Lily's sacrifice may not be what we think it is... (very long)

[Ma-Dee]

No: HPFGUIDX 95787

Ariana wrote:

>  James 
> died in the hope that it might give Lily enough time to escape 
> with Harry.   Pure, selfless love.   If  "love" alone was the reason,
> it *would* have saved both Lily and Harry.   No, Lily actively did 
> something, and I believe it was a spell she cast on herself, as a 
> spell on Harry would have put his life in danger.

Maddy writes:

I hadn't thought of it that way. But your logic certainly does make sense. I don't know if I 
agree with your Karma theory completely (although I do like it!), but you're right, love 
alone couldn't have stopped AK. But Dumbledore's explanation of how Harry was saved 
from it leads us to think that it was her love that stopped it. I guess I just assumed he was 
telling the whole truth. (but after reading OotP I should be a little wiser, shouldn't I? But 
then I always fall for JKR's tricks!) But if Dumbledore did know exactly how she stopped it, 
what would be the harm in telling Harry? I have a sneaky suspicion that this question 
opens another can of worms. ;-)

 I (Maddy) wrote:

> "I don't think that Dumbledore or Lily knew about or thought of the 
> magic that saved Harry, nor do I think they planned what 
> happened. Rather, I think that merely the act of dying as she did, 
> trying to save her son, is supposed to be what protected Harry."

Arianna responded:

> Then it makes absolutely 
> no sense at all why she would DEMAND to be killed.   If  she 
> actually had *no plan*, then her *best bet* to protect Harry would 
> have been to stay alive and fight as long as possible.   It seems 
> that she seems to realize this.  At first she does say, "Please, I'll 
> do anything"  (PoA Amer paperback 239).  If he had just killed her 
> because she refused to move, I would agree with you 
> completely.  It is the fact that she *demanded* that he cast an AK 
> on her that tells me  she had to have had a plan.  What did she 
> think would happen after she was killed *if she had no plan* and 
> didn't try to cast some spell?  Voldemort would just kill Harry, and 
> she would be too dead to stop him.

I guess I overlooked the fact that she demanded to be killed instead of Harry. Unless there 
is some far-fetched possibility that Lily could have vanquished the Dark Lord as well as 
Harry, then yes, LV killing her probably was intended as a part of her plan to protect Harry.  
But to me it seems odd that she would have to cast a spell/charm on herself, rather than 
Harry. The protection that supposedly runs through Harry's (and now LV's) blood was in 
him when he deflected the AK curse, and when he fought Quirrel/LV, so surely there must 
have been something that Lily did to Harry that protected him, but was somehow initiated 
by her death.

=)
Maddy
(Who has typed herself into confusion.)