Red Flags, Red Herrings

[Milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 19104

Opals: I was born in October and one of the birthstones for that month 
is opal. Anyhow, I've been told its bad luck to wear opals if you 
weren't born in October.  When I first read GoF, Madame Maxime's opal 
necklace stuck me as suspicious because of the cursed opal necklace 
mentioned in CoS.

Sneakoscope: Harry's sneakoscope IS a toy. According to Ron, Bill said 
it was rubbish but it was squealing at the same time because Fred and 
George were playing a prank. It went off again when Ron was tying it 
to Errol's leg and Ron wasn't supposed to use Ron. The next time it 
went off was on the Hogwarts Express. For a toy, it seems pretty 
accurate, but Harry tucks it away in his trunk.

Arthur's visit to Azkaban: I assumed it was on Ministry business. But 
it does raise the question of why Arthur would need to visit Azkaban, 
when his office is the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Unless, Arthur was 
with another Ministry Department at the time.

Bill and Charlie: I agree that Charlie is significant, but we've seen 
how his expertise has come in handy (SS/PS and GoF). Bill, OTOH, is a 
curse-breaker for Gringotts-Egypt. "Curse-breaker" implies to me that 
he is skilled at DADA. I guess his visit to Hogwarts  five years ago 
could be Gringotts related. Maybe he was one of the Gringotts 
employees who escorted the Stone to Gringotts-London. But the guy 
works at Gringotts-Egypt, so that really doesn't make a whole lot of 
sense.

Aragog and his multi-limbed family: I have a feeling Aragog DOES know 
that Hagrid was framed. I don't have CoS with me, but IIRC, Aragog 
tells Ron and Harry that Hagrid visits him in the FF and that Hagrid 
was blamed for something he didn't do. So it's quite possible that 
Aragog knows TR is Voldy. 

Pigwidgeon: Okay, he's cute and friendly, but so was the monkey in 
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" until he gave a Nazi salute. (OT memory- the 
audience in the movie theater began booing the monkey.)

Florence-Sirius-Snape-?: Interesting thoughts about that. Again, Snape 
was my prime suspect. But the theories about Sirius are intriguing 
too. 

MORE NEW RED FLAGS/RED HERRINGS

OMNIOCULARS: Harry bought a pair at the World Cup. From their 
description they could be a useful tool, unless Harry stores it in his 
trunk too.

HOGWARTS GHOSTS: They're bound to play an important role in the future 
books. Myrtle seems to get around the Castle fairly well. (Was anyone 
else disturbed by her bathroom voyeurism in GoF?). IIRC, SS/PS 
mentioned about 20 ghosts. In addition to the House ghosts, Peeves, 
Prof. Binns and Myrtle, who are the others? 

HOGWARTS TUNNELS: Fred and George pointed out the ones Filch knew 
about, the one that was caved in, the one under the Whomping Willow 
and the one that lead straight into Honeydukes. More tunneling action 
ahead?

HERMIONE'S PARENTS: They're Muggle dentists. We had a glimpse of them 
in CoS and nothing more---so far.

PLACES TO RENDEZ VOUS AT HOGWARTS: So far, the greenhouses, the 
rosebushes and empty classrooms have been mentioned as smooching 
places for Hogwarts couples. Will we get to read the details of a 
Hogwarts-style date?
___

Joy asked about the premise for this thread and wondered if Rowling 
does use the red herring device. Right now it's hard to say if she is 
leading us down the garden path with some things because there are 3 
more books left to tie up loose ends. This thread is just my 
ponderings about things (little and not-so-little) mentioned in the 
books that might reappear or might not reappear later in the series. I 
jotted these things down because this list tends to concentrate on the 
"obvious" things such as Harry's green eyes, the 
Snape-Potter-Black-Lupin-Pettigrew relationship, the Voldy-Potter 
relationship, etc (not criticizing anyone, just pointing it out). 
However, a bunch of "little things" are scattered throughout the 
books, some of them are significant such as the photo album and some 
might not have any significance at all, like the opal necklace, 
because the completed series hasn't been published. I just think it's 
fun to see what things will reappear or will be explained in the 
coming books and what will not.
 
:-)Milz