Pastiche du Potter:
Part I: Lily's Eyes

We have heard much about Lily's eyes, and the fact that Harry has Lily's eyes. The obvious assumption is that Harry's eyes look to others exactly like Lily's eyes looked. I think differently. I think that Harry sees through Lily's eyes. They are the same vivid green, yes, and the same shape. People who knew his mother see her again in him. I believe that it is also true that Harry views the world much as Lily did. What we know for certain about Lily could be put on a postage stamp. However, we have some clues, and some of those clues might tell us a thing or two.

Harry succeeds frequently on his intuition. Slughorn says that Lily was a natural, intuitive potions maker. Lily's wand was "good for Charms." Some of Harry's most important triumphs have come from Charms: the Patronus Charm in PoA and OotP and the Summoning Charm for the First Task in GoF. Will Harry succeed again through a Charm? Well, you know my thoughts on that - see SE #14. Lily was filled with a love so fierce and determined that she sacrificed herself when she might have been spared in order to protect her son. Harry's "power that the Dark Lord knows not" is Love.

In the film version of PoA, Lupin tells Harry that Lily had a way of seeing the beauty in someone even and especially when that person could not see it in himself. We all know JKR noted that there were additions to the film that reflected later books. Harry has compassion and kindness in his blood, because he sees as Lily saw. Lily's compassion extended to a skinny, unpopular Slytherin who was being taunted by the Marauders. I wonder whether Harry's compassion might eventually extend to his hated former Potions Master. Or perhaps Harry will finally fully see the humanity of a frightened and confused Draco now that Draco has had to, as JKR put it, "walk the walk." Could it be possible that Harry will even find compassion for the wreck of a wizard who used to be an unloved orphan like himself? Might the final ending, as SE reader Bruce suggests, include the redemption of "Tommy Riddle" after the defeat of the Dark Lord?

I recently received what I consider a great observation from SE reader HPSpec, who has developed this idea with others on the CoS Forums. She suggests that Voldemort was trying to put the Imperius Curse on Lily at Godric's Hollow and could not. HPSpec points out that when Harry is taught the Imperius Curse and how to fight it, Imposter Moody says, "Watch his eyes, that's where you see it - very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling you." [italics mine] (232, GoF)

It's possible that Voldemort was persuaded (by Snape?) that Lily could be useful, either for her talents in Potions or Charms, or as an unwilling spy, held under the Imperius Curse. Voldemort tried to Imperius her away from Harry, and failing to do so, killed her. Perhaps "Lily's Eyes" give Harry his unusual ability to fight the Imperius Curse. He was the only one in his class to be able to do it, as far as we are shown.

If the ability is, indeed, "in the eyes," as Imposter Moody says, and Harry has Lily's eyes, we may be onto cracking what is special about the eyes of both mother and son: they represent the ability to hold a firm core of one's own truths, values and will against the pressures of outside forces. This is a difficult task, even under non-magical circumstances. To be under the powerful control of the Imperius Curse and be able to fight it would take the ability to retain one's own perspective (or "point of view") in the face of overwhelming opposition. Was this the strength of Lily's Eyes?

Whatever the details, I believe that it is Lily's viewpoint that will inform Harry's choices, and that is symbolized by her eyes. Of those who remain alive, Lupin, Slughorn and Petunia knew her best. Will Harry learn something from one or more of these characters that will open up his perceptions about his mother and, by extension, about his destiny?

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