Voldemort's warning to Lily

[Becky]

No: HPFGUIDX 45783

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., GulPlum <hpfgu at p...> wrote:

> Or, to turn the issue around, if he was willing to spare Lily, why 
was he 
> not prepared to let Cedric live?
> 


Actually, I addressed this earlier in my post:
> 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.

To clarify:

The "Kill the spare" comment was made after 13 years in exile, 
without a normal body. It is after another defeat by HP (when LV 
tried to get the PS), and the crucial part of LV's scheme *hasn't 
even happened yet.* The question for me to ask would be: Why would LV 
keep Cedric alive? I suppose you can counter by saying that's the 
same question you're wondering about Lily, but to me there is a huge 
difference between the possible things to go wrong (from LV's POV.)

LV *still* has to make the potion. Then call his DE's and kill Harry. 
He does *not* have his full power back yet. And you're wondering why 
he didn't tell Wormtail to Stun Cedric? Possibly he learned his 
lesson with Lily about not killing people.

Counter this by going back to 1981, LV is running wild, the MoM is 
apparently falling apart and the WW can't even say his *name.* Why 
*shouldn't* he let Lily live? I mean, what does he have to lose? 
She's helpless, and the only wizard he fears is Albus Dumbledore. And 
I still think she was supposed to live so that she could tell what 
happened. While 3 dead bodies make a statement, having a survivor can 
(IMO) make a better one. Particularly if s/he's a Muggle-born. It 
might make pure-bloods more frightened of associating with Muggle-
borns if LV is seemingly going after them harder than the Muggle-
borns themselves. 

And I'm still not entirely certain about LV really *feels* about 
Muggle-borns. Whether he is just using them as a convenient rallying 
cry to get families who would be more inclined to the Dark Arts on 
his side. I mean, I'm fairly certain how Tom Riddle feels, but I'm 
not inclined to trust anything the grown-up LV says.

Errr... to return to my original topic for this post:
I'm afraid I'll have to see how LV is in a more *normal* scenario 
before I can think of his treatment of Lily as unusual. And the "Kill 
the spare" does not qualify to me as "normal" no matter how you put 
it.


> All of the above is incidental to why I started this post anyway. :-
)
> 
> There's something else in that quote which has always intrigued 
me: "make a 
> clean job of it": a clean job of *what*, exactly?
> 
> The only thing which springs to my mind (and this is *far* from an 
original 
> thought; it's expressed here on almost a daily basis, in some form 
or 
> another) :-) is "killing anyone in the Potter line". I can't see 
any 
> category which would fit Voldemort's willingness to spare Lily yet 
not 
> Harry, to spare other babies yet not Harry.
> 

::shrug:: I'm about as clueless on this as you are. Possibly it just 
means "no survivors." Possibly not.


> Furthermore (and this is just a thought, not really leading to any 
> conclusion), the quote indicates that Hagrid was not aware that 
Voldemort 
> was going specifically for Harry. Whilst we don't yet know for a 
fact that 
> Harry was a specific target, it's heavily implied. Yet after all 
that time 
> working for Dumbledore, Hagrid doesn't know that, as he considers 
> Voldemort's attack on Harry to be an afterthought, "to make a clean 
job of 
> it"...
> 

Well, much as I like Hagrid, I know *I* wouldn't trust Hagrid with 
much information, especially if I didn't want Harry to hear. :-)

> --
> GulPlum AKA Richard, who is still trying to catch up, and would be 
grateful 
> if nobody would post anything for the next couple of days at 
least. :-)



Sadly, that never seems to happen, no matter how often I need it. :-)

Becky