A Year Like None Other

Part 1 of 2-part series

Summary: After Harry gets a letter from the Dursleys during his sixth year at Hogwarts, he is thrown into an interesting turn of events. After undergoing a Muggle procedure, Harry has lost all ability to access his Light magic, leaving behind only his Dark powers. During the process of trying to regain usage of his magic and learn Occlumency, Severus Snape learns how much Harry is not like his father, growing closer to him each day. When Voldemort finds out about Harry’s predicament, he takes advantage, rendering Harry without protection from the wards, blind, and emotionally damaged. When Severus decides to adopt Harry, it creates a massive paradigm shift, for all of them, including Draco Malfoy. The rest of the year is all three of them learning what it means to be a family, both ups and downs.

Status: Fantastic

Opinion: While most Severus and Harry familial relationship fanfictions tend to have Snape realize how terrible Harry’s home life is like before gaining a relationship, this fanfiction focused more on how events could create a shift. They don’t just fall into a Father/Son relationship without mistrust and other issues, which is definitely nice to have. All three of the major characters do not act out-of-character, but instead relate to different catalysts within their original personalities. There was never a dull moment in the story, but not overwhelmingly so. The balance of action, frustration, happiness, and bonding was very well handled. There were a few times that the action seemed unnecessary, but not very often. Overall, an easy read with lots of character development.

Length: 790.169

Pairings/Characters: Severus Snape, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy

Warnings: Torture in several points throughout the story. Self-Harm near the end.

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/742072/chapters/1382061