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James & LilyThe PottersFather: James Potter FactsJames had black hair and a build similar to Harry's. What kinds of wands did James and Lily have? What position did James play in Quidditch? What was Lily's maiden name? Where did James get his invisibility cloak? What house was Lily in? OpinionIs James sexy? Is Lily Sexy? SpeculationsWho died first? James or Lily? According to Book 1, Ch. 17, Voldemort tells Harry that he killed James first, then Lily (who was protecting Harry). Also in Book IV, JKR restates in that Voldemort killed James and then Lily, which goes against the idea that she made an error in the graveyard scene. Elsewhere in Book IV, however, during the Priore Incantatum, which makes spells come out of a wand backwards, James's "shadow" may have come out before Lily's; if it did, then she was cursed first, and he was cursed second. However, there has been speculation that the "shadow" that Harry thought was James was either Voldemort himself, or a version of Harry, as the result of the rebounded Avada Kevadra curse. Discussion on the list has developed various theories of how James and Lily were killed. (1) Voldemort arrived with the intent to kill Harry, encounters James in a front room and brushes past him, intent on his target. James is unable to deflect him or hold him off, but Voldemort does not curse him at this point. Lily is trying to shield Harry and won't get out of the way, so, Voldemort kills her. Then, James steps in & tries to shield his son, and Voldemort disposes of him too. However, this theory does not explain why Lily's death, rather than the deaths of both parents, gave Harry the protection Dembledore spoke about in Book 1, or how the house was destroyed, which is not a common occurance in Avada Kedavra curses, as Voldemort would not have had the strength to do this after being hit by the rebounded curse. (2) Voldemort came to the Potters' house, killed James, demanded that Lily step aside so he could kill Harry, then killed Lily when she refused, then tried to kill Harry, and the curse then rebounded; the order in which his parents came out of the wand was somehow controlled by Harry himself. (3) James may have been killed by a curse which he deflected, but which rebounded against the house, causing something to fall on him which he could not prevent. (4) James somehow wasn't killed by Voldemort, but after Lily was killed, and Voldemort destroyed, a Death Eater on the scene (possibly Wormtail or Snape) killed James with Voldemort's wand. (5) Voldemort was after Harry, not James, so James gave Harry a polyjuice potion so he looked like James and then James drank one himself to look like Harry, so Harry would be protected since Voldy wasn't after James. For more discussion, see Message 4232, 4241, 4267, 4270, N2871, N1530, N1767, N1825 or the Mysteries FAQ. Are either James or Lily related to Tom Riddle a/k/a Lord Voldemort? Listies have speculated that either of them may be, through Riddle's mother's non-descendent-of-Slytherin side. Message 4353, N1627, N2359, Are all of James' and Lily's parents dead? Presumably. If Lily's parents were still alive, they would, hopefully, care that their grandson was sleeping in a cuboard, and say something to their daughter, Petunia, about it. Dumbledore also says in Book I that the Durselys are the only family Harry has, now that his parents have been killed. Message 4365. What house was James in? It has never been stated, but as JKR said that Lily was "naturally" in Gryffindor, it increases the likelihood that James was as well. Further evidence that James was in Gryffindor is the fact that in PoA, Lupin says "Here's to a Gryffindor victory - although as a teacher, I shouldn't take sides" which intimates that he was in Gryffindor. However, if James and Lily were both in Gryffindor, it suggests that they were in different years, as they were Head Boy and Head Girl, and it is very unlikely for both the Heads to be in the same house in traditional British boarding schools. Is James Potter a descendent of Godric Gryffindor? This has been the subject of regular speculation on the list. The question has not been answered. Evidence that James, and by extent, Harry, are descendents of Gryffindor are the fact that Harry pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat in CoS, and the fact that the Potters were living in Godric's Corner when they were killed (Book I, Ch. 1), which may be in some way linked to Godric Gryffindor. N1477, N1513 Was Snape in love with Lily Evans? See the Mysteries FAQ for a discussion of this topic. Were Lily's parents squibs or Muggles? Some listies believe that Lily's parents were squibs who married each other, and produced one witch (Lily) and one nonmagical person (Petunia). The evidence from the books suggests that Lily's parents were Muggles, because Petunia, in Book 1, says "my sister being what she was", not "my family being what they were", and because in CoS, Tom Riddle discusses Lily as a "mudblood", which is the derogatory term given to those of Muggle parentage. See messages N1638, N2359, N1477, N1602 How did Petunia Evans Dursley know that Harry existed in Chapter 1 of Book I? In Book 1, it is implied that Petunia hadn't had any contact with Lily in over 2 years, but somehow, Petunia knows that Lily has a son, just over one year old, named Harry. There are at least three ways that Petunia could have learned this information (1) Even after Lily entered the Wizarding world, she may've still spoken to friends, one of whom may've also spoken to Petunia & told her about Harry (either without knowing of their estrangement or at lily's request); (2) In the muggle world, people send baby annoucements - usually a card stating the day, time, place of birth & first & middle names - in the Wizarding world, the photos move & they are sent by owl, but Lily would probably sent one to Petunia, via British Mail, accompanied by a moving photo of a cute little sleeping baby in it (and what would Petunia's reaction have been if suddenly, said baby opened his eyes and started howling?); or (3) Lily sent a card to Petunia, but Petunia recognized the Godric's Corner address and threw it away unopened but Marge, as Lily's brother in law's sister, also received one through British Mail, was freaked out by the photo, called Petunia so hysterical that the Magical Reversals squad was alerted and responded by memory charming Marge in a way that left her with a perpetual resentment against that poor little baby. Messages N2610, N2611, N2634 How old are James and Lily? Many listies have concluded that Lily graduated Hogwarts no later than 1977, because otherwise, she would have been in Gryffindor at the same time as Bill Weasley, and if that was the case, he should have mentioned it to Harry in GoF. However, no definitive answer to this question has been reached. Other speculation about their ages can be found in the Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Severus Snape FAQs, or see Messages N3684, N3693 What's so important about Lily's eyes? JKR said in an interview that "his mother's eyes" were an important future plot point. Some listies have suggested that Harry literally has his mother's eyes by some magic transfer spell, or that using her green eyes, she cast a protective spell over Harry. Message 1651, N1436 Are there any other mysteries about the Potters which have yet to be answered? We don't know what their jobs were, but JKR has said that this will be important. We don't know where all the money in Harry's vault came from. We don't know anything about James' family, except that through them, James inherited enough money that he didn't need a well paying job (Barnes & Noble Chat, October 20, 2000). We don't know how they ran afoul of the Death Eaters. We don't know why they kept in such close connections with Dumbledore after graduating from Hogwarts. Peg Kerr wrote a wonderful post (N957) about secrets and how they are the centrally important thing in the books. She wrote, "The seminal scene which sets the series in motion is that fatal night when James and Lily were killed and, paradoxically, Harry thwarted Voldemort. And the central engine of the series is our drive to find out, slowly, book by book, what happened that night? What was that all about? How and why?" Accordingly, we will likely not be able to complete this FAQ with facts until the day after Book 7 has been published. Message 1667, N1432, N1116, N971, N970, N960, N958, N957 |
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