Harry potter why is snape good

Despite his years of him and Harry barely getting along, if at all, Snape openly criticised Dumbledore after learning he protected Harry all these years just so he could die at the right time due to being a Horcrux, showing he didn't agree with Harry's death even though, at first, he only protected him because of his relationship to Lily.

When he informed Dumbledore that he informed Voldemort of the prophecy, Snape begged Dumbledore to hide Harry, Lily, and even James too. This clearly showed that Snape prioritised Lily's happiness above all else, even if it meant her being with a man he hated for most of his life.

Despite his coldness towards all but Lily, Snape nevertheless proved capable of genuinely caring for others apart from Lily and Harry. Additionally, Snape was also genuinely saddened by the death of Rowan Khanna, his face just as mournful as the rest of the other House Heads, and if Rowan were in Slytherin, Snape even went as far as to plead with Merula to stop being angry and comfort them with the prospect of standing together in the face of crisis. While he initially resented Dumbledore for his lack of intervention on his torturous bullying by the Marauders, it seemed the time he spent allying with Dumbledore had made him grow to genuinely as well as greatly respect and even care for him, as shown by how he was clearly shocked into being silent for a long time after Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him, clearly indicated that killing Dumbledore was hard for him to do and tried to make him have Draco kill him instead of having Snape do it.

Even after learning of how Dumbledore had wanted Harry to die so Voldemort can be defeated, when preparing to kill Dumbledore, his face was described as being genuinely hateful and disgusted of what he was about to do. Despite Snape's normally calm and controlled exterior and guarded body language, he was in possession of an extraordinarily explosive and almost psychotic temper.

This was rarely seen, but an extreme display of rage was most prominently witnessed after Snape killed Dumbledore and was confronted outside of Hagrid's burning house near the edge of the school grounds. The event that triggered this unhinged manifestation of Snape's unrestrained wrath was Harry's accusation of Snape being a coward for killing Dumbledore. Due to the many years of being bullied by Harry's father, and with a need to both vent his immense stress and maintain his cover as a loyal Death Eater , Snape unleashed a terrifying mix of both his emotions and magic in his duel with Harry, taking great pleasure in torturing and punishing the son of his enemy.

Unlike in the past where he spoke quietly in his anger, Snape in this instance was screaming and letting so much out, as well as confessing his identity of the Half-Blood Prince to Harry who had attempted to use one of Snape's own invented spells against him. This battle showed Snape's repressed rage in its horrific glory and power. Suffice it to say, Severus Snape was not a man who it was wise to provoke, lest one incur his almost elemental wrath and magical power.

Severus Snape's corporeal Patronus the form of a doe. Severus Snape was an extremely powerful and skilled wizard , showing proficient talent and great knowledge in many different areas of magic. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge and proficiency in potions, was incredibly talented in Legilimency and Occlumency , and was also the only Death Eater capable of producing a Patronus. Snape in a duelling demonstration during the first meeting of the Duelling Club.

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 seem to have had a dysfunctional, even abusive relationship. This troubled, lonely childhood is strongly suggested to have accounted for his severe demeanour, depression, sadness, bitterness, and bouts of rage, as seen later in his life. Despite having a father who disliked the wizarding community, Snape was quite skilled with magic before he even received his Hogwarts letter.

Sirius Black would later remark that, when they first arrived at school, Snape knew more curses than many of the seventh-year students. It does seem that he had a slightly better relationship with his witch mother. During his school years, 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.

His sixth-year Potions book was, according to Harry, at least fifty years old. Since at least , Snape was staying in his family's home during the summers between school years. It is unknown what happened to his parents.

As he was only thirty-six years old in , his parents may well have been alive, but moved away and left the house to him. His salary as a Hogwarts professor probably made it possible for him to afford other lodging during summers, but his childhood memories of Lily may have stopped him from abandoning the house.

Snape's friendship with Lily Evans was probably the only thing that truly brought joy to his life. He first met Lily at a very young age, recognising 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. 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.

They spend time talking about magic and the wizarding world. Lily even asked if being Muggle-born mattered in the Wizarding world. Snape responded that it did not matter at all.

In , the two of them were accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and continued a close friendship 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 would never have done many of the things he did, but at the time he 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 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.

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, to the point of sinking into a depression that seemingly lasted the rest of his life. However, at Dumbledore's behest, he became committed to protecting her son Harry and assisting him in defeating the Dark Lord.

Snape never spoke of Lily to anyone again, except for Dumbledore. This was likely due to heartbreak and worry that mention of her might make others suspicious. Even though he constantly slandered James to Lily's son's face, he alienated Lily from these attacks entirely, possibly due to his inability to ever insult her again.

