Question: Voldemort said Lucius has no need for a wand anymore. Without a wand he really is useless, so why not just kill him and his family earlier due to having no faith in them?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: There's no known explanation. For one, it serves the book's plot to keep Lucius and his family alive throughout the series. For another, Voldemort liked mentally torturing his victims, stretching out their fear and misery for as long as possible for his amusement. He may also have felt that the Malfoy's usefulness had not yet entirely run out.

raywest

Question: Since Lily is a muggle born, why did Voldemort offer to recruit her 3 times as well as James? He hates muggle borns. And why not kill her when she refused before when he set out to kill Harry? Also, why did he offer to let her live just cause Snape requested it?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Voldemort more than likely saw Lily as a valuable bargaining chip. JK Rowling revealed in an interview that Voldemort always planned on killing James (which is why his death did not count as a sacrificial love). The reason Voldemort agreed to Snape's pleas to offer Lily a chance to live, is because he rewards his followers (always at a cost, however). Voldemort likely agreed only because he probably thought he could use Lily as leverage to ensure Snape was at his mercy.

Answer: Voldemort may have only wanted to recruit James Potter, a pure-blood, but could not have done that without also recruiting Lily, a Muggle-born and James' wife. Voldemort could have disposed of Lily later, if he so chose.

raywest

Answer: In addition to these other answers, if Lily actually decided to join Voldemort and became loyal to him, he might have allowed her to serve him anyway. He could appreciate a skilled, useful servant. After all, Snape was half-blooded, and surely other Death Eaters were too. Voldemort himself was secretly a half-blood. Hagrid once commented on how many Pure Blood wizards are lying about their background.

Question: At the end of the third chapter, Petunia hesitates as though she wants to say something to Harry before she leaves, but she apparently changes her mind. Has J.K. Rowling ever revealed what she almost said? (I know that the movie has a deleted scene where Petunia mentions Lily, but that may not be canon).

Answer: Rowling said she was going to wish him luck and acknowledge that her hatred of magic was based on jealousy.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: Victoire is Bill and Fleur's eldest child. From post-release interviews, JK Rowling has revealed that Victoire has two siblings: a sister, Dominique, and a brother, Louis.

Cubs Fan

Question: In Godric's Hollow, it shows James and Lily's date of death to be in 1981, which would mean these events are taking place in 1997 when Harry would be 17 and the original Harry Potter book would be set around 1991. Is this a mistake or deliberate on JK Rowling's part?

Answer: This is deliberate, and when the books are actually set.

Question: Why didn't they just cast Avada Kedavra on the Horcruxes and then disapparate before the ministry could find them as I think they can detect the unforgivable curses being used?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: The avada kedavra curse did not work on the horcruxes while there was more than one in existence. That was why baby Harry survived Voldemort's attempt to kill him using that curse, and why Voldemort could not be killed until all the other horcruxes were destroyed. The horcruxes could only be destroyed by a few methods, such as with basilisk venom or fiendfyre. The horcrux inside Harry was later killed by Voldemort using avada kedavra, but that seems to be because the other horcruxes had already been destroyed. Voldemort never knew that Harry carried a horcrux inside him.

raywest

Actually Harry survived Voldemort's attempt to kill him because of the love of his mother and her sacrifice. Voldemort's killing curse rebounded upon that love spell and caused a piece of his soul (already shattered from killing Harry's parents) to transfer to Harry. The reason Voldemort's killing curse worked to kill the horcrux inside Harry was because Harry was simply killed by the killing curse along with the horcrux and then the resurrection stone resurrected Harry, but not the horcrux.

lionhead

That's true, his mother's love protected him. However, at the end, Harry wasn't dead-he was in-between life and death and he had the choice to either go back to the living world or "move on." He chose to return. The resurrection stone did not play a part in reviving him. There is still much confusion and debate over exactly when and how the horcrux inside Harry was destroyed.

