“The prophecy did not refer to a woman,” said Dumbledore. “It spoke of a boy born at the end of July—”
“You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down—kill them all—”
“If she means so much to you,” said Dumbledore, “surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?”
“I have—I have asked him—”
“You disgust me,” said Dumbledore, and Harry had never heard so much contempt in his voice. Snape seemed to shrink a little, “You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?”
Snape saidnothing, but merely looked up at Dumbledore.
“Hide them all, then,” he croaked. “Keep her—them—safe. Please.”
“And what will you give me in return, Severus?”
“In—in return?” Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, “Anything.”
Since I always get the “well, Snape wanted James and Harry DEAD so he could HAVE LILY” argument, here we go.
Snape doesn’t even tell us what he asked for. Dumbledore assumes what he asked - that he exchanged Harry for Lily - and Snape begins to answer (”I have–I have asked him–”) and Dumbledore interrupts before he can finish. Dumbledore is the one to finish what he thinks Snape is going to say (”You do not care, then, about the deaths of her husband and child? They can die, as long as you have what you want?”).
Here’s a lesson in creative writing for all of y’all - when the character isn’t a POV character, their only autonomy is in dialogue. So if Snape himself had said, “I offered James and Harry for Lily’s life” then your argument would hold some weight. But Snape doesn’t say that - Dumbledore does. And Dumbledore’s interpretations of Snape’s actions and words are not even remotely the same thing as Snape’s actual actions. So on a purely narrative level, your argument has no weight - Dumbledore is the one to say that Snape is willing to exchange James and Harry for Lily, and Dumbledore’s interpretation of Snape’s actions are not the truth of Snape’s actions.
And since we’re discussing the actual truth, why does Dumbledore or fandom think that Snape CAN offer an exchange of James and Harry for Lily? He clearly says at the beginning that Voldemort wants to “kill them all” - Voldemort is already going in there with the intent to kill the entire family (as we see, since he actually does kill James and Lily). The fact that Snape tries to step in for Lily is a hail mary pass at best - Snape has no guarantee that Voldemort will spare her because, hello, she’s an enemy as well as a muggle-born. Which is like… the entire reason he goes to Dumbledore? Even if he HAD asked for James’ life, there’s no guarantee that Voldemort would spare it? And he CAN’T ask for Harry’s life y’all….. Voldemort is literally always going to kill Harry. If Snape tried to ask Voldemort to spare Harry, who the prophecy says is going to kill him, he’d get himself killed. Or do y’all really think Voldemort would just pat him on the head after asking him to spare his future killer???
My point is that James and Harry are never possible bargaining chips for Snape. Voldemort is never going to spare Lily’s life in exchange for James and Harry because his intent is always to kill James and Harry. It’s not like Voldemort was like, “Well, I’ll only kill the mother” and Snape swooped in to say, “Wait! Kill the baby and the father instead to let the mother live!”
Also I think people forget that Snape isn’t a valued member of the DE at this point in the story - he’s young, he’s so low-level that he’s reduced to listening to teacher interviews, he’s basically cannon fodder in Voldemort’s estimation. He’s not a member of the inner circle. He’s a grunt. He has no actual sway with Voldemort, but he still steps up to ask (we assume - again, Snape is never allowed to finish) for Lily’s life. A muggleborn woman’s life. He asks VOLDEMORT to spare a MUGGLE-BORN’S life. Can you guys imagine the kind of courage that would take? Voldemort could kill him for it. He could torture him for it. It’s a perceived betrayal, for Snape to ask for a muggle-born to live when Voldemort’s entire regime is based on muggle and muggle-born hatred. And it takes even more courage because Snape is, as I said, a lowly grunt - his only capital is that he gave over the prophecy and I would bet he used every inch of that for Lily’s life.
And that courage continues - because he goes to Dumbledore, knowing that there’s no guarantee from Voldemort. And Dumbledore could kill him or throw him in Azkaban - Snape knows that. That’s why he’s so fucking nervous to be there???? But he goes because, like any good Slytherin, he knows to have back-up plans to his back-up plans. If Voldemort won’t follow through, he’ll have Dumbledore to protect Lily.
And, finally, I don’t buy that Snape doesn’t know that Dumbledore will also protect James and Harry. Harry’s a baby - of course Dumbledore, Leader of the Light Side, will protect him, esp since he’s supposed to be the prophecy child. And Snape has ample evidence of how much Dumbledore cares about James. Do people really think he would’ve gone to Dumbledore without knowing that he would protect the entire family? Hide them all?
To sum up: no, we have no evidence that Snape wanted to exchange James and Harry for Lily and, honestly, that argument makes zero sense when you think of the actual logistics of it. Not only that, but Snape trying to ask for Lily’s life at all is immensely brave and he goes to Dumbledore to ensure the safety of the entire family. So the entire “Snape wanted to exchange James and Harry for Lily” argument is ridiculous and nonsensical and, frankly, based entirely in anti-Snape rhetoric that values pure speculation over canon interpretation.
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