Alternate Universe Harry Potter fanfic links

Harry Potter fanfic links (most of them involving Snape!):
Alternate Universe or canon-shafted

[Stories which I consider to be especially well-written or significant are marked with a star - ]

A Noi Si Schiude Il Ciel by E.K. Stanton
Time fractures during the GoF scene where Mrs Norris is found petrified, and Harry is replaced by much older versions of himself and Draco, who claim they have come back to change history and prevent Voldemort's otherwise certain victory. But Snape suspects that things are not as they seem. Unfinished and likely to remain so, which is a pity because the writing is excellent, full of wit, character and suspense. The title is a quote from Guiseppe Verdi's opera Aida, and means "The Heavens open to us".

Absence of Light by Gryph1
Surreal vignette of Padfoot watching the final battle.

The Absolute Worst by Andolyn
Snape gets stage-fright! Canon-shafted because Dumbledore is still alive after the war without explanation.

Absolution by Dauphin
Poignant and witty bit of stream-of-consciousness from the viewpoint of Sirius Black. So well-done it made me feel quite sympathetic towards him - which takes some doing. Canon-shafted only in that it repeatedly refers to Snape as a pureblood.

About A Boy by Catherine Cook
During Occlumency lessons, Harry accidentally breaks through into a part of Snape's memory which had been suppressed by a Memory Charm, and the shock sends Snape into a coma. The memory itself however is benign - of a teenage summer when one of the Marauders' attacks went wrong and ended up shifting him thousands of miles, leaving him stranded for weeks on a small farm in America. That sounds as though it's a recipe for something really corny, but actually it's well-written, vivid and touching.

The Accords by drakien
Humorous one-shot which gives a new and original spin to the standard Marriage Law Challenge plot.

Achluophobia by NinePurpleClouds
The viewpoint is fractured, terrified and slightly crazed but always Snape's, jumping back and forth between his childhood, himself as a teenager pursued by the Marauders, and himself now, hiding with Hermione in a Muggle warehouse while unnamed enemies search for them. I've listed this as AU, for the moment, but it may turn out to be post-HBP. The title means "fear of darkness".

The Act of Murder by Bil
Harry kills Voldemort in cold blood, and then feels very uncomfortable about it. Canon-shafted because Dumbledore is still alive after the war without explanation.

The Adventure Inherant by Sare Liz
HGSS WIP, AU from the end of OotP. A sparkling, amusingly-written version of the Marriage Law Challenge story: one in which Snape has realised to his embarrassment that he would actually enjoy love and companionship if he could only get them, and sees the Marriage Law as a possible opportunity rather than an imposition.

After the Storm by unlikely2
Multi-part story which is part of the Shakedown series, q.v. . Harry falls in with a girl who proves to be Snape's daughter, and Snape eventually becomes Harry's protector. Much more convincing than it sounds as if it ought to be.

Against All Better Judgment and Throwing Caution to the Wind by aphrodeia
A post-victory, post-graduation ball and a large quantity of firewhisky leads to Snape and Hermione getting rather closer than either of them had expected....

Alternate History by Ormhaxan
Alternate-timeline WIP in which Minerva becomes aware of how badly the Marauders are attacking Severus, prior to the underpants incident, and decides to intervene, changing their futures.

Always In Your Shadow by Arinus
A brief fling between young Severus and Bellatrix leads to a daughter. Bellatrix tries to shape the child into a perfect servant for the Dark Lord, only to lose her in a confrontation with the Order. After Voldemort's fall and Bellatrix's arrest, Snape locates his daughter in an orphanage, takes her home and tries to establish a connection with the withdrawn, untrusting little girl.

And a Star Falls by sabecat
After the loss of his friends in a Death Eater attack, Harry persuades Snape to help him in one last desperate throw to bring Voldemort down.

And One Who Will Never Return by Carmilla
A very sad piece in which Snape and Harry have become at least moderately friendly, but Snape is captured and everyone assumes he is dead, and Harry is mourning him without realizing that he is still alive, a prisoner and suffering miserably. Would be unbearably sad were it not that a partially-written sequel, Broken, finally got Snape out of his private hell.

