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Originally Posted by
Marauders' Map
I like the really strong showing by Ginny here! Nice to know there are so many other Ginny lovers out there.
I posed a question about Snape on another SS thread, and I didn't really get a response, so I will try again here. I genuinely do not understand why -- if his love for Lily Potter was the motivating force of his entire life -- Snape was a first class jerk (bordering on abusive) to Harry ever since Harry was 11 years old. I get that in order to be an effective double agent, Snape had to put up a front about Harry, but it was amply clear after 5 or 6 years that Snape's actions towards Harry were no false pretend. He genuinely hated Harry and went out of his way to let Harry know that repeatedly ever since Harry was a young boy. I guess that maybe Snape saw James in Harry and that is what drove Snape so crazy. But if that is true, why didn't Snape also sometimes see Lily in Harry, and why didn't that mitigate his actions towards Harry? I am not saying that Snape had to be president of the Harry Potter Fan Club, but why couldn't he have in some way tipped Harry off to his mixed feelings? Why did he have to go so out of his way to be so nasty? Not a single moment of kindness in almost 7 years? His behavior towards the boy hardly seems the behavior of one who was entirely motivated by love of the boy's mother. Anyway, I genuinely don't understand this and I wonder if anybody can shed some satisfactory light on it.
Good questions...all of them. People are complicated and maybe JKR showed us just that...just because Snape loved Lily did not entirely remove his disgust/hatred for James and subsequently any offspring they had. It would be too easy to make Snape the all grand protector of Harry...I mean, he would be an angel if he had...but he didnt...he had very conflicting emotions of love, jealousy, dedication, etc.