Severus S Snape

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**Professor Severus Snape** (***9 January*** ***1960*** – ***2 May*** ***1998***) was an ***English*** ***half-blood*** ***wizard*** serving as ***Potions Master***, ***Head of Slytherin House***, ***Defence Against the Dark Arts*** ***professor***, and ***Headmaster*** of the ***Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry*** as well as a member of the Order of the Phoenix and a ***Death Eater***. His double life played an extremely important role in both of the Wizarding Wars against Voldemort.
The only child of ***Muggle*** ***Tobias Snape*** and witch ***Eileen Snape*** (née Prince), Severus 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. He fell deeply in love with Lily upon their meeting and became a close friend of hers.
Severus started at ***Hogwarts*** with Lily in ***1971***, where he was ***sorted*** into Slytherin House. This put him in the same year as Lily but unfortunately for him she was sorted into Gryffindor House. Severus became the immediate enemy of James Potter and ***Sirius Black*** and was a frequent victim of their bullying. This led him to be irritable towards James's son Harry when he was a professor. Snape, when young, developed a passion for the ***Dark Arts***, which increased as his desire for revenge against his bullies grew stronger.
Snape became involved with the bullies in Slytherin House, many of whom were ***pure-blood supremacists***. This put his friendship with Lily, a ***Muggle-born***, under great strain until it was eventually broken in their fifth year. In a misguided attempt to win back Lily's affections, 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 talent in ***Potion-making***. ***Horace Slughorn*** even kept a picture of him as a student, clutching ***his copy*** of ***Advanced Potion-Making***. However, Horace did not actually have many hopes for Severus's future, as his photograph was kept behind many others.
As an active Death Eater, one of Snape's biggest contributions was letting Lord Voldemort know about the prophecy ***Sybill Trelawney*** made to Dumbledore. This part of the prophecy could have applied to either Harry Potter or ***Neville Longbottom***, who was also born at the end of ***July*** ***1980*** to parents who were members of the Order. Once Lord Voldemort decided to target the Potters over the ***Longbottoms***, Snape begged Voldemort to at least spare Lily. Voldemort agreed, then did not follow through on this promise.
Shortly before Lily Evans was murdered by Lord Voldemort, Snape changed sides and became a member of the Order of the Phoenix as well as a double agent during the ***Second Wizarding War***. With tremendous difficulty, Snape prevented Lord Voldemort from learning the truth about his loyalties.
Despite the opinions of most others including Harry during his early life, Albus Dumbledore trusted Snape for reasons that were kept between them both until their deaths. Despite Snape ***killing*** Dumbledore, it is learned that they had a special agreement for him to do so. When he died, it was revealed that his deep strong love for Lily Evans caused him to redeem himself, joining Dumbledore's cause for her protection (and, after her death, that of her son) from Lord Voldemort.
The relationship between Dumbledore and Snape would be one of unusually strong loyalty, so much so that Snape agreed to kill Dumbledore upon the latter's own request. Before Dumbledore's death, Snape promised to protect the students of Hogwarts from the Death Eaters, who would inevitably take control of the ***Ministry of Magic*** as well as the school.
Snape later participated in the ***Battle of Hogwarts*** but was ***murdered*** 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, as well as one of the ***Deathly Hallows***) when in reality, Harry Potter was the master of the Elder Wand, because Draco Malfoy had ***disarmed*** Dumbledore on the ***night*** of Dumbledore's death on top of the ***Astronomy Tower***, and Harry had ***disarmed*** Draco at Malfoy Manor.
After Snape's death, Harry Potter ensured that ***his portrait*** remained at Hogwarts, honouring him as a hero, despite their significant personal differences. In addition, Harry later named his second son ***Albus Severus Potter*** in honour of Dumbledore and Severus, both of whom were an inspiration in Harry's life after the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry also was influenced by Severus' Hogwarts house, and freely admitted that his son Albus could choose Slytherin if he wished.

## Biography

### Early life (1960–1971)

> **Lily Evans**Doesn't your dad like magic?**Severus Snape**He doesn't like anything, much.**Discussion of Snape's family and home life**Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Severus Snape was born ***9 January*** ***1960*** to ***Tobias Snape***, an abusive ***Muggle***, and ***Eileen Prince***, a neglectful ***pure-blood*** ***witch***. He 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 behaviour later in his life.

   Severus grew up at ***Spinner's End***, a shabby suburb of ***Cokeworth***. This area of town was near a dirty river and full of dilapidated houses, disused factories and broken down street lamps. Through 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 "*that were so mismatched that it looked deliberate*". 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. The two bonded quickly and it appears that he was very interested in Lily right from the beginning, though she only regarded him as a good friend. 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's own memories of his 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)

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    Severus attended ***Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry*** as a student from ***1971***-***1978*** and was Sorted into Slytherin House, at that time led by ***Potions master*** ***Horace Slughorn***. On the way to Hogwarts for his first year, Severus sat with Lily Evans on the train. While on the train they met James Potter and ***Sirius Black***. This encounter between the three of them revolved around a disagreement regarding what Hogwarts house was the best. This hostile first encounter would set the tone for the antagonism between the three of them for the rest of his life.

Sorted into Slytherin House upon their arrival at the school, classmates would later state that 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 Black. He was credited with creating a good number of popular spells like ***Levicorpus***, ***Liberacorpus***, ***Muffliato***, and curses like ***Langlock***, the ***Toenail Growth Hex***, and his signature curse that he invented himself, ***Sectumsempra***. He reportedly was friends with a gang of Slytherins who later became ***Death Eaters***, including ***Avery***, ***Mulciber***, ***Bellatrix Black***, ***Rodolphus Lestrange***, ***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 favour Draco during his later teaching years even when Draco refused it in the task to kill Dumbledore).

    **Remus Lupin** and Peter Pettigrew were also classmates of Severus. Around the same time, he also got acquainted with another notorious troublemaker; a ***Fifth year*** student by the name of ***Patricia Rakepick*** who not only was in the same house as his new ***school rivals***, but also actively sought to mentor her younger schoolmates in the art of mischief-making without getting caught: While popular with many of their peers for her, she was, on the other hand, strongly disliked by most of the teachers for her excessive rebellious streak, frequent rule-breaking and the bad influence she was on her younger housemates.

No less discontent with her behaviour than their professors were, Severus's mistrust in Rakepick ran deeper still; she was an avid advocate for the existence of the fabled ***Cursed Vaults*** of Hogwarts. While her claims were dismissed by the faculty of the day, young Snape, however, was not so certain; seeing her as uncommonly ambitious for a Gryffindor and, he recognised, far from stupid, he eventually came to question her motives and her intentions for the vaults, eventually coming to regard her as a danger to the school and all who resided at the castle.

James and his group of friends were constantly at war with Severus throughout their school years. Severus's memories, recorded in the ***Pensieve***, suggest that he was an introverted and studious individual, whereas James was arrogant, popular and athletic. Immediately upon meeting him, James disliked Severus for expressing a desire to be in Slytherin. James's big crush on Lily, and Severus's close friendship and unrequited love for her also heightened the tension between the two.

    One recorded memory in the Pensieve bore witness to James bullying him, turning him upside-down to reveal his underwear in front of many students, including Lily. This action was proved to be very offensive and it increased the hatred between the two adolescents. In this accident, Lily came to Severus's defence, 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's *worst memory*.

Severus noticed that Remus kept disappearing during the full moon and once followed him past the ***Whomping Willow*** (after being tipped off on how to do so by ***Sirius Black***) to confirm his suspicions. This act could have cost Severus his life, as had it not been for James going after him to stop him when he learned of Sirius' 'prank', he might have found himself all on his own and caught off guard by a fully-fledged werewolf. As it was, however, James did reach Severus in time 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 — according to Sirius, Severus had always been a "special case" with James. Though it should be noted Snape's continued friendships with students who were trying to become Death Eaters did not help his relationship with the ***Marauders*** or Lily. Lily ended up marrying James, which only strengthened Severus's bitterness towards him.

