THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTER LOVE FEST

[birdsofshore]

I hereby pronounce the Love Fest OPEN!     ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥




banner by capitu





BANNERS – We'd love you to promote the fest on your journal! Please pick up your banners HERE.

ALPHABETICAL MASTERLIST OF CHARACTERS

I've started you off with 40 or so of the requested characters, and I might add more as the urge takes me. If your character is not here, start your own comment thread and I'll link to it here!

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE'S thread
ALBUS SEVERUS' thread
ARTHUR'S thread
BELLATRIX'S thread
BILL'S thread
BLAISE'S thread
CEDRIC'S thread and more CEDRIC here
CHARLIE'S thread
CORMAC'S thread
CROOKSHANKS' thread
DOBBY'S thread
DRACO'S thread
DUDLEY'S thread
FRED'S thread
GEORGE'S thread
HARRY'S thread
HEDWIG'S thread
HERMIONE'S thread
GINNY'S thread
HORACE SLUGHORN'S thread
JAMES SIRIUS' thread
KINGSLEY'S thread
KREACHER'S thread
LUCIUS' thread
LUNA'S thread
MADAM POMFREY'S thread
MINERVA MCGONAGALL'S thread
MOLLY'S thread
NARCISSA'S thread
NEVILLE'S thread
PANSY'S thread
PROFESSOR SPROUT'S thread
PROFESSOR TRELAWNEY'S thread
REGULUS BLACK'S thread
REMUS LUPIN'S thread
RODOLPHUS AND / OR RABASTAN LESTRANGE'S thread
ROMILDA'S thread
RON'S thread
RUBEUS HAGRID'S thread
TEDDY LUPIN'S thread
SCORPIUS' thread
SEVERUS SNAPE'S thread
SIRIUS BLACK'S thread
TONKS' (NYMPHADORA TONKS) thread
VOLDEMORT'S thread

MASTERLIST OF FANWORKS Updated as regularly as I can!

FEST INFO:

When is the fest running?
We're here all week, from Feb 7th to Feb 14th. Please drop in regularly to leave love and see what else has been left.

How do I leave love for a character?
It's entirely up to you, but here are some examples, for your inspiration. So, for instance, if you're feeling a lot of love for Ron this week, go to his thread HERE and leave your contribution as a comment.

You could post explaining that you've always liked a man with a freckly arse. You could draw a sketch of Ron doing his bad-ass Auror thing. You could write a drabble featuring Ron just being Ron, a kinky PWP, or a 100k Gen rated kid!fic. You could cosplay as Ron and post a photo. Sculpt your interpretation of Ron's face in mashed potato. Or eat a bacon sandwich in his honour and then compose a haiku about how delicious it was. What about some Ron-centric recs? Ron icons, favourite quotes connected to Ron, a Ron fanmix, Ron's name written in fairy lights – if you can think of it, then DO IT.

Leave a description of your contribution in the subject line. Eg, RON: FANMIX, RON: HAIKU, or RON: DRABBLE or just RON: LOVE if it's just general love.

Commenting on other people's contributions, and general chit-chat, is firmly encouraged. Will this mean the threads get a little crazy? WHO KNOWS. :D

What is and isn't allowed?
You can write any pairing, or gen, any length, any genre, any rating. Please use warnings appropriately. Content does not have to be fluffy by any means, but character bashing would not be appropriate at this fest. If you have any doubts, just ask me or capitu.

I've written a 20k fic for the fest, is that OK?
:DDD OF COURSE. If there's anything that you want to host on your own journal, just leave the link in the comment thread.

I can't find a thread for Aunt Marge / Griphook / Trevor! Are only certain characters eligible for love?
Please check the masterlist first, HERE. I'll try to keep the masterlist updated as much as possible, but I do have to sleep and stuff, so please skim through the latest comment threads as well, to see if someone else has begun one for your character. If Aunt Marge or whoever has been cruelly neglected so far, please start your own thread, putting their name in the subject line.

As to who's eligible: EVERYONE. If they feature in the Harry Potter series, they qualify for the fest.

