Lost Boys backstory - for those who haven't/ don't want to read the books
One of my co-workers has agreed to read my epic this weekend, as I have been rattling on about it for weeks at odd moments and at some length. She has not read DH, (not sure about HBP) but doesn't much care about being spoiled. Anything to shut me up, perhaps.
Anyway, I wrote the following synopsis of books 6 and 7, with the essential knowledge needed for my story, and I'm kind of pleased with it, so I thought I'd inflict it on... I mean, share it. Here then, is the basic backstory for anyone who hasn't read HBP and DH and doesn't care about being spoiled:
With apologies to Charles Dickens, "Snape was dead, to begin with."
In Half Blood Prince, we see Snape taking an unbreakable vow to help Draco kill Dumbledore, because his mum rightly believes he doesn't have it in him and is being set up to fail. Snape finally gets to be Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore begins the book with a terrible injury to his hand that will not heal-- an attempt to tamper with one of the bits of Voldemort's soul left in inanimate objects-- the way he's kept himself alive all these years. At the end of the book, Dumbledore is killed atop the Astronomy Tower by Snape when Draco indeed can't do it. Harry watches from beneath his invisibility cloak, having been immobilized by Dumbledore to keep him quiet and safe. Dumbledore's last words are "Severus...please." So, Snape is evil, right? Heh.
In Deathly Hallows, Snape has the first chapter-- a very chilling look at a Death Eater gathering, at which a character we've never heard of before, Professor Charity Burbage, Muggle Studies Professor, is killed. She pleads for Snape to help her when she recognizes him, and he shows no sign of emotion at her plight. I use this in Ch13 of my story, and extrapolate some things.
We find out at the end of the book that Snape is new Headmaster for Hogwarts, now firmly under Voldemort's control, with two handpicked death eaters as Muggle Studies and Dark Arts (no more wimpy "defense") teachers. Muggle Studies is now right out of Hitler's racial purity propganda, and yeah, the whole parallel is very heavy-handed in its execution throughout. Their names are Alecto and Amycus Carrow, a sister-brother team (which brings to mind the joke: I am not allowed to ask Pureblood student, "If your parents got divorced, would they still be brother and sister?")
Snape returns to Voldemort as the battle starts and um-- sure you want to know this?-- dies at Voldemort's hand quite wastefully and stupidly. Harry's watching that under the invisibility cloak with Hermione and when Voldemort leaves, Harry approaches. Snape, dying, causes his memories to flow out of him like blood. He begs Harry to take them, Hermione conjures a flask for the purpose, he does so, and Snape dies, looking into Harry's eyes. Which also happen to be his mother's eyes. Harry takes the memories back and looks at them in the Pensieve and sees a very interesting but not altogether unexpected backstory for his hated professor-- his friendship with Harry's mum when they were children (grew up as near neighbors), their estrangement at school, Snape's feelings of guilt for being the unwitting instrument of her death, his participation in Dumbledore's plans involving Harry. Harry uses the memories to follow the plan and dies, then lives.
The Epilogue is a short and mostly unsatisfying scene involving the parents seeing their kids off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny have 3 kids-- James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Albus is worried about being sorted into Slytherin and Harry tells him he's named for a man who was a Slytherin and was probably "the bravest man I ever knew." Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo. Neville Longbottom is now Professor of Potions-- no, I'm lying. Herbology. Of course.
Best line from Snape's backstory in DH: Dumbledore says, "You'll have to kill me, of course." And Snape replies, "Would you like me to do it now, or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"
The idea that Dudley's got a son who's magic is my own, and little David is mine. You can see from the above why I might have wanted to make up my own character, just so I could name him.
That should be enough for you to get on with. Have fun reading this weekend.
Anyway, I wrote the following synopsis of books 6 and 7, with the essential knowledge needed for my story, and I'm kind of pleased with it, so I thought I'd inflict it on... I mean, share it. Here then, is the basic backstory for anyone who hasn't read HBP and DH and doesn't care about being spoiled:
With apologies to Charles Dickens, "Snape was dead, to begin with."
In Half Blood Prince, we see Snape taking an unbreakable vow to help Draco kill Dumbledore, because his mum rightly believes he doesn't have it in him and is being set up to fail. Snape finally gets to be Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore begins the book with a terrible injury to his hand that will not heal-- an attempt to tamper with one of the bits of Voldemort's soul left in inanimate objects-- the way he's kept himself alive all these years. At the end of the book, Dumbledore is killed atop the Astronomy Tower by Snape when Draco indeed can't do it. Harry watches from beneath his invisibility cloak, having been immobilized by Dumbledore to keep him quiet and safe. Dumbledore's last words are "Severus...please." So, Snape is evil, right? Heh.
In Deathly Hallows, Snape has the first chapter-- a very chilling look at a Death Eater gathering, at which a character we've never heard of before, Professor Charity Burbage, Muggle Studies Professor, is killed. She pleads for Snape to help her when she recognizes him, and he shows no sign of emotion at her plight. I use this in Ch13 of my story, and extrapolate some things.
We find out at the end of the book that Snape is new Headmaster for Hogwarts, now firmly under Voldemort's control, with two handpicked death eaters as Muggle Studies and Dark Arts (no more wimpy "defense") teachers. Muggle Studies is now right out of Hitler's racial purity propganda, and yeah, the whole parallel is very heavy-handed in its execution throughout. Their names are Alecto and Amycus Carrow, a sister-brother team (which brings to mind the joke: I am not allowed to ask Pureblood student, "If your parents got divorced, would they still be brother and sister?")
Snape returns to Voldemort as the battle starts and um-- sure you want to know this?-- dies at Voldemort's hand quite wastefully and stupidly. Harry's watching that under the invisibility cloak with Hermione and when Voldemort leaves, Harry approaches. Snape, dying, causes his memories to flow out of him like blood. He begs Harry to take them, Hermione conjures a flask for the purpose, he does so, and Snape dies, looking into Harry's eyes. Which also happen to be his mother's eyes. Harry takes the memories back and looks at them in the Pensieve and sees a very interesting but not altogether unexpected backstory for his hated professor-- his friendship with Harry's mum when they were children (grew up as near neighbors), their estrangement at school, Snape's feelings of guilt for being the unwitting instrument of her death, his participation in Dumbledore's plans involving Harry. Harry uses the memories to follow the plan and dies, then lives.
The Epilogue is a short and mostly unsatisfying scene involving the parents seeing their kids off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny have 3 kids-- James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Albus is worried about being sorted into Slytherin and Harry tells him he's named for a man who was a Slytherin and was probably "the bravest man I ever knew." Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo. Neville Longbottom is now Professor of Potions-- no, I'm lying. Herbology. Of course.
Best line from Snape's backstory in DH: Dumbledore says, "You'll have to kill me, of course." And Snape replies, "Would you like me to do it now, or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"
The idea that Dudley's got a son who's magic is my own, and little David is mine. You can see from the above why I might have wanted to make up my own character, just so I could name him.
That should be enough for you to get on with. Have fun reading this weekend.