Jharad17

Author at http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1298924/jharad17.
Also has a journal at http://rachelmcg.livejournal.com/.

Better Be Slytherin! (Harry Potter)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 23rd September 2009 (5)
Tags: Novel, AU Divergent Timeline, First Year, Mentor, Reconciliation, Slytherin Harry
Characters: Severus Snape, Harry Potter
(953K)

Summary: As a first year, Harry is sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor, and no one is more surprised than his new Head of House. Snape mentors Harry fic.

I had been wondering if anyone had followed up the obvious AU of Harry being sorted into Slytherin; this story got multiple recommendations when I went looking for such a story. It deserves the accolades.

Snape starts off with almost the same unreasonable prejudice as in canon, and thus Harry finds his assumptions about the untrustworthiness of adults to be confirmed, because not only does his Head of House hate him, but being a Slytherin, he gets less support from the other teachers also. Yet Harry still manages to make friends, some of them quite surprising; and those friends, in turn, manage to get Snape to realize that Snape is breaking Rule One of Slytherin: Slytherins are the House.

That doesn't mean that it's smooth sailing, after that, not at all. There are secrets, lies, misunderstandings, threats, fear, nightmares, enemies within, unexpected allies, brushes with death, cosy cups of cocoa, and of course, quidditch. One of the amusing things is the way people keep on chiding Harry for his Gryffindorish tendencies, and that he ought to try harder to be a true Slytherin, rather than running headlong into danger.

This covers the whole of Year 1; though some things only get mentioned in passing, as it's a reasonable assumption that the readers are familiar with canon. The viewpoint alternates between Snape and Harry, and some things that we only knew from later books are shown earlier, since Snape already knows about them.

Note that the author is obviously American, since they use the phrase "Sorcerer's Stone" rather than "Philosopher's Stone", but it's no biggie.

Whelp

(1) Whelp (Harry Potter)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th May 2011 (2)
Tags: Novel, AU Divergent Timeline, Abusive Dursleys, Adoption
Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape
(400K, 72175 words)

Summary: AU. Harry is 7 years old and treated literally like a dog by the Dursleys. Will he be rescued by the wizarding world? Will he ever be fit to take on the mantle of The Boy Who Lived? childfic, preHogwarts, Sevitus. warning:extreme child abuse, violence

I balked at reading this story for a long time, because the summary led me to believe that the child abuse in the story was worse than it actually was.

That being said, it is still horrible and unconscionable treatment and much worse than anything the Dursleys did in canon. However, it only lasts for the first four chapters, and after that, Snape comes to the rescue, yay.

I really like the characterisation of Snape in this. He's not a nasty git who hates Harry, nor is he an angel. He's human, he tries hard, he feels out of his depth, he loses his temper and regrets it, he makes amends, he teaches, he loves.

Harry here is what one would expect from an abused!Harry story; he's as skittish as a nervous horse, shy, untrusting, full of misunderstandings, and yet young enough to blossom under affection.