Haven't finished, have no intention of doing so, but the first chapter does not bode well. Harry is reciting lines from the Bible at Ron's funeral. "I am the Resurrection and life........etc.". Why on earth would he be doing that. There is never any indication whatsoever that Harry is religious. It seems rather doubtful that the Dursley's took him to church or instilled religious beliefs in him, if they were even religious, which we have no reason to believe. Moreover Harry is a fucking wizard, which is pretty frowned upon by the religion he's reciting from.

More to the point, there's absolutely no reason whatso-fucking-ever for the Weasley's to be Christian. In fact the author even points out that they aren't religious at all. You don't hijack someone's funeral with your own religious beliefs, especially beliefs that have nothing whatsoever to do with the culture that they lived, and that you live in. Christians burned wizards, and now Harry is reciting Christian dogma at the funeral of a non-religious wizard. Ridiculous.

Such a horrendously egregious anachromism doesn't bode well for the story or the author's ability to recognize and apply context and characterization.

 

To be fair, Lily and James and Ariana's and Kendra's graves had bible quotes on it. So it doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch from the sound of it.

 

I think you can safely blame the whole mess on Rowling, as usual.

 

But they celebrate Christmas! I don't get it either, but I suppose that's why I find stories like On The Wings of a Phoenix so intriguing.

 

Maybe. If the author hadn't made a point out of the previous sentence saying the Weasley's weren't religious and that nothing else about the ceremony had been religious. It relies on Harry both being religious, (a doubtful premise to begin with" and being crass enough to impose his religion on a friend's funeral. There's absolutely no reason that Harry would be reciting blatantly Christian dogma at Ron's funeral. It shows a lack of grasp of either context, or of Harry's character, neither of which bodes well for the story.

As far as Lily goes, it's quite possible that she was raised Christian. Much less likely that Harry was. Moreover, the quote on Lily and James's grave, while from the Bible, is not inherently a Christian philosophy. "The last enemy that shall be defeated is death" is a far cry from "I am the Resurrection and the Life, all who believe in me will have eternal life."

They participate in the social ritual of Christmas. So do many Jews, atheists, and other non-Christian groups. Celebrating a holiday that's ingrained itself into society is a far cry from following the religion that birthed it.

EDIT: I got as far into the story as I could. And I don't think it proves what you want it prove Noxed. If anything it backs up Portus's point. The author fundamentally altered the basic personalites of the characters. And not over time through development. Right at the outset of the fic before he even started writing. And not in a plausible way. He relies on the characters thinking and acting in ways that just they wouldn't. They are in fact OC's with canon names. The same way that Harry in Santi's story is an OC with Harry's name.

The difference between the two stories, is that Santi doesn't build off of canon. This is supposed to be canon Hermione and Snape later on in life. But it isn't. It's those characters with a fundamentally altered personality. Which is Portus's point.

I mean for God's sake they're making out like the third time that she sees Snape after finding out that he's alive. And it's something like 3 months since Ron's funeral. This is the fic you hold up as an example of a plausible Snape/Hermione relationship? Really?

 

I just can't imagine a Snape/Hermione while trying to stay true to canon. Like someone previously said, one or both of them would have to be practically OC.

Snape is old enough to be her father, and no matter how much 'pain' and 'sacrifice' he's had to go through, it's just too implausible for canon Hermione to fall for him because of that exact reason.

 

Why wouldn't Harry be culturally christian? He was raised by the Dursleys, people who strived to be as "normal" as possible, surely including church attendance. After his near- death experience it may well be that Harry falls back to some long ago heard bible verse to express his hope to see Ron again in the "next great adventure". I don't see why this would be offensive to the Weasleys if they subscribe to the same vague notion of an afterlive like Dumbledore.

Maybe your interpretation of canon characters just differs from mine? If I take a look at the Hermione in the story, she is exactly what I would expect from a more mature version of the DH character. The same goes for Snape too- here's a man who had the enormous burden and stress of his double-agent role lifted from him, who had some years living without "dunderheads" and just doing what he liked the most...

Actually, it's more than six months after Ron's funeral:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3717689/9/The_Quality_of_Mercy

And it's not as if those few kisses they exchanged at that point indicated a stable and deep romance or some such.

 

Taking him to church would involve willingly associating with him, something the Dursley's are loath to do. Given there general treatment of Harry, if they brought up Christianity around him it would be to tell him he's a freak who's going to hell. Moreover, if he was raised culturally Christian, the fact that the Dursley's raised him in it would send him running in the opposite direction.

I have no issues with Harry expressing the hope that he'll see Ron again. I have no particular objections to a bible verse. I have strong objections to the one used in the story. The one Harry used specifically says that if you believe in Jesus, you'll live in eternity. Ron and the Weasley's clearly didn't believe in Jesus. It's the notion that belief in Jesus is a requirement for a 'happy afterlife' that's offensive at a funeral of someone who doesn't. And even if it isn't meant to be offensive, anyone with a degree of caring or sensitivity is gonna refrain from bringing it up in case it is.

