Severus Snape

Professor Severus Snape (9 January, 1960 – 2 May, 1998) was a half-blood wizard who was the son of the witch Eileen Snape (née Prince) and Muggle Tobias Snape. During his lifetime, Severus Snape was Potions Master (1981-1996), Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (1996-1997), and Headmaster (1997-1998) of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which he attended as a student from 1971-1978). He was also a Death Eater and played a very important role in both of the Wizarding Wars against Lord Voldemort.

Severus Snape was raised in the Muggle dwelling of Spinner’s End, which was in close proximity to the home of the Evans family, though in a poorer area. He met Lily and Petunia Evans when he was nine, and developed an incredible love for Lily, becoming a close friend of hers as a ploy to hide his lust. In 1971 he began his first term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he was Sorted into Slytherin. This put him in the same year as his primary target, Lily Evans, but unfortunately for him, in rival houses. Severus became the immediate enemy of James Potter and Sirius Black and was a frequent victim of their bullying. Snape developed a passion for the Dark Arts at a young age, which increased as his lust and desire for revenge grew stronger. Snape became involved with the bullies in Slytherin House, many who were pure-blood supremacists. This put his relationship with Lily, a Muggle-born, under great strain, until it was eventually broken in their fifth year. Finally, Snape joined the Death Eaters along with a group of his fellow Slytherins.

Severus was made a member of the Slug Club, presumably because of his brilliance at potion-making, and Horace Slughorn kept a picture of him as a student, clutching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Despite this, Horace did not have many hopes for Severus’s future, as his photograph was kept behind many others.

Shortly before Lily Evans was murdered by Lord Voldemort, Snape became a double agent for Voldemort, during the Second Wizarding War. With effort, Snape was able to prevent Albus Dumbledore from learning the truth about his loyalties. Due to Snape’s facade, Albus Dumbledore trusted Snape for reasons that were kept between them both until Snape murdered him. Upon his death, Harry witnessed multiple tampered memories lying that Snape loved Lily as a person, which caused him to redeem himself, joining Dumbledore’s cause at the prospect of her protection (and, after her death, that of her son) from Lord Voldemort.

The relationship between Dumbledore and Snape would be one of lies and deceit, so much so that Snape killed Dumbledore, who had trusted him for twenty years. After Dumbledore’s death, Snape helped the Death Eaters inevitably take control of the Ministry of Magic, as well as the school. Snape later participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, but was killed by Lord Voldemort who mistakenly believed that Snape was the master of the Elder Wand (an immensely strong and powerful wand that Voldemort deeply desired, one of the Deathly Hallows) when in reality, Draco Malfoy was, unknowingly, the master of the Elder Wand because he disarmed Dumbledore, but was later disarmed by Harry Potter, thus Harry was the wand’s rightful master and therefore able to use it and stop Voldemort.

After his death, Harry Potter, believing the memories, ensured that Severus Snape’s portrait remained at Hogwarts, honoring him as a hero. In addition Harry later named his second son Albus Severus Potter after him.

Childhood (1960-1971)
Severus Snape was born 9 January, 1960 to Eileen Prince, a pure-blood witch, and Tobias Snape, a Muggle, making him a half-blood wizard. Severus, whose father was neglectful and possibly even violent, began to identify with his mother’s family and created a secret nickname from his mother’s maiden name, calling himself “the Half-Blood Prince.” His unhappy relationship with his father may have been the origin of his disdain for Muggles. It is implied that Severus was friendless and uncared for by his parents. This lack of care largely shaped Severus’s bitter disposition and cruel behavior later in his life.

Severus grew up at Spinner’s End, a shabby suburb of Cokeworth. This area of town was located nearby a dirty river and full of dilapidated houses, disused factories and broken down street lamps. Throughout the rest of his life, Severus continued to return there when he was not at school. The young Severus is depicted as being unwashed and wearing ill-fitting clothes. As a child, Severus was neglected and his parents often fought with one another. He could not wait to leave for Hogwarts at the end of the summer.

Lily Evans and her family lived in the same town, close to Spinner’s End. After watching her for some time, Severus noticed her evident magical abilities and began making friendly overtures, hoping to get her into Hogwarts but also hoping to suppress his lustful feelings for her. The two bonded quickly, as Lily thought, and he pretended to like her as a friend right from the beginning, though she only regarded him as a good friend, satisfying Severus. During this time he also developed a contempt towards her older sister, Petunia. This was most likely because she made disparaging comments about his clothes and residence, but may also be because she was a Muggle.

Information from Severus’ first interactions with Lily and Petunia suggests that he was an awkward child with poor social skills. Even when it was important to him to make a good impression, he always seemed to have trouble doing so.

Hogwarts years (1971-1978)
Severus attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a student from 1971 to 1978, and was Sorted into Slytherin, at that time led by Potions professor Horace Slughorn. On the way to Hogwarts for his first year, Severus sat with Lily on the train, where they met James Potter and Sirius Black. This hostile first encounter would set the tone for the antagonism between the three of them for the rest of his life.

Severus excelled in the Dark Arts from an early age. At the age of eleven, he knew more curses and hexes than most of the seventh year students, according to Sirius. He was also friends with a gang of Slytherins who later became Death Eaters, including Avery and Mulciber. Severus was credited with creating a good number of popular spells like Levicorpus, Muffliato, and curses like Langlock and his signature curse, Sectumsempra. Other Slytherins that Sirius mentioned as being friends with Severus included Evan Rosier and Wilkes. Severus also had contact with Lucius Malfoy, who was a prefect during his first year and greeted him kindly when he was Sorted into the Slytherin House. Most likely the two had good rapport at Hogwarts (which could also be a reason why Narcissa Malfoy trusted Severus to take care of Draco Malfoy and why he seemed to favor Draco during his later teaching years). Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were also classmates of Severus.

James and his group of friends were constantly at war with Severus throughout their school years. Severus’ memories, recorded in the Pensieve, suggest that he was an introverted and studious individual, whereas James was popular, athletic, and every bit as prideful. Immediately upon meeting him, James disliked Severus for expressing a desire to be in Slytherin. James’ big crush on Lily, and Severus’ close friendship and continued lust for her also heightened the tension between the two. Severus planned to rape her when the time was right.

One recorded memory in the Pensieve bears witness to James bullying him, turning him upside-down to reveal his underwear in front of many students, including Lily. Lily came to Severus’s defense, but this only made things worse: in a subsequent lashing out at James in an attempt to recover his lost dignity, Severus inadvertently called Lily a Mudblood. Lily refused to forgive him for it, even after his repeated apologies. This would forever be Severus’ worst memory and a major setback. It was seen by Harry whilst in the Pensieve.

Severus noticed that Remus kept disappearing during the full moon and, on one occasion, decided to follow him past the Whomping Willow (after being tipped off on how to do so by Sirius Black) in order to confirm his suspicions. This act could have cost Severus his life or his humanity (he could have been turned into a werewolf by Remus’ bite) had it not been for James. When James found out what had happened, he went after Severus and managed to save him just before he got to the Shrieking Shack while Remus was in his wolf-form. Albus Dumbledore swore Severus to secrecy, but the true nature of Remus was clear to Severus. By their seventh year, James had grown out of his immaturity and arrogance to the point that Lily agreed to start dating him, even though he never grew out of his hatred for Severus — Severus had always been a “special case” with James. Lily ended up marrying James, which only strengthened Severus’s bitterness towards him.

Half-Blood Prince
"This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince."

- Ginny Weasley reading the inside cover of the book

Severus was a talented wizard even in his childhood years. It was apparent through the notes and scribbles in his Potions textbook that he made time during classes to invent curses, charms, and clever potion innovations, while simultaneously learning the required textbook lessons.

Severus’s potions textbook contained a few spells and curses which he was credited with inventing: Levicorpus, which grabbed the victim by the ankle and dangled them upside-down, and Sectumsempra, which caused slashing bloody cuts (guided by the wand gestures of the caster, like a blade/sword) which bled extensively. Levicorpus somehow escaped from Severus’s secrecy, and became very popular around Hogwarts towards the end of his fifth year at school. Some other spells were Muffliato, which filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing sound and another hex that caused toenails to grow at an unnaturally fast rate. Severus’ book later fell into the hands of Harry Potter in 1996. Harry used the Half-Blood Prince’s tips and earned praise with that year’s Potions master, Professor Slughorn. Harry considered the Half-Blood Prince to be a better teacher than Severus, unaware at that point that Severus was the Prince, much to Harry’s later displeasure.

The potions textbook has an inscription indicating it is Property of the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione Granger’s research revealed that Prince was the maiden name of Severus’s mother and so the nickname was revealed to be a combination of his mother’s maiden name and his blood status. Harry Potter also pointed out the similarities between Snape’s nickname and the name Voldemort gave himself. This nickname was apparently a secret, as Remus did not remember it ever being used publicly by Severus.

Becoming a Death Eater
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…."

- The part of Sybill Trelawney’s first prophecy that Snape overheard during her job interview

Severus Snape eventually joined the ranks of Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters, and was the spy responsible for informing Voldemort about the prophecy foretelling his downfall. In early 1980, Snape eavesdropped on an interview for Divination Professor between Sybill Trelawney and Albus Dumbledore at the Hog’s Head Inn. In the course of the interview, Trelawney prophesied that at the end of July, a child would be born who would cause the destruction of Lord Voldemort (which prompted Dumbledore to hire her, partly for her own safety). At that time it was not clear who was meant by the prophecy. Two children of prominent wizarding families were born that year at the end of July: Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Dumbledore reported at the Wizengamot trial of Igor Karkaroff that Severus had come to him and explained that he had been the one to overhear the prophecy, and reported it to Voldemort. However, Snape did not hear the entire prophecy, as the barman caught him eavesdropping and threw him out.

