Slytherin Defense Club

Severus Snapes Point of View

 

What if Snape was actually the real hero all along?

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Prologue

Once there was a wizard called Severus Snape. He was tall and lanky, and his black greasy hair hung like curtains around his face. He grew up as a half-blood wizard in an unhappy family, but found solace in a witch called Lily Evans, a childhood friend. Snape loved Lily deeply: through their years at Hogwarts; through her marriage to another wizard, James Potter; through his time as a Death Eater; and long after her murder at the wand of Lord Voldemort. After her death, a heartbroken Snape took up a position at Hogwarts as Potions Master (under Dumbledore's protection), and began his secret mission to keep safe the only thing that he had left of her: her son, a boy with his mother's eyes.

Severus Snape and the Philosopher's Stone

Still, that didn't mean that he had to like the guy, who looked annoyingly like his father (and Snape’s school bully) James Potter.

Nonetheless, Snape had a job to do. During Harry’s first year, Dumbledore and Snape suspected a fellow teacher, Defence Against the Dark Arts' Professor Quirrell, of trying to steal a precious magical object hidden within Hogwarts grounds: The Philosopher’s Stone. Because he's clever, Snape saw through Quirrell's plans pretty quickly, which involved setting trolls loose in the dungeon, and trying to jinx Harry Potter’s broom during a Quidditch match. Snape, of course, gallantly confronted Quirrell, but in the end, Harry and his two friends got all the credit, with Snape getting set on fire in the process. Charming.

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Severus Snape and the Chamber of Secrets

Although this was a quiet year for Snape, his excellent teaching subtly led Hermione and Harry to discover two things that would prove paramount in their later years: Polyjuice Potion, and Expelliarmus. Unlike some wizards, he didn’t spend every year of Hogwarts trying to make himself the centre of attention.

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Severus Snape and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is the story where our hero had to confront the villains of his past: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter – the bullies of Snape's youth, with one of them happening to be the man who married the love of his life Lily.

The unwelcome reunion occured when Potter’s old friend Remus Lupin secured Snape’s dream job of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. As Potions master, Snape kindly helped out Lupin – a werewolf. Of course, when he had to take over Lupin’s lesson, he may have accidentally taught his class how to spot a werewolf, but that was a complete coincidence.

Meanwhile, Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban and is after Harry Potter. Not forgetting their years at Hogwarts, Snape wasted no time in trying to bring Black to justice when he came to the school. Towards the end of the year, Snape finally caught him in the Shrieking Shack. Once there Snape was hailed as a hero by Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who promised that he would be duly rewarded. The Order of Merlin! A profile in the Daily Prophet! Finally, everything's coming up Severus!

Some other stuff happened after that but it wasn’t really that interesting.

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Severus Snape and the Goblet of Fire

As Hogwarts celebrated the return of the Triwizard Tournament, Snape had bigger fish to fry.

For his days of being a Death Eater were coming back to haunt him, and his Dark Mark – a magical stamp tied to the Dark Lord – was becoming more and more pronounced. His worst fears were confirmed later in the year when it was revealed that the Triwizard Tournament had inadvertently helped provide a cover the return of his old master, Lord Voldemort.