raywest

He had the resurrection stone in his hand when he confronted Voldemort in the forest, that's why he had a choice, because of the stone. After resurrecting the stone was left behind.

lionhead

That is incorrect. Harry is holding the Resurrection Stone while he is speaking to the spirits of his mother, father, Lupin, and Sirius. Just before he leaves them, he drops the stone, and it is seen falling from his hand to the ground in the forest "before" he goes to meet Voldemort. (In the book, the stone is left in the forest so that no-one will be able to use it.) The stone did not play any part in Harry being revived. You can watch the clip on YouTube.

raywest

Hm, yeah all right. But then he didn't actually use it, only to talk to deceased loved ones, which bothers me and when I'm bothered the ground quakes. I always thought its power worked on till the moment he got killed and then resurrected him.

lionhead

The Resurrection Stone was only to bring back someone else from the dead, not one's own self. It had to be used by a living person who called for a dead person to return to the earth, though as Hermione read from the book (when the Trio was at the Lovegood house), the dead person was never really resurrected to a full living being again and did not understand the world they were brought back to.

raywest

Question: Since Voldemort didn't know house elves could have apparated in and of the cave, why did he need Kreacher to test the defences? Why not just have Regulus?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: As you have pointed out, Voldemort didn't know Kreacher could apparate in and out of the cave because house elves have their own magic that wizards do not. Voldemort's arrogance led him to many oversights, this being one of them. Because Voldemort considers house elves to be nothing more than vermin, he would rather sacrifice them instead of a (to his knowledge) loyal death eater who could potentially aid him in the future.

Answer: In The Half-Blood Prince, we learned that only one wizard could cross in the boat. Kreacher is not a wizard, and Regulus is.

Answer: Technically, he was on neither side. When Aberforth found out that Albus and Grindelwald had been collaborating on suppressing non-magical humans, he was outraged and strongly opposed his brother; it led to the three-way duel between Aberforth, Albus, and Grindelwald that resulted in Ariana's accidental death. Although Albus had rejected Grindelwald's beliefs and later defeated him in their own duel, the two brothers never fully reconciled.

raywest

Question: Why did Remus agree to make Harry his son's godfather? Teddy would nowhere near be safe as long as Voldemort is hunting Harry.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: Remus knew that if he and Tonks were killed, Harry, as godfather, was someone who understood what it was like to have grown up as an orphan. Assuming Harry lived, he was the best person to mentor young Teddy. Teddy was raised by Tonk's mother, Andromeda, but, as godfather, Harry played a significant role in Teddy's life.

raywest

Chosen answer: She knew he loved her, but he felt he was too old for her. She convinced him that the age difference didn't matter to her. She loved him as well.

raywest

If I remember correctly, he also said (in one of the books) that he was "too sick" and "too poor" to be with her. He was concerned about her dealing with his condition as a werewolf. It caused him to change jobs often and not make much money.

Question: I don't know if there is a definite answer to these two questions, but I would appreciate any guesses. 1. Why did Voldemort try to honor Snape's request to spare Lily's life? He gave her three chances to stand aside and let him kill Harry. But if she had actually taken the chance to live, Snape would have pursued her (Dumbledore later asked Snape "[James and Harry.] can die, so you can get what you want?"). Why would Voldemort try to help Snape get into a relationship with a Muggle-born woman? 2. On a similar note, why did Snape think that he had any chance of being with Lily - if she lived - after his master killed her husband and son?

Answer: James and Lily were targets of Voldemort as members of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape was willing to give Voldemort invaluable intel regarding the prophecy of Voldemort's potential defeat, which Snape had overheard, in exchange for Voldemort's promise to spare Lily when he went to destroy Harry. Voldemort agreed. He is a villain, cruel and murderous, but he doesn't appear at any point to be an arbitrary liar. The "want" Dumbledore referred to was Lily alive, not necessarily Lily with Snape. Though Snape undoubtedly did want that, he knew there was no hope for it.

