The first-years conspiracy

[hg_skmg]

No: HPFGUIDX 142052

Lucianam:
> Well, the reason I don't think Harry had the Felix Felicis is 
> because I think the first-years stole it and because I think the 
> memory he gave Dumbledore was the wrong one. Of course he could 
> still have got the wrong memory with FF, but putting the two 
> arguments together I find it easier to believe he didn't really 
> drink FF. 

hg:
This is where I think I'm having trouble embracing the theory you 
propose.  
(And my position was that he wasn't under the influence of the Felix, 
which would allow for your memory argument, if not the first-years 
argument.)

(snipped from 142042)
 Lucianam:
> And you know, it's funny how people responded well to the idea of 
TT!
> Dumbledore but not to the real memory being the foggy one. For me, 
> TT!Dumbledore is a spinoff of Real Memory Is The Foggy One, because 
> it explains how DD accepted the memory Slughorn gave Harry as okay.

hg:
I noted the trend in the handful of responses, and I think it's 
telling: It seemed most posters find more support in the text for 
your Time-Turner theory.  The idea that the first-years stole the 
Felix is inventive, but I, personally, don't find it persuasive.  
(Perhaps there's more to come?)  And that is not to say that 
inventive ideas should be discouraged, nor that I mean my 
disagreement personally.  
However, it seems to me, from my reading of the text, that JK 
indicates in several places/ways that Harry has indeed taken Felix, 
and it has indeed worn off long before he gets the memory from 
Slughorn.  She has Slughorn explain how much is in the bottle, then 
Harry remember that amount incorrectly; she shows Harry taking 
a "carefully measured gulp," and then feeling the effect 
instantaneously; and she deliberately points to the time frame on 
both ends -- when Harry leaves, it's sunset, and when he returns, 
it's after midnight.  
So, to me, my reading of the Felix/Slughorn/memory scene, as I 
briefly stated in my previous post, is more persuasive.  And when you 
said in your thread-starter, "I don't think it is far-fetched to 
suspect these pissed-off kids to come up with a plan against bullying-
cheating-Prefect Weasley," what I see is that you seem to be 
developing a theory around this suspicion.  Perhaps if there was a 
moment in the text when we saw a first-year dash out of the 6th year 
boys' dormitory, or a first-year quickly hiding something, or even if 
it was pointed out that one of them saw Harry "spike" Ron's pumpkin 
juice, I'd ride the creative wave.  Was there maybe something you 
left out in your original post, something along these lines?

No problem here with the fluidity of memories, by the way.
hg.