James as head boy (Re: Voldemort's Intentions & Snape's Expectations (Hagrid))

[willsonteam]

No: HPFGUIDX 189887


Geoff
snip 
> Actually, we've drifted OT. I stand by my observation that James would have 
> had to be a prefect to be Head Boy. We are looking at the situation when he 
> was at Hogwarts and he would have been in the Upper Sixth in 1977/78 
> when that set up would have been almost universal.


Potioncat:

I cannot argue with that! 

However, JKR did not go to a boarding school and may not have known that James had to be a prefect in order to become Head Boy, or as someone already offered, JKR forgot she ever wrote that he was Head Boy. 

Most of us thought it was odd that Head Boy James hadn't been a prefect, but we thought there was a reason. Many of us have discussed James' unorthodox advancement —especially given his reputation as a trouble maker and the events we saw through Snape's memory and Lily's comments. Some of us thought James had matured so much that DD thought he was up to the responsibility of Head Boy and the best candidate. Others thought it was a reward for his past actions. Some thought it was an example of DD's favoritism toward Gryffindor. Almost everyone thought it fueled the fire of the Snape/Potter feud.

Here's my question. Given Geoff's information, do you now consider Head Boy itself to be a flint and no longer relevant to the story—that is, James was not a Head Boy? Or do you consider it canon anyway, and James was a Head Boy. Does this change your perception of events?