Just a thought I had for some time, and I always wondered why so few authors thought of that in their fanfiction.

How did the Wizarding World learned about Voldemort's failed Killing Curse; that the scar was related to it and what about the mysterious 24 hours between the time Hagrid took Harry and when he brought him to the Dursleys, in Sirius' motorbike?

As a matter of fact, how did Hagrid know about the attack so he could go and pick up the baby so fast? Why didn't Aurors or Dumbledore come first, instead, the Headmaster sent Hagrid to pick up Harry. It looks suspicious to me; Dumbledore couldn't have known the outcome if Voldemort got Harry, the prophecy was too vague about it.

Anyway, the most important question is how did the Wizarding World learned about Voldemort's demise by a failed killing curse? There's no witnesses. The only two people who approached the scene were Sirius and Hagrid. I doubt Sirius got the chance to describe what happened as he was sent to Azkaban without a trial in a nearly hysterical state after the failed attempt at Pettigrew's life.

And Hagrid's not the sharpest tool in the shred; I doubt he could deduce what happened.

If I'm not wrong, in canon, one of the reasons Dumbledore placed Harry at the Dursleys was 'not to turn Harry's head with his fame too much and too early'. If he didn't want that, he could have avoided revealing the exact circumstances of Voldemort's defeat. For all we know, Lily may have killed Voldemort at the exact same moment he killed her?

Beside, I don't believe the Magical World would come up with this theory unless Dumbledore gave some details... he was the only person knowing the prophecy and could suspect the exact circumstances.

Anyway, what piss me off in many AU's where Harry's taken by someone just after Voldemort's defeat (therefore leaving no evidences)... yet the Wizarding World knows that Harry's the one who vanquished him.

And last question... what happened with Voldemort's body?

 

For the Sirius thing, I think it was Dumbledore who testified that it was Sirius who was the Secret Keeper, since no - one knew of the switch, so everyone would have thought that it was Sirius who betrayed the Potter's - that and a squad of Hit-Wizards watched Sirius 'kill' Pettigrew and 13 Muggles.

Voldemort's body ... didn't Dumbledore say in one of the books that the body was destroyed once the Killing Curse backfired? A better question would be how a curse that doesn't leave a mark can completely wipe out someone's fucking body when it backfires.

As for the other questions...

... not a clue.

 

JKR admitted in her recent interview with TLC that she fucked this bit of the Potter storyline up.

 

Yeah, just another fuckup building up towards the conspiracy theory angle.

Having Hagrid bring in Harry was probably the most retarded aspect of this whole mess. It's obvious JKR had planned a much larger role for Hagrid in the first book, but later couldn't figure out how to use him. Thus, we get all those tedious scenes where Hagrid screws something up or weaves a long tale of his boring adventures. The spiders, blast-ended squirts, giant negotiations etc... she always had to find a way to squeeze the fucker into the plot somehow, even if she logically had no place for him. That's why the worst part of every book is usually in some way related to Hagrid.

Also, there's the fact that in book one she had yet to figure out wizarding modes of transportation. Thus, the whole charade with a flying motorcycle and a giant riding it - as usual, she went for the visual effect, rather than believability.

Now, if we take HP canon as a true canon (which is an unchangeable absolute reality, despite its inconsistencies), the only reason I can think of that Dumbledore would have Hagrid transport Harry is because of plausible deniability - if something goes wrong with the transfer to the Dursleys, Hagrid takes the fall (I never quite knew why manipulative!Dumbledore writers hadn't used this plot device more often).

Of course, this brings up the unpleasant issue of who leaked to the press the story about the BWL. It's obvious Dumbledore had to visit Harry before shipping him off to the Dursleys - he was the only one who could have extracted the story about the AK bouncing off the baby's forehead. That means he was the only one who could have created the myth of BWL - which only goes further along towards the manipulative!Dumbledore conspiracy theory.

You know, I'd actually like to see the story where Dumbledore does the 'noble' thing and takes the credit for killing Voldemort. Might bring up interesting consequences when Harry finds out about his stolen fame, especially if he's had a hard life.

BTW, good catch on the Dumbledore issue, Inky.

 

The Aurors showed up after Wormtail set-up Sirius. Fudge states in PoA that he was one of the first wizards to show up since he was with the Department of Magical Catastrophes. He states that they pieced together what happened from the Muggles who saw it before they were obliviated. Sirius didn't try to flee as he realized he was screwed.