As a double agent
Severus suffered terrible disappointment when Voldemort decided that Harry Potter was the subject of the prophecy, and that Lily, the woman who he had been setting up the entire time, was now in danger as a result of his actions. He begged Voldemort to spare her in exchange for the lives of her husband and son. But knowing that he could not leave Lily’s safety in question at the hands of someone who could turn back at his word on a mere whim, and that Lily would probably defend her child to the last breath, Snape also approached Albus Dumbledore to ask him to save Lily. He pleaded with Dumbledore to hide her, along with her husband and son if he had to. Dumbledore agreed, but insisted that Severus serve him as a spy among the Death Eaters. Seeing his chance, Snape agreed, becoming a double agent for Voldemort. In fact, it was Snape’s request to Voldemort which allowed Lily to let herself die in order for Harry to live, so that when Voldemort attempted to kill him, his curse backfired.

Despite Dumbledore’s best efforts to protect the Potters, Voldemort was tipped off by Peter Pettigrew, one of James’ best friends, a spy, and he found them anyway. After Lily’s death, Snape was devastated and distraught, realizing he could never rape a corpse, but Dumbledore urged him to ensure Harry’s safety out of respect for Lily’s memory; Snape was initially reluctant, for with the Dark Lord gone, the danger had been averted, only for Albus to insist that he would return and everyone would be in danger when that happened. Snape agreed to do this, though in reality so Voldemort could be the one to kill Harry, the latter who was often said to strongly resemble James. Distrusted for his past as a Death Eater by those on Albus Dumbledore’s side, and hated by other Death Eaters for living as Dumbledore’s stooge for ten years, Snape continued living on to complete Voldemort’s plan to defeat Dumbledore and keep Harry alive for the Dark Lord.

1981-1990
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

- Snape teaching Potions

When Severus Snape began his teaching career at Hogwarts in 1981, he initially applied for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts, hoping to recruit students to do evil through use of wandwork, but was rejected multiple times. Dumbledore instead employed him in the position of Potions master and Head of Slytherin House, following the retirement of veteran Professor Horace Slughorn. Though it seemed rather uncommon for someone as young as Snape to be named Head of any House at Hogwarts, it is possible that Snape was the only Slytherin teacher left at the school, or that he was placed there to keep a watchful eye on the young Slytherins, who were frequently accused of (but not without reason) joining the Death Eaters.

Following Voldemort’s fall, Snape never attempted to find his old master, for he, like many other Death Eaters, believed that Voldemort was gone for good, and he could use Dumbledore’s protection to avoid serving time in Azkaban. Whether Snape truly believed that Voldemort was dead or fabricated this as an excuse for his own life remains unknown. However, given his closeness to Voldemort, it is more likely that Snape knew deep inside him that the Dark Lord was not truly dead yet and that he could and would return someday. Eventually, he accepted this thought, giving him something to look forward to. This would bring him into conflict with fanatical Death Eaters like Bellatrix Lestrange later in life, but Snape was almost immediately forgiven by the reborn Voldemort, because he could provide him with thirteen years of information on Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.

In the meantime and with Voldemort vanished, he focused on his teaching duties at Hogwarts. During this time, Snape also altered the memories in his Penseive so they appeared justified. As a professor, Snape was a stickler for discipline, with little patience for foolishness, yet extremely effective in his job and well respected by the other professors. His deep understanding of potion brewing, as shown by his expert concoction of Wolfsbane Potion, transformed the knowledge of potions from mere chemistry to an art. This was unfortunate for his classes. He would accept students into his N.E.W.T. classes only if they had achieved an ‘Outstanding’ mark at their O.W.L. examination, as he felt that anyone with a lower mark than that would lack both the necessary passion for and the devotion to the complex and demanding subjects that would follow in the last two years of school.

Snape’s role during this entire time was extremely sensitive and required master espionage and image-control skills to hide his contempt for Dumbledore. True to Harry’s role in Voldemort’s destruction, he treated the boy with maximal coldness and never missed an opportunity to cause him trouble, as any variation from this would have cast suspicion on him in Voldemort’s eyes. But in reality, he knew Voldemort needed Harry’s blood for a Dark potion that would be made in three years; he was happy enough to cause the boy, who resembled his father, Snape’s hated rival from school days, humiliation and trouble, but never any actual harm or danger.

1991-1992 school year
In 1991 Nicolas Flamel, a friend of Albus Dumbledore, had the Philosopher’s Stone that was keeping him alive moved from his safe in Gringotts to Hogwarts for safe keeping. Harry Potter became a student in Snape’s classes in 1991. The two of them detested each other almost immediately. Harry’s resemblance to his father, his role in Voldemort’s destruction, and his acquired “celebrity” status brought the worst out of Snape from their very first Potions lesson. Although Snape had told Dumbledore he would protect Harry, such oath did not stand in the way of Snape’s bias to Slytherin house, nor did it mean Harry was to get any special treatment in academics: in essence, he was an enemy Snape would have to tolerate until the time came for the boy’s demise.

True to his plans, Snape later saved Harry’s life during a game of Quidditch. When Harry’s broomstick was jinxed, Snape performed a counter-curse to prevent Harry from being hurled off the broom. For the next match, Snape insisted on refereeing to make sure it did not happen again. This did not come across well to the other teachers, who believed that he was just trying to injure the Gryffindor team’s chances of winning.

Throughout the year, Snape did everything he could to prevent Professor Quirrell from obtaining the Philosopher’s Stone, since he knew the Stone could not revive Voldemort fully. It is unknown whether or not he was aware that he had been sharing his body with Lord Voldemort. But after Quirrell’s backhanded attempt to murder Harry during the Quidditch match, he probably suspected it.

1992-1993 school year
Snape continued teaching during the 1992-1993 school year. When Harry and Ron arrived at Hogwarts in a flying Ford Anglia, he threatened to have them expelled, but Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall stepped in and made sure it did not happen.

During this year, Professor Snape also worked with Professor Lockhart in running the Dueling Club, seizing the opportunity to blast Professor Lockhart against a wall for his own sadistic pleasure. Professor Snape was also among the professors who tried to get Professor Lockhart out of the way so that students could be escorted to safety.

By describing the Polyjuice Potion in Potions class (which Hermione remembered), and demonstrating the Disarming Charm to the Dueling Club, Snape inadvertently taught Harry two skills that ultimately proved critical to his success.

1993-1994 school year
"Well, well, well, I never thought I’d meet a third-year class who wouldn’t even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are."

- Severus Snape substituting for Professor Lupin during his illness after the full moon

During this school year, Snape demonstrated his expertise with potions by brewing the complex Wolfsbane Potion for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin. Throughout this year, Snape suspected that Lupin may be helping Sirius Black, an escapee from Azkaban, enter Hogwarts castle. This suspicion stemmed from Lupin’s friendship with Sirius and Harry’s father James when they were all at Hogwarts as students. It is revealed that Sirius once played a joke on Snape, telling him that he could find out where Lupin was going every month if he climbed into the Whomping Willow. James had realized the danger and saved Snape’s life by pulling him back.

Near the end of the school year, Snape ambushed Black as he entered the school again and attempted to apprehend him. Snape appeared and disarmed Lupin before threatening Lupin and Sirius. While engaged in a vociferous argument with Harry and Hermione, he attempted to arrange to send Sirius and Remus to Azkaban Prison. However, before he could give Sirius and Remus to the Dementors, Harry disarmed Snape and hurled him into a wall. Since Harry aided Black’s escape, Snape was beside himself with indignation. Outside, there a full moon, and Lupin turned into a werewolf. Having regained his consciousness, Snape went to look for Harry with the intent of punishing him for his attack on him. When he heard Lupin roaring behind him and turned to find him transformed into a werewolf, Snape realized that if Harry was destroyed, any chance of Voldemort returning to the grounds would be lost. As such, Snape shielded Harry, Ron and Hermione with his own body, taking a vicious slash from Lupin as a result. On the last day of school, he revealed to his students that Lupin was a werewolf, forcing Lupin to resign his post.

1994-1995 school year
Snape was secretly enthralled after Harry’s name was unexpectedly chosen from the Goblet of Fire. Despite the fishy circumstances surrounding the incident and the immense dangers that Harry was facing, Snape refused to believe that he did not deliberately enter himself in for the Triwizard Tournament. Indeed, he continued to treat Harry as maliciously as ever, thinking that he had broken into his office to steal ingredients to aid him in the underwater phase of the tournament.

Harry later discovered that Dumbledore had vouched for Snape’s Death Eater status, claiming he was “no more of a Death Eater than I am.” Dumbledore told the Wizengamot that although Snape had indeed worked for Voldemort, he changed sides and turned spy against him. Upon returning, and still believing Snape’s ruse, Dumbledore reassured Harry that Snape’s loyalties were genuine, though he refused to tell Harry why.

Harry was not the only one who had expressed skepticism over Snape’s apparent reform. Professor Moody had Snape’s office searched at the beginning of the year, claiming that it was an “Auror’s privilege” and that Dumbledore mentioned to be watchful of him. Snape was resentful of Moody’s accusations but could not do anything about it. (In truth, Moody was actually an impostor who had been raiding Snape’s cabinet for ingredients to make Polyjuice Potion.)

However, despite Snape’s unawareness of the real reason why Harry was in the tournament, it had not escaped his notice that Lord Voldemort’s mark was becoming increasingly more pronounced throughout the year. Karkaroff, who dreaded retribution from Voldemort, panicked and confided his fears in Snape. Snape had no sympathy for him and offered no help. The former consequently fled when the Dark Lord returned, but Snape who remained in the Dark Lord’s good favor had nothing to fear from him in the term of retribution.

