by Karen Kalbacher

Created on: August 31, 2009

From the moment we're introduced to Severus Snape we know he's a bad guy. He's dressed all in black. He has greasy hair. He in Slytherin and he enjoys torturing Harry Potter at every given opportunity. But was there more to him than a potions teacher forever denied what he wants? Namely the Defense Against the Arts posting and Harry's own mother Lily Evans Potter?

Harry senses the dislike Snape seems to load onto him instantly and he's blinded by it from day one. Snape is constantly doing things to protect Harry. In The Sorcer's Stone, Snape is blamed for jinxing Harry off his broom but it was Professor Quirrel. Snape was actually murmuring a counter curse to save Harry. Later he is blamed for wanting to steal the Sorcerer's Stone. Again he wasn't guilty. But Harry continues to hate him.

Incidents like this reoccur throughout the books. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Snape is accused of tampering with Lupin's potion for no other reason than he hated Harry's father and his friends. And misunderstandings abound in the Shrieking Shack but can Snape be blamed for wanting a crack at his childhood tormentors who consequently were James' best friends: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black? How did Snape know the children hadn't been confunded? He didn't.

Harry constantly takes everything Snape says out of context and fits it into his 'Snape is Evil' mindset while missing the cues from Dumbledore, McGonagall and all the other various members of the Order of the Phoenix that Severus Snape is as firmly Dumbledore's man as Harry is himself. Dumbledore even becomes impatient with Harry's constant need to blame everything on Snape. It seems Harry just can't get past the fact that Snape has never liked him and that Snape is proof that James Potter wasn't as great and heroic as Harry dreamed he was.

Only at the last minute as he lie dying does Snape have a chance to show Harry the truth. Harry is shocked by the depths of Snape's need to protect him and Dumbledore's need to sacrifice him to the greater good. Harry saw the true Snape, the Snape that did his best to follow Dumbledore's orders no matter what problems it caused. He was forced to stand idly by and watch a Hogwart's teacher be murdered so Lord Voldermort would know he was loyal. He protected Draco at the cost of Dumbledore's life and he did everything he could to protect Lily Potter's son. So who was the better friend to Harry Potter after all? Severus Snape, greasy, sarcastic sadist that he was.

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