As for how the story of Godric's Hollow got out, JKR says that Dumbledore would have cast a spell to let him know of any dark magic, etc going on at or near the Potter's house. Beyond that she said she will try to work out what happened and put it in the HP Encyclopedia.

Once he figures out what happened, of course Dumbledore will have to inform the Ministry that Voldemort has been defeated (for now at least). They will want to know how. You can't just go to the populace and say "Lord Thingie is defeated, rejoice!" People will want to know how it happened. Dumbledore is always very careful with the truth. He prevaricates, he tells Harry "you're not ready yet," and holds things back from him. But he does not tell out-right lies. So I could see him having a problem with making up a story to spare Harry the lime-light. I can definitely see Dumbledore telling Bagnold and Crouch Sr the story and trying to keep the details quiet, only to have them or some other politician leak the story to the Prophet.

Placing Harry with the Dursley's doesn't have to be for some sinister, manipulative reason either. Dumbledore may have known exactly what happened and that it was imperative that he get Harry before anyone else. Remus and Sirius are both under suspicion by now, Peter is seen as a weakling and thus would not be able to protect Harry, and on top of that he knows there are Death Eaters in the Ministry. So he has to arrange protection for Harry quickly and in a way that the Ministry and potential Death Eaters can't interfere with. One of the most over-used plot devices in Fan Fiction is the Potter Will. Well who is to say that they had one? Or even wrote more than "Harry gets everything and his Godfather Sirius has custody." Well that won't work, Sirius is a traitor, he was the Secret Keeper. So Dumbledore needs a place that is hard for Wizards and Witches to find and someone that has legal standing to be Harry's guardians. Unfortunately for Harry, this means the Dursleys. Petunia is his closest blood relative. As Muggles they are protected by the Secrecy Statute as well as Pure Blood ignorance of the Muggle world. In addition to the Blood Wards magic performed near Number 4 will stand out more, as its in a Muggle neighborhood and its being monitored for underage and accidental magic.

The only slightly sinister reason that can reasonably be given for leaving Harry with Petunia is to give her another chance. Dumbledore knows that Petunia was jealous of Lily and that Vernon doesn't like "the Freaks." Dumbledore's largest flaw however is his need to believe in redemption. His past means that he has to give others a second chance to redeem themselves as well. It by no means excuses leaving Harry in a potentially abusive environment without monitoring more than batty old Mrs. Figg.

As for Hagrid, IP82 is on the right track.

 

Actually, if you look back, there is a LOT of discrepancies between PS and later books.

Remember the business with Quirrell jinxing Harry's broom? No wands, eye contact the entire time, muttering. Never seen again. And from what is revealed later in the novels, virtually impossible.

Amateur.

 

A more charitable explanation is that Dumbledore was trying to keep attention off Harry by placing him with Hagrid while he was preparing the Dursley home for Harry's residence. We don't know how blood wards work, nor how long it would take to set them up (assuming they exist in the first place).

But an even more curious thing is - why did Dumbledore throw a baby on the Dursley doorstep and flee, instead of decently handing Harry over to the Dursleys? Was Harry (and/or the Dursleys) so enchanted that the Dursleys could not have refused to take care of Harry? How could the old coot be so sure that the Dursleys would not throw out Harry? But if the old man could descend as low as to compel the Dursleys to care for Harry, why did he not try the nice way first and then force them to do it when they refused?

The whole bit stinks of pointless melodrama to me. JKR is particularly hot on these - choosing elaborate, convoluted mechanisms when simpler ones would suffice (the entire books 4 and 5 are examples of these).

While I have no doubt that one of the first people on the scene were Hagrid and Sirius, is there anything in canon that suggests there were no other eyewitnesses on the scene of the Potter home? Just as Sirius and Hagrid managed to find the Potter home, is it inconceivalbe that others might have done so as well - perhaps someone from the Ministry? We don't know the exact behaviour of the Fidelius after the owners of the home are dead.

This would be particularly interesting, as you mention.

