My Man Friday
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | My Man Friday |
| Author(s): | Enahma |
| Date(s): | 2004 or before |
| Length: | 38,213 words |
| Genre: | Slash, Angst, Drama, First Time, Hurt-Comfort, Romance |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| External Links: | Offline; previously at Ink Stained Fingers and Detention |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
My Man Friday is a Harry/Snape fanfic by Enahma. It is an NC-17 forced marriage story notable for being widely sought after in fic finding communities after it was taken offline in 2005.
Author's summary: "The cliched idea: Harry has to marry Snape. He tries to resist, and Snape isn't happy either. But Dumbledore insistent (as always), and the result is an unhappy, arranged marriage."[1]
Enahma removed the story from the internet in 2005, later also removing Wayback Machine captures,[2] although she gave her blessing for the story to be shared among fans.[3] At snarryficfind, My Man Friday is mentioned in the community profile as the example of fans searching for a particular work, and the story has its own tag that has been used on a dozen searches with hundreds of comments.[4] Fans were still searching for and sharing the story as of 2021.[5]
Related Works
- Mi hombre viernes, Spanish translation by Ali and Maria (archived link)
- Мой Пятница, Russian translation by Катюха (archived link)
- My Boy Friday by AnneScriblerian — "A lovely fellow Severus-Sigher recently gave me a copy of Enahma’s iconic Snarry story: “My Man Friday.” It was a powerful piece, and I was glad to finally get to read it. It was, however, nothing like the story I had been imaging it was. This is an attempt to write the story that I was expecting to read." A Mad Men spoof. (2013)
Recs & Reviews
Yes, one of my guilty pleasures are the ridiculously cheesy Snape n' Harry are forced/accidentally married/bonded fics. Good for a laugh if you're reading them on ff.net, OOCness, bad grammar and all. But a punch to the gut when it's done decently. And this IS one of the better-written fics of that sort. It's not perfect. But it's haunting. And for some strange reason, this story has taken up residence in my brain.I can only explain that it "feels" like one of them old Judith McNaught novels I used to read in high school. I loved most of her stuff, except for Whitney My Love which I wanted to throw into the Pasig River. And as bonkers as her usual plots were, I just couldn't put 'em down. This story affected me the same way, but more and better. And Enahma's Snape and Harry behaved in a somewhat more believable manner to me, in the way they eventually developed their relationship. None of that WHAMMO! They're in love! B.S. And while there's a "sort-of" non-con in there, which normally squicks the hell out of me, it was handled far better than stupid Whitney My Love.
Why you should go read it immediately? Because it is brilliantly written and made my heart ache for the characters. Everything is so perfectly described, that you can nearly taste the emotions in it. I smiled, cried and kept holding my breath in turn, until the very end. In my opinion, one of the best and most believable Harry-has-to-marry-Snape fics out there.
I always wondered about this story. The author took it completely offline that it cannot even be recovered in the internet wayback machine. When someone found it at least 50 people would comment with their emails to get a copy. So I said what the hell. I want a copy myself. So two days ago I received it and downloaded it immediately, but I didn't read it right away. So after not finding any snarries that I was not either in the right mood for or have already read, I started on My Man Friday.I absolutely loved it! I even cried at the end. Most fics don't make me cry so this one is special. I couldn't help but see the similaries between this and Union of Doom by Steppenwoelfin. I absolutely loved how Harry and Severus did not fall for each other quickly (my pet peeve) and didn't say "I love you," until the end of the story. I also loved the fact that Severus showed some emotion. Yes he was a cold hearted bastard in the beginning and you definitely wanted to kill him, but to see him so devastated upon's Harry's departure and their tearful reunion of Harry's secret retun brought tears in my eyes.
The story is very realistic and not all happy go lucky as I have read on many snarry forced marriages. Severus does not try to win Harry's love. Harry does not fall in love with him quickly and become all girly. Yuck.. There is no mpreg (which I'm glad for because a story as perfect as this, it would have been ruined). There is tragedy. Snape and Harry switch being top and bottom (which I was personally glad for). This story is utterly amazing....
References
- ^ Enahma's author page at Detention, archived by the Wayback Machine 26 March 2005.
- ^ Enahma (ex_enahma) on LiveJournal. Untitled comment at snarry a day, posted 13 December 2007.
- ^ sakitokun and shaldana on LiveJournal. Comments on "Query" at snarryficfind, posted 10 December 2005.
- ^ snarryficfind's profile at LiveJournal and its Dreamwidth mirror, accessed 04 February 2021. "title: my man friday" LJ tag and DW tag.
- ^ Re: Ask meme - looking for old Snarry fic at fail fandomanon, posted 04 February 2021.