JKR Chat "The Crucial and Central Question"

[davewitley]

No: HPFGUIDX 92376

Jen Reese wrote:

> Did something happen to Tom Riddle at birth that interfered with 
his 
> attempt to kill Harry, rather than just the protection on Harry by 
> Lily, Dumbledore, etc.? JKR's reply says there was more to his 
birth 
> than reported so far (all reported by Tom and therefore possibly 
> inaccurate). Was in a magical occurence? Another insult from the 
> Riddle family? 
 
Jo Jo Binks replied:

> Didn't Voldie's mum die giving birth to him. She was a witch so if 
it was a choice between the two surviving, and the mother chose 
Voldie couldn't this be another example of "ancient" protective 
magic. He said himself "I should have remembered it" or something 
along those lines (GoF). Might explain the rebounded AK not killing 
him (if that's what it was).

I think this is a distinct possibility.  See post 31243:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/31243
where I elaborated this idea.

Post-OOP, we might interpret 'marking as his equal' to mean that 
Voldemort activated the mother love spell (I tend to agree with 
Amanda's husband that sacrifice alone is not enough: it needs to be 
accompanied by a pre-prepared spell) by killing Lily, thus giving 
Harry the mark of love.  The scar is then not the mark, though it 
symbolises it, since, because AK alone leaves no mark, it must be 
the interaction between the love-defence and the AK that creates a 
scar.

It is also interesting in this context to speculate on the nature of 
Neville's relationship with his mother.  In Harry's case, Lily was 
attacked for Harry's sake, so it's clear she loved him enough for 
the protection to be activated.  Perhaps one risk of the mother love 
spell (if such there be) is that if the mother is attacked and 
suffers, but not for the sake of her child, then there is a knock-on 
effect on the child.  Thoughts?

David