was Re: T-BAY: Plot Hole Filler

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 178867

George was sitting outside Canon Cottage taking a well-deserved rest 
when a lone figure approached. The Bay had been very quiet, and no 
one had been around since Mike dropped off the Plot Hole Filler---
ages ago. George remembered their parting words,


> George extended his hand, which Mike took. They shook hands. George 
> said, "Thanks, I'll see what this thing can do. And I think I will 
> offer it to the other list members, see if they can make it work 
any better."

He studied the woman as she came nearer. In one hand was a pitcher, 
filled to the brim, and in the other a glass rimmed with salt. A 
length of what appeared to be unwound turban looped around her 
shoulder and attached to a deck chair and umbrella.

"Potioncat! Hello!" he greeted, now recalling her name. Potioncat was 
one of the quieter citizens of Theory-Bay.  She had served on or 
partied among several vessels in the bay. 

"George? Oh, good. Mike suggested I should come over and have a go at 
the Plot Hole Filler."

George frowned at the pitcher. Potioncat quickly spoke," This is a 
self-filling margarita pitcher. I thought I'd lost it, but it washed 
up on the beach along with my deck chair. It never goes empty. It's 
magic."

George thought the real magic was that Potioncat was still standing 
and he wasn't at all sure that he wanted her working on the Canon 
Cottage in her state. "Is that pitcher anything like your favorite-
beverage-teapot? Can it serve coffee?"

"Why would I want¡K" Potioncat stared at the former pitcher, now a 
coffee pot--a good old metal one with a few dents, and at a sturdy 
coffee-shop mug full of steaming, hot, black coffee. "Thank you," she 
said politely, but unconvincingly.

A few cups later, she was in the cottage with the PHF.  Here's the 
plot hole, and this is what Mike said,

Mike:
>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.

Potioncat places the PHF in the hole and struggles for a while. When 
the hole is filled she looks at the writing in the delicate tool. 

"Mundungus. Mundungus travels in mixed company. So, he could have 
heard talk about Regulus and told Black and Lupin."

George and Potioncat study the patch. It looks damp. Potioncat pulls 
a fan from inside the umbrella and aims it at the patch. "This just 
needs some fan-fixin' to dry it off.


Regulus might have expressed some reluctance to continue in LV's 
service and LV might have suggested in a DE meeting what would happen 
if he tried to leave. Then Regulus disappears, and a few DEs make 
assumptions. LV, on the other hand, doesn't know what's happened to 
Regulus, but wouldn't ask around either. So some DEs might have been 
speculating about Regulus and Mundungus heard them.


George shakes his head, "I'm not sure that will hold."

Potioncat.:  While we wait, I'll  take on this crack over here. It 
has to do with Regulus's age when he died. Mike thinks 17"

>From somewhere overhead Mike's voice speaks,

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:
Mike thinks RAB was 17 when he died. The Lexicon says 18, and while I 
didn¡¦t check the math, I think that fits with the dates on the 
tapestry.

George sees what Potioncat is going for and tries to stop her. "No, 
no, the PHF is for real plot holes, not for disputes." Too late, she 
has plunged the tool onto the end of a very faint crack.  The wall 
vibrates and a large chuck of plaster falls to the floor. Sunlight 
streams through.

George and Potioncat look at each other and said in unison, "If no 
one knew what happened to him, how was there a date of death on the 
tapestry!"