OldTinGrl started a thread the other day about Harry Potter and it inspired me to start rereading Deathly Hallows. I inhaled the last book and I know I probably read too fast to absorb every little detail. Well, I had to skip to the best part and reread it first because I kept obsessing about it when I started back. QUESTION:

When Harry is seeing Snape's final thoughts in the Pensieve and Dumbledore asks if after all these years Snape has finally developed feelings for Harry, Snape says "him" and conjures a doe patronus and Dumbledores say s"After all this time" and Snape says "always." I first took this to mean he always cared about harry, but after re-reading it carefully I think it said basically he pretty much still loved Lily and that's the only reason he cared about protecting Harry. What is your take on that?

That makes sense to me.

I interpreted it as Snape had always loved Lily and protected Harry because of it. It is mentioned numerous times that Harry has Lilly's eyes and Rowling even said that it was an important detail. If I remember correctly (it has been a year), Snape asks Harry to look at him when he dies- the last thing Snape wants to see on this earth is "Lilly's" eyes. I almost cried.

I also think that is why Snape was so hard on Harry. Snape knew that when the final showdown came between Harry & Voldemort, it wasn't going to be a gentlemanly "walk three paces and fire" kind of fight. It was going to be ugly & dirty. By constantly pushing Harry's buttons, hopefully it would make him stronger when it came to the big battle.