[HPforGrownups] Wand Order Story for Salon.com

[heidi]

No: HPFGUIDX 6739



Brian Dorband wrote:

> Greetings all,
>
> I am posting this in order to give all a chance to sound off regarding
> the wand order issue.  I

I was going through my Potter Family FAQ for the group faqs, and hope it's
not a problem to post what I just cut out of the FAQ, from the SPECULATIONS
section. I wrote this in October:

> Who 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’ ‘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.
>

Now, I guess I'm going to replace it with "whatever"


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