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Throughout the HP series we keep being told that "Harry potter has Lily's eyes".

Which is (implied to be) significant because:

Snape was in love with Lily, and thus it meant Snape had a reason to care for Harry.

Given that we are provided almost no details on Lily and Snape's past it's hard to draw any further conclusion from this, but to satisfy/disprove a personal (and thus subjective) theory of mine: Does Snape have a son?

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    I could see a really great piece of fanfic being made from this concept... but as DVK points out, it's totally not supported by the books. Now... add some time travel, Snape being hit with a huge, physically damaging dark curse and having to be rebuilt from the ground up with massive changes to his appearance.... meets Lilly on the train to Hogwarts... OK... We're definitely into fanfic territory by this point :) Still could be interesting, tho.
    – K-H-W
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 16:49
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    The official HP fandom name for Snape-Is-Harry's-Real-Father fic/trope is "Severitus," just as an FYI.
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:07
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    Did someone mention time travel and Snape?
    – Xantec
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 19:57
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    @Xantec - youtu.be/3ZW_dwd_WJY (probably NSFW) I apologise in advance for the squick factor. It's probably a judgment on my character that this makes me laugh and laugh ;)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 9, 2012 at 21:00
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    OMG that was awesome! ROTFL! Surely you've seen the Potter Puppet Pals in The Mysterious Ticking Noise: youtu.be/Tx1XIm6q4r4
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 9, 2012 at 23:45

2 Answers 2

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There is nothing in canon that states Snape had children.

James Potter is definitely Harry Potter's father.

But if you're into the trope of Snape being Harry's father, Google "Severitus" and see what you find. :)

Addressing a comment -- Although if Snape had played his cards differently, perhaps things might have gone a different way. From a web chat: Jaclyn: Did Lily ever have feelings back for Snape? J.K. Rowling: Yes. She might even have grown to love him romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathesome people and acts. SOURCE: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript ... :)

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    Hey, no fair cheating and using Word Of God :) +1, and hope Pureferret accepts this answer as it's a lot more authoritative than mine.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:07
  • I think it's just as authoritative, as you are spot on in your answer. The very idea of Snape attempting to parent is beyond comprehension >.< :)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:19
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    Um. Why? I think he'd make a wonderful parent. Better than a lot.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:28
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    @Pureferret -- Although if Snape had played his cards differently, perhaps things might have gone a different way. From a web chat: Jaclyn: Did Lily ever have feelings back for Snape? J.K. Rowling: Yes. She might even have grown to love him romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathesome people and acts. SOURCE: the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/… ... :)
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:47
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    @DVK - I definitely think he looked after his Slytherins, yes. (It's not like Dumbledore did. . . yeah, I'm still bitter over the patently unfair loss of the House Cup in SS/PS. . . ) (And, yes, I know Dumbledore took great care with Draco during HBP -- don't get me wrong. I think Dumbledore is an amazing character!) I think Snape would not be an overly affectionate parent, but he would definitely be the kind of father a kid could go to if he/she sprouted antlers, accidentally drank hemlock, or was failing Potions. He'd be utilitarian, I think. But perhaps Lily would have influenced him.
    – Slytherincess
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 18:45
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If you are implying that Harry was Snape's son, then this is demonstrably not true:

  • First off, if that was true, Dumbledore would immediately have told Snape, so that he would be super extra protective of Harry and less hard on him, instead of totally hating him as James Potter's son and only grudgingly agreeing to help in his protection due to his love of Lily.

    The "he has his mother's eyes" is incredibly lame of a reason to entice Snape by comparison, and lots more prone to not work.

  • Harry seems to inherit all of the unique qualities of James Potter (broomstick skills, other Seeker skills, reckless personality) and none of Snape's (extra smart, special talent for potion making, skillful wizard [note how most - though not all - of Harry's MAJOR accomplishments of magical - as opposed to character-based - type - are rarely uniquely his power/skill], extra talent for mind magic).

  • Ditto with looks. Aside from eyes, all the looks resemble James, not Severus (don't have appropriate quotes yet but will try to add later)

  • It's strongly hinted that Harry has Ignotus Peverell's genes, specially tied to the fact that his family lived in Godric's Hollow. Snape doesn't seem to have those genes.

    As an extra proof - the Hallows - at least the Invisibility Cloak - work the best when used by the rightful owner who's the child of the previous one. Since James was the rightful owner before, and Harry is an obvious "rightful owner" of the cloak as far as full mastery of it, this reinforces Ignotus heritage as passed on by James.

  • As circumstancial evidence, Lily couldn't stand Snape at the time of Harry's conception due to his being a Death Eater. Given human nature, this isn't proof of anything but still evidence.

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  • I am, but as it's a personal theory I was looking for 'evidence'. Your first point only counts in the case that Dumbledore knew himself; Your second, third and fourth points are excellent; As to the fifth there are other reasons to hate someone. You don't however answer my question, but I'm guessing if you did it would be a resounding no ?
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 16:50
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    @Pureferret - It's not quite a "resounding" "no" due to lack of incontrovertible canon proof as far as I'm aware that he is NOT Snape's son in the books (but see Slytherinces's answer for non-book proof). No wizarding video of conception; no magical genetic paternity tests. I could easily concuct a conspiracy theory at least remotely plausibly explaining away all the points above. Using boxing terminology, it's a resounding win on points in favor of "Son of James" theory (N-0, where N varies), but not a win by knockout
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:02
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    All good points, but my thoughts on the first one would be that Dumbledore had lots of reasons for not always telling people the whole truth when they wanted to know it. (He was worse than Obi-Wan in that way.) If Dumbledore knew Harry were Snape's child, there could be any number of reasons why he wouldn't tell him.
    – Tango
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:09
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    @TangoOversway - Given the importance of keeping Snape's help, I can't possibly see a single valid reason that could trump "this will make Snape 100% reliable" reason. Remember, Snape wasn't meant to find out about Harry's need to sacrifice himself, and was only told because his allegiance needed to be cemented by Dumbledore by telling him the truth.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:27
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    @TangoOversway - heh. We must be talking about a different Snape. Far as I'm concerned, he's saner than most HP universe doofoses.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 7, 2012 at 17:35

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