Something to consider....

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 22134

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., meboriqua at a... wrote:
> > In GoF a group of people called 'The Unspeakables', who work for 
the 
> > ministry, are mentioned by A.Weasley. JKR would not have put this 
in 
> > for no reason, i'm wondering if maybe that is the department 
James 
> > and Lily worked for? But what did they do? any further 
suggestions??

For one possible theory along these lines, see this link in the 
Lexicon:

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/timeline_potters.html#unspeakable
s

This is the last paragraph of the page which details the events of 
the attack on the Potters. The gist of the theory is that Lily and 
James were Unspeakables working for the Ministry of Magic's 
Department of Mystries and that they were developing defensive spells 
etc. to use against Voldemort's chief curses, especially Avada 
Kedavra. They used one of these spells to defend Harry, which is part 
of the reason why Voldemort's curse failed. 

Additional Lexicon resources:

about the Ministry of Magic and it's departments
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/w_ministry.html

description of the Avada Kedavra curse
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/spells_a.html#avada kedavra

biography of James Potter
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/james.html

biography of Lily Evans Potter
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/lily.html


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