Voldemort's warning to Lily before trying to kill Harry

[Becky]

No: HPFGUIDX 45585

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "c_voth312" <divaclv at a...> wrote:

> A couple theories:
> 
> 1) For reasons which have yet to be explained, Voldemort feels 
> threatened by Potter bloodline--perhaps a prophecy predicted his 
> downfall would come from this lineage, or such.  Since Lily married 
> into the family, her death isn't as "necessary" as James' or 
Harry's.
> 
> 2) Voldemort is probably sadistic enough to promise to spare Lily, 
> then kill Harry right in front of her, after which he might either 
a) 
> kill her anyway or b) turn her over to the DE's for their 
> own "amusement."
> 
> ~Christi

Or Voldemort might not be as completely homicidal as the books make 
him out to be. I know that often a comparison is made between 
LV's "Kill the spare"and his "Stand aside, girl!", but I think it's 
rather unfair to compare the climatic moment after thirteen years, to 
a time when LV was pretty much running wild.

If LV is smarter than he appears to be (and I hope he is), than 
leaving Lily alive could be useful. Knowing your child could be 
killed in front of your eyes while you're helpless would be 
*extremely* demoralizing. If the DE's are running as a terrorist 
operation, having a survivor give an eyewitness account could be more 
useful than a heap of dead bodies. If Voldemort had reasons to be 
strictly aiming for the Potter bloodline, than Lily's death really is 
unnecessary, despite her Muggle-born status. (Or, I suppose, you 
could take it as evidence toward Squib!Petunia.)

There's also a statement by Hagrid made in PS/SS that seems to be 
slightly puzzling if you think of LV as a complete psycho murderer. 
He says: "An then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he 
tried to kill you, too. Wanted to make a clean job of it, I suppose, 
or maybe he just liked killin' by then."

This doesn't really seem to me that LV had a reputation for mass 
murder. Possibly his DE's, but I find it rather odd that LV's reasons 
would be in question if he was known for killing every "spare" in 
sight.

So what is it? Proof of LV's less bloodthirsty status? A question for 
the WW brought by hindsight? Or possibly, just JKR having fun with 
us, and saying right out what the mystery of the HP world is supposed 
to be.

Becky