There was also some overlap between his school career and that of a younger student by the name of ***Jacob***, yet another rule-breaker Snape came to severely dislike. During the later part of his magical education, the school was plagued by several dangerous ***curses*** unleashed upon the school by Jacob after he tampered with the fabled ***Cursed Vaults***, which resulted in the death and injury of several of his peers, although he suffered no permanent injury himself.

#### Half-Blood Prince

> This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince.
>
> The inside cover of the textbook, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Severus was a talented wizard even in his childhood. 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 him/her 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 included ***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's book later fell into the hands of Harry Potter in September 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.

### First Wizarding War (1978–1981)

#### As 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, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    Severus Snape eventually joined the ranks of Lord Voldemort's ***Death Eaters***. His actions as a Death Eater are largely unknown, though he quickly became an important Death Eater in Voldemort's inner circle. He was the spy responsible for informing Voldemort about the prophecy foretelling his downfall. In early ***1980***, Snape eavesdropped on an interview for ***Divination*** Professor ***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***.

Albus 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 Hog's Head's barman and Albus' brother, ***Aberforth***, caught him eavesdropping and threw him out.

#### As a double agent

**Albus Dumbledore**: "*If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear. You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily's son.*"
**Severus Snape**: "*Very well. But never — never tell, Dumbledore! This must be between us! Swear it! I cannot bear... especially Potter's son...*"
— Snape promises to protect Harry after Lily's murder[src]
    Severus suffered terrible remorse when Voldemort decided that Harry Potter was the subject of the prophecy and that Lily Evans, the woman whom he always loved, was now in danger as a result of his actions. He begged Voldemort to spare her, who agreed. However, knowing that he could not leave Lily's safety in 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.
Snape 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***. In fact, it was Snape's request to Voldemort which allowed Lily to let herself die in order for Harry to live when Voldemort attempted to murder him, therefore ensuring that his curse backfired and Voldemort's body was destroyed in the process.

    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 to the point of wishing himself dead, but Dumbledore urged him to ensure Harry's safety out of respect for Lily's memory; Snape initially insisted the danger had been averted with the Dark Lord gone, only for Albus to insist that he would return and everyone, particularly the boy, would be in danger when that happened. So Snape spent the rest of his life protecting her child, Harry Potter, 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 Dumbledore's plan to protect Harry and defeat Voldemort.

### Career at Hogwarts (1981–1995)

> 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 at Hogwarts, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

    When Severus Snape began his teaching career at ***Hogwarts*** in 1981, taking up a teaching post around the same time as the threat posed by the rampaging curses that had terrorised the castle's residents were contained and the subsequent expulsion of his ***former peer*** for the rules he had broken in his quest for the Cursed Vaults and the fellow students who had been endangered in the process, he initially applied for the position of ***Defence Against the Dark Arts*** teacher, but was rejected multiple times.

Many students were under the impression that this was because Dumbledore feared Snape might return to his old ways if allowed to teach his favourite subject, but in reality it was because Dumbledore was aware by that point that the job had been ***jinxed*** by Voldemort. Knowing that no ***Defence Against the Dark Arts*** teacher would last longer than a year, Dumbledore instead employed Snape in the position of ***Potions Master*** and Head of Slytherin House, following the retirement of veteran Potions Master Professor ***Horace Slughorn***. Though it seemed rather uncommon for someone as young as Snape to be named a ***Head of 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, having switched sides ever since the Dark Lord had targeted Lily and this allowed him to avoid time in ***Azkaban*** as Dumbledore staunchly defended him. He fabricated the fact that he believed Voldemort to be dead as an alibi for still loyal Death Eaters, but in truth, he and Dumbledore had discussed Voldemort and knew he would inevitably return, henceforth the most important reason why he applied as a teacher: to ensure from the shadows the safety of Harry Potter, who Lily had died protecting. 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. 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.
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. He felt that anyone with a lower mark than that would lack the passion and the devotion to the complex and demanding subjects that would follow in the last two years of school. Though strict, Snape had an obvious bias for Slytherins, giving them undeserved rights over the others, while looking down on the other students somewhat unfairly. His interpersonal relations with students outside his own house were subpar at best. He would, on numerous occasions, bully students without any repercussions. Though, one might dispute if his distain for ***Neville Longbottom*** was more about bullying or about the fact Voldemort had chosen to target the Potters over the ***Longbottoms***, and if he'd picked the Longbottoms instead, Lily Potter would perhaps still be alive. He once threatened to poison Neville's pet toad, ***Trevor***, or tell Neville how stupid he was. Once he even told Hermione Granger that her enlarged teeth were the same size as usual, neither of which were necessary behaviours.

    Snape's role during this entire time was extremely sensitive and required master espionage and image-control skills. As he and Dumbledore anticipated that Voldemort would return eventually, and many of Snape's actions would be reported on by Death Eater spies or gained through torture and ***Legilimency***, even if Snape's true mentality and intentions were inaccessible to the Dark Lord, he had to consider every decision and relationship carefully. He treated Harry Potter 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 protected Harry on numerous occasions; 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 as he was still Lily's son. He also had to avoid becoming too aware of Voldemort's plans, so as to avoid being held responsible for allowing Harry and his friends to foil them. His actions during this period created no mistrust on the part of Voldemort, which allowed for Voldemort's ultimate downfall.

Snape examined the ***hair care potion*** ***Xeep's Luscious Locks Solution*** when it became clear its users were suffering from memory loss,

#### ***1991–1992 school year***

**Severus Snape**: "*You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell.*"
Quirinus Quirrell
**I-I don't know what you —**: "*You know perfectly well what I mean.*"
— A warning after Quirrell attempted to seize the Philosopher's Stone[src]
    In ***1991***, ***Nicolas Flamel***, a famous alchemist and friend of Albus Dumbledore, had the Philosopher's Stone that was keeping him alive moved from his safe in Gringotts to Hogwarts for safekeeping. Snape contributed to the defences set up around the magical artefact by adding a Potions Riddle as one of the obstacles, and the only obstacle that used logic as a key factor instead of magic.

At the same time, Harry Potter became a student in Snape's classes, and the two of them detested each other almost immediately. Harry's resemblance to his father and his acquired 'celebrity' status brought the worst out of Snape from their very first ***Potions*** lesson. Although Snape had pledged an oath to Dumbledore that he would protect Harry, such an 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.

Throughout the year as part of his promise to Dumbledore, Snape did everything he could to prevent ***Defence Against the Dark Arts*** Professor Quirinus Quirrell from helping Lord Voldemort obtain the Philosopher's Stone, having seen him as what he was and at least knew he was helping Voldemort, if not also being aware of Voldemort possessing Quirrell. By 31 October, the turbaned Professor, sure enough, made his first move by letting a ***Mountain troll*** into ***Hogwarts Castle*** as a diversion. Snape took this chance to stop him from sneaking into the ***restricted third-floor corridor*** where the Stone was being hidden in the midst of the chaotic event, only to get bitten in the leg by the corridor's ***three-headed guard dog***, ***Fluffy***.

    When Quirrell made his first attempt on Harry's life by ***jinxing*** his new broomstick during the boy's first ***Quidditch*** game, Snape intervened again by performing a ***counter-curse*** to prevent Harry from being hurled off. Unfortunately, Hermione Granger observed the crowd through binoculars to figure out who was performing the jinx and caught Snape discreetly uttering the counter-curse incantation, but erroneously thought he was performing the actual curse. Hermione Granger was seen while using *Lacarnum Inflamari* on Snape's cloak. So she ran to his stand and ***set fire*** to his robes in order to distract him and make him stop, and luckily for Snape, she accidentally knocked Quirrell over during her hurry back to the Gryffindor stands, causing him to break the eye contact necessary for performing his spell correctly.
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 Quidditch team***'s chances of winning.

    Snape intensely confronted Quirrell in the ***Forbidden Forest*** on the night after the match, demanding to know why he was after the Philosopher's Stone. Unbeknownst to them both, Harry was watching the entire argument from the treetops, having followed his Potions teacher into the forest on his broomstick after passing him at the school ***Quidditch shed***. But because the boy suspected Snape of plotting to steal the stone and of attempting to kill him, it seemed to him that the Potions professor was trying to intimidate Quirrell into handing over information regarding the artefact.

Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione unjustly tried to be supportive and encouraging to Quirrell whenever possible by telling people off for laughing at his stutter, smiling at him encouragingly whenever they passed him or arguing with Snape.

Snape was present at the End-of-Term Feast that year. He was initially very pleased to see that Slytherin had won the ***House Cup*** again, but was forced to shake McGonagall's hand with a forced smile after Dumbledore's additional house points to Harry, Ron, Hermione and ***Neville Longbottom*** meant that Gryffindor had won instead.

#### ***1992–1993 school year***

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    During the beginning of the school year in ***1992***, Snape learned from the ***Evening Prophet*** that Muggles spotted Harry and Ron travelling to Hogwarts in the ***Flying Ford Anglia***, instead of on the ***Hogwarts Express***. Knowing the severity of their deeds could very well cause them to be expelled, which would put Harry in great danger as he would lose Dumbledore's protection, Snape took matters into his hand and confronted them when they had landed, where he severely berated them for their breach of one of the most sacred laws of their world and pretended to call upon Professors Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall to make them solve this situation. It was as Snape wanted: Dumbledore ensured they would not be expelled and Minerva punished them instead by giving them a warning and separate detentions.

Regardless of his desire to uphold Lily's memory, Snape considered the punishment too lenient and retaliated by allowing the ***Slytherin Quidditch team*** to unfairly usurp the ***Hogwarts Quidditch pitch*** during the Gryffindor team's practice time. This was in order for them to train Draco Malfoy as their new ***Seeker***. Later on in the year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione successfully managed to smuggle ***Polyjuice Potion*** ingredients from Snape's personal cabinets. They did this by creating a spectacle of a diversion in his classroom, which involved a firecracker and the ***Swelling Solution*** that was being made in class.

He was utterly furious at the mess and made it clear that he knew it was Harry who had caused it considering the way he looked at him, with Harry referring to having felt Snape read his mind, strongly indicating Snape used ***Legilimency*** on him. However, he was forced to let Harry go again as Dumbledore had made it clear to him that no other punishment but being expelled would be dealt out to Harry if he broke another rule and Snape could not let his anger overpower his desire to see Lily's son be protected.

> Time to split up the dream team, I think. Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter — I don't think so. Mr Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger — you can partner Miss Bulstrode.
>
> Snape running the Duelling Club, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    During this year, Professor Snape also worked with the new ***Defence Against the Dark Arts*** professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, in running the ***Duelling Club***. In this period, he quickly visibly showed a large amount of irritation and anger at Professor Lockhart who would remain, evermore, the teacher of the subject he most cherished. Snape took a certain amount of enjoyment in blasting him against a wall with the ***Disarming Charm*** and looking ready to murder him on the spot to the point that even Lockhart was intimidated enough to stop annoying Snape.

He ensured that Harry would be engaged with Draco instead, but interfered when Harry and Draco practically checkmated each other, with Harry using the ***Tickling Charm*** on Malfoy and was subsequently hit by the ***Dancing Feet Spell***. Although he gave Malfoy the instruction needed to ***conjure a snake*** and relished the fact that Harry was alone to face the large angry ***snake***, once Harry showed his ***Parseltongue*** ability, Snape quickly interfered to avoid too much of a problem on Harry's part by ***vanishing*** the snake and allowing him to be escorted out of the Great Hall by his friends but looked at him suspiciously before he left.

Lockhart would only further irritate Professor Snape during ***Valentine's Day***, where he held a party to celebrate it as Snape looked on particularly dreadfully to the point he looked as if he had been forced to take multiple ***Skele-Gro*** and Snape did not hesitate to look utterly infuriated when Lockhart cheerfully asked the students to make Snape brew for them ***Love Potions*** to the point he clearly shot a warning look to them that he would force-feed anyone who dared to ask him to ***poison***. Snape was very likely among the professors who were highly irritated by the Cupids Lockhart unleashed upon Hogwarts as they kept getting in the way of lessons.

    This hatred for Lockhart finally reached its apex when Professor Lockhart walked in upon their discovery of Ginny being taken to the Chamber of Secrets, as even Snape was genuinely concerned for her regardless of how he treated Gryffindor, and furiously led the teachers into forcing him out of the way so that students could be escorted to safety, outright not giving Lockhart even a second to rebuke Snape's claim of having heard Lockhart proclaim that he had found the monster. Snape was also responsible for the brewing of the ***Mandrake Restorative Draught*** in order to cure all those ***petrified*** by the Serpent of Slytherin that terrorised the school that year.

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

## Physical appearance

> ...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 shoulder-length, greasy black hair which framed his face in curtains, curling lips and dark, penetrating eyes that resembled tunnels. As a Death Eater, he bore 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 that recalled a spider*", as well as "*long oily hair that jumped about his face*".

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.

## Personality and traits

> Don't push it. I've heard Snape can turn very nasty.
>
> Snape's infamous temper described by Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

    A complicated, withdrawn person, Severus Snape's life was overwhelmed with many complex emotions that he never fully disclosed. At times, Snape could appear 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. Descriptions of his social interactions as a child suggest that he had poor interpersonal skills and that he may have suffered from depression.

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 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 beliefs of pure-blood superiority, but was rather against Muggles, presumably because of his sour experience with both his father and Petunia Evans, but held no ill-will towards ***Muggle-borns***. 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 friendship with Lily and defended Hermione Granger when ***Phineas Nigellus Black*** called her Mudblood, his manner of speaking in this instance being uncharacteristically explosive and filled with more emotion than he normally displayed.

> Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers!
>
> Snape's opinion on emotionalism and self-control, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    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 demeanour. 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.

> After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me. I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T. Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye.
>
> Snape's very high standards as a teacher, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    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. As Potions Master, he described it as an art and an exact science, and dismissed the use of incantations and wand waving as "silly and foolish". 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 sixteen years.

> Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favours them — we'll be able to see if it's true.
>
> Snape's favouritism towards Slytherins, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Snape knew full well why Dumbledore never granted him the position, as it may be a trigger to bring out his worst side, something he denied to Umbridge's questioning but let in to those of Bellatrix's. 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. He also taught this class slightly fairer than he did in Potions, such as lowering his entrance standards and biases for ***N.E.W.T. level*** classes, allowing more students to enter the advanced studies of his favourite class, and placed students from his own house, such as ***Vincent Crabbe*** and ***Gregory Goyle***, in detention for failing to do acceptable work the second time around after failing their ***O.W.L.*** the previous year.

    Ultimately, it was Snape's past and his love for Lily Evans that defined his inner being. His love for Lily Evans became most noticeable by his 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 realised 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 protect Lily's son.

> You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon...
>
> Snape's bravery despite the dangers to his own life, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In spite of his vindictive demeanour, Severus Snape was an immensely brave man who possessed a deep capacity for love. Everything that he did in the latter part of his life was motivated by his devotion to Lily Evans, whom he loved unconditionally. He was one of Dumbledore's most reliable allies and in his role as a double agent, took great personal risk in ensuring Harry's safety from Lord Voldemort. 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. He showed that despite his mistreatment of them, he cared considerably for the students of Hogwarts, risking his façade for them by secretly doing everything he can to make sure they stayed out of harm's way and at one point being genuinely concerned when a student was taken to the Chamber of Secrets. 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.

> Don't lie to me... Boomslang skin. Gillyweed. Both come from my private stores, and I know who stole them.
>
> Snape wrongly interrogating Harry Potter about who stole potion ingredients, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    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.

## Magical abilities and skills

> Snape knew more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in seventh year.
>
> Snape's proficiency for the Dark Arts, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    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.

