“And he came… first his head, then his body, tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky shadowy form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort’s wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. He walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear…”
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Priori Incantatem, pg. 667
I need to talk about this quote. We never talk about this enough. Prior to this, Voldemort only shows shock. But after James and Lily Potter arrive, Voldemort shows fear. The only wizard Voldemort is truly known to fear is Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards ever to live, yet the arrival of the Potters strikes fear in him.
I think this speaks to how powerful the Potters truly were. Not only were they able to defy him three times and live, while most wizards couldn’t manage to do it once, even after he killed them, Voldemort is still wary of James and Lily Potter. There’s a reason that he asked both James and Lily to join him, despite being young and blood-traitor/Muggle-born. There’s a reason Voldemort had Peter spying for over a year before he made his move. There’s a reason that Voldemort specifically chose the moment where they were the most relaxed, and therefore the most vulnerable, to attack. There’s a reason he did not dally and torture the Potters, though he probably would have got a sense of satisfaction out of it, with how much they’d defied him.
Because Voldemort believed, in my opinion, that James and Lily Potter could pose a threat to him in a fair fight. If they’d had their wands or a chance to prepare, or even a few more seconds to come up with a plan of escape, it would have been a very different battle in Godric’s Hollow. Voldemort did not just fear Harry Potter, ‘the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord,’ Voldemort feared his parents, and what they would do to keep him safe.