Black Widower!Snape - repost from TOL (long)

[dungrollin]

Sorry for the delay.

Kneasy putting first things last:
> Now, first thing - as is traditional, the discoverer of a new 
species 
> gets to  name it, so that we and anyone else who's interested will 
be 
> able to refer to each without possible confusion with the other.

I think this is as good as it's going to get:

Snape Caught Out With Lucius, Inauspicious Nippers Generate 
Paranoia, Overlord's Temper Ignites Over News, Even Encouraged Regulus

S.C.O.W.L.I.N.G. P.O.T.I.O.N.E.E.R.

> 'Cos what we have here (as we both suspected and is now shown
> pretty convincingly) isn't an extension of the old idea, it's a 
variation.
> Would have been fun if they could have complemented each other, 
> but I don't think they do - they simply overlap at interesting 
points. 
> 
> The Blackwidower bit is (in principle) accepted as fundamental to 
both.
> As is Snape!Son to a large extent, but there're critical dividers.
> 
> 1. The memory flash. The fons et origo of the old one, but 
inessential
> in yours. And I have to admit (lean a bit closer so that no-one 
else 
> can hear), that flash is a damn slender thread to hang a theory on -
 
> but I like it. Also, not tying your theory to a tight time-window 
allows 
> for more flexibilty if bits of surfacing canon mean adjustments are 
> needed. Very difficult to do with the old one.

Weelll
 is it? You're tied down to the timing of when Snape turned in 
order to fix a date for the murders, but I'm not sure there's any 
real canon about when Snape turned, so in principle you could place 
the deaths of wife and child almost anywhere between the prophecy and 
GH. Depending, again, on where you want to put the prophecy.
 
> 2. Causes. More or less the opposite situation to that above.
> Yours is bound to Voldy and his fears about and interpretations of 
the 
> Prophecy. The old one is much looser, with more than one 
possibility: 
> Snape and/or missus does something, sometime that pisses Voldy off 
> causing a drastic reaction; or the wife and veg aren't specifically 
targeted,
> but Sevvy holds Voldy responsible for their (unnecessary?) demise.

Yep. Well, actually, one can think up any number of ways in which 
Snape and/or the missus pissed Voldy off, and substitute them for any 
of the three I put in my theory, but I very definitely need three 
defiances, while you only need one. 

> 3. Timeline. Yours postulates that it's the timing of Snape!Son's 
birth
> close to "as the seventh month dies" that is the trigger. In the 
old one
> Snape!Son is born and then the eventual zapping is sufficiently 
previous
> to GH to allow Sevvy to join DD months before that event.

More or less. Worth noting that Snape defying Voldy three times will 
antagonise the Dark Lord, even without being the father of a child 
born at the appropriate time.

> Agreed?
> Anything other basics that might make the headlines?

Don't think so. On to the implications?