[HPforGrownups] Re: What if Regulus is ALIVE? (LONG)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 162017

 Alla:
>
> There are quite a few quotes from the books and the interviews that
> I misremembered or completely forgotten  unfortunately and I usually
> say so right away on list. This one is not one of those. I always
> read *these days** as qualifier for both actions ( dead and quiet-
> these days). Yes, I know it may be misinterpretation, but I am still
> saying that this is a strange answer.
>
> And again, let me ask - why not confirm that he is dead in her
> recent answer about Stubby Boardman, why? Seems like ideal time and
> place to me. We all know by now that Regulus will play a part from
> the past in the Horcruxes quest, no? The secret is sort of out of
> the bag, IMO, so she can feel safe to tell us that Regulus is dead
> and he will be speaking to us from the past only. She does not.

Magpie:
Does it really sound like she's hiding something there?  It's just that to 
me these things sound totally straightforward both times.  Since Regulus has 
already been introduced as dead in canon, it seems normal to just shoot down 
the Stubby is Regulus theory. It doesn't seem like she also has to say he's 
dead.

In the second quote, it seems like she flat out says he's dead.  I see how 
the "these days" could refer to both his being dead and being quiet, but my 
first instinct is to hear it as saying he's dead and therefore he's quiet 
these days. To me it seems like both a straightforward confirmation that 
he's dead and a slight coyness about not saying that he won't play a part 
from the past.  Most of all it seems to just fit with the way the question 
was posed.  She was asked if we'd be hearing from a dead man, so she made a 
joke about the social calendar of the dead guy. It reminded me of jokes you 
often hear regarding soap opera characters because they come back from the 
dead so often, like, "So what's the biggest difference in your character 
this time around?" "Well, she's not dead anymore."  Or "I thought he was 
dead." "He was."  Only this was in reverse.

-m