Canon versus fanon
Finished GoF today! It's interesting, some of the fanon assumptions that get blown out of the water by reading the Potter books again. I'm drawing my own conclusions here, but this just makes sense to me:
I think it was an early mistake of JKR's to have McGonagall ask Dumbledore how he knew the cat was her, when later on, he's revealed to have been her Transfiguration teacher. (Who's the most likely person in the world to have taught her how to transform?) Nevertheless, it's canon that she never told him. Is it safe to assume, then, that any pre-PS/SS romance between the two of them doesn't exist? (But that doesn't include any romance initiated after 1980!)
Also, about the Dark Mark tattoo. Wizards recognize the Mark in the sky above the campgrounds, after the Quidditch World Cup in GoF. But not even Sirius knew why Severus was clutching at his arm when Barty-as-Moody dropped a hint about spots that don't come off. So Snape's brandishing it in front of Fudge at the end of the book was especially dramatic. (You go, Severus!)
Those are the two I can remember right now, though I do remember that there were more events that occurred that made me think, "Oh, I've been assuming such-and-such was general knowledge because of fanfics I've read, when really, the opposite is true!" For those of you who have been re-reading the books before DH, have you noticed anything like that?
I think it was an early mistake of JKR's to have McGonagall ask Dumbledore how he knew the cat was her, when later on, he's revealed to have been her Transfiguration teacher. (Who's the most likely person in the world to have taught her how to transform?) Nevertheless, it's canon that she never told him. Is it safe to assume, then, that any pre-PS/SS romance between the two of them doesn't exist? (But that doesn't include any romance initiated after 1980!)
Also, about the Dark Mark tattoo. Wizards recognize the Mark in the sky above the campgrounds, after the Quidditch World Cup in GoF. But not even Sirius knew why Severus was clutching at his arm when Barty-as-Moody dropped a hint about spots that don't come off. So Snape's brandishing it in front of Fudge at the end of the book was especially dramatic. (You go, Severus!)
Those are the two I can remember right now, though I do remember that there were more events that occurred that made me think, "Oh, I've been assuming such-and-such was general knowledge because of fanfics I've read, when really, the opposite is true!" For those of you who have been re-reading the books before DH, have you noticed anything like that?