The Other Side Of Snape In The Philosopher's Stone

“Look at me” (Rowling). These were the last words of Severus Snape as he died with Harry Potter next to him. He wanted to see Harry’s eyes one last time as a reminder of Lily Potter whom he once loved. However, throughout the entire series this side of Snape is not made known to the reader. In the beginning, Snape is made out to be a villain, but as the conclusion of the story draws near the reader sees the other side of Snape that was hidden until the very end. Harry’s first experience in “The Philosopher’s Stone” with Snape was in the great hall whenever he made eye contact with Snape and his scar began to hurt. However, it is not made known right away that the reason that Harry’s scar hurt was because Voldemort was underneath the cloak of Professor Quirrell and not because of Snape. This already
This first impression of Snape is just the beginning of the mistrust between the two. Throughout his entire years at Hogwarts it always seems that Snape has it out for Harry. Snape is always getting onto Harry in the classroom and even tries to embarrass Harry at some points, such as his first day of class whenever Snape asks Harry a difficult question about potions that he is not able to answer. What even increases the tension between Snape and Harry is that anytime that there is a plot that is going on in Hogwarts Snape seems to be a part of it. In “The Philosopher’s Stone” when the troll is released into the castle Snape has an injury on his leg which leads the reader and Harry to think that it was Snape who released the troll. Later on in the novel when Harry is playing on the Quidditch field it also seems that Snape is up to no good by hexing Harry’s broom to try and get him to fall off. Later towards the conclusion of “The Philosopher’s Stone” Harry and the reader find out that it was