[HPforGrownups] Lily's sacrifice and potection

[Andrew Bryan]

No: HPFGUIDX 192646

Thinking about what J Rowling has said about Lily having a choice and the intervention of Snape, I think this is the basic hypothesis.  
  
 Voldemort decides to kill Harry - the threat to himself.  In the process he realises that he will have to kill James and Lily, who will protect their son.
  
 Snape finds out about this and begs Voldemort to spare Lily, (crucial point), to which Voldemort agrees.
  
 Presumably not trusting Voldemort, Snape begs Dumbledore to protect them.  He does, via the Fidelius charm.  
  
 Pettigrew betrays the Potters to Voldemort.
  
 Voldemort arrives at Godric's Hollow.  James rushes to his family's defense, ("Take Harry and go!"), without his wand, and is killed.
  
 Voldemort confronts Lily in an attempt to kill Harry.  Crucial point - he offers to spare her, in exchange for a "direct shot" at her son - "Stand aside you silly girl!"  This is the "choice" which J Rowling mentions and James does not have.
  
 Lily refuses to stand aside, and EXPLICITLY offers her life, (which Voldemort has agreed - with her and Snape - to spare if he can kill Harry), in exchange for Harry's.  "Not Harry!  Not Harry!  Kill me instead!"  (Can't remember exact wording - sorry).
  
 Voldemort loses patience and kills Lily - unleashing the protective charm she has (unknowingly?) placed on her son.  Lily, alone of all the Avada Kedavra victims, was offered a choice between life and death and chose death for love of her son.
  
 Voldemort curses Harry and the rest, as they say, is history!
  
 The crucial point is that Lily was the only one of Voldemort's victims ever offered a choice of life and actively chose death, for that sake of another, (an incomprehensible action to Voldemort).  That was what activated the charm, in my opinion.
 

   moony wrote:
 
 Lily sacrificed herself in order to protect Harry. Because of this sacrifice Voldemort was unable to kill Harry, the AK curse rebounded and Voldemort's body was destroyed.  Recently I realized that there is someone else who sacrificed himself to protect someone loved--I'm speaking of James. James sacrificed himself to protect Lily and Harry.
 What is the difference between James' sacrifice and the sacrifice of Lily (and in book seven Harry)?





 
 
 

 
 
 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://archive.hpfgu.org/pipermail/hpforgrownups/attachments/20140318/157e9192/attachment.html>