Meaning of FLINT

[alhewison]

No: HPFGUIDX 39638

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "davewitley" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
 
> > FLINT is invoked at any time someone believes JKR has made an 
> internal 
> > inconsistency of the Potterverse: something that goes against the 
> rules 
> > she has set herself. Sometimes, it's interesting to note, those 
> errors 
> > can be explained even when JKR herself admits it wasn't thought 
out 
> to 
> > be like that: Flint, Marcus, failed his OWLS and had to repeat a 
> year, 
> > which is why he's still around in PoA.
> 
> From www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript1.htm
> 
> "Q: In the first book you said Slytherin house Quidditch captain 
was 
> sixth year Marcus Flint. If there are only seven years of Hogwarts, 
> why is he in the third book?  
> 
> JKR: He had to do a year again! :-)  "
> 
> courtesy of the Goat search engine 
> (www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/)
> 
> Unless there is another interview I've missed, she ain't admitting 
> nothing, so it seems we may have a Flint in the Alley.  The most 
> likely reason for doing a year again would be a NEWT failure, 
though 
> OWL failure is a possibility.  (As an aside, we don't yet know if 
> leaving school after completing OWLs is an option for Hogwarts 
> pupils, as it would be in Muggle schools.)
>

I think that JKR has "acknowledged" the "Flint" over Marcus Flint. I 
have 2 copies of PS, one dated from 1998 and another from 2001. In 
the first, Flint is a 6th year, but in the second he's a fifth year. 
To my mind, this is evidence that the mistake has been acknowledged, 
and rectified for later editions. I don't know what that says about 
JKR's interviews being canon though - clearly if canon is 
inconsistent it can change! I guess she made up the fact about Flint 
retaking a year on the spur of the moment, and then decided to change 
it later on.

Ali