Why the Potters?

[probonoprobono]

No: HPFGUIDX 57946

"darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...> wrote:
> Bored with time travel for now, so I'm thinking of reasons why V-
Mort targeted James, Lily and Harry in the first place?
><details snipped>
> Idea 1: Just Good Business
> Idea 2: Hatfield and McCoys
> Idea 3: For the love of a good Snape
> Idea 4: Granddaddy dearest (OR -- the Star Wars theory)
> There you go. Anyone else?

Me: 

Based on the tiniest bit of canon evidence, I'm going to dispute 
theories 1 and 2: 

in PS/SS Hagrid says about Lily and James: 

" Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on 
his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore 
ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.

It's not hard evidence. But, since this isn't a court of law, I'm 
going to use it to make an educated guess that Voldie had no 
interest in the Potters whatsoever before Harry was born. That evil 
plan of his (whatever it was) had been making good, steady progress 
for the 10 years preceding Harry's birth and he had been recruiting 
plenty of followers all the while. But, according to Hagrid, he 
didn't show the slightest interest in the Potters – until Harry's 
birth. 

Fudge does say in PoA that not many people were aware that Voldemort 
was after the Potters. Dumbledore knew, via one of his spies, and 
upon receiving this information immediately sent the Potters into 
hiding. And we can date the general time he received this 
information by a quote of Sirius Black's later on in PoA:

"DON'T LIE!" bellowed Black. "YOU'D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM 
FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!"

Dumbledore received this information around the time of Harry's 
birth – and the Potters had been on the run ever since. 

I'm a firm believer that (as the title of the series suggests), it 
really is all about Harry. 

And on points 3 and 4: 

So, why Harry? What's the big deal?

It could be an "heir" issue. If we want to believe that what 
Voldemort told Harry is true. That Lily didn't have to die. Then the 
lineage must go back through James' bloodline. So why not remove 
James before Harry's birth? I can only think of two reasons:  James' 
lineage wasn't known (or widely known). Or, Voldemort didn't realize 
that any lineage was a concern of his (that is, until Trelawney's 
prediction).  And this information must only have come to 
Voldemort's attention after Lily was already pregnant (Heck, maybe 
it was even Peter who spilled the beans?). 

Also, if the lineage went through Lily's bloodlines, than Voldie 
would have also been after Petunia and Dudley, and we've seen no 
canon evidence of that so far. 

So, no, Lily did not have to die. But Harry was a threat and James 
was a threat and both needed to be removed. 

Yeah, its' not as Bangy as the Snape/Lily, but I think it works. 

-Tanya (who is wondering why Harry doesn't have his own Wizard's 
Card yet)