Severitus

Severitus/Snarry is the family/Slash ship between Harry Potter and Severus Snape from the Harry Potter fandom

Canon
From the day Harry set foot in Hogwarts, he and Snape loathed each other. Despite the fact that Snape was committed to honoring Lily's sacrifice, he could not bring himself to judge the boy objectively because of the connection to James Potter, who bullied him in his school days. Indeed, Snape was filled with nothing but contempt and bitterness towards Harry, who simultaneously reminded him of both Lily and James. Harry served as living proof of the fact that Lily had given her love to someone else, and Snape wasted no time in comparing him continually with his father.

During Harry's time at Hogwarts, Snape treated Harry viciously, both in class and out. He frequently derided the boy's abilities, bullied him in class and punished him whenever possible. He was also resentful and even somewhat envious of Harry's popularity, which he also equated with Harry's father. Although Snape threatened to have Harry expelled more than once, he never attempted to follow through — presumably because it would have led to Harry losing the protection surrounding him. However, never did he forget that Harry was also Lily's child, and much beyond bureaucratic rules, this led him to put the boy's safety in the most critical situation. When he learned that Dumbledore had intended for Harry to die all along, Severus remained horrified, seeing it as a calculated betrayal of Lily's memory.

When Harry helped Sirius Black escape, their relationship went under further strain, since Snape believed at that time that Sirius betrayed Lily to Voldemort whereas Harry had learned of his innocence, although Snape continued to put Harry's safety first. During the brief period in which Snape gave private Occlumency lessons, Snape relished in forcing Harry to relive his worst memories. During the early years, Harry associated Snape with his abusive and bullying ways but when Sirius died, Harry took savage pleasure in blaming Snape for having taunted Sirius about being useless, causing him to leave his hiding place and join the battle. Though Snape came to the aid of the Order as swiftly as possible, Harry blamed Snape mainly to ease his own guilty conscience about the entire incident. However, this was nothing in comparison to the retroactive rage Harry felt upon finding out that Snape was the one who relayed the Prophecy to Lord Voldemort, causing him to hunt down Harry and his family. When he later murdered Dumbledore, the hatred between them was sealed almost as personally as between Harry and Voldemort.

Only once did Snape ever truly see him as Lily's son, and that was in the moments right before he died. Following this, Harry was given access to all of Snape's concealed memories, which brought the former teacher's true intentions to light. When Harry discovered the love Snape had for his mother and the constant danger he put himself in to ensure his safety, his opinion of him changed completely. By adulthood, all of Harry's hatred of Snape seem vanished and looks as though he never harbor it. This can be seen through his request that a portrait of Snape be hung in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, which was not done immediately after Snape's death since he had abandoned his post. Furthermore, Harry gave his youngest son the name "Albus Severus", and told him that his Slytherin namesake was "the bravest man I ever knew."

Books
''‘Potter!’ said Snape suddenly. ‘What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?’''

''‘Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?’ Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione’s hand had shot into the air. ‘I don’t know, sir,’ said Harry. Snape’s lips curled into a sneer.''

‘Tut, tut – fame clearly isn’t everything.’”

— Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

‘Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?’

''‘Yes,’ said Harry stiffly. ‘Yes, sir’ ‘There’s no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor."”''

— Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 'Maybe he’s ill!’ said Ron hopefully.

''‘Maybe he’s left,’ said Harry, ‘because he missed out on the Defense Against Dark Arts job again!’ ‘Or he might have been sacked!’ said Ron enthusiastically. ‘I mean, everyone hates him —’''

‘Or maybe,’ said a very cold voice right behind them, ‘he’s waiting to hear why you two didn’t arrive on the school train'

— Harry Potter and the Chamber of Sercets

'' 'Mr Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Potter?’''

''‘No,’ said Harry, now trying to sound innocently curious. ‘It was your head, Potter. Floating in mid-air.’ There was a long silence. ‘Maybe he’d better go to Madam Pomfrey,’ said Harry.''

