New Question: You're JKR's editor!

[persephone_kore]

No: HPFGUIDX 73158

Darrin wrote: 
> The only source we have for the idea that Lily didn't need to die is 
> from Voldemort himself, hardly trustworthy. And he gave that 
> information, "she needn't have died" when he was trying to get Harry 
> to give up the Philosopher's Stone.
> 
> I keep coming back to this and, so far as I know, it hasn't been 
> justified sufficiently to keep me from doing so -- had V-Mort really 
> wanted to spare Lily, he could have spared Lily. I can think of 
> several ways just off the top of my head, starting with the Body 
> Bind. There are also those nifty chains Snape used on Lupin and 
> Sirius.

Well, if Harry's Dementor-induced memory is in fact reliable (which I
can imagine being argued, in which case you could dismiss it as
suggestion), we have some an indication that Voldemort made at least a
passing effort to let her get out of the way. Of course, maybe he just
wanted her to watch her baby die and THEN kill her, but he made the
suggestion. (And Lily was supposed to be good at charms; I suppose in
theory she could have deflected the Body Bind. Not that Voldemort was
a slouch at magic, though....)

Still, it's an odd enough point to bring up that it seems it might
deserve further mention than it's had so far, especially with two
references. My guess would be either he had some other use for her or,
if Dementor-evoked memory is unreliable, that it'll turn up as another
example of Voldemort messing with Harry's mind.

PK