Severus Snape Infosite

Could Severus Snape belong to ANY other house than Slytherin? Probably not. Could he be anybody else BUT the head of said house? Again, probably not.

But that’s exactly what he is. For six of the seven Harry Potter books Severus Snape is the head of the Slytherins, a group of students known for their cunning and deceitful ways. Slytherin is also known as the one house at Hogwarts most responsible for churning out dark wizards. That’s not surprising, really, given that they prize power more than anything else, and that Snape regularly encourages his students to do less-than-scrupulous things to get their house ahead. He also has no problems penalizing other houses while giving his an unfair advantage.

Snape doesn’t remain head of the house forever, though - once he’s forced to flee, after killing Albus Dumbledore, he loses the spot to a former head turned teacher, Horace Slughorn.

Snape takes on a more prestigious role soon after his flight, however - that of head of Hogwarts, appointed as such by Lord Voldemort.

Anybody who’s read the first four or five books of the Harry Potter series, or perhaps seen the movies, has probably asked themselves one fundamental question: Why does Dumbledore trust Snape so much?

The truth is, like all other things, finally revealed in the final book. Until then, though, it seems a mystery. Why does Dumbledore show such implicit trust for Snape? Snape, a man who’s a former death eater and who seems poised to betray his allies at every turn? Snape, who got Harry Potter eyed by the dark lord Voldemort in the first place? And why in god’s name would anybody trust Snape given that Snape actually kills Dumbledore?

In the end it actually boils down to Snape’s love of Harry’s mother that keeps him honest in Dumbledore’s eyes. The older wizard knows that Snape won’t Harry, and will indeed give his life to defend the boy, because of his love for Lily Potter. And as it turns out Dumbledore was already on his way out from a curse administered by Voldemort - in other words, Snape just eased his pain and helped progress Dumbledore’s plans.

Read the last book if you haven’t. You’ll learn there’s a lot more to Snape than meets the eye - not to mention the normally benevolent Dumbledore.