Terry Boot

[GulPlum]

Tearing myself away from past and current discussions, an observation out 
of the blue...

I've just finished my first re-read of OotP since it came out in 
preparation for HBP's release, and whilst several bits and pieces intrigue 
me and leave me asking questions, one which quite literally kept me awake 
last night (sad, moi?) is this quote:

"'And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?' 
demanded Terry Boot. That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me 
when I was in there last year . . .'" (in  the Hog's Head, UK ed., p. 305)

WHAT was Terry Boot doing in Dumbledore's office during GOF year? I'm 
convinced that his mention of the fact that he'd been there isn't entirely 
irrelevant - after all, even Harry's only ever been in there under 
extraordinary circumstances. So, what circumstances led to his presence 
there? And what led him to be talking about the sword with a portrait? Can 
we assume that Dumbledore wasn't there at the time (in our/Harry's 
experience, the portraits talk to him rather than his guests whenever he's 
around)?

I've looked over a few HP discussion boards and nobody seems to have 
thought this worthy of closer investigation. Several people have, however, 
picked up on something else: "Quidditch Through The Ages" includes the 
library checkout page at the front, and he (or, at least, "T. Boot") is 
listed as having borrowed the book from the Hogwarts library after "E. 
Macmillan", with a return date of 21st August (E.M.'s return date was 12th 
August). What are these boys doing borrowing books from the library in the 
middle of the summer holidays? Hogwarts breaks up towards the end of of 
June every year, returning on 1st September, and madame Pince strikes me as 
the kind of person who wouldn't dream of consigning her precious books to 
Owl Post.

I can't help feeling that there's some kind of connection here, but I can't 
really see it. A few other facts:

Terry is a pure-blood (I *think*); Ernie certainly is. Terry is a 
Ravenclaw, Ernie a Hufflepuff. But there seems to be some kind of 
connection between them.

Seeing as Terry doesn't warrant a mention at all in the series before OotP, 
am I seeing too much into this, or is this character whose involvement will 
rise (perhaps like Luna's)?

Anyway, all questions and no answers. Any ideas, folks?

--
Richard AKA GulPlum, hoping to have got this topic from inside his head now