Survival of AK

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 114125

> Kim wrote:
> But it was a wand spell that marked Harry, etc.  I found this 
paragraph (Ch. 2, p. 20 of GoF, US Scholastic edition) which retells 
what happened at GH the night Harry got his scar.  It's the narrator 
speaking, not a character, so one would suppose it's meant to be the 
correct history of what happened:
<snip of quote and other good stuff>

Hannah now: This reminds me of a post I wrote about a week ago, on 
how trustworthy the narrative can be.  It's natural to believe what 
the narrative says, at least more than information from characters, 
but I've actually come to the conclusion that the narrative isn't 
more reliable than any other source.

Take this from PS/SS, p27 UK paperback; 'He'd lived with the 
Dursley's for ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could 
remember, ever since his parents had died in that car crash.' 

This quote is from the narrative, and it states that Harry's parents 
died in a car crash.  Obviously it's not true, but at that point, 
that's what Harry believes.  The narrative only ever gives us facts 
from Harry's point of view, with the exception of the first chapter 
of PS/SS, and the quidditch match in PS/SS when Quirrel jinxes the 
broom.  The narrative is not omniscient.  It can relate events as 
Harry sees them, and while it describes Harry's emotions and 
thoughts, it can't tell us what's going on in other characters' 
heads (more's the pity).  

So when the narrative says what happened at Godric's Hollow, it 
tells the accepted version of events, as Harry believed it 
happened.  That may not be what actually occurred (almost certainly 
isn't, IMO).  If the narrative only told the truth, the whole truth 
and nothing but the truth, it would be a very dull book with no 
surprises.  

JKR has said that the first scene of HBP is going to be something 
she's thought of putting into other books, or words to that effect.  
That makes me think that it might be a retrospective chapter, a bit 
like the first in PS/SS, maybe the actual events at GH, or some 
other important past incident.

Hannah