The issue of why Harry Potter would choose to give his own son the name of the teacher who made his school life such a misery has long been a slight puzzlement to fans of the magical stories.

On the one hand, Severus Snape revealed a strong and abiding love for Harry’s mother Lily, and ultimately made a heroic effort to save the day, but he was also sworn enemies with his father James, and even though he wanted Harry to be protected, he wasn’t exactly one for preferential treatment.

So, weighing all this up, Twitter user @FrazzyJazzy7 approached the only person who could give a decent answer—J.K. Rowling—and asked:

@jk_rowling Why did you pick Snape to name Harry's kid after? I'm genuinely curious as he was nothing but abusive towards everyone.

— △⃒⃘Jasmine△⃒⃘ (@FrazzyJazzy7) November 27, 2015

Her response shines some light on one of the more confusing relationships in the Harry Potter story, the embittered teacher and the son of both his most hated and most loved people in the wizarding world.

Snape died for Harry out of love for Lily. Harry paid him tribute in forgiveness and gratitude. https://t.co/MPXBgUApa3

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 27, 2015

Which prompted this response:

@jk_rowling Kind of strange you'd say 'in forgiveness', I mean Snape held no malice against Harry (which Harry came to knew, eventually).

— Capt Planet (@CaptPlanet_) November 27, 2015

That's not true, I'm afraid. Snape projected his hatred and jealousy of James onto Harry. https://t.co/5jzNHlfSe0

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 27, 2015

And then a more considered explanation, in which she said:
“There’s a whole essay in why Harry gave his son Snape’s name, but the decision goes to the heart of who Harry was, post-war.

“Snape is all grey. You can’t make him a saint: he was vindictive & bullying. You can’t make him a devil: he died to save the wizarding world.

“This morning I’ve been thinking a lot about the appeal of simple dichotomies in our messy world, then you raise Snape! Highly appropriate.”

This was, however, after a certain amount of pro and anti-Snape shouting on the part of her twitter followers, which prompted this response, before getting into the explanation proper:

I've got to say this: you lot have been arguing about Snape for years. My timeline just exploded with love & fury yet again. Never change x

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 27, 2015

And you don’t need a crystal ball to know Harry Potter fans almost certainly won’t.

POSTSCRIPT: Two more tweets on the topic have just arrived (by owl):

Snape didn't die for 'ideals'. He died in an attempt to expiate his own guilt. He could have broken cover at any time to save himself 1/2

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 27, 2015

but he chose not to tell Voldemort that the latter was making a fatal error in targeting Harry. Snape's silence ensured Harry's victory. 2/2

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 27, 2015

There. That should do it.