hi! i've always been intrigued by the idea of a role reversal au with james and severus in which james is the professor and severus is married to lily and sacrifices himself for his wife and son... just wanted to openly wonder how that might pan out? like would james express his disdain on snape's son, how would that dynamic play out etc. i have many thoughts on this but im relatively new to hp meta so just wanted to talk to sb abt it i guess
This is an interesting topic for an AU. I think I would set the inciting moment as being the werewolf incident - Sirius is expelled, whilst Lily sides with Severus. James is left flailing slightly with his best friend out of Hogwarts, and the rest of the school disapproving of whatever cover story is told the rest of them (to save Remus’ secret).
Lily and Severus eventually become Head Girl and Head Boy. James carries on writing to Sirius, who has been sent to Durmstrang, and Sirius asks that he befriends Regulus. Slowly, James and Sirius find themselves being absorbed into the embryonic Death Eater circle - not least because both of them feel that the path to Dumbledore’s Order is closed to them.
But I think that’s the part where I flail slightly, and it probably helps to explain what Snape fans are generally talking about when it comes to the connection between Snape and Lily - if James were to have a change of heart due to Lily being targeted, it feels really odd; she’s just some girl who was in Gryffindor, who has married and had a child with his enemy, and he had no real connection with her. It doesn’t feel strong enough for him to throw his life around because of Lily.
I think it needs something else - such as James coming up against Lily in a skirmish, and him letting Lily go when he should’ve trapped her (perhaps even because he saw she was pregnant) - and perhaps Lily succeeds in a mission. When Voldemort discovers that the baby she’s carrying meets the criteria for the prophecy, he decides they’re the ones who’ll pay, as they’ve already crossed him - and James feels a level of guilt because if he’d just held onto her and stopped her from succeeding, Voldemort wouldn’t have set his sights on her.
Perhaps. It still doesn’t feel quite strong enough, but it’s a start.
I think James would’ve resented Snape Jr - not least because James might see that Snape ‘stole’ the life he should’ve had; Snape should’ve been the Death Eater, James should’ve married Lily, and the child should’ve been his.
I think I’ve run out of legs a bit on this, but it’s an interesting concept. I am always pretty curious about the ‘Potters live’ scenario too - especially when combined with a Slytherin!Harry. I love the idea of Harry forming an attachment to his Head of House, and Snape being at odds with James - lots of potential for drama there.
