Some observations and inquiries

[Steve Bates]

No: HPFGUIDX 3286

<A yet-undiscussed issue of the wand concerns the shadow of the curse 
that rebounded from Harry and killed Voldemort.  It should have come 
after Lily's death and before Bertha's. Where is it in the Priori 
Incantatem scene? Is it the same charm that killed James?  Did the 
rebound of the curse on Harry travel back through the wand and 
destroy its own "carbon copy" inside the wand's memory?

Pogonia>

Actually, I think this has been mentioned before, at least 
tangentially.  One school of thought dismisses the entire question, 
figuring "oh, the curse failed, and the copy of a failed curse 
mustn't get 'stored' in the wand".
But there is another interesting theory that explains what happened 
to the echo of this curse as well as why the order of Lily and 
James's death was seemingly mixed up. This theory holds that what 
Harry believed to be a phantom of James was really 1) Harry himself, 
or, much less likely, IMO, 2) Tom Riddle/Voldemort.  If that's true, 
then this phantom represents the failed curse intended to kill Harry 
that rebounded on Voldy, while James's phantom never appeared at all 
(it would have been next in line after Lily's).  There are problems 
with this theory (if the phantom was Harry, why was it an adult, and 
not a baby; if the phantom was Tom Riddle, why did it help Harry?), 
and I don't necessarily hold with it myself, but I think it is one of 
the few simple, coherent, and satisfying explanations for the Priori 
Incantetem order being, apparently, "wrong."