Severus Snape Does Not Deserve to be Romanticized

On July 21, 2007, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, and the biggest twist of the entire series was revealed – Severus Snape was a good guy, and he had been in love with Lily Evans almost his entire life. Debates rose up with Harry Potter fans, and among my friends as well. They always start this way: Snape is the best person of the series, and he deserved to be seen as more than Lily’s friend. I have to disagree with them, because of three major reasons: he was actually part of the reason that the Potters were killed, he was a bully, and the only reason for his bravery was to not end up in Azkaban.  

From what we can piece together, right before Harry was born, Professor Dumbledore went to interview with a Divination professor, Sybil Trelawney. She went into a trance, and gave a real fortune. They were overheard by someone, who was later revealed as Snape, and he went to inform Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort decided that he would go to the Potters, and that was why they even needed Sirius as a Secret-Keeper, and why Sirius switched with Peter to give them the advantage. Peter then went to betray the Potters, and on October 31, 1981, Voldemort went to kill Harry, to make sure no one could defeat him. On top of all that, Snape asked Voldemort to spare only Lily’s life, and to kill Harry and James (Harry, an innocent toddler, and his father). He offered James and Harry on a platter, so long as he could have Lily, even though to be honest, she probably would have hated him if she had survived that. All in all, Snape was the reason Harry was raised in a house where he felt so miserable that his happiest memory was leaving there to go to Hogwarts.

Before I go into my bullying reason, I want to clarify one thing. Yes, Severus Snape and James Potter hated each other. It’s no real big secret. They bullied each other, and fought each other an extreme amount. The main difference between James and Snape was that Snape never really grew out of his bullying. However, James stopped picking on people, and he started acting like a decent human being. No one will know whether he changed for himself, or if it was all a ploy to get Lily to go on at least one date with him, but since she married him, it seems like he changed for himself. Snape, on the other hand, didn’t seem like he had grown out of his phase. He was still a bully when he was a professor, and while being a bully as a teenager is normal, being a bully as a professor is not. He only bullied three people, mainly, but to everyone else, he was either indifferent to, or he favored them.

For example, he bullied Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom. As if it wasn’t enough that he caused Harry’s parents’ deaths, he also bullied him during his school years. He had a chance to make peace with his past, as well as a chance to move forward, but he didn’t take either. He had a chance to prove that he loved Lily more than he hated James, but he didn't take that either. Instead, he treated with the same animosity that he did James, without really realizing that Harry had no impact over Lily and James in school. Whether or not Harry was born, James would most likely have treated Snape the same during his school days, and Lily would have chosen James. Or Lily might even have chosen someone else entirely. But Harry had no impact on their choices. And since he was the son of James Potter, he had a chance to treat Harry as his own person, rather than seeing him as James. He had so many chances to redeem himself, and he took none of them. 

For Hermione, she put all her efforts into everything she did, Potions included, and often, he mocked her for being smart. In fact, he actually took away points for being able to answer a question in his class. And when her teeth grew too big for her mouth, he could have sent her to the hospital wing, rather than mocking her. Even if she didn’t act it, she was still a teenage girl, and she had confidence issues, just as everyone else did. For Neville, he was treated so poorly by Snape that he feared him. This boy’s parents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, so when he saw that boggart, one might think that it would be the Cruciatus Curse, or even Bellatrix Lestrange herself, but no, it was his Potions professor. I would think that if Snape can treat everyone else who isn’t in Slytherin with indifference, he should be able to treat Harry, Hermione, and Neville the same way.

People say he was brave, and that he could have died saving Harry. However, they should think a little more about this: had he not come to Dumbledore in the first place, he might have been caught, and he might have had to spend his life in Azkaban. He had Dumbledore’s protection, and that was what kept him out of prison. Had he decided that he no longer wanted to protect Harry, I do not think for a second that Dumbledore would think him trustworthy. Where would he be then?

So, all in all, I believe that Snape does not deserve to be called the best, or even the bravest, person in the series. He should be seen exactly as he is, and that is a character with flaws that outweigh his qualities. His love for Lily does not excuse his past actions, and I think that people need to remember that. Anakin Skywalker should not be forgiven just because he saved Luke, and the same should apply for Snape when it comes to Harry. I cannot understand how Harry was able to forgive Snape for everything, and name one of his children after him.