Who is Albus Severus Potter? He is Harry Potter’s youngest son. You knew
that, obviously. Why am I mentioning him now when he doesn’t show up until the
epilogue? Because I recently listened to the third book and the fact that he
isn’t named after Lupin is a fucking tragedy. Also Albus Severus is extremely
clunky. Like, dude? Albus Severus? They’re both pretty tough names on their
own, and you shoved ‘em together?
When I just listened to the Prisoner of Azkaban I got more and more
upset about Snape. Here’s the thing. Harry’s mother was friends with Snape, she
broke his heart, he got angry about her not loving him, and called her a
Mudblood. Harry’s dad was a piece of shit and bullied Snape. Snape’s natural
curiosity and nosiness made him follow the Marauders around and they in turn
bullied him because Snape was sort of pitiful and they were handsome, clever
and popular boys. Because they were handsome and clever and popular they got a
slightly [very] inflated sense of self and James in particular became an
entitled prick. Snape then found power and community with the Death Eaters and
Voldemort, and he probably didn’t help James and Lily. And I’m pretty sure that
if Lily had survived he would never left Voldemort, he would have lived in his
fantasy world where he would probably have kidnapped Lily and tried to convince
her to love him. Because Lily died he decided to be a turncoat, and work for
Dumbledore. He also internalized all his hate and all his victimizing in school
and turned it into bullying. He saw Harry on his first day of school, saw
someone who reminded him of James, and by extension Lily, and decided to turn
his life into hell. He takes every opportunity he can to make Harry’s life
miserable. Not just Harry’s life, but I’ll get back to that. But Harry has not done
anything to upset Snape other than exist. And Snape clearly takes that to be an
insult. Because he’s a jackass.
Now Harry isn’t the only student that Snape bullies. He bullies pretty
much anyone who isn’t in Slytherin. His other victims include Hermione, who is
easily his best student in that year, and he refuses to give her points, he
doesn’t call on her, and he doesn’t actually want students to answer questions.
Which seems pointless. It really annoys me that Dumbledore insisted on making
Snape a teacher, because Snape; hates children. He hates his students. He
doesn’t seem to like teaching, and he seems to be angry when people excel, so
why Dumbledore didn’t make him do literally anything else is baffling. His
other, most pitiful, victim is Neville Longbottom. Neville is an incredibly
inept wizard. He’s good at Herbology, and he’s not bad at Charms, but not at
much else. Snape terrifies and bullies him. To the extent that when Neville
meets a boggart his deepest, most harrowing fear, is Severus Snape. Why aren’t
the other teachers stopping him by the way? Anyways; other teachers berate
Neville when he messes up, which is fair enough, Snape assumes that Neville
will mess up and doesn’t give him a chance not to. Snape is mean, he’s cruel,
and he’s a bully.
So why did Harry name his son Severus? Because Snape was a double agent
and he did save Harry’s life. He did it because Dumbledore made him, and he did
it because he wanted Lily. He didn’t do it out of any sympathy towards Harry.
He took every opportunity to bully Harry and his friends. He took every
opportunity to mock Sirius. And while he did make potion for Lupin, he did also
reveal his secret out of spite. He lost Lupin his job and he suffered no
consequence.
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| Remus Lupin - hero |
Lupin on the other hand is kind, he’s sweet, and he does try to inspire
his students. He gives Neville a chance. He believes in him and he boosts his
confidence and never says an unkind word to him. He treats everyone the same,
and he has faith in both Snape and Malfoy, no matter how often they’re unkind
to him. I did notice something interesting this time, which I haven’t noticed
before. When they’re in the Shrieking Shack and Harry asks why Snape hated his
dad Lupin says he thought Snape was jealous of James. Lupin knows exactly what
James did to Snape. He knows Sirius and James tortured Snape in school, and
made his life hell. He knows Snape loved Lily and that James and Lily’s
relationship hurt him. He straight up lies. And they keep lying. They never
really tell Harry everything. Sirius and Lupin probably don’t want to throw
James under the bus and they want Harry to be proud of his dad, and of being
James’ son. But they should be honest with him. At least to a wider extent than
they were. Harry should be able to deal with his dad not being perfect. And I
think he can too.
Here’s the thing. Remus Lupin is unflinchingly kind to Harry, he goes
out of his way to help him, protect him and keep him safe. He isn’t Harry’s
dad, he’s not his godfather, but he is a decent human being, so he does everything
he can. It extends to after Hogwarts, Lupin always seems willing to help. And
Lupin fought against Voldemort because it’s the right thing to do, because he
wanted freedom, and because Voldemort was evil. He didn’t fight him because of
some selfish beef because Voldemort killed someone he was in love with. Someone
who didn’t love him back. Someone who he felt entitled to. Yes Snape is brave,
but he never let go of his shitty teenaged resentment and his entitled, shitty,
racist misogyny, and he took it out on children. Children. Yes he protected
them when he was head master, don’t care. He consistently, and cruelly bullied,
and terrified them for no reason other than they were there.
Here’s the thing; as a character Snape is fascinating. He’s incredibly
intelligent, angry, and troubled, he’s been bullied by his dad, by his
classmates, and he manages to alienate his oldest, and only friend. He makes
awful choices instead of rising above it and trying to make amends. He’s
haunted, and he’s clearly in pain, and he’s relatable in that he’s been
bullied, and he has this unrequited (albeit creepy) crush on Lily. It makes him
fascinating. It doesn’t make him a hero, a martyr, or a good person. He’s a
jackass.
Remus Lupin was kind and protective of Harry from the moment they met,
he fought Voldemort from his twenties, and he died to give his son a better
world. Snape was angry Voldemort killed a girl he liked and fought him while
bullying children and hating Harry for no reason, and being an awful teacher.
Remus Lupin deserves a namesake, Snape doesn’t.
