Portrait Scenarios: How the final scene should have been written
My sister and I were hanging out the other night, and we got talking about how the final scene of Deathly Hallows SHOULD have been written...


We were both incredibly disgusted that Severus' portrait did NOT appear in that scene. And I was talking about some of the discussion I've seen online, pro and con having his portrait appear in that scene. Most of the con reasoning I've seen boils down to something along the lines of, Dear God, NOT ANOTHER EXPOSITION DUMP! -- which one might rightly fear would result from Harry encountering Severus' portrait in the final scene.

The scenario my sister and I developed was much more elegant in its simplicity:

Harry walks into the Headmaster's Office. Portraits explode into applause, Dumbledore gently weeps, etc. THEN... Harry looks next to Dumbledore, at the newest portrait: Severus Snape, looking down at Harry with his usual inscrutable expression. All falls silent. Severus smirks, just a little, gives a clipped nod, and says simply: "Potter."

And then Harry responds either "Headmaster" (my sister's version) or "Professor" (my version). Because it's way too early, of course, for him to call him "Severus," but "Snape" would be too cold and reminiscent of his erstwhile loathing for the man.

And then the scene just plays out to the end. NO EPILOGUE REQUIRED! :-D

And Severus gets his due... unlike in *cough* "canon."