Why did Lily marry James ? / Snapes other worst memory

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 67369

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" It shouldn't 
> be so hard to grasp that James grew up 
> and reformed and that is who Lily fell in love with. (I mean, 
aren't 
> we expected to believe Snape did, or that Draco still can?)
> 
> Darrin

Yes, I confess I'm a little confused by the fact that so many people 
seem convinced that Draco is the future Great True Love of 
Hermione's life, yet so few are willing to concede the possibility 
that Lily might've really loved the man she married and had a child 
with.

I've been thinking about what we know or can deduce about James and 
his relationship with Lily, and this is what I've come up with:

1. The Prank.  Even if it's true that James saved Snape entirely for 
Remus and Sirius' sake (and I'm not convinced that it is), it's 
still very possible that the event would've opened his eyes to the 
potentially disastrous consequences of his and Sirius' behavior, and 
served as the starting point for him growing into a more mature and 
responsible person.  Sufficiently mature and responsible, in fact, 
to make Head Boy by seventh year.

2.  As someone else has pointed out, if James was Head Boy and Lily 
was Head Girl, they would've spent a lot of time together in the 
course of doing their jobs, which would've allowed Lily to get to 
know the new, improved James rather than just the git who bullied 
people in fifth year.

3.  James' parents were alive during his last two years of school 
(Sirius mentions living with them for a year until he turned 
seventeen, and being welcomed at their house for Sunday lunch for 
some time afterwards), but they were dead by the time of Voldemort's 
first fall (if you believe Dumbledore's claim that the Dursley's are 
Harry's only living relatives).  This is pure speculation on my 
part, but I'm guessing they died shortly after James left school, 
and their death was either the consequene of or the catalyst for 
James' first defiance of Voldemort.  Either way, suffering that kind 
of loss while still quite young is bound to change a person.  We 
also know that Lily's parents are either dead or totally estranged 
from their children, since we've seen neither hide nor hair of them 
for all these years.  Shared tragedy often brings people closer 
together.

Take all that together with the fact that James and Lily were 
working for the Order, risking their lives in war every day, and I 
have no trouble at all believing that they could've genuinely fallen 
in love in a relatively short time.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com