What saved Harry?

[femmevitale27]

No: HPFGUIDX 142795

> szehms:
> In the interview quotes I provided, JKR says a choice like the 
> one given to Lily is the one and only time LV allowed a witch 
> or wizard the opportunity to choose to live when faced the 
> possibity of death.  LV told Harry that "your mother (Lily) 
> needn't have died..." (SS pp. 294) and in POA Harry hears LV 
> tell Lily to step aside I believe 3 times.
> 
> Why not just kill her outright as he did James? <snip>
> 
> The mystery of the choice I do believe signifies that Lily's 
> life, for some reason, had a degree of meaning to LV, not very 
> much importance as her life was not worth allowing Harry to 
> live, but 'some' importance, the question I ponder is 'why'?  
> This is a question JKR cannot answer as it is too vital a clue 
> to the end of the series.


femmevitale:

This is my first post & I'm a little nervous but here it goes: 

I'm at work now so I don't have the book in front of me; 
therefore, I'll be paraphrasing a bit and my facts might be off 
but I think the general idea is interesting. Namely, why did LV 
give Lily a chance to live? I think the answer is in HBP. 

We know that when DD came to the orphanage to talk to Tom Riddle, 
Tom was happy but not surprised to hear that he was a wizard. He 
immediately assumed this wizarding ability must have come from 
his father because, by Tom's reasoning, if his mother had been 
magical, she would not have let herself die. This is the first 
time in Tom's life where he equates dying with being anti-magical. 
Harry ponders the fact that Merope wouldn't even save herself for 
her son. This is the first time that Harry unwittingly feels pity 
for LV. 

So the parallel then is between Merope and Lily. Merope is a 
mother who chose (in LV's eyes) to be selfish and die instead of 
live for her son. Lily is a woman who chose to be selfless and 
die for her son instead of save her own life. It is the choices 
that their mothers made which make Harry and LV diametric 
opposites. 

So back to the original question: Why did LV give Lily a choice? 
We can take the extreme touchy-feely route and say that LV in 
that moment felt a sense of connection to Harry, the boy whom he 
believed could ultimately topple him—his worthy opponent. By 
sensing his connection to Harry, LV could have felt connected to 
Lily and been "benevolent" enough to give her a choice because he 
was thinking of his own mother. Yes, very unlikely, I know – but possible. 

Or, LV could have had a special purpose for Lily (who we know was 
immensely talented in charms & potions). Or, a truly evil LV 
wanted Lily to watch her child being killed. Yet it struck me 
that LV once said to Harry, "Your mother needn't have died." It's 
almost as if he is saying it to himself. I think the answer to 
this will be the key to Harry's ability to destroy LV.

femmevitale