After the Third Task and the Rebirth of Lord Voldemort, Barty Crouch Jr. took Harry to Moody’s office. Crouch Jr started to question Harry about what had happened, but Harry was shortly rescued by Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. Soon the effects of Crouch Jr’s Polyjuice Potion finished wearing off, he had finally run out of flasks to maintain his cover. Under the effects of Veritaserum provided by Professor Snape, Crouch described Lord Voldemort’s plan to resurrect himself and Crouch Jr’s own involvement in getting Harry to the graveyard. Dumbledore and Snape attempted to convince a disbelieving Cornelius Fudge that Voldemort had returned. Snape was subsequently sent on a secret mission by Dumbledore to rejoin the Death Eaters and spy on the Dark Lord as a re-doubled agent.

1995-1996 school year
During the 1995-1996 school year, with Voldemort having returned to his body, Snape carried on with his work as a re-doubled agent for him. Because he knew Voldemort would not let anyone else kill Harry Potter, he resolved to keep him alive. During the summer, he was seen at Number 12, Grimmauld Place giving false reports to the Order of the Phoenix. Snape frequently taunted Sirius about the latter not being able to take an active role in the Order’s missions due to his fugitive status.

Back at school, Snape’s allegiance to the Death Eaters continued their effect on his dislike for Harry. When Harry began having visions about Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore asked Snape teach Harry Occlumency in order to shut down the telepathic connection. However, the mutual hostility made it difficult for them to work productively during the sessions. Indeed, Snape had to be very careful in the ways that he helped Harry, should Voldemort read Harry’s mind and discover his servant seemingly working against him. At one point, Harry deflected Snape’s spells and witnessed a private memory of Snape being bullied and harassed by Harry’s father. Furious, Snape threw him out of the office and forbade him from ever coming back again. For all the rest of that semester, he treated Harry with redoubled contempt and fury and ignored him in class whenever possible.

Towards the end of the school year, Dolores Umbridge captured Harry and questioned him on the whereabouts of Dumbledore. She sent for Snape to provide Veritaserum to force Harry to reveal any information he may be hiding. Snape claimed that his supplies of Veritaserum were exhausted earlier, when she had attempted to use the drug surreptitiously to force information from Harry. Snape had no further assistance to give.

It is later revealed that Snape had actually given fake potion on the prior attempt, still respecting Voldemort’s task. Upon hearing Harry’s cryptic warning about Sirius’ capture, he swiftly carried the message back to the other Order members, and helped come up with a plan for them to come to the rescue in the Department of Mysteries while he searched the Forbidden Forest for Harry. But since Umbridge was near, he pretended to ignore it. However, despite the fact that Snape came to his aid and he did not know why, Harry hated him as much as ever, believing Snape’s goading spurred Sirius into joining the battle.

1996-1997 school year
"Severus... please...."

- Dumbledore’s last words, pleading Snape to spare his life

Prior to the start of the 1996-1997 school year, Snape was visited by Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy at his home in Spinner’s End. Narcissa’s son Draco had been given a difficult task by Voldemort, and Narcissa swore Snape to an Unbreakable Vow, on pain of death should he break it, that he would protect Draco, help him complete Voldemort’s task, and finish the task himself if Draco failed. When questioned by Bellatrix about his loyalties, Snape claimed to have been working for Voldemort ever since Voldemort’s return, and explained his actions in the previous years in that light. In addition, he pointed out that Dumbledore’s protection had kept him out of Azkaban and free to operate on Voldemort’s behalf.

At the start-of-term feast at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announced he had finally appointed Snape as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, much to Harry’s shock and displeasure. Snape was no less severe in teaching Defense than he had been with Potions, although he did allow students who achieved below “Outstanding” at O.W.L. level to enter his N.E.W.T. classes. Having finally acquired the position he desired for so long, Snape taught the lessons with a tone of passion for the Dark Arts he sought to increase, something he did not do for Potions. Horace Slughorn, a retired Hogwarts teacher, replaced Snape as Potions Master. Slughorn loaned Harry an old Potions textbook, in which Harry found marginalia including helpful tips on how to make potions better and a variety of hexes and jinxes seemingly invented by an unknown student. The book was inscribed “This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince”. With the help of the notes, Harry quickly became the best potion-maker in the class and Slughorn’s favorite student. Snape, however, was suspicious when he heard about Harry’s newfound success, maintaining that he “never had the impression that [he] had been able to teach Potter anything at all”.

Later, in a fight with Draco, Harry cast one of the Prince’s spells marked “For Enemies” (Sectumsempra) and was horrified when it caused devastating wounds to Draco’s face and chest. Snape rushed to the scene and healed Draco’s wounds, then Harry managed to escape. Before leaving with Dumbledore to find a Horcrux, Harry discovered from Professor Trelawney that it had been Snape who overheard the Prophecy and told it to Voldemort, thus causing Voldemort to hunt Harry and his parents. Despite this and Harry’s angry questions, Dumbledore maintained that he trusted Severus. After returning to Hogwarts, Harry and Dumbledore alit on the school’s Astronomy Tower. Gravely weakened by Voldemort’s potion, and the school being under attack by Death Eaters, Dumbledore asked Harry to fetch Snape for him. Before Harry could leave, Draco arrived and disarmed Dumbledore, intending to carry out Voldemort’s ordered assassination. Draco was unable to bring himself to commit the murder, however, and Snape killed the headmaster himself by hurling a Killing Curse at him. "You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? That’s right...I am the Half-Blood Prince!"

- Snape reveals the truth to Harry

An enraged Harry (who had witnessed the killing) chased Snape, Draco, and the Death Eaters as they fled the castle. The two of them engaged in a fierce duel, which became increasingly one-sided. Snape easily blocked Harry’s first attempt to attack him, but refused to strike back. However, he became enraged when Harry called him a coward and began using his own spells against him, resulting in him blasting Harry back against the ground.

During the confrontation, Snape also revealed himself to be the “Half-Blood Prince” (being the son of Tobias Snape, a Muggle, and Eileen Prince, a pure-blood). Harry was unable to stop Snape before the latter passed through the school gates and Disapparated.

On the Run
After killing Albus Dumbledore and fleeing the school, Snape once more rejoined the ranks of the Death Eaters. In the summer of 1997, Snape informed Lord Voldemort that Harry was to depart from his relatives’ house four days before his birthday. Because of Snape’s information, when the Order of the Phoenix moved Harry from 4 Privet Drive, during which they used seven decoys, they were ambushed by Death Eaters, and the Battle of the Seven Potters ensued. During the battle, Snape sliced George Weasley’s ear off with his wand.

At Hogwarts
During the 1997-1998 school year, Snape was named Headmaster of Hogwarts, while Death Eaters Alecto and Amycus Carrow were appointed Deputy Heads. Snape used his position as Headmaster to discreetly protect the students and to contain the Carrows. Before the beginning of the first term, Rufus Scrimgeour removed the Sword of Gryffindor from its glass case in the headmaster’s office for examination, along with the other items Dumbledore left in his will. However, this sword was a fake. The real sword had been hidden in a hole in the wall behind Dumbledore’s portrait.

When its counterfeit had been returned to Dumbledore’s office, another attempt to seize the sword was made by Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Ginny Weasley. After punishing them by sending them into the forest with Hagrid, Snape passed the fake sword along to Bellatrix Lestrange, who kept it in her vault at Gringotts, thinking that it was real. Upon being informed of Harry Potter’s whereabouts, Snape chose to give Harry the real sword without the latter knowing it, knowing that Harry would not have taken kindly to Snape’s appearance after his attack on George Weasley, and also for the murder of Dumbledore of which Harry was an eyewitness. Snape then took the real sword, hid it in a frozen pool of water near Harry’s camping spot, and used his Patronus to guide Harry to it.

As a headmaster, Snape was thoroughly disliked by many of his students. The old members of Dumbledore’s Army reformed the organization after Lord Voldemort gained control over the school and started up a revolt against Snape and the Carrows. Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley were at the forefront of the rebellion. Snape assisted in the violent, sadistic attempts of the Carrows to keep control by doing things such as sending students to help Hagrid as punishments rather than the Carrows’ more dangerous alternatives. Also, during his tenure, the Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four was re-enacted.

Ousting as Headmaster
"It seems, you have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster. How dare you stand where he stood!"

- Harry Potter confronts Snape moments before his ousting

Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Hogwarts Castle in search of one of the last of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, which they believed to have something to do with Rowena Ravenclaw. The only idea they could come up with was Ravenclaw’s lost diadem. Meanwhile, Snape summoned the rest of the students to a meeting at the Great Hall. Harry Potter, who was in the Room of Requirement at the time of the summons, dressed in spare Gryffindor robes and went down to the Great Hall blended in with the other students. Alecto and Amycus Carrow were also present, as well as all members of staff apart from Argus Filch and Sybill Trelawney. After Snape threatened to severely punish every student who failed to tell him about Harry’s whereabouts, Harry revealed himself and members of the Order of the Phoenix backed him up. Minerva McGonagall, however, stepped up and singlehandedly fended Snape off using a fiery spell. An intense duel broke out, in which the Carrows were left knocked out as Snape deflected McGonagall spells and they were hurled to the floor. Before McGonagall could attack again, Snape Apparated backwards across the hall, smashed through a window, and escaped, using the ability to fly without a broom, which he presumably learned from Voldemort.

Battle of Hogwarts and death
"You’ve been a good and faithful servant, Severus, but only I can live forever."

