Severus Snape was pacing his office. He had just finished talking to Dumbledore about Harry Potter. It was Harry's first year in the wizarding world and Severus wasn't too happy about that. But, as Severus thought about it, Dumbledore had been correct about Severus's hatred for James Potter that had made him be a pain in Harry's first potions class. He almost didn't say anything when he noticed that Harry had exactly Lily's eyes. He shouldn't have acted the way he did.
How could Harry know anything about the wizarding world? Severus knew Harry didn't because he had checked in on Harry from time to time as Harry grew up. He didn't necessarily like what he saw. Harry's Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin weren't very nice to Harry, they had treated him like a house elf. He had to smile when he thought about the cousin's birthday. Severus was glad he decided to check up on Harry that day.
He had suggested the squib take a break from keeping an eye out for Harry since her leg had been broken from one of her cats. He may not have liked Harry at the time for James Potter's bullying, but he remembered growing up without parents or guardians letting him have any fun. He could to a degree, sympathize with Harry given his own childhood. Severus arranged it so the Dursley's had no other choice but to take Harry to the zoo. Severus followed them around the zoo, which had been boring. He had a hard time not laughing when Harry unknowingly set the boa constrictor on his cousin and his friend.
It had surprised him though that the snake seemed to understand the boy. It was a perplexing matter that he would have to think about. After smiling over that memory, Severus sat down at his desk and closed his eyes. He remembered visiting the Potter house the night the Potters died. He remembered going inside and seeing Lily lying on the ground in the nursery and hearing Harry cry for his mother. Tears came to his eyes when he thought about that night and when Lily stopped talking to him.
He wished that he had never made the decision to become a Death Eater. Making that decision had been a big part of Lily not wanting anything to do with him. Now that he thought about it, Severus had forgiven James Potter for everything he had ever done to him without realizing he had. He wiped away his tears and resigned to apologize to Harry the next morning for his rudeness towards the boy. Maybe Harry would be more like his mother than he first expected of him. After all, Harry had been taking notes when he had been telling everyone what potions entailed.
The Next Morning
Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table eating his breakfast when Professor Snape walked up to him and asked for a word in private. Harry got up and followed Professor Snape to a quiet corner in the entrance hall. "Look, I am sorry for yesterday. Can you forgive me?" He asked "I let my dislike of your father get the better of me and that clouded my mind. I would like to start over again and say, thank you for at least trying to take notes on what I was saying, I know that I wasn't very pleasant about it."
Harry looked startled. He didn't know what to think about this teacher who had seemed to dislike him asking him to forgive him. He looked at Professor Snape for what seemed five minutes and said "I forgive you. I did not know you didn't like my father. Please, let me know if I do anything wrong. I would be glad to let you know if I am having trouble with anything."
"Thank you. Harry, you wouldn't mind if I made it seem as if I didn't like you." Harry looked confused. "Why?" he blurted out, immediately covering his mouth. He had promised himself he would try to do better here and not be different. "Sorry" he said, thinking out loud. "You probably want people to think you don't like me." As his mind processed what the professor.
Severus caught the question and confused look and hand motion. He let it slide and agreed with Harry's out loud statement. He wished the boy good luck with his day's lessons, walking away thinking on Harry's reactions to his question. Harry walked back to his spot at the Gryffindor Table and sat down. "What was that about Harry?" asked Hermione. "Oh, nothing, Snape just wanted to have a word about his class."
Harry replied as he picked up his toast and took a bite. He was wondering what in the world had his dad done to professor Snape to cause him to be rude to him yesterday. It was curious, and it got him thinking. When he wasn't being chased around by Dudley, Harry usually spent time observing the kids around him at school and noticed how people behaved. The only people who ended up like the Slytherin head of house were bullied by others. Perhaps his dad had bullied the poor potions teacher when they were in school. He shrugged mentally, trying to brush away the thought. What did he know, he was just a kid. He took a bite of breakfast and looked over the daily prophet that he had borrowed from Neville. He thought to himself that the wizarding world would never cease to amaze him.