An Apostate by LSD Feniks
A very dark and harrowing story in which Snape's betrayal of Voldemort is discovered and he is tortured and raped under the supervision of Lucius Malfoy, without any obvious hope of rescue or relief. The reason I include it is that if you add about 2½ years to the characters' ages, and gloss over the canon-shafted idea of Severus and Lucius being in the same year, it could easily be a vignette from about two weeks before the start of the main action in my own story Mood Music. The violence which underpins Mood Music is mainly off-camera and/or mentioned only briefly and restrospectively - but if you want a vividly ghastly take on the sort of thing from which Snape was fleeing in that story, this will provide it: including the fact that Lucius is recalling a schoolboy sexual relationship which he thinks of as romantic seduction but which was clearly abusive and manipulative, and that he makes Draco watch some of what is done to Snape.

Apparently by JiM1
Odd, sweet little vignette in which Snape is boggled to find out that Harry wants him to be his best man. Canon-shafted in that Dumbledore is alive after the final battle, without explanation.

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? by fyre
Snape tries hard to save Harry's life after the final battle, but Harry doesn't really want to be saved.

Armistice by JiM1
Disowned by his former family, Draco suffers dangerous bullying and Harry and co. end up protecting him. Sequel to Of Arms and the Man 1.

Artemisia Absinthum by Shiradine
Long after the war, Snape has become the owner of a high-class potions shop in Diagon Alley, and Harry and Lupin are living together in amiable rustic poverty. Lupin invites Snape to dinner but relations between them all are more than strained. This is a slice-of-life piece which intersects dramatic events - the kidnap of Harry's godson, for example - but leaves them unresolved. AU only because there is no mention of Snape being accused in relation to Dumbledore's death.

Artwork by Rockhandjive
Slash piece which puts a very dark spin on the events of Harry's life, though the ending is bittersweet.

As A Mother Would by Chervil
Sad/humorous slightly slashy vignette: Snape's taste in lullabies is uncomfortably dark....

As the World Falls Down by Martian Aries
Snape and Hermione find a little comfort in each other in the last days before Voldemort's triumph. Touching and tragic.

Ashen and Sober Skies by zhaneraal
A grim premise - Snape is betrayed to Voldemort and assumed by the Order to have been killed, but following the final battle he is discovered in Voldemort's prison catatonic, half dead and three-quarters mad after nearly a year of torture. The story is mainly concerned, however, with the realistically slow, complex and painstaking methods by which Dumbledore, McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey endeavour to get him functioning again. The dialogue in particular is very realistic and has the authentic bite of genuine hospital chatter, and the whole thing is less depressing than it sounds. Unfinished at time of listing.

Ashes of Armageddon by Emily Waters
An extremely grim but very well-written EWE WIP (though a bit Britpicky). Harry never met with Dumbledore's spirit at the astral King's Cross, so he never got confirmation Snape was telling the truth. Five years after the war, an increasingly dark Harry, now Minister for Magic, has convinced himself Snape was lying. He forces the convalescent ex-spy to become his bonded slave so he can make him suffer for all the crimes he imagines him to have committed, but the nice Harry and the inner sadist are in constant struggle. Although there are some very cruel scenes this is not as nasty as "Harry punishes Snape" stories usually are, since Snape knows from the first that he has allies in Hermione and Ron, who want both to protect Snape and to work out what is wrong with Harry before he metamorphoses into the next Dark Lord, and the story is ultimately hopeful. Will be slash eventually.

Aspectus Infestorum by red day dawning
Creepy, tragic, intense (and very explicit) supernatural slash one-shot. Severus's Foe Glass shows him Remus's face, but there is more than one sort of danger and more than one sort of enemy.

Azeneth Petree by soberloki
Humorous slash vignette. Snape is roused from the bed he shares with Harry by the wizarding equivalent of spam e-mail.

The Basement by Marz1
Harry stops to pat dog-Sirius on his way to meet the Knight Bus at the beginning of PoA, and events take a very different turn thereafter - including Harry saving Snape from Lupin, and getting bitten.

