The Lost Day Addendum: Goofs and the Timeline

by Brandon Ford

Hello all, it is Brandon Ford (back a lot sooner than I expected) with some more insights.

I have been bombarded with a hailstorm of emails and I must clear up a few things before we get to the nitty gritty.

1) The Fidelius Charm This point has caused a lot of controversy and it is entirely my fault. As I said in my previous editorials these THEORIES were my opinions based on the 2,688 pages of the five books. Things were missed and inferences were taken. On page 205 in PoA, it never ACTUALLY states the Dumbledore, himself, performed the Fidelius Charm. They just say that it was his idea and the he wanted to be the Secret-Keeper. That was my blunder number one. Blunder number two came when I took Sirius’ word over Dumbledore’s, forgetting that Dumbledore gave evidence against Sirius. This does pose a few flaws in my theory. It cannot be proven now that Dumbledore performed the charm. So I then amend the entry to say that it was Lily, and not Dumbledore that made the switch to Peter Pettigrew. BUT THAT DOESN”T CHANGE THE LOST DAY THEORY!!! Regardless of who was who’s Secret-Keeper, it doesn’t change the fact that Dumbledore would still have to find a way to get Hagrid to Godric’s Hollow. Dumbledore gave them the location so I still maintain that he knew where they were. The simple fact that Sirius shows up at Godric’s Hollow right behind Hagrid proves that HE knew where Godric’s Hollow was. The fact that Harry still had to be discovered by Hagrid DOES NOT CHANGE because of the identity of the Secret-Keeper and the caster of the spell. What matters is that THE SPELL ITSELF was cast and therefore the obstacle.

What now troubles me is a point that a wonderful person brought to my attention about old Loony Loopy Lupin. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS HE DURING ALL THIS? All we hear about are Sirius and Peter. Now unless there was a full moon that Halloween, Lupin was in the original order along with everyone else. As a powerful wizard and a close friend of James, I would think he would be a better choice than Pettigrew, especially since he’s a werewolf. Not sure if it was common knowledge, but how much would it suck for Voldemort to kidnap Lupin and try to get him to talk and then Lupin just happen to turn into a werewolf? Lupin KNOWS how to keep a secret and he was in a position to defend himself. I think the new questions are these: where was Lupin and why pick Pettigrew? We’ll get to those later. On to my third blunder: the wand.

2) Pettigrew and Voldemort’s Wand

I still maintain that Pettigrew stole Voldemort’s wand. Turns out Voldemort himself killed Frank Bryce and Bertha Jorkins. BUT PETTIGREW STILL KILLED CEDRIC! I was (and still am) under the impression that prior to the end of GoF, Voldemort could either possess someone or take a frail, completely weak body for short lengths of time. If Voldemort was always in possession of his wand, why didn’t Quirrell have it PS/SS? I think we can all agree that SOMEBODY HAD TO HAVE TAKEN IT, or it would have been found. The fact that Pettigrew USED Voldemort’s wand (‘cause otherwise the Potters, Frank Bryce, and Bertha Jorkins wouldn’t have come out of the wand), shows that you can do good magic with someone else’s wand. Otherwise, we have to look at the reverse: Voldemort killed the Potters with Pettigrew’s wand. One of these two men doesn’t have a wand. For 12 years Pettigrew didn’t have HIS wand because he was a rat. Where is his? And since he couldn’t have had Voldemort’s either, where was Voldemort’s? One thing is for sure. The whole “you can’t use someone else’s wand thing is a moot point, because obviously one of these two men was able to kill either the Potters or Cedric effectively without THEIR wand. That is irrefutable. These are the two scenarios:

Author’s Note: IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHY THE SECOND SCENARIO DOESN’T WORK, IT IS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T!!! WHEN i WROTE THE ORIGINAL FIVE PART EDITORIAL, I RECEIVED COUNTLESS EMAILS EXPLAINING WHY IT COULDN’T BE VOLDEMORT’S WAND! SO, I DECIDED TO HAVE A LITTLE FUN WITH THESE PEOPLE. I POSED THE SECOND SCENARIO TO FLUSH THESE PEOPLE OUT AND SURE ENOUGH, THEY IMMEDIATELY CAME OUT SAYING THAT IT HAD TO BE VOLDEMORT’S WAND AND THAT I WAS STUPID FOR SUGGESTING OTHERWISE! WELL THE JOKE IS ON THEM, ISN’T IT?

I apologize for my goofs and will from now on read even further before I open my big mouth. With these facts straightened out, I hereby submit my timeline of events in the Harry Potter Universe starting with graduation of the Marauders and Lily and Snape and ending with book 5.

First things first – I have no idea what actual year the events in the book take place. For the purposes of this timeline I will start with year 0, being Voldemort’s “death” (Harry would be over one year old at the time).

For example: Trelawney was hired TWO years before Snape, therefore if Trelawney’s hiring= -1.3, then –1.3+ 2 years (or 2.0)= +0.7

Another tip: Voldemort was destroyed on Halloween. Since Harry’s birthday is exactly three months before that, 3 months=0.25 years.

I would like to remind all that this is what I think based on the books and should not be taken as gospel, though I think it’s pretty close. The bit about Barty Crouch Jr. is in there because so many things could never have happened had he not escaped from Azkaban, like Voldemort returning, for example. His inclusion is also to remind you that things are in motion all during the books that we never see.