FAQs: Lily died before James?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 103138

Gorda quoted JKR from FAQ section of her website: 

Q: "At the end of 'Goblet of Fire', in which order should Harry's 
parents have come out of the wand?"

JKR:
James first, then Lily. That's how it appears in my original 
manuscript but we were under enormous pressure to edit it very fast 
and my American editor thought that was the wrong way around, and he 
is so good at catching small errors I changed it without thinking, 
then realised it had been right in the first place. We were all very 
sleep-deprived at the time."

vmonte responds:
I'm confused. How does your comments change the order of the parents 
deaths?  Voldemort's wand shows the victims of his spells in reverse 
order.  From most recent attack to the earliest.  James was killed 
before Lily.  He comes out of the wand first, then Lily who was 
killed after. 

Ally:
But if it was reverse order from the most recent to the earliest, 
Lily should have come out of the wand before James, because she was 
killed after him.  It should have been Cedric, Lily, James if it was 
in reverse order, not Cedric, James, Lily.  Later versions of the 
book had Lily come out first, I believe.  Where are you getting this 
quote Gorda?  I think that's a misprint of what she said, maybe.


Jen: I've had to think about this for about an hour (!), but the way 
JKR answered this question seems consistent with the original 
editorial change. 

My US first edition showed Lily coming out of the wand, then James, 
implying James was killed after Lily. After the first editions, JKR 
and editors said, "Oops, no, James should come out first, then Lily, 
because Lily was the last one killed."

In the above comment at her website, JKR is saying the same thing 
again. James should come out of the wand first, and Lily after him, 
because James was killed first. That's consistent with the editing 
changes they made in later editions.

(The part that was confusing to me is the VFAQ on this site. The 
question has it backwards if I'm reading it right.)

Jen Reese