Why Voldemort Would Have Spared Lily

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112646

Antosha wrote:
> > I'm pretty sure I've said this here before, but what if heavy duty 
> spells such as AK drain the  caster? What if LV is worried that,
having already used the killing curse on James, he might not have the,
uh, mojo, or whatever, to finish off his ultimate objective, Harry, if
he has to expend himself killing Lily?
> > 
> Angie replied:
> I've actually thought about that (spells draining the caster), too, 
but didn't think about it as a reason not to kill Lily. Interesting. 
It would make sense.  However, it would also make sense that LV
brought reinforcements and would have had some Deather Eaters with
him, although I haven't read anything to support this. The point
being, he shouldn't have had to worry about draining his powers.  Part
of me wants to say that LV would have been strong enought to perform
three AK curses because he was just so dang evil. Probably would have
barely winded him if whatever happened had not happened. <snip>

Carol responds:
The problem with the spells draining the caster theory is that Tom
Riddle at age sixteen or seventeen (between his sixth and seventh
years at Hogwarts) cast three of them, killing his father and
grandparents with no apparent difficulty. (I would think that Crucio
or Imperio would be more draining than AK, which doesn't need to be
sustained.) Admittedly, though, he might have felt somewhat drained
from dueling with James, but I doubt that James got in more than a
curse or two before LV AK'd him. (Wonder why James didn't stupefy him?
 That would have bought him and Lily some time to apparate--unless you
can't apparate with a baby.)

Carol, who has already given her own explanation for why LV wants Lily
to step out of the way and doesn't want to annoy anyone by repeating it