continuing...
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A different argument is that Severus has strict and demanding standards (both academic and behavioral) as a teacher and Harry repeatedly fails those,
This is the other, say, third of my personal headcanon, providing that one substitutes "pertaining to Lily" for "academic and behavioural". Lily was the only (or one of very few, anyway) person who saw past Severus's exterior and upbringing, and he was deeply attached to her; he seems to have stopped developing, emotionally, at her death, and all the schoolday grudges he carried when he was with her are still active in him now, whereas Lupin seems to have grown up and moved past them. (Sirus, due to Azkaban, has also been mentally frozen at a younger age than his chronological one -- something JKR seems to like doing/dealing with...)
Harry is the only thing left of Lily... and Harry comes across as a complete copy of James: not only in physical appearance, but he's also shallow/never looks past people's surfaces, unstudious, judgmental, and with a seemingly inborn dislike of Severus (since Severus cannot know that their eyes met just as Harry's scar started to hurt).
Dumbledore probably hasn't been giving Severus details of how Harry's grown up (since "Hey, Severus; the kid's managed to blow up his visiting abusive aunt today; the other one's carrying on same as usual" doesn't make you look like somebody who can offer redemption), so he has no conception of Harry's potential similarities; he has only that initial impression, and the way Harry behaves toward him -- which is influenced by both Harry's scar-pain and by Dumbledore setting Snape up to look like an ungrateful git ("your father saved his life").
And once Severus decides that he's disliked, he's not going to exert himself to become popular; not only would that be, in his view, acting like the Enemy (he repeatedly accuses Harry of seeking fame, and James et al were certainly not averse to showing off to large crowds -- "who wants to see me take off Snape's pants?"); it would also be setting himself up for rejection, and Severus HATES losing his dignity ("I AM NOT A COWARD!", the fury he unleashes when Sirius eludes him). He's not going to hand himself over to Potter Jr. when all the evidence suggests that rejection is what he's going to get. (A rejection he did NOT get from Lily until he'd done something to deserve it -- hence Harry has failed the litmus test in Snape's eyes.)
This is the other, say, third of my personal headcanon, providing that one substitutes "pertaining to Lily" for "academic and behavioural". Lily was the only (or one of very few, anyway) person who saw past Severus's exterior and upbringing, and he was deeply attached to her; he seems to have stopped developing, emotionally, at her death, and all the schoolday grudges he carried when he was with her are still active in him now, whereas Lupin seems to have grown up and moved past them. (Sirus, due to Azkaban, has also been mentally frozen at a younger age than his chronological one -- something JKR seems to like doing/dealing with...)
Harry is the only thing left of Lily... and Harry comes across as a complete copy of James: not only in physical appearance, but he's also shallow/never looks past people's surfaces, unstudious, judgmental, and with a seemingly inborn dislike of Severus (since Severus cannot know that their eyes met just as Harry's scar started to hurt).
Dumbledore probably hasn't been giving Severus details of how Harry's grown up (since "Hey, Severus; the kid's managed to blow up his visiting abusive aunt today; the other one's carrying on same as usual" doesn't make you look like somebody who can offer redemption), so he has no conception of Harry's potential similarities; he has only that initial impression, and the way Harry behaves toward him -- which is influenced by both Harry's scar-pain and by Dumbledore setting Snape up to look like an ungrateful git ("your father saved his life").
And once Severus decides that he's disliked, he's not going to exert himself to become popular; not only would that be, in his view, acting like the Enemy (he repeatedly accuses Harry of seeking fame, and James et al were certainly not averse to showing off to large crowds -- "who wants to see me take off Snape's pants?"); it would also be setting himself up for rejection, and Severus HATES losing his dignity ("I AM NOT A COWARD!", the fury he unleashes when Sirius eludes him). He's not going to hand himself over to Potter Jr. when all the evidence suggests that rejection is what he's going to get. (A rejection he did NOT get from Lily until he'd done something to deserve it -- hence Harry has failed the litmus test in Snape's eyes.)