"Stand aside, girl" and the End

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 145717

My thoughts keep drifting to Godric's Hollow and I'm wondering again 
why Voldemort gave Lily the chance to stand aside. Now that JKR has 
given us a better picture of the way Voldemort thinks and his 
particular obsessions and patterns, the idea that Voldemort would save 
Lily because Snape (or anyone) asked him to doesn't fit for me.
He appears to be more likely to hold a person's weaknesses, especially 
feelings of love, against the person rather than to reward them. Like 
Wormtail asking that Harry be spared in GOF, or using Draco for an 
impossible task even though Narcissa despaired for him. He's not about 
granting favors.

The second most common suggestion is that Voldemort thought Lily too 
silly to bother with since his laser focus was on killing James and 
Harry. This one, too, falls flat for me. Lily had thrice defied him by 
the time Harry was born and was an Order member. She posed a threat to 
him in the grand scheme of things, if not in that particular moment. 
Why bother picking off Order members one by one only to let one of the 
more powerful ones have a free pass? This idea doesn't fit with 
the 'kill the spare' mentality of Voldemort. To me it seems rather 
than Lily being silly and unimportant she was instead worrisome to 
Voldemort for some reason and he didn't *want* to kill her, so much so 
he offered her several chances to move out of the way. Very 
uncharacteristic.

Now the way I see it, there are two unanswered questions which could 
provide an explanation for why Voldemort acted so unusually:

1) How did James and Lily thrice defy him? 
2) What was Lily's work before she died?

Given that the first question is in the prophecy, I was thinking that 
must be the most important one to answer. But then there's this quote 
by JKR:

"Now the important thing about Harry's mother, the really, really 
significant thing, you're going to find out in 2 parts. You'll find 
out a lot more about her in Book 5, or you'll find out something very 
significant about her in Book 5, then you'll find out something 
incredibly important about her in Book 7. But I can't tell you what 
those things are so I'm sorry, but yes, you will find out more about 
her because both of them are very important in what Harry ends up 
having to do." (The Connection, 1999)

So it sounds like a revelation about Lily alone will actually have the 
most meaning for the last book instead of Lily as one of the parents 
who 'thrice defied him'. I think the ways in which the Potters and 
Longbottoms defied Voldemort will prove to be important backstory and 
perhaps Neville and Harry will even learn about what happened 
together, but the reason Lily was given a choice to step aside will 
most likely have to do question #2, her mysterious work.

JKR said there were places Harry needed to go in Book 5 in order 
to 'play fair for the reader in the resolution of Book 7'. So the 
Department of Mysteries will be important again. I'm not the first to 
suggest Lily worked there, it's just that now the idea she might have 
worked in the Veil room and studied death takes on a new meaning given 
the information about Voldemort in HBP. His greatest fear is death, 
and Dumbledore is the only person he feared probably in part because 
he was unafraid to die, so it's fitting Voldemort might find Lily 
worrisome if she actually studied death rather than feared it. I also 
think the locked room is a possibility too, perhaps Lily studied both, 
but since Voldemort fears death and underestimates love it seems more 
likely Lily working in the Veil room would give him pause.

If this is true, then I think it's a clue to not only why Voldemort 
asked Lily to step aside, but what will happen in book 7. Lily would 
then be an example of someone possessing great love and no fear of 
death. Even though Harry possesses great quantities of love, he 
underestimates its power just as Voldemort does. Since Harry found the 
courage of James inside himself in POA, he will likely come to terms 
with Lily's love and discover that power inside himself as well. And 
hoo boy, will he need it! Voldemort will definitely be using Harry's 
hatred of Snape to tempt him in Book 7 in my opinion, and Dumbledore 
tried mightily to tell him his love will be his only protection 
against the lure of Voldemort's power. Luckily we can count on Harry 
figuring this out in time to save himself from the temptation to kill 
Snape and get on with the business of Voldemort. 

And for anyone who likes the game of Clue: Harry defeating Voldemort 
in the locked room with the gong spell. <G>

Jen