why can't harry see thestrals in book 2 or 3, when he rode the hogwarts' carriage?

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Karl Rane

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if the only condition to see thestrals is to see someone who died, why didn't harry see the thestrals if when he was 1 year old, his mother died in front of him? he even had visions of green light, or even recall her mother's voice that day..
 
This is a good question, I also asked that and stumped my mom :) I think Harry doesn't see the thestrals at first because he was really too young to understand the concept of death. And when he grew up he only saw death in his dreams. When Harry saw Cedric die he was older and understood what was happening.
 
JKR said it was because he never really experienced and *understood* death. He'd seen his parents die, but he was so young that he didn't really understand what was going on. Harry was plenty old enough to understand the situation after Cedric died in order to see the thestrals.
 
When Harry was younger he wouldn't understand what death was so when he saw Cedric in his fourth year he understood what happened.
 
Harry Potter first saw the Thestrals at Hogwarts in September of 1995, after having witnessed the murder of Cedric Diggory the same June. J. K. Rowling explained that he hadn't seen them that June because he had not yet dealt with what he had witnessed.

Harry never saw his mother die as he was inside the cot, unable to see anything outside it, nor Quirrell, because he passed out before Quirrell's death. Harry did not see Thestrals immediately after Cedric's death in June of 1995; it took a few months before he accepted this, and then was able to see Thestrals.

"J.K. Rowling stressed that in order for someone to see thestrals, one not only has to witness death directly, but that person has to accept and understand death, and that the person will never be among the living again. Luna could see thestrals too; she witnessed her mother's accidental death and she accepted the death and understood it. So, at the time of his parents' deaths, he was entirely too young at the time to grasp what had happened."
 
You also have to really understand death, that you actually saw someone die. Harry, as a baby, couldn't have understood that, so he couldn't see thestrals. Also, he was in his cot at the time, so he didn't technically see his other die.
 
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