The Little Pawn Got Sick Of Chess,

Do you know what would also be interesting?

A serie of one-shots like this. A group of what-ifs. And some characters reacting to them.

So, like you said, what if Lily survived along with Harry, and not understanding his true roll in the war, sent him to Azkaban?

What if Lily helped Severus on the day of his worst memory?

What if he changed schools?

What if he left the Wizarding World?

What if he'd been sorted into Gryffindor? Or Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff?

And some others that, at the begginig, seem to focus on someone else, but they end up focusing on Snape somehow.

What if Riddle hadn't hidden his true upbringing, but still managed to form the Death Eathers?

What if James got over Lily?

What if Dumbledore found out about the horrocruxes earlier?

What if Grindelwald escaped and formed a third party on the war?

And... Well, you get it.

I just think it would be hilarious to have most people realize that, yes, Severus is important. All the while Dumbledore and Voldemort are squeezing their brains, trying to think of a way to ensure tge man's loyalty.

And Severus only thought is an absolutly miserable "Why me?"

(Fic Idea)Lily and Harry Survive But...

Lily and Harry survive, Lily throws Severus into Azkaban. She watches with gleeful pleasure as the dementors suck all the happy memories away from him. She hears him beg "Please don't take her away from me" and wonders who he could be talking about. A few days later she goes to him to gloat but he doesn't recognize her. The story could focus more on Lily finding out all the things Severus did in the first war since he switched sides. One could create a few dramatic and painful choices he would have had to make then as well.

Ending with the grim prospect of the dark lord rising soon on the horizon and no spy to keep the pace of the war in check. ----

Maybe make a few known and beloved characters attempt to spy only to fail miserably/go insane/ switch sides.

Those who fail of course get tortured and killed for information, making the war even harder.

-------

The entire focus of the fic would be to highlight how monumental Severus Snape's contribution to both wars was.

How is Snape described in the books: a relatively complete compilation

Okay, so this is my attempt at gathering what we have regarding Severus Snape's appearance based on the HP books. It's long, since rowling loved obsessively writing about Snape's looks. It's likely I've missed something, but I hope not much. I didn't dive into what he's wearing or into his self-presentation, just his physical characteristics that are present in canon – people get stupid about that topic sometimes.

Disclaimer: body positivity/neutrality to everyone, I don't support JKR's lookism just as much as all of her other bigotry. Beauty is a deeply subjective concept, no features are objectively beautiful or ugly and none of them identify us as people. The way my imagination and your imagination recreate a picture from the identical textual description might be different.

Snape's nose is constantly described as "hooked":

○"Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots."

○"Snape stared down his hooked nose at Colin."

○"...as Snape swept by he looked down his hooked nose at it without comment" etc.

Altogether I found Snape's nose being called hooked 10 times in the series. There are places where we're shown it's rather big, but they aren't very definitive:

1) “Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.” – Marauders map, so basically bullies behaving like bullies;

2) "...hatred which had, if possible, intensified last year, when Harry had helped Sirius escape right under Snape’s overlarge nose" – Harry is very mad at Snape and the phrase is clearly used figuratively, not as a direct appearance description;

3)"In the very center of the group Harry saw the dark, greasy-haired head and prominent nose of his least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Snape" – "prominent" is a broader conception while referring to size, I'd say;

4) "[Tonks'] nose swelled to a beaklike protuberance like Snape’s" – again, the size is mentioned, but not through the words "big" or "large" or "long", and the form is given more empathis.

Undoubtedly it's supposed to be on the bigger side, but it does not, in fact, seem to be "abnormally" large. Making it straight should be a crime though – how can you make anything about that man straight?..

Snape's black eyes are often described glittering or sparkling, but also empty and cold:

○"They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels"

○"Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes"

○“But why not join the feast afterward?” said Snape, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight"

○"He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away."

○"He didn’t care that Snape’s face had gone rigid, the black eyes flashing dangerously."

○"Harry blinked. Snape’s eyes gleamed."

○“Don’t lie to me,” Snape hissed, his fathomless black eyes boring into Harry’s"

Snape's eyebrows aren't described in detail, we don't known if they're bushy or thin, but he does that raising one up thing:

○“Yes,” said Harry. “Who’s going to be teaching me?” Snape raised an eyebrow."

And he raises two as well:

○"Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised"

○"Snape raised his eyebrows and his tone was sardonic as he asked, “Are you intending to let him kill you?”

Snape's skin is constantly described as sallow – about 11 times through the books. Whatever that word means. Is it like... muted and dull coloured with yellow undertones? Cool!

It's also described as pale, or white due to strong emotions:

○"An ugly flush suffused Snape’s pallid face."

