James gave his life, why no protection from him?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 107218

Theresa wrote:
 <snip> I have always felt it was not 
> necessarily the fact that it was a mother's love so to speak that 
> protected Harry, but that Lily did something that needed love as 
> an "ingredient" so to speak. It just seems too simple for it to just 
> be just that she loved Harry. Also, sorry my books are at home and I 
> am quickly finishing this at work, but Voldemort mentions something 
> about ancient magic he had forgotten while in the graveyard. I think 
> Lily being the clever witch that everyone always seems to describe 
> somehow transferred some of her love to protect Harry as she died. I 
> don't know how but I think she did it as she died and it worked for 
> her because she was near Harry and that James being somewhere else
in the house was unable to do so due to not being near. And he might
not have been as clever as Lily. I think James and Lily both loved
Harry  dearly and it was NOT merely the simple - 'your mother loved
you so that protected you' with no ancient magic at all. It is just a
theory 
> of mine that may be blasted out of the water but it is how I have 
> thought since reading the graveyard scene in GOF. <snip>

> Theresa

Carol responds:
Exactly. Her death, her self-sacrifice, was required to activate the
ancient magic. James' wasn't. He could and did fight to protect his
family, to give her time to run--but she didn't, and couldn't--run,
because she knew (as I don't think James did) that she had to die.
There's no evidence that she was armed with a wand or attempted to
fight back. She just blocked Voldemort's way and insisted that he kill
her instead of Harry. It was the only way she could save him. I'm not
in any way denigrating what James did--it was right and necessary and
courageous--but his death could not have saved Harry. Only Lily's
could. And I think that was a secret that only she and Dumbledore knew.

I also don't think it's Lily's *cleverness* as compared with James'
(he was clever, too) but her skill with Charms (as opposed to his with
Transfiguration) that's the key factor here. Specifically, I think
that the ancient magic was a protective charm she placed on Harry that
would be activated by the combination of her death and Voldemort's AK.
Instead of killing Harry as it would have done had she not died first,
the AK created the scar, which acted as a shield, deflecting back the
AK on the caster. Although JKR has said that the shape of the scar
isn't the most important thing about it, that doesn't mean it's wholly
*un*important. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if the
lightning-shaped scar was really an eihwaz (defense) rune.

Carol, hoping she spelled eihwaz correctly because she didn't look it up