Flint in OoP? ( was Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape: Was Snape, Apologies, and Redemption)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 153226

So Len opened his big yap and said:
> 
> The boggart scene on OoP bothers me in that when Lupin
> appears and casts ridikulus at the boggart, it turns
> into a silver orb. We've seen the boggart as moon
> thing before, in Prisoner of Azkaban.  But the moon
> was the fear, not the ridikule.
> 
> So did I miss something in my reading of OOP, or is it
> just an oversight by the continuity department?
>

Pippin:
You're lucky if that's the only 'oversight' in Lupin's saga
that troubles you. :)  There's twelve years to be accounted for,
no explanation for why Snape suspected him of being in on
the prank, no explanation of why Sirius thought he was the
spy, no explanation of why he didn't transform inside the
shrieking shack when the moon was already visible,  and
no 'good' reason for him to try to kill Pettigrew. 

Either JKR has been inconsistent in tone, continuity and 
development to a greater extent than with any other character,
or she  is Up To Something -- in which case there's a logical
but not obvious explanation for it all.

The logical but not obvious explanation of this particular
incident is that the spell failed. It may have failed in 
PoA also, when the boggart became a cockroach. Cowards
cannot laugh at their fears, and Lupin has confessed to
cowardice.

You might consider whether the glowing silver orb which
Harry sees really resembles the full moon as much as
it does the glowing orbs in the Hall of Prophecy. 

Pippin