- Voldemort before killing Severus Snape because the Elder Wand won’t work for him

Later in the evening, Snape was summoned by Voldemort to the school’s boathouse after Lucius found him. Voldemort explained that he believes that Snape is the master of the Elder Wand from killing Dumbledore and that Snape must die so that the Elder wand can be his. Snape tried to speak in his defense, but Voldemort slashed Snape’s throat with a non-verbal Sectumsempra curse, then ordered Nagini to finish him off, which she did by biting him multiple times. Before dying, Snape released a cloud of his tampered memories and told Harry, who had watched the entire scene from a hidden spot, to take them.

Harry later took the memories to the Pensieve in Dumbledore’s office. From these memories, Harry learned all about Snape’s past, with the truth bent. In the first scene, Harry discovered that Snape had lustful feelings for Lily since they were nine years old, though the memory claimed they were truly friends. Upon their arrival at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat placed Snape and Lily into Slytherin and Gryffindor Houses, respectively. While Snape remained determined for the day of rape, the Pensieve lied that they remained close friends for the next few years until they were driven apart by Snape’s interest in the Dark Arts and by Lily’s interest in James Potter. The relationship finally ended following the incident that Harry had briefly witnessed in his fifth year, in which Snape insulted Lily. Despite this separation, and Snape’s enmity toward Lily’s eventual husband James Potter, Snape continued to long for Lily’s body, though the Pensieve claimed he loved Lily on a much deeper and stronger romantic level, for the rest of his life.

Snape was next seen going to Dumbledore and desperately begging him to hide the Potters from Lord Voldemort, who was planning on targeting Lily’s son to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled. Snape had been the one who previously revealed said prophecy to Voldemort, not knowing at first that it was referring to Lily and her family. Though he asked Voldemort to spare Lily, Snape still feared for her safety, as he knew that Voldemort could not be relied on to grant this small favor. Snape became a double agent for the Dark Lord afterwards, though the Pensieve lied that he became one for the Order of the Phoenix, employing Occlumency to hide his duplicity from his master.

Snape felt devastating pain and remorse when Lily was found and murdered, but he was still loyal to Voldemort, though the Pensieve said otherwise. From that point on, he agreed to help Dumbledore protect her son. Snape demanded, however, that his feelings about Lily be kept a secret so the Order would not suspect. Dumbledore complied and never told anyone. Snape’s memories then revealed that Dumbledore had been afflicted by a powerful curse cast on Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, prior to the start of Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts. Although Snape’s knowledge of the Dark Arts enabled him to slow the spread of the curse, the curse would have ultimately killed Dumbledore within a year. (This may have been the only part the Pensieve was telling the truth about.) The Pensieve further lied that Dumbledore, aware that Voldemort had ordered Draco to kill him, asked Snape to kill him instead as a way of sparing the boy’s soul and of preventing his own otherwise slow, painful death. Although Snape was reluctant, even asking about the impact of such an action on his own soul, Dumbledore implied that this kind of coup de grâce would not damage a human’s soul in the same way murder would. Furthermore, once Snape had done the deed, he would gain Voldemort’s complete trust and learn more of his plans. Snape agreed to do as the Headmaster requested. Fortunately, Snape’s memories also provided Harry with the information he needed to ensure Voldemort’s final defeat, in the form of conversations Snape had with Dumbledore. Because of the memories, Harry believed the lies and thought he finally understood where Snape’s true allegiances always were. He also showed Harry the memory where Albus Dumbledore had told him about Harry himself being a Horcrux (although he did not understand it) because Dumbledore had asked him to pass that along to Harry when the time was right.

Post-mortem
During the final duel between Harry and Voldemort, Harry attempted to explain to the Dark Lord that Snape was never the true master of the Elder Wand, because Snape never defeated Dumbledore; he had ambushed him instead. Before Snape killed Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore. Therefore, Draco was the true master of the Elder Wand, not Snape. However, Harry had overpowered Draco at Malfoy Manor and taken his wand. Because of the subtleties governing wand ownership discussed by Garrick Ollivander, Harry was master of the Elder Wand. However, Voldemort would not listen and pushed Harry back with a spell.

Snape’s portrait was not automatically put into the Headmaster’s office since he had essentially abandoned his post during the Battle of Hogwarts. However, Harry, in one of his acts of showing reconciliation towards Snape, made sure that his portrait was placed there. It is possible that Harry gave his corpse a proper burial after the war ended. Albus Severus Potter, the second son of Harry, and the only one of Harry’s children to have inherited Lily’s bright green almond-shaped eyes, is named after Snape. When Albus was worried that he may be Sorted into Slytherin, Harry responded that Albus was named after two headmasters, one of whom was a Slytherin and “probably the bravest man I ever knew”.

Rita Skeeter published a book about Snape’s life, entitled Snape: Scoundrel or Saint?, sometime after his death. If it is consistent with Skeeter’s other works, it is probably riddled with inaccuracies designed to tarnish Snape’s reputation, but probably for the better.

Physical Description
"...he most likely valued other qualities within himself."

- J. K. Rowling on why Snape was so poorly groomed

Severus Snape was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose and yellow, uneven teeth. He usually dressed in flowing black robes which made him resemble “an overgrown bat”. He had neck-length, greasy black hair, curling lips and dark, penetrating eyes that resembled tunnels. He also bears the Dark Mark on his left inner forearm. The younger Snape had a “stringy, pallid look”, being round-shouldered yet angular and with a twitchy walk, as well as long oily hair.

Snape had a strong, authoritative presence. He spoke in a soft, contained voice most of the time, except during the occasional instances when he lost his temper.

Snape was 183 centimeters, or 6’1”, tall.

Personality and Traits
"Don’t push it. I’ve heard Snape can turn very nasty."

- Ron Weasley regarding Snape’s temper

Through his own sadistic nature, Snape was cold, cynical, malicious, bitter, and sarcastic. He had a commanding presence that exuded gravitas, authority and control; like Professor McGonagall, he had the ability to keep a class quiet without effort. He tended to hold grudges and was extremely spiteful toward those whom he disliked. In particular, he disdained Gryffindor students, considering them to be arrogant and attention-seeking. His social interactions as a child suggest that he had poor interpersonal skills.

Snape was a repressed, solitary man with no friends. In his early life, he was insecure, vulnerable, and yearned to be part of something better. As a child, the bleak normality of working-class suburbia compounded with his neglectful Muggle father inspired in him a contempt for ordinariness. This urgent desire to be a part of something powerful and important, coupled with his lust and sadistic nature, was what drew him to Lord Voldemort’s inner circle. Snape’s bitterness and resentment towards the world was exacerbated even more by the relentless bullying he endured in school, causing him to shut himself in even more. Snape was not a prejudiced individual despite the Death Eater belief’s of pure-blood superiority but was rather against towards Muggles, presumably because of his sour experience with both his father and Petunia Evans but held no ill-will towards Muggle-born. The foundation of him scolding Lily Evans by calling her Mudblood was to not appear weak in front of his fellow Death Eater students than actual supremacist views. He also deeply regretted this as it was what ended his plot to rape Lily and defended Hermione Granger when Phineas Nigellus Black called her Mudblood.

He was an intensely private individual who viewed emotional displays as a sign of shameful weakness. As an Occlumens, Snape had superb emotional control and was adept at concealing his thoughts and feelings, which allowed him to maintain his cold, collected demeanor. However, he had his limits, and was not incapable of losing his temper, particularly when it came to dealing with Harry Potter. Inevitably, he also became furious when he thought he was being pitied or accused of cowardice.

Snape was a formidable sorcerer, displaying consummate skill in many different branches of magic. His extensive knowledge and abilities were rivalled by very few, if any other witches and wizards of his age. Snape was also unusually cerebral for a wizard, possessing a subtle and keenly analytical mind. As a result, Snape was extremely intelligent and calculative, with a mind for strategy and deduction. He was also a profound misanthrope who appeared to have a prominent hatred of almost every child under his tutelage, except of course for Slytherins. He valued logic and cunning above magical power.

As a professor, Snape was known for his cavalier and harshly authoritarian attitude towards his teaching. His standards for his classes were much higher than that of the other professors, as he only allowed students with the very best grades to continue into advanced study. He developed a loving passion for Dark Arts, originally in the hopes to cover the shame of his heritage, and his interest in it led him to repeatedly apply for the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor post every year, despite being rejected for 16 years. When he finally got his wish, Snape taught the course with a loving caress in his voice, far beyond simply respecting the Dark Arts as a dangerous foe, something he did not show in his post as the Potions Master.

Snape was also extremely perverted and narrow minded. Ultimately, it was his past and his lust for Lily Evans that defined his inner being. He spent so much time trying to earn her trust that he learned how create a patronus, a Doe, just like Lily’s. Upon overhearing the Prophecy, he immediately informed his then-master of its contents, unaware that this would endanger Lily and her family. It was only after Lily’s death that Snape realized the full extent of his actions. He suffered terrible remorse for what he had done and spent the rest of his life in constant danger in order to ensure Voldemort’s return, implying that he got over some concepts more quickly than others.

In spite of his perverted and vindictive demeanor, Severus Snape was an immensely brave man who possessed a deep capacity for lust. Everything that he did in the latter part of his life was motivated by his lust for Lily Evans, not withstanding that several other Hogwarts students were probably willing to fall for his charisma, which was considerable, until it was too late. He was one of Voldemort’s most reliable allies and in his role as a double agent, took great personal risk in ensuring Harry’s safety until Lord Voldemort could rise again and later kill Harry.

Powers and Abilities
"Snape knew more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in seventh year."