Beautiful Nightmare by Sky Samuelle
Elegantly-written one-shot: Snape's final desperate conversation with Lily outside the portrait hole takes a different turn, which radically alters his life in some respects - whilst leaving it much the same in others.

Because We Will by Caster
Numinous, gentle, philosophical little slash piece - Harry sits on a windowsill high up in the Astronomy Tower, and Snape must always be there to catch him if he falls.

Before the Dawn by jharad17
Following an episode in which Harry was kidnapped and abused by Voldemort, Snape has become the boy's guardian and has dedicated himself to overseeing Harry's recovery from trauma. WIP Sequel to Walk the Shadows.

Beg, Somewhat Miscalculated and Obliviate by Tien Riu
A series of highly explicit/erotic, humorous slash pieces, in which Harry has accidentally absorbed Snape's magic, and the only safe way to put it back is through a sixteen-hour sex rite. Meantime, Harry has come to a very strange arrangement with Lucius. N.B. whether you think Obliviate is fun or nasty depends on whether you think Lucius is kinky enough to enjoy it. I think he probably is.

Beneath the Silk by ArchArtist/Writer
A very dark take on Dumbledore - Remus notices Snape flinch when Dumbledore touches him, and gradually uncovers the truth, that Snape was sexually abused by the headmaster when he was a schoolboy. This is on the whole a well-written and thoughtful look at a serious subject (and it has telepathic pet rats, which is always a plus) - but IMO it is let down by a fudged ending in which it is established that Dumbledore never abused anybody else, and is forgiven. Since child-abuse is nearly always an obsessive behaviour it's vanishingly unlikely that an abuser could spend his entire adult life surrounded by children and only ever abuse one.

Best Behaviour by Rex Luscus
Very mild slash: Snape and Ron are an item, and Ron takes Snape to have tea at The Burrow....

Betrayals by Josan
Snape is framed so convincingly that even Dumbledore believes him a traitor, and is abandoned in Azkaban where he is tortured into a state of near-total mental and physical collapse. Remus and Sirius discover evidence that he may be innocent and rescue him, to be cared for by a raffish relative of Sirius's and his eccentric collection of house-elves. The story was completed in 2003 and is very heavily canon-shafted, including the characterizations: but it's still a very good (and very long) read.

Better Angels by lmk05
A quite traumatic Marauders-era story in which the Marauders discover that teenage Severus is actually and literally the Malfoys' slave, battered and abused - information which makes James have an attack of moral maturity and behave far better towards him, and makes Sirius behave even worse, if possible. Realizing that he has landed Severus in appalling trouble with the Malfoys, James actually buys him free - but is too dim to explain this to Severus, who is left absolutely terrified; thinking that James has got hold of him in order to torment and humiliate him at close quarters. This dramatic premise could easily have turned into melodrama - but in fact it is thoughtful, psychologically complex, painfully vivid and also very witty. Complete.

Between Shadow and Blinding Flame by Tess3
A strange, elegaic vignette in which Arabella Figg, newly-appointed to the Hogwarts faculty, remember her late husband and wonders uneasily whether it was Snape, in his Death Eater days, who betrayed him. Heavily canon-shafted in that it portrays Arabella as an Auror rather than a squib, but this is an exceptionally beautiful and haunting piece of writing.

Bindings of Love and Pain by Bil
Harry is surprized at his own reaction to his aunt's terminal illness.

Birch Wood and Dragon Heartstring by Ada Kensington
Shortly before he is due to start at Hogwarts, young Severus saves the life of a strange dragon which is being hunted by Ollivander for wand material, and an association is formed which will shape his schooldays. Beautifully written, and includes a fascinating and original original male character, but I list it as AU because Severus's schooldays, as portrayed here, are not really compatible with the fact that neither James nor Sirius could come up with any strong grievance against him which might justify their treatment of him, even when it would have been to their advantage to do so. WIP