My fanwork deals with more than one character, where shall I put it?
GOOD QUESTION. Did you feel inspired with love for one of the characters more than the others, perhaps? If not... if it's a pairing fic, say Neville / Luna, you could post it on Neville's thread, and leave a link to it on Luna's thread. If it's, say a drawing of the Lestranges, start a thread titled “The Lestrange family” and put it on there. If you still don't know where to put it, just ask me or capitu, or just do something different entirely, if you like; we won't shout at you.

Am I only meant to leave love for my favourite character?
No! Leave love for as many people as you like! You have the whole week to shower as many HP characters as you wish with love. You could even challenge yourself and try to appreciate a character you haven't really given much thought to before.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

LET THE LOVE BEGIN! ♥

Comments

SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[birdsofshore]

♥

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[writcraft]

Oh my word!! Nothing for SEV? D:

Okay, I'll be back :D

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[birdsofshore]

I know! He's terribly neglected, poor fellow!

I'm very happy you're on the case ;-)

Severus Snape: Because OF COURSE HE DIDN'T DIE

[writcraft]

I love Severus Snape because of course he didn't let a tricky thing like a snake bite get in his way.

Re: Severus Snape: Because OF COURSE HE DIDN'T DIE

[0idontknow0]

Love Hishe. And Severus is such a badass in this.

Re: Severus Snape: Because OF COURSE HE DIDN'T DIE

[torino10154]

My son quotes from this. We all love it! LOL

Re: Severus Snape: Because OF COURSE HE DIDN'T DIE

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

Haha, this was hilarious! :D

Letter to Severus

[0idontknow0]

Dear Severus,

You've not been easy to write. Honestly, you've had me stumped because what am I supposed to say and what supposed to gift to someone who really only wanted one thing? Maybe two. Lily, and freedom. So you see my dilemma. More than those two things though, I think you really just needed someone to befriend you and to genuinely care about you (because let's face it, Albus wasn't exactly what you'd call a friend, more like a frenemy, and the Order really only trusted you so long as Albus did).

You went have gone to Albus after the 1st war and helped to keep Harry safe throughout the years and, though you did them for selfish reasons and with a bit (a lot actually) of bitterness, you did it well. You were steadfast in your duties long after Albus had passed, you spared the students from excessive punishment, you gave your life and soul to your cause and that is something to be admired. (And thankfully it all paid off.)

As for gifting you, I'm still not too sure. I can't thank you on behalf of Harry, or forgive you on behalf of Lily, and I probably wouldn't be the person that could convince you that you can put an end to your penance now. I do think you'd like a new home though. Maybe not at first but, honestly, living at Spinner's End can't be good for you. It's sort of like asking Harry to live in the Dursley's home after they've gone and died. No need for more self-punishment Severus. Your life is your own.


PS: Just unshrink it somewhere nice.

Re: Letter to Severus

[writcraft]

Awww!!! Love!

Re: Letter to Severus

[birdsofshore]

Such a thoughtful present! I love to imagine Snape living grumpily ever after in it.

Severus Snape: The Byronic Hero of the Potterverse - Part I

[writcraft]

Bits of this are taken from a previous post I prepared at the beginning of 2013 and I'm dropping it here, to express my love for Severus and why I think he's Harry's perfect man :D

Severus Snape: The Byronic Hero of the Potterverse

J.K. Rowling has expressed her mock displeasure at the love her fans have for the ‘bad boys’ of the Potterverse, including Severus Snape. Rowling hinted at something more to Snape’s character long before canon drew to a close, yet she has never indicated that he is a particularly good man. To the contrary, Rowling has suggested that he is an amalgamation of numerous teachers she recalls from her own school days who used to frighten the children under their tutelage – the worst sort of bully, who attacks those weaker than him, when as an adult in a position of authority, he should know better.

Despite Rowling's protestations, in Severus Snape she has created a character full of complexity and rich with contradiction. He is a hero and a villain, a bully and a perpetrator of bullying, the “bravest man” of the Potterverse and an emotional coward. He terrifies children in his care to the point that he appears alongside spiders, mummies and Dementors when Neville is forced to face his own personal Boggart. He is feared by students and appears to live in relative isolation, his relationship with future Hogwarts staff members (Lupin, Moody) tainted by past animosity. Dumbledore is consistent with his insistence that he trusts Snape, yet still Dumbledore does not trust him with the full truth of Harry's survival.

