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

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 187547

Potioncat:
<SNIP>
I love the way the prophecy worked (not the wording of it). That the
eavesdropper was the person who tried to save the Potters and suffered remorse
because of his role in the prophecy--that he had reported a bit of information
that would hit him so personally, and actually played a bigger role than he
imagined. Agreed, that would have changed if Snape had not told the prophecy to
LV.

But I think the mere fact that DD and someone else heard the prophecy put it
into play. It could have worked like this: Alternate DE hears prophesy and tells
LV. Snape learns that the Potters are being targeted and asks for Lily to be
spared. He goes to DD, just in case. Snape isn't racked by guilt that he's one
the one who told the prophecy (and may not even know about a prophecy) but he is
desperate to save Lily. (The story is much better with Snape being the
eavesdropper.)

Alla:
I disagree, I mean I cannot disprove your alternative scenario, but in my opinion the scenario that plays out under the conditions that you describe make Snape to be a blameless tool in the hands of fate who had no choice. Could it work as you described? Sure it could, but it is also possible IMO that no alternate death eater would ever be there and Voldemort would have never heard it and prophecy would have joined the many that never came true.  From the storyline pov I love how it worked out too by the way. I would not have changed anything, I just like to imagine how much easier longer IMO Potters' life would have had if one Severus Snape would never came to it, but it is of course fanfic scenarios, not canon.


Potioncat:
The more I think about it, it is vital that both LV and DD hear the prophecy.
The actions the two of them take will lead up to marking Harry and later,
allowing Harry to fulfill his destiny within the prophecy. And I wonder now if
the reason DD allowed Snape to go free after overhearing the prophecy is because
trying to interfere would be worse than going along with it.

Alla:

I do agree that it is important that LV and DD both hear the Prophecy, but I think it is just as important for Snape to  make it possible for LV to hear it in order for Prophecy to work out. I think Dumbledore looks bad no matter what reason was that he let Snape go free personally, but I still prefer to think that he did not do it deliberately or at least if he did do it deliberately, that was because as Pippin (I think) speculated that at that time Dumbledore did not know yet that Snape was a DE and preferred not to detain the innocent man. I do like that speculation, because even though DD knows that Snape is a DE when Snape comes to him  to beg for Lily,  he could have learned it in between two encounters, right?


Potioncat:
I agree---back to a scenario where Lily lives but Harry dies. The closest they
could be at that point is fellow order members. I don't see any relationship at
all if Harry had died. Nor do I think Snape actually hoped for one.

Alla:

Heh, well you know what I think, I think Snape would have grasped the chance to have a relationship with Lily with both hands – and with her family dead, all the better for him. I do hope though that if she would ever found out how Snape helped her family to die I hope her answer would be nice and fast AK.
I know, I know Lily is too kind and would have never done that, I do think though that for her to express her disgust and tell Snape she would not ever want to see him again, fellow order member or not is not out of realm of possibility.

JMO,

Alla