Rowling Interview: Snape. Love.

[Milz]

This was in the 3 part Rowling interview at Mugglenet and Leaky Cauldron

"MA: Oh, here's one [from our forums] that I've really got to ask you. 
Has Snape ever been loved by anyone?

JKR: Yes, he has, which in some ways makes him more culpable even than 
Voldemort, who never has. Okay, one more each!"

Okay, I know the Snape-Lily advocates will rush in and say "AHA! Snape 
hated James because Lily loved James". And I know, there will be people 
who think the love is a reference to maternal love. But...

Back in GoF Chapter 30, The Penseive. Dumbledore shows Harry a memory 
of Bertha Jorkin as a school girl at Hogwarts. Bertha was at school 
with the Marauders.

"He put a hex on me, Professor Dumbledore, and I was only teasing him, 
sir I only said I'd see him kissing Florence behind the greenhouses 
last Thursday.."

I've always wondered who Bertha had seen kissing Florence behind the 
greenhouses that Thursday and had been so angered that he put a hex on 
her. And for that matter who was Florence? 

That scene appeared to be out of place in GoF. Sure earlier we are 
informed by Sirius that Bertha had a penchant for gossip, but I've 
always have wondered why Rowling included that Bertha penseive scene.

So who was/is Florence? Is she just a red herring, or is she Snape's 
lost love?

Milz