Why didn't Voldemort die? (long)

[Misty]

No: HPFGUIDX 110418

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mz_annethrope" 
<mz_annethrope at y...> wrote:
> Why didn't Voldemort die when he tried to kill Harry, this was the 
> first of the two important questions that JKR thought her fans 
might 
> like to ponder. 


Misty speaking:
This was interesting for me to hear JKR say that she had never been 
asked this question.  As someone very new to the books, I didn't ask 
these questions after finishing them because I thought, after reading 
the prophecy, that I had the answer - it didn't occur to me to ask.  
I guess I am just a little bit too unsophisticated in this regard.

This may have been addressed here before - I am new to this group, 
too - but I assumed, since the prophecy says LV must "die at the 
hands of" Harry, that that is why LV *didn't* die when the curse 
rebounded.  Again, I am probably being really simplistic, here, 
but "at the hands of" implies some action on the part of the other.  
Harry was protected by his mother - that is why *he* didn't die, but 
Harry was just a sitting duck for LV.  Harry did not do a thing to 
*try* to kill LV; he was too young, and certainly didn't know what he 
was doing.  

However, Harry must take some action before LV is killed.  To me, 
that is what the phrase "at the hand of" means.

Also, why DD didn't kill LV at MoM - again it may just be my 
simplistic understanding of this, but because DD knew the prophecy - 
why *would* he try to kill LV?  He knew that Harry must do that.

I apologise if this has all been rehashed before. 

Misty