Potions and Snitches :: Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Most Recent Prompts and Challenges

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Other

Summary: What if Harry Potter never went to the Dursleys? After the Potters’ deaths, the Ministry takes immediate custody of the Boy Who Lived. Snape is arrested for relaying the prophecy, the Longbottoms remain tragic casualties, and Dumbledore’s hidden influence is gone.

Writers are challenged to explore a wizarding world where Harry grows up under official oversight, surrounded by bureaucracy instead of neglect. How does a life shaped by rules, observation, and political control affect the boy destined for fame? How does the prophecy unfold when no one can secretly manipulate his path?

Requirements:

Harry remains under Ministry Custody
Snape is arrested or otherwise held accountable for relaying the prophecy. Snape's role in the story after either arrest or some form of consequence is up to the writer.
The Potters’ deaths and the Longbottoms’ trauma occur as in canon (or are acknowledged as consequences).
Dumbledore cannot secretly manipulate Harry’s upbringing; any involvement must be overt and bureaucratically approved.
Harry has no inherited wealth — he is entirely dependent on the Ministry for housing, food, magical supplies, and education.

Optional:

Include early Ministry-controlled magical education, e.g., wands, lessons, or magical wards before Hogwarts.
Show political intrigue, e.g., debates within the Ministry about Harry’s status, fame, or the prophecy.
Harry forming relationships with other magical children in a Ministry-controlled environment.
Depict how Harry’s personality, skills, and destiny diverge from canon due to structured upbringing.
Creature wizard Harry!

Forbidden:

No private magical guardianship (Dumbledore, Hagrid, or anyone else taking Harry outside Ministry oversight).
No “Harry is special because Dumbledore chose him” plotlines.
No ignoring Snape’s culpability or letting him remain unaccountable.
No unexplained magical exceptions or plot devices that bypass Ministry oversight (e.g., secret escape plans, unsupervised adventures).
No OP or Godlike Harry

[Report This]

The Secret Garden AU by SerenaEW

[Responses - 0]

Summary: I mean, the song How could I ever know (from the musical) is quite Snily-coded imo? Not to mention that the dead mother can be abbreviated / is being abbreviated Lily in the musical.
I can imagine Harry in both kids? Sort of? Idk in which role I'd put him, and who the second kid could be (what I wouldn't think it quite fits: a Dudley As Mary AU though it is hilarious to imagine)
Severus is (Musical) Archibald of course. Like, that's almost HP canon Severus behaviour imo.
(With thanks to FatesMistake who jumped on this to share they had a similar idea!)
[Report This]

The Same Species by EstelPatronum

[Responses - 0]

Summary:

Snape and Harry are transfigured into the same species of animal. They lose their ability to speak and write human language, and can therefore communicate only with each other.

Bonus points:

-No one else knows they've been transfigured

-They have to live in the wild

-One of them has to hunt food for the other or try to tend the other's injuries

-They get into a physical fight in animal form

[Report This]

The Milkman Arrived First by SerenaEW

[Responses - 0]

Summary:

The milkman found baby Harry in front of No. 4 Privet Drive first.

[Report This]

Tom Riddle's Advice by Jan_AQ

[Responses - 0]

Summary: Harry talks to Tom Riddle's diary more in his second year. He finds out that Dumbledore sent Tom Riddle back to the orphanage during the war, despite the danger. He realizes that Dumbledore will always send Harry back to his relatives, and that Dumbledore allows children to be abused and placed at risk. Does Dumbledore actually care about the students? Harry needs a way out. Maybe Tom has an idea.
[Report This]

The Twins Who Hold Together by SerenaEW

[Responses - 1]

Summary: Twins Who Lived with a twist! They hold together regardless of circumstances, letting nothing separate them.
-- Possible plot points may be: The twins have different genders, personalities and/or talents; they are different and complement each other, but equals at heart. One of them, for this or any other reason, receives preferential treatment by their family. Perhaps the twins are not ok with that and are subsequently neglected, if not cast out by their closer (remaining) family; Severus, who gets to know of this, takes the role of an impartial mentor who is equally supportive of both of them. Perhaps the two of them are sorted into different houses. If you feel especially daring, maybe it turns out that they don't quite share the same blood after all.
It doesn't matter - they will hold together, come what may.
[Report This]

The Headmaster's Curse by Kbharlow

[Responses - 0]

Summary: Voldemort didn't just leave a curse on the defense position, he also left a curse on the headmaster's position - one that made the headmaster blind to children that were mistreated. He knew from experience how easy it was to swing mistreated children to the dark arts. They were so ready to either find a way to defend themselves and/or get back at their tormentor. That means that the headmaster was also blind to bullying in the school.

