The Good Slytherin - Stringy & Weedy

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 85027

Wendy wrote:
> > ... I think the boy who could see the Thestrels is Blaise Zabini, 
> > who got sorted into Slytherin in Harry's first year.
<snip>
> > CANON: Harry does not know thestral guy's name. (OoP, The Eye of the
> > Snake, page 445, US hardcover): "There were only two other people
> > who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing 
> > just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression 
> > of great distaste on his face . . . . " <snip>


> bboy_mn wrote:
<snip>
> As far as the Thestral Boy being Theodore Nott, lets look at what we
know.
> 
> When Hagrid introduces the Thestrals, the Slytherin boy who can see
> them is described as, "... a stringy Slytherin boy standing just
> behind Goyle...". Later after the Qibler article has come out, Harry
> sees Malfoy and friend in the library (Pg515 UK HB)
> 
> -OotP - Scene - Hogwarts Library -
>  
> He saw them (Malfoy and friends) with their heads togehter later that
> afternoon in the Library, they were with a weedy-looking boy Hermione
> whispered was called Theordore Nott.

Carol:
Thanks. This is the quote I was looking for. Can someone please
provide a page number from the American edition, or at least a chapter
title?

bboy_m again: 
> Thestral Boy = stringy
> Theodore Nott = weedy
> Both are in close proximity to Goyle, and therefore Malfoy. Although
> the proximity in the Library is far more critical than in the forest
> during the Thestral lesson.
> 
> "Stringy" and "weedy"; both seem to imply thin. So I don't know if we
> can reach a solid conclusion from the information we have. 
> 
> One could easily conclude that they are one and the same, which
> identifies the Thestral Boy as Theodore Nott. However, if he was the
> Thestral Boy, certainly Harry would have commented on it, at least in
> narrative. That, amoung other things, make me think Nott as Thestral
> Boy is not the correct conclusion.

Carol:
Even though we see the story from Harry's point of view, he isn't the
narrator and consequently on what he sees except in dialogue and
internal monologue, which is often paraphrased. The absence of a
comment could simply be JKR's narrative strategy of keeping the boy in
the background.

bboy_m again: 
> Now, my own personal bias leans toward them being different people. My
> position is, that JKR used the Thestral lesson as a means of
> re-introducing Blaise Zambini, and I'm also a big fan of the
> mysterious Blaise being the Good Slytherin. Trouble is, that's just a
> gut feeling; can't prove it. But I do find the backhanded indirect way
> that Blaise was introduce to be suspicious, and that more that
> anything make me think he is significant. <snip>

I think the introduction of Theodore Nott is equally backhanded. More
important to my way of thinking, his father is a Death Eater and yet
Theodore is not a close friend of Draco's. Why not? What role is this
boy going to play? Surely JKR has not made him the son of a Death
Eater for no reason. And as I noted in an earlier post, Lucius Malfoy
treats the older Nott with contempt, telling the others to leave him
behind when he's injured in the DoM. I think there's going to be
contention among the Slytherins, and whatever the case with the
mysterious Blaise, the "weedy" Theodore Nott will come out of hiding
and do something significant, for good or ill.

Carol