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

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

The problem with attempting to estimate coin values is that magic can create gold (eg: Hermione's forged Galleons in OotP, or anyone who can train leprechauns and spend fast). And that's leaving aside the occasions when someone creates a Philosopher's Stone (maybe the goblins were paying Nicholas Flamel to not use it in that capacity?). It's possible that gold was just chosen as a medium of convenience that had symbolic value while the real value is decided by the goblins (since Hogwarts doesn't offer any courses in economics*).

*This may explain why multiple people have thought it a good idea to create a Philosopher's Stone.

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sunnyskywalker]

Wasn't there something in HBP about fake gold turning your skin green? If they could turn anything into gold, they wouldn't need fake gold - so is it an element which can't be magically created except by a philosopher's stone, or at least not without great difficulty, for whatever authorially-convenient reason?

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sunnyskywalker]

That is, I'm assuming that wizarding shopkeepers have something equivalent to holding bills up to the light to see the watermarks and can tell the difference between real gold and fake gold. Which we probably can't count on, given the general level of wizarding competence.

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the goblins can tell the difference. I just doubt that most wizards would be able to identify the thing that looks, feels, sounds, and tastes like gold as not gold without something like Dumbledore's Detect Magic spell he used in the cave (that as far as we know isn't taught at Hogwarts). I strongly suspect you could go into Florean Fortescue's or The Leaky Cauldron with magically-forged money and use it without any problem. The only thing we know about what the coins look like is that they have serial numbers - we don't even know if they have any designs on them (surely even Harry would have marvelled at the strange new pictures on the coins in his hoard).

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

I don't remember this - in fact I don't remember anything in HBP about fake gold (though admittedly it's been a while since I read it cover to cover).

Re: Troy ounce or Oh dear Maths! As interpreted by Goblins

[sunnyskywalker]

I think it was just a throwaway comment during their trip to Diagon Alley, something to do with the necklace the guy wanted to sell Ginny - but I could be misremembering.