Forum:When Did the Potters Go Into Hiding?

During her 2007 appearance at Carnegie Hall, JKR mentioned that Lily and James were full-time fighters for the Order "until Lily fell pregnant with Harry" and "then they went into hiding," which contradicts her 2004 World Book Day statement that it "looked as if the Potters would have to go into hiding" at the time of Harry's christening. In the 2005 MuggleNet/Leaky Cauldron interview, however, she stated, "At the time that they christened Harry, they were in hiding," leaving open the possibility that they went into hiding before Harry was born.

It seems JKR changed her mind about when the Potters went into hiding between writing OotP and HBP. In DH33, when we see Snape go to beg Dumbledore to keep Lily safe, it's autumn ("...the sound of the wind in the branches" and "Though leaves and branches still flew through the night air around them..."). This scene could thus fall in late 1979, when Lily was a couple of months pregnant, or in late 1980, when Harry was a few months old. But late 1979 seems more likely, given that the prophecy was worded "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches," not "has arrived," implying its subject wasn't born at the name Trelawney made it.

The order of events thus seems to be:
 * Autumn 1979: Lily finds out she's pregnant.
 * Autumn 1979: Snape overhears Trelawney making the prophecy
 * Autumn 1979: Snape tells Voldemort about it and he targets the Potters.
 * Autumn 1979: Snape goes to Dumbledore, seeking protection for Lily.
 * The Potters go into hiding.
 * July 1980: Harry is born while his parents are in hiding.

This leaves open the question of how Voldemort learned Lily was pregnant, much less expecting a boy, but I think there's enough evidence from various sources to support the above order of events.

What does everyone else think? &#x2605; S t a r s t u f f (Owl me!) 00:08, August 7, 2011 (UTC)