Hagrid and Thestrals

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 77447

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "manawydan" <manawydan at n...> 
wrote:
> Geoff
> >Two possibilities. In GOF, Hagrid tells Harry that his father died
> >during Hagrid's second year at Hogwarts. Did he see his father 
after
> >his death?
> >
> >Additionally, in POA when Harry overheards the conversation between
> >McGonagall/Fudge/Flitwick/Hagrid in the Thre Broomsticks ("The
> >MArauder's Map" p.153), Hagrid says that he pulled Harry from the
> >ruins of the Potter house after Voldemort's attack just after Lily
> >and James were killed. Does this imply that he must have seen their
> >bodies?
> 

Ffred:
> There's another reference in POA, when Hagrid is talking about his
> experiences in Azkaban, he mentions that one of the worst times in 
his life
> was his father's death.
> 
> Sounds like a strong possibility that that was the death that 
Rubeus saw - I
> think the Thestral ability means that you have to have seen someone 
_die_
> rather than someone _dead_ which is what he would have seen at 
Godric's
> Hollow
> 

Geoff:
Thought suddenly occurred to me. One writer speculated that a person 
would only see a threstal after they had witnessed a death and that 
was why Harry could see them in Book 5.

The flaw in this is that Harry didn't /see/ Cedric die. GOF p.553 
("Flesh, Blood and Bone")

"And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was 
agony such as he had never felt in all his life; his wand slipped 
from his fingers as he put his hands over his face; his knees 
buckled; he was on the ground and he could see nothing at all, his 
head was about to split open.

>From far away, above his head, he heard a high cold voice say, "Kill 
the spare."

A swiahing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the 
night: "Avada Kedavra!"

A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard 
something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar 
reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; 
terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes.

Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead."