Lily and Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188663



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bart at ...> wrote:
>
> antonia31h wrote:
> > The way I see it is that if Snape had truly loved Lily and 
> > did not have some sort of obsession over her (that's my theory 
> > regarding his feelings) he would have given even his life in 
> > order to save hers. 
> 
> Bart:
>     And how, pray tell, could his death have accomplished more to save 
> Lily than what he did?
> 

Pippin:
If failing to save Lily proves that Snape didn't love her, then  James couldn't have loved her either. But I don't think that's the case. 

Just being willing to die wasn't enough. It was having a choice that allowed Lily to save Harry. Ironically, if  Snape had died in the course of spying for Dumbledore "at great personal risk", then not only would Lily not have been saved, Harry wouldn't have been saved either. With Snape dead, Voldemort would no longer have had a reason to offer LIly any chance to live.

I think the silver doe shows that Snape's love was real, as do the risks he took on Lily's behalf.  Love  didn't stop him from being a jerk or give him insight into Lily's feelings or Harry's character. The characters in canon who show consideration and insight do so because they've found that's an effective way of dealing with people, not because they love. Barty Crouch Jr is the proof of that. 

Pippin