OOP: Lily's death (was Disappointing)

[David]

No: HPFGUIDX 66272

Penny wrote:
 
> I don't know if you've re-read it yet, but for me, the 2nd read 
through brought out the humor and the excitement that my initial 
read missed.  I say that: I'm not finished with my re-read mind you, 
but so far, I'm seeing considerably more humor than I experienced on 
first read.

Me too

(Thestrals)

I think that because he didn't *see* Lily die with knowledge of what 
he was seeing (if he actually *saw* it at all), this answer works 
for me.  He *hears* things from his memory, but seeing the flash of 
green light is not the same thing as seeing the green light hitting 
his mother in the face and watching her fall to the ground and 
*knowing* that she's dead.  A 15-month old can't experience death in 
the same way that a 15-year old can.  And, we've no evidence that 
Harry *saw* anything relating to Lily's death, actually.  

Yes, indeed, while we can't be sure, the green light is presumably 
the curse that Voldemort aimed at Harry *after* Lily was dead.

In fact, until Fawkes stopped the AK intended for Dumbledore, I had 
never envisaged that Lily might have jumped in the way of an AK 
intended for Harry - I assumed from Crouch Jr's statement that AK is 
essentially unstoppable that it doesn't work like that (I still find 
it slightly annoying that curses are like bullets - other spells 
don't seem to need a 'clear line of fire':  e.g. accio gets the 
thing you want, not the thing your wand is pointing at).  I had 
believed that Voldemort deliberately killed Lily so as to be able to 
kill Harry - so I have never put much stock in this 'stand aside' 
stuff: to me he's just trying to save his effort.

In any case, even if Lily stopped a curse intended for Harry, 
Voldemort must then have used *another* curse to try to kill Harry, 
and this was the one that nearly destroyed him, and gave Harry the 
scar.  Even if Harry did see the light from the one that killed 
Lily, one must suppose that the second one was more visible, as it 
hit him on the forehead, and this is the one he remembers as a lot 
of green light.

All of which doesn't add up to much, but means that it is consistent 
that Harry didn't see Lily's death.   It may seem overliteralistic 
to insist on strict visibility, rather than experience, of death, to 
be able to see Thestrals, but it makes sense to me just because it 
is the *visibility* of Thestrals that is in question.  Perhaps if 
you hear somebody die in the next room, you can hear Thestrals but 
not see them?

David