“As a writer, it was more interesting, plot-wise, if Harry was completely alone. So I rather ruthlessly disposed of his entire family apart from Aunt Petunia. I mean, James and Lily are massively important to the plot, of course, but the grandparents? No. And, because I do like my backstory: Petunia and Lily’s parents, normal Muggle death. James’s parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he’s-an-extra-treasure, as often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That’s as far as it goes. There’s nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.”

So none were killed off by Voldemort, they just all happened to be gone. I think it’s likely the death certificates list “literary necessity” as the cause. ;)

John, like the rest of your site, I absolutely love this section. (I’ve been trying to go through it slowly to make it last longer, and to occupy myself between your updates) Like other people mentioned, I’m also interested to hear your take on Lily and Petunia’s relation, but also on the remainder of the Potters. Certainly Harry’s relatives couldn’t have all been killed off, and when he looks in the Mirror of Erised we know he sees a large family. So what are your thoughts as to what happened to the rest of the Potters. Surely all of them couldn’t have been killed off by Voldemort.

Indeed, in HBP, Harry accuses Scrimgeour of not caring if he (Harry) lives or dies, actually stating this as fact at Dumbledore’s funeral, where he acts like he has Scrimgeour all figured out, behaving like a typical rebellious teen who thinks anyone over age 30 is corrupt. Yet, this is a charge that Scrimgeour later proves false by choosing to die rather than betray Harry, though I suspect he liked Harry personally about as much as Harry liked him back.

I think that as the series progresses, Harry learns that humans are very complex and that people aren’t either good or bad, selfish or selfless, etc. The “good guys” don’t always do good, and often do good at least partly from selfish motives…Lupin’s actions in PoA, Xeno Lovegood’s betrayal of his principles arising from his love for Luna, James and Sirius’s motivations for learning to become Animagi. etc. Not to mention the obvious examples of Snape, whose motives at first are completely self-serving, and Dumbledore, who turns to evil as a youth at least partially due to his personal feelings for Grindelwald.

Of course, Harry later believes Dumbledore also saw Harry as an expendable tool and weapon, in a paralell to how he saw Scrmigeour. The truth, of course, turns out to be much more complex than that. People having selfish motives doesn’t always cancel out their capacity for more noble actions.