* ***Magical* mastery**: Even at a young age, Severus was a gifted wizard, having knowledge of deep secrets of the wizarding world that he would usually relay to his crush, Lily Potter. In addition, Sirius Black, a known rival of his, claimed that Severus knew more about the **Dark Arts** than half of the seventh year's at Hogwarts, which speaks for his seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of magic. He was proficient in creating many useful spells used by the ***Death Eaters*** and even his rivals. He was also proficient in altering the formula for potions, resulting in an easier and more efficient way to produce them, which enhanced Harry Potter's proficiency in Potions to the point of easily surpassing even the results of Hermione Granger. His magical prowess was so great as a teenager that his bully and rival, James Potter would never have taken him on in a one on one fight unless he was backed up by his three other ***talented friends***. As an adult, Snape had became an incredibly powerful and skilled wizard and acknowledged by his fellow professors and Lord Voldemort for his great prowess. He proved capable of effortlessly defeating the likes of Harry Potter and also holding his own against the extremely powerful witch Minerva McGonagall, who was capable of surviving a duel with Voldemort himself.
* ***Love***: Severus was one of the only people in Voldemort's inner circle who was capable of feeling unconditional love. He fell deeply in love with Lily Evans as a child and maintained his devotion to her until his death. Despite their differences in beliefs about many things, Severus felt nothing but absolute love for Lily even though she never extended her reciprocity beyond friendship. Snape was devastated by Lily's death and expressed suicidal desires. However, so great was his love, he forced his way past them and spent seventeen years in constant danger in order to protect Lily's son and ensure that her sacrifice was not in vain. Indeed, Snape's ***Patronus*** was a doe, just like Lily's, showing that his love for her was far stronger than his loyalty to Lord Voldemort. Due to this, Snape was the only ***Death Eater*** who was able to cast a Patronus. Furthermore, his insight into the nature of love was evident when teaching ***Love Potions***, as he was able to distinguish between the obsessive love caused by love potions and the genuine, unconditional love that most people felt for each other.

> I highly doubt you will be able to replicate my technique. Still, I suggest you pay attention.
>
> Snape regarding his potions prowess to students, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

> Excuse me. But I believe I am the Potions master at this school.
>
> Snape to Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

* **Potions**: Severus was extremely adept in the art of potion-making and worked as the Potions Master at Hogwarts for about fifteen years. His prowess at potion-making extended beyond simple execution from formally documented recipes accepted and followed by the general public. 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, Wolfsbane Potion and the Mandrake Restorative Draught. In 1996, Professor Slughorn mentioned that in all his years of teaching, only one student had ever managed to brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death and claim the Felix Felicis being offered as a prize. It is implied, though not confirmed, that Snape was this student. Snape was also able to identify Polyjuice Potion by smell and produce fake Veritaserum that seemed real enough to fool Dolores Umbridge (though Umbridge was not portrayed as being particularly intelligent with practicality). In addition, Snape used an unidentified golden potion to help slow a curse that was slowly killing Dumbledore.

> Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood.
>
> Snape cursing James Potter with *Sectumsempra*, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

* **Dark Arts**: Severus had a passion for the Dark Arts from a young age, and was especially talented with **curses**, or so some believed. According to Sirius Black, Snape was "*up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts*" when he was at school. However, they had an age-old rivalry which could have influenced Sirius's words. When he was still a student, Snape was already talented enough that he was capable of creating new dark spells, as most of the spells he created were curses, hexes, and jinxes. As an adult at least, Snape was capable of performing the Killing Curse, one of the ***Unforgivable Curses*** that required a considerable level of magical skill, using the curse to kill Dumbledore on his orders.

> Your defences must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo.
>
> Snape teaching sixth year Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: Though Snape had a zest for dark magic, he possessed outstanding knowledge and abilities in protecting from it. His encyclopaedic understanding of the dark arts may have contributed to this. Snape taught the class at N.E.W.T level to such an effect that even Harry Potter could not help but be enchanted by his knowledge. Snape effectively "assisted" the 1992 duelling club, and understood the need for students handling pragmatism as well as theory in the subject. Snape's speciality in DADA was particularly in the area of counter-curses. In fact, his abilities in countering curses were so great that he was able to temporarily save Dumbledore (himself an expert on the subject) with wand enhanced incantations and a potion simultaneously from a "*curse of extraordinary power*", Dumbledore noted that he was only able to (temporarily) survive due to Snape's expertise. He was also able to prevent the curse that Katie Bell was inflicted with when she touched the necklace on Borgin and Burkes from spreading any further, saving her life. Snape had also developed effective counter curses for his own dark charms, such as the magic he used to heal Draco from the effects of *Sectumsempra*.

> We are going to see how well you resist. I have been told that you have already shown aptitude at resisting the Imperius Curse.... You will find that similar powers are needed for this.... Brace yourself, now.... Legilimens!
>
> Snape using the Legilimency Spell on Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

* ***Occlumency*** and ***Legilimency***: Snape's unerring ability to conceal his thoughts and feelings from external penetration proved to be crucial for him. His skills in Occlumency was so great that for seventeen years, he managed to hide facts from Lord Voldemort such as his remorse for Lily Evans's death and his secret alliance with Albus Dumbledore; it was his mastery of hiding his mind that made both sides distrust him. Snape was also very 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 and later used it to effortlessly deflect Harry's spells and curses. Despite his skill in Legilimency he was may have been unable to read ***Draco Malfoy***'s thoughts when the latter was a relatively inexperienced Occlumens (though Draco may have only believed that he was able to block Snape). Since Voldemort was considered history's greatest legilimens and was unable to ever read Snape's mind, despite being in the same room with him on many occasions, Snape could be history's greatest occlumens, with the possible exception of Albus Dumbledore and ***Gellert Grindelwald***, both of whom proved able to also deflect Voldemort's Legilimency. Considering how Voldemort would have detected Snape resisting penetration, Snape would've had to be careful only to block certain thoughts from him while allowing Voldemort to only see what would reinforce his belief in Snape's loyalty. Indeed, during Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort's final duel, Voldemort was at first dismissive of Harry's claims that Severus Snape betrayed him after he didn't spare Lily's life and how Snape's patronus was the same as Lily's as he had loved Lily since they were children, showing Snape's great skills in Occlumency.

> Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke.
>
> Snape performing the Snake-Vanishing Spell, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

* **Transfiguration**: Severus was highly accomplished with transfiguration, given his proficiency with Conjuration and Vanishment, two very difficult and advanced branches of this field. He was talented with the vanishing of physical matter, as shown when he vanished Harry Potter's failed Draught of Peace potion in 1995 with the Vanishing Spell and when he vanished the ***snake*** that ***Draco Malfoy*** ***summoned*** in 1992 with the Snake-Vanishing Spell. He also successfully conjured ropes with the Incarcerous Spell to bind Sirius Black and Remus Lupin in the **Shrieking Shack** in 1994. He also transfigured the whirlwind-shaped fire that McGonagall launched at him shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts into a great black snake.

> From the tip of his wand burst the silver doe: she landed on the office floor, bounded once across the office and soared out of the window. Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
>
> Snape conjuring a corporeal Patronus, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* **Charms**: Snape was highly talented in charms as he not only could use basic to advanced charms without fail, such as levitation, disarming, summoning, banishing, locking doors, repairing, illuminating, igniting, creating water, shielding and stunning, but he was even able to cast the incredibly difficult Patronus Charm, conjuring a corporeal doe Patronus. He was also able to write instructions on a blackboard with a single flick of his wand.

> With a tingle of horror, Harry saw in the distance a huge, bat-like shape flying through the darkness towards the perimeter wall.
>
> Snape flying without support, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* ***Flying***: Snape was a very capable flyer on a broomstick, as during the ***Battle of the Seven Potters***, he was not blasted off his broom and knowledgeable enough in the rules of Quidditch to take over the position of referee at least once. However, in one of Snape's memories, Lily was laughing as he attempted to mount a bucking broomstick, so perhaps he was not always a good flyer. Later on, Severus was also 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.

