Seven Times Snape Showed Us He Was the Good Guy

Before Harry was even born, Snape proved he wanted to be good by falling for Lily Evans, Harry's mother. Lily was sweet, intelligent, and caring. She was one of Snape's only friends at Hogwarts. But relentless bullying lead Snape to say some mean things to Lily and their friendship suffered. However, Snape was the first person to discover Lily's body after Voldemort murdered her. In both the book and the movie, his despair was so severe that it completely broke him. In fact, Snape's Patronus changed to match Lily's, which was a doe. After that, he vowed to do everything in his power to defeat Voldemort, including protecting Harry.

In the first book/movie, Harry plays his first Quidditch game as a Seeker. However, in the middle of the game, his broom starts jerking uncontrollably. Hermione sees Snape muttering under his breath and assumes that he is jinxing Harry's broom in order to sabotage him. Later on, we find out that it was actually Professor Quirrell, a.k.a Voldemort's first attempt at getting to Harry. Basically, Snape was trying to save Harry, not hurt him.

In the third book/movie, Harry discovers that alleged mass murderer Sirius Black is actually his godfather and his favorite professor, Remus Lupin's, best friend. Snape finds them in the Shrieking Shack and intends on taking them all back to Hogwarts. However, as they start walking toward the castle, a full moon comes out of the clouds and Lupin turns into a werewolf. Snape immediately jumps in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione to shield them. He would rather fight off a werewolf than see his students in danger.

In the fifth book/movie, Harry believes that Sirius has been captured by Voldemort when he has a vision through Voldemort's eyes. He sets out to rescue him, but is caught by Dolores Umbridge, the terrible person that everyone hates. Umbridge calls for Snape and asks him to give Harry truth serum, but Snape says he has run out. Just as he is about to leave, Harry shouts the incoherent message, "He's got Padfoot in the place where it's hidden." Decoded: "Voldemort has Sirius in the Department of Mysteries." (The "it" being the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort) Snape acts like he has no clue what this means, but secretly sends a Patronus to check on Sirius.

This has to be the biggest thing Snape did for Harry. In the final book/movie, Dumbledore left Harry the Sword of Gryffindor. Unfortunately, the sword didn't belong to Harry, even though it showed up when he needed it. But Harry really needed the sword to destroy Horcruxes, so Snape did the good-guy thing and sent it to Harry. He used his Patronus to lead Harry to the sword and, ultimately, to the demise of Voldemort.

Another big one. In the final book/movie, Voldemort asks everyone at Hogwarts to hand Harry over. It's in a really creepy way, his voice is projected like an intercom and people are screaming. It's effective. Except instead of capturing Harry and taking him to Voldemort, Snape disappears. Later, he meets Voldemort at the boat house and Voldemort basically says, "I'm fed up with your B.S." His snake attacks Snape, leaving him in dire condition. Harry goes to Snape, who provides him with all of his memories. This is important because it shows Harry that he has to die no matter what, and oh yeah Snape has been the good guy all along. Then, Snape dies and Harry names his son after him.

One of the most iconic quotes from Harry Potter is an exchange between Dumbledore and Snape. It happens after the Potters have been murdered and Snape joins the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore wants to know why Snape has changed his allegiance and Snape reveals his deep, undying love for Lily Potter. Dumbledore asks, "After all this time?" Snape replies, "Always."