Green Eyes in the Mirror (Was: Harry has TWO parents)

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51210


Pip wrote:
Dumbledore seems to go out of his way in PoA Ch.22 [p.312 UK 
hardback] to point out to Harry (at a moment when he's telling him 
how like his father he is) that Harry is not *exactly* like his 
father. He has his mother's eyes.

I add:
This is also supported by the passage about the Mirror
of Erised.

---
She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and
her eyes - HER EYES ARE JUST LIKE MINE, Harry thought,
edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green - 
exactly the same shape, but then...<snip>

[emphasis converted from italics] (PS/SS 208)
---

But then, it continues:

---
Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was
nearly touching that of his reflection.

"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?"

They looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry 
looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror,
and saw OTHER PAIRS OF GREEN EYES LIKE HIS, other noses 
like his, even a little old man who looked as though he 
had Harry's knobbly knees - Harry was looking at his 
family, for the first time in his life.

The POTTERS smiled and waved at Harry and... <snip rest of novel> 

[emphasis is mine] (PS/SS 209)
---

Thank you, Mirror of Erised.

So, the obvious question: green eyes, say what? 

If Harry's eyes are his mother's, as he's seen himself
in the mirror, AND been TOLD, then why does he see "other
pairs [plural] of green eyes like his" in the POTTER 
family?"

Okay we'll get my one potential objection out there right
away - The Mirror of Erised *could* only be an idealized 
version of Harry's family as he'd like to see them, ala 
"I show not your face but your heart's desire." In other
words, his family *might* not look like that at all.

Except I'll save y'all the time and refute my own objection
by pointing out that when Harry sees pictures of his parents
later on, he doesn't ever observe that they're different 
from the images in the mirror. AND, Dumbledore still told
him that he had his mother's eyes, and why would Dumbledore
lie?

But, if that's the case, how does Harry know "before" 
he's told that his mother's eyes are just like his, well,
that his mother's eyes are just like his?

What could possibly account for green eyes (an ordinarily
rare trait) being prevalent in the Potter family, quite
independently of Lily Evans?

And despite Harry's own observation that his eyes are like
Lily's, if the trait was already in the Potter family, how 
are those eyes necessarily his mother's, except perhaps in
shape? 

Only questions, no solutions.

-Tom