Home from Prophecy, and it will take days to work through my flist's posts, I know. But I came across this, and immediately, had to stop and rec this.

Title: The Dead Bird
Author: maggiehoneybite
Pairing Snape/others
Rating: a hard R, I'd say
Warnings: angst

Snape loved Lily, yes. But he was still pretty awful, when he was younger. And surely you didn't think that he died a virgin, eh?

This is an intelligent, textured, beautifully-written exploration of Snape's personal history. Not a wasted word here, and it shows how unpleasant (but still decent, in some respects) Snape really could be. God, what a bastard. And oh, poor Severus.

If you have a happy ending, then pass this by. But canon itself didn't end all happy, you know. And this? Is a first-rate DH-inspired character study. Edgy, succinct, and powerful. Lovely.