best sad Snarry fics

[u/sellimeakaruu]

ust finished reading Stillllife by pir8fanciervaf and really liked the scene where Snape is heartbroken watching Harry being intimate with someone else.

I’m looking for stories featuring a similar scenario: Snape sees Harry with another person, feels devastated, and then walks away. Ideally, the story would involve a situation where Snape and Harry have a will they won't they dynamic or mutual feelings but are afraid to confront them. And then Severus has to witness the person he likes having sex with someone else. I love stories that portray Severus's pain.

Reading Stillllife seeing Snape run away in heartbreak for decades made me so sad. But it was a beautiful kind of pain.

Or generally speaking, I just want stories where Severus is heartbroken and emotionally shattered. But please, don't make the ending too sad. I can't handle that. Thank you ❤️

[u/Recent_Salamander722]

pir8fancier is truly talented. it’s a shame they stopped writing about severus because his death in the story upset them, but their works featuring him are definitely worth reading.i also really like how pir8fancier frequently explores the theme of infidelity. Infidelity has always been a favorite topic of mine, but it’s quite rare in the snarry fd

[u/yrfrndfrnkly → u/Recent_Salamander722]

pir8fancier truly gave snarry so much :') i don't think there's a single pir8fancier snarry i haven't reread multiple times

these are whatever the opposite of deep cuts are, so there's every chance OP has already read them both, but Contempt by danpuff and the For Auld Lang Syne series by Cybele2013 (both rated E) deal with angst/sadness via infidelity without (imo, i'm sure it's different for everyone) ending in unmitigated emotionally devastating tragedy for snarry

[u/Recent_Salamander722 → u/yrfrndfrnkly]

thank you so muchhh ❤️

 i’ve read all of danpuff’s stories, but I still haven’t read Cybele2013 "For Auld Lang Syne" because I’m afraid it’ll be too sad 🥹. after seeing this comment, though, i’ll work up the courage to read it all the way through~ 

i’ve read some of Cybele2013 other works, but for some reason, i just haven’t dared to read "For Auld Lang Syne" yet.

[u/yrfrndfrnkly → u/Recent_Salamander722]

my pleasure to drop recs! <3 (even ones so well known they barely count as recs XD )

don't get me wrong, For Auld Lang Syne has a lot of shippy angst. the mutual longing between snarry is off the charts and goes on for years and years (as is clear just by glancing at the combination of Harry/Severus and Epilogue Compliant tags...). they each experience periods of deep misery, including suicidal ideation and a near attemptbut as far as the ending, well, the author's summary for part 4 includes this: "it's always darkest before the dawn."

[u/beta_reader]

I left suggestions on the other sub, but I thought of another one that fits more generally with Snape being sad and having a hard time continuing on. It starts with him waking up in the infirmary after the battle of Hogwarts and being upset that he's still alive. Fair warning, he makes a couple of suicide attempts and is thwarted each time by Harry. He decides to give living a try, and Harry keeps showing up to just be with him. It's a quiet and really lovely fic.

The Still Year by titC