Severus Snape

Severus Snape (born January 9, 1959 or 1960) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He was appointed Potions teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shortly after completing his education at the school, and became Head of Slytherin house.

Snape's physical appearance is that of the classic villain: tall, thin, "hook-nosed" and "greasy," and clad in forbidding black robes "like an overgrown bat". Harry Potter intensely dislikes and distrusts Snape for his chequered past and his apparent animosity towards Harry.

In the Harry Potter films, the character is played by actor Alan Rickman

Severus Snape was born to Tobias Snape, a Muggle, and Eileen Prince, a witch. Details of his early life are incomplete, but Harry comes to suspect that Snape suffered neglect by his parents and may have been abused by his father. He comes to these conclusions through his botched lessons in Occlumency, when he sees some of Snape's own memories. He learns that Snape was extremely unpopular and lonely in his teens, resulting from, or perhaps fueling, his interest in the Dark Arts. The youthful Snape was described as having a "stringy, pallid look," being "round-shouldered yet angular," and having a "twitchy" walk "like a spider" and "long oily hair that jumped about his face."

As a first-year student at Hogwarts, Snape knew more hexes and curses than most seventh-years. His bookish demeanour and unattractive appearance made him an outsider and an object of scorn. Much of Snape's disdain for Harry seems to stem from the rivalry between Snape and Harry's father James Potter while they were students together at Hogwarts. Snape's classmates also included Harry's mother Lily Evans, Harry's godfather Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Snape also invented a number of spells, one of which James Potter used against him - causing Snape to hang upside down in mid-air. Years later, Harry Potter illicitly watched this memory in Dumbledore's penseive, as well as seeing his mother standing up to James for Severus' sake as James is tormenting him

Snape became a Death Eater, but at some point before Voldemort's first defeat also became a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore appear to trust him and believe that he is spying on the other, but few seem certain which side he is on.

There is a mutual feeling of enmity between Snape and Harry from the moment that they first meet at Hogwarts. In his first year, Harry mistakenly suspects Snape of trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He retains lingering suspicions of Snape even after it emerges that Professor Quirrell is the real culprit, and their relationship remains fraught.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry learns that, while they were still students at Hogwarts, Sirius Black - one of James Potter's best friends and later Harry's godfather - lured Snape to the Shrieking Shack where he could have been killed or seriously injured by Remus Lupin in his werewolf form. James saved Snape's life, but Snape believed that James was involved in the plot and only intervened out of fear of expulsion from Hogwarts. As a Hogwarts student, Snape suffered relentless teasing and bullying at the hands of Sirius Black and James Potter.

Snape relentlessly antagonizes Harry, calling him "a nasty little boy who considers rules to be beneath him". He taunts Harry during lessons, ridiculing his work and giving him frequent, and often unjustified, detentions and other penalties. On several occasions, Snape tries to have Harry expelled from the school. Yet in spite of these attempts to sabotage Harry's school career, Snape also saved Harry's life on more than one occasion.

During a Quidditch game in the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Snape appears to be muttering a curse to harm Harry, while he is shaken wildly about on his broom. In fact it was Professor Quirrell (in league with Voldemort) who was working the curse on Harry, while Snape was really protecting Harry with a counter-curse.

At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore attempts to convince the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, that Voldemort has returned and is once again a danger. Snape tries to help by showing Fudge the renewed Dark Mark on his arm, still very clearly visible from when it burnt black at the Dark Lord's revival. Dumbledore subsequently sends Snape on a secretive mission, which is later revealed to have been to return to Voldemort as a spy.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore assigns Snape the task of giving Harry some lessons in Occlumency, the protection of one's mind from outside intrusion or influence. Snape is chosen because he is extremely skilled in both Occlumency and its companion art of Legilimency, the discerning of thoughts and feelings from another's mind, both proficiencies undoubtedly useful in his undercover work as a spy. The classes, however, were made uncomfortable for Harry because of the mutual hostility between them. The instruction is cut short after Harry discovers one of Snape's worst memories in Dumbledore's Pensieve, which Snape had borrowed in order to sequester private memories during the lessons. Harry discovered that his father and Sirius had engaged in vicious hazing and bullying of Snape, much as Dudley Dursley and Draco Malfoy persecuted Harry. Harry also sees his mother Lily, who shares Severus's poor opinion of James, defending Snape against his two tormentors.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, while at his home at Spinner's End, Snape swears an Unbreakable Vow to Draco Malfoy's mother, Narcissa, that he will protect Draco and help him complete a task set by Voldemort. He is finally appointed to his coveted post as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Snape is seen by Hagrid arguing with Dumbledore about an important task which Snape has agreed to carry out, saying that Dumbledore took "too much for granted," and that there was something that he was no longer willing to do. Dumbledore insisted that it was agreed and must be done.

During the Battle of Hogwarts, along the battlements of the school, Dumbledore, who was still suffering the effects of drinking an unknown potion in the cave, sends Harry to get Snape. At that moment, Draco Malfoy arrives to complete his task. Dumbledore silences Harry (who is hidden in his invisibility cloak) with a nonverbal Impedimenta paralyzing spell, and begins to converse with Malfoy. Snape arrives, and after Dumbledore pleads with him ("Severus ... please"), Snape blasts Dumbledore using Avada Kedavra. Snape, Malfoy, and the Death Eaters depart the scene and flee the castle, and Harry, released from his paralysis spell, pursues them. Harry attempts to engage Snape in a duel, but Snape blocks all of Harry's spells and curses, and yet also prevents the escaping Death Eaters from harming Harry. Snape warns Harry that he must learn Occlumency and non-verbal use of spells if he is to be an effective wizard.

Rowling says that she borrowed his surname from the village of Snape in the English county of Suffolk. Severus is Latin for "strict," "harsh," or "severe," and the name may also have been origins in the name of the Imperial Roman emperor Septimus Severus, who was known for ruling with both vigor and a calculated cruelty. This would be verified by the fact that Rowling said that the Snape character was inspired by a hated teacher in her childhood.

Unusually among the cast of the film adaptations, Alan Rickman, who plays Snape, is one of a few people to whom JK Rowling is said to have spoken about the future direction of his character, perhaps reflecting the importance of Snape's ultimate role in the series.