old notes, frog cards & misc. connections? (a little long-sorry)

[tcyhunt]

No: HPFGUIDX 74681

I usually lurk...sometimes post...but mostly lurk...and OK, I can 
finally admit it - I feel I'm among friends here - 'I am an HP 
nerd.'  I started reading HP several years ago.  I bought the first 3 
books for my daughter who hated reading in the hopes that the hype 
and peer pressure would help motivate her (it failed miserably - but 
she has since found HP on her own and is half way through GoF - but I 
digress).  I LOVED the books, but found that keeping all of the 
characters straight was daunting.  I'd read a name in book 3 that I 
could swear I'd heard before.  So I started at book one and read it 
with a tablet and pen at my side.  *Every* time I saw a name, I'd 
note it, where it appeared (book and chapter) and any significant 
notes.  Keep in mind this was long before I came out as a true HP fan 
(though my husband was beginning to suspect) and found this site.  I 
have since read the entire series many times and still find myself 
returning to my list (I've also put it in a word document for easier 
sorting) for memory refreshing, finding connections, etc.  As a 
matter of fact, I've been using it quite a bit since I updated it 
with OotP info.  

Why am I sharing this info with you?  I don't know.  Maybe just 
because I needed to tell someone.  Thanks for listening.

No, really - I did have more than that to share.  While going through 
my notes, I noticed two people with the same last name that I hadn't 
connected before:  Davey and Gladys Gudgeon.  Gladys was mentioned in 
CoS as a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart and Davey was introduced in PoA as 
having gone to school with MWPP (he was almost 'blinded by the 
Whomping Willow').  As Gladys was (IMO) an adult fan of Lockhart and 
Davey went to school with MWPP - they might well be about the same 
age.  Is there any connection?  

Does it really matter?  Probably not.  But it also got me thinking 
about other names from the earlier books that we haven't heard from 
since and that lead me to the witches and wizards on the chocolate 
frog cards.

Of course, Dumbledore is on the cards but so are: Agrippa, Circe, 
Cliodona, Morgana, Paracelsus, Ptolemy, Merlin, Hengist of Woodcroft, 
and Alberic Grunnion.

They were notable enough to be placed on trading cards - might any of 
them offer more significance in the remaining books?  As one might 
expect, the Lexicon offers historical info on them - but does anyone 
have any theories about them and whether they might become more 
significant?  I am convinced that the info on Dumbledore's card will 
play out later (what *are* the 12 uses of dragon's blood?).

The other thing that caught my eye this time through my list was the 
number of characters mentioned in passing.  Jeez, there are lots of 
them!  Are they just filler material or will we learn more?  Mark 
Evans? members of Dudley's gang?, Agatha Timms?, Florence?, Blaise 
Zabini?, Otto Bagman?, Ali Bashir?, Owen Cauldwell?, Hetty Bayliss?, 
Doris Crockford?, Natalie McDonald?,...the list is crazy-long.

Anyway...this post is much longer than I intended and I'm not sure if 
there's anything useful in it - but here it is.  Regardless - I'd 
like to say thank you to everyone on this list (old farts who've been 
here since the beginning, newbies who've just discovered it's magic 
and everyone in between)...you're all wonderfully reassuring to a 
borderline OCD suffering HP fanatic!

Tcy (returning to the comfort of the shadows)