Priori Incantatem, and Harry's brand of Magic

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 1639

Hi:

Vicki Merriman wrote:

> I think James died after Lily, and that that may be important in a
> later book.  NOw why everyone, including apparently Voldemort, thinks
> James died first is a question I don't know the answer to, but it
> seems more likely to me that Voldemort is either lying or simply
> wrong, and that James died last.
>

But, Priori Incantatum is supposed to be the reverse order of the
*spells* cast, not the order of who died first.  I at first had
theorized various ways in which James could have died after Lily,
thereby explaining why he comes out of V's wand first.  But, then
someone pointed out that it's the reverse order of the spells cast, not
the order of death.  So .  . . . I don't see how the spell that killed
James could have been cast *after* the spell that killed Lily.  Not
unless Voldemort has just never mentioned in his conversations with
Harry that his father tried to shield him after his mother died.

Under Harry's dementor memories, it certainly *appears* that Voldemort
encountered James first.  Maybe the spell he cast at that point didn't
work.  He moves on to Lily who is shielding Harry.  He orders her to
step aside & she refuses.  He casts the spell that kills her.  The next
logical thing to happen would be for Voldemort to turn his attention to
Harry.  He tries to curse Harry, it rebounds & leaves him without his
powers.  So, at that point, he's in no position to curse James if James
were still lingering.  So, it seems to me that the only way it could
work for James to have been cursed later than Lily is if James shook off
an earlier curse & then interposed himself between Voldemort & Harry
immediately after Lily died, before Voldemort could focus on Harry.

Possible I suppose, but . . . . I still like Trina's original theory
that James was cursed before Lily but when the spells start
regurgitating, it's Harry's strong desire to see his father first that
caused James & Lily to change order somehow within the wand.

Penny


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