Always: The Severus/Lily Thread
Random things I'd love to have known about Snape and Lily's friendship
- What did they talk about when not discussing magic or Snape's family environment?
- Where did they hang out in Cokeworth outside of Hogwarts term time
- Did Lily ever suspect that Snape's feelings were deeper than friendship?
Quote from mmlf on March 14, 2023, 11:01 amRandom things I'd love to have known about Snape and Lily's friendship
- What did they talk about when not discussing magic or Snape's family environment?
- Where did they hang out in Cokeworth outside of Hogwarts term time
- Did Lily ever suspect that Snape's feelings were deeper than friendship?
I would've loved to get these answers about their friendship. We only have fanfics to fill in the information right now. On one hand, I would love a marauders' era prequel and on other hand considering her track record with works after HP, I would rather headcanon the information over getting flawed works like Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts series.
Quote from mmlf on March 14, 2023, 11:01 amDid Lily ever suspect that Snape's feelings were deeper than friendship?
In my opinion, yes.
I'm on mobile right now, but I'll elaborate properly later on.
“Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they’re doing at night?”
“I’m just trying to show you they’re not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are.”
The intensity of his gaze made her blush.
To me, this suggests that Lily knows or at least senses something deeper. Not only that, but her reaction is quite telling. To me, this suggests an attraction or at least the seeds of one on both sides. Blushing indicates vulnerability/self-consciousness, which are key factors in romantic attraction (especially for teenage girls).
I've seen it suggested that Lily was blushing because of James, not Severus. Supposedly, she was afraid Severus had picked up on her crush on James and felt self-conscious about it. But that theory ignores context/Lily's subsequent reactions.
“I didn’t mean — I just don’t want to see you made a fool of — He fancies you, James Potter fancies you!” The words seemed wrenched from him against his will. “And he’s not . . . everyone thinks . . . big Quidditch hero —” Snape’s bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily’s eyebrows were traveling farther and farther up her forehead.
“I know James Potter’s an arrogant toerag,” she said, cutting across Snape. “I don’t need you to tell me that. But Mulciber’s and Avery’s idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don’t understand how you can be friends with them.”
In the first quote, Lily blushes, even though Severus is only talking about James in a more generalized sense. Then in the second quote, Severus bluntly states that James has a crush on Lily, but she doesn't even react to that. Her reaction (raising her eyebrows) is based on Severus's behavior, not anything to do with James.
Blushing at the mere mention of James, only to have zero reaction to the idea of him having a crush on her? That makes no sense. Maybe others read it differently, but what I see in this scene are undercurrents of an attraction between her and Severus, which (sadly) never had a chance to turn into anything more.
Finally (from a web chat in 2007):
Jaclyn: Did lily ever have feelings back for snape
J.K. Rowling: Yes. She might even have grown to love him romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathesome people and acts.
You could interpret this as Lily only loving Severus as a friend, but that "yes" is very telling. "Have feelings for" is a distinctly romantic term, not one I've ever heard pertaining to friends or other platonic relationships. This entire quote (and canon itself) suggests that there was an attraction at some point, one that had the potential to become much more if things had gone differently.
Beth Crowley- Always (Based on the Harry Potter series) (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
I had to include this here.
A really good song @thegestaltprince , fitting for both book and Rickman Snape.
@heatherlly, I do believe in that Lily fancied James theory during the aftermath of the 'prank'.
The words of JKR suggest that Lily's feelings for Snape were platonic which could've developed into something more.
For James, JKR did say that on interview that she didn't hate him and I covered that part in the 'dysfunctional friendship' meta where she insinuated something bigger. I also read the exchange between her and James as some sort of Passive-Aggressive flirting during the SWM. Her comment that Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, suggests that she indeed noticed him, these also put weight in her fancying James theory. Personally I believe that she indeed fancied him, she didn't date him due to being friends with Snape and James' attitude which she hated. So after she broke her frendship with Snape and James supposedly stopped his bullying and defalted his head, she gave into her feelings and started dated him without any burden of caring for Snape's hate for James. This one is much better than doing 180 on her previous stance on James who she supposedly hated.
You are free to discuss where you don't agree with me, here. I won't mind. 😸
I tend to lean into the "Lily fancied James" interpretation in both my analysis on Lily as a character and in my "Gestaltation" work, despite being on Team Snily.
