stars, Lily and James, Nearly Headless Nick, and the guy on the back

[Sam Brown]

No: HPFGUIDX 1387

I've just finished reading HP#1 (for the third time in six months, 
which is a record for me!) and I've got a few thoughts about it, most 
of which have probably cropped up already!

In the Forbidden Forest, Harry meets the centaurs who, instead of 
giving an sort of straight answer, repeat 'Mars is bright tonight' - 
like Hagrid I found this very annoying! I was wondering if anyone 
knew the astrological significance of Mars being bright or in 
prominence. My own theory was that Mars was named after the Roman god 
of war, so perhaps it symbolises the oncoming war between Good and 
Evil (or at least Our Side and Their Side).

Secondly, Voldemort states explicity at the end 'I killed your 
father, and then your mother' (although of course not EXACTLY like 
that, but the words are to the effect. This, as we all know, 
contradicts to the Priori Incantatem (sp?) thingey at the end of GoF. 
So... 1) This is all part of some incredible plot twist JKR is 
setting up, 2) James and Lily were killed in such quick succession 
that the order of them coming out of the wand was 'blurred', or 3) 
JKR has made a royal mistake! I hope it's 1), althought I find myself 
leaning towards 3)!

Thirdly Nearly Headless Nick (a character who I feel embodies JKR's 
sense of humour and originality) says 'I haven't eaten for nearly 
four hundred years', which contradicts his 500th Deathday Party in 
CoS. Personally I feel that this proves 'Harry Potter' is not set to 
any sort of 'real' chronology... Nick probably lied about his age to 
the Headless Society (or whatever they were) in order to make himself 
sound more noble, or something to that effect.

Fourthly, I have the British edition, and on the back cover of PS 
there's a picture of a young, bearded man holding a book. Which 
character is this supposed to be?! It doesn't match the description 
of any in the book, or at least any of the characters I've thought 
about!