AK , victims' remains, and delay between Godric's Hollow and Privet Drive

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 91284

Ali:
<snip> 
> In PoA p. 268 UK edition, Sirius states:
> 
> "When I saw their house, destroyed, *and their bodies* - I realised 
> what Peter must have done."
> 
> This doesn't answer the question how the house was destroyed or what 
> became of James' and Lily's bodies. But, their bodies were *not* 
> destroyed by AK.
> 
> We have been shown how the AK curse works on a few occasions, and 
> each time it leaves the corpse looking almost perfect, just scared, 
> and dead. This is the case for Tom Riddle's father and grandparents, 
> plus the spider which Barty Crouch junior kills. Cedric merely looks 
> surprised.

<snip>

Exactly. The successful AKs that killed Lily and James probably left
them looking surprised, like Cedric and the Riddles: perfectly intact
but dead. It was the AK that hit Harry, caused the scar to appear
(whether or not a protective charm was involved), and then backfired,
vaporizing Voldemort, that caused the house to explode. Harry was
unhurt by the explosion as well as the AK, which backfired *away* from
him and Lily. I speculate that the baby and his mother's body were
buried in debris but not otherwise damaged by it. James, who I think
was outside the house--certainly not in the same room--may have been
less deeply buried in the rubble and his body completely unscathed.

As for Harry, if the bodies had been blown apart, the baby would have
been, too. It was the AK he was protected from, not ordinary death.
But, as I said, the explosion was directed away from Lily and Harry
and would not in itself have harmed them. Also, from what we know of
wizards, they're a lot tougher than we Muggles are. Moody survives
nine months in a trunk, Neville is dropped out a window and bounces
down the hill, and Hagrid says scornfully, "A car crash kill Lily and
James!"

So I think that Harry came away from the explosion covered with dust
and a few scratches, no doubt confused and crying and trying to get to
his mommy and wake her up, but I very much doubt that she and James
were blown to pieces. There would have been bodies for Sirius to find
and Hagrid also to see. 

IMO, all of this ties in with the much-discussed delay between finding
Harry in Godric's Hollow and depositing him on the Dursleys' doorstep.
Here's my speculative outline of events. Hagrid borrowed Sirius'
motorcycle and took Harry to Dumbledore, who had to figure out what to
do. Then he must have performed his blood charm and written the letter
to Petunia, but he couldn't apparate with Harry so he asked Hagrid to
deliver him. Hagrid must have requested a little time with Harry so he
could bathe him and tend him for a day, providing him with food and
clean blankets and a little basket bed before turning him over to the
Muggles. McGonagall must have seen him with the baby and asked where
he was going to take him, not anticipating the delay, which would
explain why she waited for a whole day at 4 Privet Drive. Dumbledore,
OTOH, had a clearer idea of when Hagrid intended to arrive and had a
much shorter wait.

Carol, who never knows where her mind is going to take her when she
starts to answer a post!