Did Lily run? was Why were the sacrifices different?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95464

> Karen wrote:
<snip> I have found no canon proof to say that Lily didn't
> try to get away. This is another one of those things that, to me
> anyway, will have to be put in writing before I will believe her not
> running had something to do with the 'old magic' that protected Harry
> from Voldemort. I personally think that she did try to run she just
> didn't get very far, but then I also believe that she had her wand.
> After all they know Voldemort is after them, seems to me if your
> being hunted and know it you would sleep with that wand under your
> pillow and have it with you at all times. 

> 
> vmonte responds:
> I agree with you Karen. I think she ran to another room. I see no 
> reason why she wouldn't have had her wand either. I also think that 
> someone else was at Godric's Hollow besides James, Lily, and Harry. 
><snip>
> On page 240, U.S., paperback:
> "Lily take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off--" The 
> sounds of someone stumbling from a room--a door bursting open--a 
> cackle of high-pitched laughter-- 
><snip>
> 
> "I heard my dad," Harry mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever 
> heard him--he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum
time to run for it..."

<snip>
> 
> "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead--" (page 179)
> Was Lily aware of the prophecy? Did DD tell James and not Lily? Did 
> Lily think it was about someone else?
> 
> I think that Lily, out of desperation, sacrificed herself to save her 
> son; but I do not think that it was pre-planned. I think it was 
> something that she did spur-of-the-moment.   

Carol responds:
It's possible that Lily heard James and ran to baby Harry's bedroom
either to get him, as James seems to have wanted, or to block
Voldemort's way, which is suggested by Voldemort's "stand aside, girl"
(or "stand aside, silly girl," depending which version Harry is
hearing). There's nothing to indicate that she ran *outside.* She was
in Voldemort's way, not vice versa. As for having her wand handy, if
she had it and wanted to fight, as James did, why didn't she use it?
Why insist "Kill me instead" unless she not only knows about the
prophecy, but knows that her self-sacrifice (the ancient magic, with
or without a charm) is the only thing that can save her son?

I think that DD told both James and Lily about the Prophecy, which is
why they agreed to a Secret Keeper and the Fidelius Charm. (How could
they *not* have known?) But I also think that Lily had a desperate
Plan B of her own in case the Fidelius Charm failed. To me, her words
clearly indicate that she knew she had to die and neither running nor
fighting was an option this time around.

But here's where I get confused. The Prophecy happened three months
before Harry was born, probably before the Potters and the Longbottoms
had "thrice defied" Voldemort. The Fidelius Charm wasn't put in place
until much later, September or October of the following year. Did
Dumbledore wait more than a year to tell them? Was he waiting for the
third defiance? Did he have information from Snape? Did Sirius tell
James that he thought Remus was a spy? All the way around, the
Fidelius Charm seems like a desparate, last-minute measure. No wonder
Lily (apparently) saw the need for an alternate plan.

Carol