Ginny Wesley and Dumbledore's Frog Cards

[Amie]

No: HPFGUIDX 159888

Secca:
Jo said somewhere in an interview that she was playing off the
old "seventh son of a seventh son" myth... Ginny is the first female
in a while in the Weasley family, and is the seventh daughter...

Random832:
I don't recall the other six Weasley sisters, so ITYM seventh child.
And Arthur and Molly aren'th the seventh anything - we know each had
only two brothers (well, I suppose we don't _know_ Molly didn't have
more, but JKR's said Arthur didn't) and we don't know relative ages.

Secca again:
JKR: The backstory with Ginny was, she was the first girl to arrive
in the Weasley family in generations, but there's that old
traditionvof the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and a
seventh son of a seventh son, so that's why she's the seventh,

Random832:
Well, apart from being in fact the first daughter, those old
traditions don't, as far as i can tell, include anything about the
seventh son/daughter/child of someone who was not a seventh whatever
him/herself.


Amie now:
Well, regardless of what the old traditions are, the only the that 
matters is was JRK thinks they are. She seems to have a habit of 
twisting traditions to fit her particular needs. I think that it's a 
good plot device, but it also means that we can't take the 
traditions at was we percieve to be their face value.

As in the JKR interview that Secca quoted (which can be found here - 
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-
3.htm) JKR says all of the seventh/son/daughter stuff 
because "[Ginny] is a gifted witch". She goes on to say that we've 
seen glimpses of this and will see more in the future. This would 
lead me to believe that Ginny will indeed play a greater role in 
Book 7. 

So, while *all* of the instances of seven in the book may not be 
meningful (some I think have been quite a stretch), this one will 
turn out to be.


On a completely different and unrelated note - There has been some 
discussion about Dumbledore's portriats and the use of the Chocolate 
Frog Cards. While I think that the portriats will turn out to be 
useful (specifically because they could be everhwere) I think the 
frog cards will not be. The whole usefulness of the portriats comes 
from their ability to talk. When in cannon have we seen the cards 
talk? I mean, he could write a note - or start performing sign 
language - but I'm not sure the Dumbledore on the cards will start 
chatting it up with Harry (or anyone else) any time soon.

-Amie, hoping I don't have too many typos and have spoken in a way 
that makes sense because it's past my bedtime and frankly, I'm tired.