JKR's answer to "Was Snape ever loved?"

[Rebecca M]

No: HPFGUIDX 134726

cathmorgan wrote:


> If Snape had feelings for Lily, so much the worse and could 
have been 
> one more reason for his leaving the DEs and seeking out DD, 
but it 
> could hardly be the only source of remorse and culpability. I 
believe 
> that we will find out an interesting relationship b/n Snape and 
Lily 
> but I would be very surprised if it turned out to be romantic at 
all, 
> except for the possibility of a conflicted crush on Snape's part.
> 

I believe that it is the only source of remorse and culpability, and 
an extremely important one.

Snape loved Lily ... she was kind to him,  she was everything he 
wasn't -- popular, happy, the kind of shining star Sluggy like to 
collect.    Maybe he even devoted himself to potions and to 
developing all those things written by HBP in the textbook in 
order to impress her or form a bond with her.  We hear over and 
over that she was a natural at potions.

Snape loved her obsessively.

And he hated James.  Even before Lily and James were 
together, he hated James.  Imagine how much more Snape 
hated James after Lily and he fell in love and married.

Snape would have been furious.  It would have pushed him over 
to the dark arts -- always an interest of his, but not something he 
had really pursued (remember that the writings of the HBP aren't 
tinged with a mean or evil-minded undercurrent).  And Voldemort 
would have used Snape's obsession to his own ends.  

Snape betrayed the Potters by telling LV about the prophecy (I'm 
still undecided about whether Snape knew it pointed to the 
Potters and actively wanted James killed, or if  he only found out 
later it was about the Potters).  LV killed James and Lily ... Snape 
is filled with heart wrenching guilt and remorse... he has caused 
the death of his object of obsessive love.  

He hates Harry really and truly - because Harry looks and (at 
least in SS's opinion) acts like James and because Harry 's 
presence constantly reminds Snape of  his own greatest and 
most regretted misdeed.

A small supporting point ... at the end of OotP LV talks about 
Lily's death and is scornful about how unnecessary and silly it 
was ... it would be a gross overstatement to say he regrets killing 
her,  but he doesn't seem to relish her death or to have been 
pleased with it.  Why not?  Because her death had 
consequences he didn't like.  One nasty consequence of her 
death is that  Harry is protected, but another is that he loses one 
of his most trusted servants, the one who in GoF he says "will 
never return."


Variation on this theory:  Snape was a double agent in the old 
days as well.  And his loyalty to the Order was rooted in his love 
for Lily.  James joins the Order too and their work brings Lily and 
James together.  Snape begins to waver in his double agent role 
a bit and gets a bit reckless, acting independently and not 
always following or waiting for DDs orders.  Sharing the 
prophecy with LV is part of this acting out and it has the profound 
consequences outlined above.


Some thoughts,
Rebecca
[Who was in one of the few places on earth you couldn't get HBP 
on 7/16, but got the last copy in the airport while changing planes 
in Vienna on the way back on Friday]