8

Throughout the HP series we keep being told that "Harry potter has Lily's eyes".

Which is (implied to be) significant because:

Snape was in love with Lily, and thus it meant Snape had a reason to care for Harry.

Given that we are provided almost no details on Lily and Snape's past it's hard to draw any further conclusion from this, but to satisfy/disprove a personal (and thus subjective) theory of mine: Does Snape have a son?

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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AncientSwordRage
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    I could see a really great piece of fanfic being made from this concept... but as DVK points out, it's totally not supported by the books. Now... add some time travel, Snape being hit with a huge, physically damaging dark curse and having to be rebuilt from the ground up with massive changes to his appearance.... meets Lilly on the train to Hogwarts... OK... We're definitely into fanfic territory by this point :) Still could be interesting, tho. – K-H-W Jan 07 '12 at 16:49
  • For any who wonder, btw... I got that idea from DobbyElfLords's rather well written fanfic 'Altered Destinies'.... Despite being totally non-canon, it explores some interesting ideas. – K-H-W Jan 07 '12 at 16:53
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    The official HP fandom name for Snape-Is-Harry's-Real-Father fic/trope is "Severitus," just as an FYI. – Slytherincess Jan 07 '12 at 17:07
  • :) why negative thinking? – user931 Jan 07 '12 at 18:34
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    Did someone mention time travel and Snape? – Xantec Jan 07 '12 at 19:57
  • @Xantec - Hilarious! Thanks for the link :D I suppose you've already seen the extended version of the Voldemort/Draco hug from DH2? It's so low brow, but I could not stop laughing... – Slytherincess Jan 08 '12 at 01:50
  • @Slytherincess No I haven't. Now I'll have to look for it. – Xantec Jan 09 '12 at 20:04
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    @Xantec - http://youtu.be/3ZW_dwd_WJY (probably NSFW) I apologise in advance for the squick factor. It's probably a judgment on my character that this makes me laugh and laugh ;) – Slytherincess Jan 09 '12 at 21:00
  • @Slytherincess hah, that is funny. It reminded me of the Gandalf vs Sauman in MoreDoor video. – Xantec Jan 09 '12 at 23:11
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    OMG that was awesome! ROTFL! Surely you've seen the Potter Puppet Pals in The Mysterious Ticking Noise: http://youtu.be/Tx1XIm6q4r4 – Slytherincess Jan 09 '12 at 23:45
  • See also the slightly related http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/10646/ . – b_jonas Oct 07 '13 at 15:35
  • A big NO NO. This just a fanfiction. Snape doesn't have wife in the firstplace. – The Witch King of Angmar Aug 09 '17 at 18:51

2 Answers2

25

There is nothing in canon that states Snape had children.

James Potter is definitely Harry Potter's father.

But if you're into the trope of Snape being Harry's father, Google "Severitus" and see what you find. :)

Addressing a comment -- Although if Snape had played his cards differently, perhaps things might have gone a different way. From a web chat: 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. SOURCE: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript ... :)

AncientSwordRage
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Slytherincess
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    Hey, no fair cheating and using Word Of God :) +1, and hope Pureferret accepts this answer as it's a lot more authoritative than mine. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 17:07
  • I think it's just as authoritative, as you are spot on in your answer. The very idea of Snape attempting to parent is beyond comprehension >.< :) – Slytherincess Jan 07 '12 at 17:19
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    Um. Why? I think he'd make a wonderful parent. Better than a lot. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 17:28
  • It's the line "There is nothing in canon that states Snape had children" I was after. Thanks both of you though. Glad I'm wrong! – AncientSwordRage Jan 07 '12 at 17:29
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    @Pureferret -- Although if Snape had played his cards differently, perhaps things might have gone a different way. From a web chat: 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. SOURCE: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript ... :) – Slytherincess Jan 07 '12 at 17:47
  • @DVK - I suppose if one believes in the authoritarian (as opposed to authoritative) parenting style, then Snape would be an ideal father! – Slytherincess Jan 07 '12 at 17:52
  • @Slytherincess - I didn't say "ideal" :) And he most certainly wasn't extra authoritarian with students in his house which is a lot more of an indication of his possible parenting style than his relationship with Gryffindors or Harry. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 18:07
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    @DVK - I definitely think he looked after his Slytherins, yes. (It's not like Dumbledore did. . . yeah, I'm still bitter over the patently unfair loss of the House Cup in SS/PS. . . ) (And, yes, I know Dumbledore took great care with Draco during HBP -- don't get me wrong. I think Dumbledore is an amazing character!) I think Snape would not be an overly affectionate parent, but he would definitely be the kind of father a kid could go to if he/she sprouted antlers, accidentally drank hemlock, or was failing Potions. He'd be utilitarian, I think. But perhaps Lily would have influenced him. – Slytherincess Jan 07 '12 at 18:45
22

If you are implying that Harry was Snape's son, then this is demonstrably not true:

  • First off, if that was true, Dumbledore would immediately have told Snape, so that he would be super extra protective of Harry and less hard on him, instead of totally hating him as James Potter's son and only grudgingly agreeing to help in his protection due to his love of Lily.

