Lily's and James' Parents

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 84834

> Jennifer wrote:
> Does anyone have any suspicions to how Lily's or
> James' parents died. 
> I know JKR has not made this an issue but maybe
> Harry's grandparents' history will have some light
> shed on it, or Petunia will hold the key or spill the
> beans.
> 
Vinnia wrote:
> I strongly suspect that one of Lily's parents is still
> alive. He(or she) could not take Harry in, because
> his(her)blood is only half of Lily's blood.
> 
> Harry would probably get to meet Mr/Mrs. Evans in book
> 6/early book 7, through Mark Evans.
>

<snip>

I agree that Mark Evans is important (and distantly related to Harry),
but if his parents were Lily's grandparents, Dumbledore would not
repeatedly have referred to Petunia as Harry's "only living relative."
Also the ages are wrong. Mark is ten years old in OotP and unlikely to
be L and P's first cousin. The ME/HP connection has to be so distant
that Mark's family (who are clearly muggles based on the neighborhood
they live in) has passed out of the consciousness of the WW. (I think,
if it matters, that Harry and Mark are approximately second cousins
and both are the result of some squib/muggle marriages a few
generations back.)

In any case, it's pretty clear that Harry's grandparents on both sides
are no longer alive. James's parents were wealthy (JKR interview) and
presumably well-known in the WW; my guess is that they were killed by
DEs. Lily's parents were muggles, so their deaths are hard to account
for in terms of VWI, but they loved Lily and were proud of her, and
Dumbledore would certainly have placed Harry in their keeping if they
were alive.

Carol