Lily died before James?

[pandrea100]

No: HPFGUIDX 103539

(Delurking in the excitement over the new title)

Bren:
>>What I don't understand is WHY US editor made that suggestion, and
>on top of that, WHY JKR went along with it.

I have a theory about the whole confusion.  I think that JK initially 
forgot the order of death and wrote it as Lily coming out of the wand 
and saying "Your father's coming" then James emerging and telling 
Harry what to do - because what they say seemed to fit their 
characters better.  We don't know much about Lily (and knew less in 
GoF) but we can assume she would be a motherly type whose first 
instinct would be to greet Harry.  We know that James was a dynamic 
character who liked to plan things (Marauders' Map, animagus spells 
etc), so it makes a certain sense for him to be the one saying "break 
the connection and run" etc.  If James comes out first, though, that 
leaves him saying all that and then Lily's appearance is a bit anti-
climatic.  

If, however, James comes out, just saying "Hi, your mother's right 
behind me", then it's a little weak given that what we know about him 
thus far and it's also a bit odd for Lily to be the one with the big 
plan.  I know this sounds pretty sexist - that the Dad is the one 
with the advice and the Mum is the caring one - but a) Rowling does 
tend to set up the adults in the story in traditional gender roles 
and b) it also fits with what we've been told about their characters.

So, I believe that JK wrote the scene that way and the subsequent 
muddle was caused by someone realising it contradicted the order of 
death already given (either her originally, leaving her US editor to 
feel that the scene read wrongly after correction and wanting to 
change it, OR the US editor just realising the initial error).

However, I might just have developed this idea because I read the 
book immediately on it coming out and so my copy has Lily emerging 
first, then James - I didn't even make the connection to the order 
they died in.  But I do believe it's all just a muddle and not meant 
to trick us or have any significance about James being killed in some 
other way.

"pandrea100"