    The "he has his mother's eyes" is incredibly lame of a reason to entice Snape by comparison, and lots more prone to not work.

  • Harry seems to inherit all of the unique qualities of James Potter (broomstick skills, other Seeker skills, reckless personality) and none of Snape's (extra smart, special talent for potion making, skillful wizard [note how most - though not all - of Harry's MAJOR accomplishments of magical - as opposed to character-based - type - are rarely uniquely his power/skill], extra talent for mind magic).

  • Ditto with looks. Aside from eyes, all the looks resemble James, not Severus (don't have appropriate quotes yet but will try to add later)

  • It's strongly hinted that Harry has Ignotus Peverell's genes, specially tied to the fact that his family lived in Godric's Hollow. Snape doesn't seem to have those genes.

    As an extra proof - the Hallows - at least the Invisibility Cloak - work the best when used by the rightful owner who's the child of the previous one. Since James was the rightful owner before, and Harry is an obvious "rightful owner" of the cloak as far as full mastery of it, this reinforces Ignotus heritage as passed on by James.

  • As circumstancial evidence, Lily couldn't stand Snape at the time of Harry's conception due to his being a Death Eater. Given human nature, this isn't proof of anything but still evidence.

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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  • I am, but as it's a personal theory I was looking for 'evidence'. Your first point only counts in the case that Dumbledore knew himself; Your second, third and fourth points are excellent; As to the fifth there are other reasons to hate someone. You don't however answer my question, but I'm guessing if you did it would be a resounding no ? – AncientSwordRage Jan 07 '12 at 16:50
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    @Pureferret - It's not quite a "resounding" "no" due to lack of incontrovertible canon proof as far as I'm aware that he is NOT Snape's son in the books (but see Slytherinces's answer for non-book proof). No wizarding video of conception; no magical genetic paternity tests. I could easily concuct a conspiracy theory at least remotely plausibly explaining away all the points above. Using boxing terminology, it's a resounding win on points in favor of "Son of James" theory (N-0, where N varies), but not a win by knockout – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 17:02
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    All good points, but my thoughts on the first one would be that Dumbledore had lots of reasons for not always telling people the whole truth when they wanted to know it. (He was worse than Obi-Wan in that way.) If Dumbledore knew Harry were Snape's child, there could be any number of reasons why he wouldn't tell him. – Tango Jan 07 '12 at 17:09
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    @TangoOversway - Given the importance of keeping Snape's help, I can't possibly see a single valid reason that could trump "this will make Snape 100% reliable" reason. Remember, Snape wasn't meant to find out about Harry's need to sacrifice himself, and was only told because his allegiance needed to be cemented by Dumbledore by telling him the truth. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 17:27
  • @DVK: I don't think there's reasons within what we've seen, but if Harry were Servus Jr., who knows how that'd complicate things. Snapes' one step from the looney bin anyway and one thing driving him is his hatred and dark side. Letting him know this could unbalance him in several ways. – Tango Jan 07 '12 at 17:34
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    @TangoOversway - heh. We must be talking about a different Snape. Far as I'm concerned, he's saner than most HP universe doofoses. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 17:35
  • Oh, a lot of them are doofuses, but Snape has issues. He was always a bit too much like a number of the teens I dealt with when I worked in a psych hospital for me. He's dark, obsessed, and has serious self image problems. But my main thought was that if Harry were Snape's son, and Dumbledore didn't tell him, that's because there would be some very good reasons JKR would have provided for him not doing so. That's not the kind of thing you reveal in a story until it's a big shock for everyone involved. – Tango Jan 07 '12 at 17:41
  • @TangoOversway - those 3 qualities mean he's a typical talented geek, albiet with somewhat unusual moral compass (BUT, as I noted elsewhere, based on his actual behavior, he's a lot less menacing/destructive than James Potter). Also, Albus telling Snape early on != readers being told about Snape knowing. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jan 07 '12 at 18:04
  • Snape met Lily and Petunia in their childhood, before they went to Hogwarts, so I tend to think Snape might have lived in Godric's Hollow as well. Also, I think Snape had to learn about Harry's sacrifice not only to cement Snape's allegiance, but because Snape was the best person Professor Dumbledore could trust to both keep this secret and forward it to Harry in the right moment. – b_jonas Oct 07 '13 at 15:35