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Several different lines of argument are used to explain why Severus is behaving in ways that Harry takes as hostile. One is that Severus had to act this way to maintain his cover as Death Eater: That when Voldemort returned Severus could point to his treatment of Harry as evidence that he remained a true DE and was never influenced by Dumbledore's agenda (and this would be supported by the testament of sons of DEs in his class if needed). A different argument is that Severus has strict and demanding standards (both academic and behavioral) as a teacher and Harry repeatedly fails those, thus bringing upon himself sarcasm, wrath, loss of points and detentions, as the case may be. And of course the argument more common among non-fans of Severus, that from the moment Severus saw the physical resemblance between Harry and his father Severus started taking on Harry his unreconciled enmity towards James (whether consciously or unconsciously).
This relationship becomes mutually hostile and results in Harry and his friends mistrusting Severus time and again - when they thought he was cursing Harry's broom and trying to steal the Philosophers' Stone, in the Shrieking Shack in POA, when they went to the Ministry in OOTP despite having already delivered him what should have been a sufficient warning to the Order and when Harry suspects Severus is a party to Draco's plot in HBP (well, he was in a way, but not how Harry expected). Severus' outburst in the Shrieking Shack ("... I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee!...") shows that Severus was offended by this state of affairs, he really expected to be trusted by Harry.
If Severus' behavior was strategic, intending to act the DE part - why would he expect Harry to trust him? Or is it that since their relationship already had a hostile start (whether because of Harry's conduct as a student or because of Severus' unsettled account with James) Severus decided to use it as part of his justification to Voldemort and the DEs (as we see him do with Bellatrix in HBP)? Did Severus expect Harry, perhaps with the aid of more trusted authority figures such as Minerva or Albus, to see the protection beyond the wrath and snark?
How does Albus fit in? In the early books he contributes to the distrust between the two - in PS he says Severus saved Harry so he could hate James' memory in peace, in POA he blames Severus for the need to make a daring rescue of Sirius. But later Albus reassures Harry that Severus was never suspected with any Dark activity since the first war (GOF), tells him how Severus warned the Order and searched for Harry and his friends in the forest, refrains from mentioning Severus' part in the matter of the prophecy until Harry learns of it himself (OOTP vs HBP) and tells Harry again and again that he trusts Professor Snape (HBP). Yet in OOTP he also says he expected Severus to have gotten over the past enough to teach Harry Occlumency successfully. So did Albus initially think he was supporting Severus' cover story but changed gears when he saw things were going badly? Or was he deliberately preventing the reconciliation of undesired hostility because it served his own plots?
This relationship becomes mutually hostile and results in Harry and his friends mistrusting Severus time and again - when they thought he was cursing Harry's broom and trying to steal the Philosophers' Stone, in the Shrieking Shack in POA, when they went to the Ministry in OOTP despite having already delivered him what should have been a sufficient warning to the Order and when Harry suspects Severus is a party to Draco's plot in HBP (well, he was in a way, but not how Harry expected). Severus' outburst in the Shrieking Shack ("... I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee!...") shows that Severus was offended by this state of affairs, he really expected to be trusted by Harry.
If Severus' behavior was strategic, intending to act the DE part - why would he expect Harry to trust him? Or is it that since their relationship already had a hostile start (whether because of Harry's conduct as a student or because of Severus' unsettled account with James) Severus decided to use it as part of his justification to Voldemort and the DEs (as we see him do with Bellatrix in HBP)? Did Severus expect Harry, perhaps with the aid of more trusted authority figures such as Minerva or Albus, to see the protection beyond the wrath and snark?
How does Albus fit in? In the early books he contributes to the distrust between the two - in PS he says Severus saved Harry so he could hate James' memory in peace, in POA he blames Severus for the need to make a daring rescue of Sirius. But later Albus reassures Harry that Severus was never suspected with any Dark activity since the first war (GOF), tells him how Severus warned the Order and searched for Harry and his friends in the forest, refrains from mentioning Severus' part in the matter of the prophecy until Harry learns of it himself (OOTP vs HBP) and tells Harry again and again that he trusts Professor Snape (HBP). Yet in OOTP he also says he expected Severus to have gotten over the past enough to teach Harry Occlumency successfully. So did Albus initially think he was supporting Severus' cover story but changed gears when he saw things were going badly? Or was he deliberately preventing the reconciliation of undesired hostility because it served his own plots?
But then, right through book 6, I really though Albus Dumbledore was emphasizing the need for Harry and Severus to work together to defeat Voldemort. I thought love between "enemies" would have something to do with the solution to the Voldemort problem Now, I just don't know what to think.
but i think that dumbledore was like a general. he was ready to give his life and expected his soldiers to do the same. and when it came to soldiers, snape was certainly his best soldier. and generals never hesitate to make sacrifices.
as long as he thought he could save snape he did, but i think in book seven - after losing so much to voldemort he was also desperate.
strangely what saddened me most was that in the epilogue - when all the sacrifices that snape had made were known - dumbledore didn't even mention him when he and harry were at king's cross.