The Birthday Present by excessivelyperky
In an attempt to force Snape to become more sympathetic to Harry, a cold, manipulative Dumbledore undermines Snape's only hope of safety by threatening him with Azkaban, and curses him with nightmares designed to make him see how badly he has behaved towards Harry. Snape is already isolated, exhausted and ill, after a year spent being kept at arms'-length by the Order and wishing he could keep Lucius at arms'-length, and the nightmare-hex proves to be just too much and sends him spiralling into black depression; yet when Harry begins to experience Snape's nightmares as well, Dumbledore is much more concerned about Harry than about what he did to Snape. The portrayal of magic is impressive, profound and convincing (Snape communing with the soul-beast of Slytherin House, for example), and the story is emotionally-intense to the point of being painful to read; but it suffers from a tendency to be a bit maudlin, portraying Snape as a pathetic victim without his usual fire and bounce. Unfinished at time of listing.

Bitter by FoolishWishmaker
Surreal, minimalist one-shot, set in a time-line where Hogwarts has fallen in battle while Sirius is still alive. After Harry is injured by Dementors, Snape scrabbles in the ruins to find the ingredients for a chocolate cake which may save a life.

Black Light by Earth
Someone sits contemplating the robes of a Death Eater, which will soon be his.... Elegant and sensual (but hard in the eyes, because the formatting has gone wrong and the paragraphs are neither spaced nor indented).

Black Martyrdom by LadyRhiyana
Snape's decision to defect to Dumbledore - with a fascinating, though ultimately canon-shafted, take on the structure of wizarding society.

Blasted Wreck of a Cat by Zero Is Plural
Humorous WIP. Crookshanks has taken a shine to Draco, and when Hermione stops him from going down to the dungeons again Draco decides that strong measures must be taken....

The Book of Love by cecelle
A gentle look at Hermione and Severus as a couple.

Born Lucky by Tetsubinatu
The war was won but the Order is out of favour and many Order members were imprisoned. Snape is released after ten years in solitary confinement, outwardly calm but very institutionalized and spaced-out. The surviving Order members try to help him to settle back into normal life, and a cautious friendship grows between him and Ron. Delicate WIP, probably slash eventually.

Bottoms Up by The Treacle Tart
Sweet silly slash piece, nothing like as crude as the title suggests. Snape wakes up in bed next to Lupin after a drunken night he can barely remember, and they end up trying to cap each other's stories of "Disastrous, embarrassing and plain bizarre moments from my sexual history."

Breaching the Forgotten by Ethelinda's Window
Occult thriller, set in an alternative sixth year: two mind-warping demons have an interest in Snape, one to harm and one to protect. It falls to Hermione to investigate the reasons behind the strange changes in his behaviour, and in so doing she stumbles across an ancient prophecy relating to the sealing of the gate between the world of demons and the world of men. WIP

Breaking the Lie by blood-poisoning
One of a series of challenge stories in which the Dursleys begin actively abusing Harry, and Snape ends up caring for him. This one is more emotionally-complex and less melodramatic than most. Slight slash. Unfinished.

Breathing by Erimenthetic
An odd, atmospheric WIP, AU from the end of OotP, which looks at the trauma and attempts at healing of the survivors of the war - especially Headmaster Snape and Deputy Headmistress Granger.

Brilliant Lies by Gemmi
Odd, dreamy little piece, about Draco getting trapped into becoming a spy for the Order, and learning not to want what his father wants him to want.

Broken by Carmilla
Partially-written, unfinished sequel to And One Who Will Never Return, q.v. . This at least gets Snape out of the appalling situation he was in at the end of the earlier story, and it's touchingly written and interesting to see Snape still being his competent self even when totally spaced-out.

Broken Ravens and the Art and Science of Regret by Bloodcult of Freud
Teenage Severus acquires a friend and lover whom we will later come to know much better under a slightly different name, and who ultimately treats their relationship far less seriously than he does. Heavily canon-shafted as regards Snape's background.

Butterfly by Snake79
Alternative version of sixth year: Neville realizes that there is something unpleasantly different and strange about Harry this year. WIP

By the Book by Scattered Logic
Hermione, now a teacher, has mutant measles, and Snape is trying to cure her. Under the influence of fever she reveals that she has been trying to flirt with him - but since she got her technique out of a book, he didn't notice.

