My very first Snape essay:

Okay - I am going to try to post it. I have saved it as a pdf and will be inserting it below - hope this works! Please go easy on the comments and corrections; my understanding of the story has been refined considerably thanks to the conversations I've had both here on livejournal and in real life. But, after rereading it, I've got to say a couple of my basic conclusions are unchanged. I still think, as I've always thought since July, 2005, that Snape is Harry's bodyguard. I still think he killed Dumbledore (if he did kill him) only because Snape himself had to stay alive to protect Harry. I'm going to add some notes at the end of the essay to explain how my understanding has changed, and to clarify points I no longer agree with. Here goes:

Title Severus Snape and the Great Mysteries: Love, Forgiveness and Redemption in Harry Potter
Author mary-j-59
Genre Essay, gen, about 9,775 words
Warnings and credits G rated. Thanks to all whom I credited below, particularly Jodel, logospilgrim, and John Granger. Thanks also to beyond_pale, Swythyv, Professor_mum and all you other brilliant livejournallers out there.

The essay follows the cut:

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