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Posts: 3348

Why can Harry only see the Thestrals when he is in his 5th year. Didn't he see his parents die when he was one years of age
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Posts: 10374 · Joined: Aug 1, 2007 Location: Sharon, PA Posts: 10374

Jo said that he was so young when it happened that he can't remember exactly seeing his mother die. Technically, he didn't see his dad die, though. In book seven, Voldemort killed him in a different room. I'll see if I can find a qtuoe from Jo about his mother's death and the thestrals.

Also, you'll notice that he didn't see the thestrals at the end of GoF, even though he had seen Cedric die. Jo said she did this, because the situation hadn't fully set into Harry's brain yet. He was still rejecting the shock of watching Cedric die. It wasn't until the following year that he had grieved and dealt with the shock.
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Posts: 13248 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:04 am Post subject:

ya he rememebered the death of cedric must more easily then the death of his mom since it just happened a year ago
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Posts: 3348 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:07 am Post subject:

Didn't Harry have his hand over his face when Cedric died
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Posts: 13248 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:11 am Post subject:

no but he was still right by him when he died so that still counts
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Posts: 3348 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:12 am Post subject:

But he didn't actually see him die
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Posts: 13248 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:18 am Post subject:

here ya go he does

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8ALQOSTkXU
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Posts: 3348 · Posted: September 15, 2007 10:21 am Post subject:

Thats the movie not the book
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Posts: 10374 · Joined: Aug 1, 2007 Location: Sharon, PA Posts: 10374

Here, I found a link in which Jo talks about the thestrals.

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=21

Why could Harry see the Thestrals 'Order of the Phoenix'? Shouldn't he have been able to see them much earlier, because he saw his parents/Quirrell/Cedric die?

I’ve been asked this a lot. Harry didn’t see his parents die. He was in his cot at the time (he was just over a year old) and, as I say in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, all he saw was a flash of green light. He didn’t see Quirrell’s death, either. Harry had passed out before Quirrell died and was only told about it by Dumbledore in the last chapter.

He did, however, witness the murder of Cedric, and it is this that makes him able to see the Thestrals at last. Why couldn’t he see the Thestrals on his trip back to the train station? Well, I didn’t want to start a new mystery, which would not be resolved for a long time, at the very end of the fourth book. I decided, therefore, that until Harry is over the first shock, and really feels what death means (ie, when he fully appreciates that Cedric is gone forever and that he can never come back, which takes time, whatever age you are) he would not be able to see the Thestrals. After two months away from school during which he has dwelled endlessly on his memories of the murder and had nightmares about it, the Thestrals have taken shape and form and he can see them quite clearly.
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Posts: 28287 · Posted: September 15, 2007 11:10 am Post subject:

i really dont know. if you read the "bathilda's secret" chapter... you will see voldemort's memory of the night he killed lily and james... harry seemed to have seen his mother's death.. lily was standing over the crib. voldemort killed her. voldemort then walked over to harry... maybe looked at harry and observed him. harry was quite curious... he looked at voldemort.

im pretty sure he saw the blast of green light and his mother collapsing... which means that he saw her die...

the only explanation i can come up with is that he DOESNT REMEMBER HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. its a matter of remembering... not seeing.

as for quirrell i dont really think he saw quirrell... he passed out.
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Posts: 10374 · Joined: Aug 1, 2007 Location: Sharon, PA Posts: 10374

^ the post that I posted ^^ was a direct quote from Jo's website. The way that she pitcured it was apparently so that Harry didn't see it.
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Posts: 28287 · Posted: September 15, 2007 11:15 am Post subject:

well i really cannot picture harry not being able to see the whole thing.
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Posts: 10374 · Joined: Aug 1, 2007 Location: Sharon, PA Posts: 10374

Posts: 28287 · Posted: September 15, 2007 11:26 am Post subject:

there was too much action for him to lie down. his mother was running upstairs carrying him. she throws him in his cot. then all of a sudden there's the noise of a door being blast open. then his mother is screaming... and so is a different, high-pitched voice. and then his mother shields him. which means that her arms and her torso and her face was visible to baby harry. so that when voldemort AK-ed her... his mother would have fallen down. and if harry had seen her protecting him, he would definitely have seen her fall... which means he would have seen her die...

thats how i see it.
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Posts: 436 · Posted: October 3, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

I agree that Cedric would have brought that on. And I don't know if Quirell counts? Plus there had tp be someone here and there.
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Posts: 10374 · Joined: Aug 1, 2007 Location: Sharon, PA Posts: 10374

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