Under age magic - just wondering?

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 188334

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bboyminn" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:

bboyminn: 
> There is a missing 24 hours between when Harry's parents are 
> killed and when Harry was dropped off at the Dursley on Privet
> Drive. Where was Harry during that time? Who was taking care 
> of him? 
 
> Why did they fly in from Bristol in the west, and not
> from the north in the direction of Hogwarts and Scotland? 

> I suggest, to the last item, that they (Hagrid and Harry)
> may have flow straight south over the Iris Sea, the near
> Bristol, turned East and flew into Surrey. Seem like a good
> idea until someone pointed out that the Irish Sea is a 
> training ground for the Royal Air Force, and is likely a 
> 'no fly' zone for any one other than scheduled commercial
> airlines. Not really a safe place to be flying around on a
> flying motorcycle.
> 
> The implication is that Hagrid flew in from near Bristol,
> further implying that Harry was stashed near Bristol during
> that missing 24 hour period. But, it has never been explained. 

Geoff:
Because, Steve, you're barking up the wrong tree. They didn't fly 
from the north.

Just in passing, although the Irish Sea is used as a training area 
by the RAF, there is still a lot of non-military and non-scheduled
air traffic around. Where I live on Exmoor (on the south side of the 
Bristol Channel), there are a lot of military movements. I frequently 
curse RAF Tornados going over me at about 500-1000 feet when 
I'm trying to have a quiet stroll with the dog and we also get Hercules 
practising their low flying techniques as well as a lot of light 
aircraft, business helicopters and the Air Ambulance going overhead 
all the time plus commercial flights out of Cardiff Rhoose, fifteen 
miles away across the Channel. Military activities rarely close areas 
completely. We're too small a country for that.

But to get back on topic. Harry's parents James and Lily were killed at 
Godric's Hollow. There was a lot of discussion on this topic a few years 
back in which it was suggested that the village was in South Wales 
which would tie in with Hagrid's flight path.

However, since then, other information has surfaced, to wit:

'"The villages of Tinworth in Cornwall, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire and
Ottery St. Catchpole on the south coast of England were notable 
homes to knots of wizarding families who lived alongside tolerant and 
sometimes Confunded Muggles. Most celebrated of these half-magical 
dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric's Hollow, the West Country village
where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born and where Bowman 
Wright, wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch."'
(DH "Godric's Hollow" p.261 UK edition)

Now, there has been a body of opinion which holds that Ottery St.
Catchpoleis near Ottery St. Mary, a town in South Devon, just east of 
Exeter which is also well into the West Country. However, if Godric's 
Hollow had been in that area, Hagrid's flight to Little Whinging would 
have taken him well to the south of Bristol, his destination, which I believe 
from canon evidence,  lies to the west of London not far from Heathrow 
Airport.

However, if Godric's Hollow lay in the northern area of the West Country 
- North Cornwall, North Devon or even my own West Somerset, a flight 
line could be nearer to Bristol. I think it would be more likeyl to be the
first two counties I have named because a direct flight line towards 
London would take Hagrid and baby Harry along the Bristol Channel 
making landfall at Weston-super-Mare and then travelling over Bath.

However, it is feasible that Hagrid may have steered sufficiently far north, 
five or six miles or so, to be skirting the southern suburbs of Bristol. 
Bristol is an extensive city. By coincidence, I had occasion two days ago 
to go to Reading for a conference and my train headed well up towards 
Bristol before heading more due east.

As regards Harry possibly being kept overnight - and where - remains 
a source of speculation.