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look at these scenes a different way because there is some sly humor going on. In the case of Hermione and the oversized teeth, Snape is comparing her to Goyle, who has also been hexed with pustules all over his face. So, Snape is just telling the truth when he says he sees no difference between Goyle and Hermione in how badly the two students are jinxed. Or Snape might be playing down how big Hermione’s teeth really are to make her feel better, but J.K.R. makes him say it completely backward so readers take it the wrong way. Or maybe Hermione is more hurt that Pansy Parkinson and her gang are laughing at her teeth? As for Neville cutting up the toads, is that any worse than a Muggle biology class? Later on in DH, Neville does some major dissecting on Voldemort’s snake when he cuts off its head! So Snape might have just been giving Neville the right skills after all. Actually, Snape really isn’t any worse than Professor Flitwick, who in HBP gives Seamus Finnigan an insulting line to write for detention: “I am a wizard not a baboon brandishing a stick” [HBP, p. 355]. Harry doesn’t get angry with Flitwick for that punishment, but he is always furious at Snape, and that extends the idea that Snape is evil.

In OotP and HBP, Snape remains on the outs with Harry, even though Harry feels pity when he sees some of Snape’s childhood memories of being bullied by Harry’s father and Sirius Black. Since Snape and Sirius never got along, Harry continues to blame Snape for the death of Sirius in HBP because Harry enjoys believing it was Snape. It is Kreacher, though, who betrays Sirius, and Bellatrix Lestrange who pushes him through the Veil of Death. Again, as readers, we are supposed to blame Snape too, and to always agree with Harry. As HBP goes along, Harry becomes more and more convinced that Snape fits right in with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and Draco amazingly shares his opinion. They both think Snape is a double spy for the Dark Side, and by the time Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of HBP, nearly every reader is wondering if that is true.

So the huge question going into DH was whether Snape was good or evil, and some fans were unhappy because they felt that Snape’s story had almost become bigger than Harry’s own story. Many wondered why J.K.R. wasted so much page space on this hateful dark Death Eater who taught school but hated kids, and they figured it might turn out that Harry was going to kill him on page one of DH. Even fans of Professor Snape did not feel totally secure in the belief that Snape was good or that he would be cleared of the murder of Dumbledore, and many wondered how the hints of Snape’s love for Harry’s mother might play a part in the final book.

It was an obsession on both sides, and the final book still kept readers in suspense until later chapters when it was finally revealed that Snape was much more complex than he seemed, and that he never wanted Dumbledore or Harry dead. And guess what? Harry has to reverse many of his earlier opinions because Snape does so many things to help Harry that vastly outweigh the classroom dramas and detentions. Seen through adult eyes, Snape is redeemed before Harry is even born, and he is always on the good side due to his love for Lily Potter. He cares about Dumbledore, and he carries out his mission to help Harry. Few characters in the books are actually as good as Snape, in spite of his outward appearance and rough language. It’s not a surprise that on the second-to-the-last page of DH, Harry is still talking about Snape, saying he was the bravest man he ever knew, and there’s no question anymore that Snape was a good guy. Fans are still talking about Snape, too, and the debate continues.

Search for the Horcruxes

Unlike the plotline about the three Deathly Hallows, the story of Voldemort’s Horcruxes is much easier to follow and starts back in SS, Chapter One, when Professor McGonagall asks Dumbledore about baby Harry’s scar. Why can’t Dumbledore heal Harry’s famous lightning-bolt scar? Well, we find out later that it has a Horcrux inside, a bit of Voldemort