CHAPDISC:HBP19,Elf Tails/Life Debt

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 157555

 
> Carodave:
> Maybe life debts are triggered by sparing - not saving - someone's 
> life.  So when Harry rescues Ginny from the memory of Tom Riddle, 
> there is no life debt, but when Harry spares Wormtail from being 
> cursed by Lupin and Sirius, a life debt is triggered.  Similarly, 
> Snape owes James a life debt for sparing his life, by pulling him 
> back from the shrieking shack.  
> 

zgirnius:
Interesting idea...but I am not understanding the distinction. How is 
James pulling Snape out of the Shack different than Harry pulling Ginny 
out of the Chamber? (In what way is one a sparing and the other a 
saving, of the endangered person?)

Or maybe Snape simply does not owe a magical Life Debt to 
James...Dumbledore certainly used different language to discuss it than 
the debt of Peter. ('funny how the mind works' vs. 'magic at its 
deepest'.)