And the love of Severus Snape for Lily Potter transformed him from a teenage death eater into a Potions Master and friend of Albus Dumbledore, as well as a Super Double Agent in the War against Lord Voldemort.  After returning to the good side, filled with remorse over telling the Prophecy to his Master, Snape's main goal in life became the protection of Lily and her son, Harry Potter.  He could not save the woman he loved, but he kept trying to save "Lily's son," a boy with whom he had a difficult and rocky relationship.  In life, Snape never spoke Lily's name to Harry, but in death, he gave the boy the greatest gift of all - his memories of Lily.

Harry had hated Snape till then, and had never understood what Snape sacrificed on his behalf, nor the risks Snape took every time he went back to the presence.  Voldemort could have killed Snape at any time, as he finally decides to do.  The lowly Shrieking Shack, where Snape had nearly died as a boy from a werewolf attack, became his tomb, and Harry and Hermione watch him die, saving his memories at the last minute.  His last request?  "Look at me."  Did Snape wish to see the green eyes that always reminded him of Lily?  Or did he want Harry to see him as he really was, without the blinding hate that separated them in life?  I think both. *weeping again, sorry*

Two chapters in Deathly Hallows make it a classic for all time:  "The Silver Doe" and "The Prince's Tale." 

The Silver Doe is Snape's beautiful patronus, the symbol of his never-ending love, and the symbol of Lily.  It is the Silver Doe which leads Harry through the forest to the pool with the Sword of Gryffindor, which Ron uses to break one of the vile horcruxes of Lord Voldemort.  In his memories, Dumbledore is surprised that Snape's Patronus is still the doe "after all these years."  Snape's simple reply, "Always" is one of the most powerful one word sentences in all of literature, capturing years of sadness and longing in one word.

The Prince's Tale unfolds the story of Snape's life from his memories in the Pensieve.  We see him as a young boy, meeting Lily for the first time on the playground.  He wears odd clothing similar to the Little Prince by Exupery - a huge man's coat and a strange smock-like shirt.  Something antique, perhaps, from the wizarding world, passed down by his Princely ancestors?  At any rate, he is a complete parallel to Harry, whom we are told in Book One wears hand-me-down clothes that are too big for him, and who was also a neglected child.  

The memories follow Snape through the years, boarding the Hogwarts Express and becoming an immediate target of James Potter and Sirius Black, enduring the torture of Snape's Worst Memory and being hung upside down and depantsed, trying to make up with Lily after that day, apologizing for calling her a "Mudblood."  But they came to the parting of the ways that day.  Though Lily agrees that they are best friends, she doesn't like his young Death Eater friends, and he doesn't like the Marauders.  Lily says she doesn't like James, but later marries him.  When she is pregnant with Harry, Snape finds out she is a target of Voldemort due to information he provided about the Prophecy, and he begs Dumbledore to protect her.  When asked what he is willing to do in return, Snape says, "Anything."

And that's the key - he would do anything, and he would do if "always."  He never changed and he never wavered - Severus was a hero.  He was not perfect, and he was often resentful, and therefore we can see that he was in some ways a tragic hero, gothic hero, anti-hero - call him any and all of those.  But we know that Harry thought he was brave, and over the years perhaps began to love the memory of him.  Harry and Ginny's second son is called "Albus Severus," and Harry tells the boy that Snape "was probably the bravest  man I ever knew."  In a series filled with brave Gryffindors, to have the hero of the story giving that sort of praise to anyone is an amazing moment.  It's the real moment when Snape is Victorious - as a human being.

Fandom's Reaction, and a Comment:

It's an interesting thing about HP Fandom.  Whenever someone doesn't like part of the canon, they immediately trash the author as a bad writer, or they say they could write these characters better than she can because she "doesn't understand them."  

So how are people responding to the new information about Severus Snape, the "bravest man" Harry ever knew, and someone who loved Lily Potter in a pure and beautiful way represented by his "shining" patronus?

As usual, they are in denial, rewriting the book to suit themselves, and bashing JKR for daring to include the friendship between Snape and Lily Evans. 

Examples:
Why did this come "out of nowhere"?  
Snape's so-called "love"  couldn't have been anything but something dirty and disgusting, even at nine years old. 
His love was not "pure enough" because he was "obsessed" with Lily.  
His remorse upon her death is "not enough" to vindicate him.  
He never really tried to save Harry - he hated Harry because he hated James. 
He called her a "Mudblood" and that's unforgivable.  
He hates all women because he made a remark about Hermione's teeth once, and that's unforgivable too.
She must have copied some Sniveller's Fan Fic.
How dare JKR "trash" the Marauders by "elevating" Snape to such a status in Book 7!  
It's so disrepectful of to have Harry name his second son Albus Severus and not "Sirius" after the godfather who loved him!  
Isn't it creepy that Snape loved a married woman who has been dead for years?  
Doesn't that show how twisted and demented he was, and what a greasy, slimeball git he was?  
Snape was really a "snake" and the "perfect Slytherin.," 
He was out for himself and never in love with anybody.

*sigh*

I really feel sorry for these readers, who missed the entire point of Snape as a character.  It's nothing new, but has been happening since OotP, when fans disagreed over the chapter called "Snape's Worst Memory."  People upset by the death of Sirius Black, were furious when some of us criticized the actions of the Marauders when they attacked Snape. Many fans thought the unprovoked attack was funny  - I doubt they are laughing now. 

Many people - you know who you are - have spent years personally attacking the Snape fans for thinking he was a good character who tried to help Harry.  They never understood the idea of point of view - that we as readers saw everything through Harry's eyes, or though the words of characters who did not like Snape anyway.  Now we know that both Sirius and Lupin edited their view of Snape, leaving out the friendship with Lily that they must have known about - the "reason" that Snape was a "special case" for James.  They knew about Snape and Lily on the first train to Hogwarts, but we didn't know that till now.  It wasn't about Snape being "into the Dark Arts" at all! It wasn't about some stupid life-debt with James!

Snape loved Lily and he was brave. Dumbledore even implied that Snape should have been in Gryffindor House, which would have possibly meant that Harry would have been his son, and there wouldn't have been a Lily/James at all.  And if the Prophecy still applied to Harry, then Snape would have done a damn good job of protecting them better than James/Sirius/Peter ever did.

I'm sure that infuriates many fans also - How dare she write that a Slytherin can be brave!  *eyeroll*  What they forget is that we have a Cowardly Gryffindor - Peter Pettigrew.  So why not the opposite?

To all the fans out there who still don't "get" the importance of Severus Snape in Deathly Hallows, I will just say I'm sorry for you.  The Snape fans have been pointing out clues for years, and if you hadn't been so intent on arguing or getting us into trouble, you might have been more prepared for Book 7.  JKR knows fandom - she knew that some of you would "loathe" the book, while others would feel vindicated.  

I certainly feel vindicated.  Not all of my theories came true, but by the time the book arrived I just wanted some clue that Snape was truly good, and we were blessed with this beautiful backstory that cannot be denied.  Thanks so much, JKR - I love you even more now than ever!

People will keep trying to discredit the story of Snape and Lily, but I have to ask: "What part of the name Albus Severus do you not understand?"