Some Discrepancies

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86274

>  "greatlit2003" wrote:
> > In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised and 
> > sees his family, he sees his parents and other ancestors, 
> > including "other pairs of green eyes" like his own. A few lines 
> > later, JKR writes that the *Potters* waved at Harry out of the 
> > mirror. The green eyes are a connection between Harry and his 
> > mother, and some of the people in the mirror are clearly members 
> of 
> > the Evans family, so why don't the words reflect that? Did JKR 
> have 
> > a reason for not telling us Harry's mother's maiden name until the 
> > fifth year?
> 
> Meri answered: 
> I think what we have to remember here is that we see the entire 
> Mirror of Erised chapter from Harry's perspective: I don't have my 
> copy of SS with me right now (it's out on loan) but I'm pretty sure 
> that Harry doesn't know that his eyes come from his mother's side of 
> the family yet. 

Carol:

I think knowing that he has his mother's eyse (which even Ollivander
notices) is a pretty good indication that the green eyes are from her
side of the family. Also he sees them in the mirror and probably
assumes with some unconscious part of his brain that those people are
his mother's relatives. But he's no more interested in them than he
was in Sirius Black in the wedding photo before he found out that
Sirius (supposedly) betrayed his parents. He saw the photo and the
reflections with his eyes but not with his mind, so to speak.

Meri:
<snip>Also, since Harry doesn't know his mother's maiden 
> name, it's probably safe to assume that he is merely generalizing 
> when he refers to "the Potters", even if he is seeing the late, 
> lamented members of the Evans clan. <snip>

Carol:
My thought is that "the Potters" simply referred to Lily and James,
the only two people whose relationship to him he cared about at the
time. In fact, it was his mother whose face it was hardest to tear his
eyes away from.

Clearly, though, we as readers are meant to make the connection that
these are members of his mother's family--Muggles, or so we've been
told. So for me the question is, what are Muggles doing in the Mirror
of Erised, even if they were murdered by Voldemort? Or are these
people more distant relatives, the ones with magic in them? Petunia's
eyes aren't green. I'm betting Mark Evans's are.

BTW, I snipped the discussion of the Blacks but I'm sure that Meri is
right about Black being Sirius's father's name, not his mother's
maiden name, despite her obsession with the Black lineage. The only
instances we know of involving maiden names in the WW are the Black
sisters and Lily Evans, all of whom took their husband's last names. I
would be very surprised if Mrs. Black was an exception to this rule.
(I still say that if there's a family connection to the Snapes or the
Potters, it's on her side of the family and wouldn't show up on the
tapestry. Alternatively, James could have been left off the tapestry
as a "blood traitor" who married a Muggle-born but Sirius chose not to
bring up the matter.)

Carol