Thanks for the questions, Inky. They were particularly interesting.
Regards,
Maidros

 

Even in the last confrontation before the Mirror, Quirrell performs spells without a wand (clapping his hand and snapping his fingers to cast spells!). Maybe it is a speciality of Voldie? Actually, Dumbledore also performs a few spells in HBP without a wand. Perhaps only very powerful wizards are capable of wandless casting? It is an interesting discrepancy, but since we are never told the limits of Dumbledore and Voldie's powers, we could chalk up this inconsistency to it, I guess.
Regards,
Maidros

 

The owners of the home or building under fidelius protection don't matter. Only the secret-keeper matters. According to canon, if the secret-keeper dies, all people to whom the secret-keeper told the secret become secret-keepers. The thing is though, Pettigrew didn't die, so how was it that ANYONE SAW THE FUCKING HOUSE IN THE FIRST PLACE, other than the people who were told by Peter?

 

The house was destroyed, thus the target of the secret - the house - no longer existed. There was no longer any secret to be kept.

Ignoring that, we don't know how many Wormtail told the secret too. It could very well be that Sirius (highly likely) and Hagrid (possible) had visited the house after the Fidelius had been cast and were in on the secret. This too could be why Dumbledore didn't arrive on the scene and sent Hagrid instead - maybe he wasn't in on the secret.

 

That fits with Dumbledore's actions in OoTP. If he didn't trust the information in his head around a Voldemort-possessed Harry, keeping the Secret of the Potters' location inside his head when he had to duel Tom fairly frequently would be stupid.

 

What I want to know is why one of the Potter's wasn't the Secret Keeper for their own home, as it would have been the smartest and easiest thing to do.

Thinking on that, how did they tell Harry the Secret, as he couldn't read the address from a piece of paper like in OotP, or have been able to think of the location to get inside the building.

Did JK think anything through when she wrote these books?

 

Why Lily and James weren't the secret keepers? If they were, Peter Pettigrew couldn't betray them and that sucks for J.K.Rowling's books.

Maybe the secret keeper had to be outside the Fidelius ward in order to be effective? But then again, Dumbledore was the secret keeper from Grimmauld place, so it's yet again a plot hole in JKR's books.

 

Dumbledore didn't own Grimmauld Place in OotP, Sirius did. Usually I'd say that Dumbledore wanted to be in full control of his Order and the people allowed near it, but maybe the owner of the house really can't be the Secret Keeper of the place. That of course then begs the question of why?

The answer to all the questions asked?

JK really fucked up this series by being a stupid whore who thought nothing through, before leaving us with the bitter after-taste that was the DH Epilogue.

 

Well, 95% of the people reading the HP books are I guess pleased. They (11year old fangirls) got a nice kind and loving Snape (who loved Lily zOMG!!!!), a gay Dumbledore (because old people molesting kids is good!), and an Harry ending up with Ginnyslut.

The icing on the cake would be Draco Malfoy being gay... and married to Harry. Heh, if she wrote that, she'd be even more popular (and rich).

 

Two things:

1) Was it even possible for Voldemort, while possesing Quirrell, to cast spells? Or was he essentially piggy-backing on him? It's not as if Quirrell was completely useless: Voldie trusted him to break into Gringotts.

2) Snape was also doing the same thing to the broom, except he was uttering the counter-curse. Yeah, it's all fucked up.

I prefer to chalk it up to Rowling's stupidity.

 

Sometimes I wonder if that would have been preferable to the epilogue that we were given...

 

We always say that Harry Potter is so great for fanfiction, but that is only because she never fully explained ANYTHING well. Anything she did try to explain at all were explained badly and there were always plot holes. The only reason I love this series is because of five years of not knowing any better...

 

2) Actually, that kind of magic was a good idea and I find it surprising so few authors used this in their fanfiction. It gives a new meaning to Dark Arts... because frankly Crucio or Avada Kedavra aren't dark arts. Any kid with the right emotions behind could cast it efficiently.

Unfortunaly, JKR forgot about this when writing books 2 --> 7.

 

While I've not pulled out PS for a while while reading this fic an interesting question popped up. When Mcgonnagle first confronts Dumbledore outside Privet drive she asks if the rumors are true. She is not certain that Voldemort is gone only that he is supposedly gone and something happened to James and Lily. However by the end of the prologue all around England people are toasting Harry, knowing that he deflected the killing curse... Very odd..

And yeah the part where people learnt what went on was a bit screwy.