Lily being spared

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189856


> June:
> The prophecy stated that Voldemort himself would mark the boy
> who would one day stand against him. In other words it was
> either Harry or Neville and Voldemort himself would go after
> one of them and it would be Voldemort who would create his own
> enemy (this is at the end of Goblet of Fire and said by
> Dumbledore). According to Dumbledore it was either Harry or
> Neville and Voldemort would be the one to decide, therefore if
> he had gone after Neville and not Harry, Neville would have
> been the boy who lived. Therefore I cannot see how Snape's love
> for Lily would have anything to do with it. Snape's love for
> Lily is just part of the theme which is love conquers all.
> 

Pippin:
The prophecy is given in OOP and you are correct that Dumbledore interprets it as referring either to Harry or Neville. But it only says that the one will have the power -- whether the one with the power or the Dark Lord will die at the hand of the other is not predicted.

 As Dumbledore points out in HBP, even without the prophecy, Voldemort must know as all tyrants do that eventually he will make an enemy powerful enough to destroy him. Voldemort helped make Harry into that person by trying to destroy him, but the prophecy does not guarantee that if he had gone after Neville it would have had the same effect on him.

Lily's sacrifice saved Harry, not because the prophecy said it would, or because her love was purer or truer than James's but because she realized that her love was a choice. IOW, JKR asks us to see that only  when we realize that love is a choice  can we use its full power, only then can it defend us from hate. 

Certainly something besides Snape's request of Voldemort could have made the Dark Lord hesitate long enough for Lily to recognize her choice and make it. But it fits with the theme of love and choice that it was Snape's love for Lily which showed in his choice to protect her, and Voldemort's refusal to recognize that love which allowed him to grant the request and so bring about his fall.

Pippin