DD=Ron is officially sunk

[nkafkafi]

Combining answers to everybody:

Pippin wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1537:
Funnily enough, it does <g>. Clearly there are more part humans
teaching at Hogwarts than one might suspect. It goes to my
contention that mixed blood is actually a pretty common thing
in the WW, far more common than some puristas would like to
think.

It's also clear that Herself has been paying attention to fandom
rumours for some time now, so the idea that she never even heard
of Vampire!Snape until the book day chat is losing credibility
quickly, IMO.

Those of you who formerly espoused elaborate theories about Mark
Evans and or Ron=Dumbledore – if JKR had fobbed you off with an
–Erm, I don't think so- instead of complimenting you on your
inventiveness, would you be convinced or would you think
she might be hiding something?


Neri:
Just to clarify, I was sure for at least a year now that the DD=Ron 
theory is not going to happen. This is why I wrote the "officially" 
in the subject line above. I certainly did not need JKR debunking it 
to know that it's not even a contender. I liked this theory purely 
for its inventiveness, and long before JKR termed it so. But even if 
I would have thought that DD=Ron is a possibility, a "nope, sorry" 
from JKR would have been the end of it for me, regardless of what 
particular words she used.

Regarding JKR knowledge of the fandom, my personal impression is that 
it's rather cursory even today. I can easily imagine that she 
somehow, by pure chance, happened to come across the Ron=DD theory, 
and yet missed vampire!Snape altogether. If her knowledge of the 
fandom had been better she would have known about the issue of the 
Weasley kids' ages, for example, and wouldn't have "corrected" one 
flint with another flint (more than once).


David wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1538
Well, I never for a moment thought it credible (not for any logical
reason - it just didn't feel like JKR, which is in effect my main
objection to most of the theories I disagree with) and so I never
played with it. For some reason my perception of the likelihood of
its actually turning out to be 'true' in the context of the
developing series plays a large part in my interest in any theory. 
<snip>

Neri:
I actually tend to agree with this view. DD=Ron was inventive and had 
a big wow factor (and actually a reasonable support in canon) but it 
just wasn't JKR's style. It has a nostalgic value for me because I 
came across it when I was very new to the fandom and it intrigued me 
with all its possibilities. Since then I learned that the fandom is 
stuffed full with inventive theories like that. I still like to play 
with them, but my true interest is reserved for those theories that I 
think have a good chance to come out "true". 

Jo wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1531:
When she finally answers it I bet she will leave us more frustrated!
I'm anticipating something along the lines of 'Neville is only
significant because of the prophecy but perhaps not in the way you
might expect'

Neri:

I think JKR chooses the poll FAQs with more care than that. It's not 
likely she'll choose a question that she can't answer at least 
partially. for the previous poll questions she gave honest answers: 
Mark Evans is a nobody and Petunia was in DD's mailing list for some 
time.  Perhaps I should take a risk of a prediction now. JKR recently 
hinted that the Longbottoms weren't attacked because of the prophecy 
(yes, I know, her answer can also be interpreted as if only the 
Lestranges didn't know about it, but they were sent by someone who 
did). What if JKR is going to answer something like: "Neville was a 
possibility, but he is not anymore. I only included him in the 
prophecy in order to show that it was Voldemort, not blind fate, who 
determined by his own actions which would be the One". Or maybe "I 
wanted to show that Voldemort saw himself in half-blood Harry, and 
for this I needed him to choose between Harry and a pureblood option".

This would mean that the Neville thread (including the attack, the 
Lestranges, young Barty and the Bubblegum mystery) is actually not 
directly connected with the prophecy. It is a different thread. Such 
a solution would be a bit inelegant of JKR, since she had implied 
Neville in the prophecy, but it is not unthinkable. We shall find out 
soon, I hope. I'd better check JKR's site again before I send this 
post.


SSSusan wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_old_crowd/message/1536 :
Oh, by all means, Neri, YOU go right ahead & take the
honor! ;-) 

Neri:
Thanks, you don't know how much it means to me :) 


Neri