Long before James Potter entered Lily Evan’s life there was Severus Snape. The two of them were become friends shortly before they entered Hogwarts for the first time. Severus was Lily’s best friend for many years, but the feelings Severus had for Lily was beyond friendship. He fell in love with her and hated James in part because James stole Lily’s heart away from him.
Snape was deeply stung by Lily’s love of James, but he never stopped loving her, even when he turned to the Dark Arts and Lord Voldemort. He knew that he was the cause of Lily’s death and that knowledge just about destroyed him. It also turned him away from Voldemort.
Image source: Will Pigg
There is a beautiful scene towards the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Dumbledore is confiding to Snape about what Harry needs to do. For a fleeting moment Dumbledore wonders if Snape has developed kind feelings towards Harry and asks as much when he says, “After all this time?”
Snape responds by conjuring up his Patronus, which is a doe, and says, “Always.” The doe is the same Patronus that Lily had and Snape took the image of her Patronus as a sign of his undying love for her.
Image source: Will Pigg
This beautiful piece of art pays homage to Snape’s love of Lily. It is a handmade paper silhouette that you can buy framed or unframed. The framed version is placed in a floating frame so that you can see the shadow of the silhouette, and the effect is simply stunning. If you’d rather frame it yourself then you can buy it unframed.
The details in this work are amazing. When I showed this to my husband I hinted that this would make a perfect birthday gift for me this year. Of course, I’ll act totally surprised if I should happen to unwrap this in a few months!
Image source: Will Pigg