* **Teaching skills**: Despite his unpleasant nature and strained relationship with many of the Hogwarts students outside Slytherin, Snape was nevertheless a relatively effective teacher as the Potions Master and was one of the few teachers at Hogwarts who could keep a class quiet with minimal effort, with some students like Percy Weasley and Hermione Granger able to achieve O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s under his teaching, despite Snape only allowing students with top grades to do Potions in the NEWT level. In addition to being the Potions Master at Hogwarts for most of his teaching career, Snape's teaching skills allowed him to eventually became the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, the teaching post he sought after the most at Hogwarts. It was also effective enough for him to be respected by most of the other professors until he killed Dumbledore, pass ***Dolores Umbridge***'s inspection of him and for Voldemort to make him Headmaster of Hogwarts following the Fall of the Ministry of Magic. Even while he was still the Potions Master, he served as a substitute teacher for Remus Lupin's Defence Against the Dart Arts lessons during Lupin's Werewolf transformations and prior to that, assisted Gilderoy Lockhart in a duelling demonstration for the short-lived Duelling Club at Hogwarts, and indirectly taught Harry Potter the Disarming Charm during that demonstration which proved enough for it to become Harry's signature spell. Additionally, while Harry did not learn much from Snape due to their mutual dislike of each other, the instructions Snape wrote in his **copy of *Advanced Potion-Making*** were effective enough to make Harry improve his own performance in Potions in his sixth year. However, Snape's teaching skills were not flawless, as his unpleasant nature meant that he was not as liked or respected as other professors in the school by most students excluding Slytherin, he demonstrated bias towards Slytherin students over students from other houses and bullied some students like Harry and ***Neville Longbottom*** while teaching, resulting in him becoming the latter's worst fear during his earlier years at Hogwarts. He was also unable to effectively teach Harry ***Occlumency***, mostly due to their mutual dislike of each other not allowing him to teach Harry in a more encouraging manner, which most likely would have made Harry focus more in learning Occlumency and control his emotions better. It is possible that Snape would have been more respected as a teacher by other students if he was less unpleasant, less biased towards Slytherin students and if he incorporated the instructions in his copy of *Advanced Potion-Making* into his teaching more often.
* **Acting skills**: Snape was an extremely adept actor, as he flawlessly succeeded in hiding his true allegiance to Albus Dumbledore from the Death Eaters, even able to fool Voldemort himself completely to the point of the latter having complete trust in him to such an extent that after he killed Dumbledore, Voldemort was fully willing to make him Hogwarts' Headmaster. Snape's skill in acting allowed him to keep his motives dubious in the eyes of both friend and ally alike. This makes Snape likely the most accomplished actor and spy in wizarding history.
* **Indomitable willpower**: Snape, despite his personal demons, possessed immense willpower and bravery, being a respected hero of the ***Second Wizarding War*** and having great respect from both Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter (the latter of whom would go so far as to declare Snape to be "the bravest man [he] ever knew"). Hence, despite his great love for Lily Potter and being aware of her intense disapproval for the ***Dark Arts***, Snape refused to relinquish his interest for the practice nor abandon the approval of his Slytherin friends for her. Later, while guilt-ridden and devastated, feeling personally responsible for Lily's death, Snape refused to succumb to despair and instead dedicated himself to honouring Lily in death by working closely with Dumbledore to protect Harry and ensure that her sacrifice was not in vain. As such, despite the extremely dangerous and seemingly impossible task of bringing down the most powerful Dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, Snape refused to back down from it and resolved to faithfully execute Dumbledore's many complex and intricate plans to bring down the Dark Lord, with him valiantly working as an undercover agent for the Order of the Phoenix for sixteen years and steadfastly spying on the Death Eaters, with this ultimately ensuring Voldemort's defeat at the hands of Harry. Snape's willpower and determination also allowed him to persistently apply for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post for fifteen years (despite Dumbledore repeatedly refusing him the job) and to completely master the notably difficult skills of Occlumency and non-verbal magic, both of which required high amounts of mental strength. Moreover, in an alternate timeline, Snape was willing to sacrifice himself to defeat Voldemort and save the world once again, by distracting a swarm of Dementors, thereby giving Scorpius Malfoy the necessary opening to restore the timeline again.

> Professor McGonagall moved faster than Harry could have believed: her wand slashed through the air and for a split second Harry thought that Snape must crumple, unconscious, but the swiftness of his Shield Charm was such that McGonagall was thrown off balance.
>
> Snape duelling Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* **Duelling**: Although he rarely engaged in duels, Snape was shown to be a highly capable duellist. During his days as a Death Eater he likely had to fight against aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix. He was able to hold his own against the extremely powerful Minerva McGonagall (who was capable of duelling Voldemort along with Kingsley and Slughorn) during their brief duel, before she forced him to hide behind a shield of armour. He then fled when Pomona Sprout and Filius Flitwick arrived to assist. He assisted in a duelling club in 1992 with Gilderoy Lockhart, effortlessly defeating him with a single spell, though, as Lockhart was an unskilled wizard, this was not such a great achievement. Snape also easily overwhelmed Harry Potter during his escape from the Battle of the Astronomy Tower and defeated him without much effort, using Legilimency to read Harry's attempted moves and countered them all before they could be cast. Severus participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters, joining the Death Eaters's side (though secretly attempted to protect the Order), and survived unharmed. Contrary to the vicious duelling 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. Snape was never known to battle a Death Eater or ally to Voldemort (which would've blown his cover) but no Death Eater ever dared raise a wand against him (even the notoriously powerful Bellatrix Lestrange) and showed fear towards him, indicating they must have seen him display remarkable duelling skills.

> You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them — I, the Half Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so...no!
>
> Snape revealing Harry Potter his talent with spell invention, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* **Spell creation**: As a student at Hogwarts, Severus was very inventive with new spells. Some of the spells he created were *Sectumsempra*, *Langlock*, *Muffliato*, *Levicorpus* and its counter-jinx *Liberacorpus*. The last two somehow became common knowledge around the school. It is unknown what thoughts and techniques Snape put into his creations.

> BANG! Thin, snakelike cords brust from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles
>
> Snape ***conjure***s ropes non-verbally, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

* **Wandless and nonverbal magic**: Snape was highly 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.)

> He knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.
>
> Snape healing a wounded Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* ***Healing magic***: Snape was also very skilled with healing magic, as he reduced the effects of the ***Curse on Marvolo Gaunt's ring*** on Albus Dumbledore which allowed him to survive for at least a year and saved ***Katie Bell***'s life by preventing any further spread of the ***cursed necklace*** in her body. He also healed ***Draco Malfoy***'s wounds with *Vulnera Sanentur,* a healing spell and counter-curse, after Harry Potter recklessly used the ***Sectumsempra*** curse on him and seriously injured him. His knowledge in healing was such that Dumbledore once quoted to Harry that Snape was more experienced in healing against Dark magic than ***Poppy Pomfrey*** was. He also successfully brewed the ***Mandrake Restorative Draught*** in the 1992–1993 school year, which cured all the victims of ***petrification*** that year.
* **Apparition**: Like most accomplished adult wizards, Snape could apparate successfully at will. He disapparated away from Hogwarts after the ***Battle of the Astronomy Tower*** in ***1997*** from beyond the Hogwarts gates.
* **Intellectual giftedness**: Snape's logic and deductive reasoning skills were such that he helped protect the Philosopher's Stone by creating an obstacle, which was based on logic rather than magical skill. According to Hermione Granger, many powerful wizards have a blind spot in regards to logic.
* **Poetry**: A skill that Snape possessed but did not make very much mention or display of, Snape was capable of fluidly crafting his words in a way that could often befuddle the reader. His only known composition was the logic puzzle that he used as part of his defences of the Philosopher's Stone. Since this poem showed Snape's logical thinking, it was obviously one of his own creations. Snape's other possible works, if they exist, remain unknown.
* ***Alchemy***: Intimately connected with ***Potion-making*** among other things, Snape had great respect for the field of alchemy, believing it was as much about gaining intellectual wealth as the physical one. Deeming it more advanced than his usual lessons, to the point where he initially asked ***Jacob's sibling*** if the latter was joking when they asked whether he would be willing to teach alchemy to themselves and the visiting ***Beauxbatons*** ***student***, insisting that he would only ever consider giving lessons on the subject to a select few of his very best students, such as ***Penny Haywood***. Displaying a fair amount of knowledge on the topic, he was able to host a private lesson and give ***Jacob's sibling***, ***Penny Haywood*** and ***Aurélie Dumont*** a lecture on the philosophy, history and teachings of the subject, as well as its objectives.

## Relationships

### Parents

**Lily Evans**: "*Doesn't your dad like magic?*"
**Snape**: "*He doesn't like anything, much.*"
— Snape regarding his father's horrible personality[src]
 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 1996, 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 1996, 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.