Severus had always thought that the Headmaster didn't care about children who weren't Gryfindors. But then he watched as Potter was bullied by Draco and then tormented by the entire school during his second year. He also noticed the signs of abuse/neglect in Potter. In his observations of the headmaster, he kept thinking - surely he would care what happened to his golden Gryffindor? Surely something would be done. But the more he watched Dumbledore, the more he noticed that Dumbledore didn't seem to realize anything was wrong. It's like his attention was subtly deflected/his eyes glazed over a bit.

Does he then try to remove the curse? Find it? Bring it to the headmaster's attention? Does it resist attention, so when he tries to bring his concerns to Minerva or the other heads of house, their attention is likewise deflected? What flaw in the curse allows him to notice the problem? Severus realizes that he needs to act on his own to solve the bullying problem in the school that he has contributed to - has he been affected by the curse as well? He also needs to help the children with troubled home lives. How does he get around the curse? How does this change his interactions with Harry, the rest of the school? Do any of the other teachers notice? How would one go about breaking a curse like this?

You've got the perfect storm here - no good defense teacher teaching students how to defend themselves (compliant population), no good history teacher teaching students the pitfalls of history so that they don't repeat it, and a bunch of bullies and resentful children ready and eager to walk the dark path.

Does Binns remaining as the history teacher have anything to do with the curses set?
[Report This]

The Talk by Swamygliders

[Responses - 1]

Summary:

A start of a story where Harry and Snape have a heart to heart after the war. They're both struggling to find their place in the world when neither expected to survive.

Severus caught sight of a young man sitting on the couch, seemingly disengaged from the festivities around him. "Mr. Potter," he addressed him.

Harry's gaze met Severus's, the man he had recently rushed to the hospital wing. "Sir."

"If you don't feel like joining in the celebration, why are you here?" Severus asked.

Harry raised an eyebrow, observing Severus as he took a seat next to him on a couch situated away from the crowd. "I could ask you the same thing, sir."

Severus let out a frustrated sigh and reclined on the couch. "I presume you were also coerced into attending?" He mimicked Minerva McGonagall, "'It would do you good, Severus, to socialize with everyone,'" then rolled his eyes.

Harry smirked, amused by the likeness of the imitation. "Something like that," he admitted.

Severus scoffed, "I despise these gatherings. A room full of giddy, drunken fools. It's intolerable."

Harry chuckled, "I can agree with you there, sir. But I find it amusing to observe them from a distance."

Severus raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what do you observe?"

Harry shrugged, "The usual things, really. People laughing and having a good time, others making fools of themselves. It's all rather entertaining."

Severus leaned back, intrigued by Harry's observation. "And what about yourself, Mr. Potter? Why are you not joining in?"

Harry sighed, "It's complicated. I just... don't feel like celebrating."

Severus studied Harry, sensing that there was more to the young man's reluctance than just a lack of enthusiasm. "Is it because of recent events?" he probed gently.

[Report This]

The Rebuild by shi_yian

[Responses - 0]

Summary: After the war, Harry offered to help to rebuild Hogwarts, during which he chose to talk to the portraits of Dumbledore and Snape about it.
[Report This]

The Office of the Head of House by Kbharlow

[Responses - 0]

Summary: There is a spell on an office in Hogwarts that guides children in bad home situations to that specific spot at certain specific dates and times of the year. This spell is only active when the castle judges that a worthy Head of House who will help the children is available. It compels that Head to select that specific office and to be there during those specific dates and times. There are times when no head is worthy &/or has the power/inclination to protect those children, so the office isn't used. During Snape's years as a student, this was the case.

When Snape becomes a head-of-house, the castle has judged him, after years of living within her walls, to be the next successor to this protection spell. At first, Snape can't figure out why he has a desire to be in his office at those specific times and why random students keep showing up there with no specific purpose in mind. Then he starts to see a pattern. He rebels a bit, surely the castle has chosen wrongly. But he can't let the problems go, he has to help these children, just as he wished someone would have helped him.

Imagine his surprise when Harry Potter is one of the students that shows up during those special office hours...
[Report This]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 14 [Next]