Quote:
Originally Posted by
Marauders' Map 
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?
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.
HELLO!!!!!!!
I am here to answer your Snape questions as best I can.
1) Severus looked at Harry and saw James (Harry looked just like him) so all the old feelings of hate came up which lead to Severus treating Harry bad. Also Harry was living proof that James had beat him. Harry was living proof of Severus' worst memory (he had lost Lily) which lead to hate
2) Severus couldn't see Lily in Harry because he LOOKED so much like James. Severus would not allow himself to see the person he loved the most in that physical form of the person he hated the most.
(honestly could you do that? could you find qualities of the person you've loved so much in a person that looked nearly identical to the person you most hated?)
3) He would never let Harry know as long as he(severus himself) lived because I would imagen it's something of a mix of guilt and embarressment. Guilt that you feel partly responcible for the death of the woman you loved. Embarressed that you're doing a favor for not only Lily, but also in some ways for James!! James bullied Severus as a child and they were bitter rivials now you're helping raise his kid!! But also the embarressment that you would be admitting to a child that his father "took" your only love. Severus' pride would never allow him to admit to Harry the truth of his complex hate/care for him.
4) One of Severus' biggest flaws is his ability to hold a grudge. He held onto this grudge towards James and never forgot it. Harry had the misfortunae of looking like James on top of being James' son so Snape took all the built up anger and hate out on Harry.
But don't forget Snape did save Harry's life on more than one occassion so at times we did see the behavior of his love for Lily acted towards Harry.
But here's something else to think about.
His memmories, Severus did not need to give Harry his childhood memories, he just did.
Really he would have needed to only give Harry 3 or 4 memories to show him he didn't betray Dumbledore and the message Dumbledore gave him to pass on to Harry.
I always thought of those memories had 2 purposes. 1) to tell Harry what he needed to know abut dying etc.
2) for Harry to understand WHY he treated him so poorly......in a way this COULD be seens as Severus' "apology" to Harry for all the years of mistreatment.
If you have anymore questions feel free to leave a message on my wall or PM me. I find this to be an interesting topic and really do listen to what other people have to say. Hope my answers help, but if you have more questions I'll be more than willing to listen to them and hopefully provide an answer
