On one website alone, there are 47,000 pieces of fiction about Snape. Another hosts a staggering 28,000 artistic interpretations, including one brooding picture of the character, as portrayed by Alan Rickman in the films, with the caption: "I think he's given us all a love potion."
In America, recently, there was an entire convention dedicated solely to the teacher.
When Bloomsbury conducted a worldwide poll to find fans' favourite character in 2011, Snape romped home with 13,000 votes. So, the internet is bracing itself for a flood of forthright opinions on October 6 when the first ever official illustration of Snape appears in a new edition of Rowling's series opener, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
The book, which will also feature drawings of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and dozens of others, is being published by Bloomsbury to bring a new readership to the much-loved series. Jim Kay, the award-winning artist who was given the daunting task of reinterpreting Rowling's well-known characters, has been commissioned to illustrate all seven books and has been praised by the author for his "moving" creations.
But Kay's Snape, together with new drawings of Harry and Ron, looks very different to the Rickman interpretation. Shrouded in darkness, he has a vertiginous hook nose and resembles a goblin. This is actually more faithful to Rowling's original description of Snape, but it is sure to stir up chatter within the cauldron of Harry Potter fandom.
"I don't think most Snape fans will be put off by a more Rowling-style image," says Dr Eleanor Spencer-Regan, who teaches in the Department of English Studies at Durham University. "In fact, I'd say the fact that he's not conventionally good-looking is probably part of the appeal. We always thought there was more to him than just this mean teacher."
One of the key attractions of Snape is his complexity. Although he starts as Potter's nemesis - a villain in cahoots with Lord Voldemort, the murderer of Harry's parents - the Potions Master is revealed in the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as a double agent who has been guarding Harry's life as compensation for the death of the boy's mother, Lily Evans, the unrequited love of his life. During the climactic Battle of Hogwarts, Snape makes the ultimate sacrifice so that Harry can live.
Rowling spun this tale with gossamer, hooking her 450 million readers on cliffhangers that grew steeper with each passing publication, and it was this, together with the mystery surrounding Snape's real motives, that made the character so fascinating. In fact, fans, especially female ones, started to flesh out Snape through online fiction just two years after he appeared on Rowling's pages, many of them imagining he had a softer side.
Their intuition surprised Rowling. She was shocked when, as early as 1999, a fan asked her if Snape would fall in love.
"There's so much I wish I could say," she managed to reply. "You'll find out why I'm so stunned if you read book seven."
