“Here lies Dobby, a free elf”

So the boy . . . the boy must die?” asked Snape quite calmly.

“And Voldemort himself must do it, Severus. That is essential.”

Another long silence. Then Snape said, “I thought . . . all these years . . . that we were protecting him for her. For Lily.”

“We have protected him because it has been essential to teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength,” said Dumbledore, his eyes still tight shut. “Meanwhile, the connection between them grows ever stronger, a parasitic growth: Sometimes I have thought he suspects it himself. If I know him, he will have arranged matters so that when he does set out to meet his death, it will truly mean the end of Voldemort.”

Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified. “You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?”

“Don’t be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?”

“Lately, only those whom I could not save,” said Snape. He stood up. “You have used me.”

“Meaning?”

“I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter —”

“But this is touching, Severus,” said Dumbledore seriously. “Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?”

“For HIM?” shouted Snape. “Expecto Patronum!” 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.

“After all this time?”

“Always,” said Snape.

This is an extract from Harry potter And The Deathly Hallows.

Let me first say that Harry Potter was basically my childhood, I couldn’t have hoped for a more perfect fantasy or symbol to have grown with. Even after all this time, the Harry Potter books are still some of my favorite.

Well, what can I say… Each time I read J.K Rowling’s books, I always feel like this is THE moment that changes everything. Every preconceptions, every feeling I had about the characters were destroyed. It felt like a revelation, an eye-opening moment in which you can’t believe what is happening.

Who would have thought, that, Dumbledore, the man who was protecting and caring for Harry during all these years, was actually preparing him for his last hours. And on the other hand, Snape, the most despicable character of the book -despite Voldemort, Bellatrix or even Lucius Malfoy- was actually the most honorable one. Even if he couldn’t bear to see in Harry Potter his father, he took care of him, in his own strange way, but he still protected him. He even later died for him. Is there any other proof of a more noble act ? Snape sacrificed himself so Harry and the world could have a chance to survive.

We should not forget that his inexhaustible love for Lilly shook him so profoundly that his patronus changed, and became similar to the one his lover had. I can’t imagine a more powerful proof of love. Despite Lilly choose another one over him, he kept loving her until his last breath and tears. True love ? I think so.

It is in this precise moment, the reader realises he never really understood the real value of Snape, the Half-Blood Prince, and regrets to have quickly judged him. He sacrificed everything for Lilly, Dumbledore and even Harry. In a way, he’s a martyr…

“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are”. I couldn’t think of a better quote to define Snape…

I will always have a deep respect for Alan Rickman, who passed away a few years ago, for perfectly interpreting Snape in the movies. I think no one could have been a better Snape.

– R.K