Fic: Hook and Bait

[hbp_sockpuppet]

Title: Hook and Bait
Author: velvetmouse
Characters and pairings: Slughorn, Snape
Rating and warnings, if any: G, just a bit of AU goodness
Prompt, if any: none, really. just an odd little "what if" scenario that popped into my head; only vaguely connected to HBP by virtue of the fact that it involves Slughorn and a young!Snape.
Summary: What if someone had

Comments

[vegablack62]

I've always been very fond of Slughorn. I think he did well by his students despite his small vanities and self-indulgences. I could see him as being more of a guide to a troubled student than McGonagall for instance. I could see this and wish for Snape's sake he had done it. Though there wouldn't have been a story of course.

[velvetmouse]

Thank you!

I think there still might have been a story - prophecies have a way of doing that - but it would have been *very very* different :)

[lyras]

Fascinating! Oh, the possibilities. If only Horace had tried this; if only Snape had been more receptive...

Anyway, I love this Slughorn, who chooses the best for his students because it's also the best for him.

[velvetmouse]

Thank you! I agree, I've never seen why "ambition" always seems to mean "getting ahead while cutting everyone else's throats". I definitely see Slughorn as a subscriber to the mutual-benefit theory of ambition.

[werewolfsfan]

I am amazed once again for all of the possibilities in this ficlet. I thought that Slughorn was meant as more than comic relief in canon. He was to be the "good" Slytherin and you've really encapsulated that well here. For all that Slughorn has in interest in this, he does encourage his students and helps them to network.
And what a tantalizing AU you give us a glimpse of here! Young Severus seems very in character. So what if he could have been shown another area to prominence and eventual power rather than as a Death Eater? Wow ......

[velvetmouse]

Thank you! I really like the idea of "power" manifesting in different ways. The Death Eaters seem to represent one version of it, but surely there are other way...

[kellychambliss]

Very believable picture of Slughorn, and what lovely AU possibilities it raises. This is just how I see him working: doing a lot of careful, reasonable Slytherin thought, putting in genuine effort (albeit not of a very physical sort) because there's a lot to be gained (everyone wins, no one loses -- just the sort of ending I can see the Slug liking), and, of course, rewarding himself. Nicely written.

[velvetmouse]

Exactly! Thank you :)

[felaine]

*nod nod nod*
Then Lily comes to her senses and dumps James the Jerk for her Sev, and they live happily ever after.
Good IC Slughorn also.
Felaine

[velvetmouse]

*laugh* now that's definitely an interesting possibility....

Thanks :)