Cambiare Podentes: Invocare by Jordan Grant
Harry and Snape can pool and multiply their combined magical power, giving them the strength to defeat Voldemort, but only if Harry marries Snape and submits to being his slave in all things. Neither of them is very happy about this, but they try rather awkwardly to adjust to the idea.

Candles by Skull Bearer
Creepy little vignette - Harry feels his soul being drawn away into darkness.

Captivity by Eulalie Moire
Sad gentle slash piece. Snape has survived the war but his reputation has not; Dumbledore is dead (of old age - not HBP-compliant) and no-one else in the Order has a powerful enough voice to convince the public of his innocence. Vilified as a Death Eater and self-exiled to Muggle London he is drinking himself numb when Lupin shows up, and they become lovers; but Snape, being Snape, is convinced Lupin only stays with him because his condition makes it hard to find anyone else.

Care of Magical Creature by mia madwyn
Exceptionally well-written version of the Marriage Law Challenge story, funny and serious by turns. WIP

The Case of Missing Whisky by Mundungus42
Sherlockian crossover: a stolen inheritance leads Holmes and Watson to discover the wizarding world of the late 19^th C.

Casting Off Shadows by Tubesox
Psychologically complex and delicately handled slash piece in which Lupin is assigned to look after Snape and keep him from killing himself, after Snape has a mental breakdown as a result of repeated sexual and physical torture at Death Eater meetings. Snape's initial seizure is realistic and harrowing, though IMO the story was let down by the last two chapters in which Lupin appears to have had a personality transplant, and after handling Snape gently and sensibly through the first part of the story then proceeds to make a total pig's-ear of dealing with him when he is distraught. Canon-shafted by having Lupin returned to teach at Hogwarts during the lifetime of both Dumbledore and Voldemort.

The Cat on my Windowsill by theKnowItAll
Harry writes to Sirius after his death - mainly about the mysterious cat which seems to be watching over him.

Cat's Cradle by sylphides
Tragic one-shot: Hermione and Snape were lovers, in the past. He made her a promise, and Hermione knows he'll keep it.

Catalyst by Madame Y
Snape asks Minerva to teach him to be an animagus. After her death, grief drives him to spend an increasing amount of time in the mentally-simpler form of a cat, and Hermione befriends him in that shape.

Charm Attack by Ella Diver Sophis
Draco sets out to manipulate and seduce Ginny as part of a malicious game; but it rapidly becomes a case of the biter bit. Unfinished.

Cheating Fate by Bil
Snape saves Harry's life in the final battle, only to realize that it had been his time to go, and he has condemned the boy to a weary half-life.

The Children by samvimes
The war is over, but the victors are all maimed (told from Draco's p.o.v.).

Cold by the original killerpineapple
Sad non-explicit slash piece. Harry and Draco are lovers, apparently very happily. Snape and Lucius are lovers, very unhappily, since Lucius is a violent control-freak. Deals seriously with domestic violence.

Coming Back to You by Michmak
A series of drabbles tell how Snape survives (barely) his encounter with Nagini, and his growing friendship with Hermione. Listed as AU because Lupin has also survived.

The cupboard by enahma
Detention with Snape accidentally leads to Harry uncovering evidence of the Marauders' cruelty to the young Severus, even worse than the infamous OWLs incident, and the revelation ultimately brings Harry and Snape closer together. There are oddities in the author's style which suggest English may not be their first language, and the story is a bit sentimental and could have done with being longer - some bits of it seem very rushed - but it's still touching and convincing.

Curious Incidents in the Night Time by Snape's Nightie
Hagrid and Snape are lovers, and Hagrid sits up watching Snape sleep, very expressively. Bizarre but very sweet.

Cursed Artefacts For Sale by Icarus
Humorous slash piece. Snape collects cursed artefacts and leaves them around the house - much to Harry's alarm - and they go to a very strange auction to buy more.

Dance the Dance by riynariddle
Harry dreams of Lily, and he and Snape share a moment of odd understanding.

