Harry Potter: 5 Reasons You Need To Rewatch The Half-Blood Prince

Dumbledore's last words. They are heartbreaking, eloquently spoken, and truly memorable. Those two words are ingrained into the minds of every Potter fan, so why in the world do we have to relive them?

At first, these words appear to be a gentle cry for help, spoken in the knowledge that Snape will help Dumbledore and save him from their Death Eater counterparts. When Severus ignores this request and instead raises his wand to strike the Hogwarts headmaster down, it seems to the audience as a vicious betrayal of friendship. An act of pure evil, validating years of hatred towards Hogwarts's most despised teacher.

However, watching back now, we all know that was not the case. By the end of The Deathly Hallows, we realise that it was the plan all along that Snape would be the one to kill Dumbledore in order to win Voldemort's trust, but this revelation has a very special effect on Dumbledore's final words.

When fans return to the scene after watching the saga's finale, they see that Michael Gambon performs the line so brilliantly that it actually appears to be a genuine request for Snape to cast the killing curse against him. The sense of betrayal no longer exists, and the line accurately expresses the underlying understanding between the characters just enough for audiences to pick up on.

In a brilliant bit of acting, a second watching of this scene reveals a whole new layer to a Harry Potter moment that seemed so cut and dry in the first instance.

"Severus... please" is not a plea for help, but a subtle request to be killed, and it blows you away every time.