Mistaken identity - part one

[laylalast]

No: HPFGUIDX 80534

Lately, I have seen posts pondering on the haircolor of the 
Weasley's, the importance of Ginny to the coming books, whether
all 
Weasley children are actually Arthur & Molly's and Lily's
friends at 
Hogwarts.  

Well, I already had an idea about this all, a theory is the better 
word rather, which I will present here after having finished it on a 
top note (looks apprehensive at yellow flags standing in line to 
pounch theory). As it ranges over various books and through time, 
this is rather a long post. Therefore I will snip it into parts. On a 
side note: all the HP canon mentioned here comes from the UK 
paperback editions, with exception of GOF, which is still with my 
mother. The canon quoted from that book is possibly slightly 
incorrect as I have used the Dutch translation for lack of better.
 
Also I would like to mention that I`d like to pay tribute to
those 
people who have said valuable things in past posts which dealt with 
the events that come up in my theory. As these posts sometimes go 
back quite a while, it was too difficult to trace them back and name 
people exactly. Sorry for that. 

Having said that, on with the theory!
Let's go back in time, the time when MWPP, Lily, Snape and Bertha 
Jorkins were all attending Hogwarts. Why Bertha Jorkins? Well, it is 
with the pensieve scene of Bertha Jorkins, this theory more or less 
started.

GOF: ,He put a hex on me, professor Perkamentus, I was only teasing 
him. All I said that I had seen him kissing Florence behind the 
greenhouses last Thursday'

It has been pondered on before whether this scene had something to do 
with Snape or Sirius. Since OotP we know that of MWPP and Snape, the 
last three are the ones who are rather trigger-happy, or to speak in 
magical terms, hexing-happy. Of the three, it will not have been 
James as it was pointed by both Snape's worst memory and Sirius 
evidence later, James was already in love with Lily. No snogging 
Florence by James. So that leaves Snape and Sirius.
If it is Sirius, and Bertha had been set up by Snape to follow 
Sirius, why would Sirius be so pissed off at Snape to want to play 
the Prank on him? Considering Sirius' behaviour at the time, he
was a 
rather carefree type, who was not going to be bothered if he was seen 
kissing a girl. Even if Snape found out through Bertha. I mean, he 
knew that James had `something' for a girl, why feel
embarassed if 
James knew the same thing about him?
Conclusion: Snape was kissing Florence. But why would Sirius take 
offence then. Hmmmm, I have a take on that which has a lot to do with 
Bertha Jorkins herself. What kind of girl was Bertha? Here we receive 
evidence from Sirius himself:

GOF: , 
the Bertha I knew was not forgetfull at all. She was
rather 
dim but she had a good memory for gossip. That caused her a lot of 
trouble, because she did not know when to keep her mouth shut.'

So Bertha had a good memory for gossip, but she was not too bright. 
As Sirius says: a dangerous combination.

Bertha saw Snape kissing Florence behind the greenhouse, shortly 
after `Snape's worst memory'. Snape, just having been
thoroughly 
humiliated by James and Sirius, even if they did not take his pants 
off, hides in a place where nobody bothers him and he can, 
metaphorically speaking, lick his wounds and not be humiliated 
further by others. Enter Florence, who is IMO a friend of Lily, and 
who has a kind soul and a thing for Snape. JKR said about Snape and 
love:

"Q: Will Snape ever fall in love?
A: (laughs) Who would want Snape to be in love with them? <snips rest 
of quote for later reference>"

Funny answer when you come to think of it. Seems a bit as if someone 
wanting Snape to be in love is more on JKR's mind than Snape
being in 
love himself. Curious (oh, and BTW, do you notice that JKR 
said `them'. Not her – not him either, but that's
another discussion 
entirely – but THEM. Plural, two persons at least). Very curious 
indeed.

So yeah, we have Florence, coming after Snape, and wanting him 
(subcounsciously) to be in love with her. What happens then is a bit 
like what happens to Harry and Cho in the room of requirement. Snape 
is a bit too hurt to throw her off, she tries in a friendly way to 
comfort him and oh well, the next is what Bertha saw.

And off Bertha goes with her new piece of gossip. Runs into Sirius 
and tells him all about it. So, why would Sirius piss this off so 
much that he is off into the Prank? Florence was his girl, you will 
say. Nope, she wasn't because if she was, I believe that we would 
have read something about it now, given that Sirius is dead. But why 
then, do you ask? 
Well, what did Bertha see? Snape kissing a red-haired girl. Snape 
kissing red-haired Florence. What did dim-witted Bertha tell Sirius? 
Snape was kissing a red-haired girl. Maybe even dim-witted Bertha 
said that it was Lily. All she saw was a red-haired girl, from 
behind. Right after Lily's interference with James and Sirius on 
behalf of Snape. 
So who does Sirius think (or hears from Bertha) the red-haired girl 
is? Lily. The Lily his best friend is in love with. And who is now 
stolen by Snape. Snivellus, greasy-haired, odd-ball, and all  the 
other epithets-Snape. No way that Sirius will let that happen. 
Instead: scare Snape out of his wits, put him in disgrace with Lily, 
and the field is clear for James again. Yes, the stage is set for: 
the Prank.

-  This is what the title of the post refers to and this is why I 
believe that Lily has red hair. No family relation with the Weasleys, 
no family relation with Dumbledore. A case of mistaken identity. 
Mistaken identity by Bertha, which sets off a course of incidents. 
Mistaken identity as a plot twist by JKR.  -

Bertha does mention later to professor Dumbledore that she saw 
Florence. But that was after she was hexed by Snape, when she finally 
confronted him with what she saw. But she had IMO told Sirius before 
that. And I don't think she has ever set that error right, why
should she?

Lilian