Indeed, Snape's Patronus was a doe, just like Lily's, because he loved her throughout his entire life. 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. As a result of Snape's sacrifice of his own life, Lily's son Harry would name her second grandson after Snape. Coincidentally, said grandson would inherit Lily's green eyes.

The Marauders , his school bullies and enemies. The Marauders were a group of four Gryffindor boys, with whom Severus began a relationship of enmity and hatred throughout their school years. Severus and the first two Marauders 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. 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 Marauders 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 fuelled Snape's hatred of him even more.

James always suspected that Snape had deeper feelings for Lily, which factored strongly into his behaviour towards him. Snape's continued bitterness toward the Marauders, even into adulthood, became apparent in , when Remus Lupin was given the position of Defence 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. Although Snape's descriptions of James' teenage self were accurate, Snape purposefully omitted even vague descriptions of the noble person James became.

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. Lupin, like everyone, believed Snape an evil, cowardly servant of Voldemort's after Snape killed Albus Dumbledore, and died before learning the truth. Snape confronts Sirius Black at the Shrieking Shack. Snape held an especially strong enmity towards Sirius.

Although Snape's hatred towards Sirius for the humiliation he put him under alongside James in their Hogwarts years was already great, the fact that Sirius apparently was the Marauder who betrayed Lily to Voldemort made him hate Sirius even more than he did with James. He was eager to be the one to hand Sirius over to receive the Dementor's Kiss after he broke out of Azkaban and was furious when he managed to escape yet again.

After Sirius's innocence was proven, however, Dumbledore insisted that the two of them shake hands and ally together against Voldemort. Nevertheless, they remained barely capable of civilly conversing, as both of them still resented each other and Snape, in particular, taunted him about his uselessness to the Order while confined to his mother's house , which escalated in Sirius nearly challenging Snape to a duel, which Snape was eager to and would have gladly accepted had the Weasleys not barged in.

However, Sirius himself admitted he felt ashamed of his previous treatment and did not at all enjoy the reminder of the reason for Snape being humiliated due to Sirius being bored in their fifth year.

Snape also, even if begrudgingly, accepted that they were fighting for the same side and was quick to check if Sirius was in fact safe after Harry reported to him he saw Sirius tortured by Voldemort and in the Ministry to be forced to retrieve the object.

Although Snape's relationship with Pettigrew in their school years was already hostile, upon knowing he was the Marauder who truly betrayed Lily, he most likely became the Marauder Snape resented the most. Although forced to keep his dislike as best as he could due to his job as a double-agent for Dumbledore, Snape seized his chance to torment Pettigrew when the Dark Lord later assigned Pettigrew to work as his assistant, treating him like a slave, forcing him to clean his house and serve food to his guests, clearly intent on making sure that Pettigrew would not experience any comfortableness while under his command.

Snape also seemed to enjoy threatening Pettigrew by telling Voldemort that he desired more dangerous assignments whenever he would protest his position as Snape's servant. In an ironic twist, despite their mutual antipathy, James's second grandson would be named after Snape years after the deaths of Snape and the Marauders.

Harry Potter , his former student and the person he sought to protect. From the day Harry set foot in Hogwarts, he and Snape loathed each other. Despite the fact that Snape was committed to honouring Lily 's sacrifice, he could not bring himself to judge the boy objectively because of his 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 Harry losing the protection surrounding him. 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. 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 a 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 killed Dumbledore, the hatred between them was sealed almost as personally as between Harry and Voldemort. As he lay dying, Snape told Harry to look at him and died looking into Lily's eyes.

Following this, Harry was given access to all of Snape's concealed memories, which brought the former teacher's true intentions and more human side to light.

When Harry discovered the love Snape had for his mother and the constant danger he put himself in to ensure his safety, he forgave him despite Snape's often cruel treatment of him. By adulthood, all of Harry's hatred of Snape seemed to have vanished and it looked as though he had never harboured it at all. This could 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. Another aspect of Snape's highly visible, almost cartoonish mistreatment of Harry is that he knew all his actions might one day be reported to Voldemort by Death Eater spies. He did nothing that would create the image of real sympathy or loyalty to Potter or any of Voldemort's former adversaries, only curt professionalism towards his colleagues, obedience but not true loyalty to Dumbledore, and utter hatred for Harry.

His need to behave this way was redoubled when it became clear Voldemort could use legilimency to read Harry's mind, and in doing so view any action by Snape in view of Harry.

