Harry Potter and the Goblet of fuego confusion.

JK Rowling answered a similar pregunta in her official website. Here it is:

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?

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 año 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 por 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 tu 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.

Ok... so I hope I don't make a huge error that everyone screams at me:P LMAO!
But if I got it right (WARNING: I'm portuguese... with the translation there can be mystakes and so, I can not be the best person to answer; but I'll do my best) Wormtail's hand isn't is real hand but the one in silver that Voldmort made for him! I think that Harry can see the Threstrals because he saw jis parents being murded por Voldemort but I don't know why we can't see them after:S
So... I don't think that he was asleep when his parents were killed because like tu dicho he wouldn't remember their voices o the green light!

I'm sorry I couldn't answer the part where he can and then can't se the Thestrals, but I hope I didn't do any mystake and that I made tu understand Wormtail's hand:D

Hope I helped
Lots of Love
Ashes

The reason why he couldn't see the Thestrals in his 4th año when he came back to Hogwarts was because Thestrals are only used in the beginning of the year. Thestrals were used on the beginning of each año to take the carridges with the students. He started his 4th year, then he never saw the carridges again, then when he did, he could see the Thestrals.
He was not asleep when Voldemort killed his parents but he didn't understood what was happening. He was a 15 mes old infant. He remembered the green light because it was intense and weird. If tu try to remember stuff that happened when tu were little tu will only remember what was odd and out of place, like the green intence light. The same thing with the voice, young Harry heard his mother's scream, but he couldn't remember it, however with the Dementor's attack it made him relive that moment and his mother's attack, even if he could not remember it, he could remember his mother's scream.
I hope it helped! Sorry I couldn't make it más clear!

these r very gud preguntas n observations but what i think is that the fact that they switched some things in the movie is what got u confused

I've wondered that myself!

And while I understand that Harry was only an infant when his parents were killed, if he remembers the green light and his parents' screams than he was obviously at least awake. And while he can't really remember much else, to see a thestral tu must have SEEN death. Whether tu remember it o not does not matter; if someone's died in front of you, that's all it takes.

But I still adore J.K. Rowling. :) As someone else mentioned, she's only human.

my sister explained this part to me, harry couldn't see the thestrals before cedric do to he was too young to understand what was going on when his parents were killed. and the hiss comeing from voldys wand, will wormtail did cut it off him self. but i think he used the wand to cut if off, kind of like how snap cut george's ear off in the 7th book.



May fred rest in peace!!!!!!!!!!!!

Voldermorts wand shows a hand come out because he gave Wormtail a new silver hand and since the wand was mostrando every spell he had performed recently the hand was one of/ if not the first to apear.
I don't think his parents death counted because he was too young to know what was happening. That or. again, J.k. Rowling made a mistake o didn't think of it.
And I wondered this as well, it may be because J.K. Rowling didn't think of Thestrals until the Order of the Phenix and didn't notice her mistake.