WIP rec!

[ravenna_c_tan]

Okay, you know how I don't read WIPs? I don't. But then every now and then something catches my eye. In this case, it was this description in hp_hardcore of juwel_fic's latest WIP, "The End of Obsession."

First check out the pairings:
Pairings/characters: Severus/Harry, Severus/Lucius, Severus/Draco, past Severus/Voldemort, hints of Draco/Harry

And of course I read "warnings" as "enticements":
Warnings: dub con, bdsm, past abuse and rape, biting, blood, collars, breathplay, and I guess I’d better add cutting.

And then there was this:
Author's notes: The idea for this story was originally based on a request from venturous1 for harry_holidays with the request "how about Snape's first time, go as dark as you want to with it, including non-con; contrast with Harry's deflowering." The writing was delayed, however, due to schooling, and now it’s turned into this gigantic thing. Here's hoping for the UST and mind-blowing smut you asked for!

If that's enough for you, go get started with Chapter One here: http://juwel-fic.livejournal.com/19613.html

There are eight chapters so far. If you're not convinced, I'll go on under the cut, but warning for spoilers:

So "the End of Obsession" does several things right, as far as I'm concerned. It starts with Snape waking up in the Shrieking Shack having narrowly survived Nagini's attack. Yes, I've also thought that Snape would have been prepared for a snake attack after having seen so many others get bitten over the years. Snape's point of view is bitter and cynical, as it should be, and yet he also finds himself free to think about certain things for the first time in a long time. He wants to remain "dead" and will have to find a way of getting along in the world, but his obsession with Harry Potter probably means he won't be going far.

Lucius Malfoy soon approaches him with a proposition that is so very Lucius-like: come live at the Manor and we'll keep you safe, secret, and fed, and we'll cultivate a relationship with the man Potter now praises as a hero. What Snape doesn't know until he gets to the Manor, though, is that Lucius has *another* proposition for him.

This is where I really squee, since of course I have a penchant for kinky Death Eater games. SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT.

In a flashback we see that after Voldemort sprung Lucius from Azkaban, he keeps Lucius naked and collared to humiliate him. Although Lucius is very glad to be rid of the Dark Lord, he finds he still has a taste for being dominated, and he wants Snape to see to his needs. Kink ensues. Meanwhile, Snape has fantasies about Harry, Draco is moping in hiding, and Harry himself is suffering from a convincing case of postwar depression. Another thing the fic gets right. No skipping right to the happy epilogue-type of state. Harry's got issues and he doesn't know how to deal with them. The war changed him, and Ginny, he's depressed and has no idea how to handle that now that all of his adult mentors are dead (including Snape, he thinks). For once there isn't someone telling him what to do and he feels lost...

The only knock on the fic is that it doesn't appear to be beta-read, so it is full of little typos like "woudl" for "would" and name mistakes like "Lupus" for "Lupin" and "Narcissus" for "Narcissa." It's so good I've been forgiving those. There aren't so many of them as to make it unreadable for me, and they're all just little nitpicky typos like that which a beta-reader would hopefully catch. Otherwise it's written in smooth, readable prose.

Overall, a very promising start. I am very excited to see how this one develops.