Gilding the Lily

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 114251

It's not uncommon when discussing the HP books that new information 
surfaces, or a new insight is thrown on existing canon and a 
re-assessment of a character or situation becomes possible, even 
advisable. Sometimes this is within a single volume (Crouch!Moody, 
Sirius) or it may take a while to become evident, only raising it's 
head above the parapet and leering at us long after we've become 
comfortable with a well-worn consensus (James, Remus).

We like to think that we've got the characters well sussed, we must be 
correct - after all, our analyses, theories and predictions are based 
on what we've come to believe and we'd be back to square one without 
them.  So we'll cling on like grim death, kicking and screaming when 
confronted with contrarian ideas until a new paradigm becomes 
ineluctable or until JKR prises them from our sweaty little mitts by 
dumping something totally unexpected into our eyeballs.

So why not jump the gun? A little pre-emptive posting; a look at  
personae whose images seem settled, immutable and see if there are 
hints in existing canon that will in retrospect be seen as the warning 
minor tremors preceding the main earthquake. Such was my thinking - 
hopefully a short  series of posts offering a tour d'horizon. Unlikely 
to be greeted with universal approbation of course,  but into every 
life a little rain must fall and today  the one caught without the 
umbrella is Lily.

Now I'm under no illusions here, I'm well aware that for some Lily has 
almost iconic status, symbolic of motherhood and all that other good 
stuff, but posters don't seem to mind rubbishing Molly or Tom's mother, 
so what the hell; they're all fictional constructs, right? Besides, 
analysis is fun, and it's intention is to make you *think*.

Most of what we know about Lily (and frankly we don't know all that 
much) comes from others - Hagrid and Petunia most of all.
Information has been doled out in penny-pieces, a bit here a dribble 
there with very little connection between them. The only really 
complete and unabridged episode we see is from the Pensieve - and even 
that has aspects that generate yet more questions.

She's not from a wizarding family, or at least that's what JKR wants us 
to believe for the present, though posters of a suspicious nature note 
the authorial hints that it might not be as cut and dried as all that, 
particularly where Petunia is concerned.

Petunia's view of Lily is entirely negative, nothing but spite and 
bile. It's possibly significant that  she never mentions anything about 
Lily or her life before Lily went to Hogwarts. The antipathy is 
palpable; these two are so different that if such great play weren't 
made of the blood connection/protection I'd wonder if one of them 
weren't a cuckoo in the nest. We can't deduce a great deal about what 
Lily  thought of Petunia - true, she was invited to  the Potter 
matrimonials but as the sole living relative it wouldn't be unusual if 
form and family overcame feelings of  "Oh, do we have to?"

Still,  before all that we  have descriptions of Lily coming home from 
school, pockets full of frog-spawn (frog-spawn? Why  frog-spawn? 
Toad-spawn I could understand -  it'd  give us a clue where Trevor came 
from) and being the life and soul of the dinner table by transfiguring 
teacups. Were the under-age magic regulations suspended? I  was under 
the impression that the only households where junior could get away 
with dabbling in a bit of magic were wizarding homes. And her parents 
were delighted. Why would Muggles who know nothing of magic, the WW or 
Hogwarts be delighted? My brain starts to itch when little anomalies 
like these surface. Apprehension would seem a more natural reaction. 
And any feelings of apprehension could well be felt justified if they'd 
seen the episode replayed to Harry from the Pensieve.

The sequence of events is straight-forward;  a confrontation - James 
and Sirius vs Snape. Words and spells are exchanged, Lily intervenes, 
is rebuffed by Snape and she exits stage left.
All well and good. To the supporters of LOLLIPOPS this was grist to 
their mill; at last! A credible scenario for Snape adoring  Lily! Being 
a fully paid up  member of the awkward squad I took the opposite line - 
AGGIE - Lily was enamoured of Snape but was rejected. There's no  real 
evidence either way of course, but I prefer my  version - mostly 
because it has the potential to induce apoplexy among Lily fans - or 
Snape-aphobics.

