Godric's Hollow - How did Dumbledore know of Lilly's sacrifice?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163899

Jeremiah asked:
> > <snip> Also, was Sirius there before Hagrid? (please correct me if
I'm wrong) <snip>
> 
Marie responded:
> Yes, Sirius was there before Hagrid.  He'd gone to check on Peter,
and when Peter wasn't where he was supposed to be, he went to check on
Lily and James.  (This indicates to me that Sirius *was* in on the
secret.)  I agree that it would seem suspicious to the rest of the
Order, but it doesn't sound like he sounded the alarm.
>
Carol responds:
Actually, Sirius Black showed up at GH after Hagrid. Hagrid himself
states in PoA:

"I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It
was me what rescued Harry from Lily and James's house after they was
killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great
slash across his forehead an' his parents dead . . . an' Sirius Black
turns up on that flyin' motorcycle he used to ride. Never occurred to
me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's
Secret Keeper . . . ." (PoA am. ed. 206, first ellipsis in original).

I agree that Black was in on the Secret. It would be odd if he
weren't, given that he was the Potters' first choice as SK and
switching to Pettigrew was his idea. He was watching out for
Pettigrew, who was supposed to be in hiding himself, and Pettigrew's
absence was his signal that something was terribly wrong. (No doubt PP
was at Godric's Hollow before him, watching the murders in rat form.)
If Black had Apparated, he might have been at GH before Hagrid, but
the motorcycle evidently wasn't fast enough, or he checked on PP after
the Potters were already dead.

In any case, if he had arrived before Hagrid, he would no doubt have
taken Harry himself, considering it his right and duty to do so as
Harry's guardian, but Hagrid arrived first, under orders to bring
Harry to the Dursleys and not give him to anyone else. As Hagrid said
himself, he didn't know that Black was the (ostensible) SK, but
Dumbledore did, and he seems to have anticipated Black's arrival. When
DD asks where Hagrid got the motorcycle and Hagrid says, "Young Sirius
Black lent it to me," DD says, "No problems, were there?" (Evidently,
DD already knows at that point about the twelve Muggles and the
supposed murder of Peter Pettigrew, about which Hagrid is still
ignorant. My quotes, BTW, are from the Scholastic paperback edition
printed in September 1999, and more recent editions or British
editions may have different wording here to fit better with Hagrid's
claim in PoA that Black *gave* him the motorcycle because he wouldn't
be needing it anymore.)

As for Black sounding the alarm, quite the contrary. He lent/gave
Hagrid his motorbike and left immediately to go after Peter Pettigrew.
Black was arrested later that same day (November 1), IIRC. (I still
say that he should have gone immediately to Dumbledore to explain what
had happened and ask for help rather than trying to seek revenge
against Pettigrew, but logic was never his strong suit.) 

I don't think that anyone sounded the alarm--the fight between
Voldemort and James Potter and the two successful AKs would have shown
up on the MoM's (figurative) radar. They probably arrived just after
Sirius Black, possibly while Hagrid was still there. If Mad-Eye Moody
was involved, he would have made sure that Dumbledore's plans weren't
thwarted. (I have other ideas, but I don't want to go too far afield
here.)

Regarding the topic in the subject line, the Fidelius Charm thread
contains a number of posts on how DD knew that the Potters were dead,
but I'm not sure that this specific question is addressed. I think
that Hagrid must have informed DD by Patronus about the cut. DD would
know that an AK doesn't leave a scar and that the killing curse was
deflected onto Voldemort. Possibly, Hagrid also reported bits of
Voldemort, whom DD would suspect had made one or more Horcruxes based
on his appearance and attitude during the DADA interview, so DD would
know that Voldie wasn't dead. He would also know that *something* had
acted to protect Harry and deflect the AK, causing it to (IMO) burst
out of Harry's forehead, creating what was then a gash, not a scar.
What could have such power? Not the Prophecy. Not Voldemort's evil
magic, acting against itself. It would have to be some form of love magic.

Carol, wondering if JKR gave those missing twenty-four hours nearly as
much thought as we have











actually