Jo's Squib error?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 123867


Rachel wrote:
> I know I do not post often, I spend most of my time hiding in a 
cardboard box trying to catch up on everyone else's theories, but this
one really caught my attention.  It is funny how we can all read the
same thing and interpret it so differently.  
> 
> I, for one, am not sure Figgy was lying.  I see no reason why Squibs
can not see dementors.  I see Squibyness (sp) as being a genetic>
difference.  They can not DO MAGIC.  They might have the other, 
inhereted traits that come from being born to magic parents.  They can
see magical or enchanted things.  This was my explanation to myself as
to why Filch can work at Hogwarts... a place designed to be hidden
from muggles.
> 
> Ok, back into my cardboard box I go
> 
> Rachel

Carol responds:
I believed Foggy, too, until I read the information on Squibs in the
Extra Stuff Miscellaneous section of JKR's website. We can tell
ourselves that the site isn't really canon and that JKR is confused
again (as she clearly is and was about the older Weasley sons' ages
and the number of students at Hogwarts), but the fact remains that she
has unambiguously stated that Mrs. Figg can't see Dementors. (Would
Figgy be able to see Hogwarts? Probably. The Muggle-repelling charms
apparently don't apply to Squibs or it would be rather difficult for
Filch to work there. OTOH, Hermione's parents somehow got into Diagon
Alley in CoS, so they must have been able to see the Leaky Cauldron,
which Muggles ordinarily pass right by.) Inconsistent? Not thought
through? I don't know. But there it is: "Incidentally, Arabella Figg
never did see the Dementors that attacked Harry and Dudley." Unlike
many of her statements (mostly from interviews and chat), this one is
uninterrupted, written by JKR herself rather than transcribed, and
completely clear. Would that it weren't.

I still want Mrs. Figg to be the one who performs magic late in life,
but I fear it will be Muggle Petunia rather than Squib Arabella,
though that makes even less sense from a canonical perspective and
Petunia's age is not "advanced." (BTW, JKR is clearly *wrong* about
magic being a dominant gene, which would make all Muggleborns
dependent on spontaneous mutations, so maybe she's "wrong" about
Squibs, too. J.R.R. Tolkien changed his mind rather frequently about
"what really happened," so maybe JKR will change her mind about
Squibs. Not much hope for that, though.)

Carol, who likes Figgy, anyway. Here's to catfood cans and tartan
slippers!