Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing Dumbledore, Lily Potter, and the night that Voldemort entered the home
of the Potters. More specifically- I’m going to be discussing Lily Potter’s loving sacrifice-
and how on earth Dumbledore knew that the sacrifice had occurred. He wasn’t there-
in fact, no one was there, so how did he know about Lily’s Sacrifice to save Harry? How
did he know HOW Harry had survived? How did he know that Harry would be PROTECTED for
years and years after the fact? In this video, I’m going to be answering all of those things.
After the Potters had been killed there was little trace of the events that had transpired.
There was a severely damaged home, the corpses of Lily and James, and baby Harry who had
just obtained his lifelong and iconic scar. It was obvious that SOMETHING happened- but
what? In fact there was so little evidence in the home that it would be hard to figure
out that Voldemort was even defeated,let alone figuring out that Lily had saved Harry through
a loving sacrifice- simultaneously ending Voldemort. Nevertheless- Dumbledore seemed
to know..EVERYTHING.
The following passage from the Order of the Phoenix suggests that Dumbledore knew exactly
what happened that night:
“But I knew, too, where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected
by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore,
underestimated — to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died
to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows
in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother’s blood. I delivered
you to her sister, her only remaining relative.
She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took
you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice
made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.”
However, not only did Dumbledore know that Lily was responsible for saving Harry and
ending Voldemort, he knew the ins-and-outs of it, he knew the exact type of magic that
she had used- a powerful LOVE based magic. Dumbledore also found all of this out fairly
quickly- as by the time Harry was delivered to the Dursleys he seemed to know of both
Harry’s protection and the dark lord’s defeat. He even seemed confident enough to
leave Harry with the Dursley’s; his entire protection based off of Dumbledore’s supposed
‘understanding’.
So how did Dumbledore know ALL of this?
If you had asked me this question before the existence of Fantastic Beasts, then I would
have had a different answer for you, but with the advent of the new films- fortunately we
should be able to surmise a LIKELY answer. It isn’t confirmed, but in my opinion it’s
a pretty good one.
My initial feeling (before the better explanation coming in a minute) was that Dumbledore and
Snape simply ASSUMED what had happened based off of Snape’s interactions with the dark
lord. Dumbledore knew of Snape’s request to Voldemort that he spare Lily- which means
that if they were under the impression that Voldemort would keep his word- and Lily died
anyway- it’s an easy inference to make that she refused to step aside- sacrificing herself.
Dumbledore is also a wise old powerful wizard, familiar with all kinds of powerful magic-
so it’s not unreasonable to expect that he would have a good understanding of the
power of a loving sacrifice. Assuming he understood this kind of magic- it would have seemingly
also clarified Vodlemort’s death. Okay, so that was my first assumption. My second
assumption was that Dumbledore simply showed up to the house and used some kind of powerful
magic to relay the events of the evening. Interestingly enough, this is pretty close
to the real answer.
In the Fantastic Beasts films, which were released YEARS after the last of the Harry
Potter Books, we are introduced to a new spell- Appare Vestigium.
In the Crimes of Grindelwald, Newt Scamander- in search of Tina- casts the previously unknown
spell. From what we can tell, the spell seems to reveal and expose traces of recent magic
by use of some kind of "gold powder".
The known effects of this spell in conjunction with Dumbledore’s own words- that “magic
always leaves traces” - “very distinctive traces” - makes Dumbledore’s use of this
spell in the Potter residence highly likely.
Using Appare Vestigium, Dumbledore would have been able to successfully expose every detail
of the evening. He would have first been able to see Voldemort offering to spare Lily, followed
by Lily rejecting his proposal. From there, he would have witnessed Voldemort’s killing
curse famously backfiring- sparing Harry’s life and ending Voldemort’s.
To conclude, I am nearly entirely confident that this is the spell that Dumbledore used-
particularly as Lily’s loving sacrifice on Harry is such an important driver of the
series. Not only that, but Harry’s guaranteed protection from Voldemort is an integral part
of Dumbledore’s ‘plan’.
What do you guys think? Did Dumbledore use Appare Vestigium? Let me know in the comment
section below.
Until next time
Remember
There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it.