Harry shouldn't see Thestrals

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 121753


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "arynnoctavia"
<arynnoctavia at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> It says in book 5 that Harry can see the Thestrals because he saw 
> Cedric die, but if you look in book 4 that isn't true. ...
> 
> ...edited... So he didn't see him actually die. He only sees the
> body afterward.  But, according to Hagrid and Umbridge you have to 
> witness someone die, not see their dead body. I have seen dead 
> people (within half a minute after death), but have never actually 
> watched someone die, which (I assume) is a very different 
> experience. Any thoughts?
> 
> --Arynn Octavia

bboyminn:

I think if you re-read the various passages in the books regarding
this subject, you will find a different way to interpret them.

I think you don't have to have seen /dying/, you have to have seen
/death/ to see the Thestral. You have to have seen and deal with the
death of a person, but not necessarily having to see the actual
death/dying itself.

Note that when Harry leaves school at the end of the year, he doesn't
see the Thestrals pulling the carriages. He only saw them when he
returned to Hogwarts the next September. JKR said that is because a
person needs time to process death, time to internalize it, time to
full comprehend and accept it. In a sense, Harry was still in a state
of shock when he left school. Only when he recovered and
psychologically processed that death was he able to see the Thestrals.

So, while many people initially interpreted seeing the Thestrals in
the same manner that you did. There is another way to interpret it,
and evidence to support that alternate interpretation. 

For example, Luna Lovegood didn't see her mother die, she found her
mother dead, and was able to see the Thestrals. That first-hand
up-close and personal experience with death gave her and Harry a
perspective on life and death that others don't have. It is this new
experience and perspective that opens their eyes to the Thestrals.

Or at least, that's the way I see it.

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)