[HPforGrownups] Riddle solved - congrats Renee!

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 129701

 Tinglinger wrote:
>SO........... what does all this tell me ?
>
>SOMEONE ELSE was at Godric's Hollow at the time Harry's parents
>were murdered.
>
>As for who ....

Applying a tad of logic, we see that

1. Peter was there. Sirius found him away from home. Voldemort wouldn't have
taken Peter if he didn't think it necessary (he would have been of great
continuing use as a spy for the DEs have Voldemort been successful (as of
course he intended to be) so he wouldn't have blown Peter's cover. Also JKR
has commented (obiter) that it was Peter who recovered Voldemort's wand. I
can't see the Ministry leaving that lying around until later.

2. No other wizards were there until Hagrid arrived. Had there been other
DEs, then (a) there would have been nothing to stop them recovering Harry
and disposing of him by non-magical means and (b) Peter would not have been
allowed to make his getaway, and would have been closely interrogated on
what had happened. Had there been members of the Order, then they would have
rescued Harry themselves.

3. Hagrid didn't come alone. He's a good guy in a scrap, but sending him
against Voldemort on his own would mean certain death. Also, by the time the
Ministry wizards and the WW media arrived, Hagrid had to be gone with Harry,
he couldn't afford to be seen doing magic or allow Harry to fall into the
hands of the Ministry at that time.

4. Hagrid and whoever came with him were too late to help, but not too late
to be eyewitnesses to Voldemort's overthrow. _Someone_ told the Ministry and
the media what had happened and was able to satisfy them that Voldemort
hadn't just walked away but was dispersed.

My money (and I have no canon for this apart from the hatred which the DEs
bore them) is that Frank and Alice Longbottom were with Hagrid that night.
They were the ones who were on the front cover of the Prophet, were
interviewed by the Wireless, and so on as having seen what happened up in
the bedroom..

Which explains why the Lestranges hunted them down and tortured them for
information.

But JKR alone knows all

cheers

Ffred

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