Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter stories. I do not make any money off of this.
Spoiler alert: If you haven't read all the books yet you might want to do that before you read this story.
This is my first HP fanfic. I am not a native so I'm sorry if my English sounds a bit weird sometimes. Read, enjoy and review :)
„Having fun?"
Harry felt himself rising into the air. He was floating upward through icy blackness, Snape's hand tight upon his upper arm, closed with a pincerlike grip. Then, with a swooping feeling as though he had turned head over heels midair, his feet hit the stone floor of Snape's dungeon, and he was standing again besides the Pensieve on Snape's desk in the shadowy, present-day Potions master's study.
"So", said Snape, gripping Harry's arm so tightly Harry's hand was starting to feel numb. "So… been enjoying yourself, Potter?"
"N-no…" said Harry, trying to free his arm.
It was scary: Snape's lips were shaking, his face was white, his teeth were bared.
"Amusing man, your father, wasn't he?" said Snape, shaking Harry so hard that his glasses slipped down his nose.
"I – didn't – "
Snape threw Harry from him with all his might. Harry fell hard onto the dungeon floor.
"You will not tell anybody what you saw!" Snape bellowed.
"No," said Harry, getting to his feet as far from Snape as he could.
"No, of course I w –"
"Get out, get out, I don't want to see you in this office ever again!"
And as Harry hurtled toward the door, a jar of dead cockroaches exploded over his head.
Professor Severus Snape was furious. Stupid Potter just had to look into the bloody Pensieve, didn't he? Probably got a kick out of it, seeing his arrogant father torturing him.
„Stupid… Arrogant… Attention seeking… Lazy… Swine… Just like his father…" he murmured running up and down in his office, trying to contain his furry. He got hummiliated and he felt shame and grief and most of all anger at the boy who lived.
He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Why did things like this always happen to him? The universe didn't just want him not to be happy, no it wanted him to be as miserable as possible. Anger welled up inside of him again.
But when he opened his eyes again, he saw something in the Pensieve. Lights danced on the wall and the silver-white contents were swirling and ebbing within it. The memories seemed to be lively and strong but they weren't the professor's. Curiosity welling inside of him he made a step towards the Pensieve and gazed at it. He was still furious but also curious so he made another step in the direction of it. He took his wand out and gave the sivlery stuff a small prod with the end of it. The contents started to swirl faster and then became transparent. Severus found himself looking down upon the sleeping form of one Harry Potter. Presented with the same situation as the Potter boy mere ten minutes ago a smile crossed his face, or rather an evil grin. This was the perfect opportunity to get back at the spoiled brat. He plunged his face into the thoughts of one 10-year old Harry Potter.
After the feeling of falling and the spinning had stopped he realized he was standing in front of a cupboard. At first Severus didn't know what to make of this but then he heard an all to familiar voice screeching "Up! Get up! Now!" and he imidiatley knew who it belonged to.
Snape frowned. He knew Potter had been raised by relatives but he had never thought it would be this particular relative.
He looked around for a while. There were no pictures of Potter or his parents anywhere in the house. He snorted. Maybe the muggles had noticed how vain the brat was and removed any pictures of him.
He saw Petunia Dursely rapping on the door of the cupboard. She screeched "Up!" once more and made her way into another room. Severus did not understand why this nightmare of a woman was shouting at a cupboard until she came back into the room and asked "Are you up yet?". "Nearly." Answered a sleepy Harry Potter from inside the cupboard.
He lived in a cupboard? He always figuered the boy who lived was showered with love and given everything. But on the other hand he was living with Petunia and he remembered her very well. He wondered if Dumbledore knew about the boy's living arrangements.
He listened as Lily's sister ordered him around and then he saw how he came out of the cupboard wearing old clothes that were way too big for the skinny little boy.
The boy must have been thinking about his parents because the scene switched and he saw an even younger version of Potter asking his aunt about his scar.
"In the car crash when your parents died. And don't ask questions." Petunia told the little boy.
"In a car crash?! Lily did not die in a car crash!" Snape gasped. How could they? Could it really be that he had no idea who he was or who his parents were? How could the whole world know about this except for the one person it affected the most?
The scene went back to the one before.
He watched as the fat boy got his presents. As much of a dunderhead the Potter boy was at least he could add two to thirty-seven. It pained him to watch and he was happy when the scene soon switched to the zoo and into the reptile house. He watched the incident with the glass and the snake and how Mr. Dursley punished Harry afterwards. He smirked but there was the faintest expression of worry hidden deep in his eyes.
Then after the scene had switched once more he saw how they reacted to the letters. Petunia must have known about the letter but obviously it only gave her more reason to hate and disregard the boy.
He frowned. The spoiled brat image he had in his mind didn't seem to fit anymore. Once again he asked himself: Had Dumbledore known about this? And if he had – how could he leave Lily's child in a family like this? It pained him to think about how Lily would have reacted if she had known.
The memory switched again and he saw one after another how the boy was treated by his relatives, in school by Draco and the other students and by himself.
He shuddered and got paler and paler with every scene. Not only was the boy not the attention seeking brat he thought he was but he was being abused at home and bullied in school. He saw more and more of himself in the boy. They both were treated badly at home by their families and they both were bullied at school.
He saw the incident with the rememberall and how oftentimes he protected and helped his friends. Now not even the assumption that the boy was arrogant and attention seeking seemed to work anymore.
He thought about all the times Dumbledore and Minerva had told him that he only saw what he wanted to see. The realization struck him hard. They might have been right.
But not only that: He treated the boy like James had treated him. He had become a bully himself and the boy had done nothing to deserve this punishment.
After a few more scenes he realized more and more how much like Lily he was. His anger had faded and instead there was now pain and grief.
He saw the boy look into the mirror of Erised and realized that he almost saw the same in it. He saw him face the dark lord time and time again. He saw the attack of the Dementors and the trial in the Ministry of Magic. And he saw him suffer quietly through the detentions with Umbridge. He saw the most important moments, the strongest memories and emotions, good and bad, the boy had from his first year at Hogwarts right up to the moment he had confronted him looking at Dumbledore's Pensieve.
Severus Snape came out of the Pensieve. Potter had been telling the truth. He honestly didn't find his father's actions amusing. He might have been too quick to judge the boy.
His anger was now gone. A tear was rolling down his cheek. "I am sorry Lily. I failed you. Again."
A few minutes he struggled with himself.
Then he decided that he would have to have a word with Draco. And with Harry. It was too late to change the past. But he could still do something about the future.
A.N.: I read quite a few reading the books fics lately. Sadly they usually start with book one and are abandond before it gets interesting. Well, while reading them I came up with this and just had to write it down. If Snape treated Harry different from this point onward and continued to teach him, who knows what might happen. Maybe Sirius and many others wouldn't have died. Actually I'd love to continue this and develop it into a longer story but I'll study abroad the next two semesters and really wont have any time for this. So if you would like to continue this feel free to do so.