RAB (wasRe: Lack of Slytherins banner in ROR and Slytherins in the final battle.

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 178855

> > Alla: 
> > Regulus, yes, I do not think that the fact that he is dead 
> > means that his contribution should count as less significant

Mike:
I thought I'd leave this in as a quite eloquent statement. Well said, 
Alla! :)



> Potioncat:
> I'll agree, Regulus is a hero. But did you mean that he died while 
> a student or that he had been a Slytherin while at Hogwarts. I 
> thought he joined the DEs when he was 16, but that he was 18 when 
> he died.

Mike:
I had figured that Regulus was both a student and a DE after he 
joined at 16, the same as Draco I'm presuming. Also, Kreacher said 
that a year after joining Regulus came to him with Voldemort's 
request for a house elf. I therefore concluded that Regulus did not 
wait a full year to exact his revenge and die for the cause. So that 
would make Reggie only 17 upon his death.


> Potioncat:
> We have 2 or 3 stories about him, too, don't we? If the Order 
> members thought LV killed him, I wonder what LV was thinking? How 
> did Lupin and Black get the idea that Regulus was killed because
> he tried to back out of the DEs?

Mike:
Hey PC, wanna borrow my plot hole filler? I think this falls under 
the category of "throwing the reader off the scent". And I also think 
it was a cheat on JKR's part.

Based on the story we received in DH there doesn't seem to be any 
earthly reason for Sirius or Lupin to have come up with those 
speculations that they gave us in OotP and in HBP. Sirius wasn't 
living with his brother since before Reggie joined the DEs and was 
most likely out of school and out in the world when Reggie pulled 
his vanishing act, if my above timeline is at all accurate. 

Where would they get a hint that Reggie was thinking of backing out, 
when Kreacher had no inkling that Reggie had become anti-Voldemort? 
Even though he witnessed his beloved master's death in a final anti-
Voldemort act? And Lupin's guess that Reggie only lasted a few days 
after turning comes from left field if not the bleachers. 

Only one sentient being knew what happened to Regulus and he was 
forbidden to tell. I accept that wild and stupid rumors get started 
and flourish in the WW, but they usually have some basis, some 
starting nugget of truth. Speculation on Regulus had nothing to go 
on until Harry and Dumbledore pulled that locket out of the birdbath 
of doom. That was purposeful on Regulus' part to protect Kreacher.

I'm left to conclude that these pre-DH stories about Reggie were 
planted by his creatrix to throw us off the scent and therefore fail
under closer scrutiny.

Mike, who would like a nice bacon sandwich and wonders if Kreacher 
could get it for him? ;))