What does Snape owe Harry?

[caesian]

No: HPFGUIDX 96652

How delightful to find a bunch of grown-ups who want to talk about HP!  I hope I am not repeating anything that has been posted previously, or making no sense, and if so – my apologies.  

In a nutshell, I speculate that Snape hates Harry, James, Sirius and Lupin so emphatically because he owes a life-debt that limits him to a role he detests, and from which he sorely wants to escape. 

Here's the supporting data:

We discover in GoF that James Potter may have saved Snape's life, and that Sirius and Lupin are also involved in this episode.  We also learn in GoF that saving the life of another wizard creates a special bond between the savior and saved, regardless of their desire for this bond.  This is a deep, impenetrable magic, according to Dumbledore.  The saved, according to Dumbledore, is in the debt of the savior.  

Because James saved him, Snape originally owed the debt to James.  This alone was enough to rile him, no doubt.  The debt may have come to naught because Jam=es has died, however, I speculate that it has been passed to Harry, and that Snape, and Dumbledore, know this.

I believe that Snape may hope that by saving Harry's life, he could negate the debt.  And that he desperately wants to do so. 

Before this becomes a huge distraction, you probably already know that time and again it has been stated that Snape did save Harry's life in the first year by muttering the counter-curse against Quirrell in Harry's first Quidditch match.  Bear with me for just a moment, and I will explain why I think this is not the case.  For now, let's just assume he didn't.

In the first year, Snape's attempts to save Harry by muttering the counter-
curse, and his trailing of Harry around the castle are suggestive, but one incident in particular strikes me as otherwise difficult to explain.  In the match against Hufflepuff that Snape refereed, his behavior seemed slightly out-of-character. 

Before the match:

"There was simply no way that Snape would dare to try to hurt him if Dumbledore was watching. Perhaps that was why Snape was looking so angry as the teams marched on to the pitch, something that Ron noticed too.
`I've never seen Snape look so mean,' he told Hermione."

Then, after Harry had caught the Snitch:
"He saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped – then Harry felt a
 hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face. 
 Snape spat bitterly on the ground."

Now, Snape may well have been disappointed by the victory of Gryffindor, which allowed them to overtake Slytherin for the Quidditch cup and doubly irritated by the praise-worthy performance of Potter.  But, despite his obvious partisan concern for Slytherin, and dislike of Harry, Snape is usually more self-contained.  His reactions to other Quidditch contests have been "a very grim smile" and the like.  I interpret this particularly peevish reaction to 
disappointment at his failure, again, to save Harry.

In PoA, his reaction to finding Harry, Ron and Hermione with Lupin and Sirius in the Shrieking Shack has also struck me as a bit odd in that his first direct comment to Harry is to point out that he was saving his life.  Because he had just witnessed a scene wherein Lupin, Sirius and the Trio were quietly talking, why did he believe this?

In GoF, his extreme irritation and resistance to Colin Creevey taking Harry away from a Potions Class wherein Snape was, probably, planning to poison Harry suggests to me that, at this point, Snape's getting desperate.  He's actually trying to risk Harry's life in order to have a shot at saving him (in this case, by providing the antidote).  One could consider his constant attempts to get Harry expelled, and thus remove him from Dumbledore's direct oversight, in this category.

So, if all this is true, why wasn't he successful at that first Quidditch match when everyone else certainly thought Harry was at great risk?  Maybe because the prophecy, and perhaps also the lingering protection of Lily's sacrifice, makes it extremely unlikely that Harry's life is about to be snuffed by anyone but Lord Voldemort.  Some have speculated that Harry cannot be killed or his life directly endangered (though he obviously can be knocked about, de-boned and bled), and that the "force" that surged through him when Uncle 
Vernon is strangling him at the beginning of OotP is the manifestation of this protection.  

Well, if you buy all that, or are at least willing to continue reading this post, then what is the nature of this putative debt, and why is it now owed to Harry?

The nature of this debt is highly speculative.  We do know that, in Dumbledore's opinion, Voldemort, who wishes Harry naught but ill, could perceive a life-bond between Harry and Wormtail as a problem. The bond may somehow bear upon the ill-treatment of the savior by the saved.  Wormtail seems at pains to conceal or downplay his "concern" for Harry in GoF chapter 1.  Wormtail's concern for himself is perhaps his defining characteristic – thus 
we are highly suspicious of his motives here.  Two subjects are hinted at by this exchange between Wormtail and Voldemort.  First, Wormtail may be aware that the putative bond between himself and Harry could limit his usefulness as an instrument of Harry's destruction, and thus limit his own appeal for Lord Voldemort.  In addition, Wormtail suggested that they use another wizard.  Because we know that he is essentially self-interested, this may have been an attempt to protect himself.  But from what?  We know that he killed Harry's friend Cedric, cuffed, bound and gagged Harry, cut his arm and took 
his blood at the end of GoF without apparent consequence. 

Finally, why has it been passed to Harry?  In addition to Harry being James' son, I believe the fact that James and Lily were murdered plays a role in this, and may have sealed the deal.  While Snape-fans might be accurate in their speculation that he was the spy to tip-off the order, the possibility that he contributed to the death of Lily and James Potter remains palpable.  (Personally, I believe he was present and failed to persuade Lily to stand 
aside before Voldemort murdered her – but that's complete speculation, based only on my read of the character, and an odd reading of the passage by Stephen Fry, the narrator of the British audio books.)

I speculate that the debt Snape owes Harry chafes him in a very real way.  
I believe that until he is clear of it, he cannot live the life he wants to live – which, based on my reading of the character, is not an entirely nice one. (I suspect Snape wants the respect and power of folks like Malfoy, and that he would much rather be a high-ranking bad guy than a frustrated potions master.)  Dumbledore is aware of this debt, and knows that even if Snape wanted to transgress against it, he could not – and therefore trusts him to behave.

In the final analysis, how else can we square his obvious efforts to save Harry against his even more obvious dislike of Harry - except to speculate that saving Harry's life is very much in his own self-interest.  I tend to agree with J.K.R. that Snape gets more sympathy than he deserves, and that he is a deeply icky person.  I do not see much evidence for ethical concerns as a motivation for his behavior, and do not think that, if he really did 
have a tortured heart of gold, J.K.R. would thus renounce him.  If he is not acting for Harry's good, or out of loyalty to Dumbledore (and if he were, why wouldn't he also manage to be nice to Harry?), I suggest he's out for himself and always has been.  

My apologies to Snape-lovers.  Not a big fan of the sexiness of yellow, uneven teeth myself - but I will freely admit he is one of the most tortured, mysterious and fascinating characters I have read - gotta give him props for that.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my post!