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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189894

Shaun wrote:
> <snip> To further back this up, I'd like to share two other quotes - one from Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone:
> 
> "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect."
> 
> Not[e] - Charlie is not described as a Prefect, but as Captain of Quidditch.
> 
> Now - from Order of the Phoenix:
> 
> "'I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A 
> prefect! That's everyone in the family!'"
> 
> Mrs Weasley's quote - now admittedly, I think this would have more evidentiary value if she hadn't apparently forgotten about Fred and  George. But I also that Fred and George don't raise Charlie as a further objection to her statement. I think there's real reason to suppose the Quidditch Captain is a prefect - so even if only prefects can be made Head Boy or Head Girl, James could come up through that path.

Carol responds:

Equal status with prefects is not the same as *being* a prefect. Note that when Harry is Quidditch captain, he has no prefect duties (and no authority to give detentions), in contrast to Ron and Hermione.

I think your two (well-selected) quotations are yet more evidence that what JKR remembered from the earlier books and what she actually wrote are not always consistent. (And it's just not possible to reconcile "the great Charlie Weasley's" reputation as Seeker with Gryffindor's dismal performance in the years he was on the team, captain or not.)

Carol, who thinks that we may need, in some instances, to regard the books as separate entities rather than expecting the series as a whole to be consistent