Why didn't Lily have to die?

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 93547

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mad_maxime" <mad_maxime at h...> 
wrote:
> 
> Max replies:
> I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
> This theory doesn't make sense to me. If there *is* some mysterious
> reason why he doesn't kill her immediately, Voldemort certainly
> doesn't seem to hold it in much regard. Probably within one minute 
>of him entering the room, Lily lies dead on the floor.

That doesn't mean that there wasn't some reason that made him prefer 
Lily alive. It may have been a slight preference, but it could have 
existed.

> 
> So how important could this reason have been in the first place? If
> there is something that makes him hesitate, why not just 
>incapacitate her instead?
<snip> 
>He simply
> asked her to step aside initially because he wanted to kill Harry
> first (imo). In his arrogance, he saw a wandless Lily as posing no
> threat to him.

Why do you think she was wandless? (I may have missed stuff from 
previous posts, which I haven't read. Sorry if that's so.). As for  
incapacitating her, Lily was a powerful witch. We have seen in the 
OoP battle that curses can be deflected. AK is described as a curse 
that cannot be deflected (in GoF). Voldemort's first priority is to 
get to Harry, so once Lily refused to move, he wouldn't engage in 
battle with her - she may somehow escape him again, this time with 
Harry. So, he kills her. 

If Voldemort says that Lily needn't have died, it must mean that had 
she moved aside, he would not have killed her after killing Harry. If 
he had intended to kill her afterwards, it would be a lie to say that 
she needn't have died, right? 


Naama