[HPFGU-OTChatter] Prefects, Headboys and Headgirls in Real Life

[Morgan D.]

>    Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 14:17:33 +1000
>    From: "Shaun Hately" <drednort at alphalink.com.au>
>
> OK - basically, I'm thinking back to Lupin's statement early in OotP:
> 
> "I think Dumbledore may have hoped I would be able to exercise some 
> control over my best friends," said Lupin. "I need scarcely say that
> I 
> failed miserably."
> 
> My response is that I kind of hope that Lupin is wrong - I don't
> think 
> it would have been particularly reasonable for Dumbledore to have 
> appointed him a prefect if that was the reason behind it. 

This thread is getting dangerously in-topic -- I say "dangerously"
because I'm not reading the Main List, so if the thread moves over
there I'll miss it entirely. 

But I agree it's not reasonable for Dumbledore to expect much of kids
in the situation Lupin and Ron were put into. But for me that's not a
problem, I don't have to hope for Lupin to be wrong, because in my fics
I'm writing Dumbledore the way I (in my humble opinion) perceived him
in the books: as not so wise, not so interested in his allies'
well-being and not as brilliant a strategist as the author seems to
have meant him. Instead of being a setback, the problems I found in
OotP became a source of inspiration. 

After all, there are many purposes behind fanfiction. There are those
who write for sheer entertainment and do not worry themselves with
neither quality or faithfulness to canon (and in my opinion, this is as
legitimate a purpose as any other). There are those who write to
speculate about canon (the reason I used to write). And there are those
who write to debate with canon, offering counterarguments to plot and
characterisation (my new approach). 

So I'm writing this fic about Prefects to discuss JKR's choices in
writing what she did about Prefects. It's a funny experience, like
writing a long HPfGU post in narrative form. I'm enjoying myself a lot.


I have less readers than if I were writing for sheer entertainment --
there are many reasons why people want to *read* fanfiction, and most
readers, unfortunately for me, prefer stories that don't force them to
think much. But that's a sad reality I have to live with. 

Gosh, isn't it hard to remain out of topic?

Morgan D.
Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

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