Courtly love in Potterverse WAS: What triggered ancient magic?

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 187132

> Pippin:
> Oh yes. But your thought seems to be that Snape should have assumed that Lily
> would wish to die than live on with her lovely family destroyed. And I'm saying,
> why would Snape think her family was lovely? <BIG SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> And I am saying that to me your second sentence is not the only continuation of the first one. The first one states my position almost correctly. Except not for the reason you are stating in the second one. Yes, I think that Snape should have assumed that Lily  would rather die than live with her husband and baby being dead. Only I do not think it should matter one bit what **Snape** thinks of her family, whether it is lovely, ugly, or what say you. I am saying that Snape should have respected **Lily** enough that absent any information to the contrary that she is happy where she is. 

Montavilla47:

On the other hand, if she's dead, she has no choice whatsoever.
We could also argue that by *asuming* she'd rather die than
live on without her husband and child, Snape would not be 
respecting Lily either.

As it was, he got Voldemort to give her the *choice.*  She chose
to die, a choice that caused Snape devastating grief (not that 
Lily was in any way obligated to think about what her death 
would do to him).   


Alla:
>She did not leave her husband, didn't she? She just had a baby with him.
> But  let's even assume for the sake of this argument  (which I am not, I am not conceding too at all) that Lily is unhappy with her husband and Snape even knows it. Are you saying that Snape's default line of thinking should be that Lily **wants** her husband and her baby dead?
> 

Montavilla47:
Are you saying that Snape had any power to save either James
or Harry?  Because as I see it, Snape's only power to save either
one of them consisted of going to Dumbledore and letting him 
know that the Potters were in danger.  Which, as I recall, he did.

Of course, he was only asking Dumbledore to protect Lily.  But,
if he had thought about it for half a minute, he would have 
realized that Dumbledore wouldn't protect Lily while leaving her
family out.  Which supports the idea that Snape wasn't thinking
at all beyond, "Lily!  Must save!"


Alla:
> Are you saying that he thinks that little of Lily? It is to me a huge jump to make from the marriage where she may have quarrels with her husband and to want her husband dead. And to assume that she wants her baby dead
 Are you sure that you do not want to go along with Snape who looks like selfish prick to me and just wants Lily alive for himself? Because the one who would think that Lily is such a person who would want her husband and baby dead to me looks even more despicable. IMO of course. 

Montavilla47:

There's a difference between wanting your husband and 
baby dead and wanting to live even if they do die.  People do
outlive their families.  

I'm sure they would prefer not to have their loved ones die, but
there are millions of people who have lost their entire families 
and yet not killed themselves in order to avoid the pain of living 
on.  Are those people such monsters that the firemen who 
pulled them out of burning buildings, or the coast guard who 
lifted them out of floods or oceans despicable?

I'm sure that, as James ran towards the certain death of 
confronting Voldemort, he would rather have had Lily live on,
even if Harry still had to die.