Why couldn't Lily Love Snape?

[estelle_clements]

No: HPFGUIDX 137818

I've been reading "Harry Potter For Grown Ups" posts for
ages and I
have to say I've seen some really great theories on here. I am
curious
however; I've seen a large number of posts with the idea that
Snape
could have been in love with Lily, but almost nothing on the subject
of Lily loving Snape. Lily loved everybody, I don't think it
would be
so far fetched to think that she could see beyond someone's
exterior
and care for who they were, rather, I'd expect her to go after
someone
a little unusual. Opposites attract?
  We know from Lupin in movie 3 that "Not only was she a
singularly
gifted witch, she was also an uncommonly kind woman. She had a way of
seeing the beauty in others, even and, perhaps, most especially, when
that person could not see it in themselves."  

  That seems like a very leading statement to me.

 JK has said that Snape was loved by someone, and that that made him
more culpable. 
 I think that, of all the people we've met, the most likely
person to
be capable of loving someone like Snape- would be Lily. She is
incredibly kind, she sees good in others- especially if it's often
overlooked by others, she understands being different (a witch in a
muggle home), and she's gifted at potions.

   The idea that humans seldom do what is good for them is a truth we
hear DD mention. I think it very likely that although Snape could have
potentially had a happy relationship with someone, but his Slytherin
ambition would win out and he'd prefer to take the most
"ambitious"
root in life. He is who he is, ambition is his nature. I think by the
time he realized he might have wanted to change who he was, it was a
bit late- Lily was dead. (or at least, already moved on with Potter.)

  And, although I can't back this up with canon- there's
something
very human and real to me about a good, kind person falling for
someone who is dark and seemingly unhappy. I don't know if
it's like
the need to bring happiness into that person's life, that
opposites
attract, or that kind people who have strong intellects see and wish
to bring out someone's true potential. It just seems like
something
that you see frequently in life.

There's something else that bothers me about the Lily/Snape
relationship as well. We know that Lily is this extremely kind person,
with this wonderful heart, and yet, when Snape calls her a mudblood,
she has no problem throwing his nickname back at him. I think that
shows a certain amount of familiarity with someone. Lily's NEVER
been
painted as cruel- she's not the kind of person who repays hate
with
hate. It seems like it would have been more in character for her to
say something like "I'm sorry you feel that way." And
just walk off

Was she merely teasing? Or was she acting out of hurt feelings? He
kept rejecting her and so she lashed out a bit? Interesting perhaps
that she says to James, "I don't want YOU (italized) to make
him
apologise
you're as bad as he is." Does she mean, she
doesn't want
James to make him because she can't stand James, or does she mean
she
wants Severus to treat her a certain way of his own accord because she
wants to know that they have mutual respect? That he maybe didn't
mean
it- or she knew/hoped he didn't.

We also know that Lily and James didn't get together until their
last
year at Hogwarts. One wonders if there wasn't some sort of
catalyst
for this. Did Lily discover that Snape had become a death eater? That
he couldn't be turned from his path? Did James, who had grown up
and
perhaps fought against the Death Eaters (or possibly exposed Snape?)
seem like a far better choice?
 
 I think it highly possible that James could have exposed Snape as a
follower of Voldemort. It's been beaten home several times that
the
relationship between James and Snape is a major factor- it always
comes up! Snape HATED James. Why James? It was Sirius that played the
prank. Snape loathes/d Sirius, but its James he hated. Why? I think
book 7 will shed a lot of light on the last 2 years of their
schooling, particularly what it is that put Lily and James together.
Harry's parents are majorly important- but Snape is clearly up to
his
neck in it as well.

I'm not suggesting Lily wandered around all starry-eyed and
pining for
Snape- that's really not her style. You can love someone and
continue
to love them even if they don't return the feeling, and I'm
not
talking about crazy stalkers, I mean just caring for someone's
well
being and hoping that they will be well. Nor am I suggesting that
there wasn't also obvious chemistry between Lily and James,
clearly
there was.

Hope I'm not over-romantizing here, then again, maybe I hope I am.


Estelle.