don't need to read my other stuff to "get" this (but you're very welcome to!) I try to write characters who speak normally and don't lengthily explain what they are talking about to those they're talking to, who know. So I occasionally write 'cultural notes' to explain a more obscure reference at the start of a chapter, or very British vocab, to my international readership, if a character quotes a popular culture reference, talks about something that's maybe famous in Britain but maybe not further afield, etc. (Where the dialogue needs to be fast paced, I'd rather not interrupt with lengthy narration).
But if you're familiar with my work, I hope you'll like a few references and bits where this overlaps with my other stuff. The plot of this is mostly 'canon' and ties in with the rest of my 'universe', or interpretation of how the Harry Potter world would work if it was real. As in, I assume no one reading this has read my other stuff. But if you have, and would like to reference that across with my other work, and to know what happens when, this takes place in 'the past', whereas the other is set in 2014, which is 'the present' (in the AU so far!). Same characters, same history and lives. Difference is whether you're new to my interpretations of them or familiar. Whichever camp you're in: there's lots to look forward to!
Elsewhere, I've written about a time post Harry Potter books, where Severus is the known traitor and being punished for it. I started to write this as background notes at first, set during the books, before carrying on with the characters' 'futures', so to speak. I've ended up nearly with a whole novel so decided to start to publish! I've set out with this to understand the hurt and pain caused by Severus's betrayal of Voldemort and the Death Eaters and why Severus himself has such mixed feelings for his 'master', as it must have been so hard for him to remain detached while spying and not feel that the nicer elements of his fake Death Eater colleagues were his friends on some level (they must have had so many dinner parties and after work drinks together and he must have got to know all his colleagues' children being treated like one of the family going round all the Death Eaters' houses and stuff). I mean, Severus was in the field for literally years under cover with the enemy: that is so unhealthy! And unusual! 'Going native' was a very real risk, and all that.
That even perhaps applies to Voldemort. He likes to think that he can remain so detached and doesn't need anyone and doesn't care for anyone but... really?! I don't buy it! He so clearly *needs* people, the Death Eaters he surrounds himself with, whom he makes call him 'my Lord'. How close was he to Severus? How young was Severus when he became close to Voldemort? How did it feel when (in my AU) Voldemort discovered Severus's betrayal? After they were such close colleagues, and more besides, for so long? Voldemort considers that he is above and unlike other men, and relishes Severus's calling him a dalek, incapable as he thinks he is of being afflicted with irritatingly burdensome human sentiments. Like love. And betrayal. He will come to find that that is very much not the case.
And, as I say, if you have a moment for a review, I'd love to know at some point what you like, would like to see more of, don't like so much, what works well, plus constructive crit. I enjoy writing but if that was that I'd just write for myself and never publish: I want to share my work, with my own spin on fanfic, but writing what you like, too!
As ever, thanks so much everyone for being so keen and supportive.
Enjoy and ciao for now, see you tomorrow (some time from around 8:00pm BST/ UTC+1!)
MBSP