That Fateful Night at Godric's Hollow

[darqali]

No: HPFGUIDX 140535

First, there has been much speculation as to how various persons 
communicated with one-another after the fateful events which left 
Harry scarred and turned LV into Vapormort.

Cannon tells us how many messages were passed after the event:  Owls !
They were all  over the place even in daylight and the Muggles 
remarked at their odd daylight appearance on their news.

We now know that {at least some} wizards able to cast a Patronus 
{clearly, not all can!} can use them as messengers.  And then 
Dumbledore has Falkes the pheonix as well.

Second, we have *no cannon* to tell us *who was there * in Godric's 
Hollow apart from LV, Lily, James and Harry.  Yet we know *there must 
have been someone* for several reason, among them:

The WW knew, and very quickly, that LV was *gone* or *broken* {not 
necessiarly *dead*, and speculation on that was rife} and *also* that 
Harry's parents were dead, but that Harry himself was alive {He was 
immediately dubbed "the Boy Who Lived"}; and indeed, that Harry's 
survival was somehow tied to LV's fall, though the *specifics* were 
murky.  We get all this from Hagrid's explainations to Harry when the 
first meet, as well as from the very first chapter of PS/SS.

We have no specific cannon to tell us *who was there*, however.  Yet 
*someone* on the "Light" side must have been, for the news to be out 
so swiftly .... Yes, LV's fall would perhaps have "undone" many 
curses or spells LV had cast, which would have alerted any affected 
by such to know he had "fallen".  Yet that was not *all* they knew, 
for Harry's involvment and survival was *also* clearly known, and 
seemingly *at once*.

We can speculate, and among the most obvious persons to have been at 
Godric's Hollow are Peter Pettigrew and  Sirius Black.   But 
Pettigrew would not have sent word to Dumbledore nor spread rumors of 
the events causing his master's fall.  He was obviously intent on 
fleeing and saving his little rat hide.  Sirius was clearly mainly 
going rat-hunting, and Dumbledore would have little reason to trust 
him, for Dumbledore believed Sirius to be the Potter's Secret Keeper, 
and therefore would very likely have considered Sirius  a traitor.

When I questioned, "How did LV get his wand back?", the answer was 
that probably Pettigrew pocketed it, and that it remained "in his 
pocket" when his clothes were transfigured into rat fur during his 
years of hiding.  [Interesting. If that is so,  then Peter had LV's 
wand {and *maybe* his own, too?} in his pocket when he was forced to 
resume human form in the Shrieking Shack .... yet he never reached 
for it ....  One wonders why not, and what might have happened if 
LV's wand had come into play in that room, with Harry's wand also 
there  .....  but of course, it didn't.

But neither the name Peter, nor Sirius, answers the question, "Who 
alerted the whole WW of the events at Godric's Hollow?"  One thinks 
there must have been someone else there.  The specifics of the event 
were broadcast almost *immediately* .... hence, the celebrations.

As for how Dumbledore knew where the Potters were, and/or how he told 
Hagrid to go there, that is not a problem to me.  The fact that the 
Potters were in hiding does not mean *no one* knew where they were, 
any more than the fact that Grimould Place was hidden meant that "no 
one" knew where it was, nor how to get there.  *Several people* {or 
even *many people*} many have known the Potter's location, just as 
*many people* (including under-age school children; including Snape) 
knew and could go to Grimould Place ....  But they could not *reveal* 
that location to LV or his supporters because of the charm placed 
upon the secret.  I assume Dumbledore knew the Potter's location.  
Dumbledore could have gone to the Potters at any time. And Hagrid may 
also have known; he was, I blieve, in the OOTP.

In any event, with the Potter's death, the secret was broken and so 
even if *only* Dumbledore and a handful of others {such as Sirius and 
Lupin} knew, Dumbledore could have sent a Hagrid who *didn't* know to 
Godric's Hollow.  There was no longer a secret to keep.

Aside:  recently Hagrid's first speech to Harry about his parents was 
recounted, and again I note Hagrid says James was Head Boy.  The 
sequence given elsewhere is that students are selected as Prefects in 
their 5 th year, and then Head Boy and Girl are chosen from among the 
Prefects in their final year.  Yet we know Lupin was Prefect, not 
James.  So how did James become Head Boy, seeing he was not first a 
Prefect?


Darqali.