After all this time? Always.

Five simple words that shaped our generation, or at the very least should have shaped our generation.

Harry Potter taught us a lot more about love than we may realize. Sure, there’s the easy Ron and Hermione love story of two friends falling for each other, but the more powerful love story at play? The one we should all learn from? Lily and Snape.

No, Lily and Snape did not end up together. They didn’t live happily ever after at all. But Snape’s love is arguably the purest form of love.

He watched the love of his life go off with someone else. And do you know what he did? He still tried to save her life. And when he couldn’t do that? He watched after her son. Protected him. Guided him. And even started to care for him. All because of how he felt about Lily.

Now that’s love.

Love is putting the other person’s happiness before your own. It’s doing things in the best interest of the other person, even if they’re not there to witness this. It’s your patronus taking on the same animal as the person you love’s patronus — okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. But, it’s knowing what the other person would want of you, knowing what they’d think of your actions, and doing just that.

And that’s what Snape did.

He put his own hurt aside. He put his own heartbreak aside. And he acted in Lily’s best interest. Even after she was killed, Lily came first.

In fact, up until Snape’s own life ended, everything he did was for Lily. Despite the fact that she chose another man over him, and started a family that didn’t include him.

If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Yes, the Harry Potter series as a whole heavily influenced the millennial generation. Yes, many millennials want a love like Ron and Hermoine. But, we can all learn a thing or two about true love from Severus Snape.

Always. Because true love just doesn’t go away.