What Jo says about...
The Potters

Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's word themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.

• We will find out the significant information about Harry’s mother in two parts: books 5 and 7. Both are "very important in what Harry ends up having to do." [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• The fact that Harry has his mother’s eyes is very important to a future book. [Read the exact quote from The Boston Globe, 1999]
• She won’t tell us what happened to Harry’s grandparents. [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• Now, can I ask you: are there any special wizarding powers in your world that depend on the wizard using their eyes to do something? Bit like ...
  Why do you want to know this?
  I just vaguely wondered.
  Why?
  Well because everyone always goes on about how Harry's got Lily Potter's eyes.
  Aren’t you smart? There is something, maybe, coming about that. I’m going to say no more, very clever.
  And I'm going to ask one other question which you'll say isn't clever at all. The significance of the place where Harry and his parents lived, the first name -- Godric Gryffindor.
  Very good, you're a bit good you are, aren't you?
  Thank you.
  I'm impressed. My editor didn't notice, I said to her haven't you noticed any connection between where Harry's parents were born, not born, where they lived, and one of the Hogwarts houses and she's sitting there going erm... I'm not being rude about Emma she's a brilliant editor, the best I've ever [had]. But no she didn't pick that up either. You're a bit good you are. [Read the exact quote from the cBBC Newsround interview, 2000]
• Lily Potter’s maiden name was Evans, and she was in Gryffindor (naturally). [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• Harry’s middle name is 'James,' after his Dad. [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• James Potter was a chaser on the Quidditch team. [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• James inherited plenty of money, so he didn’t need a well-paid profession. [Read the exact quote from the AOL chat, 2000]
• James inherited the invisibility cloak from his father. [Read the exact quote from the AOL chat, 2000]
• We will find out more about the history of James Potter’s family in the next books. [Read the exact quote from the BBC Red Nose Day chat, 2001]
• Very early on, Jo had "disposed" of Harry's parents in a way that was brutal, but cut and dried. Then when her mother died six months later it "made an enormous difference, uh, because I was living it – I was living what I had just – what I had just written." [Read the exact quote from "Harry Potter and Me," 2001]
• Narcissa (Black) Malfoy is not related to Lily (Evans) Potter. Her name doesn't fit the naming pattern for the Black family (constellations); JKR just thought the name fit her. We will see more of Narcissa in future books [6 and/or 7] [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• What houses were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter and Remus Lupin in?
  JK Rowling says: "This is JK herself saying that they were indeed in Gryffindor!" [note that Lupin is named twice and Pettigrew is not in this list]. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Harry's grandparents are dead and "not particularly important to the story..." [editor's note: could refer to either Harry's Evans grandparents, or his Potter grandparents] [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• "James is DEFINITELY Harry's father," and Harry is not a descendent of Slytherin. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Lily Potter is not still alive. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Rumour: "Lily Potter was once a Death Eater" — JKR: "How dare you?!" [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• At the end of GoF, Lily should come out of Voldemort's wand first, then James. JKR originally wrote this correctly, but her American editor told her it was the wrong way round, so she changed it. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• To people like Lucius Malfoy, a Muggle-born is as bad as a Muggle, so Harry is considered Half-Blood because of his mother's parents. In effect, a Muggle Grandparent "pollutes" the blood. (Read the rest of JKR's response here to see how this relates to the Nazi's attitude to Jews.) [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Harry did not see his parents die because he was in his cot [crib]. [Read the exact quote from Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• James and Lupin did not switch bodies before James died – James would never have saved himself and left his wife and son to die. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• JK says about Sirius Black: "I do like him, although I do not think he is wholly wonderful." She says he is "brave, loyal, reckless, embittered and slightly unbalanced by his long stay in Azkaban," but his redeeming quality is the affection that he is capable of feeling. He loved James like a brother, and has attached that affection to Harry. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• When Aunt Petunia said Lily turned teacups into rats, she was exaggerating a little, although "just like her son, Lily was not averse to testing the limits of the Statute of Secrecy, so you can safely assume she will have had a few warning letters – nothing too serious, though." [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• When the marauder's map insulted Snape, Prongs was not writing the insult, but it was like he had left a magical recording of his voice in the map. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Harry's parents were "able" and "prepared to die for their son." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? JKR: "Can't tell you." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• If Lily had stood aside and let Voldemort kill Harry, she would have been allowed to live. She had a very clear choice and very consciously lay down her life. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Why didn't James's death didn't protect Lily and Harry? "Because [Lily] could have lived and chose to die. James was going to be killed anyway." James "wasn't given a choice [whereas Lily] could have saved herself." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Did Lily know anything about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry? JKR: No ... it never happened before. No one ever survived before. And no one, therefore, knew that could happen." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• James was born to parents who were elderly, even by wizarding standards, and died from a wizarding illness. There is “nothing sinister” about their deaths. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK implies that Harry is not the Heir of Gryffindor. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Quite a few boys were attracted to Lily. “Like Ginny, she was a popular girl.” [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• “Lupin was very fond of Lily” but he did not compete with James for her. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK won’t tell us if anyone else was present in Godric’s Hollow the night Harry’s parents were killed. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Petunia knows about dementors because she "overheard a conversation" between Lily and someone else. But there is more to it than that; we will earn more in Book 7. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• Harry's money came from his "inheritance from his father." [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• JKR: "Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?" is an important question that no one has asked her ("NAQ"). [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Snape was not hiding under the Invisibility Cloak on the night Harry's parents were killed. [29 Sept 2006] [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]