James killed before Lily

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 103583

Okay, after re-reading JKR's post on her website and the "Priori 
Incantatum" chapter at the end of GoF, I firmly believe that James 
was killed before Lily. 

JKR states that Lily was to come out of the wand FIRST and then 
James last.  Since the wand was spitting out spells in the REVERSE 
order they were performed, then this means that James must have been 
killed before Lily.

I believe that JKR accidentally muddled the matter more with her 
comment that her "American editor" thought it was the wrong order 
and 'corrected' it, when in fact he actually switched the proper 
order.  At first, I, like many others, thought she was referring 
only to the American edition of the book, but I think this 
assumption was wrong.  I think that what she was saying was that 
herself, the UK editor for Bloomsbury and the American editor for 
Scholastic were all together in the same room (or at least IM'ing or 
conference calling) in the rush to finish GoF and get it okayed for 
printing.  In that rush, the American editor spoke up and said that 
the order of Lily and James was backwards (probably due to his 
forgetting that the spells were appearing in REVERSE order) and it 
needed fixed.  The UK editor, in on this conversation, was alerted 
that this "mistake" needed correction and followed suit.  Remember 
the books were released on the same day in the UK and the USA, so 
both editions must have been edited and prepped for printing at the 
same time.  This must be why the first UK and first American 
editions mistakenly have James, then Lily coming out of Voldemort's 
wand.  

So, somewhere down the line of printings, new books were fixed so 
that the correct order was restored with Lily coming out first and 
James coming out last.  I have read this chapter in the most recent 
(corrected) printings and Lily does come out of the wand before 
James.  

I have a UK edition (printed in Canada) that has James coming out 
first.  My American first edition hardback (from July 2000) also has 
James coming out of the wand first.  Both are incorrect.

So, regardless of what comes after, JKR's statement that "Lily 
first, then James." on the order they should have come out of the 
wands confirms that James was killed before Lily.  This fits with 
what we've been told through Harry's dementor-inflicted memories of 
his parents' last moments alive.  

Thank goodness, we've enough mysteries to figure out without a brand 
new one!  ;)

Diana L.
dianasdolls