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I read this one because it’s up for discussion on hp_fictalk. Now, the Snape/Sirius pairing is not really my thing. I just don’t see it happening. So yea, I’m biased. You’ve been warned.
I’ll start by talking about the things I liked in this mid-sized read. The writing flows nicely- just the level of detail I like and I enjoyed the Sirius pov. What I liked best was the author’s deft hand when it came to humor. The beginning, where Sirius and Lupin are playing cards had some nice banter and did a good job of establishing likable characters. The easy banter and appealing characterizations are a mainstay of the story, and balance some of the darker themes. I also liked the premise that Snape was teaching Sirius to brew the wolfsbane. It gave them a plausible reason to interact and I simply liked the structure of depicting each day’s events over the course of the month long brewing process. In general, reading this story was enjoyable. What wasn’t particularly enjoyable for me was the story. [READ MORE]
On to what didn’t particularly work for me. Hm- the more I read some of the influential fics in the fandom, the more I realize I REALLY prefer gen when it comes to Harry Potter fic. It doesn’t help that I read for Snape, who I have difficulty imagining in almost any romantic relationship. However, give me a good story and I can live with the romance.
In this fic, I started off a bit confused as to what the time frame was. Lupin is teaching and Sirius is hanging around more or less in public, and Sirius and Snape don’t much like each other, but they don’t seem to hate each other either. Harry’s simply absent, which I wasn’t too keen on. Anyway, it was hard for me to place the story within the canon framework, and the almost complete irrelevance of Voldemort and the war for the first 3/4’s of the story didn’t help. And really, that’s the crux of the matter for me- I’m interested in the war, Snape’s role as spy (which we eventually find out is now over), the whole battle between good and evil. I’m less interested in Snape and Sirius hooking up, which is pretty much what this story is about. If you’re into reading about snogging, mutual masturbation, and sex, then this is a good call. Remove all of that, there really didn’t seem to be much left. What was was kind of cliche- and oddly enough reminded me a lot of soap opera fanfic I used to read.
The bit about Snape being molested was something I saw coming from the first kiss scene. The fact the step-dad did it? I figured that as soon as the step-dad was mentioned. Lastly, when Sirius got pissed at Snape because Snape was mad about Sirius revealing their relationship to Albus? That seemed a little contrived. I mean, I bought Sirius’ insecurities regarding their relationship and his anger over it. However, he’d just spent most of the story being patient and understanding and taking it slow because Snape was so edgy about the whole thing. Dude! He damn well should have expected Snape to freak out when he came waltzing in from Snape’s bedroom to talk to Albus. [HIDE]
Anyway, it sounds like I hated it, but I didn’t. Overall, the quality of the writing and the generally appealing characterizations made this an enjoyable read. However, I didn’t think the appealing characters much resembled the versions of Snape and Sirius that I imagine. Honestly, I never really got past the idea Sirius and Snape hate each other. Maybe if I’d read this before OotP it would have worked better for me, at least with regard to the plausibility of the pairing and the amount of work that needs to be done for me to buy it. Of course, even if I did buy the pairing, romance stories still aren’t to my taste.
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