Spoilers for the last Harry Potter book and movie will be discussed openly in this thread. You’ve been warned!
Okay, so specifically, would it have made any difference to Snape if Harry had been a girl? A girl who looked just like her mother, except she had her father’s eyes. A girl who had Harry’s basic kind, honorable personality intact.
Would he have been so quick to judge and hate a Harriet Potter? Or would he have actually been able to be fond of her, as a miniature version of the woman he had loved?
Or, to twist it a little, what if Harry was still Harry, but with red hair and green eyes? Was it mostly the fact that he looked like James that made Snape hate him? Or was it the pure fact that he was a product of Lily and someone who was not only Not!Snape, but someone he absolutely loathed?
Just the random things I think of in the wee hours…
Well, for one thing, it would have made a ton of difference to all the fan fiction out there!
I think also it would have changed the whole Snape/Harry dynamic. Especially if Harriet looked like her mother. Snape would have been crying big fat tears every time he looked at her. He would have tried to be her friend and mentor. Are we assuming a personality change also? That Harriet would have been great at potions, and indifferent to Quidditch?
I question your premise that Snape hated Harry. Snape acted as if he hated Harry, but I don’t think he actually did. When Snape gives Harry his memories, isn’t there one between Dumbledore and Snape (when D orders S to kill him) where Dumbledore says something like “It’s impossible not to love Harry” and Snape agrees? I think Snape was conflicted towards Harry - he wanted to hate him because he was James’ son, but couldn’t hate him because he was Lily’s son. He treated Harry badly because it was expected of him, and because he treated everyone badly, and because Harry hated him.
I think Harry’s existence, no matter what he actually looked like would still have been a reminder to Snape that the woman he loved chose that pompous jerk James Potter over him. The fact that he resembled James just made it more intense, but I think the attitude would have still been there.
And, muldoonthief, Snape absolutely hated Harry. In that memory, you’re mis-remembering. Snape is telling Dumbledore that Harry’s an insufferable rule-breaker, and Dumbledore is responding that everyone else sees him as a normal, high-spirited teenaged boy.
Nope, as similar a personality as is possible switching from boy to girl. So Harriet would still love Quidditch, the Weasleys, and treacle fudge, would hate Draco, Divination, and traveling by Floo Powder. (I can’t say about Potions, because I think maybe that class would have been very different for him if Snape hadn’t been so nasty to him from the very beginning.)
And sorry, muldoonthief, but I think you are misremembering as **cmkeller **says. Snape hated Harry before the two had ever even spoken…at the first feast Harry ever attends at Hogwarts, he sees Snape glaring at him and can’t understand why someone he had never met before would hate him already. And in the first Potions class, Snape immediately starts picking on Harry, unprovoked. It’s only then that Harry’s enmity for Snape begins.
The scene from the last book you mention is from Harry’s first year, and Snape is ranting to Dumbledore about how spoiled and arrogant Harry is, just like his father. Dumbledore replies that Snape is seeing what he wants to see–the other teachers have reported Harry as being modest, likeable, and reasonably talented.
And there is another scene from that section showing the moment when Snape discovers that Dumbledore expects Harry to die. Snape becomes angry, and Dumbledore asks if it’s because he’s finally learned to like Harry somewhat, and Snape responds with disdain, producing his Lily-Protonus. It was never for Harry that he did what he did–it was only ever for Lily.
i see the snape/potter hate rather like the draco/harry hate. they flat out didn’t like each other.
snape and malfoy both were civil at their first meet. the potter boys showed dislike right away. interesting.
i think if harry looked more like lily then snape may have been more civil. looking like james and in many ways being like james made it very easy to snape to keep the feud going. i don’t think being a girl would change things if she looked and acted like james.
just in case y’all forgot or didn’t know… they are showing deadly hallow teasers this weekend on abc family. the harry potter started last night with ss/ps, and today with ss/ps and cos. if you missed it muggle net has last night downloaded on their site. today’s sneak peak is in the first hour of cos.
I don’t think it would have made a lot of difference. First of all, Snape wasn’t exactly a warm and cuddly guy even when it came to students he liked. He also quite blatantly favored students from his own House. Even if he had a more favorable view of a daughter of Lily than he did of her son, I don’t think he would have expressed this openly.
I am also skeptical as to how much difference the Potter child’s sex would have made to him. What I always thought was clever of Rowling was that many of Snape’s criticisms of Harry were actually fairly accurate, such as pointing out that Dumbledore repeatedly allowed Harry to break school rules with at most a slap on the wrist as punishment. Harry also was not that pleasant towards Snape. He decided very early on that Snape was an ugly, creepy, mean teacher, and almost as quickly started suspecting him of the utmost villainy. Throughout the first book Harry is convinced that Snape is after the Philosopher’s Stone, is working with Lord Voldemort, and outright trying to kill Harry. Even after he learns that Snape was working against Quirrel/Voldemort and trying to protect Harry, he continues to be suspicious of Snape throughout most of the series.
Now, I don’t blame Harry too much for this because I don’t expect a young boy to be scrupulously fair when it comes to a teacher who is in fact quite mean to him and his friends. But Snape did have some reason to dislike Harry aside from her parentage, and if Harriet had the same personality and behaved the same way then Snape probably would have felt pretty much the same.