Note: I'll add bits and bobs to this page over time, starting with a sort of playlist of songs I listened to while writing this, and later on probably a few drawings and whatnots as the mood strikes, if you want to bookmark it.
(NOTE: This story was originally posted to Ao3 which supports HTML markup that FFN does not. These songs can all be found on YouTube)
CARRY THAT WEIGHT (AND SING ALONG)
Klaus Nomi - The Cold Song
Eels - Last Stop: This Town
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Idiot Prayer
Kacey Musgraves - Miserable
Brandi Carlisle - The Things I Regret
Smashing Pumpkins - To Forgive
Dead Can Dance - Minus Sanctus
Frightened Rabbit - The Woodpile
Mumford & Sons - The Cave
R.E.M. - Why Not Smile
Beatles - Blackbird
A quick explanation of the wood & core I chose for Severus Snape's wand (which JKR herself has never revealed):
Core: Phoenix feather
This might seem weird as most people are probably going to intuitively go for dragon heart-string (and I don't entirely disagree) but I went with the Phoenix feather as I personally feel that it suits his character well.
From Pottermore:
This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike.
Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.
I prefer this for Snape not only because he shows a great range of skill in both performing and creating spells (e.g. Sectumsempra, a very destructive cutting hex, and Vulnera Sanentur, a powerful healing spell, as well as more ambivalent spells like Levicorpus and Muffliato, which could be used for good or bad purposes, depending on what the caster is doing with it), but I also like the associations with rebirth/resurrection that are associated with the Phoenix myth and reflect the penitent/redemptive aspect to Snape's character arc in the books - he died as a very changed man from who he was in his youth, despite all his enduring flaws. "Hard to tame" and "independent" also definitely fit the character.
Wood: Blackthorn
From Pottermore:
Blackthorn, which is a very unusual wand wood, has the reputation, in my view well-merited, of being best suited to a warrior. This does not necessarily mean that its owner practises the Dark Arts (although it is undeniable that those who do so will enjoy the blackthorn wand's prodigious power); one finds blackthorn wands among the Aurors as well as among the denizens of Azkaban. It is a curious feature of the blackthorn bush, which sports wicked thorns, that it produces its sweetest berries after the hardest frosts, and the wands made from this wood appear to need to pass through danger or hardship with their owners to become truly bonded. Given this condition, the blackthorn wand will become as loyal and faithful a servant as one could wish.
Firstly, Snape is undeniably a powerful wizard, and a skilled dueler. He has an established penchant for Dark Arts but that is certainly not all he is interested in or all he capable of. I think the odd, conflicted nature of Blackthorn reflects his character, and I like the fact this thorny member of the cherry/stone-fruit family produces its best fruits after enduring harsh conditions, which seems fitting.