Hogwarts Herald

This chapter is the first where we really see how much Professor Snape hates Harry. Harry gets a good sense of it by Snape’s look at him during the first banquet of the year, but here he gets hit by full force in class. Snape speaks to him with disdain, and treats him with utter contempt. Throughout this first book his attitude toward Harry gets worse and worse. Of course this causes Harry to believe that Snape is the one that is after the Sorcerer’s Stone. In each successive book Snape’s behaviors become more and more agressive. The more that Harry begins to resemble his father, the more that Snape seems to despise him.

Eventually we find out that Snape attended school together with James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus. Also that Snape was just as much of an outcast as a student, as he is as a teacher and member of the Order of the Phoenix. His mother was a witch, but his father was a muggle, and he was bookish and snotty. In short, he was easy to pick on, and as hard as it was for Harry (and me) to believe it, James was one of the ones that did the most picking. James was handsome, and popular, and had a crush on the beautiful Lily Evans, who happened to be young Severus’ best friend. She was the only one who didn’t see him as a freak. She was friends with him because he was nice to her. She stepped away, however, when she found that he was as nasty to students he considered of lesser lineage, as James and his buddies were to him.

Yes, it is understandable that Severus Snape would not be too fond of the only child of James and Lily Potter. James had made his life a nightmare throughout school, and Lily, well he loved Lily more than he ever loved anyone before or after. Loved her enough that he risked his own life by going against the Dark Lord and going to Dumbledore once he figured out that he would be going after the Potters. Still, are the things that he has done to Harry excused by his dislike of his father? How about by the things that he has done to save Harry’s life? And do we think that he has saved Harrys life repeatedly because of his vows to Dumbledore, or because he loved Lily so much? What do you think readers? Was Snape’s near torture of a young boy excused by the fact that that boy’s father tortured him?

Scholastic.com has been posting questions (speculations) about the final Harry Potter book. They’re on to question #5 (of seven) - but I’m going to back track to question #2 (Tiny Treasury has already asked question #1).

Is Snape good or evil?

My answer: good. I really believe it. I think that most of his nastiness comes from the way he was treated as a child/adolescent - and that he turned to the “dark side” in his youth because he saw no other way. But he must be good at heart, so else I don’t believe that Dumbledore would have brought him in as a teacher - if her really believed that he was as “far gone” as, say, Lucius Malfoy, then I don’t think he would have allowed him to teach anything.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Scholastic.com, Snape

Well, not Snape…but Alan Rickman who portrays Snape. He’s 61 today.

Rickman is shown above in his role as Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest.

J.K. Rowling’s web site has a birthday acknowledgment for Severus Snape today…I don’t think I can bring myself to say “Happy Birthday.” As Hogwart’s Herald discussed here, the jury is still out whether or not Snape is “good” or “bad,” but I’m going to go ahead and declare him guilty until proven innocent. I hope his character redeems himself, but I’m still bitter over the whole Dumbledore thing. How can you not be?

By the way, if you go to J.K. Rowling’s web site and then just keep the page up with howling winds, door bells, birds and barking dogs, eventually a funky beat starts playing. And then after a little bit longer the cell phone rings…click the green “on” button and a voice (J.K.’s?) comes on and says “Hello…hello…is anybody there.” It’s all kind of neat and random…if you’ve never hung around long enough for all of this to happen, be sure to give it a go.
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Actually, it’s the actor who plays Snape, Alan Rickman. In an interview with CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (A 17 letter last name! …And no, he’s not related to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, whose last name only has 14 letters.) Mr. Rickman talks mostly of his new movie, Snow Cake, but gets a little Harry Potter in there too.

If that’s not enough Alan Rickman for you, check out the YouTube video below. As you know, you can find some random stuff on YouTube…and this is no exception. It’s a tribute to Alan Rickman set to the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor. It’s actually really good as far as YouTube tributes go…Rickman’s done a lot of great work over his career.

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In her article, “Snape - the Good, the Bad & the Ugly” Denise Witmer offers up several points to consider regarding Severus Snape. While I don’t agree 100% with what is said here, it’s food for thought…such as the question most of us keeping going back and forth on:

Did Snape kill Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders? The author of this article thinks so.

“Snape killed Dumbledore I believe on Dumbledore’s orders. Dumbledore knew this would insure that someone close to Voldemort would be on Harry’s side. This was the argument Dumbledore and Snape had in the woods that Hagrid overheard. What else could Dumbledore be begging Snape to do in that situation?”

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