30 August 2009
[Severus Snape’s diary]
To whom it may concern,
With deep regret I must inform you, my dear distant but dedicated readers, that this chronicle of blood and truth must come to its conclusion tomorrow. But today, Sunday, 30 August 2009, I am pleased to confirm once more the whereabouts and dealings of prisoner #09-01-1960 in exacting blood-drenched detail.
After a breakfast of scones and tea at my home—to be precise: at the Lake House, Hogsmeade, Scotland (the joint ownership of Miss Hermione Jean Granger and Master Severus Snape has been duly registered with the Wizarding Estates and the Magical Registry Office at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on 10 August 2009)—I left the house and walked to my place of employment—again, to be precise: the public house “The Three Broomsticks” in Hogsmeade, Scotland (the signed and sealed contract of my employment was forwarded to the Magical Employment Office by the pub’s proprietor Hannah Abbott on 14 August 2009)—to attend to my duties as soup cook, namely, the preparation of broths, brews, chowders, consommés, potages, sauces, soups, stocks, and stews.
Three traditional Scottish soups graced today’s menu: Hairst Bree, Cullen Skink, and Barefoot Broth.
As you will discover delightedly when perusing the Monday edition of the Daily Prophet, multitudes of guests enjoyed all three soups so much that the Three Broomsticks will be added to the “top ten” of wizarding locals—thus most likely ensuring my profitable employment for the foreseeable future, and far beyond the revision of my rehabilitation one year hence.
I worked all day but for two brief interludes.
The first, when a most distinguished patron requested my presence in the guestroom.
The second, when an extremely uncomfortable irritable bowel movement required my presence elsewhere.
After closing time, I returned home to eat a quick repast of leftover cheddar soup with my fiancée. Subsequently, we retired to our bed chamber, where we commenced carnal relations of utter abandon and complete satisfaction.
Tomorrow, Monday, 31 August 2009, at 11 o’clock, we, the prisoners on probation #19-09-1979 and #09-01-1960 will present ourselves at the Parole and Probations Office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic.
My fiancée has already provided documents to prove her gainful employment as personal assistant to Minerva McGonagall—contract sealed and signed by the Honourable Chairwizard of the Wizengamot Committee on Parole and Probation on 26 August 2009. Likewise, the documents avowing and affirming that Millicent Bulstrode, a witch of good standing among the magical community of Britain, will vouch for her rehabilitation, and her willingness and ability to adhere to the remaining conditions of her parole have already been submitted to and approved by the Parole and Probations Office on 21 August 2009.
Tomorrow I myself shall be accompanied by a wizard of excellent standing and impeccable repute among the magical community of Britain who is willing to vouch for me and my conduct for as long as the most excellent members of the Committee for Parole and Probations on the Wizengamot think it necessary to supervise my rehabilitation. Therefore I politely request that the case witch or wizard of prisoner #09-01-1960 to prepare the necessary documents in advance.
Not much remains to be said.
The forced revelations I bled on these pages have cut deep. Indeed, pardon the pun, they’ve cut to the quick. I trust therefore you will forgive me if I don’t express any regret that these confidences and confessions will not continue.
Yours most faithfully
Severus Snape,
Master of Potions,
Soup Cook at the Three Broomsticks,
Formerly Prisoner of Azkaban #09-01-1960
Well! I must say I’m impressed by this development. As unlikely as these things are to occur, this kind of upsprung friendship where there was only the opposite before can and does happen. You portrayed it quite nicely, and I’m also glad it’s a positive plot point. Good things happen even to people who are depressed and have gone through the mill. I hope this means there’s some hope!
Too bad the picture at the top of the chapter gave it away. Seeing Maggie Smith as McGonagall in the (admittedly nicely-done) artwork at the top took all the dramatic force away from the end of the chapter. Still a positive development, though, even if it wasn’t a surprise. I’m glad for Hermione, and by extension, for Severus.
Ah, Christ, I can feel you sharpening your knives for another gloom-fest. Only five more chapters left, and already I can feel you poking holes in whatever limited happiness or security they’ve found.
Amazing! A happy ending! I love it! See–hope isn’t so bad, is it? It does seem a trifle sudden, your ending. And we never did find out about the mystery woman. But I feel able to let our Hermione and Severus go, knowing that whatever further vicissitudes they face, they have each other on a more solid, saner basis. Thank you for your writing, and thank you for the hope you left our favorite couple (and us!) with.
I had wanted to delete the third review I left (“Ah, Christ…”), but I’ve been having problems with my computer, and it didn’t allow me to send my reasons back to you, so it (the deletion) could be done. I had read “Apprentice & Necromancer” first, and was deeply disturbed by how damaged so many of the characters had been at the end of that fic. I was therefore afraid that any positives that were about to jell in this story were all going to fall apart, instead. Once I came to the end of this and found it wasn’t going to end badly for them (yay!), I was sorry I’d been so negative in that third review. So I ask your pardon, and that you disregard that one. You really are quite a special writer, and even though I hated the fact my fictional friends suffered so badly by the finish of “A&N”, I must say your plotting is excellent, and so are your characterizations. I will come back to read more of your writing. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us!
Nice to see that you’re still reading!
One thing puzzles me: You must surely be aware that the characters in “Prisoners” are much, much more damaged than those in “Apprentice”.
Of course “Apprentice” leaves key-characters badly damaged … they have been to Death and back, after all. But that story has an ending that assures readers that yes, everything will be just fine one day, this is something we can cope with, eventually.
While in “Prisoners” the challenge of the plot is met, and superficially the characters and readers are rewarded with a fairly straightforward “happy ending”, the story is really much, much worse if you take a moment to think about it. There is no way back, no matter how much they heal. Hermione will for the rest of her life live under the compulsion of counting things. Severus will in times of crisis always drift off to his parallel world. They will always remain unable to live in an emotionally stable fashion without Draco anchoring them …
I don’t mind at all that you dislike or even “hate” the dark turns and twists of my story/stories. Some people like sweet milk chocolate, others like bitter dark chocolate, it’s as simple as that – different tastes and preferences.
Anyway, from your remarks I gather that you might be interested in hearing a bit about my motivation concerning my stories, so here are a few comments about that:
What I loathe in many fanfiction stories in various fandoms is how authors make light of consequences. People are tortured, traumatised, injured … and there are no consequences. Everyone is right as rain again in one and the same chapter. Personally, I find that not only ridiculous and boring, but somewhat despicable. It doesn’t work like that. As a reader, and therefore also as a writer, I’m simply not interested in fluffy lies, I’m in it for the hard-won happy ending, like the one I wrote for “Apprentice” … I prefer characters who have looked, heck, *jumped into* the abyss of despair and have crawled out of it again and persevered. I am interested in how characters will act when they are pushed far beyond their limits, and how that will change them, and how they will move on from there.
So if you’re looking for fluff, you will rarely find that kind of thing in my stories. But I do try to come up with interesting, twisty plots, and heroes who find the strength to go on no matter what.