Re: Umbridge's Selwyn Connections (WAS: CHAPDISC: DH - Ch. 21 – The Tale of the Three Brothers

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 183090


> Debbie:
> Umbridge related to the Selwyns?  I thought she was lying through 
her teeth
> because, as Potioncat says, her Muggle connections are a bit too 
close to
> home.  Her response to Hermione/Mafalda is full of lies -- the 
locket is not
> a family heirloom, and the S does not stand for Selwyn, just as her
> interrogation of Mary Cattermole, which immediately precedes it, is 
full of
> accusations Umbridge knows full well are not true. So why should 
the Selwyn
> connection be true?

Potioncat:
I had the same impression. But someone, proably Carol, convinced me 
there is a Selwyn connection. Umbridge gets Moody's eye and we know 
Selwyn was in that battle. I think there has to be enough of a 
connection, however weak, that her comment can't be determined to be 
a lie. If she's openly claiming the connection, Selwyn could dispute 
it, unless there was something there.


> Deb:
> I think the most likely inference is that Umbridge purchased this 
old relic
> in a pawnshop and made up a story to go with it that panders to
> those currently in power.  She may have even deliberately sought to 
purchase
> something she could use to build a story around.


Potioncat:
Well, 'we' know she took the locket from Mundungus. He's better than 
a pawn shop because he doesn't dare blab about it. The S was very 
convenient in that it had the same initial as a branch she could 
claim. Perhaps she has a Borgen or a Goyle somewhere in her 
tree...had the old locket had those letters, she might have claimed 
those names instead.