Lily the popular girl

Tue Apr 24 06:00:17 UTC 2007

No: HPFGUIDX 167898

This theory came to me while I was pondering the connection between Lily  and
Snape. I'm certain there *is* a connection between them, I'm just not  
convinced
it has anything to do with romantic love. Then I began thinking about  Lily's 
relationships with the other boys/men in her life, especially the  Marauders.

Let's start with what we know.

1. Lily hated James' bullying and arrogance in their fifth year, but was  
dating
him by their seventh year and married him shortly after they finished  school.

2. Lily was a "popular" girl, well-liked by everyone (per JKR).

3. Remus liked and admired Lily, but he had no romantic designs on  her
(again per JKR).

4. Severus and Lily were both gifted in Potions and attended the same 
Slytherin/Gryffindor classes in the same years.

5. Lily defended Severus in at least one incident in 5th year, until  he
called her a "mudblood" which seemed to startle her, as if it wasn't
something she'd ever heard or would expect from him. Then she left
him to the not-so-gentle mercies of James and Sirius.

6. Someone told Lily about Dementors, a male Petunia (who  overheard
the conversation) referred to as "that awful boy."

7. Someone besides LV and the Potters' was at Godric's Hollow (while
this isn't confirmed fact, it is strongly hinted at by JKR's refusal to  deny
that someone else was there). 

8. Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters' after having turned to LV and 
spying for him up to a year before the betrayal (per Sirius). 

9. Peter claims he betrayed the Potters out of fear for his life, but 
many unanswered questions (why he agreed to be the Potters' Secret
Keeper at all, why he pursued a vaporous Voldemort to Albania and
then helped the Dark Lord regain his physical body) don't support a  "fear
only" motivation for Peter's actions.

10. Voldemort offered Lily the chance to live if she stepped aside  and
allowed him to kill her child. 

11. Peter aka Wormtail retrieved Voldemort's wand from the rubble
of Godric's Hollow (per JKR, though it isn't important to the plot  since
much like Ron's blue eyes, JKR assumed we already knew this). 

There are probably some more pertinent facts, but these are the ones
I've recalled and which I used to formulate my theory. I'll start with  the
theory and then backtrack to my reasoning.

My theory is that Peter was at Godric's Hollow that night. This seems
partly confirmed by JKR saying it was Peter who retrieved LV's wand,
though I may not be the only one who initially assumed this made 
Peter too "obvious" a choice. I now think that JKR probably let the
wand bit slip without thinking about what it implied, and if she  realized
her mistake simply kept her mouth shut from then on (saying only
"No comment" when asked if there was anyone else at Godric's Hollow).

And Peter is the reason Voldemort offered Lily the chance to live.  She
would have been Peter's reward for betraying the Potters'  whereabouts.
But LV isn't the most patient person, and his willingness hinged on
Lily taking the offer the first time. Peter was not valuable enough  to
LV to elicit anything but this token offer in  honor of their "deal." (I do
think Snape is more valuable to LV, and had Snape been the one 
wanting Lily to be saved, LV might have simply stupified her and 
turned her over to maintain Snape's cooperation and loyalty.)

Peter's betrayal was aimed at James. He didn't betray the Potters
only out of fear, but out of jealousy of James. Peter was always the
hanger-on, tolerated as a sycophant and not particularly respected 
as his own person (we certainly know that was the case with Sirius).
James was the Quidditch star, rich, smart, popular--in essence  he
had everything going for him. Sirius was a close second, and if he
wasn't James he was more than satisfied to be that second, since 
much of his solid self-image came from his rebellion against  his
family. Remus, like Peter, was on the outside, but he was busy
trying to cope with his "affliction" and if he wasn't completely part
of the James-Sirius inner clique, he always knew that they had 
become Animagi *for* him. That told him they valued him.

Peter never received any such regard, but even so he might have
continued to accept his position if not for one final straw, one that
would drive him to Voldemort. James, the golden boy who already
had *everything* then got the one thing Peter wanted most of all--
Lily.

Yep, it was Peter who loved Lily, not Snape. (No wonder JKR said she
would answer "either" question when she was asked if Snape or Lupin
loved Lily!) It was Peter who idolized her from afar, but who never had  a
chance with her, not with perfect James in the picture. It was Peter  who
figured if Voldemort got rid of James (and that spawn of his) then  Peter
could have Lily, and the two of them would go on to have the life and
family James had denied them, just as James' shining presence during
all their years at Hogwarts had denied Peter anything but the  smallest
notice or regard. He'd existed there much as Snape supposedly had,
as someone's lapdog (that someone being James rather  than Lucius).

And what of Lily and Snape? I'm still convinced they had a  connection.
I don't believe JKR would have bothered with all the "Lily was a  Potions
genius" stuff if it wasn't to connect her to Snape. I mean, she had a
wand suited to Charms, so why bother adding in the Potions stuff if
it's no more than filler? 

I'm also convinced Snape was Petunia's "that awful boy", who
informed Lily about the Dementors. Peter would have been "that 
pathetic boy" and James would have been "Potter" or "that horrid
boyfriend of hers" (if Lily and James weren't yet married). I don't
know what Remus would have been, maybe "that *poor* boy" with
disdainful emphasis on his social status. Of course I could be  wrong,
but "awful" seems too allusive of Harry's view of Snape to be a
coincidence. 

Right now the best I can guess is that Lily and Snape did work
together in Potions, and that they developed a mutual respect for
each other. This especially works when you look at Snape's lack
of mention of her throughout the books. If she had "dumped" him
for James, the easily-offended grudge-holding Snape would have
certainly put part of the blame on her. He is one man who does
NOT take rejection well, and James being chosen *over* him...
that's a rejection with an added sting.

But if Snape had no romantic feelings for her when Lily started 
dated James, it would be more likely for Snape to consider her
romantic judgment separately as extremely suspect while still 
respecting her other abilities. Which could be enough for him
to refrain from vilifying her as he does James.

Or there could be more to it, and I think there is. Perhaps it's tied
to young Snape's warning to Lily about the Dementors (if he is
"that awful boy"). Perhaps Lily did something for Snape, helped
him in some way during their schooltime together (but NOT by
writing hints in the margin of his Potions textbook!--IMO ;-). Or
helped him when he was trying to get away from Voldemort. Or
they each knew a secret about the other. Or she helped get his
baby son into hiding so he promised to keep *her* son safe if 
it was ever in his power to do so...

Well, the last one is a stretch. It just illustrates that there is no
definitive theory about Lily and Snape we can deduce from 
canon, because we don't have enough information. If there is 
something there--as I do believe--it is going to be one of those 
surprises we can only see makes sense when we look *back*
at what's come before, not that we can guess beforehand (much
like Fake!Moody).

BTW, I know I'm not the first to wonder if it was Peter who loved
Lily, nor that Peter might have acted out of jealously over James.
I just started pulling it all together in my mind and decided to 
type it out ;-)

Julie 

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