Line #15 FanFic/PawnToQueen


1	To say ''Pawn To Queen'' is a [[Franchise/HarryPotter Snape/Hermione]] fanfic is to barely scratch the surface. Its author, Riley, thought this [[DeadFic unfinished]] pseudo-intellectual epic was TrueArt. She was particularly fond of name dropping Creator/CJCherryh and Creator/FriedrichNietzsche as her influences.
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3	At the start, most of the plot is centered on self-hating!Snape mentoring naive-prodigy!Hermione so that she'll develop from being [[ChessMotifs a pawn into a queen]]. Their relationship is made slightly awkward when Hermione is kidnapped by Death Eaters and Snape is forced to rape her to save her from being [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty raped by Lucius Malfoy]]. Snape brings her back to Hogwarts afterwards and her apprenticeship continues, now with some [[HurtComfortFic Hurt Comfort]] leanings. Snape teaches Hermione that the Dark Arts are cool because ''Literature/HarryPotter'' apparently has GreyAndGrayMorality now. Meanwhile, that loser [[RonTheDeathEater Ron]] is acting jealous and suspicious, but everyone pretty much ignores him.
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5	If you think this sounds like typical Snape/Hermione smut so far, you're right. Brace yourself.
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7	Snape has a NonHumanSidekick who seems to belong in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon rather than [[MoodWhiplash this deadly serious angstfest]]. Her name is Esmé and she's a six-foot [[Myth/AztecMythology feathered boa]] who rides around on roller skates and speaks in SssssnakeTalk. Her lines inlude "Sssssalamanderssss are sssstupid" and, during a dramatic scene, "Come quickly! Sssssseverussssss issss hurt!" Yes.
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9	But Esmé is just the beginning. Snape introduces Hermione to a female [[OCStandIn Blaise Zabini]]. Blaise is an enlightened Slytherin unlike that idiot Malfoy, "enlightened" meaning "respects the arts and sciences while being AboveGoodAndEvil". We also meet HalfIdenticalTwins Florian and Catlin, [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the Florian and Catlin from ''Literature/{{Cyteen}}'', which seems to be the author's favorite book of all time. Ron is safely paired off with Quidditch-loving Catlin, but he continues to act like a dumbass anyway because he's Ron. Blaise turns out to be part of the Strega, a sect of uber-powerful witches who are [[SuperiorSpecies better than you]] and [[CantArgueWithElves will not hesitate to tell you so]]. It turns out the self-improvement course Snape has put Hermione on will ultimately lead to her becoming Strega.
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11	At this point, the Strega and their awesomeness start to take over the story. Blaise begins inducting Hermione into the Strega while Snape is gradually reduced to being a side character who does nothing but praise Hermione while constantly {{wangst}}ing about how he doesn't deserve to breathe her air. We're treated to Blaise explaining why Christianity sucks and her made-up feminine pagan religion is so much better, among a number of other {{Author Filibuster}}s. Eventually, Riley just left the story unfinished and severed her ties with the fandom in 2003. She later became a vanity published author under her likely real name Elizabeth A. Romey.
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13	!!''Pawn To Queen'' provides examples of:
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15	%%* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to the ''Potter'' books, especially the four which were written at the time.
16	%%* DeadFic
17	* FixFic: Riley thought the ''Harry Potter'' books weren't feminist and [[WhatIsEvil moral relativist]] enough. Of course, in the latter case, that might just be because moral relativism runs exactly counter to the themes of the series and was even espoused by a villain at the end of the first book. Riley tries to rework the series so that there is no "good" or "evil" side, but instead she just redefines "evil" as "people who aren't feminist enough."
18	* InsistentTerminology: You can't put the word "a" in front of "Strega". If a witch is one of them, you say that she's Strega rather than "a" Strega. Blaise makes a big deal out of this.
19	* InsufferableGenius: Snape and Hermione, like in canon, but now with self-righteous intellectual elitism. Also Blaise.
20	%%* KidAppealCharacter: Esmé. Why Riley thought such a character was needed in a fic with rape, self-harm, etc. is a mystery.
21	%%* NietzscheWannabe: The author
22	* OCStandIn: The classic one, Blaise Zabini. Prior to ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', Blaise was an undescribed, throwaway character and Riley wasn't alone in portraying him as a girl.
23	* SelfHarm: Snape is so angsty that he's a cutter. He nearly kills himself one time, but he's saved when his sentient, roller-skating snake goes for help.
24	%%* TeacherStudentRomance

Context FanFic / PawnToQueen