History

Childhood

Severus Snape grew up in a problematic home, on Spinner's End. His parents were fighting almost continuously. Rumors were, that the arguments weren’t just verbal, but physical as well. Snape didn’t have a great relationship with his neglectful father, and Snape's hatred towards muggles most likely came from those experiences. Inspired by his mother’s birthname Prince, Snape started calling himself Half-blood prince. He quickly learned that the home at Spinner's End, wasn’t a child friendly place to be, so he was mostly outside, being a bit of a loner.
Close to Spinner's End is where Lily Evans and her sister Petunia Evans lived. After observation of Lily, he concluded, that she too possessed magical powers. He was deeply mesmerized by Lily, in love with her and became her best friend, though he was not in the slightest friends with her sister, Petunia. Some people think that it was because she made fun of his home and his clothes, while others think it’s because she was a muggle. Snape was never known for his social skills, as he was very social awkward. But he wanted to make a great impression.

Hogwarts

Snape started his school years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1971 with his friend, Lily Evans. On the train, he sat in the same compartment as Lily, and met James Potter and Sirius Black, whom he could not stand. Upon arrival, he was sorted into Slytherin and Lily was sorted into Gryffindor.
Snape's school life was impacted by his fights with James Potter and his friends. From the moment, the two of them met, on the Hogwarts Express, they could not stand each other, They were both deeply in love with Lily Evans. One day James Potter cast a spell on Snape, that turned him upside down, showing his underwear to several students, including Lily Evans. When she tried to help him, he called her a Mudblood. She never forgave him. This was his worst memory. James Potter and Snape, never became friends. In the end James Potter matured and ask Lily out on a date, and she said yes. A while after, the couple got married. This only reinforced Snape's hatred towards James.
From the very start, Snape had an interest in spells and at his first year, he already knew more spells, than most seventh years did. It was rumored that he was friends with a group of Slytherins who became Death Eaters later in life. He was also good friends with Lucius Malfoy, who was a prefect and student advisor for Slytherin, when Snape attended Hogwarts.
During his school life, Snape invented many spells such as: Sectumsempra, Langlock, Levicorpus, Liberacorpus, Vulnera Sanentur.
Snape was a great student and the proof was in his potions book. It was filled with adjustments in the way the potions should be made.There was also spells he’d created. He revealed that he had invented more than the ones in his potions book. The alias Half-blood prince was created using two things, his mother’s birth name Prince and his blood-status, which was half-blood. The name was never used in public.
Snape graduated from Hogwarts in 1978.

After Hogwarts

Death Eater

After Snape left Hogwarts in 1978, he turned towards the dark side and therefore towards Voldemort, where he was greeted as a death eater. In 1980, Snape overheard Sybil Trelawney and Albus Dumbledore during an interview. In this interview Sybil said that a boy would be born in July same year, who could be able to kill Voldemort. Snape told this to Voldemort and became one of his most valued Deatheaters.

Double Agent

There were two newborn boys, that could have been fro the prophecy, made by Sybil, Neville Longbottom or Harry Potter, Lily Potter's (née Evans) son. When Voldemort decided that Harry Potter was the child, Severus Snape begged him to spare Lily Evans' life. There was a great risk that Lily Potter would lose her life and Snape turned towards Albus Dumbledore and begged him to hide and protect the Potter family. Albus Dumbledore agreed to do this, but Snape had to be a spy for Dumbledore and tell everything that happened in between the death eaters and Voldemort. Even though Albus Dumbledore did his best to protect the Potter family, Peter Pettigrew tipped off Voldemort and told him where the Potters were. This led to the Potter family’s death. Only Harry Potter survived and Voldemort disappeared without a trace.
Snape was devastated because of Lily’s death. His hatred towards James Potter caused Snape to hate Harry, as well. Dumbledore told Severus, to honor Lily’s memory, he was going to protect the boy. Even though it seemed unlikely, Dumbledore was sure that Voldemort would return, and everyone, especially the Potter-boy, would be in great danger. Snape spent the rest of his life protecting Harry Potter. Many people distrusted Snape, because of his previous life as a death eater, and the death eaters despised him because he was now Dumbledore’s right hand. Severus Snape had two goals in his life; Protect Harry Potter and beat Voldemort.