My bad Somehow I had it in my head that Ron's funeral was in October

And as for the romance? Something like three chapters later, after what the timeline implies is a few days, Hermione is saying to herself that she loves Snape. Again. LOL.

And the story makes a point of noting that within 8 months of Ron's death, Hermione's gotten rid of her house and moved in with Snape. So within 2 months she decided she's so sure of her future that she's make the step of moving in with him?

And a few chapters later, we've got Snape saying that his feelings for Hermione began while she was a Hogwarts student, while he taught her potions. Meaning that since Snape hasn't taught potions she their OWLS, he's had a hardon for her since she was 15 at the oldest. He then rhapsodises over her potions abilities and praises her skills as reminiscent of Lily Evans? Really? Lily helped Snape tweak potions to make them better. Hermione made her feelings on altering recipes quite clear. It's ridiculous that Snape, a great potions master, is making that comparison.

So yeah. There is nothing remotely plausible or IC about the relationship or the characters in this story. You are of course free to disagree. But the example story you chose to prove your point has utterly failed to convince.

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned Soul Play. It is by far the best Snape centric fic that has ever been written.

It's a post-HBP continuation story that I suppose could be best described as "dark-but-not-evil independent Snape." He's very in-character. Mean, ugly, greasy, but very skilled in magic and the ultimate survivor, he works towards the downfall of the Dark Lord - but not with Harry Potter. Rather, he seeks his own elevation.

The writing is beautiful - it has the best crafted atmosphere of any fanfic I've ever read.

Unfortunately, the author took it off FF.Net for a reason I cannot imagine.

I've googled around and the first 32 chapters (out of 34) can be downloaded here: http://forum.writingcenter4.info/index.php?action=mgallery;sa=item;id=14745

Not sure where the last 2 chapters can be found.

 

Very strong second for the Soul Play rec. Snape is characterised perfectly, and his cutting retorts are always fun to read.

Spoiler

Such as after Lucius' death, when Draco suspects Snape is sleeping with Narcissa (he is), he tells Snape that 'he will never take Lucius' place', and Snape replies 'I have much more pleasurable places to plunge into than the grave'.
Burn.

Damn shame about those last chapters though.

 

I remember reading two years ago Had I Known and I liked it - I believe it was on the Almost Recommended thread. It was one of the very few (if not the only one) Snape-centric fanfiction that I read back then.

 

Read through this one while I was bored last night and enjoyed it somewhat, but I have a major complaint in that it all seems to work out too easily for Snape. I mean, within a couple of chapters he's dating Lily, has little to no hassle from his old Death Eater mates, gets to work with a highly celebrated potions master and has only two complaints in James Potter (who is more of an idiot than anything else) and working retail. It all just seems too easy.

 

There hasn't been any major conflict, no. He hasn't tried to do anything that would be super difficult considering his age and experience: he basically is a potions master already, and at that time Lily hated James and liked Snape.

It doesn't stretch my suspension of disbelief at all. I mentioned in my review that it still feels like its a story in its early stages. I expect there will be conflict at some point when Snape is actively working against Voldemort; but it really doesn't belong in the story yet. It doesn't have to be there.

 

Fair point, though the fact that Snape was in his forties when he died does add a bit of nastiness to the story.

 

If you think that's bad, one of the ones I saw recced had Snape go back as kid, like first year, and the first thing he does is make out with a 10 year old Lily and tell her how much he's always longed to do that.

That's like the third paragraph. I wanted to vomit. I feel like giving a link to share my revulsion: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5270674/1/Second_Start

Its one of the things I hate most about time travel fics. I'm willing to overlook it sometimes though, like with the Apprentice.

 

16 is a bit weird, but can be excused given hormones.

 

Read quite a bit of this one--it's not hooorrible, but it's very, very self indulgent. Like, Harry is so impressive/ scary/ noble/ loved by everyone that I kind of hate him a little bit. And the number of times people have their jaws hit the floor is just... blah. But it is kind of a nice turn on the 'snape-becomes-sympathetic-to-harry's-suffering' plot, in that Harry himself is made somewhat tolerable by the often blase attitude he has toward what's happened to him.

But there's also pretty much everyone-bashing (except Ron and Hermione, who are dead, and Snape, obviously). Almost the good old fashioned idiot-manipulative Dumbledore from ages past, lol. And the OCs... blargh. Obviously the author is attached to them, but slkdjf3i4hlks they're annoying.

Long story short, it's technically fine, but I wouldn't really recommend it. Maybe 2.5/5. Depends on how much GODMODE!Harry and general dumbfuckery you can handle.