Why V wanted to spare Lily (was: Portkeys - Jesse - Why V wanted...)

[andrea at noembromation.com.br]

No: HPFGUIDX 14099

Amy Z wrote:
 
> I'm going to chime in a minority opinion on the 
> Why-Voldemort-Wanted-to-Kill-the-Potters/Didn't-Have-to-Kill-Lily 
> question, and suggest that perhaps he didn't have to kill James 
> either.  The text in question (from PS/SS ch17) *implies* that he 
> viewed James and Lily differently, but it's not at all a sure thing.
> 
>   "How touching..." it hissed.  "I always value bravery...Yes, boy, 
> your parents were brave....I killed your father first, and he put 
up a 
> courageous fight...but your mother needn't have died...she was 
trying 
> to protect you....Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to 
have 
> died in vain."
> 
> So, as far as we can tell from this and PoA, V showed up at the 
> Potters' house, and Lily grabbed Harry and tried to run (she never 
> even got out of the house).  V encountered James first and killed 
him, 
> then turned on Harry.  But that still leaves open the possibility 
that 
> he killed James only to get to Harry.  He just doesn't say so 
> explicitly.  In Lily's case, she was actually holding Harry in her 
> arms so the whole issue was much more pointed than with James, who 
was 
> just out in the living room or whatnot on his own.
> 
> I also don't think we can read into this scene any particular 
> reluctance on V's part to kill Lily.  She didn't need to die in 
that 
> she wasn't his primary target, but that doesn't mean he was trying 
to 
> avoid killing her.  So why didn't he just AK her without an 
argument 
> and go on to Harry?  Perhaps just because she was a powerful witch 
and 
> he didn't want to tangle with her any more than necessary.  (V, 
being 
> clueless about love, would not have known what most people would 
know 
> from the start:  that you can't ask a woman to hand over her son to 
> save her own life and expect her to do it.  You may as well just 
kill 
> her from the start and not argue with her...)

Hi, Amy!

I see your point. But it still seems to me that Voldy *went out of 
his way* NOT to kill Lily. I compare it with the Cedric situation: 
then, he killed the "spare" without a second thought. Of course, 
you'd say, Lily was a fully-grown witch, and a powerful one for all 
we know. But she was almost as vulnerable as Cedric (or even more 
vulnerable, because of her baby son).

Andrea from Brazil