Godric's Hollow, chronology of the story

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 4375

We don't know Hagrid's route from Godric's Hollow to Privet Drive in 
the slightest, and we can deduce absolutely nothing about the 
location of Godric's Hollow from the books. The mention of Harry 
falling asleep over Bristol tells us nothing. Godric's Hollow could 
be anywhere, and not just in England. Hagrid almost certainly didn't 
go directly from Godric's Hollow to Privet Drive, since it took him 
MOST OF A DAY to get there (or more likely, he went somewhere else 
first).

Here's the scoop:

The Potters were killed on Oct 31. Hagrid and Sirius show up too late 
to do anything but cry on each other's shoulders. Hagrid takes 
Harry "before the Muggles started swarming around" and Sirius, after 
failing to convince Hagrid to give the baby to him, gives Hagid the 
flying motorcycle. We don't know where either of them went from 
there, except that Sirius was going after Pettigrew.

The next day, Nov 1, the wizarding community began to get the news 
and celebrate. This is the morning Mr. Dursley sees all those unusual 
people on the streets and the owls are flying around in daylight. 
This goes on all day. Also that day, Pettigrew and Sirius had their 
showdown (according to PA, it was the next day after the Potters 
died). It is late in the evening of the 1st of Nov that Hagrid 
finally shows up. McGonagall says that Voldemort turned up in 
Godric's Hollow "last night" and this is tonight, so we know that it 
has been about 24 hours since the deaths of Harry's parents. 

We are not told:

 - where Hagrid was with baby Harry for the last day or so
 - why Dumbledore doesn't mention the Black/Pettigrew showdown to 
McGonagall, especially when Sirius' name is mentioned by Hagrid, even 
saying he's going to bring the motorcycle back to him
 - who cast the spells that killed James and Lily 

More about this, including the way the Priori Incantatem spell order 
fits into the timeline, has been newly added to the Harry Potter 
Lexicon.

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon