Half blood prince

Half-Blood Prince

Severus Snape was a brilliant wizard, even in his childhood years. It was apparent through the notes and scribbles in his Potions textbook that he made time during classes to invent curses, charms, and brilliant potion innovations, while simultaneously learning the required textbook lessons.

This Book is Property of the the Half-Blood Prince.

Added by Seth Cooper

Severus Snape's potions textbook contained a few spells which he specifically took credit for inventing: Levicorpus, which grabbed the victim by the ankle and dangled them upside-down, and Sectumsempra, which caused slashing cuts which bled extensively, guided by hand gestures on the victim. Levicorpus somehow escaped from Severus' secrecy, and became very popular around Hogwarts towards the end of his fifth year at school. Some other spells are Muffliato, which filled the ears of anyone nearby with an "unidentifiable buzzing sound"; Langlock, which affixed the victim's tongue to the roof of the mouth; and a hex that caused toenails to grow at an unnaturally fast rate. Snape's book later fell into the hands of Harry Potter in 1996. Harry used the Half-Blood Prince's tips and earned praise with that year's Potions master, Professor Horace Slughorn. Harry considered the Half-Blood Prince to be a better teacher than Snape, unaware at that point that Snape was the Prince in question.
The potions textbook has an inscription indicating it is Property of the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione Granger's research revealed that Prince was the maiden name of Snape's mother and so the nickname was revealed to be a combination of his mother's maiden name and his blood status. This nickname was apparently a secret, as Remus Lupin did not remember it ever being used publicly by Snape.