Green eyes, grandparents, and the Mirror of Erised (Was:Some Discrepancies)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86453

-> Carol wrote:
> 
> I found the reference to eyes using "mother's eyes," not "green eyes."
> It's at
>  
> http://www.the-leaky-
> cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/1999/1099bostonglobe-loer.html
>  
> > Q: Do you know what Harry's parents look like?
> > JKR: Yes. I've even drawn a picture of how they look. Harry has his
> > father and mother's good looks. But *he has his mother's eyes and
> > that's very important in a future book*. (My asterisks to indicate
> > italics.)
> > 
> <snip>
> > 
> > http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2001/0301-
> comicrelief-staff.htm
> > 
> > Q: Do we find out more about James Potter's family history in the 
> next
> > books?
> > JKR: Yes, you do. 
> > 
> 
> <snip lots of good references>
> 
> Constance Vigilance (me):
> 
> Very cool, Carol. Great research!
> 
> The original poster was using the evidence of green-eyed people in 
> the mirror to establish proof that there are wizards in Lily's family 
> and then attempt to make the leap that Petunia is a squib. My 
> response was intended to indicate that it proves nothing of the sort, 
> for one of at least two reasons. 1 - The mirror is a real image of 
> Lily's family, in addition to James', and says nothing about magical 
> ability, or 2 - the mirror is simply presenting a fanciful image to 
> satisfy Harry's deepest desire. In doing so, I seem to have touched 
> some feelings.
> 
> I am not saying that the people in the mirror _couldn't_ be real 
> family members, perhaps dead and gone. There is no doubt that the 
> images of Lily and James are real. I presume that the mirror has 
> access to external information that it could use to be able to draw 
> accurate images of people that Harry has never known. Note that not 
> even JKR tells us, in those excellent quotes that you uncovered, that 
> the mirror is showing Harry anyone other than his parents.
> 
> The mirror is under no obligation to tell the truth. It could easily 
> create, out of pure fancy, images that would please Harry. It does 
> this for poor Quirrel. I'm just saying that we cannot make any 
> assumptions about Harry's family based on what the mirror chooses to 
> present. Note that we can also not assume, based on the evidence of 
> the mirror, that Ron is to be Head Boy. However, the softie in me 
> hopes both that Harry does have lots of family who love or loved him, 
> and that Ron has a good shot at being Head Boy.
> 
> I have been enjoying this discussion, by the way. :)
> 
> Constance Vigilance

Thanks, Constance. (I always want to put an exclamation point after
your sig in honor of Imposter!Moody.) I think we agree on several
points, notably that the green eyes don't indicate magical ancestry
since her parents, at least, were Muggles, and Petunia can't be a
squib. The only discrepancy in our views seems to be regarding the
ability of the mirror to conjure images out of Harry's imagination.

First, regarding his family. As I said in another post, the Mirror of
Erised chapter takes place before he's seen any photographs of his
family. We find out later that his parents in the photographs look
exactly as they did in the mirror. The mirror's source of information
could not have been Harry's memory or imagination. He didn't remember
what they looked like. The mirror knew only that he longed for his
family, so that's what it showed--more than he expected to see. If it
got the appearance of his parents right, I see no reason why it
wouldn't get the other Evanses and Potters right as well, whether they
were Muggles or Wizards/Witches.

As for Quirrell, no imagination or creativity was required to produce
an image of the Philosopher's Stone or Voldemort in his fantasy of
presenting the stone to his master. It knew exactly what both the
Stone and Voldemort looked like. (I do wonder, though, how Quirrell
would have managed to present the Stone to a master who was occupying
the back of his head!)

Carol