Digging for the Bones

by paganaidd

Fandom: Harry Potter
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Because of a student death, new measures are being taken to screen students for abuse. With Dumbledore facing an enquiry, Snape is in charge of making sure every student receives an examination. Abused!Harry. Character death. Sevitis. In answer to the "New Measures for Screening Abuse" challenge at Potions and Snitches. Yes, it is a "Snape is Harry's biological father" story.

Words: 212,292

Genres: Fan Fiction, Fantasy

850 pages, ebook

First published February 27, 2011

Reviews

[RavenT · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real angst fest with one suicide (Neville) and two attempted suicides (Ginny and Harry). Really interesting Severitis (Snape is Harry's real father). I like less angst in general, but this story is well written. The details of the wizarding world's beliefs add depth to the world building.

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/6782408/1/...

[EJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gotta love how I've read this at least four times and yet I still think the three star rating is probably accurate. I can't help there's only so many long-fics that cater to my exact preferences.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very emotional read. Worth it.

[nana · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Grief is...strange,” Mrs. Weasley told him quietly. “Sometimes we get angry at people who survive because we’re so angry at the people who didn’t.”

tava muito boa até eu ver que tava acabando com muitas pontas soltas e o final desandou também apesar dela ser gigante

[Kymmiechan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautifully done story. It was incredibly respectful towards the themes of suicide and abuse and presented them in such a way that your heart just aches for all the characters.

I very much enjoyed Lily's... ghost... shade.... spirit... whatever harassing Severus into standing up for himself and putting effort into his relationship with Harry. The lovely bit near the end realizing that Minerva can also see and hear the spirits and using the excuse of "Long term aftereffects of the spell" to drop into her heavy Scottish brogue to curse at Dumbledore with amazing regularity.

In my opinion, it stopped at the perfect place for there to be a sequel, though I have not yet looked to see if there is one, so there may be. Fingers crossed because ending the story with Harry and Severus exchanging "I love you Dad / son" was so beautiful and I would love to see how this author continues to build their relationship while also dealing with the after effects of Harry's depression and anxiety and the potential of the ministry trying to get their hands on Harry now that the Dursleys have been so publicly arrested.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't much care for the ending. It's not the ending itself, which would have been fine, but the way the ending happened. Action action action action end. That's what happened. It was too abrupt for the story, for the writing style. It really ruined it for me, not gonna lie.

[Sakshi Agarwal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very angsty tale with some loose and confusing ends but other than that the story was well written and planned if I looked over the grammar and spelling errors in the last few chapters. The relationship between Harry and Snape was well-developed and all in all, you can give it a try.

[fayre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snape is Harry’s bio father
Lily took a potion to make him look like James
Neville dies because of abuse
Snape takes Harry in
Snuffles is Harry’s familiar
Ginny tries to commit
Harry tries to commit
Snape reads Harry stories - The storyteller
They take care of each other

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars

[Pr!ya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Just needed a little more polishing, perhaps a second set of eyes to look over, and it would have been perfect.

[rixx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent enough hurt/comfort Severitus. Nothing special, but nothing stupid either.

[Tailtiu]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/598019

[charl✭ · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was good but i feel like the ending was tied up enough. also feel like i needed more development with harry and his friends and everything that happened with ginny and neville

[Book Shark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real unique telling of a Severus is Harry biological father. Very enjoyable.

[Romina Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increíble. Una de los mejores Severitus que he leído. Harry es un poco OoC, pero se entiende dado el contexto. Severus mantiene su esencia, pero se permite ser vulnerable.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️

[Susie Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not me rereading a 200k+ word fanfic when my TBR is 100 books long 🤡🤡🤡

Worth it 😎(😭)

[michael (gerard’s version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite fanfictions a while back and I've been debating coming back and doing a reread. A definite recommendation from me for any potterhead.

[Chelsey Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Neville Longbottom dies due to child abuse Hogwarts and Dumbledore are under investigation. Each child must be examined for abuse and Harry is terrified. Despite denying that he faced any abuse at home, he attempts to hide from the examiner. When Snape and Lupin end up being the ones examining him and evidence of abuse comes to light, suddenly Snape finds himself in an awkward position of being the boy's legal guardian.


This story has so many layers but also so many triggers. Many mentions of abuse, suicidal thoughts, attempts at suicide. It's a painful reminder that the Dursleys were horrible people and the fact that, realistically, after years of living with them, Harry would not be okay.

[Deeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and entertaining spin on Harry Potter.

A story full of feeling.

I really like a good Snape helps Harry fic and this one was a worthy read.

A few minor niggles with character continuity and the ending felt a little unfinished. But for a fanfiction a good read.

Upping to 4 stars because I really thought this one was well done.

[Inez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Severitus with really good explanation!