Dear Alan Rickman,
I know you were so much more than the man who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. You were an outstanding actor and person. And I truly wish that I could have met you.
Today, my thoughts are with your family and friends. I am so sorry for their loss. For those to whom you had a special significance through your role in Harry Potter, we feel today as we've lost a familiar face. You were a part of our childhood through your portrayal of Snape. You showed us that nothing is black or white. No one is born good or evil - it is up to us, through our words, choices and actions, to become the person we wish to be. To us, you were - and always will be - an inspiration. So I thank you. Thank you for giving life so perfectly, to a character which could have been easily disliked, misunderstood or cast aside as manipulative or cowardly.
In your final scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I learnt that love could be manifested in many ways. That love can make the lonely comforted and the dead remembered (Always.). So, dear Alan Rickman, I hope that wherever you are now you may rest in peace, safe in the knowledge that you will be remembered.
With love, from the children who, in some way, met you in a dark dungeon in their very first Potions class, and had to say goodbye to you twice, with tears in their eyes: in those last moments as you shared your memories and life with us, and again today, as we share our memories of you and remember your life.
