Snape's Rage at Being Called Coward : No, just a coward

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 171943

vmonte:
> I'm glad Lily didn't decide to just step aside and let Voldemort kill 
> Harry. I mean, why would she step in front of Harry unless she 
thought 
> he could die?  And surely she knew that stepping in front of him 
would 
> sentence her to death as well. But she did it anyway.

Ceridwen:
Actually, I've thought about this sort of scenario a lot.  If you were 
a parent, would you jump in front of a car to save your child?  If you 
were a parent, would you throw yourself between that child and a hail 
of bullets?  Will you hold your child's head above the water, even 
though it means you're going to drown?  This is the sort of thing 
people I have known seem to enjoy taunting parents about, so yeah, I've 
thought about it.

A lot.

Thinking about something like this when not in the situation, when you 
wuold react instinctively instead of thinking, makes you consider all 
sides.  A truly selfless parent would throw themselves between their 
child and death without a thought.

Without a thought of what would happen to the child once the parent is 
dead.  That car isn't going to stop a dime's breadth away from the 
child just because the parent is lying dead.  Those bullets won't stop 
just because they have a victim.  The ocean won't get shallower just 
because the parent is dead.  In most of those cases, the child will die 
anyway.

In the Potter's case, James is dead.  Lily can be fairly certain of 
this.  Voldemort is in the room, and ordering her to step aside.  If 
she does, Voldemort kills Harry.  If she doesn't, Voldemort, to her 
knowledge at that time, kills her, and then kills Harry because there's 
no one to protect him.  Toddler Harry doesn't know magic.  Toddler 
Harry can't wield a wand: he doesn't even have one.  Accidental magic 
might serve to protect him for a time, but not for long.

At that point, no one knew what Lily's sacrifice would accomplish.  It 
had never been done before.  Lily made the same sacrifice parents have 
been making for millenia, knee-jerk and without thought.  In her case, 
it turned out differently.

Snape isn't Lily.  Snape is human.  Why should he trust that his death 
would provide magical protection to Draco, Harry and Dumbledore?  Did 
Lily do something to prepare for such an eventuality, given that 
someone knew about the prophecy, which was why they were in hiding?  Or 
did it just happen, randomly, the handmaiden to the prophecy?  How 
would Snape know whether his sacrifice would protect those he leaves 
behind?

I wouldn't trust to luck.  As I said, I've thought about this a lot.  
People I have known love stories about parental sacrifice, and make a 
big deal out of how selfless the parents all were.  But, really, what 
happens to the child, as far as we know in the real world, when it's 
left in a situation like that all alone?  A parent will react on 
instinct.  Unless the fanfics are true, Snape is neither Harry's nor 
Draco's father, and he's too young to be Dumbledore's dad.

My own feelings on this subject, of course.

Ceridwen.