Once a book or movie series reaches its conclusion, often after years, it’s fun to go back and find clues or Easter Eggs which give hints about the ending. In Harry Potter, one thing you can do is find some of the horcruxes buried in the pages of much earlier books. Another thing is finding clues about Snape’s love of Harry Potter‘s mother Lily, and his inherent goodness.
Harry’s parents Lily and James meet at Hogwarts, but Lily dislikes James for a long time. James and his friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew (collectively known as the Marauders) bully fellow student Severus Snape, and James has a big ego because he’s good at Quidditch.
While James eventually matures and Lily falls in love with him, you could question whether they were really soulmates. Lily actually knew Snape for a long time before they even got to Hogwarts, as Snape lived close to Lily and her sister Petunia. Snape loves Lily from an early age, and this, combined with his hatred of James, has huge repercussions on Harry’s life. Always.
A Reddit user has just pointed out they’ve just noticed something in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This book comes before the Half-Blood Prince, in which we find out a lot more about Snape’s backstory. Aunt Petunia knows what Dementors are because; “I heard — that awful boy — telling her [Lily] about them — years ago.”
Harry assumes ‘that awful boy’ is James. “If you mean my mum and dad, why don’t you use their names?” Petunia ignores him and seems ‘horribly flustered.’ Petunia didn’t know James as a boy, and barely knew him as an adult either, because she despised her witch sister and was estranged from her. It is far more likely that ‘that awful boy’ is their childhood neighbor Snape.
Check out our guide to the best Harry Potter characters, where you’re sure to find the complicated Snape. You’ll probably also be interested in the Harry Potter plot holes that we’ve found. See if you agree with our ranking of the best Harry Potter villains.