Harry Potter

I finished the last book a couple of nights ago. In case one or two of you haven’t read them yet, there’s a big a spoiler here. You’ve been warned.
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Snape is still the only character that I consistently liked. Was he abrasive and bitter because he was disliked and spurned, or vice versa? Or both? Regardless, in the end he did what was right in the face of not only the immediate difficulties, but more importantly, knowing that it would make him even more hated by the people he was trying to help.

Why did he do it? One important reason is his tragic, unrequited love for Harry Potter’s mother, Lily. With atypical subtlety, Rowling presents a scene with Snape and Dumbledore. Snape conjures a petronus, which is a doe. Dumbledore, with tears in his eyes, inexplicably asks Snape, “Even now?” We don’t understand his question until many pages later, when we learn that Lily’s petronus was a doe, and that when one person is intensely devoted to another, his petronus mimics hers. Snape has apparently been pining away for Lily for years, through even her marriage and death, protecting Harry because he is her son. This, in spite of Harry’s similarity to his father James, who Snape hated.

Whew. I normally find romance stories just as distasteful as the next red-blooded American male, but for this I’ll make a special exception.

I’m pleased that Rowling chose to feature Snape’s story and vindication so prominently at the end of the book. I think maybe he was almost her favorite character, too.