Looking at the situation from an adult's perspective, it was easy to see that Severus Snape was not just a bully; he was a pompous drama queen, a full-blown diva. He liked to swish around the dungeons like they were his private fiefdom, terrifying little children to prove to himself that he had some kind of power. When he wasn't doing that, he boosted his ego by portraying his spying as the feat of some tragic hero to the Order. This was, of course, if he could spare some time from satisfying his grudge against a man dead for a decade and a half by hurling degradation against that man's son, the child of the woman Snape was obsessed with.