Dark Eyes by Not-Willing-to-Admit
Slash/mpreg WIP: Snape and Dumbledore become briefly lovers, following which Snape is taken by the Death Eaters, subjected to weeks of traumatic abuse at the hands (and other bits) of Polyjuiced Dumbledore-clones and impregnated with Dumbledore's proxy-child, to turn him into a weapon which will drain Dumbledore's energy. He is eventually rescued but is left terrified of Dumbledore, even though he knows intellectually that it wasn't really the Headmaster who abused him, and Dumbledore's social clumsiness doesn't help matters, driving Snape to flee and fall in with a very strange foreign wizard. I couldn't make up my mind for a long time whether to list this or not: the writing has an odd, jerky effect and the sexual element has a sleazy edge, with prolonged emphasis on the highly unpleasant abuse which Snape suffers in the first part of the story - yet the plot is strikingly original and the original characters are colourful and interesting.

A Dark Mirror by Leni Jess
At time of writing, this story seems to have got lost during Sycophant Hex's transfer to a new archive. Harry and Snape resume Occlumency lessons after the Pensieve incident, and come to some sort of grudging understanding. You may find you have to go to the Sycophant Hex site and set up an account before you can access this story.

Darkness by Doomspark Deathfire
After years of happy marriage to Hermione end with her accidental death, Snape plans a strange and elegant suicide.

The Dead Man is Gone by paranoia.pink
A series of beautifully-written scenes from the lives of various characters, building up to a slightly AU history in which Vernon died when Harry was ten.

Defences Down by Ashura
Both exhausted after the final battle and the death of Lucius, Harry and Draco come to an odd sort of truce.

Distant by Jibril1
Snape thinking about isolation and redemption. Canon-shafted because it shows him as an aristocratic pure-blood. Negative take on Dumbledore.

Don't Scream by Farseeker
Snape is held captive by Voldemort, who refuses to kill him until he has managed to make him scream. Only the mysterious voice in his head, which promises help on its way, keeps Snape hanging on. This is well-written and dramatic and was obviously going to be a thoughtful story about trauma and recovery, but sadly it only ran to two chapters.

Dramatist by Beyondthebloodredsunset
Dreamy non-explicit Snape/Harry slash piece in which Snape seems to be having a minor breakdown, following the fall of Voldemort, whilst dryly mocking his own capacity for self-dramatization.

Eight by Lily Elizabeth Snape
With Sirius in Azkaban, Snape turns out to be the next-listed godfather for an eight-year-old Harry, and decides to take on raising the boy for Lily's sake. The story is heavily AU and discounts the blood-protection issue, as well as portraying the Dursleys (and incidentally Minerva McGonagall) as far more vicious than they are in canon; but as a story about one abuse-survivor trying to help another it is touching and dramatic, as a traumatized and beaten Harry gradually learns that a snarl from Snape doesn't presage anything worse than another snarl. WIP

Empire of Dirt by Unruhe
One-shot looking at a pragmatic and rather desperate sexual relationship between Snape and Tonks. Not really how I would see Snape, but well-written.

The End of It All by Not-Willing-to-Admit
Slash/mpreg WIP: Voldemort has won. An apparently brainwashed, almost catatonic Dumbledore is impregnated with Snape's child (without Snape's knowledge or involvement) and then given to Snape as a plaything. With the aid of a damaged house-elf, Snape cares for his near-mindless former commander in his own rueful, prickly way, but he dare not tell his colleagues of the Order what has happened, even when the phoenix begins to be seen again in the skies. I couldn't make up my mind for a long time whether to list this or not: the writing has an odd, jerky effect and the sexual element has a slightly sleazy edge - yet the story is strikingly original and Snape's dour wit is charming.

Ensnare the Senses by icefalcon
Atmospheric slash vignette. Snape's sense of smell has a direct connection to his changing, developing and ultimately tragic emotions. Implied character death.

Ensnare the Senses by Invaderk
The seventh-year students are attending a graduation-ball, and Hermione asks Snape to dance.... One-shot.

Eternal Sunshine by Vaughn
Snape remembering Hermione, years later. You may find you have to go to the Ashwinder site and set up an account before you can access this story.

