questions about HP (Evans?)

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 82342

KIM MACKLIN wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to the list, from Western PA, 37 and Love HP.

::Annemehr waves enthusiastically from just NE of Pittsburgh::

Kim:
> Anyway.  while browsing the digest today I saw a post asking about
the Evan's and where they all are.  
>  
> On Page 13 OoP it reads "So who've you been beating up tonight?
Harry asked, his grin fading.  Another ten-year-old?  I know you did
Mark Evans two nights ago--"
>  
> I think this may be an important.  You know how JKR slips things in
and they are very hard to find.  There seem to be many neighbors in
the Privet Drive area who live double lives,  or seem to be hiding.  I
know it has been said Harry has no living relatives, but that does not
seem logical.  Also, if this Mark Evans is 10 years old now, he should
be 11 for the next book.  Who knows, maybe he will show up at Hogwarts?
>  
> I didn't come up with this on my own, I read it somewhere but cant
remember where.  Anyway, any thoughts on this?
>  
> KIM

Annemehr:
Well, I have some scattered ones.  Let's see what we can make of them.

At Harry's hearing at the Ministry, when Arabella Figg was being
introduced as a witness for Harry, Fudge said that the MoM has no
record of any other wizards in Harry's neighborhood.  This would seem
to preclude Mark Evans being a wizard.  However, the MoM for some
reason does not bother to keep records of Squibs at all, so I have to
wonder if they also know nothing of Muggleborn witches and wizards who
are below Hogwarts age.

Before OoP was released, we knew only from *interviews* that Evans was
Lily's maiden name.  So someone who read *only* the books will have
encountered that name twice in OoP, and in OoP only.  It is nearly
impossible to believe that this is only a coincidence.

Also, from interviews only, we know that there is a magical quill at
Hogwarts which records the names of every witch or wizard born -- and
Minerva McGonagall looks up the ones turning 11 every year and sends
them their Hogwarts letter.  Since this quill is at Hogwarts, it is
possible to believe that there are young Muggleborn wizards the MoM is
unaware of until they begin at Hogwarts.  For me, this is enough to
counter Fudge's certainty that there are no other wizards near Privet
Drive. But then, I used to operate under the assumption that A. Figg
was a witch!  ;)

You make a point that many on Privet Drive seem to live double lives.
 I agree, but wonder if that isn't just pretty much the human condition.

Finally, as to Harry having no living relatives but the Dursleys, that
comes up a lot.  Many speculate that Voldemort is responsible for the
deaths of all the others.  I have to wonder about the Evanses, though.
 If Harry's maternal grandparents needed to be killed, then how could
it be that Lily herself need not have died?  So, if Mr. and Mrs. Evans
were killed in VoldeWar I, it would have to have been just a
coincidence, just one of the random muggle killings that the DEs so
enjoyed.  Also, why attack Lily's parents and not her sister?  Maybe
they just died of natural causes.

Then what about Harry's paternal grandparents, the Potters?  Before
OoP, many thought that Voldemort felt the need to wipe that family
out, that the prophecy had something to do with a Potter being his
downfall.  Many of us thought that's why Sirius accused Wormtail of
delivering "the last of the Potters" to Voldemort when he was made
Secret Keeper (in the Shrieking Shack).  After reading the prophecy I
thought I had been wrong to think this.

But now, I'm not so sure.  Okay, so the *prophecy* would not lead
Voldemort to go after the whole Potter line, but maybe Sirius knew
something else.  Maybe there was something about the Potters that
would make Voldemort go after Harry as the one spoken of in the
prophecy.  Then again maybe all the Potters were active in the
resistance to Voldemort and died in the fight.  Is there any other
hint to all the Potters being targeted besides Sirius' words in the
Shack in PoA?

Annemehr