### Lily Evans

> Look...at....me....
>
> Snape wanting one last glimpse of Lily's eyes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    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 1971, 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.

Template:Dialogue a-b-c 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, that grandson would inherit Lily's green eyes.

### The Marauders

Template:Dialogue a-b-c-b

    The Marauders were a group of four Gryffindor boys, with whom Severus began a relationship of enmity and hatred throughout their school years. The group consisted of James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin. 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.

However, James Potter ended up saving his life when Sirius told Snape how to get into the Shrieking Shack. 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.

Template:Dialogue a-b-c

    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 1993, 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.

**Severus Snape**: "*I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout —*"
Remus Lupin
**Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything — I can explain — Sirius is not here to kill Harry —**: "*Two more for Azkaban tonight. I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf —*"
— Snape confronting Sirius Black and Remus Lupin in the Shrieking Shack, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 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.

**Sirius Black**: "*I've warned you, Snivellus I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better —*"
**Severus Snape**: "*Oh, but why don't you tell him so? Or are you afraid he might not take the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months very seriously?*"
— Snape and Sirius arguing, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    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.

> Well, Wormtail's here, but we're not counting vermin, are we? As you have clearly realised, Wormtail, we have guests.
>
> Snape bullying Wormtail in his home, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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

> He is his father all over again.
>
> Snape's assessment of Harry, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    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.

> Ah, yes, Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity.
>
> Snape insulting Harry Potter in his first lesson with him, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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.

> You might be labouring under the delusion that the entire wizarding world is impressed with you, but I don't care how many times your picture appears in the papers. To me, Potter, you are nothing but a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath him.
>
> Snape belittling Harry Potter during a fourth year Potions lesson, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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).

Upon entering Hogwarts, Snape and Harry were bullied, in Snape's case, by the Marauders (who were led by James Potter), and Harry by (ironically) Snape himself, and by 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).

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.*"

### Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger

**Snape**: "*That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger... Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.*"
Ron Weasley
**You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?**: "*Detention, Weasley... and if I ever hear you criticise the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed.*"
— A typical interaction in Snape's classroom, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    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 1993 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. There's also no mention of them protesting Harry and Ginny naming their (Ron & Hermione) nephew after Snape, which might indicate they came to forgive and admire him.

### Albus Dumbledore

**Albus Dumbledore**: "*I prefer not to put all my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort.*"
Snape
**Which I do on your orders!**: "*And you do it extremely well. Do not think that I underestimate the constant danger in which you place yourself, Severus. To give Voldemort what appears to be valuable information while withholding the essentials is a job I would entrust to nobody but you.*"
— Dumbledore and Snape on the latter's espionage[src]
    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. He also gave Snape the job of Potions Master and Head of Slytherin at Hogwarts at the tender age of 21.

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.

**Albus Dumbledore**: "*Severus... please...*"
**Severus Snape**: "*Avada Kedavra!*"
— Snape killing Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 In 1996, 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. 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, showing Snape had grown to genuinely care for the Headmaster. 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.

### Petunia Evans

> You and that Snape boy ... weirdos, that's what you two are!
>
> Petunia Evans insulting her sister and Snape, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    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.

### Lord Voldemort

> **Harry Potter**Severus Snape wasn't yours. Snape was Dumbledore's. Dumbledore's from the moment you started hunting down my mother. And you never realised it, because of the thing you can't understand ... he loved her for nearly all of his life.**Lord Voldemort**It matters not! It matters not whether Snape was mine or Dumbledore's, or what petty obstacles they tried to put in my path! I crushed them as I crushed your mother, Snape's supposed great love!**Lord Voldemort regarding Snape's duplicity**Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    In his days as a Death Eater, 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 turned against the Dark Lord the moment he decided to target Lily Potter.

When Voldemort returned to physical form in 1995, 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 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 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 were the only children of Muggle fathers and pure-blood mothers (Voldemort: Tom Riddle Snr 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 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 future 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.

### Weasley family

    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 1981.

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.W.L.s*** and ***N.E.W.T.s***, showing Snape did not forsake his professionalism for his bias. 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. However, when the war was over, the Weasley's learned of Snape's true loyalties and likely grew to respect & admire him. A new member of the family was eventually named for him.

### Malfoy family

> Lucius always spoke highly of you.
>
> Dolores Umbridge during Snape's class inspection, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    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. Snape and Lucius likely worked together as Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. It's unknown if Lucius was suspicious of Snape's true allegiance, though he most likely believed Snape to be truly loyal to Voldemort. Lucius continued to think and speak well of Snape later in life. Perhaps because of this, Snape also favoured Lucius's son Draco. Draco seemed to look up to Snape, once sycophantically saying that he would make a far better Headmaster than Albus Dumbledore.

> Listen to me. I am trying to help you. I swore to your mother I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Draco —
>
> Snape to Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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 ignored the warnings of her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, who did not trust Snape, and 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.

It's unknown how the Malfoys reacted upon learning of Snape's death and true loyalties. They were possibly saddened due to their longtime friendship. It's possible that they were also sympathetic due to their own disillusionment from Voldemort.

### Bellatrix Lestrange

> I don't trust you, Snape, as you very well know!
>
> Bellatrix Lestrange's distrust of Snape, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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, even though Lord Voldemort could not. 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 nor come to the Dark Lord's aide before that, 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, bringing up that Lord Voldemort himself interrogated him of those lines, Bellatrix was lost for words; Snape was cunning enough to use the power of mere words to render Bella such, for he knew that to further her doubt of Severus would, by extension, mean that she would also be doubting the Dark Lord.

And she was too fanatical to let such disparity in opinion between herself and her master go too far. 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 so as to avoid Voldemort's bad side by extension.

Snape, on the other hand, seemed to regard Bellatrix coldly. 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 (or so Voldemort thought as far as Snape was concerned) 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. Bellatrix never managed to convince anyone of Snape's true loyalty and died moments before it was revealed to everyone that she had been right all along.

### Igor Karkaroff

**Snape**: "*...don't see what there is to fuss about, Igor.*"
Igor Karkaroff
**Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening! It's been getting clearer and clearer for months, I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it—**: "*Then flee. Flee, I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts.*"
— Snape and Karkaroff speaking in private during the Yule Ball[src]
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. However, at the time he was not aware that Snape was a double agent. He desperately tried to convince the court that Snape remained guilty despite the judge telling him Snape was 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. Snape described Karkaroff as cowardly and had no intention of joining him in hiding once Voldemort returned. Karkaroff's death did not seem to surprise Snape.

### 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, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    Severus became a member of the Death Eaters after Hogwarts. During his time at school, he was a member of a "gang of Slytherins that would later become Death Eaters". This gang included Bellatrix Black, ***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 humour".

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, Bellatrix, and Mulciber were captured (but later escaped), while Avery managed to defect. Besides Bellatrix, it's unknown what kind of relationship he had with his old school friends as an adult.

Other Death Eaters Snape knew were Amycus and Alecto Carrow, two siblings. Judging by Amycus's reaction upon seeing Snape at the Astronomy Tower it seems that he (and possibly Alecto) truly believed that Snape was on their side. 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 practise the Cruciatus Curse on punished students. Death Eater Corban 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 Jnr. during the First Wizarding War. 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 though no reaction from Snape is noted.

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 Jnr During the Second Wizarding War. All those Death Eaters were either killed or imprisoned after Voldemort's final defeat. Although not shown interacting much with Snape, they all presumably held him in the same respect and fear that Yaxley & Greyback did and, considering Snape's rank, had to answer to him. According to Snape some of them believed that he was not truly loyal to their cause, however none of them (save Bellatrix) openly confronted him about it.

It is unknown how the surviving Death Eaters reacted — either as a group or as individuals — to reveal of Snape's demise (if they found out) or the revelations of his true loyalties.

### 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, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    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.

Snape soon 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, and 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.

Snape chose to do a subtle favour for Neville when he was caught along with Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood attempting to steal the Sword of Gryffindor. Snape chose to send Neville, Luna and Ginny to detention with their friend Hagrid rather than subject them to the sadistic forms of discipline practised by the Carrows. When Neville killed Nagini, he inadvertently avenged Snape's murder.

