The picture of Lily and Harry

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 175028

McJuels again:

> Okay, I can have this conversation with myself. I think 
> that Snape looked at that picture of Lily with wee Harry 
> zipping in and out and he was forced to confront the 
> unfairness of his hatred for Harry. I also believe that 
> Snape chose the memories for Harry to view in an effort 
> to make some amends, though a bit late. When Snape asked
> Harry to "Look at me!" I choose to believe that Snape 
> was finally forcing himself to look at Harry and see 
> him for who Harry is and not who his mother and father were.

houyhnhnm:

I am with you on this.  There was no actual need for 
Snape to include the early memories of himself and Lily 
in order to carry out his promise to Dumbledore.  He 
really only needed to show the memories of himself with 
Dumbledore.  It was a gift, though Snape may not have 
intended it as such.  It may rather have been his need to 
justify himself to Harry, to make Harry understand him. 
This need of Snape's to be seen and understood by Harry 
strikes me as the other side of the coin from Harry's 
wish to be friends with the Half Boold Prince.

I hadn't thought about the fact that when baby Harry 
zipped out of one half of the picture, he had to have been 
zipping into the other.  This must have worked on Snape.  
Why else would he have included that memory along with 
the others.  It was unnecessary to the message he had to 
deliver. That Snape's attitiude towards Harry is continuing 
to evolve in DH is shown by the success of his plan to 
deliver the Sword, though once again, as in HBP, he is 
able to teach Harry only because his identity remains unknown.

The enmity between these two who should have been friends 
is one of the tragedies of the series.  I agree that 
Snape's request to "Look at me" may not have been in 
order to see Lily's eyes but to see Harry in order that 
they might say "thou" to each other one time before it 
was too late.