Mark Evans, a 10-year-old boy mentioned in passing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5) has no significance to the series. The fact that he shares a last name with Harry Potter's mother, Lily Evans, is purely coincidental and unintended. (Source: JKRowling.com.)
new! Thanks to Stephanie for reminding us to post J.K. Rowling's rather humorous explanation (now unfortunately removed from her own site, but saved here):
"I've got nobody to blame but myself. Sirius Black, Mrs. Figg and Mundungus Fletcher were all mentioned in passing well before they burst onto the stage as fully-fledged characters, so now you've all become too clever, not for your own good, but for mine."
The fact is that once you drew my attention to it, I realised that Mark Evans did indeed look like one of those 'here he is, just a casual passer-by, nothing to worry about, bet you barely noticed him' characters who would suddenly become, half way through book seven, 'Ha ha! Yes, Mark Evans is back, suckers, and he's the key to everything! He's the Half-Blood Prince, he's Harry's Great-Aunt, he's the Heir of Gryffindor, he lives up the Pillar of Storgé and he owns the Mystic Kettle of Nackledirk!' (Possible title of book seven there, must make a note of it)."
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