Wouldnt Harry already see the dead horse because he saw his parent's die?

Question

you know how he and luna lovegood saw the skeltal versions of the horses in the fifth book, he started to see it because he saw cedric die but wouldnt he already have seen them that way before because his mother died in front of him?

Answer 1

but he doesn't remember seeing his parents die. he actually saw and retained the death of Cedric Digory.

Answer 2

JK Rowling herself answered this question on her website's FAQ page:

"Why could Harry see the Thestrals 'Order of the Phoenix'? Shouldn't he have been able to see them much earlier, because he saw his parents/Quirrell/Cedric die?"

JKR: I’ve been asked this a lot. Harry didn’t see his parents die. He was in his cot at the time (he was just over a year old) and, as I say in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, all he saw was a flash of green light. He didn’t see Quirrell’s death, either. Harry had passed out before Quirrell died and was only told about it by Dumbledore in the last chapter.

He did, however, witness the murder of Cedric, and it is this that makes him able to see the Thestrals at last. Why couldn’t he see the Thestrals on his trip back to the train station? Well, I didn’t want to start a new mystery, which would not be resolved for a long time, at the very end of the fourth book. I decided, therefore, that until Harry is over the first shock, and really feels what death means (ie, when he fully appreciates that Cedric is gone forever and that he can never come back, which takes time, whatever age you are) he would not be able to see the Thestrals. After two months away from school during which he has dwelled endlessly on his memories of the murder and had nightmares about it, the Thestrals have taken shape and form and he can see them quite clearly.

Answer 3

Well, he was a baby when his parents died. He did not consciously know that they died. As for Quirrel, I think Rowling said somewhere that Harry still did not "grasp" death. He just saw him turn to dust. As for Cedric, he actually saw his face, and carried his body. Cedric's death was more absolute and definite than Quirrel's. And even that took a while for him to sink in. He didn't see the thestrals until the fifth book.

Answer 4

well the horses were there since Harry first set foot at Hogwarts...but he never saw them until after he saw Cedric die...he was like right there && saw every detail of how his friend died but i think he didn't see them before Cedric died because when he was a baby he can't really remember exactly what happened (until Hagrid told him the truth he though his parents died in a car crash!)

Answer 5

I thought about this too when I read it through the second time. Maybe it was because he was a baby and he doesn't really have any conscious memory of it...he wasn't effected by the event like he was by Cedric's death.

Answer 6

Well we don't actually know that he SAW her die do we? We just knew he was there. It never actually says he saw her die. But this might just be a mistake in the book.

Answer 7

he didnt actually see her die. all he saw was a green flash of light. then when he killed quirrel, he passed out b4 quirrel died, so he didnt see that death either. so cedric was the first death he actually saw, so thats why he didnt see them until the 5th book.
dumbledore or somebody explains it in the 5th one.

Answer 8

Remeber he didn't actually SEE her die though. All he saw was a flash of green light, he was just a baby. That was a good observance though.

Answer 9

I think because you have to feel the death sink in, and he probably couldn't remember and he didn't actually see Lily die, he was in a cot, he could hear her die though.