Heir of Gryffindor (Re: Horcrux in each book?)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 143948

> Musicgal
> I personally think the Gryffindor decendant is a Weasley. The
> whole "seven" thing comes into play again, AND they're all
> pureblood, AND they have red hair AND they've all been in
> Gryffindor...

> Christina: 
> I think that they are a very good candidate (I think that Harry as 
> the heir of Gryffindor is so cliche, but that's just me); however,
> you run into some thematic problems with that one I think. If JKR 
> wants to make the descendents of Gryffindor thematically important,
> it'd be easiest for her to do if there was basically one surviving
> descendent (like with Tom Riddle). If the entire Weasley clan is
> heir to Gryffindor, then who steps up to represent it? 


Jen: It seemed like JKR nixed any Heir of Gryffindor in the TLC/MN 
interview, but both the question and answer were vaguely worded. JKR 
was talking about Harry's family, so when Melissa said "that sort of 
shuts down Heir of Gryffindor theories" and JKR paused before 
answering 'yeah' in regard to Harry, it seemed to me she may have 
been considering how much to say about the issue. Here's the quote:

JKR: "And because I do like my backstory: Petunia and Lily's 
parents, normal Muggle death. James's parents were elderly, were 
getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, 
very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he's-an-extra-treasure, as 
often happens, I think. They were old in wizarding terms, and they 
died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That's as far as it 
goes. There's nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just 
needed them out of the way so I killed them."

MA: "That sort of shuts down Heir of Gryffindor [theories], as well."

JKR: [Pause.] "Yeah. Well - yeah." 

> Allie: 
> Don't know why, but when you said "one suviving descendant" my
> brain said NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM.  The unlikeliest of unlikely but
> who knows!  I'm still waiting for Neville's shining moment - he
> made so much progress in OoTP and then couldn't hit a single death
> eater with a curse when it counted!

Jen: Or two surviving descendants, one recently deceased--the 
Dumbledore brothers. When Dumbledore found out the Potters were the 
ones to be targeted rather than the Longbottoms (POA, chap, 10) he 
advised them to go into hiding. Maybe he offered his isolated and 
well-protected ancestral home in Godric's Hollow?

If this turns out to be true, I think the last heirs of Slytherin 
and Gryffindor, the feuding duo, will be put to rest in book 7.

Jen