When we hear the prophesy in OOTP Dumbledore says that the prophesy could have meant one of 2 boys, Neville or Harry. But it turns out, it could have never been Neville!!!

If I read DH correctly, the only reason that Harry was granted the protection from his mother was because she was given the choice to leave (LV did give her 1 chance to flee and save herself) she refused this choice and cast herself between Harry and LV. The only reason Lilly was given the chance to live was because Snape asked LV to spare her. If she had not been given the choice, then Harry would not have survied. This choice would have never been given to Nevilles mom (snape would have never cared about them, never went to DD and never turned sides) SO even if Nevilles mom would have stepped between them, she would not have been given a choice, and there would have been no protection for Neville. Ultimately, Neville could have NEVER been the chosen one, and most of all Snapes LOVE saved Harry’s life!!!

What do you think?

OK, decent point.
The logic does fit with LV. He might have given her the option anyway, but I bet that Snape begging did help.
I don't know how it would be different with Neville though. I think it is one of those things where it could have worked, but you never know.

yes! and voldemort underestimated love the whole time, so much so that he couldn't see it in snape and couldn't see that snapes love would lead to his destruction. snapes love of lily, tranferred to lily's love of harry, transferred to harry's love of everyone. i love snape.

I think if Lord Voldemort had killed Neville, he still would've gone after Harry -- just to make sure. So all the events would've occurred the same way...

...just without Neville.

yeah just the same because Lord Voldermort will certainly eliminate his enemies at any cost. it's just so happend that the dark lord acted immediately upon hearing the prophecy without attemting to hear the whole thing and anyway he doesn't need to hear the whole content as long as he eliminate immediately his possible enemy in which case an infant, tsk . . tsk . . . thus resulted in having him almost vanquised, if he doesn't have his horcruxes.

oh my gosh! i love that theory of snape asking voldemort to spare lily's life and that voldemort listened. i just wished that snape asked to spare at least the whole family. if he loved lily he would have wanted her to atleast be happy with james.

I don't think the asking had anything to do with the protection of Harry. I believe even if Voldemort wouldn't have asked, any mother would have the choice to protect or beg for mercy. Voldemort knows what people are thinking. He would have known without asking that Lily wouldn't move. So I think the protection would have worked. Dumbledore said that Voldemort made the decision who he thought was more of a threat. So if he would have chosen Neville, I think it would have been the same result. It goes back to the love of the mother and doing what she can to protect her child. That is simply my opinion.

I think the asking, though, gave Lily the ability to make the sacrifice. Voldemort was prepared to spare her, and she sacrificed herself anyway -- that's the trigger for the spell. If Voldemort came in, wands a-blazing, Lily would've probably been dead for she even had the thought of sacrificing herself. Snape's plea to Voldemort created the opportunity.

Remember that Dumbledore was only taking a guess on who would be the boy he tells snape this...

"The dark lord is going after Lilly.." said Snape,

"The prophecy did not speak of a woman...it spoke of a boy being born at the end..." replied Dumbledore.

"The dark lord thinks is Lilly Potter's Son." said Snape.

"Well coudn't you ask the dark lord to spare her?

"I have asked..." said Snape.

"You disgust me...kill the boy as long as you get what you want!"

"Well save them all of them....Hide them..." said Snape.

"And what do I get in return snape?"

"In return??"

"Yes."

"Anything"

So the dark lord chose Potter. He marked him as his equal. The begiining of the prophecy could have been either boy. But Voldemort chose Harry. Remember that Harry asks DD in his fith year. "so it could not be me?" and DD says It is undoubtfully you because of the next part. Which is Harry's scar. And remember also about how LV saw himself in Harry. The half blood etc...

I am not convinced that Voldemort would have spared her in the end. Like I said before, Voldemort knows what people are thinking. He would have known she would be of no use to him only trouble.

I don't think that Snapes request to spare Lilly played a role in Harry's protection. I think that Lilly giving her life for her son is what did it, and Neville's mom if given the chance would have done the sme.

it has everrything to do with it!!!! The only reason Voldemort even thought to spare her is because snape loved her. At this point i think Voldemort might have been a biit teeny thankfull for snape to be a spy and inform him about the phrophecy.

I made this point in another thread a bit ago...then found this one! I think the only reason why Lily was given a choice was because Snape asked LV to spare her. Severus had recently given the Dark Lord what he believed was an extremely important piece of information, so he was willing to reward his good service. When Lily refused, he killed her anyway - but not before giving her more than enough oppertunity to save herself. I doubt very much he would have done so had Snape not asked him to: we went to their house that night to kill. I therefore agree that the entire course of events started because of Snape. By asking for Lily's life, he ultimately brought about the Dark Lord's downfall.

IN the final book, Neville showed that why he was sorted into Gryffindor and based on that and what Dumbledore said "Leadership is best suited for those who do not seek it, but it's thrust upon them, so they do it not because they should, but because they must". Neville showed that when push came to shove, he could walk the walk and he did. So if he had been the chosen one, he would have most likely risen to the occasion like Harry did. Now the basic premise here is that Tom gave Lily so many chances because of Snape. Point taken. But what is being forgotten is that Tom's visit to the Potters also set into the motion the events foretold by the prophecy. Perhaps the events played out the way they did that enabled Harry to survive and become Tom's nemesis for all times to come. But, how do we know that Neville could not have become like that? Lily had no idea that her defiance and refusal to abandon Harry in face of a clear opportunity to escape would provide Harry with an everlasting protection? JKR herself has said so. I also recall her mentioning on her website that in case one or both of Neville's parents were willing to sacrifice themselves for him, he might have had the same protection.

As far as the chances go, we must recall that in the final book Tom offered Neville a place in his circle of death eaters. Then it is very likely that he would have offered to spare either or both the Longbottoms if they agreed to join him and step aside while he killed their son, that would have constituted a clear escape route for them. After all they were purebloods and those matter to Tom and his ilk more than anyone else. In their refusal to accept Tom's offer he would have killed them or one of them and that may very well have led to love protection being bestowed upon Neville. The point I am making is that we have no way of telling how the events would have unfolded. Just like no one predicted that Lily's sacrifice could have saved Harry, no one knows how else such a protection can be imparted upon another and it could very well have happened.

That is crazy dude. I hate snape, still do, always will. But that is awesome. Amazing how Rowling plans stuff out liek this.

Well, interesting topic. I admit that LV wouldn't have ever tried to let Alice Longbottom go, but then again, if it hadn't been for Snape, LV wouldn't have tried to let Lily Potter go either. But in OOTP, they didn't know about Snape being the reason that Lily was almost spared. So from their limited point of view, it still could have been Neville.

Snapes love for Lily only made it more likely that Harry would be the chosen one. All along it has been said in different ways that it didn't have to be Harry. Neville still could have been the one. Voldemort may just have not cared if the mother of the child lived. Voldemort chose the Potters. What if he had chosen the Longbottoms instead. We don't know since we don't know the full reason why he chose the Potters. All we know is that he chose them and that he transfered some of his powers on to Harry. That could have easily been what happened to Neville if his family had been chosen.

Yes, I think you're right. If Snape hadn't loved Lily she would not have had a choice and therefore would have died in addition to Harry not instead of Harry which made all the difference. If Lord Voldemort had made Neville the chosen one it's likely that Snape would have never changed sides.