Slytherins come back WAS: Re: My Most Annoying Character

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 180122

> Carol blessed us with this gem On 30/12/2007 10:13:
> 
> > Let's look first at what she actually wrote:
> > 
> > ". . . They seemed to have returned at the
> > head of what looked like the families and friends of every 
Hogwarts
> > student who had remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and
> > homeowners of Hogsmeade" (DH 734). We are, of course, seeing from
> > Harry's perspective, and the words "what looked like" indicate 
that
> > he's interpreting the scene. It makes no sense that Slughorn would
> > have brought the parents of the students who remained at Hogwarts 
to
> > fight. Much more likely that he'd have brought the parents of the
> > students he accompanied to the Hog's Head. And the students most
> > likely to follow him into battle are the students of his own 
House.

Lee: 
> Hmm, doesn't work for me. Harry would surely still recognize 
Slytherins, 
> especially those old enough to fight, having spent five or six 
years in 
> school with them. That he might misinterpret the people rolling in 
on 
> Slughorn's coattails at the least indicates they were people 
unknown, or 
> barely known, to him, not Slytherins themselves.
> 
> Teacher, teacher! Can I change my answer? I've decided the Most 
Annoying 
> Character in HP is JKR.

Magpie:
That's fast becoming my vote. It's just ridiculous to me that that 
sentence could be interpreted in any way to include what JKR is now 
misremembering or reinventing in her interview--a scene where 
Slughorn is galloping in with the Slytherins who left. It doesn't say 
that. It didn't happen. If that kind of interpretation works one 
might as well say that Voldemort won, Harry and Hermione wound up 
together and Hagrid died in canon. How can we say it "makes no sense" 
that Slughorn would have brought back the parents of students who 
stayed to fight when not only is that no more or less sensical than 
anything else, it's exactly what it says he did in canon. The "what 
looked like" imo does not refer to Harry misinterpreting who's there, 
but refers to the "every"--it looked like the parents of *every* 
student who stayed to fight. 

And what would be the point of this kind of bizarre, roundabout way 
of putting it if she means the Slytherins Harry saw leave and knows 
perfectly well by sight have returned? She gave us the image of 
Slughorn returning with the parents of non-Slytherins and 
shopkeepers. If that could really mean Harry needs new glasses and it 
was really his classmates he'd know by sight it could just as easily 
mean Slughorn had brought the Dursleys or the cast of Cheers. 

-m