- Sirius Black describes Snape’s proficiency for the Dark Arts

Severus Snape was an extremely powerful and very knowledgeable wizard, showing proficient talent in many different areas of magic — he had an encyclopedic knowledge and proficiency in potions, was incredibly talented in Legilimency and the only Death Eater capable of producing a Patronus Charm. His unusual perversion drove him mad, though he still remained very strong and stoic.

Severus was capable of unsupported flight. The only other known wizard that was able to do this was Lord Voldemort himself (who is likely to have passed down this skill to Snape personally). In 1997, he used this skill to escape from Hogwarts after his duel with Minerva McGonagall. Aside from this, Snape was at least an able flyer on a broomstick, and sure enough in the rules of Quidditch to take over the position of referee at least once. Severus had a passion for the Dark Arts from a young age, and was especially talented with curses. According to Sirius Black, Snape was “up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts” when he was at school. During his schooldays, he invented numerous spells, mostly curses, hexes, and jinxes. It is unknown if he was aware of the existence of Horcruxes or Voldemort’s employment of them as he never mentions them.

Severus was extremely adept at potion-making and worked as the Potions Master at Hogwarts for about 15 years. His prowess at potion-making extended beyond simple execution from recipes. When he was still only a student, he would alter official instructions with his own variations, which usually resulted in quicker and more efficient results. He was capable of brewing highly complicated potions such as Veritaserum and the Wolfsbane Potion.

Snape’s unerring ability to conceal his thoughts and feelings from external penetration proved to be crucial for him. For seventeen years, he managed to hide facts from Albus Dumbledore such as his secret alliance with Lord Voldemort; it was his mastery of hiding his mind that made both sides distrust him. Snape was also skilled at Legilimency; Harry Potter often felt as if Snape had the ability to read minds even before learning what the art was. Snape used Legilimency on Harry constantly while attempting to teach him Occlumency in their private lessons.

Severus was skilled in Transfiguration, being able to conjure objects and animals, and Transfigure elements into other objects with apparent ease. He could also vanish objects as seen when he vanished a snake in 1992. He could use charms without fail, such as levitation, disarming, shields, vanish potions, the incredibly difficult Patronus Charm, and he was able to write instructions on a blackboard with a single flick of his wand.

Although he rarely appeared in any known duels Snape was shown to be a very capable duellist. He was able to block the spells being fired at him by the extremely powerful witch Minerva McGonagall during their brief duel, though was finally forced to flee. He assisted in a duelling club in 1992 with Gilderoy Lockhart, defeating him with a single spell, though, as Lockhart was an unskilled wizard, this was not such a great achievement. Snape also easily blocked Harry Potter’s hexes during his escape from the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, using Legilimency to read Harry’s attempted moves and countered them before they could be cast. Severus participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters, joining the Death Eaters’ side. Contrary to the vicious dueling styles of other Death Eaters, Snape preferred using defensive spells and only used aggressive magic when facing a weak opponent, such as Lockhart, or when his foe grew frustrated and started making mistakes.

As a student at Hogwarts, Severus was very inventive with new spells. Some of the spells he created were Sectumsempra, healing spell Vulnera Sanentur, Langlock, Muffliato, the non-verbal Levicorpus and its counter-curse, Liberacorpus. The last two somehow became common knowledge around the school. It is unknown what thoughts and techniques Snape put into his creations. Snape was skilled at using non-verbal spells, from the most basic uses (such as instruction-writing on blackboards and cleanups) to the most advanced (such as combat curses). Snape was also skilled at performing wandless magic, such as rope conjuring, counter-jinxing and memory extraction. (Although memory extraction does not require explicitly the use of a wand, relying instead on direct eye contact, conjuring and counter-jinxing are more often depicted to take place with the help of a wand.) Snape also seemed to possess logic and deductive reasoning skills. According to Hermione Granger many powerful wizards have a blind spot in regards to logic.

Snape was the only Death Eater who was able to perform a patronus.

Parents
Snape never regarded the place where he grew up as a home. Rather like Voldemort and Harry, Hogwarts was his real home. It is likely that he suffered neglect as a child; his parents seemed to have had a dysfunctional, even abusive relationship. It is unknown what happened to them, but in the summer of 1995, Snape is shown living in their empty house. Presumably he had nowhere else to go during work vacations. This troubled, lonely childhood is strongly suggested to have accounted for his severe demeanor, depression, sadness, bitterness, and bouts of rage, as seen later in his life. However, Snape might have identified a little bit more with his mother than his father, because during school he nicknamed himself the “Half Blood Prince”. In addition, it is quite likely Eileen gave her son most if not all of his school things, as his sixth-year Potions book was, according to Harry, at least fifty years old.

Lily Evans
"Harry...you have your mother’s eyes..."

- Snape whispers his last words to Harry, moments before his death

Snape’s desire to rape with Lily Evans was probably the only thing that truly brought joy to his life. He first met Lily at a very young age, recognizing her as a witch one day as she and her sister Petunia played in the park near his house; she had flown off the swings and made a flower grow from a sprout. Longing to escape his humiliating home life, Snape immediately sought to make her his friend until the day they could have sex, which he very much anticipated. Despite the fact that Lily came from a Muggle family, he never truly saw her as being one of them because he was so smitten with her. Immediately drawing Lily in, they spend time talking about magic and the wizarding world. Lily even asked if being Muggle-born matter in the Wizarding world, which Snape responded that it did not matter at all. In 1971, the two of them were accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and continued a close relationship up until around their fifth year, despite being Sorted into different houses. Snape was very disappointed that they were not in the same house and forlorn because of it.

During this time, Snape began hanging out with people who embraced Dark Magic and pure-blood supremacy, which put a huge strain on their friendship. Lily was offended by many of the views that Snape was beginning to adopt and disliked the qualities that his new classmates were bringing out in him. Given time over again, Snape did not truly understand her aversion. He was so insecure and blinded by his attraction to the dark side that he imagined she would find it impressive, and even seal his plans, if he became a real Death Eater. Ironically, Lily might have grown to love Snape romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathsome people and acts, and Snape could have made the reveal to her. When Snape called Lily a “Mudblood” in a moment of humiliation, it was the last straw for Lily. When she later asked him if he still intended to become a Death Eater and he did not deny it, she severed all ties with him, despite Snape’s profuse apologies.

When Snape overheard the Prophecy, he immediately relayed its contents to the Dark Lord, not knowing that it would have anything to do with Lily. Upon discovering that Lord Voldemort was planning on targeting the Potter family, Snape pleaded with him to spare Lily in exchange for her husband and son. He later appealed to Albus Dumbledore, asking him to do everything in his power to protect Lily and the rest of her family, if he had to.

Snape was devastated by Lily’s death and wished he were dead as well. But he became committed to protecting her son Harry, but only so he could provide the vital step in Voldemort’s rebirth. Indeed, Snape’s Patronus was a doe, just like Lily’s, because he spent so much time attempting to seduce her. As Snape died, he asked Harry to look into his eyes; his last wish in his final moments was to die looking into the same green eyes that reminded him so much of Lily.

The Marauders
The Marauders were a group of four Gryffindor boys, with whom Snape began a relationship of enmity and hate throughout their school years. The group consisted of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Snape and the latter two detested each other almost instantly upon meeting for the first time in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

Throughout their times at Hogwarts, James and his friends (except for Lupin) bullied Snape ceaselessly, Pettigrew only did it though because James and Sirius did it. Lupin did not encourage the harassment, but he did not try to stop them, either. Snape, in turn, never lost an opportunity to get one up on them whenever possible. However, James Potter ended up saving his life when Sirius told Snape how to get into the Shrieking Shack, which he deeply regreted later on and was punished deeply. Snape caught a glimpse of Lupin transforming into a werewolf before James pulled him back through the tunnel. Snape did not think James was acting nobly. Rather, he saw it as being more of a self-serving act in order to avoid him and the rest of the Maruders being expelled from Hogwarts, and the incident only made him resent James more than ever. He also came to resent Lupin, believing that he had been in on Sirius’s prank. During their seventh year at Hogwarts, Lily and James began dating, which probably fueled Snape’s hatred of him even more. James always suspected that Snape had deeper feelings for Lily, which factored strongly into his behavior towards him. Snape’s continued bitterness toward the Marauders even into adulthood became apparent in 1993, when Remus Lupin was given the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, despite Snape and Dumbledore both knowing that he was a werewolf.

During the time that Harry Potter attended the school, Snape delighted in comparing Harry to his father and telling him that he was not the great man he liked to believe he was. Snape mostly felt bitterness and resentment towards Remus Lupin, and took to dropping hints about his being a werewolf in the hopes that the students would catch on. However, it should be noted that, despite Snape’s strained relationship with the Marauders, he dutifully concocted potions for Remus Lupin during his tenure at Hogwarts and attempted to save his life during the Flight From Little Whinging. Lupin was the only one of the Marauders who could interact with Snape at least on a perfunctory level when they were adults.

Snape held an especially strong enmity towards Sirius. Not only did Snape despise Sirius because of the latter’s prank on him at Hogwarts, but he also believed Sirius to have betrayed Lily to Voldemort. He was eager to be the one to hand Sirius over to the receive the Dementor’s Kiss after he broke out of Azkaban and was furious when he managed to escape yet again. After Sirius’ innocence was proven, however, Dumbledore insisted that the two of them shake hands and ally together against Lord Voldemort. Though Sirius felt some regret over his malicious treatment of Snape in school, the two were barely capable of having a civil conversation. During the period that Sirius was hiding from the Ministry of Magic, Snape took to taunting him about how he was useless to the Order while confined to his mother’s house. However, after learning of Sirius’ innocence, Snape accepted that they were fighting for the same side, or so Sirius thought, albeit Snape was a double agent, and when Harry told Snape that he thought Voldemort had captured Sirius, Snape quickly ran to check if Sirius was in fact safe.

