Showing Lockhart up at Duelling Club:
Snape was clearly having so much fun here – from the way he made a fool out of the pompous Gilderoy Lockhart, to managing to get a dig in at Ron, to the innocent little shrug he gave when suggesting Malfoy as Harry’s duelling companion…
Snape’s excellent comeback to Harry’s rather silly answer
The Head of Slytherin was rather talented when it came to sarcasm and biting comments – he certainly proved that it is far from the lowest form of wit. And while we know that Snape was unfairly targeting Harry, his response was still pretty funny.
‘Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost.’ The whole class looked round at Harry, who hastily tried to recall what Dumbledore had told him the night that they had gone to visit Slughorn. ‘Er – well – ghosts are transparent –’ he said.
‘Oh, very good,’ interrupted Snape, his lip curling. ‘Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent.’
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
In this image:
When Snape told everyone to turn to page 394
Okay, so you might see this as more of an iconic scene as opposed to an outright hilarious one, but we still had to include it. Alan Rickman’s pointed delivery of the line ‘Turn to page 394’, never fails to make us smile…
The way he had the utmost sympathy for anyone wanting to poison Harry Potter
Snape and Harry were never going to be best friends. But Snape revealing that he would understand anyone’s desire to poison young Harry was dark humour at its very best.
‘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
In this image:
When he had enough of Harry and Ron’s chatting
While we definitely don’t condone violence, the comic timing of this scene was something else. Harry and Ron may have wanted to use their homework time to discuss the Yule Ball, but the Potions professor clearly had other ideas – Snape rolling up his sleeves before making his move was perfect.
In this image:
The way he says obviously
Nobody can say the word obviously quite like Professor Snape. The way he managed to undermine Umbridge – not to mention his deadpan delivery – makes this one of the surly Potions Master’s funniest moments.
‘Now ... how long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?’ she asked, her quill poised over her clipboard.
‘Fourteen years,’ Snape replied. His expression was unfathomable. His eyes on Snape, Harry added a few drops to his potion; it hissed menacingly and turned from turquoise to orange.
‘You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, I believe?’ Professor Umbridge asked Snape.
‘Yes,’ said Snape quietly.
‘But you were unsuccessful?’
Snape’s lip curled.
‘Obviously.’
Professor Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
In this image:
If you want to see Alan Rickman deliver that memorable line or just want to enjoy many other Snape moments – here’s an excellent compilation of Snape just being Snape.
