Snepped

he's poor. visibly, grindingly poor. ill-fitting secondhand clothes, a violent home in a depressed industrial town, no family connections, no money. he arrives at hogwarts with nothing but his intelligence. he gets sorted into the most class-conscious, lineage-obsessed house in the school. he is a scholarship kid among aristocrats and he cannot hide it.

lily is also not wealthy. but lily is beautiful, warm, and socially fluent. james potter's obsession with her functions as a social shield whether she wants it or not. she experiences hogwarts as difficult but navigable.

severus gets physically attacked. repeatedly. in corridors, in front of crowds, by boys who face no consequences. a girl with his exact qualities, clever, poor, socially awkward, from the wrong background, would have been condescended to, excluded, quietly undermined. she would not have been hung upside down in front of the school while people laughed.

And...

my soul, Dumbledore?

Mine?

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"The History of Severus Snape"

Apologising for the harm that you've caused.

Trying to change your behaviour.

Accepting that not everyone will forgive you and they don't have to.

Things Accountability ISN'T:

Wallowing in your guilt until you think of yourself as nothing but bad.

Accepting an overly distressing punishment for your actions.

Twisting yourself into knots to make sure everyone knows how disgusted you are by yourself.

everyone will forgive you

and they don’t have to.

He never really had his own identity outside of what he could do or who/what he would become. His life was valued for his servitude. His heart was exploited for warfare. Following the war, with no master left to serve and a world full of opportunities and choices, it would probably dawn on him, horrifyingly, that he has no idea who he even is.

What does he actually like? What does he actually want in life? What does he want to do? What sort of people does he prefer to have around himself? Does he deserve friends? Probably not, according to him. Where should he go? Spinner's End is familiar, but too painful. School was his prison, but it's all he knows, too. What's out there? Who's out there?

Scariest of all would be the fact that he now has choices. He wouldn't trust himself. He was mentored by Dumbledore to some extent, sure, but ultimately he was his servant. Without that, without being a servant, for better or for worse, Severus Snape would feel so lost. I know how i handle this in my head canon, but i wonder what other people think. ❤️‍🩹

Hi!

His first reaction being to punch them hard.

Right in the nose.

No wand.

No magic.

Just a good ol' punch in the nose.