Title: Judge Softly
Author: Magpies_Treasury
Rating: M
Words: 62k (complete, with WIP sequel)
Paring: none
Summary:

If Severus Snape had more than a token amount of control over his own life, he would not have chosen to relive 1991, and he certainly would have appreciated being allowed the luxury of his own body. However, since this was the situation he found himself in, he was hell bent on making the best of it. On the whole, he expected he’d do a better job of it than Potter, and why not? After all, as a fully trained wizard with a mastery in potions, nearly two decades experience in espionage, and knowledge of the future — he’d certainly expect to do better than an arrogant teenager more focused on quidditch than his responsibilities.

In which Severus Snape learns that being The Boy Who Lived is rather more difficult than he would have expected and he overthinks everything because being a ten-year-old is boring.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56756803/chapters/144289084

An interesting one. A well written Snape Peggy sue from his death in DH to 1991, only he is waking up in the body of Harry Potter rather than his own.

Pros:

- Generally well written.
- Character voices reasonably true to canon.
- Interesting and novel character perspective.
- The usual interest of a Peggy sue / time travel.

Cons:
- The speed at which the name Harry is adopted for Snape’s internal monologue, as well as the inconsistency with which it is used.
- Some repeated typos such as “Evan’s” instead of “Evans”.
- Slow paced. Not much happens.
- Magical theory is a bit meh and magic is nerfed. We have magical cores and exhaustion etc. Mostly used to justify the slow pace rather than having Snape actually do things.
- Snape is a bit too reasonable, with little of his canonical cruelty. But it’s not too bad. It’s by no means a whitewash.
- OTT Dursley abuse.
- Beginning to verge on Dumbledore bashing. Part of this can be said to be Snape’s personal biases showing through, and to that extent is good writing. But sometimes it oversteps the mark.

Overall worth a read if you’re looking to kill some time, but not a must read.

 

@taure the cons really outweigh the pros

 

I happened upon this a few weeks ago and quite enjoyed it. I'm subscribed to its sequel atm, which I think is pretty good too. I'm struggling to find much to say about it, positive or negative, which suggests that it wasn't very memorable. In terms of plot, it's a fairly routine Peggy Sue fic, with all of the strenghts and weaknesses that entails.

I can second Taure's point about Snape's immediate use of the name Harry to describe himself being jarring. It really comes out of nowhere. There's very little in the way of body dysmorphia or identity crisis either, which could have justified the transition a little bit better.

Aside from the above, Snape's internal voice is mostly well written, and Snape interacting with Snape is amusing.

I think it deserves a 3.5/5, rounding down. No new ground is broken here, but it's a decent read.

 

Most importantly, how's Harrverus' interaction with his own older self? That could be hilarious.

 

I think Snarry (the character, not the pairing) strings his older self on for a good bit, playing his heart strings on purpose maybe? I can't quite remember.

 

I liked this well enough. The author dips into some brainrot occasionally, but generally it's quite mild. Snape is a little tamer than he should be, but still an acerbic, hostile shithead.

The magic is underutilised and mostly ignores the possibilities of a peggy sue - it's definitely more 'adult in a child's body' than 'adult wizard in a child's body'.

But still. That's par the course for midfic. And in the drought of zoomer slash and desi harry, I was glad to read this. It's a fairly standard peggy sue with the unique gimmick of being Snape in Harry's body. And the gimmick is done in an alright way.

3.5/5

 

Too much angst for me.

wot