What would Snape have done if Lily had lived? (Was: Mothers)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 187536

Susan Curcio wrote:
>  
> > Let's just say Lily lived for some reason (LV fulfilled Snape's request?).  With James dead, and probably Harry, how depressed would she be, and how would it be manifested???
> 
Potioncat replied:
> I don't think she would be depressed at all. I think she would grieve, and take action as an Order member.
> 
> I'm not sure how the story would continue, because Harry is the one with the power--so if LV did kill him---what's next? Does some other one with power come along later? If he didn't kill Harry--why and what would have happened to LV?
> 
> At any rate, I don't see Snape continuing as a loyal DE, nor do I see any appreciation toward Snape from Lily if her family is dead. Whether they could work together for LV's destruction is another matter.
>
Carol responds:

I can't imagine Lily stepping aside at all, but if LV had simply Stunned her to honor Snape's request and his own magic, the Love magic would not have kicked in, Harry would have died, and LV would have been where he wanted to be--invincible (until and unless another Prophecy Boy came along). I think he'd have killed Neville, too, for safekeeping, and then gone about his quest for power, probably starting with the murder of Dumbledore.

Lily, I think, would have despaired at first, waking to find her son and husband dead, but would have been fired by revenge and fought valiantly in the Order. But unless LV or another DE killed her (with LV considering his promise to spare the Prophecy Boy's mother as no longer binding), I see no reason why Snape would not have remained a loyal DE. He'd have received his reward (or his request would have been honored). All he wanted at that point was for Lily to live.

Unless, of course, simply going to Dumbledore changed his mind. I'm sort of changing my position in mid-post here--*if* he had fully trusted LV to keep his word and *if* LV had kept it, I'm pretty sure that Snape would have remained a loyal DE. But going to DD indicates that he *didn't* trust him. Once he'd gone to DD and promised to do "anything" and had begun spying for DD "at great personal risk," having actually asked him to protect not only Lily but "them" (wanting DD's approval? seeing his error?), he probably would not have gone back to LV. How could he loyally serve the Wizard who had considered killing Lily? That must have been a wake-up call for young Snape. Certainly, DD would not have hired him to teach Potions (in lieu of DADA) if he didn't *already* believe that Snape had reformed (though maybe he initially meant what he said about DADA tempting him back into his old ways; I've always thought that was a cover story for the DADA curse or an excuse for Snape to give to LV and not DD's real reason.

I'm rambling; sorry! Anyway, PC, is that more or less what you had in mind when you said that Snape would not have gone back to LV? Do you think he would have continued to spy on LV (more or less as he did post-GoF) even with no Prophecy Boy and no hope of defeating LV (assuming that the Prophecy was true)? I think, if that's the case, that both he and Lily would have been killed early on and DD would have fought a losing battle, perhaps dying from the ring Horcrux because Snape was already dead. Alternatively, DD could have confided in them instead of Harry and they could have found and destroyed the Horcruxes together, minus all the advantages and disadvantages of Harry's scar connection. But that didn't happen and would have been altogether a different book.

Carol, who thinks that the Prophecy is "real" and that without Harry, all other efforts to defeat LV would have been futile