Lily' sacrifice v James' sacrifice WAS: Perfect Lily

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 150084

> Alla:
> I got the impression that Lily sacrifice vs James sacrifice is
> different for JKR not just because of different outcome the ancient
> magic invoked, but that James' sacrifice was some how less
> significant, less conscious, less worthy of respect from the readers
> since James was going to die anyway.
>
> Am I making any sense?

Magpie:
Yes--I think JKR has flat out said that you are correct and that this 
is what makes Lily's act more important in her eyes.  I don't think 
this is a case of mother vs. father so much as her having a lot of 
strong feelings about people throwing themselves in front of others, 
all the different ways you could do it. Saving yourself seems to be 
considered a really bad thing at all times, so I just think that in 
her mind there's a big difference between these two that other people 
might not care about so much.  So to her the fact that Lily was given 
the choice to stand aside--even though James would have made the same 
choice, as would most any parent--is a big deal that fundemantally 
makes the whole situation more heroic.  Where as, for instance, for 
me I can see the difference in the two situations but wouldn't be 
that struck by the difference.

houyhnhnm102:
He loves "interestin' creatures" including a pet dragon and a giant
spider.  Is it likely that he would be put off by a sullen unpopular
teenager, even one who had a fascination for the dark arts?

Magpie:
Actually, I do think it's likely he would be put off by a sullen 
unpopular teenager with a fascination for the dark arts.  Hagrid 
likes vicious animals but not vicious people, and is I think he's the 
first to inform Harry about the connection between wizards who go bad 
and Slytherin.  He's not really associated with reaching out to kids 
that would put other people off.

It's certainly possible he could have stumbled into this scene, but I 
don't much see a place for him here.  It seems like the kind of scene 
set up to be about the kids interacting with each other.  Ironically, 
when I think back on these kinds of scenes where a teacher intervenes 
it's often a teacher with nefarious motives: Moody in the Ferret 
Scene and Snape in the hallway duel.

It's not that I can't imagine a scenario where Hagrid could have 
befriended Snape--fanfic could do it quite easily, and even have him 
gently scolding James about his behavior the way he scolds Harry and 
Ron about Hermione in PoA.  But I don't yet see any reason to think 
it was like that in canon, where all we've got is Hagrid disliking 
the kinds of kids James disliked and praising James.  We still don't 
know exactly what Snape's social status was--there's hints he came by 
his unpopularity through aggression towards others.  It seems like 
Hagrid's more motivated by loyalty than an ability to look at both 
sides of things.  He's been known to show his own prejudices--in GoF 
he oddly talks about wanting Harry to win so he'll beat Pureblooded 
Cedric.  So until I know differently I have to assume he defends 
Snape because Dumbledore says Snape is okay.

-m