[HPforGrownups] Did Harry See Lily Die? (Was: Neville's Role)

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 89816

> Siriusly Snapey Susan:
> Debbie, a question for clarification, if I might.  What do you mean 
> when you write that Harry didn't SEE his mother's death?  Harry was 
> 15 months old, and at that age he definitely could have seen the 
> whole thing.  His memory might not be able to hang on to much of the 
> experience, but I believe he saw it alright.  Or are you saying that 
> Lily blocked his vision?  [If that's the case, I'd still argue that 
> he *saw* what happened.]  Or am I misunderstanding altogether?
> 
No, I believe that Harry saw nothing of Lily's murder, for a couple of reasons.

First, if Harry had seen Lily die, he should have seen the thestrals his first year at Hogwarts.  JKR has said that some time is needed to *process* a death before the thestrals become visible.  I have no idea what she means by that, since Harry's anger in OOP suggest to me that while he certainly remembers what happened in the graveyard, he has yet to fully process it.  So I don't think it makes sense to argue that he hasn't processed Lily's death, or that he doesn't remember it.  He does have memories of it (at least from PoA onward), even if they are buried rather deeply.

The second reason is that the memories that the Dementors bring to the surface are only audio memories.  Harry tells Lupin that he can *hear* Voldemort murdering Lily.  There are no visuals to go with it, although he does have visual memories of his own encounter with Voldemort, which are described in ch. 2 of PS/SS.  While there is more than one possible explanation of this, one is that Harry simply didn't see the murder.  Maybe it was dark.  Maybe she had gone out of the room to head off Voldemort.  Either way, I don't think Harry saw either the murder or a dead body.

Debbie


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