This past week the beloved Alan Rickman, best known for his role as Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" films, lost his battle to cancer too soon, at the age of 69.

“'Look...at...me..." he whispered. The green eyes found the black, but after a second, something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank, and empty. The hand holding Harry thudded to the floor, and Snape moved no more.”

Now the world looks again, eyes brimming with tears and faces screwed up with sad smiles to hide frantic sobs because Hogwarts has lost one of its own and one of its best. A terrifying character that fans, including myself, wanted to hate, Snape earned a place in our hearts because, in the end, we understood his dark side.

This week is somber and weird. Though I know it's not true, it feels as though I've mourned the same man twice. It may be unfair to compress Alan Rickman's life into the great, but fictional role of Severus Snape. Surely he has a universe of other great works and attributes to be loved and remembered for. After all, Severus Snape remains nothing more than the brainchild of J.K. Rowling, whereas Alan Rickman was a husband, a friend, a son and most importantly, a living, breathing, bleeding human being. As an actor, Alan Rickman brought to life many other characters. Truly, Severus Snape was only a fragment of this great actor's career. Yet my mind cannot help but recognize his loss as the loss of a beloved slice of my childhood.

As a child, I hated Severus Snape. In the early books, I believed him to be the villain. In the first movies, I hid behind the covers as he'd come barreling into the potions room with billowing black cloaks and greasy hair. Then, at the end of the seventh book, I saw Severus as what he truly was, a hero, and I mourned him in theaters on July 15, 2011, and for many of the following weeks.

Now I sit listening to the "Harry Potter" soundtracks, hiding my tears from my family because I don’t know how to explain that I’m mourning someone I never met, but who still resides in my heart. Severus Snape remains one of the most complex characters in children's fiction, only the most extraordinary of actors could have made him utterly believable, and I thank Rickman for that wonderful gift of creating that broken, brave man.

So let's all put on our Slytherin scarves and raise our wands in honor of the lovely and fallen Half-Blood Prince.