Prophecy what-ifs.

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 187570

Susan Curcio wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/187531>:

<< Let's just say Lily lived for some reason (LV fulfilled Snape's request?). >>

Potioncat replied in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/187532>:

<< 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? >>

Probably. Those Prophecies are real tricksters, often turning out to mean something other than what one thought.

<< At any rate, I don't see Snape continuing as a loyal DE >>

Why not? As Carol said "All he wanted at that point was for Lily to live." I wanted Snape to have switched to DD's side because of a moral decision that all this killing and destruction was just wrong, even if the moral decision was crystallized only by his pain about the threat to Lily leading him to think that the pain other people felt about losing their loved ones was also important, but that's not how Rowling wrote him. 

Julie wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/187557>:

<< Except for with Snape here, where he expresses extreme disgust rather than using his typical method (for instance, Snape: "You must save Lily!!" Dumbledore: "And I assume it will be all right with you if I include her husband and son under my protection? Or shall I abandon the family she loves to your master's amusement?" Snape, sputtering: "I didn't--I--yes, yes, save them all!") >>

I agree with you about Dumbledore.

Poor Snape's thought processes, the ones summarized by that sputter: 
1. Potter and his baby are a threat to my master! They need to be eliminated! Besides, Potter is vile.
2. Dumbledore *likes* threats to my master, so the above would not be a useful thing to say to him.
3. I just need him to save Lily, regardless of the cost. If part of the cost is saving vile Potter and his baby, thus endangering my master, so be it.
4. It would please Dumbledore if I asked him to save Potter and his baby as well as Lily. Maybe pleasing Dumbledore will increase the chance of him doing what I request.

I might have had him stop at 3 instead of continuing on to 4, thus sputtering: "I didn't [want you to save them] -- I [want to serve my master as well as protect Lily] -- I want you to do whatever it takes to save Lily, whether that is saving all of them or leaving her family unprotected."

Potioncat wrote in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/187565>:

<<[I'm] wondering why if Lily narrowly escaped LV three times, it's LV's 4th attempt that causes Snape to ask DD to save her. >>

The Prophecy said she defied him three times, not that each defiance was a narrow escape from death.