Why didn't Lily have to die?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93422

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greatelderone"
<greatelderone at y...> wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, but why needn't Lily have died on the night 
> when Voldemort attacks the Potter residence. Voldemort himself 
> mentions it first in PS/SS and then later in POA we hear him tell 
> Lily to stand aside. Seeing how he killed James, a pureblood though a 
> traitor, why does a ruthless Dark Lord actually show an ounce of 
> mercy to Lily who he considers a mudblood according to his ideology 
> and who probably defied him thrice according to the terms of the 
> prophecy. I mean he could just have systemically slaughtered the 
> whole potter family. Why did he actually try and make an effort in 
> having her stand aside? It's so not like him imo.


Possibly she didn't have her wand with her and certainly she didn't
attempt to fight him as James did. So regardless of what may have
happened on previous occasions when she defied him, at this point she
was only an obstacle, a "silly girl," not a threat. What *I* don't
understand is how he could have thought that *any* mother would stand
aside and let him kill her baby. Maybe all those years as a bodiless
spirit possessing snakes and rats robbed him of any knowledge of human
psychology. In his view, there's no good or evil, only the desire for
power, so maybe love and other human emotions are beyond the scope of
his understanding. Mercy also would be beyond his comprehension. I
think he was merely focusing on his goal and what he wanted was to get
her out of his way so he could commit the murder he had come to
commit. But would he have left her there alive if his plan had
succeeded? I don't think so--unless he wanted an eyewitness who would
inform Dumbledore that the prophecy would not be fulfilled.

Carol