Why didn't Lily have to die?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 93423

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greatelderone" 
<greatelderone at y...> wrote:
, 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.<<

A popular theory has been that she was wanted for some other 
purpose, perhaps as a reward for a faithful follower or for 
Voldemort himself (this is known on the list as Too Ewww to be 
True.) Since Voldemort only needed to eliminate one of  the 
James/Lily pair to make sure that they never had another child, 
this is a possibility.

Pippin