Thinking so hard about the two different ways Snape getting a glimpse into Harry’s mind after a Dark/Soft Dogwood dream could go.
on one hand, he would be horrified if he saw a Dark Dogwood dream. I think he’d feel terrible about the fact that Harry apparently sees him as an absolute monster (even though he doesn’t)
on the other hand, he would be sad and slightly disgusted if he saw a soft dogwood dream. He doesn’t WANT to be that father figure to Harry, but it still makes him sad that the boy is so desperate for love that he has to find it in his dreams.
in the first scenario, I can imagine him finding the Dark dream first, then seeing a Soft one later. He would be upset by the Dark dream, but find solace in the fact that Harry doesn’t seem to think that of him all the time
in the second scenario, I can see him seeing the Soft dream first, being slightly disgusted that that’s what Harry wants from him, then being absolutely heartbroken that the result of that disgust is that Harry is also imagining him abusing him
I’m making myself cry I love this au
I would’ve drawn these properly but I saw your ask while at school and was just too eager to visualize it to wait until I’d gotten home lol
It’d be even worse if Harry’s bad dreams involved Snape physically abusing him because then Snape would see himself acting exactly like his own father … but no , he’s just emotionally manipulative instead.
Anyway you have Snape’s character spot on here. He’d dislike seeing himself in either position, a father figure and an abuser, and each disturbs him differently . Seeing the soft dreams he wonders how Harry managed to delude himself into imagining Snape able to be as gentle and kindly as that; he doesn’t act anything like that enough to make Harry believe that, right?
The dark dreams make him feel sick. He doesn’t believe in divining meaning from dreams. He doesn’t believe there’s anything more in them than warped and shifted reflections of reality.
But that’s the problem : what part of his behaviour that he doesn’t consciously recognize (because he’s not like that, he doesn’t want to hurt Harry like that) is being reflected in Harry’s dark dreams?
Is part of that manipulative monster Harry dreams of actually real in Snape?