Severus Snape

Severus Snape. He’s the hero behind the scenes. In my view, he is the real hero, who protected the central teenage character Harry Potter all along. J.K Rowling developed such a wonderful character, who according to me, IS THE BEST. Why do I love him so much than Harry Potter? I’ll let you know.

Severus Snape is described as a stubborn, cold-hearted, sarcastic, unfriendly and introvert kind of person all along the story. It was difficult to read where his loyalty lied. He was filled with mysteries. His true character was concealed within himself. He was a professor, who was always outstanding since his small age. He mastered dark arts, and defense against dark arts, and potion making. It is obvious to hate him simply for being rude to the central character Harry Potter, but in the end, all the critics fell in love with him, for the man he was.

The forever mysterious rude man had a heart somewhere in him. He was a one-woman-man, who never let her know that he loved her. That woman was none other than Lilly, Harry’s mother. He loved her from the first moment he met her, before joining Hogwarts. Both were gifted with magic and hence joined Hogwarts together. Lilly never knew about the feelings he had for her. While Snape loved her secretly, she found her love, James (Harry’s father). Snape, however, continued to love her.

James was quite popular in the school, a talented seeker in Quidditch games. Though he was never nice to Snape. James bullied him a lot, and Snape rarely reacted. Perhaps it was because of Lilly. This grew the anger and hatred of Snape, which he masked it forever. This somehow helped him in a manner that no one dared to be friends with him, and never became a thing to be taunted. But love found a place in his heart. He loved Lilly even then, without her knowledge.

By the time Lilly and James left the school, Snape became a professor at Hogwarts. Lilly and James soon had their firstborn, Harry Potter. But fate had its play with all of them. A prophecy messed with their beautiful lives. The prophecy indicated that Harry would be the cause of the destruction of the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Voldemort gathered followers and set out to kill Harry. Snape came to know about this and sought the help of Dumbledore, the principal of Hogwarts. Snape had no love for Harry; but for Lilly, he was panicking so much, for he knew Voldemort would destroy the entire Potter family.

Dumbledore failed to keep his promise. Everyone but Harry survived. Harry survived because Lilly’s love for him, and her spell rebound the death curse that Voldemort cast on him, and Voldemort was nearly destroyed, but not dead.

Snape was never a broken man, but he became one. How does it feel like seeing the corpse of someone whom you loved ever since your childhood? He felt it. He held Lilly’s corpse in his arms. He knew Voldemort would regain his strength and come back, and Harry would be in danger. Since Harry bore a part of his beloved, Snape decided to take care of him. This time too, without his knowledge.

Many times, Snape earned the suspicion and disrespect of Harry while Snape made it seem like he never cared. He continued to protect Harry and made sure that he was all right. And he made sure that Harry remained unfriendly to Snape, due to his security reasons. He loved Harry because of Lilly, and at the same time hated him because of James. None but Dumbledore knew about this. Dumbledore used the words “He got his mother’s eyes” to calm down Snape whenever he spoke ill of Harry. Those words reminded him that Harry was his beloved’s son.

An occasion which proved the undying love of Snape to Lilly was, producing a Patronus charm, which had the figure of a doe, the same as Lilly’s. Snape carried all the burden of losing his love in his heart, at the same time stood strong in protecting his love’s child. Dumbledore perhaps saw Harry as a means to put an end to the Dark Lord, whereas Snape dedicated his whole life to preserve the last bit of his love. It cost him his life itself.

Snape continued to be mysterious, and it was hard to tell where his allegiance lied. Even the Dark Lord was fooled. Moments before his death, when Harry too was about to run into his death, he instructed Harry to collect his tears and take it to the pensieve, so that Harry can have a clear idea of the situations, and do the best for all. Right before his death, Snape uttered: “You have your mother’s eyes.”

Harry was confused but did exactly as instructed. A chain of events was reflected which showed what exactly was Snape. Harry then understood why Snape was concealing himself. How Snape transformed from naive to arrogant. What all burdens he had to bear for protecting Harry’s life. And yes, how much he loved Lilly. Harry understood that it was Snape, who protected him all along. Harry regretted misunderstanding him.

The critics of Snape changed their words after this extract of the story: The reflection that Harry saw includes an incident in which a doe shaped Patronus charm came for his assistance. He never had the idea that it was Snape. Dumbledore witnessed this and asked if he loved Lilly after all those time. Only one word came out of Snape’s mouth, “ALWAYS”.

He fulfilled the purpose of his life and died in peace. It was a late understanding Harry had about Snape. He was grateful to Snape, and also had regret in misunderstanding him. Harry named his child after Severus and Dumbledore, the two persons who risked their lives for him, and tells his child that Severus was the bravest man he has ever known.

In this way, Snape, who never cared about his dignity and popularity, who never cared to earn anyone’s love (or never tried to impress anyone), earned the love and respect of Harry and his friends. He finally had a good place in his bit-of-beloved’s heart.