James and Intent

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186998

 
> Montavilla47:
> <SNIP>
> In DH, I think anyway, we found out that they were really more ordinary and that the blood protection, while definitely triggered by Lily's love for Harry, was also triggered by Voldemort's faithlessness and Snape's love for Lily. In other words, it was a pretty unique set of circumstances, and, had Snape been in love with Alice Longbottom instead, and Voldemort more fearful of pure-bloods than half-bloods, it might have been Neville with no parents and a scar. <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Well, we know that it could have been Neville absolutely and I certainly think that any mother could have been in these circumstances, but I really disagree that protection was triggered by anything else than Lily's love for Harry. How was it triggered by Snape's love? You mean the fact that he asked for Lily's life and Voldemort told her to stand aside?
> 
> That gave her time, sure, but how did it influenced that mysterious ancient magic? I mean, again, I think it could have happened to any mother protecting her child, I think this was one of the points to say that Potters were not divine, but just ordinary people that loved each other, but what Snape has to do with the magic itself I really do not get.
>
Carol responds:
I agree with Montavilla47. In fact, I thought it was canon that Snape's request to Voldemort to spare Lily's life followed by Voldemort's broken word was what distinguished her sacrifice from any other mother's--and from James's. As Dumbledore insists to Harry and Voldemort also tells him, Lily could have lived. She had a choice because Voldemort gave her one. Now, granted, not many mothers would have accepted that choice--step aside and let me kill your son and I'll let you live--but that was the arrangement Voldemort had made with Snape--he'd promised to let Lily live (as long, presumably, as she didn't fight or make trouble). But then Voldemort, who could have kept his word and merely Stunned her, decides to kill her as well. And that decision, as I understand it, triggered the ancient magic that made her sacrifice, her exchange of her own life for Harry's, into ancient magic. If he had simply killed her and let Harry live, he would not have been vaporized, but he'd have left the Chosen One alive, not a choice he wanted to make. If he had simply killed Stunned Lily and kept his promise to Snape, he wouldn't have triggered the ancient magic, either. He'd have nipped the Prophecy in the bud as he desired. But he was trying to have it both ways, breaking his promise to spare Lily by killing her and then trying to kill Harry, too. The result was the AK rebounding on him and not killing Harry.

That these were special circumstances are made clear by the fact that no one but Harry ever survived the Killing curse. Marlene McKinnon, who must have loved her children as much as Lily loved Harry and must have tried to protect them, was killed along with them. The mother in DH who stood in front of her children, vainly throwing out her arms to protect them, triggered no ancient magic. We're not shown the aftermath, but almost certainly, Voldemort kills the children along with the mother.

The circumstances of Lily's self-sacrifice are unique because she had a choice. She, unlike James, had a chance to live, but she chose to die ("Kill me, not him!"). But Voldemort not only broke his promise to Snape by killing Lily, he violated an implied promise to Lily, who gave her life in exchange for Harry's.

Those circumstances would not have been duplicated had Voldemort gone after the Longbottoms. Snape was not in love with Alice, so he would not have pleaded with LV to spare her life. She would have had no more chance to live than Marlene McKinnon or the unknown mother in DH. She would not have had the choice that Voldemort gave to Lily. It was the choice, as I understand it, that changed her death from an ordinary murder to a magical self-sacrifice.

That's what makes Snape so important to the story (I don't mean that it makes him "good"!). He's tied in with the fate of the Potters not only as the DE who reported the Prophecy but as the one who got Voldemort to promise him not to kill Lily. That's why it's so important that it was Snape and not some other DE who reported the Prophecy. Had it not been for Voldemort's broken promise to Snape, there could have been no Chosen One. (Unintended consequences yet again.) At least, that's how I see it and I thought that was how Harry saw it, too.

Carol, wishing she had time to go back to check the canon now