Executioner's Promise by Skye13
Snape and Lupin are imprisoned together with the full moon almost upon them - tragic, horrible and intensely sweet.

Expedence [sic ] by Dyce
After the first fall of Voldemort, Snape decides to take steps regarding Lucius which will have far-reaching consequences. [Yes, the title really is spelled that way - she had a fever when she wrote it, and when she cooled down she decided to keep it. ]

Filling the Void by goldencompass
In the previous story, Harry was left traumatized and temporarily mute after an attack. Snape proved to be good at coaxing him back out of his shell, and has now become the boy's guardian, but they have a long way to go before Harry will be well. WIP, sequel to Reading the Signs .

Finding His Voice by michmak
After the war, a weary and psychologically-bruised Snape is widely disdained by the wizarding world, and Hermione sets out in her chirpy, gung-ho manner to stick up for him and make him feel better about life. It goes without saying that it's well-written or I wouldn't have included it here. Incomplete at time of writing, this is a companion-piece to the more sexually-explicit one-shot She Never Stops Talking. Canon-shafted because Dumbledore is still alive without explanation.

Fire on Darkness by Asrai
Highly original slash WIP which is Alternate Universe in the fullest sense of the word. Two Harries from alternate time-lines swap consciousnesses, so that a (straight) Harry who thinks Snape is a murderer ends up in a world where Severus is a peaceable researcher, and Harry's lover - and a gay Harry who is in love with Snape ends up in the post-HBP time-line. So far, the slash aspect of the story is far less important than the intriguing look at how differently things would have turned out for Harry had Voldemort targeted the Longbottoms instead of the Potters.

Fly Away by Dahlia
A very sad, elegaic story about Hermione suffering a breakdown and falling away into fatal depression after the last battle, despite Snape's rather awkward attempts to help her.

For All Joy Wants Eternity by katzenhai
Very grim story in which Snape allows himself to be curse-bound bodily and sexually to Voldemort in order to maintain his cover, leaving him unable even to touch another human being. I have mixed feelings about this one because it contains nastily graphic scenes of abuse - but these make up only a small fraction of the story, which is mainly concerned with Snape's grim courage and the growth of a delicate, tentative friendship with Lupin. [Unfortunately, when they do finally get as far as a little consensual sex, it's not so much a lemon as a plum - lots of purple prose.] Unfinished at time of listing. You may find you have to go to the Occlumency site and set up an account before you can access this story.

For Better or Worse by roxierocks
Delicate non-explicit slash vignette - Harry reads Snape's diary and finds out more about his past than Snape would have liked him to know. Sad and kind.

The Forgotten by dianehc
WIP which progresses through a series of atmospheric vignettes. The time is a few years after the end of Vold War One. A hard-line Ministry has undermined Dumbledore's influence and forced him to to sack Snape, who is scrabbling a living at Spinner's End but is respected in the local Muggle community as a force to be reckoned with. Harry, badly injured and dumped by Vernon, is found by some youths and taken to Snape, who at first does not recognise the boy.

Fourteen Fathoms by Vain
Snape discovers that Harry has been beaten by the Dursleys, and has to confront memories of his own childhood. Elegant high-art writing and psychological insight rather than melodrama.

Fragments by CJK
Sad, beautiful little piece about Snape's funeral.

Fragments by lovesrainscent
The war is over, but not without its losses. A grieving Snape seeks solace in the bottom of a glass.

Freaks come out at night by Jadeite no Miko
In a Hogwarts under siege, last bastion of the free wizarding world, Snape stands guard in the rain and communes with a friend - but is the friend there in the body, or only in spirit?

French Culture by septentrion
One-shot: Hermione is giving Snape French lessons - French language, French food, French culture - but when it comes to French kissing he can show her a thing or two.

From the Mouths of Babes by thomas hobbs
WIP set in a world in which the Potters accepted Dumbledore as their Secret Keeper and Tom never fell. A believable, not-at-all-twee-or-annoying five-year-old Harry watches the interactions of the adults around him, and develops a curious kind of understanding with the prickly young man with the big nose.