The parallels between Snape and Harry run deep. Both were seemingly raised in unhappy homes where magic was not welcome. Throughout canon, parallels continue to be drawn until the end when each character meets death head on. Both have been instructed by Dumbledore to carry out missions and yet neither have the full details about one another’s role, which might have led to a modicum of understanding between the two. Each must fight the Dark Lord without the full arsenal of knowledge. While Harry’s battles are public and carried out under constant scrutiny from the press and those around him, Snape’s battles are private and conducted in the shadows of secrecy.

When it comes to Harry, there too, Snape is full of contradictions. He appears to hate the boy, yet his final request is that Harry look into his eyes and his actions are instrumental to Harry’s victory in the war - there is no doubt in my mind that Harry could not have been victorious with Severus Snape, anymore than he could have succeeded without Hermione or Ron.

The connection between the two characters is cemented from the first Potions class. Although his teaching methods are questionable, Harry gleans vital information from Snape such as the moment when Severus teaches Harry Expelliarmus, which go on to protect Harry and his friends in battle. Unwittingly, the Half Blood Prince also teaches Harry about the usefulness of certain antidotes, such as the bezoar (“just shove a bezoar down their throats”), and inadvertently Severus leads Harry to one of his more morally grey moments, through the Sectumsempra spell.

Severus understands Harry’s connection with Voldemort, something that is hinted at in the Chamber of Secrets, when Snape further appears to understand something of the connection when Harry speaks Parseltongue – ”Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way: it was a shrewd and calculating look.” Snape and Dumbledore are alone in their understanding of the intrinsic connection between Harry and Voldemort.

Re: Severus Snape: The Byronic Hero of the Potterverse - Part II

[writcraft]

In her paper Keeping Promises to Queer Children: Making Space for Mary Sue at Hogwarts, Ika Willis notes that Snape is described in a manner consitent with the tropes of the Gothic romance. With descriptions of his dark hair, piercing stare, coal black eyes and silky voice, Snape's physicality calls to mind other anti-heroes of classic literature, such as Heathcliff, Frollo and Rochester. Canon both sexualises and romanticises Snape with these descriptions, albeit perhaps unintentionally. The argument that Snape is written in a manner which can be likened to the anti-hero of conventional romance; the Byronic man of “loneliness and mystery” is given further support by the revelation of his unrequited love for Lily Evans which he appears quite willing to literally die for.

That Severus and Harry could build a life together seems improbable – if not impossible – on first blush. The two characters seem to loathe one another with Snape’s already nasty and bitter side looking even more unappealing when viewed by the reader through Harry’s eyes. There is a reasonable age gap between them and a dark and bitter history which inextricably links the two characters.

However, it is precisely this animosity and hatred which originally drew me to this pairing. Even before I discovered slash, the relationship which fascinated me the most, was that of Harry and Severus. I thrived on the tension between the two characters and I loved Snape in all his bitter, flawed glory and the relationship dynamic between Harry and Snape was, quite genuinely, the key relationship of the series for me.

I love seeing that acrimonious relationship retextualised as sexual tension and I firmly believe a relationship between the two could work successfully. The parallels noted above run deep throughout canon. I do not find it a stretch at all to believe they could find themselves in a situation where they began to recognise their common bonds, from their childhood through to their adulthood and their respective roles in the war.

Where would I be without someone to save me, someone who won't let me fall?

Severus has always given me ALL THE FEELS. I just can't even begin to articulate how much Severus, as a character, and the Snarry ship means to me. LOVE.

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[eelegantlyeevil.livejournal.com]

Dear Severus:

Let me count the ways....no I can't start out my love letter to you like that chances are you would turn around and AK me. Let me start over....

I am twisted. I freely admit it. I am attracted to bad boys and as far as bad boys go, you have everything I am looking for....

Long hair, a bad ass tattoo, air of mystique and you can work magic like no one I ever saw.

oh yeah and your loyal to a fault. Dumbly is going to use you and unfortunately I think that it may lead to your downfall.

That okay though, I also know when you love, you love always and in the end that's the only thing that really matters.

