Title: Blood Magic
Author: GatewayGirl
Rating: M
Genre: Severitus
DLP Category: The Alternates
Pairing: None
Status: Complete
Summary: Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry safe, but his relatives are expendable. Blood magic was supposed to keep Harry looking like his adoptive father, but it's wearing off. Blood is a bond, but so is the memory of hate -- or love.
Link: http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/gatewaygirl/BM.html

I'm thinking that, due to the general hatred of Severitus stories here, that this will garner flames. However, Blood Magic is considered a classic in this genre, and I was mildly shocked that it wasn't already in the library. It was one of the first stories I read that made me take a different look at Severus Snape and see him, not just as a bastard Death Eater teacher, but as a real, flawed character. It's also one of the few that managed to explain how Snape could be Harry's father in a believable manner.

It's a bit slower paced than I normally like, but it has a lot of politics, wizarding culture, and even Dark Arts. It's better written than even the average story, and 100% better than the average Severitus. Nothing that Gateway Girl includes is by chance, and everything becomes important at some point. I think one of the best things is that it has no real pairings as Harry doesn't end up with anybody. It was long ago completed, and is quite long. There are fewer technical errors in it than there are in many published works. If you're going to read any Severitus story, this should be the one.

 

*vomits*

As the response to this was "For the past two weeks, he had ended every day by turning off his light, sitting on his bed, and saying, "I will not avoid lessons that I do not like. It is not Snape's fault I would not learn from him. It is not Dumbledore's fault I would not talk to him.""

instead of

"The mail bomb he sent Hermione as a reply exploded, brutally decapitating her"

I could go no further.

 

I'm mildly shocked you didn't read what you wrote yourself.

 

I haven't read it all. Just went to the epilogue. Managed to read some of it.

What the fuck? FAIL!

 

It is more than fail...

 

Let me guess, you're the type who reads the end of a mystery novel first, and is then disappointed when you're not surprised at the end. That bit of the epilogue only makes sense if you read the rest of the story. The only kind-of pairing in it is Harry/Hermione, and it's not a "one great romance" thing. It's more of a "doomed to fail" kind of thing. Yes, Harry makes peace with Draco and they end up being sort-of friends. As for the apology, well, Harry cast a fealty spell on Draco at one point and that's what the apology was for. It essentially enslaved Draco to Harry, but it was the only thing he could think of at the time to ensure that Draco wouldn't turn him over to Voldemort.

 

I'll give it a try. I just read a good Severitus story called In Blood Only, so I'm kind of in the mood for another. Hopefully it will be just as good because in my experience, Severitus can be...er...rather dreadful.

EDIT: Well, I got through the first few chapters and this is definitely not my type of fic. All the characters are very OOC without preamble. Lily, James, and Snape are friends. Not only that, Snape ASKS James and Lily if he can impregnate Lily with a child so he can have an heir... Who the hell asks that of someone?!

Here's a few quotes on it:

[rant]
Question: Why is Snape in direr need of an heir? Is he a king of something? This is just a bad plot device IHMO. And why would he ask his "ex-girlfriend" who's married to his "good friend" James? Blegh, I hate OOC!Fanon!Snape. He's the type of character that always needs to be IC, same as with Dumbledore and the Dursleys. You know those fics where Dumbledore is Dumbledork, and is teh most evilest, most foul and manipulative man in teh whole world. And where the Dursleys beat and starve poor little Harry and he sub comes to cutting himself. T_T

Snape always needs to be in character unless you have a plausible reason to explain it, and this "explanation":

is just crappie and unbelievable.
[/end rant]

To sum it up: If you like these types of fics, then I guess it's an okay one, but for me, I just can't get through them. I mean Harry even calls Snape Professor Snape and sir in his thoughts... What happened to the greasy git?

Rating: 1.5/5

.5 for the good mechanics and comprehensive plot, even if it is unrealistic to the n'th degree.

Sorry Bratling, but I just couldn't get through it, even though I am kind of open to these kind of fics. But Fanon!Snape is unforgivable.

 

Sure, because that's the first thing that's going to come to mind when you're worried about someone ratting you out to Voldemort. "I should enslave him!"

I'd think death would be the more logical way to prevent someone from going to Voldemort. Ergo, Harry's either a pussy, or he wants sexual favors from Draco. There's no other reason to make that decision.

 

Hai thar.

While the mechanics are better than for most stories of the type, it doesn't change the fact that the content is unmitigated crap.

Or, to put it simply: You can coat a slab of shit in a layer of gold, but when it's all said and done, it's still a slab of shit.

Now gtfo.

 

Oh dear god... no need to quote anything, as people already quoted enough of this crap.
It doesn't even deserves the 1\5 that I gave it.

 

I was bothered by the fact that Harry kneeled before Draco. If the Harry of this story has so little self-respect, than it is not a story I want to read.

 

Oh dear. "Give it a go" I think, "I've nothing else to do, it may as well fill my time" I think....maybe in future I should just close the browser and never visit the thread again.

What the hell is this crap? This is fail on a grand scale.

1/5, since I can go no lower.

 

Just what exactly is "Severitus" ? I've been meaning to ask that for some time now ..

 

I think it is where Snape is Harry's father. Which of course in itself is fail.

 

But why Severitus? Harrius or Sevy would be more logical wouldn't it?

 

The name comes from the author of the original challenge.

 

...

...

...

No.

 

I read this one a long time ago, and it took me a while to remember WHY Harry knelt to apologize to Draco. It doesn't make sense out of context. Harry is adolescent: neither a whiney child nor an adult. He tends to charge in, refusing to trust the adults around him. Snape is complex and strong.

3/5

 

Guess this story will get the same as An Aunt's Love. Maybe Sree and Tinn will write 10 pages of flames...

But in truth, it was a nice read when I read it... and that was a long time ago. Now, I probably wouldn't read it.

 

Severitus wrote a story in which Harry was under a glamour since birth to look like James. His real father is Snape. He made it into a challenge back in 2001 and every Fangirl jumped to write it.

http://www.severitus.net/thechallenge.htm