○"Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs"

○"Snape’s pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed Dumbledore."

○"As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped"

○"[Snape's face] was marble white and so still that when he spoke, it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind the blank eyes."

○"Snape’s sallow skin had gone the color of sour milk." (very poetic Harry, you should try writing poetry too)

Also idk what's an ugly flush (also: Harry saw the edge of Snape’s sallow face turn a nasty brick color, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly; a dull flush of color mounted the sallow cheeks as he looked at Lily), have never seen one in my life, but Snape's face canonically goes full red very quickly and this is the most important part of that meta don't forget about it folks.

His skin is described as greasy twice in the saga, but both times with not much credibility:

1) "Harry could see a vein flickering horribly on Snape’s greasy temple" – temple is the area of the face in close proximity to hair and we'll get there, although aren't Snape's "hair curtains" hiding the sides of his face, including temples? Is he wearing his it freaking braided or what? Overall, I'd say this is just another jab at his hair.

2)"Iwas watching him, his nose was touching the parchment,” said Sirius viciously. “There’ll be great grease marks all over it, they won’t be able to read a word" – Sirius can go fuck himself.

Harry does not comment that at any age there is acne or post-acne on Snape's face so I'd assume his skin isn't greasy. He has visible veins on his temples though (also no eyebags mentioned?? a crime).

Snape's lips are described as thin:

○“Now, now, Malfoy,” said Snape, though he couldn’t suppress a thin-lipped smile"

○"A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape’s thin mouth every time he looked at Harry"

○"The dungeon rang with the Slytherins’ laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape’s thin mouth."

Characteristics of Snape's teeth got two mentions.

○"Snape’s uneven, yellowish teeth were bared." PoA

○“Ten o’clock,” whispered Snape, with a smile that showed his yellow teeth. “Poor Gryffindor ... fourth place this year, I fear ...” HPB

(Also I've literally always hc'ed that Snape is a stress smoker, and since Voldemort came back Snape just started to destroy his enamel with fervour so it coloured up more, everyone should share my headcanons i prove them so well!!!)

Snape bares his teeth some other times ("I wouldn’t bet on that,” Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth"; "It was scary: Snape’s lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared) or smiles (not pleasantly let me assure you) and most times Harry doesn't comment on it. Actually, it's hilarious how the very first time Harry saw Karkaroff he thought "his teeth were rather yellow", man, do you wanna steal Hermione parents' job? Also yellow teeth are mentioned twice for Sirius in PoA (and no one dares to not notice Gilderoy's perfect teeth, of course, he asked me to mention it). So I'd say Snape has moderately imperfect teeth like a working class kid he is, otherwise Harry would've probably commented on that as much as on Snape's hair, hence almost every time we encounter him.

(but I'm totally headcanoning high canine teeth for him, Snape deserves the privilege of having some more vampirish vibe for free)

Severus' body type and face are described as "thin":

○"He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, and greasy, shoulder-length black hair"

○Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs"

○"even Harry, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face"

○"He had forgotten the details of Snape’s appearance in the magnitude of his crimes, forgotten how his greasy black hair hung in curtains around his thin face, how his black eyes had a dead, cold look (I fucking love that quote, have you forgotten his lesser crimes which are not looking the way you enjoy, Harry, after he committed bigger ones like murder? good god)

He isn't probably looking very thin, since that description mostly applies to his face. Rather logical, I mean he wears all those big flowy robes that make him look bigger.

Also Snape is average height like about 177 cm/5'10, he's shorter than Yaxley and Sirius, taller than "tall and slim" Narcissa, so somewhere in this range.

The fact that Severus has hunched posture is mentioned twice for a kid/teen!Snape:

○"He was on platform nine and three-quarters, and Snape stood beside him, slightly hunched, next to a thin, sallow-faced, sour-looking woman who greatly resembled him"

○"Round-shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, his oily hair swinging about his face."

I didn't find any mentions in the books that adult!Snape had hunched posture. It is possible that, like many behaviors and habits, such as the way he speaks, moves, and perhaps writes, it had been deliberately changed by Snape himself.

His fingers are thin and long:

○Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as he did so.

○Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, “Explain.” – yellow can be a way to call sallow skin; a result of working with potions (Snape having potions stained fingers is not book canon, which is a shame) or smoking. Them being thin is noted once, but that goes cohesively with his thinness overall.

The star of the show – Snape's hair, ofc. It gets more attention than James Potter's charachter development. The fact that it's greasy appears in the books minimum 17 times + it's called oily 2 times and dirty once when he's a 9yo kid. People who comment on that, except Harry in his head, are Sirius, Peter through the Map, Fred and George in DH ("Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to"), kinda Ron with grinning on Sirius' comment. Actually it's not described as greasy in "Spinners End" and "The Dark Lord Ascending" (so it might as well be your ordinary oily hair with a tad of drama from people who dislike Snape).

