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Harry Potter: Unresolved plot elements from previous books

by WordVixen

Created on: April 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Speculation runs rampant, but no matter how we pick through the first six books, there are some questions left unanswered. Hopefully these will be followed up in book seven, but we won't know for certain until July.

Here are the four that I have focused on the most.



Is R.A.B. really Regulus Black?
Everyone seems to think so, me included. However, with only the first and last initials matching up, maybe Jo has a surprise for us. Considering her usual finesse, I thought that the locket in Grimmauld Place was a little heavy handed- and therefore a possible red herring.

What was Hagrid really doing in Knockturn Alley?
In book 2, Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid finds Harry lost in Knocturn Alley. When Harry asks him why he was there, Hagrid pauses a bit and behaves nervously before telling Harry that he was there for flesh-eating slug repellent. While it was noticeable in the book, it's very obvious in the movie. Maybe he was telling the truth, but his nervousness was never explained.

What happened to Sirius when he fell through the veil?
Ok, yes, the veil was in the Death Chamber in the Department of Mysteries. But really, it's called the Department of Mysteries for a reason. Even the Unmentionables that work in the department don't know everything, or they would be merely guards not researchers. None of the Ministry of Magic employees that told Harry that Sirius was dead were Unmentionables. So either Unmentionables have looser lips than their jobs require, or the other Ministry employees are making a great many assumptions.

Does Harry really own Kreacher?
Technically Harry would have inherited Kreacher if Sirius were the last Black alive once Sirius died. But he wasn't. Bellatrix LeStrange and Narcissa Malfoy are both Sirius' cousins who have married out of the Black name- but are still of the same bloodline. Even cute little Tonks is a member of the family, though I doubt that Kreacher would acknowledge her as his mistress. When Sirius ordered Kreacher out, I wasn't the only person to assume that he went to Bellatrix or Narcissa.

While an argument could be made that Harry owns him because Kreacher complies (unhappily) when Harry sends him to Hogwarts, with all of the secret dealings going on, he could have been instructed to follow Harry's orders in order to spy, or to prevent the Order's questioning the legitimacy of Harry's inheritance and all that follows.

Assumptions can be made for all of these, but they have no proof to back them up. Jo is a brilliant author, and I have faith that she won't leave us dangling.

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