Snape’s question

Snape’s first question to Harry in the Philosopher’s Stone in his potions class is: “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Asphodel is a type of lily and in the language of flowers, it means ‘remembered beyond the tomb’ or ‘my regrets follow you to the grave’ while wormwood is often associated with regret or bitterness. This suggests that Snape deeply regrets Lily Potter’s death.