Who was in the house?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 115805


impherring13 wrote:
<snip> 
>   During PA, Harry begins to regain memories of the night his
parents were killed.  He hears his mother (or the person we are almost
positive is his Lily), and his father (or the person we are not so
positive is James).  Really all we know for sure is what is spoken
between them.  We hear the male voice saying that Voldemort is there
> and that he will hold him off.  We do not learn the outcome of this
> "duel".  The scene moves on to Voldemort killing Lily.  What I
propose is that the male voice is not James, but Peter Pettigrew.  In
the wand order we are given in GF, we are told that Voldemort killed
James, then Lily with no intervening spells.  
> 
>   This is my idea of the sequence of events:
>  Voldemort (or one of his Death Eaters) kills James while he is on
> an Order of the Pheonix mission shortly before Voldemort arrives in
> Godric's Hollow.  Peter, who as secret keeper has been staying with
> the Potters meets Voldemort at the door.  He lies to Lily, saying that
> Voldemort is there and he will hold him off.  He actually Brings
> Voldemort to Lily.  After Voldemort's failed attempt to kill Harry,
> Peter takes Voldemort's wand and runs off.  
>   This tells us why Remus is surprised to hear that James was in the
> house.  We must remember that at this point Remus still believes
Peter is innocent, therefore there is no reason to mention to Harry
who was
> really there.  This also clears up how Peter came to have Voldemort's
> wand.  Tell me what you think.
> 
>                           -SD

Carol responds:
Not to be a spoilsport, but I think the male voice is James's and
Lupin reacts as he does because he was a close friend of James's and
hopes to hear more of what happened. But he can't reveal to Harry his
relationship with James and Sirius without giving away all of his own
and Sirius's secrets. He answers Harry rather curtly and cuts off
further discussion. But he couldn't have been present at GH himself;
everyone thought he was the traitor. As for Peter, I do think he was
present, but not in the house. I think he showed LV where the house
was, changed to rat form to watch events, and changed back to a man
long enough to take Voldemort's wand and hide it. (He probably lost
his own wand later in the street confrontation with Sirius.)

So, yes, JKR is again making us suspicious of Lupin, as she does in
the Hogwarts Express incident by making him so mysterious, but it's
only to prepare us for his being part of the foursome of MWPP. (Note
that he's *not* mentioned in the conversation between McGonagall,
Flitwick, Fudge, et al. This is our first and only hint of his
membership in the group until we get to the confiscation of the
Marauder's Map.)

Think about the words the man speaks, which Harry doesn't reveal to
Lupin. Surely this is a man speaking to his wife, warning her to save
herself and their child? He's going to try to fight and give them a
chance to escape. But he doesn't know that Lily has other plans--the
ultimate sacrifice to activate the "ancient magic" that will save her
child.

And BTW, the person who killed James has to be Voldemort. He claims to
have fought James and James was definitely killed with his wand. Nor
does JKR in all her comments on these events ever indicate otherwise.

Carol