Why was Lily given a chance to survive?

[Kathy]

No: HPFGUIDX 161530

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" wrote:I 
understand the persistent idea that Snape loved Lily, for which
> there is at least a shred of evidence, but I don't understand why
> people think that Snape was present at Godric's Hollow. He had been
> teaching at Hogwarts for two months and could not have been 
spending tiem with the Death Eaters. His DE assignment was to spy on
Dumbledore, not to accompany Voldemort on murder missions. 

Kathy responds:

I approached this from a different point of view - definitely not 
one of those fans who believed that Snape was 'in love' with Lily.  
I'm trying to figure out why Dumbledore trusted Snape, and why he 
hasn't explained this to Harry. If the reason were simple, 
Dumbledore would have no reason not to tell Harry that he has damned 
Snape with little reason.  This means the reason Dumbledore trusts 
Snape is tied in with something that could make Harry distrust him 
even more than usual...to the point of hatred.

The chapter on Occlumency made me wonder: Why is it that Snape was 
so vicious with Harry?  There could be many reasons, but it could 
also be that Snape's own failure at it may have - in some way - 
caused problems for Snape.  Remember we're told that Voldemort is 
excellent at Legilimens. 

There's a constant arguement over why Voldemort chose the Potters 
over the Longbottoms.  JKR is going to tie this in a neat little 
bundle for us - so - what if it is as simple as Voldemort used 
Legilimens on Snape when he wasn't expecting it, when he wasn't as 
good at Occlumency as he is in the present books.  He finds SNAPE'S 
WORST MEMORY, and sees what Harry saw that day when he fell into the 
pensieve.  The difference is that Voldemort is looking for ways of 
keeping Snape under his thumb while he's off working at Hogwarts.

What if the whole reason the Potters were chosen is because of 
Snape's memory...what becomes his WORST memory only because it was 
the cause of Lily's death.  Voldemort would rid the world of someone 
that Snape hated - James - and spare the life of a woman who had 
been kind to him - except that his patience wore thin and he killed 
her anyway.

Add to this..to assure Snape's loyalty, he brought him with him to 
Godric's Hollow - without Snape knowing where he was actually 
going.  We still don't understand why the house blew up.  Something 
had to have happened there that was unexpected for all parties 
concerned.

My thought is that when Snape saw that Voldemort was going to kill 
Lily that he AK'd Voldemort - or did something to try and stop him - 
and that the two curses together caused a major reaction. What 
happened after that may explain the missing 24 hours.

So I agree with your thought that Snape wasn't going on DE missions -
however this was a special case to secure his position with 
Voldemort.

Carol continues: Since (according to PoA), Snape didn't know that PP 
had been made the Secret Keeper the week before, we have no reason 
to believe that he knew that the Potters were at Godric's Hollow.Nor 
do I see how Snape could be present as a DE without being noticed
by James or as his usual self without being killed by Voldemort. How
could he have known that Voldemort was going to kill the Potters that
night unless Peter Pettigrew told him, and why on earth would PP do
that? It wasn't in his best interest for anyone to know, especially
not his old enemy Severus Snape, and according to PoA, Snape didn't
know that PP was the Secret Keeper. Instead, he believed for all 
those years, as DD did, that Sirius Black was the traitor.

Kathy again:  Dumbledore didn't have to tell Harry about #12 - he 
only write it on a piece of paper. That ends the need for Snape to 
know who the secret keeper was. The rest is explained above, as it 
was a test to keep Snape in line. 

Carol again:  I see absolutely no reason for a request by Snape to 
spare Lily to be necessary and no reason to believe that LV would 
honor such a request.

Kathy responds: As you can see, I don't believe that Snape 'asked' 
for Lily to be spared.  I believe Snape is the reason the Potters 
were picked, and the reason they died.  Again, a very good reason 
for Dumbledore not to explain anything to Harry as to why he trusts 
Snape so completely.

Carol again:  It's quite possible that Snape's remorse for informing 
Voldemort of the Prophecy relates primarily to Lily (with the life 
debt to James as a secondary motive--how dare he die without letting 
me save him?), but there's no need for Snape to be at Godric's 
Hollow and no need for LV to know about Snape's feelings on the 
matter. He's not a superb Occlumens for nothing.

Kathy responds:  Again, most of the answer is above.  Why did Snape 
become so good at Occlumency?  Perhaps because of this situation, 
where it explains why that particular memory has become a chapter 
entitled "Snape's Worst Memory".   

Carol again: Carol, sure that Snape was at Hogwarts and knew nothing 
about Godric's Hollow until his Dark Mark began to fade and it was 
too late to help the Potters.

Kathy responds:  I hope you're right, but I have a feeling that 
Harry will have more reasons to hate Snape in Book 7, and one of 
them will be that it was Snape who, in a way, is responsible for his 
family being chosen by Voldemort.  Snape's role has remained 
important throughout all of the books.  It makes sense that he had a 
part to play in the Potter's deaths, not to mention that we are 
never told why he is so trusted by Dumbledore.

KathyO
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