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: The Potter fortune, plugging the plothole

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

I can definitely relate to that- my mom was actually in a similar situation for several years, though thank God my grandmother left her some money to live on. I don't begrudge rich people their money if they earned it, but if they start whining about how HAAAARD it is to be wealthy and expect to get sympathy, they sure won't get it from me.
Of course, I have always been annoyed by Oprah- she seems very condescending and has a weird sort of sentimentalism that I can't quite put my finger on. Oh, and apparently she had a whole show a few years back on how to harass salespeople into giving you a discount. As a former Macy's sales associate, I do not approve, and neither did my coworkers who told me about it. I wonder if she does that at whatever ridiculously overpriced stores she shops at? ;-)