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

[stephanie-draws.livejournal.com]

Yupp! ^_^ The parallels between Tom and Albus are many and obvious if you discount looks and superficial personality. The utter lack of empathy, delusions of grandeur and superiority, ruthlessness, vanity, always having to be the one in charge, sacrificing people without qualms, surrounding themselves with much younger, comparatively inexperienced persons to admire them and do their bidding.....

But I doubt JKR would agree with us. No matter that she wrote them so very similar in their actions: one is evil and the other the embodiment of Good to her. As I understand her views Albus was flawed/bad in his youth but then repented and for the next 120 years or so became wise saint!Dumbeldore who simply made a few harmless mistakes while always wanting the best.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Don't forget lack of remorse, superficial charm and "niceness," manipulativeness, pathological dishonesty, complete selfishness...and that is why I say Dumbledore is not just a narcissist, but also a psychopath.

Not just Rowling thinks DD is a paragon. Her Butt Buss Brigade members also twist themselves into pretzels excusing his awful behavior. For instance, I saw one of them insist that the reason he gave Gryffindor the House cup in book 1 at the last minute wasn't to stick it to and humiliate Slytherin. That was just an unfortunate side effect. No, no, he was trying to encourage Gryffindor to work harder to improve. Because, y'know, they weren't getting enough privileges already. And he did it at the last minute because he just didn't have time to change the arrangements beforehand.

If anybody believes that, I have a retirement home in the Everglades I'd like to sell you.

[oryx_leucoryx]

That was just an unfortunate side effect. No, no, he was trying to encourage Gryffindor to work harder to improve. Because, y'know, they weren't getting enough privileges already. And he did it at the last minute because he just didn't have time to change the arrangements beforehand.

Because he couldn't have done so in the 3 days between the trio's adventure and the feast?