Today I left my seminar room at uni and checked my phone to see the time. I was met with frantic messages from my best friend, telling me that Alan Rickman had died earlier on today. At that moment, I had to pause in the corridor. I had to pause, grab the arm of my friend next to me and, urgently, disbelievingly say:538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGyVk6UwaS
"Alan Rickman has died. Professor Snape has died."538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZA7vxr4ve
Now, if you are not a Potterhead, you may not fully grasp how earth-shatteringly devastating this news was to me and almost all of my friends today.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcRqrBMhBi
The first book I ever remember reading was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I was five years old.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HwCmLLeCb
The very first film I ever remember watching at the cinema was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I was six, and I remember vividly gripping the arm of my grandmother, utterly terrified at these gigantic spiders on the screen in front of me. I remember hating Severus Snape with a passion, because he was a baddie and when the Golden Trio disliked somebody, I disliked that somebody.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvATzMsSLP
And then, as I grew older, more books were released and we got to see the true character of Severus Snape and I loved him and felt utterly sorry for him. He is such a complex character that was certainly dealt a hard hand in life, and I do not think any single actor could have portrayed Severus Snape as well as Alan Rickman did.
Whilst Alan Rickman was not exclusively Severus Snape (I adored him in Robin Hood!), to me his starring role will always be that heartbroken potions professor.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDMJ2l35dV
I grew up with Harry Potter and the others - with Hermione and Ron and Neville and Seamus and Ginny and Malfoy and Luna. And when they were scared of Snape, I was scared of Snape. When they doubted Snape's loyalty, so did I. And when Snape gave his life in the end, I sobbed alongside with everybody else.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUmXw7hlgB
No one else could have given this character the complexity that Alan did. No one else could have been as passionate about the story he was telling, about the true nature of the character and have played it so impeccably well.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTHXY5Ls1n
No one else could have portrayed so much feeling with just a simple look. No one else could have had that distinctive voice that we all know as Severus Snape - every time I am told to turn to page 394 in a text book, my internal voice (and sometimes, if I am with friends, we will all say it out loud in unison, without even meaning to) will repeat the instruction in the dulcet tones of Alan Rickman - "Turn to page three-hundred-and-nineTY-FOUR"!538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkK8jLZmnBo
What I am trying to say is that Alan Rickman was an instrumental part of what shaped most of this generation. He was such a huge role in something massive, something that has influenced me since I was so very young. Snape taught me that sometimes the hero isn't always obvious, that sometimes your intentions won't be understood and people will think you the villain, but that's okay because in the end, your intentions were pure and your heart true and you achieved something truly remarkable. Snape taught me where you can find a bezoar, the difference between Wolfsbane and Monkshood and finally, Snape taught me that sometimes love never dies. I do not think any of this would have resonated with me half as much if it had not been Alan Rickman in that role. Snape would have been a character on a page, alive only in my head, but Alan brought him to life. He was the perfect, perfect Snape and everything I could ever have wished for.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2uSOEQIiR
This is a rushed and frankly quite terrible ode to the greatest Snape and the most diabolical Sheriff of Nottingham. My thoughts are muddled, my brain doesn't quite know how to deal with this news since I never knew him personally and so don't fully understand how I can feel so upset, but I simply needed to get this out.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZd5uQ93tu
Rest in peace, Severus Snape, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjP8qgewDMu
Rest in peace, Sheriff. You can be sure we'll cancel the merciful beheadings in your name.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOMv9NOfsI
Rest in peace, Alan Rickman, the brightest star in the sky tonight.538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABKaWXfoyK
"After all this time?"538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaX61IMNky
"Always."538Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8t3tU3g99
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