Ironically, the two shared many similarities that neither of them was aware of. Both were black-haired, 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 and was raised albeit reluctantly and abusively by her. Both grew up wearing secondhand clothes however, Snape was likely forced to wear them due to his family's poverty, while Harry's relatives simply refused 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.

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.

In the second alternate timeline created by Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter, Scorpius revealed to Snape the predicament he had caused among other things. It is founded that Snape was extremely saddened and disappointed in his failure to protect Harry from Voldemort in the final battle, and was also engaged in assisting Scorpius in fixing the timeline so Harry was alive and Voldemort defeated.

One of the details he revealed after convincing Snape of his tale was that in his timeline, Harry had named his second son after him. This deeply touched Severus, who later told Scorpius to convey to Albus in the original timeline that he is proud that the boy carries his name and legacy, feeling a part of time he will never experience for the greater good of the world.

He died without hesitation for the better world that Scorpius sought to restore, knowing his purpose could finally be served. Snape once again died for the legacy of his love, showing the kind of man he was at heart. After the original timeline was restored, Harry visited Cedric Diggory's grave with Albus, describing his son's two namesakes — Dumbledore and Snape — as very much alike, despite their sorting into different houses: " great men, with huge flaws, and you know what - those flaws almost made them greater.

Snape criticised 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 and marked her grades accordingly, he never awarded her house points and sometimes accused her of being an " insufferable know-it-all ".

Despite this, Snape saved their lives in when Professor Lupin had transformed into a werewolf at the full moon, and even after they had stopped being his students, continued to assist the three of them in their quest to destroy the seven Horcruxes without them being any the wiser, of course.

It is unknown how Ron and Hermione reacted to the revelation of Snape's loyalty though as Harry recounted Snape's memories they were described as shocked. Albus Dumbledore , his former headmaster. Snape's relationship with Dumbledore was one of close, but not indefinite trust. Dumbledore was Snape's headmaster whilst at Hogwarts and was presumably impressed with Snape's academia and abilities. Snape likely felt no real loyalty to Dumbledore as a student and may have resented the latter's failure for stopping the torturous bullying Snape received at the hands of the Marauders.

Despite this, he agreed to keep Remus Lupin's lycanthropy a secret when the headmaster ordered him though likely out of self-serving reasons. Before allying himself with Snape, Dumbledore viewed him with, in his own words, disgust, for the latter's selfishness.

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 capitalise on Snape's remorse and initiated him into the Order of the Phoenix as a double agent.

As a spy for the Order, Snape silently kept his place within the ranks of the Death Eaters, while informing Dumbledore about their movements. He also adopted the role of secret agent for Voldemort and supplied him with strategic scraps of information about the Order.

The content of these reports was often dictated by Dumbledore. It is implied that Snape withheld little, if any, information from Dumbledore that was relevant to the Order's success, while Snape deliberately did the opposite for Voldemort.

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 a calculated betrayal of Lily's memory. Dumbledore clearly underestimated the depth of Snape's feelings, and, years later, was very surprised to learn that he still maintained his devotion.

In , Dumbledore became aware of Voldemort's plan to kill him. Knowing Voldemort expected Draco Malfoy to fail, and assuming Snape to be Draco's successor, Dumbledore assigned Snape the task of killing him when the situation arose.

Snape was genuinely reluctant to do this and even stated when Dumbledore stated that it was necessary to protect Draco's soul that his soul may very well be damaged from such an act, showing Snape had grown to genuinely care for the Headmaster.

Even with the revelation of Dumbledore's true plans for Harry, Snape hesitated for a time before carrying out his mission, his face being described as holding disgust and hatred for himself for what he was about to do. Dumbledore also entrusted Snape with protecting the students once Hogwarts fell into Voldemort's control. In spite of their mutual trust in each other, Dumbledore never allowed Snape his coveted position as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

It was claimed that he did it so that Snape wouldn't experience a resurgence of "old habits". The truth may in fact be that Dumbledore believed the post to be jinxed by Lord Voldemort after he failed to attain the post, and this jinx had prevented any teacher from lasting beyond a year.

To place Snape in such a position might have risked his safety, and Dumbledore would not have permitted such a risk, in case he required Snape's aid against Voldemort again. When Dumbledore was infected by the curse on Marvolo Gaunt's ring, he asked Snape to kill him.

Knowing that such an act would vilify Snape beyond any doubt in the mind of the Wizarding public, Dumbledore allowed Snape the position because he would have to leave immediately anyway.

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 is unknown how Petunia reacted to or if she even ever knew about Snape calling Lily a Mudblood , but it can be assumed that this incident caused Petunia to hate him even more. Ironically, Petunia and Snape's negative encounters with each other as children and adolescents helped lay the foundations for their respective adult personalities.

