James's Parents

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 182484

 "Jayne" > >
> > Hi 
> > I am delurking to ask a question that I have wondered about
> > for a while. We Know that Sirius went to stay with James at
> > his parents house, but we never find out what happened to 
> > James's parents. Were they alive when Harry was born ?
> > Were they alive whan James and Lily died/ If so why did they
> > not make  contact with Harry or take him in to bring up?
> 
> bboyminn:
> JKR said that James parents were elderly, having had James 
> late in life, and that they had succumb to a wizard's illness.
> Though logically, this had not happened yet when James was
> 16 because that is the age that Sirius left home and stayed
> with the Potter family. So, in James 7th year at Hogwarts,
> or immediately after James left Hogwarts, Mr and Mrs Potter
> must have died. 

Potioncat:
I think JKR has also said that she killed off both James's parents 
and Lily's parents (off-page) so that Harry would be an orphan. She 
didn't work them into the plot, just did away with them.

Here's something to chew on, if you'd like. Take a look at the Black 
family tree which JKR made-up for a charity auction. Look to the 
right of scorch-mark #3. You'll see Dorea Black married a Potter and 
had one un-named son. Is this James's parents? Who realy knows? 
Here's the link. 

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/blackfamilytree.html

My personal opinion is that this family tree is not canon and bears 
no connection to the story. There's several apparant math errors in 
it, and none of it played a part in subsequent books.

But, oh, I did hope Marius Black was an ancestor of Snape, on 
Tobias's side.