Harry saved from AK by his mother

[aaoconnor2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 42070

Hello everyone.  I am new to these lists and have been lurking for a 
couple of weeks too intimidated to step in until now.  Forgive me if 
I repeat thoughts that have already been covered.  I've tried to 
search the archive but it is overwhelming to say the least.

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "eriktz" <Erikzamora at h...> wrote:
> > I have heard many people say that Harry was saved by his mother's 
> > sacrifice to save him. I have been very curious where people are 
> > getting that from. I have always understood that Dumbldore said 
that 
> > the reason that Quirrel couldn't touch Harry was because of his 
> > mother's sacrifice, not that he was protcted from AK because of 
his 
> > sacrifice. Could someone give me a reference if i am wrong about 
> > that? If you can't maybe we have no idea why Harry was able to 
> > deflect the Voldemort's AK!
> > 
> >
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "grey_wolf_c" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> Goblet of Fire, Chapter 33 "The Deatheaters" (Sp. Edition, liberal 
> translation):
> 
> "[Harry's] mother died to save him and, without knowing, she was a 
> shield for him that I had not thought of... I couldn't touch him.
[...] 
> His mother left in him the traces of her sacrifice... this is 
ancient 
> magic; I should've remembered it [...] My curse was desviated by 
the 
> mad sacrifice of a woman and rebounded against me"
> 

I have always felt that there was more to Harry's survival than a 
simple case of "mother's sacrifice".  If that was all it took to 
protect a loved one then certainly Harry's case would not be as 
unique as it apparently is.  In the well documented history of the 
Wizarding World there would have to have been at least a few other 
examples of people protected by the ultimate sacrifice of someone 
else, be it parent, spouse, etc.  I'm not saying that Lily's 
sacrifice didn't contribute to Harry's survival but I don't believe 
it was the only factor.

If we then think about what the other contributing factor(s) may be, 
I see two possibilities:

1) There is something about Harry that we don't have knowledge of yet 
that gave him the personal power to protect himself.  Many threads 
have discussed the theory that Harry may be the heir of Gryffindor.  
The only thing we know for certain at this point is that there is 
something about Harry that made Voldemort feel threatened, so 
threatened that he felt he had to kill a one year old baby.  

Personally, while I believe that Harry is the lucky recipient of a 
great set of genes, I agree with Dumbledore's comment that what we 
become is more important than what we are born.  This leads to my 
second possibility, which is the one I prefer to believe.

2) There was someone else involved in protecting Harry that night.  
Dumbledore may be the only wizard that Voldemort actively fears but 
that doesn't mean there aren't others that are powerful enough to be 
a problem to him, especially if they catch him unawares.  My choice 
would be Snape.  He knew more curses at the age of 11 than most of 
the 7th year students did.  How much of a stretch would it be to 
think he had some exposure to the "ancient magic" also? 

We know that he was spying for Dumbledore and had a life-debt that he 
owed to James.  We know that someone warned the Potters that their 
lives were in danger.  We know that Snape did something that 
convinced Dumbledore beyond a doubt of Snape's trustworthiness.  What 
if that something was saving Harry and almost destroying Voldemort in 
the process?  

Now for my theory (Woo-Hoo, here it is everybody back now!)

Consider this scenario.  Snape is spying for Dumbledore and gets word 
that the Potters are targets.  Snape reports this fact and the 
Potters go into hiding.  Then Snape gets word that the secret is out 
and Voldemort is on his way to Godric's Hollow.  Snape is in a 
quandary.  He has the life-debt obligation to worry about but also 
his cover as a spy.  Life-debt obligation wins out and he goes to 
save the Potters but arrives too late to save James and Lily.  In 
fact he arrives just in time to work some ancient magic that, in 
combination with Lily's sacrifice, is enough to save Harry and 
reflect the curse on Voldemort.  The house is destroyed but is 
Voldemort? Nobody knows at that moment and Snape doesn't dare stick 
around in case the Death-Eaters show up trying to find their master.  
He returns to Dumbledore to find out that Hagrid has been sent to the 
Potters and, miracle of miracles, has pulled baby Harry from the 
wreckage alive.  

Now what to do?  (This is where my thoughts turn to Dumbledore as a 
quasi-manipulator)  Dumbledore doesn't know for certain where 
Voldemort is or what his condition is.  This would be the first piece 
of information that needs to be ascertained.  The people most likely 
to know are the Death-Eaters so off goes Snape gathering information 
again.  Of course no one can know of Snape's participation in the 
events at Godric's Hollow so baby Harry, the innocent bystander, 
becomes UrbanLegend Harry, the Boy Who Lived.  

Dumbledore turns Harry over to the Dursley's to protect him 
emotionally from the trauma of growing up famous and physically from 
any revenge by Voldemort or the Death-Eaters.  This distancing from 
the Wizarding World only reinforces the legend as time goes by.  
By the time Dumbledore has a grip on Voldemorts whereabouts and the 
rest of the Death-Eaters have been arrested or run back to the side 
of the good screaming "Imperious" no one would believe Snape if the 
truth were told.  Urban legends are like that.  Dumbledore isn't 
going to let the kneazle out of the bag because he knows Voldemort 
isn't completely gone and it always pays to have a Snape up your 
sleeve.

So what do we have by the time Harry enters Hogwarts?  We have 
BitterSnape who was and still is an ambitious man with dreams of the 
Order of Merlin dancing in his head, who is responsible for defeating 
the greatest dark wizard of the century, and can't even take credit 
for it.    

We have Dumbledore who trusts Snape implicitly because, when it 
really mattered, Snape chose the side of good and, even though 
recognition has been what he has always wanted, has lived without the 
recognition he deserves for all these years.  Maybe not happily, all 
the references to the "famous Harry Potter" show that, but he has 
lived with it.

Perhaps most importantly, we have a villain who has spent 10 years 
obsessing about the boy who beat him.  We see this in SS/PS, why 
would Quirrelmort take the risk of exposing himself by trying to kill 
Harry at the Quidditch game?  Why, at the end when Harry had the 
stone in his pocket, did Quirrelmort attack him physically and not 
just "Accio" the stone from him?  The reason is one of the oldest 
motivating forces in literature, simple revenge.    

We see the same thing in GoF.  Voldemort could use any enemies' blood 
but, no, it has to be Harry's.  Granted Voldemort has a couple of 
other thoughts, namely he believes he will get extra protection from 
Harry's blood and that he will prove to the Death-Eaters that Harry 
is beatable but it probably would have been better strategically to 
regain his body quietly and get his forces in order.  Voldemort can't 
see the forest for the trees anymore and I am sure Dumbledore is 
counting on this.

A lot of mention has been made of the triumphant gleam in 
Dumbledore's eyes that is mentioned near the end of GoF

  ""He said my blood would make him stronger than if he'd used 
someone else's," Harry told Dumbledore. "He said the protection my - 
my mother left in me - he'd have it too. And he was right - he could 
touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face."  
  For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something 
like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes." (GoF, US paperback edition page 
696)

What if Dumbledore's gleam is not because of Voldemort's actions that 
Harry is relating but because of Voldemort's words?  What if the 
important thing is that Voldemort still believe's Lily's sacrifice 
was THE reason Harry survived?  I would have a gleam of triumph too 
if I had kept my world's greatest enemy obsessing over a red herring 
(or in this case a red Harry?) <g> for thirteen years.  It would also 
mean that Snape's cover might hold up.  It might not be easy for him 
to get back in the good graces but at least it COULD be possible.

What do you folks think?

Audrey (who has donned her blindfold and is nervously 
awaiting, "Ready, Aim, Fire"!)