Always,

EE

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[birdsofshore]

Oh, I'm very happy to see the Snape love beginning! I agree bad boys are the business <3

Thank you for this!

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[0idontknow0]

*nods in agreement*

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[digthewriter]

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[writcraft]

Ahahaha!!! LOVE IT :D

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee! Who's he adorable Snape? *pinches his cheeks and gets hexed*
Meh, it's still worth it. ;)

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[starduchess.livejournal.com]

Awww, that's adorable! *dodges hexes*

Why Snape?

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

I get asked that a lot.

How can I resist sputtering on once again about my favorite character? I tried to keep this short, and I didn't touch on any of the fanfic I love, which almost feels like a crime because there are so many amazing variations on Snape to choose from.

(Warning: this is going to break comment boxes because links take up a lot of hidden characters!)

I see Snape a little differently than writcraft earlier in this thread – not the Byronic (anti)hero, but the fuck-up who paid the ultimate price for his mistakes, the boy who didn't belong anywhere and couldn't hide it (http://firefly-wp.deviantart.com/art/Bye-113783027). He's both horrible and heartbreaking, and he dies just at the point where he finally acquires the pieces that were missing in him as a child, empathy and a sense of moral imperative, the things he lacked and that disfigured him as a human being; the things that, had he lived, might have forced the wizarding world to respect him despite the terrible acts he had committed and the eternal shadow on his soul.

He was a half-Muggle who for reasons never explained in the text was willing to believe that purebloods were better; a working-class child from a loveless home (http://e-c-h.deviantart.com/art/Childhood-149746938), untended, unsupervised, dressed in hand-me-downs, isolated, funny-looking, small for his age (conditions he shared in some respects with Harry, although temperamentally they were very different (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/snarry_games/220290.html). He cared little for his appearance save for his clothes, and the second he was able to switch to wizarding robes, it appears he never wore anything else. His magic inclined toward darkness, and he seemed to believe that the Dark Arts would give him power. But then, magic was supposed to be his ticket out, his escape from poverty and hopelessness. It appears that no one in his childhood instilled in him a sense of right and wrong, nor did it come naturally; there are moments in canon when he seems genuinely confused by other people's (Lily's, Dumbledore's) reactions to his abhorrent behavior. He was all about survival, about climbing out of the gutter.

And he had a single friend who was as magical as he was, but who was clean and pretty and beloved and kind; in other words, everything he was not. She was his proof of another world, another way of life. She was perhaps the symbol of everything he longed for during his greedy, solitary, deprived youth. (http://irisclaymore.deviantart.com/art/The-Choices-We-Make-128009170)

Snape's experiences in school didn't improve him (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Snape-again-309619569) (yes, I know he's too attractive here – in fact, he looks remarkably like Loki. Do I care? No). I'd argue that what happened to him at Hogwarts propelled him straight into Voldemort's arms. Becoming a branded member of a terrorist group is horrific in itself. But in his eagerness to please his new master (http://deeply-horrible.livejournal.com/11879.html), he committed the sin that would destroy the friend who clearly meant more to him than all his dreams of success. By reporting the prophecy, Snape poisoned his soul, crashed his future into a dead-end street, and imprisoned himself for the rest of his life in a debt of grief, hatred, self-loathing, and bitter redemption. All by the time he was 21. Another student portrait that's too pretty, but hey, I can deal with it. (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Severus-Snape-149996364)

I sometimes wonder how he felt about Hogwarts. In a day-to-day sense, it was his home for longer than any other place he ever lived. But he must have hated it sometimes (http://ancatdubh.deviantart.com/art/What-the-hell-am-I-doing-here-160221589), just as he hated teaching, and himself, and Harry.