It is unknown why Snape resented Neville so much, though it is possible that from Sybill Trelawney's first prophecy that it was either Neville or Harry who was to threaten Voldemort, that as a result with Voldemort going for the Potters, that Neville represented his guilt from revealing the prophecy to Voldemort and the potential alternative for what could've happened. As a result, from Snape's point of view, Neville embodied all of this and that made him detest and bully him.

### Minerva McGonagall

> And Potter — do try and win, won't you? Or ***we'***ll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night...
>
> Snape's friendly Quidditch rivalry with McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    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. However, she trusted him because she knew that Dumbledore trusted him, too. She also did not hesitate to call him out when she believed he was being too cruel. McGonagall, like Snape, was very strict, but much more fair, as noted by Harry Potter. McGonagall was Snape's Transfiguration professor when he was a student and likely admired his brilliance.

> Coward! COWARD!
>
> McGonagall attempts to apprehend Snape after he flees the castle during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Her trust of Snape evaporated after Dumbledore's murder. Furthermore, when Snape became Headmaster of Hogwarts, McGonagall tried to oppose him and the Carrows, without knowing that Snape was trying to protect the students from the Carrows, too. When the war was coming to a head, she personally attacked Snape and violently called him a coward, a trait she, as Head Of Gryffindor, loathed. It is unknown how she reacted when she learned about his true loyalties, but it is likely that she forgave him. She permitted his portrait to be hung in the Headmaster's office, at Harry's request.

### Hogwarts staff

> Snape... we all wondered... but he trusted... always...
>
> Professor McGonagall after Dumbledore's death, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

    Snape was respected professionally among his colleagues at Hogwarts. Though many of them exhibited some wariness towards him due to his 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, and they were among the ones who chased Snape out of Hogwarts before the battle. Flitwick and Sprout were Snape's Charms and Herbology teachers respectively in the latter's youth.

> I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong! I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student!
>
> Rubeus Hagrid defending Snape to Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Rubeus Hagrid was no friend of Snape's but 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 and they both fought against Voldemort. When Snape killed Dumbledore, Hagrid initially disbelieved the fact and told Harry he must be mistaken but was later furious to learn that Snape had indeed killed the late Headmaster.

Hagrid openly opposed Snape when he became the Headmaster of Hogwarts by holding a Support Harry Potter party (unaware Snape was secretly still on their side), an act which almost resulted in his arrest and forced him to go into hiding until the final battle. Before Hagrid fled, Snape put students in detention with Hagrid, ensuring that they were protected from the harsher and torturous punishments from the Carrows. However, Hagrid eventually learned of Snape's true loyalties during the final confrontation of 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 an agent of Lord Voldemort, Lockhart was a narcissistic 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.

The only Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Snape refrained from displaying disrespect to was Bartemius Crouch Jnr impersonating Alastor Moody, the toughest Dark wizard hunter the Ministry ever had. Harry surmised this was out of fear, but it was more likely due to allegiance. It should be noted that Moody had been the one to kill Evan Rosier, an old friend of Snape's, and possibly others.

Horace Slughorn had been Snape's Potions master and head of house. Snape was made a member of the Slug Club as he was a brilliant student and even then his potion abilities were almost as good if not equal to Slughorn's. Snape might have been the student to whom Slughorn once awarded a vial of Liquid Luck. It is highly unlikely that Slughorn was aware of Snape's self-altered textbook and was flabbergasted when Snape murdered Dumbledore. Snape seemed on good terms with Argus Filch, the caretaker, who respected Snape, and like him, disliked most students at Hogwarts. Snape often had Filch report directly to him if he found anything suspicious during his nighttime patrols. It's possible that after Voldemort took over Filch was only able to remain at Hogwarts because of his loyalty towards Snape. It is unknown how Filch reacted when he learned that Snape killed Dumbledore, or when Snape himself died.

### Hogwarts students

> Before we begin today's lesson, I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your O.W.L., or suffer my... displeasure.
>
> Snape speaking to fifth year students in Potions, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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). Despite N.E.W.T.s not beginning until the sixth-year, it was Snape's policy to grade his fifth-year students by the N.E.W.T. scale. 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 also not always fair. His having been bullied so much as a child may have fuelled 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 favoured the students in his own House, Slytherin, including Draco Malfoy. However, he was still irritated if they did not live up to his expectations and would punish them too. On at least one occasion, he gave Crabbe and Goyle detention because they had failed their O.W.L. exam for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

He also had no qualms punishing Merula Snyde for attempting to frame Jacob's sibling despite her being a Slytherin and seems to dislike her for being perhaps the most atrocious liar and blamer among Slytherins. The students of his house generally regarded him with respect and pride, even cheering loudly when he effortlessly defeated Lockhart with one spell. However, becoming the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher made Snape fairer (if only slightly) as he lowered his standards to allow more students to enter advanced studies, and he taught the lectures with more passion that intrigued his students' interests.

Although he disliked most students, a feeling that is quite mutual, he was not truly evil and did feel quite a lot of concern for their safety and well-being. After Rowan Khanna's tragic murder at the hands of Patricia Rakepick rendered the student body devastated and mournful during the 1989–1990 school year, Snape proceeded to teach his sixth years how to concoct the ***Dreamless Sleep Potion*** in Potions class, due in part to many of his students suffering from sleep-deprived nights following Khanna's death. He was also noted to be particularly patient by *Jacob's sibling* during that specific Potions class, sympathising with the grief his class felt and patiently urging them to focus on his lesson.

In 1993, when Professor McGonagall informed the staff that a student had been captured by the monster from the Chamber of Secrets, Snape displayed a hint of genuine concern by gripping the back of a chair very hard. He also did everything he could to protect the students from Voldemort's control of Hogwarts, while Alecto and Amycus Carrow were appointed at the school, further showing he did care for his students even if he rarely showed it.

### Order of the Phoenix members

**Fred Weasley**: "*Git.*"
Hermione Granger
**He's on our side now.**: "*He's still a git.*"
— Fred and Hermione about Snape's behaviour towards them, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    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.

## Media

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (5 5) Movie CLIP - I'm the Half-Blood Prince (2009) HDI'm the Half-Blood Prince
## 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, dishonour, 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

> Well, that is Snape's tragedy. Given his time over again he would not have become a Death Eater, but like many insecure, vulnerable people (like Wormtail) he craved membership of something big and powerful, something impressive. He wanted Lily and he wanted Mulciber too. He never really understood Lily's aversion; he was so blinded by his attraction to the dark side he thought she would find him impressive if he became a real Death Eater.
>
> J. K. Rowling 2007 Web Chat Transcript

