New Clue - Graveyard at Hogwarts

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 100247


> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:
> >> My guess would be that Harry's parents are buried there, but 
> > that their headstones have different dates for the day they 
> died. I think 
> > James was probably killed a few days before GH, and that the 
> > male voice (Harry hears during the dementor scene) yelling for 
> > Lily to run with Harry is not his father.   
> 
Katydidnt2002 wrote:
> *blinks in confusion* where did this idea come from? I mean I have 
> read this theory before, but the only basis in canon that there is 
> is tenuous at best (as I see it). 

Pip!Squeak:
It came from the canon that Lupin reacts strangely to Harry saying 
that he heard James die (as if he knew James wasn't there). It was 
then added to by the movie NOT showing James at all when Voldemort 
attacks, just showing Lily.

Movies aren't canon, but it's always interesting when you think you 
may have spotted a trick in the books, and the movie is cut in a way 
that supports it. Given that the PS/SS movie had already hired an 
actor to play James, it seemed faintly odd not to show him in the 
Voldemort attack scene. 

Unless, of course, the question of whether James *was* actually 
there when Voldemort attacked Lily and Harry is important in a not-
yet-written book. It then becomes apparent that they couldn't 
possibly show James in the movie scene; that would be definite 
evidence that he was there. Hence the theory. Negative evidence is 
still evidence - it's important that the dog doesn't bark in the 
night-time. :-)


katiedidnt2002:
> I guess what I mean is why do you buy into it as much as you do? 
> Well, I do know theories like this are fun to play with *shrugs*


Pip!Squeak:
Yes, they are fun to play with. More to the point, demanding to know 
why the others are playing that fun game (because you think it's 
*stupid* and don't want to play it) is generally considered to be 
bad playground etiquette. Especially when there are plenty of other 
posts to reply to that aren't discussing speculative theories.

katiedidnt2002:
> But more to the point-why would this be an important development 
> or important fact for books 6 and 7? It seems to me that this 
> information, both there existing a graveyard and his parents 
> possibly being buried in it (whether or not they died the same 
day), 
> would only be important as another fact that Harry might be 
> interested in knowing but has not been told. Would it have any 
> other significance to the plot?

Pip!Squeak:

What significance could a graveyard have? 

Firstly, if his parents *are* buried there, I would be very, very 
angry not to have been told that (if I were Harry). It would be 
another stage in the 'don't trust Dumbledore, he only tells you what 
he wants you to know - which may not be the same as what you want to 
know.' That could be an important plot point - especially if 
Dumbledore dies because Harry didn't trust him any more.

Secondly, there could be someone *else* buried there (near Harry's 
parent's graves) who is a plot point in one of the later books (for 
example, yet another Hogwarts imposter is revealed by a 
gravestone...). It then becomes important that Harry doesn't find 
out about the graveyard/parental graves until later in the book.

Thirdly, we might find out the extent of Voldemort War One through 
the graveyard/Harry's parent's graves. If there are, say, sixty 
gravestones of Hogwarts students nearby, or a memorial to students 
killed which is full of names. Harry would go to look at that 
because his parents' names would be on it. That possibility might 
also be quite an important point in Book six or seven - especially 
if the names are separated by *house*, and the inscription 
is 'killed fighting Voldemort'. Were Slytherins killed fighting 
Voldemort? Again, if Harry had known that earlier, it might have 
affected his behaviour in earlier books.

Fourthly, vmonte might be right, and Harry finds his parents didn't 
die on the same day. Who was in the house with Lily then becomes 
important. If Harry had known this earlier (say in PoA), he would 
have insisted on knowing.

Fifthly, more gloomily, we might meet the graveyard a second time 
because one of our protagonists is being buried in it. Some idiot 
might then try to do a raising from the dead type spell (for good or 
evil purposes). Knowledge of the graveyard is being kept back for 
maximum dramatic effect - Harry seeing his parent's graves will be 
foreshadowing that he's about to lose someone close to him.

Sixthly ... but you get the point. There are a large number of 
possible plot points that a graveyard could be used for, and some 
perfectly good reasons that an author might keep the information 
that there *is* a graveyard from Harry.


The graveyard itself could well be a joint graveyard for Hogsmeade 
and Hogwarts. That would mean it would probably be a part of the 
outer castle, on the Hogsmeade side (a track leading from village to 
graveyard). Hogsmeade itself probably grew up as a typical 'service 
village' to the castle - assuming that when Hogswarts was originally 
built, the only means of magical travel was broomstick. 


Pip!Squeak