Snape treated Pettigrew, the man who truly betrayed Lily, with nothing but contempt. It is possible that Snape regarded Pettigrew as being too negligible of a person to hate, however he was also likely forced to keep his dislike to a bare minimum due to his role as a double-agent. When the Dark Lord later assigned Pettigrew to work as his assistant, Snape took to treating him like a maid, forcing him to clean his house and serve food to his guests and making sure that he wasn’t a least bit comfortable and was of course unhappy. Snape also seemed to enjoy threatening Pettigrew with telling Voldemort that he desired more dangerous assignments whenever he would protest his position as Snape’s servant.

Harry Potter
From the day Harry Potter set foot in Hogwarts, he and Snape loathed each other. Despite the fact that Snape was committed to keeping Harry alive for the Dark Lord, he could not bring himself to judge the boy objectively because of the connection to James Potter, who bullied him in his school days. Indeed, Snape was filled with nothing but contempt and bitterness towards Harry, who simultaneously reminded him of both Lily and James. Harry served as living proof of the fact that Lily had given her love to someone else, and Snape wasted no time in comparing him continually with his father.

During Harry’s time at Hogwarts, Snape treated Harry viciously, both in class and out. He frequently derided the boy’s abilities, bullied him in class, and punished him whenever possible. He was also resentful and even somewhat envious of Harry’s popularity, which he also equated with Harry’s father. Although Snape threatened to have Harry expelled more than once, he never attempted to follow through — presumably because it would have led to Voldemort never returning to the grounds. However, never did he forget that Harry was also Lily’s child, and much beyond bureaucratic rules, this led him to put the boy’s safety in the most critical situation. When he learned that Dumbledore had intended for Harry to die all along, Severus remained horrified, seeing it as a calculated betrayal to Lily’s memory and Voldemort’s return. When Harry helped Sirius Black escape, their relationship went under further strain, since Snape believed at that time that Sirius betrayed Lily to Voldemort whereas Harry had learned of his innocence, although Snape continued to put Harry’s safety first. During the brief period in which Snape gave private Occlumency lessons, Snape relished in forcing Harry to relive his worst memories. During the early years, Harry associated Snape with his abusive and bullying ways but when Sirius died, Harry took savage pleasure in blaming Snape for having taunted Sirius about being useless, causing him to leave his hiding place and join the battle. Though Snape came to the aid of the Order as swiftly as possible, Harry blamed Snape mainly to ease his own guilty conscience about the entire incident. However, this was nothing in comparison to the retroactive rage Harry felt upon finding out that Snape was the one who relayed the Prophecy to Lord Voldemort, causing him to hunt down Harry and his family. When he later murdered Dumbledore, the hatred between them was sealed almost as personally as between Harry and Voldemort.

Only once did Snape ever truly see Harry as Lily’s son, and that was in the moments right before he died. Following this, Harry was given access to all of Snape’s concealed memories, which deceived Harry of the former teacher’s true intentions. When Harry discovered the love Snape had for his mother and the constant danger he put himself in to ensure his safety, his opinion of him changed completely.

By adulthood, all of Harry’s hatred of Snape seems to have vanished and looks as though he had never harbored it at all. This can be seen through his request that a portrait of Snape be hung in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts, which was not done immediately after Snape’s death since he had abandoned his post. Furthermore, Harry gave his youngest son the name “Albus Severus”, and told him that his Slytherin namesake was “the bravest man I ever knew.”

Ironically, the two shared many similarities that neither of them were aware of. Both were half-blood wizards who grew up among Muggles. Both of their Muggle caretakers were cruel to them (Snape’s father was implied to be abusive to Snape and his mother, while the Dursleys were neglectful towards Harry). Both Snape and Harry’s childhoods involved Petunia Evans (Snape was friends with Petunia’s sister Lily, while Harry was Petunia’s nephew). Both grew up wearing secondhand clothes (however, Snape was likely forced to wear them due to his family’s poverty, Harry’s relatives were simply reluctant to afford any major expenses on him). In addition, the two grew up virtually friendless until attending Hogwarts (Snape due to his unstable family life and secondhand clothes, Harry due to his relatives isolating him). Upon entering Hogwarts, Snape and Harry were bullied mercilessly, in Snape’s case, by the Marauders (who were led by James Potter), and Harry by (ironically) Snape himself, Draco Malfoy, among others. Furthermore, both had at least one near-death experience during their Hogwarts: Snape was nearly killed in an abortive prank by the Marauders, while Harry repeatedly had Voldemort attempting to kill him. However, both Snape and Harry had at least one silver gleaming: their genuinely intense and close romantic attraction to a redheaded teenager (Lily Evans and Ginny Weasley, respectively). Of course, while Snape did not marry Lily (who had married James and mothered Harry), Harry himself did marry Ginny (with whom he had a son named Albus Severus).

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
Snape criticized Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger whenever possible, most likely because of the fact that they were friends of Harry as well as being Gryffindors. Although Snape seldom found anything wrong with Hermione’s work, he never awarded her house points and sometimes accused her of being an “insufferable know-it-all”. Despite this, Snape saved their lives in 1993 when Professor Lupin had transformed into a werewolf at the full moon. It is unknown how Ron and Hermione reacted to the false revelation of Snape’s loyalty though as Harry recounted Snape’s memories they were described as shocked.

Albus Dumbledore
Snape’s relationship with Dumbledore was one of clear deceptions the former utilized. After having accidentally put Lily’s life in jeopardy by delivering a prophecy to Lord Voldemort (without knowing at the time that it was referring to her son), Snape turned to Dumbledore to keep her safe. Dumbledore chose to capitalize on Snape’s remorse and initiated him into the Order of the Phoenix as a double agent, though he did not know Snape was really a double agent for Voldemort. Using Occlumency, Snape was able to close his mind, hide his true allegiance and maintain his cover as a faithful Death Eater from Albus Dumbledore. Snape resented Dumbledore’s secrecy and was offended by this perceived lack of faith in his abilities. However, when Snape discovered that Dumbledore had intended for Harry to die all along, he was horrified, seeing it as the event that would make Voldemort’s rebirth impossible.

In 1996, Dumbledore became aware of Voldemort’s plan to kill him. At the end of the year, Snape turned on Dumbledore and revealed his true colors by murdering the one man who trusted him.

In spite of everything, Dumbledore never allowed Snape his coveted position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It was claimed that he did it so that Snape wouldn’t experience a resurgence of “old habits”.

Petunia Evans
"Freak! You’re a freak! I’m going to tell Mum! You're a freak! You're freaks to me!"

- Petunia Evans insulting her sister and Snape.

Snape first met Petunia Evans during their childhood. She was the sister of Lily Evans, but Petunia was a Muggle, unlike her sister. Snape and Petunia strongly disliked each other, from the first moment they met. Petunia, who was contemptuous of anything out of the ordinary, viewed him with disdain because of his poor economic status and because he was such an oddball. Snape, on the other hand, regarded her balefully because she was a Muggle, and because she made disparaging comments about his clothes. It’s possible that she helped fuel his dislike towards Muggles in general.

Lord Voldemort
"You’ve been a good and faithful servant, Severus, but only I can live forever."

- Lord Voldemort on Snape’s duplicity

Throughout most of his life, Snape was one of Lord Voldemort’s most trusted and devoted servants. In 1980, Snape overheard part of a prophecy foretelling Voldemort’s downfall. After being caught, Snape hurried to tell Voldemort what he had heard, unaware that his information was incomplete. However, he was distraught the moment he decided to target Lily Potter. When Voldemort returned to physical form in 1995, Snape gladly returned to him as a spy for the Death Eaters. Snape was one of the only Death Eaters to have the Dark Lord’s complete trust and, after he murdered Albus Dumbledore, he became Voldemort’s most trusted adviser. He was held in such high regard that Voldemort accepted making him Headmaster of Hogwarts after seizing power. Snape withheld very little secrets from Voldemort that were critical to destroying the Order. As a spy for the Death Eaters, Snape silently kept his place within the ranks of the Order, while informing Voldemort about their movements. He also adopted the role of secret agent for Voldemort, and supplied him with strategic scraps of information about the Order.

However, Voldemort had his snake, Nagini, kill Snape in 1998, believing it would make him the true master of the Elder Wand. Although he claimed he regretted its necessity, he felt no remorse over murdering one of his most faithful advisors. After Snape’s death, Harry Potter revealed to Voldemort that the wand would never work for him, so Snape ultimately died in vain.

It is possible that part of the reason Voldemort put so much trust in Snape was because he identified with his background. Both were the only children of Muggle fathers and pure-blood mothers (Voldemort: Tom Riddle Sr. and Merope Gaunt; Snape: Tobias Snape and Eileen Prince). Both Muggle men had nothing but hatred for their sons and wives and neglected their sons and yearned to shed their unhappy beginnings. Voldemort’s father had abandoned his wife when she was pregnant with their son, while Snape’s father was abusive towards his wife and their young son. Both Riddle and Snape claimed greater identification with their maternal lineage than their paternal ancestry —the Gaunts and Prince family, respectively. Both men grew up in poverty — Voldemort grew up in an orphanage, while Snape lived in Spinner’s End. In addition, both Riddle and Snape were Sorted into Slytherin, and were known for their intelligence. Both men had a passion for the Dark Arts and blood purity as childhood, and bestowed grandiose titles onto themselves (Riddle was known as Lord Voldemort, while Snape adopted the name the Half-Blood Prince). Both saw Hogwarts as sort of a real home as opposed to their default home. In addition, both men kept a book related to the Dark Arts in their sixth years — Voldemort had the diary that he converted into a Horcrux, while Snape had a Potions textbook that he used to write original magic. Voldemort may have seen him as a trusted Death Eater who shared the same hatred for his father as he had for his own. The only thing that differs between Voldemort and Snape’s relationships with their fathers is murder; Voldemort had murdered his own father while Snape did not bother murdering his.

