He both loved and hated him.

Yes, I believe so too. I think that love and hate created a lot of frustration in him that he vented on Harry.

Nah, he just liked Harry enough to follow Dumbledore's instructions, and to save him from Voldemort.

I agree with that too; there was some love in him for Harry, a teensy-tiny little bit ;-)

Harry and Snape I think had the most complicated relationship in the series.

I think that Snape was protecting Harry because he knew it would make Lily happy. I think he would have done anything for her, no matter how much he didn't want to. He played on both sides of the team, killed Dumbldore, and did everything for Harry, all for Lily. It's got to be one of the most romantic and tragic stories ever! Poor Snape!

I don't like any of the options. I think Snape neither liked nor hated Harry. I don't even think Snape saw him as a person. To Snape, Harry was just a constant reminder of Snape's painful past.

I think he at first only saw James when he looked at Harry and had to fight really hard to look past that, especially when they keep fighting about how James was as a person. I think perhaps after some time he realised that Harry was more like Lily, he wouldn't have been so angry at Dumbledore when he figured out that Harry needed to die if he didn't care.

They do repeat awfully often how Harry has his mothers eyes...

he cared!

and coz dumbledore said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol

He did care about Harry, it even said so in the book sillies...

It was a hate/love relationship ;)

I think he cared about him a lot because he was Lily's son, a part of her, but still every time he looked at him he saw the man who took her away from him and wanted to treat him as badly as James treates him...so when he looked beyond he understood that he really cared about the boy...

lily is the person he loved until death. why not? read book 7.

I tiny bit.

both! he saw james on the outside exept for lily's eyes.

he partly thought of harry as lily's son, the woman he loved, so he wanted to keep harry safe. but another part of him thought of harry as james's son, and james was his mortal enemy, so he anted to harass harry.

hate/love kinda thing, cuz every time snape looked at harry he saw lilly's preference for another man but he wouldnt hurt harry in any way cuz he was the son of the woman he loved, so even though he hated harry cuz he was James' son and reminded him of his childhood enemy, he still looked out for him and ok treated him horribly all the time, but deep down he did care for harry cuz he wanted to, to atone, for lilly, it was his love for lilly that made him watch over her son

I really don't think he loved him. I think he knew he would do anything to keep him safe for Lily's sake but Harry must have been a total mockery to him. He looked exactly like James except for Lily's eyes. He must have seen Lily's preference for someone he hated everytime he looked at him. No wonder why he treated him so badly. I can just see "Fine I'll protect him but I don't have to like him" running through his head since the day Harry arrived at Hogwarts.

because: i hate this whole lily-love thing. I know this is true,but its annoy me. Snape should have a...more characteristic love,or something...I just dont like this story, its lame and too romantic... But I think he did cared about Harry,so I picked this...

maybe a little.....

I think that when Snape looked at Harry he saw the son that he could had with Lily, so i really believe that Snape loved Harry...

he might be bad when it comes to saying "fifty points from griffindor.."
but when it comes to harry's life of course he cares! maybe its his way for making up the mistake he's done to lily..

He hated him till the end, but helped because of Lilly.

Itls you this but even if they didn't I still believe this!!!

He couldn't help it. He saw Lily in him. Of course he cared for him, he was a part of her. It hurt him to be around Harry because he reminded him of Lily, her rejection and death, and also, to a certain extent, of the man that humiliated him and stole his love away.

I believe he certainly cared about him otherwise he wouldn't (if I'm remembering correctly) have been so outraged at Dumbledore's plan of Harry's sacrifice.

he cared 4 harry cuz he was lily's son............the creepy part is he always stared into harry's eyes(lily's) like he was in luv wit him! lol

I think he cared. I also agree that it was a love/hate thing too.

But only because of that, he otherwise just plain hated Harry

The biggest reason he became a spy was to keep James, Lily, and Harry safe. After they were gone, he kept his role as Harry's protector for Lily.

I agree with Sylarfan

I agree totally with snoznoodle. He never cared for Harry. He thought Harry was like James inside and out. Dumbledore had to use Severus' devotion to Lily to manipulate him into protecting Harry, otherwise he was quite happy for both Harry and James to die. I also think Severus felt trapped in having to protect Harry and so tormenting Harry became the outlet to his true feelings.

He even says at the end that he doesn't care for Harry when questioned by Dumbledore, that it was all done for Lily alone.

I don't think he would have saved him that many times just to fill an old debt.

