system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[HP] What would have happened had Voldemort not used the killing curse on Harry?

The only reason to prefer the killing curse to a simple cutting curse is that it ignores shields of all kinds. So Tommy had no real reason to use it to kill a defenseless toddler in its crib. What would have happened if he had used a knife instead? Would the "love of his mother" have protected Harry from that one, and if so: how?
gpt
Absolutely. Harry's mother was a witch, and a potent one at that. She lay down her life protecting her son, and in that one act created a covenant based on magic that was greater than any Tom Riddle could even comprehend. The bond between a mother and child is without measure, and cannot be broken. If Tom had used a non magical method of killing Harry, it would not have mattered. His magical mother's death created that shield around him. 
Now this doesn't mean that Harry is unkillable... only that *Voldemort* can't kill him with either actions or indirect actions. 

It's highly unlikely that Tom would've ever used any non magical means to kill, though, as he would've found that beneath him. He ran from his non magical past as hard and as long as he could... which was in turn his greatest weakness. He couldn't live with himself, and a house divided will fall.