Question re thestrals from my 6-1/2 year old

[scoutmom21113]

No: HPFGUIDX 99895

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Metylda <bamf505 at y...> wrote:
> --- Susan <teilani2002 at y...> wrote:
> > Schlobin at a... wrote:
> > > My son Jesse asked me --- didn't Harry witness his
> > mother dying? 
> 
> 
> Another opinion and question:
> 
> My understanding (not having the text in front of me)
> was that Harry was in his cradle.  There's no
> guarentee that Baby Harry saw anything. 
> 
> My question is this: shouldn't Harry have seen the
> Thestrals at the end of Book 4?  After all, don't the
> students take the carriages back to Hogsmeade/Hogwarts
> express?
> 
> Bamf

In an interview after GoF OoP came out, JKR answered this question 
during the webcast:
http://www.msn.co.uk/liveevents/harrypotter/transcript/Default.asp?
Ath=f

Internet question from Jessica Wells, originally from Australia now 
living in London. 

Email: "Harry saw his parents die so why hasn't he been able
to see the Thestrals before?" 

JK Rowling: I knew I was going to get that one
that is an
excellent question. And here is the truth. At the end of Goblet of 
Fire we sent Harry home more depressed than he had ever been leaving 
Howarts. I knew that Thestrals were coming, and I can prove that 
because they're in the book I'd produced for Comic Relief 
(UK) "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".

These are lucky Black Winged Horses. However, if Harry had seen them 
and it had not been explained then it would cheat the reader. So, to 
explain that to myself, I decided you had to have seen the death and 
allowed it to sink in a bit
 slowly
these creatures became
solid in front of you. So that's how I'm going to sneak past
that 
one. 


Ravenclaw Bookworm