It is possible that Petunia's interactions with Snape exacerbated her already growing disdain for the Wizarding world and eventual estrangement with Lily. Likewise, Snape's antipathy towards Petunia helped fuel his dislike towards Muggles in general, causing him to experiment with Pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts , culminating in his recruitment in the Death Eaters.

Even more tragically, Snape's actions as a Death Eater caused the death of Petunia's sister Lily to be murdered by Voldemort, which in turn caused Petunia to grudgingly adopt and abuse and neglect her nephew Harry Potter. Years after Snape's death, one of Petunia's great-nephews would be named after Snape. It is unknown if she had known about this, given how she likely severed contact with Harry after he left her house.

In , 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 turned against the Dark Lord the moment he decided to target Lily Potter. When Voldemort returned to physical form in , Snape ostensibly returned to him as a spy for the Order. Using Occlumency , Snape was able to close his mind, hide his true allegiance and maintain his cover as a faithful Death Eater. 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. However, Voldemort coldly had his snake , Nagini, kill Snape in , 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 Snape had managed to deceive him for years because he acted entirely out of love for Lily Evans — something Voldemort neither understood or cared about.

Indeed, at the time Snape asked Voldemort to spare Lily's life, he erroneously believed that Snape's interest in her was merely physical, and callously stated that there were other women "of purer blood, worthier of him" after her death.

Voldemort also reacted with indifference to Snape's true loyalties, as Voldemort mistakenly believed that Snape's death made Voldemort the master of the Elder Wand. This error soon cost Voldemort his own life while ensuring that Snape's sacrifice was not 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 Muggle men had nothing but hatred for their sons and wives and neglected their sons and as a consequence both Riddle and Snape 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 Gaunt family 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 sixteenth years — Voldemort had the diary that he converted into a Horcrux , while Snape had a Potions textbook that he used to write original magic. Lastly both were part of a gang of fu ture Death Eaters who bullied their fellow students. 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 major thing that differs between Voldemort and Snape's relationships with their fathers is murder; Voldemort had murdered his own father while Snape did not murder his. Voldemort must have also recognised Snape as a powerful and intelligent wizard, traits which would manifest as usefulness to his ideology.

However, there were other differences between Snape and Voldemort. Snape had a secret love for Lily Evans for most of his life, which motivated him to defect from the Death Eaters and protect her son after her death at Voldemort's hands.

Voldemort, on the other hand, 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 other Death Eater.

The Weasleys had a neutral if not unkind relationship with Snape. The Weasleys were blood-traitors, supporters of Muggles and Muggle-borns and opposed to the Dark Arts, all things Snape held opposite views towards as a Death Eater. Snape had relinquished most prejudices after switching sides though. It is unknown if Snape was still loyal to the Death Eaters when Fabian and Gideon Prewett were killed or if he had defected before their deaths.

Both events occurred in The Weasleys, like Snape in his youth, were profusely financially strained. Molly and Arthur had left Hogwarts before Snape started but knew him through their membership in the Order.

They seemed to, like most, trust him because Dumbledore did. Little is known about their relationship, although Molly, at least, did not let Snape's maltreatment of her children staunch her respect for him as a teacher. Given Molly was a good potioneer, this could have helped her find some common ground with him. Snape taught seven Weasleys at Hogwarts. Bill and Percy , despite being Gryffindors, earned many O. Despite this, Ginny mentioned once that Bill and Snape did not get along when Bill was a student.

There was, in fact, only a decade separating Snape and Bill. Fred and George irked Snape profusely with their pranks and disinterest in school work. Interestingly, they were their generation's Marauders , map and all, and as such Snape may have viewed them as a reincarnation of his childhood bullies.

It is mentioned the twins got many detentions and house point losses which were likely Snape's doing.

Ginny was the final Weasley to attend Hogwarts before Snape's death and she bore a remarkable resemblance to Lily. She was also the only remaining Weasley at Hogwarts during Snape's time as headmaster and co-lead the reformed Dumbledore's Army, unknowingly allying herself with Snape.

Notably Snape seemed as worried as the other teachers when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Ron knew of Snape's treatment of students before attending his classes, likely hearing it from an older sibling indicating a long string of antagonism between Snape and the Weasley children. Snape's murder of Dumbledore in close conjunction of Bill being maimed by Greyback and accidently maiming George gave birth to the family's hatred of him.

Some would argue that Harry Potter is the best book series that the world has ever seen at least, it looks that way by its book sales. The absolute proof that Severus Snape is good! And not only good, my friends, but possibly the greatest "good guy" literature has ever seen! There, hidden among the hundreds of pages of the Harry Potter plot line, the Golden Ticket laid undiscovered: the reasons why Severus Snape is so unique and mysterious, and why we should pay attention to everything he says and does.