Was Severus deliberately hostile to Harry because of a plan of his own (such as maintaining his DE image)? If so can he really complain that Albus plays into that hostility? And how did Severus hope to have Harry trust him when needed (such as in the Shrieking Shack)?
I certainly would not assume a teacher would come by just to gloat and watch me be killed, even if he did thoroughly dislike me - especially if doing so meant risking himself in the same 'life or death' situation.
Of course Harry doesn't 'see' the situation as 'life or death' even tho' it really IS. But from Snape's POV - why would he think anyone would believe he would risk his own life just to be able to watch Sirius or Remus kill Harry? IF he truly hated Harry enough to wish him dead, he could have just waited for Sirius to exit the Shack and make his citizen's arrest THEN.
I think that's the way Snape would have seen it. So why should he expect Harry to NOT trust him? -- Hwyla
I suppose the well-known animosity between Snape and Sirius would have been his cover for that one. -- Hwyla
I agree with this. Thing is, even if Severus planned for an antagonistic relationship between himself and Harry in order for his actions to look consistent to the DE's and their children, *Harry* still only saw a nasty teacher -- he didn't know Severus was a DE until the end of GoF. Harry had no reason to think that Severus was a DE just based on his classroom behavior.
(Although JKR does *make* things work out that way. See also: Macnair, whose job it is to kill dangerous animals. It was his job to kill Buckbeak, therefore he was a DE. But as far as *logical* reasoning goes, being unpleasant doesn't mean that someone can't be trusted in life-or-death situations.)
So in the Shrieking Shack, why *wouldn't* Severus be offended that Harry distrusts him, but is ready to trust the guy who everyone (including Harry) believed was out to kill Harry all year, and the "nice teacher" who looks to be on good terms with the (supposed) escaped mass-murdering traitor?
I don't think that Severus planned for Harry to suspect him, although he may have planned for Harry to dislike him intensely. Nor do I think that Severus' cover depended on Harry's *suspecting* him, since a good spy wouldn't want to be suspected, after all.
Lynn
As it is, he sends Severus into battle blindfolded. If he is a general, he is like those who ordered useless and suicidal actions simply to promote their own glory. I really loathe him.
My two cents!
But was forcing Severus to tear his soul and framing him with the Elder Wand really a good strategy? Albus' claimed reasons to have wanted Severus to be the one who killed him don't hold water. He could have avoided the damage to Draco's soul as well as an overly painful death by carrying some quick acting undetectable poison on his person. This would have also solved the question of the mastery of the Elder Wand. The purpose of the chosen manner of his death was that Severus be seen as the one who did it. Which was going to lead to his death if Voldemort were to seek the Elder Wand.
Harry has paid quite a high price throughout his life for Albus's notion of love.
And then he promises not to keep information from Harry any more... and spends all of Book Five doing exactly that, and Harry is so excited at even the minimal information he does receive that he doesn't ever seem to notice how much is being withheld... I was one of the few rooting for the Angry!Capslock!Harry of Book Five, because it seemed to me that he certainly had plenty to yell about. I just kept wishing he'd figure out exactly where to direct that anger.
on the other hand we learned that the one character jkr wanted us to distrust/dislike was good all along and sacrificed in fact his whole life for his atonement.
(we even learned to pity voldemort: how he grew up unloved and unwanted. it's somewhat easier then to understand his actions.)
when i compared dumbledore to a general i didn't mean this as a praise. in the scene where snape mourned lily and dumbledore used snape's distraught state to bind him, then still young and vulnerable, to himself i could not help but notice that dumbledore's methods were quite ruthless.
in his eyes it could not have been beneficial if snape and harry had developed a relationship. and it easily could have happened, despite snape's antagonistic stance. maybe i'm reading too much into snape, but his attitude stemmed from him anticipating hostility: because of his past experiences he expected people to dislike/fear/hate him by default.
but if harry, as lily's child - the only reminder of lily - would have gotten past these emotional barriers (as only children might be able to) snape might have developed a paternal bond towards harry. this again would have limited dumbledore's influence on harry and snape.
i am not sure if dumbledore created the antagonism between harry and snape but he did not much to repair the relationship, when he easily could do so. although he insisted that he trusted snape he never presented any proof, which frustrated harry (and considering the responsibilities heaped upon him he was right to be angered and frustrated) and led him into doubting dumbledore's judgement.
while dumbledore might have not intended the full blown hatred between snape and harry i believe he did intend to keep them apart, at a certain distance, so he was able to exact his influence on both of them.