Hurt-Comfort and reader crushes

[porphyria_ash]

No: HPFGUIDX 39215

Sigh; I've been holding back on contributing to this thread for fear 
of letting you all know far too much information than you want to 
hear about my personal proclivities, but a few of you have brought up 
some things I thought I'd just second and add to. 

Irene said:
<<<
I was thinking and thinking and soul-searching and the conclusion is
- no, it's not hurt-comfort or angst that attracts me to Snape.
I find him the most attractive when he is on top of the things -
like blasting Lockhart or for once really scaring Harry with
veritaserum threat.
>>>

I too can date my crush on Snape to the dueling scene in CoS, which 
indeed is the opposite of a hurt-comfort thing. I got really 
*emotional* about cheering him on there. Now, I realize that Lockhart 
is supposed to be a caricature, a burlesque, a one-joke character, 
but I happen to know someone in real life who is sufficiently like 
him for me to make the connection. And without getting into the gory 
details, this guy was a complete jerk to me, pretending to be my 
friend while betraying my secrets, telling degrading lies about me 
behind my back, that sort of thing. A deceitful charmer. So I was 
already pretty enraged about Lockhart long before the dueling scene. 
And then with the image of Snape's murderous glare and summary 
Expellarmus, my heart was taken.

However, Irene also said:

<<<
The scene with the most hurt-comfort potential, the ending of PoA,
does not fill me with desire to give him hug and make it all better, 
nope. The only desire I have at this particular moment is to be as 
far away from him as possible. :-)
>>>

Well, I agree that he needs to be quarantined for a while after this 
episode, but I think the killer hurt-comfort scene is the staircase 
one in GoF. And I *do* go all gooey at the thought of someone nobly 
suffering, so this particular scene just grinds in the crush that 
much deeper, which is why I think it's as tenacious as it is for me. 
Upon rereading, I find the Fluffy-bite scene and the infirmary scene 
in PoA to have the same effect, but those both benefit from 
hindsight. 

Ana, in reply to Elkins remark that JRK depicted Ron's suffering as 
unerotic said:

<<<
Well, IMO, Rowling is trying to do it to Snape, too, and it doesn't 
work. 

When he is embarassed, he turns "a horrible brick-red color". When 
he is stressed, the spit flies out of his mouth. When he is 
frustrated, he becomes "twice as ugly as a gargoyle". He "shrieks" 
and "howls". I don't even mention the infamous greasy hair/yellow 
fingers/uneven teeth.

And do readers find all this deterrent? *g*

I always thought something went awry with Snape's characterization.
>>>

Ha! See I have my own theory, which is basically that JKR is more hot 
for Snape than she wants to admit, but that might be a rather 
idiosyncratic interpretation. :-)

My evidence for this is exactly what you specify here: Snape is 
depicted, especially in anger or extreme emotion, so much more 
*viscerally* than most of the other characters. While consciously we 
ought to regard Snape's profusion of blood, spit and sebum as 
disgusting, there really is something sneakily erotic about it, since 
these are inherently private as well as tactile bodily fluids. For a 
character who is so deliberately enigmatic and guards his privacy so 
fiercely, his body is strangely porous, with stuff that's supposed to 
remain inside leaking outside, or as with the blushing and vein 
throbbing, making an unwelcome appearance, whenever he's in a 
vulnerable situation. [The Dark Mark is another example of an inner 
secret physically emerging and betraying his past weakness.] Even his 
greasiness connotes vulnerability (IMO), the idea of someone too 
profoundly pessimistic to even see the value of sprucing himself up 
past what's minimally necessary. For me these things pique my own 
tendency to go for the hurt-comfort scenario, as well as lending his 
depiction a note of unexpected intimacy.

Yes, something here is indeed awry.

Individual mileage may vary.

And I happen to like gargoyles: they're ugly because they scare the 
demons away. I happen to like hooked noses too. :~)

OK, lets move on to Lupin, Marina said:

<<<
I'm *extremely* Bent, see, and the problem with Lupin for me is that 
he handles his suffering too well. <...> Lupin goes along through 
life, being kind to everyone who needs his kindness and forgiving to 
everyone who needs his forgiveness, giving out chocolate at the 
appropriate moments. I admire the heck out of him, but he's just too 
darn *sane* for me to crush on, Edge or no Edge.
>>>

I don't think he handles it that well. He's passive-aggressive (see 
Pippin's brilliant post # 34420); he takes weird chances with his 
lycanthropy, he keeps secrets he shouldn't keep, he's emotionally 
withdrawn, he's guilt ridden and it affects his judgment (I go on 
about this in post # 34588). And he's not too nice or forgiving when 
it comes to humiliating Snape when he gets the chance or offering to 
put Peter out of his misery without judge or jury. 

And Lupin's the *warm and fuzzy one.* But I suppose this all comes 
under the rubric of Edge. It's good enough for me, combined with the 
sickliness, exhaustion and premature grey. Definite crush material.
:-)

ExtraBent!Porphyria