Priori Incantatem Order

[Kelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 1685

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Steve Bates" <spicoli323 at h...> 
wrote:
> Okay, that explains my objection in my previous post.  Still, it is 
> tough to believe that Voldy wouldn't take the path of least 
> resistance and just *kill* James to get him out of the way.  I 
don't 
> think it's beyond Voldy to cause a little pointless suffering, but 
if 
> his primary goal was Harry, he should have gotten *everyone* that 
> stood between him and Harry out of the way as completely as 
possible; 
> i.e. he shouldn't have put James in any position that he could 
> possibly recover from and screw Voldy up at an inopportune time.

Yes, I see exactly what you mean.  Logically, I can't think of any 
reason Vold wouldn't just kill James to just get him out of the 
way.  Maybe that would seem too anti-climactic?  I don't know... 

> Then again, if the reason Voldy was after Harry was because he was 
> Gryffindor's heir (which I believe was part of the reason), Harry 
> wouldn't have been Voldy's only primary target.  If Harry was a 
> descendent of Gryffindor, either James (or, less likely but still 
> possible, Lily) would have to be a descendent of Gryffindor, too, 
> which would mean that Voldy would be after him (or her) as well.

Right.  Well, maybe Trelawney's first correct prediction was that 
Harry would be Vold's downfall.  Lily and James kind of wouldn't 
matter in this scenario.  (Only that they would try to prevent Vold 
from killing Harry.  Which brings us back to 'Why didn't he kill 
James right at the start?'  Oy.)  

> Didn't someone a while ago bring up the possibility that the shade 
> that came from Voldy's wand that Harry thought was James wasn't 
James 
> at all but Harry himself?  So that phantom would actually represent 
> the failed spell that attempted to kill Harry, while the next one 
was 
> the spell that killed Lily, and James never actually got to appear 
at 
> all.  I don't have a clue at the moment as to why the Harry phantom 
> would be in the form of an adult, though.  Still, I think this has 
as 
> much potential as the other two main theories for explaining the 
> order the phantoms came out of the wand.

Well, maybe, but Harry "looked back into the ghostley face of his 
father."  Who then tells him his mother's coming, she wants to see 
him.  Sounds like it really is James to me.  And, if Harry ~makes~ 
James come out first, why?  Look back at what James says to Harry 
when he comes out of the wand, and at what Lily says.  If you reverse 
what they say to Harry, e.g.-- "Your father wants to see you," etc., 
it doesn't really seem to make any difference.  When James comes out 
of the wand, and Harry realizes who it is, the book says "the man 
appearing was the one he thought of more than any other tonight."  If 
Harry's most vivid images (from the Dementors) are of his mother 
screaming/being killed, why wouldn't she be more on his mind than his 
father?  All he 'hears' is James yelling "Take Harry and run," or 
something like that.  Why was he thinking of James more than Lily 
that night?

Kelley