‘If he’s seeing things like –’

‘What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?’ said Snape softly.

''‘Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade.’ ‘I know that,’ said Harry, striving to keep his face free of guilt or fear. ‘It sounds like Malfoy’s having hallucin — ’''

''‘Malfoy is not having hallucinations,’ snarled Snape, and he bent down, a hand on each arm of Harry’s chair, so that their faces were a foot apart. ‘If your head was in Hogsmeade, so was the rest of you.’''

— Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 'How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter,’ Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting.

''‘He too was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch field made him think he was a cut above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers... The resemblance between you is uncanny.’''

''‘My dad didn't strut,’ said Harry, before he could stop himself. ‘And neither do I.’''

— Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

''‘I wish to interrogate him!’ shouted Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering face. ‘I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!’''

''‘I have already told you,’ said Snape smoothly, ‘that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter – and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did – I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling.’''

— Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

''“‘You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them--I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so. . . no!’''

''Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. ‘ Kill me then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘Kill me like you killed him, you coward--’ ‘DON'T--" screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘--CALL ME COWARD’”''

— Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

'' 'A flask, conjured from thin air, was thrust into his shaking hands by Hermione. Harry lifted the silvery substance into it with his wand. When the flask was full to the brim, and Snape looked as though there was no blood left in him, his grip on Harry’s robes slackened.''

''‘Look ... at ... me ...’ he whispered.''

''The green eyes found the black, but after a second something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more.’''

— Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

''“‘I have spied for you, and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter’s son safe. Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter –’''

''‘But this is touching, Severus,’ said Dumbledore seriously. ‘Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?’''

— Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Films
Harry Potter: Sir, it's Quidditch tomorrow.

Professor Snape: Then I suggest you take extra care, Mr. Potter, loss of limb will not excuse you.Page 394. – “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2003)”

Family (Severitus)
This ship is when a fanfiction describes a situation where Snape becomes a father figure to Harry in some way; this often involves Snape being forced to adopt Harry after his parents die or something. They share a trauma from the war, and were also led into certain positions by Dumbledore, whom they had to trust, but were never given the full plan/specific information.

So they understand each other, they have a lot in common, and I don't think they would be anything but brutally honest with each other.

Romantic (Snarry)
Snarry was popular long before Lily's revelation, when the series was still running. Many of the classic Snarry fics were written between 2001 and 2005. This was when Snape's motivations were still unknown, so many writers wrote a darker, more complicated dynamic with power imbalances between the two.

On AO3, this ship is the most written ship for Snape and the second most written ship for Harry - with similar (and sometimes higher) popularity on FFN.net.

Fans of this ship love enemy-to-lover and redemption arcs, and their positions in the story and their roles in each other's lives promise an amazing potential dynamic. Snape and Harry are also mirror images of each other in many ways and have a lot in common. They were both abused, bullied, half-bloods who grew up in the Muggle world and had their lives changed by Voldemort. Snape is also pretty much responsible for everything that went wrong in Harry's life, and from Snape's point of view, Harry is an embodiment of all Snape's sins and mistakes, and a living reminder of everything that's wrong in Snape's life, a symbol of all the betrayals - his own and those inflicted upon him.

In Snarry, a lot of the post-war stories focus on the similarities between Harry and Snape and the dynamic of them working together. Both had difficult childhoods, both found a home at Hogwarts, both liked power, both played an important role in the war with Harry as the weapon and Severus as the tool. Both survived so much danger. All that Severus had done to keep Harry alive over the years. How important he was as a spy on the DARK LORD. Both just used and seen as pawns and pushed around, Severus useful for his skills and connections, Harry useful for his destiny.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Harry/Severus on FanFiction.Net


 * TUMBLR
 * Seviritus posts on Tumblr
 * Seviritus posts on Tumblr
 * Seviritus posts on Tumblr


 * TWITTER
 * Snarry tag on Twitter
 * HP/SS tag on Twitter