It's black – obviously, shoulder-length or "long", which I assume is just a variation for shoulder-length. It's often forming "curtains":

○"Snape went quiet, though his eyes still glinted malevolently through his curtain of greasy black hair."

○"Snape looked around at him, his face framed between curtains of greasy black hair."

○"A sliver of a man could be seen looking out at them, a man with long black hair parted in curtains around a sallow face and black eyes."

At the hilltop scene they're described as straggling:

○"Snape was wringing his hands: He looked a little mad, with his straggling black hair flying around him."

as opposed to being lank before:

○"His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping onto the table".

He had it poorly cut when he was a kid:

○“Definitely,” said Snape, and even with his poorly cut hair and his odd clothes, he struck an oddly impressive figure..."

So as an adult he supposedly cared enough to regularly cut his hair up to Harry's (fashionable) standard. It also doesn't look "dirty", like Harry calls internally his hair when Severus is 9.

Well, as someone with naturally oily hair, depression and neurodivent sensory issues, I can say that if your hair loosely hangs in "curtains" covering/framing your face, you're probably not doing that bad with it! There are a lot of headcanons about why Snape has greasy hair, but honestly, I don't understand why would he need an exuse? Having oily hair doesn't make you unhygienic, that's ridiculous, and there are no signs that Snape (noticeably) neglects his hygiene. Hair types exist, and some of them just need extra-spesial care to look "socially acceptable" or whatever, but people have the right to not bother about it. Whether his occupation and/or upbringing and/or mental health problems affected it – maybe to an extent, but excluding just genetics or physical well-being from it is kinda weird. Let different hair types live and be pretty.

Snape's mom was thin, sallow faced and sour looking, and Harry thinks Severus resembles her greatly; while Severus' hooked nose was inherited from Tobias – "a hook-nosed man was shouting at a cowering woman, while a small dark-haired boy cried in a corner". Harry also does think Eileen isn't pretty since she's described as a "skinny girl; ...she looked simultaneously cross and sullen, with heavy brows and a long, pallid face" (so evidently that's not Harry's type aside from his prejudice to Snape. Harry's admiration towards Krum hadn't made Harry think he's attractive either. Just to remind you: "Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey". Literally Snape's lost cousin).

Honestly, after going through those descriptions specifically, if I remove the evaluative vocabulary and the labels of ugly/nasty/unpleasant/etc., I don't really understand what exactly I should've found ugly? Snape is just not Harry's type of preferred visual, and on top of that they quickly developed a mutual dislike. Nevertheless, no one is obliged to transfer subjective ideas of the (author) protagonist to their own perception. Writing "ugly" after a characteristic doesn't make it "ugly".

That had been a long conclusion.

My short conclusion is that Severus Snape is a babygirl and Harry has poor taste (sorry, no hard feelings).

I'd like to see Severus speaking with Dumbledore, maybe arguing about the children or the war, or remembering Severus' old days at Hogwarts. Maybe talking about the times when Tom used to be a student.

I want Severus to look exhausted at Dumbledore and say:

"What pains me the most is that you genuinely seem to believe that you care."

And then just leave.

Megamind, getting out of a car: thanks! See you on Monday!!!

Minion: WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN???

Roxanne: WE THOUGHT SOMEONE KIDNAPPED YOU

Megamind, sipping an iced coffee: oh, yes, that men kidnapped me.

Minion: and you're gonna see him on Monday????

Megamind: yes, because he's a therapist and he wanted to torture people changing their happiest childhood memory into a nightmare

Megamind: but we spent like four hours trying to find a happy memory of my childhood (there's none) and he was actually very concerned about my mental health so we made a deal.

Megamind: He does not kidnap anyone else and I go to therapy on Mondays. Everyone's happy except for me, therapy sucks.

Minion:

Roxanne:

Minion:

Roxanne: at least he's going to therapy....

A concept I really like (aside from this ship) is the idea that purebloods are so used to magic that they have no imagination whatsoever. That is the other reason they seem stuck in time. It's not just that magic and technology don't mix well, but they have so little imagination, such a narrow-minded mentality, that they are shit at coming up with new inventions. They don't change. No new moda, no new music or aesthetic. No new spells. They can't picture themselves flying unaided or locking someone else's tongue or muffling themselves for a private conversation. Magic is so common to them that they are blind to the possibilities. But Severus isn't and neither is Tom. And I also like to imagine that Secerus was the one to invent the spell...