Phixius

Question: In the epilogue, Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin are referred to as cousins. How can they be cousins? Were either of Teddy's parents related to the Weasleys?

Answer: The book never refers to them as being cousins - the reference to "Our Cousin" is said by the young James Potter about Victoire Weasley, who is indeed his cousin. Teddy Lupin is unrelated to either family, although, as he was orphaned in the Battle of Hogwarts, he has long been welcome at both the Potter and Weasley households. Harry states that Teddy comes round for dinner about four times a week; while this may well be something of an exaggeration, it still serves to show how close Teddy is to the family, hence James, who likely sees him as a surrogate older brother, referring to him as "Our Teddy".

Tailkinker

Question: Why didn't Dumbledore let Harry, and the others on their side, know ahead of time that he had asked Snape to kill him? Then they would have known all along that they could trust Snape.

Answer: Because if they knew to trust Snape they would have behaved differently around him and that would have looked mighty suspicious to all the Death Eaters and Death Eaters' kids that know how much Harry and his allies hate Snape. It was imperative that Voldemort believe Snape was on his side. Besides, do you really think Harry would have been okay with that plan anyway?

Phixius

Question: How did Draco Malfoy get the Elder Wand at the end of book 7?

Answer: Draco never physically possessed the Elder Wand, nor did he ever know he was briefly its master. Draco unintentionally won the Elder Wand's allegiance when he confronted and then disarmed Dumbledore when they were atop the Astronomy Tower in "The Half-Blood Prince. When the wand was forcefully removed from Dumbledore's hand, it sensed that its master (Dumbledore) had been defeated and switched its loyalty. Even if Dumbledore had lived and still retained custody of the wand, he would have no longer have been its true master. When Harry later disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor, the Elder Wand then became Harry's property, even though the wand was still in Dumbledore's tomb at that time.

raywest

Question: I don't understand why Lucius never looked for Voldemort, when he was one of his top followers up until now?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Voldemort was a cruel master. While he was gone, his followers did not need to worry about obeying his orders, or him targeting their family members. They shared his beliefs, but had more freedom and peace of mind without him.

Answer: To avoid being sent to Azkaban, he claimed that he had been placed under the Imperius Curse. The curse makes anyone who had been subjected to it to follow any order given by the person who cast it. If he had gone looking for Voldemort, then his lie of being placed under the Imperius Curse would be exposed and he'd be in trouble.

Question: Kreacher says he betrayed his master by not being able to destroy the locket but wouldn't betrayal be refusing to destroy the locket after Regulus told him to?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Kreacher did not have the ability to destroy the locket horcrux which is why he believed he failed his master. Only a few magical objects (Gryffindor's sword, the basilisk fang, fiend fire, etc.) had the power to destroy a horcrux.

raywest

Question: How did Lupin know that they were staying at Grimmauld place? Arthur said do not reply as they're being watched so how did Remus find out? Did he just guess?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: It was an educated guess. Grimmauld Place not only belonged to Harry, having inherited it from Sirius Black, but it was the former headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Only a few Order members knew its secret location and how to enter. It was one of the safest and most secure places Harry could be at, and Lupin would likely check to see if he and the others were hiding there.

raywest

Answer: The resurrection stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows, was hidden inside the Quidditch snitch that Dumbledore left Harry in his will. When Harry touched his lips to the snitch, it opened and released the stone. Voldemort had made Tom Marvolo's ring into a horcrux, but the ring itself was not one of the Deathly Hallows. Voldemort never knew that the ring's gem was the resurrection stone. When Dumbledore later found the ring, he removed the stone and hid it in the snitch.

raywest

Other mistake: Ron gives Harry a book for his birthday, which he says Fred and George gave him last year on his birthday. He says he wished he had it when he was with Lavender. However, Ron was with her on his birthday last year.

More mistakes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Trivia: J. K. Rowling considered two alternate titles for this book: "Harry Potter and the Elder Wand," and "Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest."

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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