Head Boy an' Girl

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Now, yer mum an’ dad were as good a witch an’ wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an’ girl at Hogwarts in their day!

--PS chapt. 4 Many of us have questioned how James (and, to a lesser extent, Lily) could have been head boy, given everything we've been told about his behavior as a teenager. But I'm wondering... are we absolutely certain that he actually was head boy?

It occurred to me this morning that the only mention of James and Lily as having been head boy and girl in the entire series is Hagrid's statement above, which he makes soon after delivering Harry his Hogwarts letter. We are told multiple times in multiple books that Tom, Bill, and Percy were all head boys, but it is never once stated again that James and Lily were head boy and girl, not even when the trio is looking through an old list of head boys in chapter 13 of CoS.

We know that Hagrid is not the most reliable source of information. Just a few hours later, he will tell Harry, "There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin," completely glossing over the fact that man who betrayed Harry's family was a Gryffindor. When he declares that James and Lily were head boy and girl, he is in the midst of countering Petunia's claims that they were strange and abnormal freaks who got themselves blown up. Could he be lying here... or, umm, exaggerating the truth a bit? (They weren't really head boy and girl, but they should've been, given how totally awesome they were).

After all, it is Hagrid's assigned duty to make sure that Harry agrees to go to Hogwarts and follows in his parents' footsteps... including, eventually, the whole getting themselves blown up part.

Comments

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Sirius wasn't just a (supposed) random death eater, though. He was a member of the OotP (of which Hagrid was also a member) and James Potter's best friend. He and James were notorious for harassing Slytherins while at Hogwarts. He stood out as one of the very few Blacks who wasn't sorted into Slytherin.

Hagrid might very well believe that Sirius was mis-sorted and should have been a Slytherin, but he would have to be very very stupid to have truly forgotten that Sirius was a Gryffindor.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Sirius wasn't just a (supposed) random death eater, though. ...

Sure, but the question wasn't about Sirius; it was a much more general, paint-them-all-with-the-same-brush comment about Slytherins. With a hundred (or 60 :-)) of them around, all in Slytherin, it would be entirely understandable and very easy for Hagrid to make that mistake. "Slytherin? Bad house, that Slytherin". He just forgot about that very rare exception, Sirius Black. He was concentrating on Slytherin House.

But if Hagrid had been asked a different question - had his memory jogged - what do you think of Sirius Black? Why, I'm sure he would have said that Black was a bad 'un (despite being a Gryffindor).

Likewise, when he's focusing specifically on James and Lily, he tells us that they were Head Boy and Girl. No doubt about that. Thanks, Hagrid!