Snape secretly sees himself in Harry in some ways...

I suspect as I've read, esp. in OotP, that Snape sees some of himself in Harry.  Sure, on the initial surface, Snape's first initial knee-jerk reaction is to view Harry as a James the Second since physically, Harry's hair color, hands, mouth, and glasses do closely resemble James and that brings back unwelcome memories for Snape of being bullied by James and his Maurader clique. I posted my theory on the whole Snape/Harry/Malfoy saga before HbP came out and now further explore this here.

But I suspect that as the series went on, deep down inside, although Snape is afraid to admit it out loud or even consciously in his thoughts,  Snape is coming to realize that Harry is not the arrogant bully that James was and is more down-to-earth, serious and much quieter than James.  I also suspect Snape is secretly seeing lots of Lily in Harry's personality and that also brings back unwelcome memories of when Lily defended Snape in his most humiliating moment at Hogwarts.

This also brings me to consider the possibility that Lily may have once saved Snape's life (we all know James once did, but that's another story altogether), probably from a suicide attempt.  I think Lily and Snape never really knew each other well; they were usually like passing ships in the night, not truly enemies, but not friends either and certainly not "secretly lovers" the way some ppl. think.  But I think those couple of times Snape did get a good look at Lily, esp. her eyes, he never forgot and in OotP, with the pensieve disaster, Snape sees Lily in Harry's eyes.

Speaking of which, Harry's depression also factors in significantly starting with OotP.  There are indications that given Snape's dismal childhood and the harrassment he endured at the Mauraders' hands, Snape suffered from depression and to a degree, still does today.  Snape sees Harry's silent depression, Harry's quiet, desperate unhappiness and that brings Snape back to his own miserable adolescence, something Snape does not want to surface, hence his hostile reactions to Harry, esp. upon finding Harry in his pensieve. Also like Snape, Harry tries desperately to mask his depression.

Also factor in that Snape grew up poor.  He may have heard some of his classmates discussing Harry's too-big rather ratty clothes and also wondered like many others if Harry was being raised in a poor home and maybe his muggle relatives may be alcoholic.  Now Snape never wonders this out loud and it's in his subconscious, but it's there, esp. when he sees Harry's slightly haunted look after a summer of babysitting the Dursley toddlers and it secretly brings back painful memories of Snape's own poor, alcohol-ridden childhood.

Harry, although he tries to hide it, feels sorry for Snape and his heart went out to Snape, esp. after what he saw in the pensieve.

Another branch of the whole Harry/Snape deal is Draco.  Snape initially appears to favor Draco, but as I suspected, it turns out to be because he was coarced to favor Draco, not because he truly likes Draco or sees any of himself in Draco, as some ppl. mistakenly think. 

I kind of laugh whenever I read and remember the scene in PS when Snape is giving his whole bewitch the mind and ensare the senses speil, Draco sits up, hoping to charm Snape and Snape of course notices Draco, being that Draco is very blond and eye-catching.  It's at that second that Snape comes to ...except for a select few... and Draco arrogantly assumes that Snape is talking about him as the "select few" and Draco smiles at Snape, which causes Snape's wandering gaze to pause a moment.  Meanwhile this leads Draco to mistakenly believe that Snape is thinking great thoughts about him.  But in reality, I think Snape was truly thinking, What an arrogant ass...just like his father since I am sure Snape saw the resemblance Draco bears to Lucius and probably remembered Lucius' threats.

I suspect Lucius also bullied Snape at Hogwarts and maybe blackmailed him, so seeing Draco probably brings back unwelcome memories of this and also seeing Draco bully and harrass Harry also brings back painful memories of Lucius bullying Snape and also the Marauders harrassing Snape, which further leads Snape to unconciously identify and see himself in Harry, which he desperately wants to keep hidden.

I think this explains why Snape has not been able to look Harry in the eyes ever since the pensieve incident and is still rude and sarcastic with Harry and now makes more nasty remarks about James than ever.  Because Snape still doesn't yet have the courage to admit that Harry is actually very different from James and that Harry's life actually more closely resembles Snape's than James.

So, those are my thoughts on the whole Snape/Harry/Malfoy dynamics which seems to be playing itself out in this series.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Jokes? Debates?  Anything I missed?