HP Hogwarts Gallery of Fame - Or Infamy

Professor Severus Snape

'Severus Snape' by Syrena Doné
(reproduced with permission)

Severus Snape on HP-Hogwarts Role Play group in many ways remains as he is in the Harry Potter canon though we have allowed the alternative history to shade his character and actions somewhat differently. The fact that a number of long-term members of the RPG are fans of the character also has had bearing on the way he is portrayed and played as a NPC.

Professor Snape remains greasy haired, sallow-skinned, ill-tempered, intelligent, proud and sardonic with a dark sense of humour. Essentially a loner, he does not like young people very much though is less cruel for the mere sake of it. Indeed, he often will speak the truth no matter how painful it is to the recipient. He naturally favours Slytherin House, as he is its Head of House. However, he has shown himself quite capable of disciplining students of Slytherin if they step out of line.

That said, he is somewhat better disposed towards the children of friends such as Hades Lagrand and Emrys Hawkwood. However, even with these students he retains a strict formality.

He is very much the dark counterpart of Professor Dumbledore. His severity and distance compliments the Headmaster's mildness and friendliness. They are both formidable in their desire to protect the school and its student population. He is invaluable in a crisis. Whatever paths he has walked in his life he is very loyal to Professor Dumbledore.

Snape is well aware of his reputation among the students and does little to try and change this. He feels that a formal distance is preferable in a teaching situation. His ambition has been to leave his mark on the world, especially in the field of Defense Against the Dark Arts. That he is a World-Class Potions Master as well as his past interests means he is likely not to be moved into that position. He also co-teaches a class in Dueling and handles classes in Alchemy. In the higher grades this is done in collaboration with Professor Dumbledore, who is his mentor in matters of the Great Art.

We have seen with his interaction with Hades Lagrand that he is quite capable of smiling and sharing a joke but students are essentially excluded from this side of his life. He would not consider it 'appropriate' to do otherwise. It has been seen that under the influence of spiked punch he will enjoy himself and even have a dance with Professor McGonagall. This does suggest that in the right circumstances he is capable of some social life. However, most students consider this highly unlikely and in somewhat bad taste.

Much of Snape's back history remains in shadow, which is where it is likely to remain, as he is fiercely protective of his private life. We have seen that there is considerable friction between he and Sirius Black but not the hatred evident in the Harry Potter books. He was not privy to Sirius' secret identity or marriage for example but then neither was Hawkwood until matters were forced into the open by events last year.

Hints dropped by Emrys Hawkwood and Sirius Black suggest a closer alliance but one that is necessarily veiled. In this reality he appears to be part of the inner circle of the Order of Merlin.

We do not know if Snape was ever a Death Eater, a covert operative for Dumbledore or even if the incident between he and the Marauders, which so embittered the canonical Snape, ever took place.

However, Snape has exhibited a strong stance against the Dark Arts on a number of occasions. This may be due to his having experimented in his youth. He certainly now considers such things folly. This may be why he is Head of Slytherin House - as much to keep an eye on possible dabblers in the Dark Arts as a natural favouring of the gloomy and chthonic.

Love, Honour and the History Books

Severus Snape is undoubtedly a scholar who has dedicated his life to such pursuits.

He was very likely an unpopular student in his youth and this has left its mark in a degree of envy and bitterness towards those who are more at ease in such situations.

We can also be fairly certain that at one point in his youth he was loved by a girl of Gryffindor House who died tragically young. What impact this had upon his life remains unknown. Again, it is information known to a privileged circle who are protective of her memory and their collective loss.

Following events at Hogwarts last year, Severus Snape has achieved some personal satisfaction by getting his name into the wizard history books. He successfully broke down the riddle that revealed how Anders Grimalkin had deflected the supposedly unblockable killing curse. Grimalkin himself insisted that Snape's name be attached to the event because, as he said, 'I don't know how I did it!'

Anders Grimalkin has also inadvertently caused Severus Snape to unconsciously alter his habit of basing judgement on first impressions. After the successful deflection of the killing curse and the subsequent events, Snape found that Grimalkin was the total opposite to everything he had previously assumed. As a consequence, Snape now thinks a little before forming his opinions. On the whole, his opinions are still bad - but there's a definite improvement.

A difficult and in many ways unlikable man, Severus Snape remains true to himself and those principles he adheres to. His nature is undoubtedly melancholic and saturnine and yet he has shown compassion, honour and the ability to grow.

He is undoubtedly one of the cornerstones of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - an invaluable asset who continues to make Hogwarts the premier school for magical studies in the wizarding world.

Does Professor Snape serve the hp-hogwarts wizarding community through a clandestine role as 'Sev the Answer Guy', a popular agony uncle whose occasional column in the Daily Prophet provides words of timeless wisdom, delivered with brutal honesty? The reader can decide even if their 'official portrait' suggests otherwise. However, MA of GH says the slippers are a dead giveaway!.

The Students Speak - students of HP-Hogwarts have their own experiences of Professor Severus Snape and we will be providing them with a forum for their voices. Please note that no House points will be deducted for unflattering comments or rewarded for sycophantic ones.(Link to be added once comments received)