#avioleta

Summary:

After the war, Harry Potter begins writing letters to Severus.

Author: Avioleta

Narrator and cover artist: Jocunda Sykes

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage Relationships: Harry Potter/Severus Snape Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape Additional Tags: Snarry-A-Thon Challenge, Time Travel, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, First Time, Community: snarryathon, snarry, Teacher-Student Relationship Summary:

Title: The Way We Began (or, What We’re Supposed to Be)

Author: avioleta

Pairing: Derek/Stiles

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 20,600

Summary: Stiles is attacked and ends up in a coma.  Derek is acting strange when he wakes up, and everything deteriorates quite rapidly from there.

Creator’s Notes: Canon compliant through Season 1 (with one or two obvious exceptions).  Loosely follows canon events from Season 2.  A few notable bits of dialogue borrowed directly from S1.12 and S2.10.  Thank you to the mods for organizing this fest and therefore compelling me to both binge watch TW and write my first TW fic.  Especial thanks to sapphirescribe for her support, answers, pre-read, and beta.  All remaining inconsistencies and errors are my own.

Link to work: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2138778

There are a handful of Snarry authors who are new(ish) to writing the pairing, and whose work has been consistently terrific. By "new(ish)," I'm talking about the last 13 months (I'd say it's 13 in honor of 2013 or something, but the truth is that I want to get one fic in that was posted in December 2011). They are:

starcrossedgirl, who wrote the delicate, beautiful Chrysalis (NC-17, 84k), In Perpetuity (NC-17, 11k), and the previously mentioned The Boy Who Died A Lot (NC-17, 72k), in addition to a number of really terrific ficlets and drabbles centering on Harry and Snape. In Chrysalis and In Perpetuity, she writes a vulnerable Snape and a Harry who has the maturity to learn how best to care for him. More than this, SCG has a wonderful feel for the meta of a story; when she tells a story, she tells it in layers, each one as enjoyable on its own terms as the next (ETA: she has been around in Snarry for a little longer than a year, with a handful of shorter stories from as early as, I think 2005, but this was the year that, to my mind, she's really gone all-out, with fantastic results).

avioleta, who gave us three equally exquisite stories this year: In Time, Once Again (NC-17, 29k), Harry Potter and the Quest for the Sangreal (NC-17 [CHAN], 48k), and What We Were (or, This Mess We're In) (NC-17, 17k). As I mentioned in my review below, avioleta has an amazing ear for dialogue and a real skill with characterization. In In Time, Once Again, she skillfully and believably writes Snape and Harry across different timelines and at different times in their lives, and it works. In What We Were, she gives us a Harry who is in denial - about his love for Snape, his unfortunate lack of (the right kind of) love for Ginny - and she does it in such a way that we feel for all of them.

lucius_complex, who gave us The Balm of Gilead (PG-13, 5k) and Between Constellations (R, 16k), both of which I've recced here. All I can say is that she has such insight into what lies at the heart of both Snape and Harry - but particularly as they relate to one another - that I can only hope she continues to write them in new and original settings.

Harry Potter and the Quest for the Sangreal, by avioleta (NC-17 [CHAN], 48k)

God, this was beautiful. Not only did it have a compelling plot - Snape attempts to find an artifact that will give Voldemort untold power, and at the same time save Harry from the sacrifice Dumbledore believes he will have to make - but the characterizations are simply incredible. Avioleta has an amazing ear for dialogue, and even the most secondary of characters comes alive in this story (her Trelawney, of all people, is simply pitch-perfect). Snape and Harry, though, are the focus of the tale, and they're rendered with such terrific attention to detail that they become fully three-dimensional. Her Harry isn't stupid, he's young and driven by the vague, intense desires of a 16 year old body; neither is her Snape "horrible"; rather, he's intense and impassioned, with reasons for the ways he reacts, rather than his reactions always being in service of the plot. Breathless and beautiful.

A Taste:

“There’s something between us, Snape,” Potter says softly. “And I’m not sure I understand it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

Snape is not sure when it happened. When he lost control of the situation entirely, but he must quell the urge to step back until his hips hit the desk, to stammer like a schoolboy, to turn and flee to his bedroom and just hope that the boy goes away. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Potter.” But the words don’t sound as convincing as he’d like.

The boy sighs. Snape thinks he does exasperation rather well. “Of course you do.” Potter moves a step closer and (Snape can’t believe his gall) reaches out to brush a finger along his cheek.

Snape holds his breath, goes completely still.

He can’t move. He can’t breathe. He can’t decide if he should scream and yell, or hex the boy, or lean into the warmth of his touch.

Potter sighs, brows furrowing in confusion, and drops his hand. “Don’t you understand?”

Snape doesn’t understand anything at all.

“Doesn’t it feel this way to you?” Potter tries again. His voice is pitched a bit high, and there’s an edge of desperation there that Snape hadn’t noticed before.

Snape knows this is his opportunity to tell the boy off once and for all. To make sure he never tries anything like this again. After all, it’s wrong. It’s immoral. It’s a violation of at least half a dozen rules, and it’s no doubt entirely illegal.

But Snape says nothing. Instead, he stands stock still while Potter reaches out again. His hand hangs in the air for a fraction of a second (a moment pulled taut), and still Snape says nothing. This time the boy’s palm falls to his shoulder, a warm, heavy weight against the fabric of Snape’s robe.

Potter exhales. “Can’t you feel it?” he asks again, and though his voice wavers, it is Snape who feels shaky and out of focus.

“I…”

But the boy is standing too close, and though he tells himself he won’t, he knows he’s going to touch him. So when Potter slides his hand down to curl his fingers in the folds of Snape’s robe, he does not pull away. “It’s not… We can’t—”

“Shush,” the boy says (a gentle rush of sound that whuffs across Snape’s lips).

And then they are kissing

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Originally written as a TwiKink Fest entry. A Priest in training. An all-boys, Catholic school. An of-age student.