Yet another Potter question -- no spoilers

[thewayne]

No spoilers because it relates to the entire series, not just the most recent book or film.

Where the heck are Harry's relatives?

His mom had a sister, Petunia Dursley. She had no other siblings? James was an only child? Their parents had no siblings?

I don't recall any mention of the Death Eaters wiping out Harry's family tree after the death of Moldyvort (take 1), so where are they?

I consider this rather statistically unlikely.

Comments

[joecthulhu.livejournal.com]

He's got more aunts and uncles than I've got. Both my parents are only children. I've got no 1st cousins either.

[vaudy.livejournal.com]

Well, the new book establishes pretty firmly that Petunia was Lily's only sibling. JKR has said in at least one interview that James Potter was an only child, and his parents were pretty old (even for wizards) when they had him, and died sometime before Harry was born. I suppose more distant relatives are possible; his grandparents could have had siblings, but if the grandparents were old when they had James, it could well be that he wasn't close to any of his cousins, being much younger.

this page from the HP Lexicon gives a pretty good rundown of the information we have either from the books or from JKR.

At any rate, since the protective charm that was on him was specifically from his mother's sacrifice, I believe it was only in effect with her blood relatives, so I don't know that it would have made any difference if James Potter had had any living relatives.

I'd like to know what happened to Lily's parents; they must be dead, but nobody ever mentions them.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was going to link you to the lexicon page, too ;)

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

It's also quite possible that he might have cousins or other relatives abroad -- not killed in the first rise of You-Know-Who, but fled. Being abroad is often almost as good as being dead. I have many first cousins, but how many of them has my husband ever met?