OotP-Snape didn't want Harry to see

[rowena_grunnionffitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 64988

   I have read theories where Snape is kindly trying to spare Harry 
the knowledge that his father was a jerk at fifteen, and that he 
deliberately left him alone with the pensieve so he *would* find out.

   But both ideas are based on the theory that Snape knows how Harry 
would react to the memory of his torment at the hands of the 
Marauders. Personally I doubt that Snape has any such understanding 
of Harry's character. He clearly sees him as a chip off the old 
block, just as arrogant and spoiled as his father. He probably tried 
to conceal the memory from Harry because he thought he would enjoy it 
as James had.

   Frankly I don't blame Snape for going ballistic when he discovers 
Harry prying through his memories - talk about a violation of 
privacy!!

  I'm afraid Dumbledore's calm acceptance of Harry's earlier prying 
has given him a false impression about the seriousness of the 
violation. In the earlier case there were the mitigating 
circumstances that Harry had no idea what the pensieve was when he 
interefered with it, and that the memory he saw was not particularly 
personal or sensitive.

   Snape's is both, and Harry knew *exactly* what he was doing when 
he went prying. I'd have been furiously angry too. It remains to be 
seen whether this intrusion completely destroys any sympathy Snape 
may have begun to feel for Harry after seeing firsthand that he 
wasn't raised as a 'golden boy' like James. But I wouldn't be 
surprised if it did.