The flying boys

That reminds me: what if Severus taught Tom to fly, not vice versa? It is Severus who obsessively comes up with new spells, it is Severus who sees small Lily literally flying "like a trapeze artist through the air", and it is Severus who discovers the Levicorpus spell.

In the UK they are the only ones canonically doing it. Why would Tom otherwise not teach this useful spell to other Death Eaters? That is their date spell, that is why! Miggle-raised kids have a higher chance of coveting it instead of saying "Well, we have brooms and Apparition, what do we need flying for" like wizard-raised kids would.

Looking for a fic

I’ve been lost in the rabbit hole for days looking for this story. It’s marvel’s, tony stark centric, I believe. I don’t remember much except that it’s set after civil war (maybe?) and Tony is BAMF, saving the world from alien all by himself. I also remember Carol Danver congratulating him on the treaty by uniting earth into one voice (type civilization 1 or something similar to it). Tony was kinda dubbed as king (or leader) of earth, something like that. Possibly Tony/Bucky pairing but I’m not too sure about that.

Question for MLB fandom...

I don't follow the show that much, but I like it and I like the content the fandom creates. I only wanted to point out a thing. Why does Hawkmoth akumatizes people?

With Adrien it has already been proved that sentimonsters can be akumatized and use miraculouses. So, Gabriel doesn't need people to akumatize nor a person to use the peacock miraculous. He could create (or make someone else create) a sentimonster to use the peacock like Felix did, and control it. He could create a number of sentimonsters and akumatize them and make himself Scarlet Moth, etc.

Anyways... Penny for your thought?

I had a thought: What if Eileen had been just as bad as Tobias?

Snape hated muggles mainly because of his father, and I'm gessing that his love for his mother aided his idealisation of the wizarding world. Maybe she was good, or perhaps neglectful, point is, she wasn't as bad in comparison to her husband, which probably made her good in Severus' eyes.

But what if she was just as bad?

Would Severus hate pure wizards too, then?

Main reason he chose Slytherin was his mother too, so he probably wouldn't have cared in which house he ended, or perhaps he, like Sirius, would have hated that house.

I think he still would have been interested in dark magic, but I don't think the others in Slytherin would been able to get to him so easily, even if he ended in that house again.

I can actually imagine him remainig neutral to spite everyone or helping the Order because Lily was a part of it.

Also, I belive the marauders would have ignored him in favor of some other Slytherin.

I can picture the scene in the train, with James asking him which house he wanted to go to, and Severus merely shrugging in response, maybe suggesting Ravenclaw as a probable ending.

From there, James and Sirius probably wouldn't care about him, and when Lily ended in Gryffindor, well, the lions and the eagles tend to get along alright.

And this Severus doesn't like girls, simply because I say so. But even if he did, I don't find much logic in him falling for Lily. There is a moment in friendship when you simply know the other person a little too well to fall for them. And that is something that would have to be practically beaten into James skull, but they would get there... eventually.

And maybe Voldemort would actually try to recruit Severus, but I don't see that succeeding.

The lake prank and the werewolf incident wouldn't happen either.

So... I'm probably looking to closely into this and twisting it a little too much, but think about it for a second: If he can't see how both worlds have good, then maybe he can see how there is just as much bad in one as there is in the other.

*Person A does unhinged shit.*

Person B: "How in the fuck does your brain work?"

Person A: "Against my will."

You know what I would find really hilarious?

CONSIDER:

The Avengers meet God of Stories Loki and Mobius. Mobius is very charming, very folksy. He pours everyone coffee. Makes sure the thermostat in the conference room is at a comfortable temperature. Offers croissants. All the markers of a good host.

The Avengers all like him right away but are wary of Loki. After a comedic abridged version of a TVA infodump, in which Loki and Mobius ping-pong little details and show their whole squabble and tease dynamic, one of Kang's underlings is captured.

MOBIUS: Okay. Think I got a read on this guy. You wanna take a swing at him for intel or should I?

LOKI: I think you should. Y'know, trying out the whole 'good guy' bit.

MOBIUS: Sounds good. Gentlemen's competition. Time me?

LOKI: Of course.

And the Avengers watch as this cozy little human goes in and just EVISCERATES the underling. No weapons. No superpowers. Just WORDS.

The underling is on the floor, in a fetal position, sobbing and begging no more. He spills all the critical information they need. Mobius steps out.

The Avengers are in SHOCK.

BUCKY: (mumuring) ... Jesus Christ ...

HAWKEYE: (whispering) Holy shit, he's scarier than Nat.

MOBIUS: (to Loki) How'd I do?

LOKI: 2 minutes and 43 seconds. Not bad.

MOBIUS: Eh, still haven't beat your record.

LOKI: Well, I do have the advantage of magic. Should I take a handicap?

MOBIUS: Don't insult me.