Tomboy Lily: Lily's friends

[catherinemckiernan]

No: HPFGUIDX 59300

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Inge" <Elvishooked at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> 
> wrote:
> > Inge (me) wrote:
> This may have been discussed before - if so - Im sorry to bring it up 
> again but I have long wondered if Lily didn't have any close female 
> friends at Hogwarts.
> We know of James' close friends and what happened to them later on - 
> but there has been no mention of any close friends of Lily's. Isn't 
> that a bit odd?

<snip>

> Grey Wolf continues:
> If Lily had friends that didn't get killed by DEs and that could've 
> taken an interest in Harry, they're still impotent to do something 
> about it. Without an official position (like being Godmothers or 
> something), they wouldn't have got past Dumbledore's/MoM's defenses 
> of the boy. He is at the Dursleys for his protection, after all. I do 
> seem to remember that harry notices witches and wizards meeting him 
> when he's outside the house (one being Daedalus Diggle). Maybe some 
> of the others are Lily's old school friends.
>  Hope that helps,
> Grey Wolf
> 
> Inge (me) again:
> Actually no - that doesn't help since my mainpoint was my wondering 
> as to why none of these if-existing close friends of Lily's never 
> bothered to let Harry know that they're out there and thinking of him.
> They may not have been able to contact him at the Dursley's - but 
> Harry has been at Hogwarts 4 years now and any old bosom friend of 
> Lily's could easily have sent him a note or come to see him there.
> If Lily had real close friends I'd expect them to do just that.
> Close female friends are like soul-sisters and if one of them dies 
> (in this case being murdered) and leaves a baby behind the natural 
> thing would be for her friend to stay in close contact with the child.
> As stated, this may not have been possible while Harry was not yet at 
> Hogwarts, but he is NOW and still noone has cared enough to let him 
> know that they knew and loved his mother or let him know that they're 
> out there for him.
> That's what I find a bit odd.
> Inge

Me:
Following Grey Wolf?s analysis of why they don?t contact Harry chez
Dursley, there?s a range of possible explanations for the non-contact
with Harry of Lily?s female friends once he?s at Hogwarts:

1)she didn?t have any sufficiently intimate female friends for them to
be interested in her child after she?d been dead 11 years
2)she did have very close female friends, but, being like her involved
in the war against Voldemort, they?re now dead/incapacitated/wrongly
accused and in Azkaban/rightly accused and in Azkaban or in hiding
3)she had female friends who perhaps found the idea of contact with
Harry too painful a reminder of his mother or thought it would simply
confuse him/upset him
4)she had female friends who would have wished get in touch with
Harry, but Dumbledore has asked them not to. Perhaps he fears they
might let slip information he isn?t ready to know/be made vulnerable
through their contact with the boy/be potential spies 
Either of the latter categories might be a female correspondence to
Lupin, who clearly cares about Harry, but (werewolf issues aside) does
not contact him before coming to Hogwarts himself. Personally I go for
items 2 and 4.

Of course, it?s always possible that Lily?s friends were all/some of
Florence X, Narcissa Y, Mrs Longbottom and Mrs Lestrange! That would
be item 2.

Hermione does talk to girls other than Ginny, Lavender and Parvati;
she thinks Hufflepuff nose-girl Eloise Midgen is really nice.

Hi Felinia, ENTJ, as a fully-committed INTJ, nice to meet you!

Finally, re. friends in general, what do we mean by ?close?? I have
strong female friendships of long standing, but would never call them
?soul-sisters?. I?m closest to my real sisters, but would not call
them friends, it?s a wholly different relationship, even though many
of our day-to-day interactions are things friends would do. Different
people have friendships in different ways ? think of Jo and Meg March
in Armstrong?s Little Women film (forget if the incident is in the
book), when close as she is to Jo, Meg has not told her by letter that
she is pregnant, it isn?t strange, it?s just them.

Catherine McK