30 Days of HP Meme -- Day 5

[kelly_chambliss]

Day 1. Discuss how you got into Harry Potter.

Day 2. Your favorite book

Day 3. Least favorite book.

Day 4. Favorite female character.

Day 5 Favorite male character.

Severus Snape -- for several reasons:

• First, because I think he's the most complex, most morally- and psychologically-fascinating, and (to me) most interesting male character, even though JKR doesn't do as much with the complexity as she could.
  
• Second, because the canon elements of Snape's story that I don't like and/or don't believe (namely, the life-long Lily devotion and the one-note Harry animosity) make excellent fanfic fodder; they just beg to be deconstructed and/or reconstructed.
  
• Third, I love snarky, hell-with-the-world wit (as long as I'm not the one being sneered at. Or sometimes even if I am, as long as the wit is good enough, and I get in a reasonable riposte or two.)
  
• Fourth, because I've been sucked into this unexpected obsession with Severus/Minerva.
  
• Fifth, the nose. I love a face with character.

As I write and read MM/SS and other Snape pairs, I realize that for me, Snape is not so much a "little black dress" as he is an onion -- once you start peeling away the layers, you find more and more of them, sharp, pungent layers that will make you cry or, if you heat them just right, will soften into an odd kind of sweetness. No matter what the flavor, though, it's a taste that will stay will you.

Other male characters in my Top Five:

• Alastor Moody -- interesting moral complexity here, and he's dead sexy, in a one-legged, one-eyed, scarred-face, battered-arse, paranoid curmudgeon sort of way.
  
• Filius Flitwick -- I want to know this man's story!
  
• Neville Longbottom -- Who couldn't love the Dork-Who-Lived? (and became so interesting/complex)
  
• Aberforth Dumbledore -- only a couple of scenes, but he stole a good part of the show for me in DH

Runners-Up (mostly for how much I've liked seeing them in fanfic): Scrimgeour, Filch, Mr. Ollivander, Percy Weasley.

Day 6 Least favorite female character.
Day 7 Least favorite male Character.
Day 8 Thoughts on fanfic.
Day 9 Favorite Hogwarts Professor.
Day 10 Dead character you want to bring back most.
Day 11 House you would be in.
Day 12 Hogwarts subject you would most like to take.
Day 13 Spell you wish you could work without a wand.
Day 14 Thoughts on fanart (+ A favorite fanart).
Day 15 Favorite movie.
Day 16 Least favorite movie.
Day 17 Books vs. films.
Day 18 A part of the books/movies that makes you cry.
Day 19 Favorite 'ship(s).
Day 20 Your favorite villain.
Day 21 Favorite location.
Day 22 Thoughts on wizard rock.
Day 23 Character you think you are most like.
Day 24 Horcruxes vs. Hallows?
Day 25 Something you wish JKR had written about more.
Day 26 Marauders vs. Snape.
Day 27 The Invisibility Cloak, The Resurrection Stone or The Elder Wand.
Day 28 The Next Generation.
Day 29 How have you participated in the fandom over the years?
Day 30 In general, the effects of Harry Potter on your life..