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| Friend | 71% | 504 votes | Total: 709 votes | |
| Foe | 29% | 205 votes |
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Add to FavoritesLet's make one thing perfectly clear, Severus Snape is a most un-likable character. Sarcastic, snide, vindictive and just down right nasty especially to Harry. Harry! One of the sweetest, most polite kids you could come across. How could anyone like the man who hates Harry so much? Ah, but Dumbledore did, or did he?
Yes, Dumbledore. The man who knew the reason behind Snape's true loyalty. Who would have guessed? But we all should have trusted JK Rowling as Dumbledore trusted Snape, shouldn't we? She gave us all the clues. She showed us several times the struggle Snape held within himself. He hated Harry because he was James' kid, looked like him, played Quidditch like him, was adored like him, was popular like him and most importantly, he was a constant reminder of what he had lost and not just due to Voldemort.
Everyone, it seemed, hated Snape. Everyone but one, Lily Evans, green-eyed Lily Evans, Harry's mother. Now we know why Snape always stared into Harry's eyes, Lily's eyes. It was merely to remind himself what he owed her.
Seeing Harry took him right back to those school days when everyone made fun of him. Slimy, skinny, brainy, un-popular Snape versus James Potter, stud-of-the-school, who fell hard for Lily Evans and eventually won her heart. Oh, but how could Snape not hate Harry? Harry was everything he couldn't compete with back in school nor after becoming an adult. Harry was the child he could have had with Lily had he not chosen the Death Eaters over her. He couldn't have both. She told him that.
That they had been such great friends was mind-blowing. Why then did he call her a mudblood? Slip of the tongue? Because that was all he heard in the Slytherin common room? Because of his new friends' the Death Eaters? Oh, but he blew that, didn't he? And he knew it. Snape caused Lily to turn from him. He forced her right into James' arms because he picked the Death Eaters over her. He caused her death, blamed himself and he just couldn't get over that.
The impression was that Dumbledore didn't like Severus very much when he asked him to place a protection over Lily, only Lily.
"And her husband and son? You don't care what happens to them?" Dumbledore asked sharply.
Yes, Dumbledore did trust Snape but the question still remained of whether he truly liked him. Dumbledore understood human weakness. He had his own after all. Harry understood it too after all was said and done. Harry learned the truth and now calls Severus Snape the bravest and one of the two best Headmasters Hogwarts ever had, even naming one of his children after him. That means Harry thinks rather well of Severus Snape just like his mother and Dumbledore had.
Friend or foe? Really, is there a question of it anymore?
Learn more about this author, Glory Lennon.
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Foe
At the end of her seven part series of children's books about Harry Potter, The Boy Wizard, J. K. Rowling finally confirmed that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Dumbledore had been right all along and Professor Serverus Snape was one of the good guys. Does this mean that Harry should have considered him a friend all along? Certainly not! Snape and Potter may have been on the same side of the battle against evil, but they were most definitely foes from Harry's first days at Hogwarts in The Sorcerer's Stone up until the closing chapters of The Deathly Hallows.
The first evidence is in Professor Snape's unfair treatment of Harry in his classroom and around the school. Snape showed obvious favouritism, openly expressing his preference for the students of Slytherin house over those of Gryffindor. He consistently gave Harry low marks on all his potions assignments, jeopardizing his dream of becoming an Auror after leaving school. When it came time for fifth year OWL examinations in The Order of the Phoenix Harry proved that Professor Snape's negative assessment of his performance was unfounded when he achieved an "Exceeds Expectations" on the exam. Among his other behaviours Snape was known for punishing Harry, Ron and Hermione more than any other students at the school and especially more than those in his own house. He would never believe the trio when they were trying to warn him or other teachers about dangers to the school or other students. In one circumstance Snape tried to prevent Harry from seeing Dumbledore to tell him about the mysterious reappearance of Bartimus Crouch Sr. in The Goblet of Fire and because of this delay he would inadvertently allow time for Barty Crouch Jr. to murder his father. While Serverus Snape never intended for his actions to negatively affect the fight against Voldemort and his Deatheaters, but they did. From helping cause the death of Crouch to cutting off George Weasley's ear his actions often had a devastating affect on Harry and his cohorts.
Snape saw Harry as a constant reminder of his having lost the woman he loves, Lilly Evans, to another man and he allowed himself to be blinded by his hatred and jealousy of Harry's father, James. The pain of the loss of Lilly caused him to unfairly discriminate against her son, which prevented him from ever becoming Harry's friend. While these emotions provide an explanation for his actions towards Harry, they can not be considered an excuse. For the six years that he was Harry Potter's teacher at Hogwarts he treated him in an entirely unjustified manner and made no efforts to be friendly with him.
Putting aside the more obvious reasons why Harry should consider Snape an enemy, there is an even more important reason; because Dumbledore's plan depending on his believing it to be true. Dumbledore knew that once he was no longer there to protect them, both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts would fall to the Deatheaters. He needed to ensure there was someone in the school to protect the students. For Snape to be entrusted with the position of headmaster at Voldemort's Hogwarts he could not be seen to be a friend to Harry Potter, no matter how much he supported Harry's cause. Just as he was able to disguise his most notorious crime, the killing of Albus Dumbledore, as murder when it was actually an act of mercy, he was careful not to openly help the heroes in any way. In fact, when he did provide Harry with Gryffindor's Sword, an item critical to Harry's quest, he did so in secret. On Dumbledore's orders Snape presented himself to the wizarding world as an enemy of Harry Potter and for their plot to be effective Harry had to believe as much himself.
When all was revealed at the end of The Deathly Hallows we find Serverus Snape was a friend to Harry all along, but Harry could never have considered him as such. For Harry to have succeeded in his education at Hogwarts and for the side of good to triumph over evil it was necessary that Harry always assume that Snape was his foe and not to be trusted.
Learn more about this author, Leigh-Anne Parsons.
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