life's debt and how does it work?

[tina_00]

No: HPFGUIDX 134677

Hello,

I'm so used to being a lurker that I can't believe I'm writing this 
post... Ok, actually I can believe it, because I'd really really 
really like to see this topic being discussed but so far no one 
seemed to mind about it...

Well, while trying to keep up with all the posts - and finding it 
incredibly difficult - I've noticed all the posts discussing if 
Snape has any importance to the plot from now on; the theories about 
his love for Lily (that somehow are no longer theories - some people 
seem absolutely certain of it) and so on, but only a few bothered to 
mention the fact that we were told Snape was saved by James.

What exactly do we know about life's debt? If I'm not mistaken, 
we've only heard about it from Dumbledore, and he didn't explain 
much when talking about Wormtail. But Dumbledore was sure that 
having a Death Eater who owes his life to Harry won't exactly be a 
plus to Voldemort.

So what if Snape owes his life to James Potter? There were 
discussions in this list (a long time ago; sorry but I couldn't find 
a suitable post to use as an example) about how this affects Snape 
in the sense that he has to protect Harry at the same time that he 
hates the boy. But now we have another piece of information - Snape, 
having a life's debt to James, was the one that caused his death.

I am wondering how *that* affects Snape. I was even wondering if 
that isn't the reason why Dumbledore trusted Snape so much - maybe 
he knew that it binds Snape to Harry? And another interesting 
thought crossed my mind - Voldemort has two followers in debt with 
Harry.

Oh, I don't know how it affects the characters - I am a lurker for a 
reason, and the reason is that you guys come up with much better 
theories than I do -, but am I the only one who thinks that this may 
play a big part in book 7?

Cristina 
BTW, I still can't believe that my favourite character was killed by 
my second favourite character, and although I'd love to think it was 
all part of a big plan, I'm trying not to get my hopes up.