[HPforGrownups] Who did Bertha see kissing Florence? Lucius Malfoy, anyone??

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 75794

~RSFJenny  :) wrote:

"I know it's been mentioned often enough that others think there's got to
be 
some reason we saw Bertha in DD's pensieve in GoF.  <snip> 
We learned that Lucius Malfoy is 41 in OotP, and JKR said in an interview
that 
Lupin (or Sirius, whatever, since they were in the same year anyway) was 35
or 
36 in PoA, making them 37 or 38 in OotP, which would mean that they
would've 
been 3-4 years behind Lucius at Hogwarts.  Sirius said in GoF that Bertha
was 
a few years above them at Hogwarts, and now we know that Lucius was as
well.  
I find it much likelier that Bertha was hexed by someone closer to her own 
age, Lucius Malfoy, than by someone 3 or 4 years her junior (meaning one of
the 
Mauraders or Snape)."

Now me (Wendy):

This is a great suggestion! I think Lucius is a very likely candidate for
the one snogging Florence in the greenhouse. I've thought that, in general,
MWPP and Snape were a bit young to have been caught by Bertha. Snape didn't
seem the type (from what we saw in the Penseive), Lupin probably didn't
have the self-confidence to hit on girls (being a werewolf and all), James
was already crushing on Lily, and Sirius didn't seem to be all that
interested in that sort of thing. Not even going to consider Peter in this
scenario. Ugh. (Although I seem to remember a whole Peter/Florence ship
going on here a while back) <g> Also, Lucius certainly seems like the type
who wouldn't hesitate to hex someone who snuck up on him, so that fits. So,
that leads me to wonder: what's the big deal? Why does it matter that
anyone saw them together?

(Speculation ahead . . . ) Because Florence was a Muggle-born witch. And
Lucius was in love with her, or he wouldn't have cared if word got out that
they were together. (My reasoning - if he didn't really care for her, he
could have always bragged to his friends that he was just "slumming" with
her, or having a bit of sport with a Mudblood. The fact that he didn't want
anyone to know suggests that he didn't want to be forced to speak ill of
her). We don't know what happened to Florence after this. Is she still
alive? In any case, Lucius didn't end up with her - he made the marriage
that was expected of him to Narcissa. But does this mean that somewhere,
deep in his black little heart, there is some spark of affection left for
the Muggle-born girl he once loved? Could it be rekindled? Is Lucius going
to surprise us all by turning from his mudblood-hating ways, and betray
Voldemort?

Well, it doesn't actually seem all that likely, but I suppose anything is
possible! <g>

Although this whole thing contradicts my theory that Florence is a centaur
(because of the Florence/Firenze name connection). Then again, if Lucius
was caught snogging a centaur, that might be even harder to explain away to
his friends.

No, I think I like this theory better (and it seems rather more likely) -
Lucius was in love with a Muggle-born witch. Going against all that pure
blood running through his veins. Almost makes you feel sorry for the guy.
Well, maybe not <g>. 

:-) 

Wendy St John
hebrideanblack at earthlink.net