Well, there's no question that he was determined to hate Harry from the very beginning. He looked like James, and that was enough to clench it for Snape. But I think that as time went on, he grew to care for Harry against his will. The more I read the books, the more I see it. The scene that really makes me believe he cares for Harry is that showdown between them in the HBP. Snape has just been forced to kill Dumbledore (the only confidant he's had since Lily) and even though he's exhausted and hurt and feeling guilty, he knows he doesn't have time to grieve because he has to go with the Death Eaters to report to Voldemort and act all happy and victorious. And then here comes Harry - whom he has just risked everything for - calling him a coward and attacking him with dark curses and looking at him with hatred through Lily's eyes. If he truly hated Harry, I think this moment - when his emotions were so high - would have been the moment it became clear. It would have been so easy to attack Harry back, to hurt someone the way he was hurting, yet he did nothing more than simply deflect the spells. And then, when Harry called him a coward for the second time for the way he had killed Dumbledore, it seemed to genuinely hurt Snape's feelings, and was the only thing that caused Snape to finally lash back. I think that deep down, he wanted Harry to see something good in him - to somehow see past the actions he'd been forced to take and look into his heart and see the reasons behind them. But Harry didn't see that, and the book said Snape was in so much pain he looked inhuman. If he didn't care about Harry, why would he care so much about what Harry thought of him in that moment? I think the reason he was so hurt was because, as much as he tried not to, he DID care, and the only piece of Lily left in the world now hated him more than anything. It must have felt like losing Lily all over again. Yet from that point on, he continued to do everything he could for Harry - sending him the sword of Gryffindor and then, with his last breath, making sure Harry had everything he needed to face Voldemort. Maybe he only cared for Harry because he was an extension of Lily, but I do believe that he cared, and that those feelings were what kept him going when everything seemed to be falling apart at the end.

ElvenPirate, ten thousand points to whichever House you belong to.


And just a gentle reminder: Severus had no choice but to be unkind to Harry. Slytherin House was full of children of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters. Any hint that Severus might actually care even a smidgen about Harry...all it would have taken from any of them, but ESPECIALLY Draco, is a comment or two to their parents...and the Potions Master's cover could have been blown.

Snape had to protect himself, he could not showing that he is a double agent...and voldemort liked it to torture his death eaters with legilimentic...therefore it was important to snape, that it seems that he hates and despises harry.

@Blackhound: Thanks! I'm not really sure what House I belong in...I'm stuck between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, haha. And I absolutely agree with you! Snape was in a tight spot, there was really nothing for him to do but appear to hate Harry.

Oh! One more thing I had to add... when Snape leaked his memories just before dying in DH, he made sure that Harry knew everything that had happened between himself and Lily. Ironically, in one of those memories, we hear him ask Dumbledore not to tell anyone about that history, saying specifically that he couldn't bear for "Potter's son" to know. And in The Order of the Phoenix, he made sure Harry couldn't access those memories of him and Lily by hiding them in the Pensieve before the Occlumency lessons. So what changed between that moment in OTP and the moment in DH where Snape decides Harry should know the whole story? He could easily have only given Harry the memories of Dumbledore laying out his plan and completely left out anything involving his personal life. He could easily have died letting Harry think he was the bitter villain everyone thought him to be. But instead, he showed Harry everything, and I think it's because somewhere along the way, he finally stopped seeing Harry as just "Potter's son". Somewhere, Harry became so important to Snape that he didn't want to die with Harry not knowing the common thread that tied them together - their love for Lily. With his dying breath he not only trusted Harry with his most guarded, precious secret, he also gave Harry the gift of insight into his mother's life. If he didn't care for Harry, why would he have bothered? Why would his last thought have been to make sure Harry knew all of that?

Anywho, I'm done now. Didn't mean to go and write a book about it, lol.

@EP: So very well said.

He loved Lily, but he hated James and Harry looked so much like James but having her eyes made it hard to look away and let him dieand he promise Lily he proctect him and he grew to care for the boy depise he looking like James

@xElvenPiratex wow...what you said really did touch me :'( but seriously you said it all :).
I mean ofcourse he cared about harry as the son he wanted to have I think snape at first really did hate harry but he grew to care for him later on because harry was more like lily and snape knew that so snape just tried to hate him but he knew he cared for harry he's a huge part of snapes life ! He cant hate him thats impossible hes his protector and secret guardian !! and when you want to protect someone its hard not to care for the person later on because if snape was always worried and concerned for harry's safety then what does that tell you ?? he cared !! I'm so happy he ended up caring for harry and lily it's really sweet and cute :).

When I see the movies I can't see that Snape is hating Harry. Really! I think that he disliked him. But hate? No. I must say that I often don't understood Harry. He was very defiant, rebellious and had absolutely no respect ... I would have acted like Snape! Harry deserved a lection. He should have learned discipline, because Snape was his teacher and Snape has saved his life more than once! It was all Harrys fault.

When I first read DH, it quickly became clear to me that the reason Snape treated Harry the way he did was because he was always thinking, "You should have been MY son." I can imagine Snape thought, "If he were my son, he wouldn't be so arrogant/defiant/foolhardy/whatever."

@Filleirlandaise: Wow !! I never realised that :) that is true.

It was the fact that Harry had Lily's eyes that swayed him to stay at Hogwarts and continue protecting his life. He hated Harry because the boy looked like and seemed to act just like James, but he protected Harry because he had Lily's eyes. Harry's eyes were a constant reminder to Snape that there was something of Lily in him.