Employment at Hogwarts under Albus Dumbledore

Snape started teaching at Hogwarts, as professor in Potions, in 1981. He had previously put in an application for Defense Against the Dark Arts, five times, and got rejected every time. Snape was hired to take place of Horace Slughorn.
After Voldemort’s fall, Snape didn’t look for him, because he was sure that he was dead. With Albus Dumbledore’s protection, he avoided going to Azkaban. Even though his employment at Hogwarts gave him a great deal of trouble amongst many of the death eaters, he was forgiven by Voldemort himself. This was because when he returned to be a death eater, Snape had 13 years of valuable information about Hogwarts, The Order of the Phoenix and Albus Dumbledore himself.
Snape didn’t have much patience and tolerance for trouble. Even though his classes were taught with a fierce hand, he was respected amongst his co workers.
During the 13 years Voldemort was gone, Snape had to make sure, that he didn’t put himself in a bad light with the death eaters. He and Dumbledore knew that Voldemort would return one day, and Snape had to make the right relations for himself. He was never kind to Harry Potter, Voldemort’s biggest enemy, and made sure to put him down every day. Harry was never seriously injured because of Snape.

Second Wizarding War

Harry Potter's School Attendance

Harry started his life at Hogwarts in 1991. That year Snape was one of the teachers protecting the Sorcerer’s Stone. He didn’t like Harry, but he still saved him from being thrown off a broom, during his first ever Quidditch match. The broom was being hexed by professor Quirrell. At first Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, thought it was Snape who had hexed it. To make sure nothing like it happened again, Snape insisted on being judge for the next Quidditch match. There was a disagreement from the other professors and the Gryffindor students, who was sure, that he only did this, to make sure that Gryffindors chances of winning were smaller. The entire year, he did everything in his power, to make sure that professor Quirrell didn’t get his hands on the Sorcerer’s stone.
In 1993 Remus Lupin was hired in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Snape demonstrated his expertise in potions making, by making the Wolfsbane potion, for Lupin. Through the entire year, Snape thought that Lupin was helping his old friend, Sirius Black who had escaped from Azkaban, return to Hogwarts. At the end of the school year, Snape succeeded in following Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley through the passage to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, where Sirius Black and Remus Lupin met them. He tried to get Lupin and Black sent to Azkaban, but the trio disarmed him. On the last day of school, Snape revealed that Lupin was a werewolf, and forced him to retire from his position as professor.
When Harry's name was called from the Goblet of Fire, Snape was furious, he thought that Harry had stolen ingredients to make a Polyjuice potion from his office, and put his own name in the Goblet. In that same year, Harry found out about Snape’s life as a death eater. When Harry asked Dumbledore about this, he confirmed, but said nothing else about the matter.
In 1994 Alastor Moody came to Hogwarts, ad Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. At the beginning of the year, Moody got Snape's office searched and called it ‘An Aurors Privilege’ but it was him, who stole ingredients for Polyjuice potion, from Snape’s office.
Through the year, Snape felt his tattoo of the Dark Mark beginning to make notice of itself. Igor Karkaroff, a former death eater, confronted Snape with his worries, about Voldemort returning, though Snape had no sympathy for him. When Voldemort returned, Karkaroff disappeared, but Snape continued being one of Voldemort’s most trusted death eaters, because of his position at Hogwarts, and the fact that he could spy and give information to Voldemort.
In reality, ‘Alastor Moody’ was actually Barty Crouch Jr. Snape and Dumbledore tried to convince Cornelius Fudge, that the Dark Lord was back, but he refused to believe it. Because of this, Snape was sent on a mission to join the death eaters and Voldemort again and act as a double agent. In 1995 The Order of the Phoenix was reunited, and Snape played a huge part, as a double spy.
At Hogwarts, Snape was asked to teach Harry Potter occlumency to keep Voldemort out of his mind, however, their hatred towards each other made it almost impossible to reach the goal. While Snape was out of the room, Harry found Snape's pensieve, and dove Snape's old memories. When Snape returned to the room, he saw Harry standing over his memories, and refused to continue teaching Harry occlumency.
The hatred between Harry and Snape worse than ever, but when Dolores Umbridge asked Snape to give her some veritaserum, so that she could question Harry, he said that she’d already used all of it, questioning other students.
When he heard about Sirius Black’s capture in the Department of Mysteries he contacted The Order of the Phoenix and helped them come up with a plan, to rescue him. He did this, while looking for Harry in the forbidden forest. He had to keep a low profile, so he wouldn’t catch Umbridge’s attention, because he was supposed to not care.
Before the school year had even started in 1996, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy went to visit Snape at his home at Spinner's End, to ask him for help. Voldemort had given Draco Malfoy the assignment to kill Dumbledore. Snape swore the unbreakable vow, to protect and help Draco fulfill the task.
That same year Snape became professor in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He only let the students with Outstanding as a grade in continue in the subject as N.E.W.Ts level.
Horace Slughorn replaced him as professor in potions, and when Harry didn’t have a book for the subject, Horace gave him the book, that had earlier belonged to The Half-blood Prince. When Snape heard about Harry’s new found skills in potions, he became suspicious, but it wasn’t until Harry used Snape’s own spell, Sectumsempra, he concluded that it was in fact his book. Snape asked Harry about the book, but he didn’t find it as hoped. He ended up giving Harry detention every Saturday for the rest of the year instead, which meant he missed the last quidditch match of the year.
When Harry and Dumbledore returned to the castle one night, after searching for a horcrux, Dumbledore asked Harry to find Snape. Draco Malfoy showed up, and disarmed the weakened headmaster. He couldn’t finish the job, and when Snape showed up, he killed Dumbledore and ran off with the rest of the death eaters. Harry Potter followed him, and they ended up doing a duel, but Snape had no problem disarming him. During the duel, Snape revealed to Harry, that he was the Half-blood Prince. Snape then disappeared through the school’s gates.