* Snape is the only known Death Eater who could conjure a Patronus.
* Snape attended Hogwarts exactly twenty years before Harry Potter.
* Snape came very close to receiving Order of Merlin, First Class for subduing Sirius Black.
* 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 duelling with Gilderoy Lockhart. He said that students should learn to disarm their opponents.
* 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.
* Rowling said that if Snape didn't love Lily he wouldn't have protected or even have been remotely interested in what happened to Harry.
* Severus Snape is portrayed by the late British actor Alan Rickman in all of the film adaptations, making him one of the 14 characters to appear in all eight film adaptations.
	+ Rickman was Rowling's first choice for the role. Actor Tim Roth was initially offered the role but turned it down to work in Tim Burton's 2001 film *Planet of the Apes*. Rickman was cast later on.
	+ In the film adaptations, Severus appears to be rather older than he is in the original books, being in his early thirties at the time of. Alan Rickman was fifty-four when he was first cast for the role.
		- Due to the age difference between Rickman and Snape, as he is portrayed in the book, make-up was used on Rickman to make him look younger.
	+ 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*.
	+ Rickman died of cancer on 14 January, 2016 - only five days after what would have been Snape's 56th birthday.
	+ Rickman's voice clip of the famous sentence "*There will be no foolish wand waving in this class*" is later used in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
* Rickman had conversations with Rowling about his character and is one of the few Harry Potter actors that she spoke to prior to the completion of the book series about the future direction of the character. "*He knew very early on that he'd been in love with Lily,*" said Rowling. "*He needed to understand [...] where this bitterness towards this boy who's the living example of her preference for another man came from.*" Rickman used this knowledge of Snape's ultimate loyalties throughout the films by deciding how to play certain scenes, deliver specific lines, or using body language to convey specific emotions. When the directors of the films would ask him why he was doing a scene a certain way or delivering a line in a specific manner, Rickman would simply reply that he knew something they did not.
* Much like Gilderoy Lockhart, Snape's character is altered to appear more likeable in the films than in the books. He does not openly insult or harass his students, with the exception of shoving or whacking Harry and Ron on the head to make them focus on their studies, and once when Ron sniggered when Umbridge was embarrassing him. He is notably less cruel to Harry than in the books, such as wishing him good luck on his first Quidditch match and even flashing him a slight smile, along with a sarcastic compliment on Harry's defeat of the mountain troll earlier that year. He initially defended him, Ron, and Hermione in the second film from Filch's accusations when Mrs Norris was petrified, though he did note that there was a set of suspicious circumstances. Additionally, in the final film, when he talks with Dumbledore after revealing the Prophecy to Voldemort, he asks him to protect the entire Potter family, rather than only Lily, without Dumbledore having to prompt him to do so. Snape is also slightly more laid back and less antisocial in the films. An example is when, in the third film, he gestured Harry out of the Shrieking Shack with his head rather than verbally instructing him to leave.
* 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. This would likely explain his hostility towards Peter in *The* *Half-Blood Prince.*
* It is unclear why Snape is still alive in the alternate reality where Voldemort won the wizarding war, given that Voldemort should have still killed him as he believed that Snape was the master of the Elder Wand and still desired to become the wand's master.
* 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 to protect the Stone from Quirrell.
* In the books, 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 Defence 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).
* The chapter illustrations by Mary GrandPré in the American editions depict Snape with a thin goatee.
* In the book, Nagini kills Snape by sinking her fangs into his neck after being released from her protective bubble. In the film adaptation, Lord Voldemort slashes Snape's throat, then orders Nagini to finish him off. Surprisingly, less blood is shown than in the book. This was likely due to the film's PG-13 rating.
* In *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film), a scene with Snape was added when Lupin turned into a werewolf: instead of being unconscious as he was in the book, Snape regains his consciousness and goes to look for Harry with the intent of punishing him for his attack on him. When he hears Lupin roaring behind him and turns to find him transformed into a werewolf, Snape proves his great courage by shielding Harry, Ron and Hermione with his own body, taking a vicious slash from Lupin as a result.
* In *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film), J.K. Rowling includes a bit of misdirection. After Petunia has revealed her knowledge of Dementors, she explains that she "*heard -- that awful boy --telling her about them -- years ago.*" Both Harry and the reader assume that "that awful boy" is referring to James Potter. However, Snape's memories later reveal that it was a conversation between him and Lily Evans that Petunia overheard, and Snape was, in fact, "that awful boy." This is the first mention in the books of a relationship between Snape and Lily, but the reader has no way of knowing that until later.
* Amongst Severus Snape's possessions that he kept at his home was a curious object called a Dark Curio, though the object was only ever named such in the original script for *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film).
* Phineas Nigellus Black was cut from the film adaptations of *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film). Hence, it is unclear how Snape located Harry and Hermione in the Forest of Dean. However, in* Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film), 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.
* In *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film):*
	+ Snape's death takes place in the school's Boathouse rather than 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 an extremely good way, I gotta say."*
	+ 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 for his courage and his sacrifices. 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".
	+ 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.
* 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.
* 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's character was loosely inspired by an unpleasant chemistry teacher J.K. Rowling had in secondary school, John Lawrence Nettleship.
* When asked what Snape smelled like, J. K. Rowling answered: "*Bitterness and old shoes.*"
* According to Rowling, Dumbledore never did anything about Snape's behaviour in class because "*Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life... and horrible teachers are one of them.*"
* J. K. Rowling, when asked if she considers Snape a hero, she said she thinks of him as an extremely flawed anti-hero, stating that though he was quite cold and spiteful and a bit of a bully, he was capable of love and was immensely brave.
* J.K. Rowling stated that Lily Evans may have grown to love Snape romantically if he was not so drawn to the Dark Arts.
* Snape's actor Alan Rickman's first and middle initials - **Alan Sidney Patrick** - spell the word "asp", a type of snake, the emblem of Slytherin. Those initials are also shared with Albus Severus Potter, whose middle name is Harry Potter's tribute to one of the "bravest men he ever knew."
* Snape and James Potter's respective actors - Alan Rickman and Adrian Rawlins - shared the same first and last initials.
* On twitlonger Rowling said that when Snape went to meet with Dumbledore on the windy hilltop he was still a subscriber to the inhuman philosophy of Voldemort.

* Snape once made an appearance in an episode of the TV show *The Simpsons*, in which he was voiced by actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
* A new species of crab has been named after Snape, *Harryplax Severus*. The name was chosen because the crab had managed to elude rediscovery for two decades after its initial discovery, like how Snape was able to hide the most important part of the story for years.

## Appearances

**The 5D-Shared-Combined Crossovers for An The-Good/Evil-Hybrid Wiki** has 0 images related to ***Severus S Snape***.
* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
* *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `birth`
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `death`
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `blood`
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `DH33`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `OOTP28`
6. ↑ J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript at The Leaky Cauldron, July 30, 2007
7. ↑ Mentioned on the *Half-Blood Prince*script released on the Warner Bros. Awards website
8. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
12. ↑ In a YouTube video of the *Pottermore* press conference on June 23, 2011, a preview of the website showed that Lily and Petunia were from Cokeworth, thereby confirming that Spinner's End is in Cokeworth also.
13. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
15. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
16. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 *Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince* (film)
21. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film) - "'Now. How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?' she asked, her quill poised over her clipboard. 'Fourteen years,' Snape replied. 'You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?' Professor Umbridge asked Snape. 'Yes,' said Snape quietly. 'And you have applied regularly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?' 'Yes,' said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips.
22. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 , Chapter B, page 16
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 , Chapter B, page 8
25. ↑ , Chapter B, page 10
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 , Chapter B, page 17
27. ↑ , Chapter B, page 11
28. ↑ , Chapter B, page 13
29. ↑ , Chapter B, page 14
30. ↑ , Chapter 5 (*To Diagon Alley*)
31. ↑ , Chapter 7 (*Flying To Hogwarts*)
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 , Chapter 11 (*Gilderoy Lockhart*)
33. ↑ , Chapter 13 (*The Writing on the Wall*)
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 , Chapter 16 (*No Longer Safe*)
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 , Chapter 9 (*Not expelled... today*)
36. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `bloomsbury-20070730`
37. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
38. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film)
39. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
40. ↑ *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
41. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Accio Quote
43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
44. ↑ Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
45. ↑ Behind the Name: Severus
46. ↑ 2000 Interview
47. ↑ "Snape" entry on Dictionary.com
48. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film)
49. ↑ http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0726-today-vieira1.html
50. ↑ "What Would 'Potter' Have Been Like With Tim Roth As Snape?" from MTV Movies Blog
51. ↑ Template:IMDb
52. ↑ http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/young-severus-snape-and-scorpius-malfoy-actors-in-deathly-hallows-part-ii-revealed-78869/
53. ↑ *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) - Chapter 8 (The Potions Master)
54. ↑ *Half-Blood Prince* script on the Internet Movie Script Database (archived here)
55. ↑ http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/location-of-snapes-death-in-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-ii-changed-79349/
56. ↑ Teacher who inspired Professor Snape was 'proud' of JK Rowling's character
57. ↑ (*@jk\_rowling what does snape smell like?*) Bitterness and old shoes. by J.K. Rowling on Twitter
58. ↑ http://www.accio-quote.org/themes/snape.htm
59. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090924024917/http://www.blog.news-record.com/staff/culture/2007/07/so\_what\_happened\_after\_the\_war.shtml
60. ↑ https://twitter.com/jk\_rowling/status/658993229094895617
61. ↑ https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n\_1sno25c
62. ↑ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/new-crab-species-harry-potter-characters-severus/