The Observer Effect (Harry Potter for grown-ups)

Minerva McGonagall is obsessed with Severus Snape. She observes his progress from boyhood through his installation as Headmaster of Hogwarts and learns a few unpleasant truths about herself along the way.

Excerpt:

Is she happy in the cottage in Hogsmeade? It isn't a question she asks herself, and if she did, she would likely say that happiness is relative. But she is less on edge knowing that she will not happen upon Severus pacing the halls late at night, not be… (more)

Minerva McGonagall is obsessed with Severus Snape. She observes his progress from boyhood through his installation as Headmaster of Hogwarts and learns a few unpleasant truths about herself along the way.

Excerpt:

Is she happy in the cottage in Hogsmeade? It isn't a question she asks herself, and if she did, she would likely say that happiness is relative. But she is less on edge knowing that she will not happen upon Severus pacing the halls late at night, not be filled with the urge to follow him on what she thinks of as his Stations of the Cross—his nightly pilgrimages to those locations in the castle that she knows hold special meaning for him. She doesn't know whether to envy or pity him, that his ghosts are so present and accessible. Hers are not, flung relatively far and wide as they are. Her father and her lover are safely buried in Caithness, and her child rests she knows not where—though not buried at all, of course.