Severus Snape
From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro
| Character | |
| |
| Alan Rickman as Severus Snape | |
|---|---|
| Severus Snape | |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | c.1960 |
| House | Slytherin |
| Occupation | Potions Teacher at Hogwarts (1980-1996); Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts (1996-1997) |
| Parentage | Half-Blood |
| Loyalty | Unknown (double agent: Death Eaters / Order of the Phoenix) |
| Film portrayer | Alan Rickman |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
| Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. |
Severus Snape was a teacher at Hogwarts. For many years , he was the Potions teacher; however, he applied yearly for the Defence Against the Dark Arts job, which he was finally given in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Snape has always hated Harry Potter, because of a lasting grudge against Harry's father, James Potter, who attended Hogwarts at the same time as Snape. James bullied Snape while they were at school. However, on one occasion he also saved Snape from visiting the Shrieking Shack, where he would have been attacked by Remus Lupin in werewolf form, thereby probably saving Snape's life.
Snape's mother was a witch named Eileen Prince and his father, Tobias Snape, was a Muggle.
While at Hogwarts, Snape took potions classes with Lily Evans, who became Harry's mother and was described by the then potions master, Horace Slughorn, as his best student. Harry is lent an old potions textbook for his 6th year classes which contains handwritten tips about how to make better potions, and a few spells written by Snape in or before his 5th year at Hogwarts. The book is inscribed 'property of the Half-Blood Prince', and at the end of book 6 Snape tells Harry that the nickname referred to him. However, he did not use the name at the school; Harry asked Remus if he knew the name, but he did not.
Snape became potions master, but he was particularly talented in Dark Magic. He was described as knowing more curses when he arrived at the school than most knew when leaving it. He invented several spells, including:
- Levicorpus (which grabs the victim by the ankle and dangles them upside-down)
- Muffliato (which fills the ears of anyone nearby with an "unidentifiable buzzing sound")
- Langlock (which glues the victim's tongue to the roof of his or her mouth)
- Sectumsempra (which slashes the victim continuously).
Snape was also responsible for telling Voldemort about the prophecy of the one who would kill Voldemort. He overheard Sibyll Trelawney telling the prophesy to Albus Dumbledore at the Hoggs Head inn. At that time it was not clear who was meant by the prophecy. Afterwards it became clear it referred to either Harry or Neville Longbottom, and thus led to Voldemort seeking the deaths of James, Harry and Lily. Snape then returned to Dumbledore and became a member of The Order of the Phoenix.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Snape kills Albus Dumbledore, although his next action is to order the Death Eaters to leave Hogwarts without harming Harry. Snape swore an unbreakable magical vow at the start of book 6 to Draco's mother, where he undertook to protect Draco Malfoy and ultimately carry out whatever task Draco was set by the dark lord, should Draco fail. Exactly what the vow concerned remains unclear, but given the events at the end of the year it would seem that Draco had been tasked with the murder of Dumbledore.
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