Snape Loved or In-Love with Lily?

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 148452

Tonks wrote:
> 
> Picture it: A young man of 20 not that long out of school, still 
> feeling the stings of rejection at school and the hatred of James, 
> seeing the young woman that he secretly loved marry the man that he 
> hates.  Having a life debt that ties him to James in a way that 
> prevents Snape from moving on and forgetting James.  All of this 
> pulling him to the dark side.  Then Snape overhears the prophesy 
> only to find later that it comes back to bite him.  The two people 
> he would have wanted to forget are right in the middle of it all.  
> And to top it all off, now Snape is in a bad way with the life 
debit 
> that he has with James. This would be a rather traumatic event for 
a 
> young man, or anyone for that matter.  It would make Snape a bitter 
> person, and a person with enough remorse to turn from the dark side 
> and repent.  Snape would be haunted by the memory of this whole 
> thing.  

Julie:
And let's not forget, not only does that life debt remain unpaid, as 
Snape couldn't stop Voldemort from killing James and Lily, but the 
death of Lily in particular must weigh very heavily on his conscience 
(and perhaps on his heart). Even if there was no direct intent, he 
betrayed not only his enemy James to Voldemort, but he betrayed the 
woman he once loved (or at least cared for deeply), the only person 
(besides Dumbledore) who accepted him as he was and even valued him 
as a person. 

Tonks:
> Later Snape is at Hogwarts locked away in his dungeon, enjoying his 
> potions making and perhaps secret experiments, being able to some 
> extent forget the events of his youth.  Then Harry comes to 
Hogwarts 
> and when Snape sees him it all comes flooding back.  Snape feels 
the 
> trauma all over again, he is reminded of his sins, he feels the 
> guilt and remorse that he thought he had overcome with the years.  
> He hates Harry for bringing back these memories.  
> 
> And there you have it
  
> 
> Tonks_op
>

Julie:
Exactly! Harry is a reminder of not only his old enemy James, but of 
the woman he once loved (or, again, cared for deeply), and of his 
horrible mistake that set in motion events for which he can try to 
make amends but can never undo. Add to that, his own redemption is 
deeply tied to this boy, this unpleasant reminder not only of his 
regret-filled past, but of his obligation-constrained future as 
Dumbledore's right-hand spy (and perhaps protector of a boy he can 
hardly stand to look at). And while he certainly did it all to 
himself and can blame no one else, there's that damn boy in his face 
day after day to remind him of it all, over and over again. So it's 
not all that surprising he lashes out at Harry (given his 
personality).

This all does hinge on Snape loving Lily, either romantically or as a 
friend, but we almost certainly know he loved someone. Even though 
JKR replied to the question of whether Snape ever loved anyone 
with "Who would want Snape to love them?" she also added "Whoever 
asked that question, I'm stunned, and you'll find out why in Book 7." 
(And I know not everyone interprets that interview the way I do, but 
if JKR was replying to the interviewer's interjection about Snape 
having a redemptive pattern, wouldn't she have said "I'm stunned 
*you* asked that question" as she is speaking directly to the 
interviewer, rather than using "whoever" which refers to a third 
person?)

Anyway, if Snape did love someone, I think we're to the point where 
it can only be Lily. Any other object of Snape's affection--Florence 
for instance--would be irrelevant to the main story, and with only 
one book left there's no time to wander into sidelines or further 
explorations of character backgrounds that don't directly contribute 
to resolving the central plot. IMO, 

Julie