Professor Sinistra, a vampire?

[clio44a]

No: HPFGUIDX 42038

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Jacqueline Hendries <psychchick04 at y...> 
wrote:
> Has anyone noticed that the Astronomy professor, Prof. Sinistra, has
> not played a role in any of the books so far? I had been thinking 
about
> this, and wondering whether she might come up more in future books, 
and
> if so, what does her name say about her? I know in Latin 'sinister'
> means "left," but its obvious cognate in English is 'sinister.' 
So...
> she's either a DeathEater, or she just has very liberal ideas (hee 
hee)
> Any thoughts on this?


W wrote:
>I have heard once that our galaxy (?) forms a left
(counterclockwise) 
spiral. This may relate her name with Astronomy, class
she teaches.<


Impressive thought, W!



There is something else we know about Sinistra. Her classes are at 
night. Now, what does that have to do with anything?
(Not sure if anyone already had this idea, but I'd like to introduce 
you to my favorite theory)


Sinistra is the vampire all those hints and bat references within the 
books are aimed at.


Why?
1. Her name has a bad and dark connotation (at least in English)

2. Her classes are held at night. We never hear of her being out in 
the sun. And wouldn't be astronomy be the perfect pastime for a light-
sensitive creature?

3. Her name is derived from the Latin 'sinister', but 'Sinistra' 
surely sounds more Italian in our ears. Well, what other European 
country has a language very closely related to Italian? (Hint: think 
more east) Right, Romania. I don't speak Romanian, but I'm fairly 
sure the word 'sinistra' exists. Transsylvania is part of Romania 
after all. And Transsylvania is the home of THE vampire, Dracula.
I don't think this Romania connection is too far fetched. JKR 
mentions eastern Europe fairly often. 
So far we've had an Armenian warlock (COS), a Bulgarian Quidditch 
team (GOF), Russian Pogrebins (sp?) (FB),and a villain hinding out in 
Albania (GOF, I belive). Plus Quirrel encountered vampires in 
Romania, IIRC.

4. It makes sense to have a vampire in the books, after vampires and 
bats are mentioned ever so often. For storytelling reasons it would 
also make sense for the vampire to be someone else than Snape (as it 
is argued quite a lot), who already has a complex enough background.

 

Now I come to the far fetched part of my theory. 
5. It was argued before that Sinistra's mysterious first name could 
be Florence; the very same who was mentioned to be kissed behind a 
greenhouse (GOF). 
The chains of arguments go like this: a)Sinistra is an astronomer-
Gallileo Gallilei was the most outstanding astronomer-Gallilei spent 
big parts of his life in Florence and is buried close by.
b)Sinistra sounds Italian- Florence is in Italy, c)the centaur 
Firenze is mentioned as an observer of the stars- Firenze is the 
Italian form of Florence.


If we assume Prof. Sinistra's first name is indeed Florence, there is 
another hints to vampirism (although a bit of a stretch).

6. We learn that Florence was kissed by someone. In literature the 
bite of a vampire has a strong sexual connotation. It is closely 
related to a kiss (love-bite!). Vampirism has a very erotic compound. 
Just think of all those movies, when the male vampire finally sucks 
at the woman's neck.

Well, this could just be a further hint to Sinistra being a vampire, 
but it also can mean more.
Maybe she was not kissed, but bitten by someone when Bertha Jorkins 
stumbled onto the scene. And maybe that would explain the violent 
reaction of whoever was doing it towards Bertha. Maybe she had 
witnessed more that she thought. 

Um, maybe the last part is really too far fetched, but I do believe 
that Prof. Florence Sinistra is a vampire.


Clio,
who retreats into the shadows of lurkdom, where no-one can see her 
pointed teeths.