Eileen Prince & Grandma Longbottom

[abergoat]

No: HPFGUIDX 156583

Potioncat wrote:
> But if her son is visiting her, the hospital would know who she is. 
> A long time ago there was a very busy thread about who could be her
> son and whether that was important. (Snape and Filch were each 
> candidates.) It's very likely that she's just part of the scenery 
> and we won't see any more of her.

Abergoat replies:
I certainly acknowledge your points and this thread should NOT
exclusively talk about Agnes, but I hope that we don't have to
relagate the idea to fanfic. I don't know anything about your Snape is
the great grandson of Phineas but if it answers as many questions as
'Eileen was attacked by Voldemort' then I hope you were allowed to
discuss it on the forums with other interested parties. (But I grant
you I don't think I've interested many people in the idea of dog lady!
lol)

While Agnes may indeed turn out to be a deadend, JKR has clearly told
us that the title 'Half-Blood Prince' tied (loosely) to the Chamber of
Secrets storyline and that she loves the title. To me that means the
title is very significant. So when we add that to the extensive (and
expensive) collection of books at Spinner's End, the fact that the
potions book date puts the original owner (possibly Eileen) at
Hogwarts within a year of Hagrid, toss in Hagrid's insistance on Snape
being good to the point of calling Harry 'stupid' in HBP and I think
there is a fair amount of canon that suggests Eileen is important and
is connected to Hagrid. And I think it is possible that she is still
alive and we have seen her. Even if she isn't Agnes.

As for the name of dog lady being Agnes, it is conceivable that
Eileen's full name is Eileen Agnes Prince and she preferred to go by
Agnes. A tournament, wedding announcement and birth announcement would
use the given name, not a preferred middle name. Am I reaching?
Definitely. I still prefer the idea that Eileen was a mystery ward
patient for a decade and when her son 'discovered' her the nurses
couldn't change habits - they do seem to be overworked. And besides,
after a decade of being called Agnes poor dog lady might not respond
to anything else. We don't know how much of her original intelligence
remains, whether she is Eileen or not.

Abergoat