Why Severus Snape Dislikes Harry Potter
(in accordance with the storyline of my 'Path' trilogy)

First of all, yes I realize that Harry doesn't act exactly like James. However, we know that with absolute certainty because we've read seven books from Harry's point of view. We know how he was bullied, we know how lonely he was, and we know how lucky he feels to just be allowed at Hogwarts. However, Severus doesn't know any of these things. The little interaction he does have with Harry usually involve Harry being cheeky, lazy, uninterested or self-absorbed. Mind you, I'm not just saying this to trash Harry! A lot of eleven year olds say and do things that seem inappropriate while they themselves are barely aware of it. Think of that first potion lesson. Harry doesn't know that Severus takes summer reading seriously, and he doesn't know that Severus is a respected professor at the school. So he doesn't try his hardest, he doesn't apologize for it and he ends up even being cheeky. It's not his fault, but his behavior projects a certain image to Severus, an image which eerily mirrors that of James. You must also remember Snape automatically filters Harry does through his 'James' lens, since Harry looks exactly like him. What I'm trying to say is that Severus interprets Harry's actions as being 'James-like' actions and assumes that Harry's doing it on purpose, while really, Harry just doesn't understand what the heck is going on around him - like most eleven year olds.

In addition, a part of Severus will always resent Harry for taking Lily away from him. Yes, he knows that Lily sacrificed herself to save Harry and he knows why she did it (after all, his own mother did the exact same thing), but a small part of him will always feel that Lily would still be there if Harry weren't. I know it doesn't make absolute sense, but in real life, people's emotions often tangle up their logic.

Now, that is not to say that this situation will remain this way! The reason Severus and Harry have a problem with each other is because 1) they don't know revelent bits of information about the other and 2) they make assumptions about each other and have too little interaction to allow those assumptions to be challenged. If either of these two things - or both - are changed, Snape and Harry can have another chance of starting over and working together. This won't happen over night, obviously, but it is where this story is going in the long term.

I hope I managed to make myself clear in that huge ramble. I can feel it in my gut why Sev doesn't like Harry, but it's so hard to explain.

Also, I have to say I don't think I'm making my Snape overly harsh or petty. I have tried to make it clear that some of Harry's behaviors are behaviors he doesn't tolerate of his own Slytherins (doing summer reading, doing homework and not reading about Quidditch, keeping their noses out of things that aren't their business, using their common sense and thinking before leaping into action etc). He might not like Harry very much, but he did promise to protect him. In a way, Snape is willing to protect Harry the same way he does his Slytherins, but he also holds him to Slytherin standards. That doesn't make much sense, you might say. How is it fair to hold somebody to standards that you didn't tell them about? It isn't. Why do I say that, then? Two reasons: 1) Severus is busy doing a million things and by now is used to his house drilling in the behaviors he expects into the younger years, and just forgets that Harry doesn't live in the dungeons too and therefore wouldn't have learned these things. 2) He's treating Harry the same way he treated Lily, expecting him to use his brain more than his Gryffindor brawn. But again, Harry is too young to understand this, and he doesn't understand how Severus runs his house. These problems will also be dealt with later on in the story.