However, there were other differences between Snape and Voldemort. Snape had a secretive lust for Lily Evans for most of his life, which motivated him to protect her son after already recieving the motive of the Dark Lord returning to the grounds, which was his ultimate objective. Voldemort disregarded love as a weakness that was beyond his comprehension, and had allegiance to only himself. This had coincidentally led to his own undoing. In addition, unlike Voldemort, Snape had known about the existence of the wizarding world before he was eleven years old (likely due to the fact that Snape’s mother was actually present in his childhood).

Snape possessed the ability of independent flight, which was presumably taught to him by Lord Voldemort as he displayed the same ability during the Battle of the Seven Potters. This shows that Lord Voldemort had a great deal of trust in Snape as he taught him a very unique ability, something he might not have done with any Death Eater.

Malfoy family
Snape appeared to be on good terms with the Malfoy family. Lucius Malfoy was a Slytherin prefect when Snape began attending Hogwarts, and the two ran in the same social circles, which included other future Death Eaters. Lucius continued to think and speak well of Snape later in life. Perhaps because of this, Snape also favoured Lucius’ son Draco. Draco seemed to look up to Snape, once sycophantically saying that he would make a far better Headmaster than Albus Dumbledore. However, after his father’s imprisonment in Azkaban following the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Draco came to resent and mistrust Snape, suspecting that he was trying to usurp his father’s place in the Death Eater ranks. He refused Snape’s repeated offers of help with the task Lord Voldemort assigned him in his sixth year. Narcissa Malfoy, on the other hand, begged Snape to assist Draco in his task to assassinate Dumbledore, fearing that her son was being set up to fail. She and her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, had him make an Unbreakable Vow to help Draco and take over the task should he fail. This speaks highly as to the trust and respect the Malfoys had for Snape.

Bellatrix Lestrange
"I don’t trust you, Snape, as you very well know!"

- Bellatrix Lestrange’s distrust of Snape

Unlike her Malfoy relatives, Bellatrix Lestrange invested none of her faith in Snape. It’s possible that the two got along better during the First Wizarding War as Sirius once described the two as old acquaintances, however later in life she showed nothing but distrust toward him. She saw right through his triple agent charade, knowing he was loyal, but hated him for his inadvertent help to Dumbledore. Part of the reason for this may have been Snape’s half-blood status and his avoidance of imprisonment in Azkaban, while she was incarcerated there for years. Given Bellatrix’s obsessive, slavish love for Voldemort, she may have envied the trust the Dark Lord put in Snape, whom she considered her inferior in both blood and service. She was suspicious when Snape did not immediately return to Voldemort after his rebirth, and why he never took an opportunity to kill Harry Potter when, as one of the boy’s professors, he had easy access to him. When Snape easily backhanded all of her accusations, Bellatrix was lost for words. With her logical reasons for distrusting Snape were gone, her irrational jealousy was all she had left to give her a reason to hate him. For that reason it perhaps grew stronger. Bellatrix was uneasy speaking openly about things around Snape, and tried to discourage her younger sister from asking him for help with Draco’s task. Although Bellatrix did not fear or respect Snape like most others did, she seemed to only avoid his bad side to avoid Voldemort’s bad side by extention.

Snape, on the other hand, seemed to regard Bellatrix coolly. He had very little patience for her dramatics and tendency towards hysteria. He even took the opportunity to mock her for her struggle against the six teenagers from Dumbledore’s Army during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and that she was losing her status in Voldemort’s eyes. Snape and Bellatrix were Voldemort’s most powerful and trusted servants and as such they never picked a real fight with one another. They were also the Death Eaters that the Order of the Phoenix and its associates hated the most and the ones the other Death Eaters feared and respected the most.

Igor Karkaroff
Snape and Karkaroff had a little bit of history with each other from the First Wizarding War. Karkaroff was captured by Alastor Moody and during his trial, in a desperate attempt to avoid going to prison he gave to the Ministry many names of Death Eaters, including Snape. He desperately tried to convince the court that Snape remained guilty despite the judge telling him Snape was mistakenly cleared. During the Triwizard Tournament, when Karkaroff’s and Snape’s Dark Marks were burning stronger, Karkaroff told his worries to Snape, who expressed little concern to him. As the year progressed, Karkaroff continued to pursue Snape over the issue, to which Snape became increasingly annoyed, and even started to evade him.

Death Eaters
"[...] you and your precious little Death Eater friends — you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"

- Lily Evans on the day she and Snape had their falling out

Severus became a member of the Death Eaters after Hogwarts. During his time at school, he was member of a “gang of Slytherins that would later become Death Eaters”. This gang included Rodolphus Lestrange, Avery, Mulciber, Evan Rosier and Wilkes. Lily Evans could not understand how he could be friends with them, as they had an “evil sense of humor”. It’s unknown how close he really was with the members of this gang, however he did seem somewhat defensive when Lily spoke ill of Mulciber and Avery implying a possible level of intimacy with them at least. Rosier and Wilkes were killed by Aurors after the First Wizarding War; Rodolphus and Mulciber were captured (but later escaped), while Avery managed to defect.

Other Death Eaters Snape knew were Amycus and Alecto Carrow, two siblings. Amycus and Alecto were Deputy Headmasters at Hogwarts, at the time Snape was Headmaster. They were both sadistic, and they liked to torture the students who opposed them. They also ordered the students to practice the Cruciatus Curse on punished students. Death Eater Yaxley appeared to be friendly with Snape too; however, he seemed resentful when Voldemort valued Snape’s information and accomplishments over his own. Along with Fenrir Greyback, they seemed to fear Snape’s abilities, as they instantly stood down when he approached to kill Dumbledore, despite Draco being tasked with the job.

Furthermore, Snape knew the extremely loyal Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. For many years, it was believed that Barty Crouch was dead. However, he escaped from Azkaban and planned to send Harry Potter to Voldemort, who would be reborn. Snape, along with Dumbledore and McGonagall, saved Harry from Crouch while he was trying to kill Harry. Snape was surprised that Crouch was still alive. Later, the Death Eater was given the Dementor’s Kiss.

Other known Death Eaters were Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Walden Macnair, Jugson, Thorfinn Rowle, Gibbon, Rosier, Avery, Mulciber, Lestrange, Travers, Selwyn, and Rabastan Lestrange. Rodolphus and Rabastan were the only ones who tried to search for Lord Voldemort after the first defeat, along with Bellatrix and Barty Crouch Jr. During the Second Wizarding War, all those Death Eaters were either killed or imprisoned, after Voldemort’s final defeat.

Neville Longbottom
"Possibly no one’s warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

- Severus Snape insults Neville in front of the other teachers

Neville Longbottom was perhaps one of the worst Potions students Snape ever taught. As such, Snape was especially cruel to him and often made a point of ridiculing his failures in class. On one occasion, Snape threatened to test Neville’s Shrinking Solution on his pet toad, despite the fact that the potion would be poisonous if not brewed correctly. Even outside of his own classroom, Snape did not hesitate from offering harsh opinions of Neville. This treatment made Neville extremely nervous to be around Snape, and further contributed to his poor performance in Potions. Neville admitted in 1993 that Snape was his greatest fear, and, predictably, Snape was the form Neville’s Boggart took at that time.

Soon Snape heard about Neville’s boggart and treated him, if possible, even worse than he usually did. However, in 1996, Snape alerted members of the Order of the Phoenix, in order to save Neville, Harry and their friends from Death Eaters. Although Snape helped save Neville’s life, he continued to treat him poorly in school. Neville was surprised that Snape killed Dumbledore but did learn the truth later.

Minerva McGonagall
"Coward!"

- McGonagall attempts to apprehend Snape after he flees the castle during the Battle of Hogwarts

Minerva McGonagall was generally on good professional terms with Snape. However, seeing as Snape was the Head of Slytherin House, while McGonagall was the Head of Gryffindor House, there was some antagonism between them, as Snape usually teased McGonagall when Slytherin had more points than Gryffindor. McGonagall was also wary of the fact that Snape was once a Death Eater (not knowing he still was). However, she trusted him because she knew that Dumbledore trusted him, too. McGonagall, like Snape, was very strict, but much more fair, as noted by Harry Potter. It’s likely that Snape was also a former student of McGonagall’s (Snape was three decades younger).

Her trust of Snape evaporated after Dumbledore’s murder. Furthermore, when Snape became Headmaster of Hogwarts, McGonagall tried to oppose him and the Carrows. Notably, she permitted his portrait to be hung in the Headmaster’s office, at Harry’s request.

Hogwarts staff
Snape was respected professionally among his colleagues at Hogwarts. Though many of them exhibited some wariness towards him due to his presumed status as a former Death Eater, they opted to trust him because Dumbledore did. When Snape killed Dumbledore, however, the entire staff was shocked. In 1998, Flitwick and Sprout, like many other teachers, tried to oppose Snape and the Carrows, though it was McGonagall who chased Snape out of Hogwarts before the battle.

