Magic late in life- Dudley/Neville/Merope

[jlv230]

No: HPFGUIDX 158175

> Katssirius:
> In fact Dudley has not been eliminated by JKR. All of her quotes
>are at www.madamscoop.org The following address this topic.

JLV here:
You imply that some of these are direct quotes, but they are 
slightly paraphrased and taken out of context I think the first 
Dudley comment is misleading and the second incomplete:

> JKR: "You should keep an eye on Dudley. It's probably too late for
> Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. I feel sorry for Dudley. I might
> joke about him, but I feel truly sorry for him because I see him 
> as just as abused as Harry. Though, in possibly a less obvious 
> way." [Read the exact quote from the Fandom.com interview, 2000]

Actual quotation:
"A question also surfaced surrounding Harry Potter's non-magical 
relatives, the Muggles who have always tortured or mistreated Harry, 
because of their fear of magic. For revenge, Harry has magically 
tortured his cousin Dudley. `I like torturing them,` said Rowling. 
`You should keep an eye on Dudley. It's probably too late for Aunt 
Petunia and Uncle Vernon. I feel sorry for Dudley. I might joke 
about him, but I feel truly sorry for him because I see him as just 
as abused as Harry. Though, in possibly a less obvious way. What 
they are doing to him is inept, really. I think children recognize 
that. Poor Dudley. He's not being prepared for the world at all, in 
any reasonable or compassionate way, so I feel sorry for him. But 
there's something funny about him, also. The pig's tail was 
irresistible.`"

> JKR: Dudley is nothing more than he seems; he gets very few lines
> in book 6. [Read the exact quote from Edinburgh Book Festival,
> 2004]

Actual quotation:
"Is there more to Dudley than meets the eye?"

"No. [Laughter]. What you see is what you get. I am happy to say 
that he is definitely a character without much back story. He is 
just Dudley. The next book, Half Blood Prince, is the least that you 
see of the Dursleys. You see them quite briefly. You see them a bit 
more in the final book, but you don't get a lot of Dudley in book 
six—very few lines. I am sorry if there are Dudley fans out there, 
but I think you need to look at your priorities if it is Dudley that 
you are looking forward to. [Laughter]."


> Katssirius:
> The last two seem to contradict each other


JLV:
I don't think they do in context. JKR might mean that Dudley may get 
some kind of reprieve, but I don't think she means he might be a 
wizard.

> Katssirius:
> 
however she does not rule out Dudley.

JLV:
Not in so many words, but she does say "What you see is what you 
get". I don't think it's him. 

So who is it? What did Rowling say? [Barnes & Noble chat #1, 1999]

Q: "Will there be, or have there been, any "late blooming" students 
in the school who come into their magic potential as adults, rather 
than as children? [
]"

"[
] No, is the answer. In my books, magic almost always shows 
itself in a person before age 11; however, there is a character who 
does manage in desperate circumstances to do magic quite late in 
life, but that is very rare in the world I am writing about."

> Katssirius:
> My personal favorite is Neville

> Neville could perform extraordinary magic after being a
> below average wizard and still meet the qualifications of the
> quote.

JLV:
Well, I don't think it is Neville as I think she means someone who 
was previously unmagical comes to magic after the age of 11. Neville 
showed his first sign of magic when he was eight. He does spells at 
school (albeit badly) once he is 11 so I really wouldn't describe 
that as `late'.

> Katssirius:
> One person on this site suggested Merope, but I do not think
> the extraordinary circumstances apply to her.

JLV:
Heh heh – well that was me. To be fair, there is an implication that 
Merope never does magic – her father calls her a squib and 
Dumbledore comments:

"I do not believe her magical powers appeared to their best 
advantage when she was being terrorised by her father
 once she was 
alone and free for the fist time in her life, then, I am sure, she 
was able to give full rein to her abilities and to plot her escape 
from the desperate life she had led for eighteen years."

I think of these as somewhat desperate circumstances and she does 
appear to come to magic well after age 11, so when I read it I 
thought to myself `Oh, it must be her'. I just wondered if anyone 
else ever thought that.

I suppose the answer depends on your interpretation of the 
quotation. Now I read it over again, it seems to mean that one 
previously non-magical person will be able to do one extraordinary 
piece of magic just once in a singular desperate situation. If this 
is the case then no, it probably wasn't Merope, but neither will it 
be Neville.

> Katssirius:
> Anyways no need to
> guess or trust to memory Madam Scoop's is well organized and easy 
> to use.

JLV:
Well, I agree it's useful, but I sometimes find their paraphrases 
are a little misleading.

All the best,
JLV xx