There are many AUs that begin with a different Snape, and many of them involve a redeemed!Snape or reluctant mentor!Snape. Snape is also constantly caught in a shitty position between his weird relationship/obsession with the Potters, Dumbledore and Voldemort, and whatever he does is always constrained by them.

There is plenty of evidence that Snape is a mean, calculating bastard, and he's definitely creative, but I've never seen him actively seek to hurt Harry. Don't get me wrong, he was antagonistic to Harry in canon, and in many fics he's a right twat, but I can't recall seeing a narcissistic Snape whose sole purpose in life is to ruin Harry's life so he can finally feel like he got one on James Potter.

Snape also has the makings for a competent villain, one that Harry could conceivably measure up to and best, at least more so than Voldemort himself. If he really hates Harry, and he's a mind arts and potions expert—just what is he capable of? If he is smart enough to play both Dumbledore and Voldemort, why not throw in Harry into the mix? Pretend to like the kid and try to ruin his life.

It's very common for Voldemort (for e.g, What Lies Beneath, Santi, diary!Tom, sometimes Quirrelmort, etc) to have that type of role, but I don't know if I've seen Snape do that.

 

I'm not sure how would that work as a premise. Voldemort (in that role) usually does it to get Harry to do dark arts so he can join him later, or make him hate 'light' so he can join him later or... Anyway, he does it because he has plans for him. Snape doing it just to get one over James Potter would get old pretty quick, I think, and there isn't much to build on that.

I can imagine that AU as being abandoned after 5 chapters or as a Tom and Jerry crackfic where Snape constantly tries to ruin his life, but something always goes wrong.

Haven't seen Snape do that either.

 

I agree it doesn't hold as a premise, but as a side plot in a BWL Neville fic it could I think. Angry that James is alive and well and Lily is either or, he convinces Dumbledore to give him a chance and he takes advantage of it.

 

You could give Snape the Caster treatment from Fate/Zero and make him a deranged sadist who wants to inflict as much suffering on the world as possible for having lost his guiding light. Have Lily dying trigger something completely different in Snape, having sold his soul to two different masters and Lily dying anyway breaking him etc.

You'd need to rejigger a lot of what makes Snape who he is, but I mean if your goal is to do that anyway it could work. Just a thought.

 

Okay, this is an easy one: if you're looking to make Snape come across like more of an asshole than he already is (and for as 'complex' as he should be written, he's a complete dickpiston), place him among characters your protagonists like and you already know he hates.

Ergo, if he's in the Order and you want him to be properly hateable, place him opposite Sirius and Remus on a consistent basis - or better yet, have him treat the perpetually disorganized Weasleys with needling contempt. If he's at Hogwarts, have him be a petty dick to the Trio or other Gryffindors or even teachers we're supposed to like just because he can. If you're writing a Marauders-era story, any interaction with them should bleed toxicity, especially as he's just as smart as them, just more passive aggressive in his arrogance.

If he has power over someone, he's going to abuse it. If he's on the same tier, he's going to belittle them, make snide comments, lie elegantly, being passive aggressive as fuck, be an insufferable stickler for fine details and assume you already know all of it, and generally treat them as if they're beneath him. He's the coworker who is there to make your life miserable... but he's also competent to excellent at his job, so you can't get rid of him. He doesn't have the moral superiority complex of an Umbridge or the prejudiced gentility of a Lucius Malfoy or the blustering egotism of most Ministry characters... which means he keeps a low profile and is calculating enough to be conspicuously absent or there at the worst possible times; hell, just preying on making people's lives inconvenient for the hell of it can make him an ass.

 

Miss read title as “Prettier and incestsuous “

Shame as I had a few fic recommendations...

 

So the 'S' stands for Snape after all.