And what will you give me in return, Severus?' 'In - in return?' Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, 'Anything.

In fact, you couldn't give me anything to make me go back to being a teenager. Never. No, I hated it.

I was very low and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad.

He yearned not to feel... He wished he could rip out his heart, his innards, everything that was screaming inside him.

And they'd [the Death Eaters] love to have me," said Harry sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in.

The difficult thing, the glorious thing, was to be who you really were, even if that person was cruel or dangerous, particularly if cruel and dangerous. There was courage in not distinguishing the animal you happened to be. On the other hand, you had to avoid pretending to be more of an animal than you were: take that path, start exaggerating or faking and you became just another Cubby, just as much of a liar, a hypocrite

Nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.