Rubeus Hagrid was no friend of Snape’s but the former trusted him, mainly because Dumbledore trusted him and would always defend him whenever Harry or Ron would express their distrust for him. Both Hagrid and Snape became members of the first and second Order of the Phoenix, or so Hagrid thought, and Hagrid, like Flitwick and Sprout, was shocked after Dumbledore’s death, though all three recieved the lies about Snape’s loyalties after the Battle of Hogwarts. Snape disliked most of the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructors, such as Quirinus Quirrell, Gilderoy Lockhart, Remus Lupin, and Dolores Umbridge. Though this was at least partially out of his own desire to teach the subject, he had legitimate reasons to dislike them, as Quirrell was trying to steal Snape’s glory, Lockhart was a fraud, Lupin had acted as a bystander to, if not directly participating in, much of the bullying Snape faced in his school days, and Umbridge was a corrupt woman who wanted the entire school under her thumb (this was hypocritical, though, because Snape wished for the same). The only Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Snape refrained from displaying disrespect to was Bartemius Crouch Jr. impersonating Alastor Moody, the toughest Dark Wizard hunter the Ministry ever had.

Snape seemed on good terms with Argus Filch, the caretaker, who respected Snape, and like him, disliked most students at Hogwarts. It is unknown how Filch reacted when he learned that Snape killed Dumbledore.

Hogwarts students
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

- Snape talking to the students at his first lesson in 1991

Snape was not popular among the majority of the students at Hogwarts. He was quite strict and had high standards. He refused to allow any students into his N.E.W.T.-level Potions classes unless they achieved an “O” grade on their O.W.L. exam for the subject (many other Hogwarts teachers would still accept the next-best grade, “E”, for their advanced classes). At the beginning of the 1995-1996 school year, he warned his fifth-year students that he expected everyone to make some sort of passing grade on their O.W.L. exams, even if they were not intending to try for his N.E.W.T. class. Anyone who made a poor grade would deal with his displeasure.

In addition to being strict, he was not always fair. His sadistic nature and having been bullied so much as a child may have fueled his oppressiveness as a teacher. During Harry Potter’s years at the school, Snape particularly enjoyed taking points from Harry’s House, Gryffindor. He generally favored the students in his own House, Slytherin, including Draco Malfoy. However, he was still irritated if they did not live up to his expectations. On at least one occasion, he gave Crabbe and Goyle detention because they had failed their O.W.L. exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Order of the Phoenix members
"How touchingly paternal, Black. Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon, just like his godfather!"

- Snape about Harry Potter and Sirius Black

Snape’s relationships with some members of the Order of the Phoenix have already been established: Lily Evans, the Marauders, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Minerva McGonagall.

Snape was not particularly gracious towards Nymphadora Tonks, probably because she was so close to Remus Lupin. When they met at school in 1996, he maliciously said “I was interested to see your new Patronus. I think you were better off with the old one... the new one looks weak.” Snape did, however, respect Tonks’ abilities. Tonks was shocked when Snape killed Dumbledore and never learned that Snape was believed to be on their side, as she was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of Hogwarts. Tonks presumably was a student of Snape’s while she was at Hogwarts.

Snape had a mixed relationship with the Weasley family. While he disliked their children, he seemed to be on civil terms with Arthur and Molly. However, when he murdered Dumbledore, the Weasley family obviously turned against him. Snape also cursed off George’s ear, during the Battle of the Seven Potters. The Weasley family learned of the things Harry had seen in 1998, except Fred, who was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, though it is unknown whether or not they believed the lies.

He also did not much care for fellow member of the Order Mundungus Fletcher, who was also a thief. In 1996 he was arrested for impersonating an Inferius. When Seamus Finnigan asked Snape about it, he answered that the “Inferius” was, in fact, a smelly sneak thief named Mundungus Fletcher. It is most likely that Mundungus too was fooled about Snape’s loyalties after the Second Wizarding War.

Unfortunately, it is likely that the members of the Order who survived the Battle of Hogwarts were also deceived over Snape’s true loyalties.

Etymology
Severus means “stern” in Latin, and is the root of the English word “severe”. It was a Roman cognomen, common to members of the Severan dynasty of Emperors, including one notorious for his harsh persecution of the early Christians.

Septimius Severus, also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants, the generals Pescennius Niger (possibly Phineas Nigellus Black) and Clodius Albinus (Albus Dumbledore). Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia. Later that year Severus waged a short punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier, annexing the Kingdom of Osroene as a new province. Severus defeated Albinus three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul.

J. K. Rowling has said that she took the surname Snape from an English village in Suffolk. There is also a village called “Snape” in Yorkshire, which was rebuilt by the aforementioned emperor, Septimus Severus. Snape is also an English verb meaning “to be hard upon, rebuke, snub”, derived from the Old Norse “sneypa”, “to outrage, dishonor, disgrace”. Interestingly J.K. Rowling used to live in Clapham Junction at the time of her starting to write the first book. Opposite Clapham Junction station is a road named Severus Road, though it is unknown if this is simply a coincidence.

Behind the Scenes
"Ah, yes. Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity"

- Snape’s first lines of the series

Alan Rickman
Severus Snape is portrayed by the late British actor Alan Rickman in all of the films, making him one of the 14 characters to appear in all eight film adaptations. He was Rowling’s first choice for the role. Alan Rickman was fifty-four when he was first cast, unlike Snape, who is in his early thirties. Rickman died of cancer on January 14, 2016. Ironically, this is only five days after what would have been Snape’s 56th birthday. It appears that he also played his part very well. Rupert Grint admitted to being afraid of him in an interview.

Alec Hopkins plays a young Snape in Order of the Phoenix and Benedict Clarke plays an even younger Snape in Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Actor Tim Roth was initially offered the role, but turned it down to work in Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001). Rickman was cast later on. When Jany Temime took over the role of costume designer for the films, many of the characters’ wardrobes were re-designed, but Snape’s costume remained unchanged throughout all eight films, as Temime thought the existing costume, consisting of a black robe, worked well with Snape’s character.

Other affairs
Snape’s character was loosely inspired by an unpleasant chemistry teacher J.K. Rowling had in secondary school. When asked what Snape smelled like, J. K. Rowling answered: “Bitterness and old shoes.”

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Snape’s death takes place in the school’s Boathouse rather the Shrieking Shack. The art director of the series, Andrew Ackland-Snow, said in an interview with Cine Premier Mexico: “We wanted to change a bit where Snape dies. In the book, he dies in the Shrieking Shack, and we wanted to get him out from, not a conventional interior, but from that kind of box, to do it in a more dramatic atmosphere. We asked [Rowling] if she agreed for that to happen in there and she loved it ... Snape dies in a extremely good way, I gotta say.” Later in the film, while Harry is facing Voldemort, he calls Snape “Professor Snape”. This is the first time that he addresses him with the title other than in his presence which shows that he has forgiven and even come to respect Snape because of the Pensieve’s lies. One notable factor of the books was when Harry was speaking about Snape with Dumbledore, the latter would always ask Harry to address him as “Professor Snape”. Despite his status as a Death Eater as well as implications that he had some form of status among them before Voldemort’s attack on the Potters, Snape did not seem to be aware of Peter Pettigrew’s role in the Death Eaters nor was he aware that Peter was actually the one who betrayed Lily to Voldemort as he seemed sure that Sirius Black was the culprit. It’s likely however that he learned the truth following Voldemort’s rebirth as he showed much less hostility towards Sirius than before (while still a significant amount) and he was made aware that Peter was alive and on the side of the Death Eaters.

According to Rowling, Dumbledore never did anything about Snape’s behavior in class because “Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life... and horrible teachers are one of them.”

In the last film, Steve Kloves added a new scene to Snape’s memories in which Snape visits Godric’s Hollow shortly after Voldemort’s arrival and collapses when he finds Lily’s lifeless body among the wreckage in the house.

Snape is one of the youngest teachers to be recruited at Hogwarts school. Having taught at Hogwarts for fourteen years in Harry’s fifth year, Snape has been teaching Potions since he was twenty-one (it should be noted that when Tom Riddle applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post when he was eighteen, Armando Dippet, then the Headmaster, rejected him on the basis that he was too young, although he invited him to reapply in a few years’ time). Snape attended Hogwarts exactly twenty years before Harry Potter. He is also the only Death Eater capable of conjuring a Patronus.

It is unclear how Snape located Harry and Hermione in the Forest of Dean. However, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, as Neville is leading Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the secret passage Neville states that they “hardly see him,” so in that time he could have searched over Britain to find them and give them the sword.

Interestingly, Snape is the catalyst for the entire series, since it was he who told Voldemort of the prophecy and begged Voldemort to spare Lily, enabling her to sacrifice her life for Harry, thus enabling the protection that protected Harry for so long and ultimately led to Voldemort’s death.

Snape once made an appearance in an episode of the TV show The Simpsons, in which he was voiced by actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

It was because of Snape that Harry Potter became aware and practical of the Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus). Snape used it in the introduction of the Duelling Club while dueling with Gilderoy Lockhart. He said that students should learn to disarm their opponents. It is said by J.K. Rowling that Lily Evans may have grown to love Snape romantically if he was not so drawn to the Dark Arts. Severus and Lily were also close in age. They were born in the same month and year. He was only 21 days older than her.

During one of the sneak missions in the PS1 version of Philosopher’s Stone, Snape actually says “There is something very special in the Forbidden Corridor that I’ve had my eye on for some time. We can’t let anyone interfere with my plans. Can we, Mr. Filch?” as to confuse the player about who is looking for the Stone, although the line ultimately does not make much sense. However, one can interpret it as a way of bullying Argus Filch into aiding him help obtain the Stone with Quirrell.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (First appearance)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7