Lily's death or her love? (was Re: A new Lily Theory: The ancient magic witch)

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 42057

Grey Wolf wrote:

> Arranging all these thoughts, I developed a new theory: Lily had 
>been 
> studying the ancient magic, probably by order of Dumbledore 
>himself, in 
> case she could find something that could counter Voldemorts rise to 
> power (after all, at that point, Voldemort was winning, and 
> Dumbledore's side was in dire straits). And she *had* found 
>something: 
> the love shield spell, which could stop even the normally 
>unstopable 
> AK, but which required a human sacrifice to make it work (and the 
> person to give his life had to *love* the recipient, too). Thanks 
>to 
> her studies, Lily could command the ancient magic, and when she 
> discovered that she could not stop V from killing her baby, she 
>used it 
> while sacrificing herself.

And I modify:

Hmm, I like the idea that Lily was studying ancient spells as a last 
resort to defeating Voldemort.  However, I have a different idea as 
to the type of spell this might be.

I have never liked the idea of Lily not fighting back when Voldemort 
entered the room.  It seems inconsistent with the other info we have 
regarding her, little though that may be.  We know she was an 
intelligent, skilled witch who was talented enough at opposing the 
dark arts to be one of Dumbledore's most trusted agents (okay, I know 
this characterization is loosly based speculation, but assume it to 
be true for a moment).  Why on earth wouldn't she have attempted to 
run or fight back?

Perhaps she did do something.  Perhaps she realized the danger her 
son was in and realized running with him at that moment, or opposing 
Voldemort, was futile.  For some reason, Voldemort was determined to 
kill her child, and would not simply give in if held off in this 
particular attack.  But she suddenly remembered a spell she had come 
across that repelled the Avada Kedavra curse.  A complicated spell, 
which would take a while to perform.  She wouldn't have time to 
perform this spell and save herself as well.  So she is forced to 
make a choice: 1) take Harry and run while James delays Voldemort, 
thus saving herself and her son, but possibly (probably, considering 
Voldemort's power at the time) only delaying an eventual successful 
attack on Harry; or 2) perform the ancient spell, thus saving Harry, 
but leaving her with no time to escape.  Lily chooses the latter.  
She begins the spell.  Voldemort enters, and tells her to stand 
aside.  Lily, after all, does not seem to be fighting him, and as his 
target is so near he sees no reason to kill her.  Until he realizes 
the spell she is attempting.  He then kills her, without realizing 
that he is too late.  The rest is history.

In this instance, Lily's death isn't actually necessary for the 
ancient magic to work.  Luckily for my theory, the books never 
actually state that Lily's death saved Harry that night.  
  
"'Your mother died to save you.  If there is one thing Voldemort 
cannot understand, it is love.  He didn't realize that love as 
powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark...to have been 
loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will 
give us some protection forever.  It is in your very skin...'" (SS 
p.299)

Note the wording.  Lily's love, not sacrifice.  The phrase "your 
mother died to save you" can be taken two ways.  1) The usual 
interpretation, that Lily's death itself saved Harry.  2) That Lily 
died because she chose to save Harry rather than herself.

Harry understands it to mean the first , and later taunts Riddle with 
this in the Chamber of Secrets.  Riddle seems to confirm that the 
sacrificial-countercharm exists, but he immediately turns his 
statement into an insult.  "Riddle's face contorted.  Then he forced 
it into an awful smile.  'So, your mother died to save you.  Yes, 
that's a powerful countercharm.  I can see now..there is nothing 
special about you after all...."  (CoS, p.317) Perhaps this can be 
looked at another way.  Perhaps Riddle's anger was not at the insults 
(he knows, after all, that he is no longer strong) but at the fact 
that Harry doesn't really know how he escaped any more than Riddle 
does.

To be fair, there is one quote that may hurt my theory. In GoF, 
p.658, Voldemort says "...there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no 
mother to die for him...." before dueling with Harry.  But then, 
Vodemort was impatient, and saying, "no mother to attempt to perform 
an ancient spell, which would have prevented me from killing the boy 
whom I had hunted for so long, and causing to to waste precious time 
in killing her, which turned out to be unnecessary anyway since she 
had already successfully protected her child" would have been quite a 
mouthful.  :)

Well, that's my theory.  Lily's death wasn't the cause of Harry 
survival.  Instead, she chose to protect Harry rather than save 
herself.  Her love for him (and he ability with ancient magic) saved 
him.

-Corinth