Red Flags, Red Herrings

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 19131

Joywitch wrote:

>But have there been any red herrings so far, i.e. items mentioned 
briefly that 
>later turned out to be UNimportant?  I cant think of any.  Anybody 
>have any evidence one way or another (of course, it may be too early 
>in the series to tell.)

None of these is conclusively a red herring (rather than a red flag) 
because the series isn't done, and all are subjective of course, but 
here are a few things I thought along the way that turned out to be 
wrong (so far).  All arise from various clues which turn out to be red 
herrings:

-"Lupin is helping Sirius" (all that dropping stuff whenever his name 
comes up, plus RL's generally mysterious behavior)

-"Sirius is trying to kill Harry" 

-"Bagman put Harry's name in the Goblet" (just one of the many wrong 
theories I developed along the way)

-"Fred and George are scheming something that has to do with the 
Goblet/Tournament"

-"Snape is trying to kill Harry" in PS/SS

-"Percy is up to something suspicious" in CS (holed up in his room at 
the Burrow, e.g.)

more obviously:

-"Draco opened the Chamber of Secrets" (disproved early on, but still, 
it was a possibility)

ditto for 

-"Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets"

Amy Z

----------------------------------------------------------------------
   "What is this thing?" said Moody, drawing the Marauder's Map out 
 of his pocket and unfolding it.
   "Map of Hogwarts," said Harry. . . .
   "Merlin's beard," Moody whispered, staring at the map, his magical 
 eye going haywire.  "This . . . this is some map, Potter!" 
   "Yeah, it's . . . quite useful," Harry said. 
                                       -HP and the Goblet of Fire
----------------------------------------------------------------------