Re: Why Snape? - pt II

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

As I read the books, my fascination with this spiteful, soft-voiced, strangely charismatic misfit grew. He's surprisingly intense (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Snape-Just-Snape-210125804), by far the most passionate character in the entire series, the most ambiguous (although by the end Dumbledore may have nicked that title), the most damaged. Sarcasm and scorn are his primary language. As the story unfolds, we see him write riddles in poetry, conduct a formal duel, counter unknown hexes during a Quidditch match in a desperate bid to save Harry's life. He's adept at potions, a tyrant in the classroom, a lurker in the corridors after curfew (http://zwerg-.deviantart.com/art/After-curfew-121664652). His eyes are piercing, yet dead and cold, which we eventually learn is due to the practice of Occlumency, although it doubles as a metaphor for the state of his soul. He's a Legilimens, the only one we know of apart from Dumbledore and Voldemort. He's infamous for his love of the Dark Arts, and Harry discovers that as a precocious teenager he used to entertain himself by creating new spells, the only character we ever see doing that. He has enough skill as a healer to keep Dumbledore alive after the headmaster puts Gaunt's ring on his finger (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Healing-Deathly-Hallows-63260444). And he can fly without a broom. He can fucking fly. (http://www.deviantart.com/art/And-now-ride-me-up-Testudina-Maxima-276942917)

Also, lest I forget, he loves books. (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Reading-by-candlelight-22200528) How am I supposed to resist a tormented loner who loves books? (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Winter-Reading-252206063)

Amidst these flashes of brilliance and cruelty – for Snape is an unreconstructed arsehole to most people, especially students – is evidence that the house divisions mean sod-all, because Snape is a hot mess of all four combined: he has the sharp mind of a Ravenclaw, the deathless loyalty of a Hufflepuff, and the ambition that got him sorted into Slytherin in the first place – not to mention that Dumbledore, the kindly old backstabber, casually remarks that perhaps he ought to have ended up in Gryffindor after all.

Then there's love. Snape doesn't know how to, yet love he does. He loves and grieves in a way that's obviously unhealthy and obsessive, deep and soul-sucking. He keeps himself going after Lily's death primarily by means of anger and servitude, the bitterness that eats at him, his desire to defeat Voldemort. He agrees to protect Harry only as a form of self-punishment that he suffers, shall we say, ungraciously. However twisted the altruism, Snape yearns to atone. Killing himself would in some ways have been easier, but living until Voldemort rises again affords him vengeance, even if it means that Dumbledore more or less becomes his second master.

Since Snape chooses to live, he gets the chance – belatedly, seeing that it takes him until almost the very end – the chance to grow up, to learn that other people matter; to learn that yes, he will do whatever he can to save them; that he will protect the children in his care, and will sacrifice his life, no matter how stupid the reason or how culpable Dumbledore is for not warning him about the Elder Wand; and he'll manage, even with his throat torn out, to convey the heart-rending message on which their victory depends. He'll ask Harry to look down at him with his mother's eyes, and even if he's looking for Lily, it will be Harry that Snape sees as he dies (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Deathly-Hallows-memories-60878353).

There would be no brave new epilogue without that bastard Severus Snape (http://patilda.deviantart.com/art/Long-Cold-Winter-94819216), just as there would be no Boy Who Lived without Snape's heartless betrayal.

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[smallbrownfrog.livejournal.com]

Severus Snape drives my love of the Harry Potter books. I started to say I love Severus Snape himself, but I don't know if I can pin down the emotions he stirs in me and attach them to any one word.

Yet maybe that's the definition of love, to feel so strongly that one overused word couldn't possibly hold the intensity. And there's so much intensity here. I don't even know if it's my intensity or his own. It's coffee with no sugar, acid with no base. It's the fast current in the river where my uncle told me not to swim as a child, the dark current that can pull you down, down, down faster than you can swim.

At times I identify with him. At times I want to rescue him. Always he fascinates me. And yet I know where this story is going. Down. Much faster than any of us can swim.

That doesn't stop us from trying. There are so many of us down here in the dark, trying to stop the bleeding.

There are so many of us who love him. Surely that will make a difference? Maybe if we write passionately enough, paint clearly enough, read deeply enough, the story will shift and something new will emerge?

Probably not.

But I'm foolish enough to keep trying.

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[birdsofshore]

God, this was wonderful - so passionate and intense. I loved the emotions in it, and the poetry of it. Thank you for sharing these thoughts. It's really what the fest is all about <3

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[notearchiver.livejournal.com]

♥

All of this.

Re: SEVERUS SNAPE'S THREAD

[khalulu]

I got chills from reading this. Yes.