Death Eater / Double Agent Again

After Dumbledore’s death in 1997, Snape became a death eater again. He told Voldemort about the correct moving date of Harry Potter, under instructions from Dumbledore, so that Voldemort would continue to trust him. Just before Harry was going to be moved, Snape presented the idea of using polyjuice potion, to Mundungus Fletcher, to confuse the death eaters and Voldemort, by having seven Harry Potter’s on the move. After giving the idea to Fletcher, he wiped the memory of himself giving the idea, from Fletcher's mind, so that he could still be in Voldemort’s most beloved deatheaters. During the move of Harry, Snape was there, and he accidentally cut of George Weasley's ear, while trying to send a curse towards another death eater.

Hogwarts Headmaster

In the school year 97/98, Snape was chosen as headmaster of Hogwarts. The death eaters Amycus and Alecto Carrow worked as deputy headmasters. During Snape's time as a headmaster, he often talked to Dumbledore’s portrait and received instructions from him. Snape made sure to hide Godric Gryffindor’s sword behind a portrait in his office, and left a forged one out in the open. Even Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, tried to steal the sword from Snape’s office. He punished them by sending them into the forbidden forest with Hagrid. He then send the forged sword to Bellatrix, so that she could hide it, in her vault in Gringotts. Later, Snape received orders from Dumbledore to give the real sword to Harry Potter, without letting him know that it was he who did it.
Snape used his patronus, a doe, to guide Harry to the bottom of a waterhole, near Harry’s tent. Snape wasn’t valued as a headmaster. Dumbledore’s Army was reestablished and they tried to rebel against Snape and Amycus and Alecto Carrow. If they got caught, Snape would rather send them into the forbidden forest with Hagrid, than let the Carrows get them, because their punishments were far more severe. When Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley returned to Hogwarts, the trio accidentally stumbled upon the Carrows, and they called the Voldemort using their Dark Mark. When they were disarmed by Mcgonagall she reached out to the other houses Heads, so that they could help protect the school. Snape sought her and asked where Harry Potter was, and when she refused to tell him, they ended up in a duel, where Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick and Horace Slughorn stood by her side. When Snape realized he was outnumbered, he fled.

Death

Later that night, Snape was called to the Shrieking Shack by Voldemort. Voldemort let Nagini kill him, because he thought that Snape was the owner of the elder wand, and Snape’s death would make him the master. He then left Snape to die. Harry who had been watching the entire scene, came out of hiding, and Snape gave him some of his memories, with his last breath. The memories contained his and Lily’s friendship and their hatred towards each other, and they gave Harry a great understanding as to where Snape’s true loyalty was. With Dumbledore. Harry also found out, that he too was a horcrux and that he had to die.

In Memory of Severus Snape

After Snape’s death, Harry made sure that he was not seen as the man who helped Voldemort, but instead as a man, who did everything he could, so that the good would win. During Harry’s last confrontation with Voldemort he revealed that Snape had worked for Dumbledore and not Voldemort. He also revealed that the true owner of the elder wand, was Harry himself. Snape was so successful in keeping his secret, because he mastered occlumency, and because he did it out of love. Harry Potter also made sure, that the portrait of Snape was hung in the headmaster’s office at Hogwarts. Originally it wasn’t put there, because Snape left the post as headmaster during the war at Hogwarts. Finally, Harry named his second son after Snape. His name was Albus Severus Potter, and he had the same eyes as Harry and Lily had. Rita Skeeter also made a book about Snape, named; Snape: Villain or Saint?

Credits/References

Written by Declan Murphy
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.