As I invite you to share in the rewards of the Golden Ticket, you will be amazed by the lengths that J. Rowling has gone to dazzle us with detailed back story, irony and murky associations to prove the fact that there is no other character, outside of Harry, that she has spent more time developing than Severus Snape. That reason alone is why we are going to see Snape, sneaky little Snivelly, as the biggest character twist in Harry Potter history!

It is easy to see that Ms. Rowling spends a great deal of time showing us the many facets of Severus Snape. She includes a litany of details surrounding his true allegiance, which results in many readers debating and discussing his behavior. There is so much information on Snape that there is plenty of fuel for both arguments, and yet his motives are still unclear. Why can't we distinguish his exact loyalty? Why is it so difficult to tell whether he is good or bad?

Because the truth is, he is both. I would argue that Snape is a category all his own: there is good, there is bad, and there is Snape.

The fact that is very rarely discussed is that Snape had to become bad so that everyone who is bad would see that he is still Lord Voldemort's man. Because of Snape's black past Dumbledore used him for the greater good. So really, he is a good guy because he is a bad guy. But why the mystery? Why is it necessary to have a love-hate relationship with Severus Snape?

Why not lump him in with the good guys and call it a day? Because Snape's duality will serve a distinct purpose in the end; he has to maintain his evil behavior to be helpful.

That is why Ms. Rowling gives us such a complex account of Professor Snape's character. Why else would she bother if he were a simple, two-dimensional villain? We do not have in-depth flashbacks about Lucius Malfoy, there are no lengthy theories about Wormtail's loyalty, we never question that Bellatrix is pure evil, and that is because they are the real bad guys.

The mountain of details regarding Snape's true motives begins when Harry makes his way to Hogwarts for the first time. Rowling instantly paints Snape as a bad guy when she connects him to You-Know-Who:.

He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. Soon after Harry's first introduction to Snape, he quickly becomes Harry's least favorite teacher. From then on, Harry is forced to deal with the ghastly Potions Master every time he enters the school dungeons. Snape abuses his teaching authority by teasing and torturing Harry and his friends.

He deducts unfair amounts of house points from Gryffindor students with mirthful glee. He gives detentions for no reason, and he ridicules Hermione just because she knows all the answers to his questions.

He treats Neville with absolute contempt and insults Ron nearly as much as Harry. He even tries to get Harry expelled on the slightest offenses.

All of these actions solidify a deep hatred in Harry and those around him. However, Rowling doesn't stop there. She continues to make it very clear that other people think Snape is horrible too. It is soon revealed that Sirius, the one person in Harry's life that was the closest to his parents, has a long and hate-filled past with Snape that began when they were students together at Hogwarts.

Later, Harry sees one of Snape's memories with the use of a Pensieve. It reveals that both Harry's parents had confrontations with Snape as well:. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily. Lily blinked. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus.

Over and over again it is proven how nasty Snape is, and how other people struggle to deal with him. It is almost incomprehensible that he is good. That is why it comes as a total shock when it is revealed to Harry that Snape is a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and completely trusted by Dumbledore! The part of the story that has yet to be told is why Snape has to be so nasty, and the answer is Legilimency.

Snape knew that the Dark Lord was going to have a look inside his head for proof that he was still a devoted follower. The conversation between Voldemort and Snape was not transcribed, but I am certain that it sounded a lot like the conversation Snape had with the evil Bellatrix in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince :.

Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you've lived in Dumbledore's pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Sorcerer's Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord?

And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years? Countless essays have been written to justify both positions, but the essentials can be boiled down to a couple of sentences. Dumbledore trusted him and they must have had a prearranged agreement that Snape was to slay the Hogwarts Headmaster if provoked.

Oh, and by the way, he killed Dumbledore! Every time Snape has a chance to fully commit to one side or the other, he pulls back just enough to leave things in doubt. Moreover, Snape has a knack for doing just enough to win trust and engender suspicion at the same time. On the other hand, Snape swears an unbreakable oath to Narcissa Malfoy in the sixth book, after answering invasive questions from a skeptical Bellatrix Lastrange questioning his loyalty, and then follows that up by killing Dumbledore.

Love for Lily? But what about Harry's mother, Lily? Could a failed relationship or an unrequited love, and lingering guilt that he may have contributed to her death, be a source of conflict to Snape now?

For six books, Snape has been whatever the reader wants him to be. Finally, with the release of the final book in the series, Rowling has final say. IE 11 is not supported.