Why didn't Lily have a wand on her? Because Rowling needed to keep Lily from escaping with Harry. I mean, even if DH demonstrates that one can't Apparate in and out of a Fidelius-protected place, with a wand she could have turned the first object she saw into a Portkey for both of them, instead of wasting time on piling furniture behind the door.
I like Jodel's reading (well, one of them), that by saying 'take me instead' Lily made a magical contract with Voldemort which he accepted when he killed her, and then broke when he attacked Harry. But Rowling's Lily wasn't supposed to have known what she was doing. Bah! Since Rowling's explanation is ex-canon I'm willing to go with Jodel's.
But no reading can redeem James.
You know, I was in Israel during the Gulf War (of 1991). I was living in dorms at my graduate school. For 2 months I carried a gas mask with me wherever I went, I always knew where the nearest 'sealable room' was, one night I even made it from the shower in my dorm to the 'sealable room' which was in the next building in time before the door was taped shut. While the Potters had to keep their alert for much longer, a wand is much easier to keep on one's person at all times than it is to keep a gas mask at the ready.
no subject
I like Jodel's reading (well, one of them), that by saying 'take me instead' Lily made a magical contract with Voldemort which he accepted when he killed her, and then broke when he attacked Harry. But Rowling's Lily wasn't supposed to have known what she was doing. Bah! Since Rowling's explanation is ex-canon I'm willing to go with Jodel's.
But no reading can redeem James.
You know, I was in Israel during the Gulf War (of 1991). I was living in dorms at my graduate school. For 2 months I carried a gas mask with me wherever I went, I always knew where the nearest 'sealable room' was, one night I even made it from the shower in my dorm to the 'sealable room' which was in the next building in time before the door was taped shut. While the Potters had to keep their alert for much longer, a wand is much easier to keep on one's person at all times than it is to keep a gas mask at the ready.