Why didn't Lily have to die?

[mad_maxime]

No: HPFGUIDX 93525

> > Max wrote:
> > I personally think too much has been made out of Voldemort asking
> > Lily to stand aside.  I believe he came to Godric's Hollow for one
> > reason - to kill Harry.  He killed James because he saw him as a
> > possible threat to his mission. However, in his arrogance
> >("silly girl"), I don't believe he saw Lily as a threat at all.
> >
> Greatelderone replied:
> How so? She was one of his enemies and one of dumbledore's
> follower's who had successfully survived three adventures against
> him. I don't think he'd be stupid enough to see her as no threat.
> <snip>

Max replies:

But he *was* stupid enough to see her as no threat. How else can you
read the situation?  He walks into the room and tells her to "Stand
aside, you silly girl." If he had *really* seen her as a threat, he
would have killed her right off the bat as he did with James, or at
least incapacitated her in some way. I don't disagree that he saw her
as one of his enemies, but it is clear to me that her viewed her as
merely a nuisance, not a threat.

> > Max wrote:
 
> > I'm not saying he wouldn't have wanted to kill James and Lily
> > anyway as they were aurors and his adversaries.  I just believe on
> > that particular night, fueled by his knowledge of the Prophecy, he
> > was mono-focused on killing Harry.

> Greatelderone replied:

> Yet it would have been easier to AK her and then AK Harry. Yet he
> doesn't and instead he tells her to step aside. Why? He's a dark
> lord and a rather ruthless fellow. Telling a mudblood to step aside
> so he could kill her son instead of killing her and then her son is
> rather uncharacteristic of someone like him.

Max replies:

I see no reason why this action would seem "uncharacteristic of
someone like him". Time and time again, in Voldemort's interactions
with Harry, we see his tendency to want to 'play' a bit with his
victim before going for the kill. If I were to describe his character,
two things I'd be fairly certain of, would be his arrogance and his
fondness for gloating. Who knows, maybe he enjoyed the idea of making
Lily watch as he killed her son.

So killing Harry first in no way makes him seem less ruthless. In
fact, it makes him seem more ruthless, imo.