Whatever. But it's  the intervention that matters. Before OoP was 
published JKR  said it would provide a lot of information about Harry's 
parents. Certainly it opened our eyes about James, but not so much 
about Lily - unless it's all in the detail.
Lily intervenes on Snape's behalf - why? Many suggest it's  her love of 
fair play, dislike of bullying, opposition to violence etc. etc. 
Possibly true, but  boring. Two things in this scene interest me;  
first if she's agin fighting and for fair play, why no protest when 
Snape hits  James  with a  spell that  gashes his face, spattering 
blood onto  his robes -  a spell cast  when James was otherwise 
occupied?
Secondly James and Sirius are very wary of Lily's wand; have they been 
on the wrong end of it before? Or have they seen what she's capable of 
when angry?
Oh, for a bit more backstory.

Eventually all becomes sweetness and light. She brings James home to 
meet  Mum and Dad. That must have been fun -

"And how do you propose to  keep my daughter in the manner to which 
she's accustomed?"
  "Well, I've got this underground vault that's guarded by goblins and 
their pet dragon..."
Yerrsss.
Not quite the same as a savings account with the Halifax, is it?

It's generally accepted, though not entirely certain, that James and 
"that horrible boy" are one and the same,  but it is possible to 
construct a scenario that can cast doubt on this
viz-
in OoP we're told that James started going out with Lily in their 
seventh year - their last at Hogwarts. Additionally, they married 
immediately on leaving school (according to the Lexicon) - almost 
indecently hasty IMO. Yet we are also told that at the time of the 
wedding the Dursleys were already married. How much time would Petunia 
(who now has her own house and hubby to occupy her) spend  in her 
parents home during the school holidays, knowing Lily (someone she 
despises) will be there? The description "horrible" indicates some  
personal experience of the person so described, but if Petunia (and her 
character would support this) avoided meeting James then who is she 
describing? Was there someone before James?

An aside - Mr and Mrs Evans. Both died within a short time-span - 
between the wedding and GH (again according to the Lexicon). Is this a 
coincidence? As Lady B. puts it "To lose one parent is unfortunate, to 
lose two looks like carelessness."
I've a couple of possibilities to offer here - either:

1. It was Mr and Mrs Evans that died in the car crash and Petunia used 
this event as the basis for the tale she tells Harry,
or
2. It wasn't chance that caused them to shuffle  off this mortal coil, 
it was enemy action.

Just one very, very oblique clue here; Petunia reacts to the name 
Voldemort and to the mention of Dementors. Where has she heard these 
before? Voldy possibly from DD's letter after GH, or possibly not. It 
could have been the reason given for an earlier bereavement.... or two.

'Cos I have this feeling that Voldy might have been putting the 
pressure on them for some time. Blame Hagrid for this one -
"Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his 
side before...."
Before?
Was GH a recruiting drive gone wrong? Nah, don't  think  so,  but it 
can be construed to mean that Voldy had made at least one less lethal 
approach to the Potters and a not-so-polite refusal led to a 
performance that  brought the house down.

Just a little more on this, another interpretation of Lyn's.
Voldy's phrasing -
"Stand aside you silly girl...stand aside now.."
Seems almost as if it's couched in familiar terms somehow, as if Lily 
was personally known to him already.
Not quite the vocabulary of a murderous villain finally achieving his 
goal, is it? Not  even any exclamation marks, could even be  read as 
more in sorrow than in anger. A request, not an instruction. Is that 
the Voldy we boo and hiss?

Harry has these flashbacks of GH, but he sees nothing except the green 
flash; it's all words - and as we all know words don't always give us 
the whole or even the true story. All of us want the pictures, the 
actions that reflect the words. What else would they show? Even in the 
PS film the scene was deliberately made obscure. Can Harry's 'visions' 
really be as simple and straightforward as they sound?

After this all is screams and green lights - apart from the Mirror.
And that I don't trust.
I think it shows what DD *wants* people to see, despite all his 
explanatory flannel. The only  accurate bit of his whole spiel was 
".... this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth."
So why  believe a damn thing it shows?

Kneasy