(Slight OOP spoiler) Re: Didn't Harry see his mum die? & Thestral Theories...

[donna_immaculata]

No: HPFGUIDX 64202

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "magicalme9" <magicalme9 at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Vicky D" <vdegroote at w...> 
> wrote:
> > I'm just now allowing myself to read posts here as I just finished 
> OoP at 4
> > o'clock this morning.  Please excuse me if this has been hashed 
> out, but it
> > doesn't appear to have been.  Didn't Harry see his mother die and 
> then
> > wouldn't he have seen the Thestrals from the start.  You cauld say 
> this is
> > the first year they used them and that the carriages moved by some 
> charm
> > before this year, BUT Luna said she's seen them since she first 
> came.  I
> > know that is has been discussed about Harry not seeing them at the 
> end of
> > GoF, but I think the thing about him seeing his mother die is a 
> flint as
> > well.  Unless A) he didn't actually see her die~ was asleep and I'm 
> just
> > remembering the cinematic approach to the scene or B) (and my niece 
> thinks
> > I'm nuts) his mother did not actually die!!!   OOOOH!  Now there's a
> > question!  Did they ever actually find Lily's body or did they just 
> assume
> > she dissintegrated?  Is there a grave somewhere?  I'd think Harry 
> would want
> > to visit his parent's grave.
> > SO, if he didn't actually see his mother die (for whatever reason), 
> it could
> > be that he didn't see the Thestrals at the end of GoF because 
> Cedrics
> > deathwas to fresh?  I know it sounds corny, but it could have to do 
> with
> > coming to terms, etc.
<SNIP>
> > 
> > Vicky
> 
> That's actually one thing I really wondered about too. Why doesn't 
> Harry see the Thestrals from the beginning? Well, I just somehow 
> assumed, that he had been too little to remember Lily's death. He 
> remembers his parents screaming and loads of green light, but it 
> never says in canon, that he actually remembers his mother dying. I 
> mean see her being hit by AK, falling to the floor and lying there. 
> Maybe it has to do with seeing the whole process of dying... As to 
> why he doesn't see the Ts at the End of GoF, I don't know.
><SNIP>

Vicky, I was wondering, too, why Harry never saw the Thestrals before, as he was present when his mother died. And I back up the theory that it's got something to do with coming to terms with it. As a baby, he didn't really understand death, and he learned about it much later. He didn't immediately *experience* the pain of losing his parents and all the ramifications of it. He learned about it from a distance, so to speak.

The fact that he didn't see the Thestrals at the end of GoF would fit in into this theory: Within these few weeks, Harry has not had the time to recover from Cedric's death and to understand it fully. He knew that Cedric was dead, but the dread and horror of it haven't sunk in yet. It's probably important not only to *know* about it, and to feel the pain about it, but to process the knowledge, the pain, the anger etc. and to make it part of one's self. Every experience in our life contributes to the development of our personality and, for lack of a better word, soul. So maybe the Thestrals are visible as soon as the realisation of the immediately experienced death has really sunk in?

Donna Immaculata
*who tried to include all aspects of Harry's experience with death and realises how vague this all sounds*