Question on James Potter...

[June]

I was wondering about something. I was always under the impression that James Potter was the head boy? I think someone mentioned it before in the previous books that James and Lily were Head Boy and Girl of their year. How is it then that Lupin and not him, is the prefect in his fifth year? And Harry also confirmed that his father was not a prefect. Can anyone clear this up for me...?

Or perhaps I was delusional and just thought he was head boy...

[techjohn]

Is it possible that James was in slytherin? that would mean that Lupin could be Gryffindor's prefect, and James Slytherin's prefect?

With all the family connections discovered in the book, could this be possible?

[techjohn]

Or is it the other way round?

In the first film, there's James Potter as seeker on the Gryffindor shield, so was he in Gryffindor and Lupin in Slytherin?

Which house was Lily in?

[Holly Golightly]

James was in Griffindor, and you are right, Hagrid did tell Harry that his parents were both Head Boy and Girl in their day... that was disturbing me too... As it was said that neither James nor Sirius were Prefects... so how did he get to be Head Boy?

Also, when the plaque in the movie said that James was a seeker, people got a bit annoyed, aparently JK had said that he was indeed a chaser... but OOTP seemed to giv ethe opinion that he was a seeker aswell...

Very confusing!

[Claire]

That was bothering me too...

I'm going to try and find where we find out that James and Lily were head boy and girl, but I was thinking, maybe you don't have to be a prefect to be head boy/girl?

But James could have played with the snitch and still been a chaser, I think?

[Holly Golightly]

I'm not 100% certain, but I think that Hagrid tells harry taht in PS... I could be mistaken though...

Also, Yeah, I suppose that he could have just been a chaser playing with the snitch, but with reflexes that good, and able to catch it so quick etc, one woudl assume that he was the seeker..

And it was never said in the books that he was a chaser, but aparently JK said it...>?

[Lunatech]

JKR mentioned that Sirius and James were the cool folks in Hogwarts. They were extremely talented by wizarding standards and breezed through their OWLs with little effort.

These could be sufficient reasons to be head boy.

Good grades and popularity can go a long way in school.

[APWBD]

Hagrid tells Harry this in ch. 4 (SS p. 55 American ver.) But then on pg 170 am. version, of the fifth book (ch. 9), Lupin greatly implies that only he was the prefect. So, I don't know how that happened. Course, can u be made prefect in ur 6th or 7th year? Otherwise, I'd have to say that JK rowling made a slight mistake in her book planing.

[highsorcerer]

I think the reason might be explained by Percy's letter to Ron. It strongly implied that Ron could lose the prefect's badge if he stepped out of line. Lupin was made prefect in fifth year, but nobody knows exactly when he was exposed as a werewolf. If he was exposed, people might not like having a werewolf for a prefect, and James might have gotten it after Lupin lost it for that reason. At that point he probably was growing up some and had the maturity to become head boy (and finally win over Lily Evans).

[Holly Golightly]

I dont' know, the say that Sirius and Lupin were talking in OOTP, it seems like James was never prefect of HB...>?

I think that maybe she forgot that she put that in PS...

[June]

I think Rowling made a mistake too... she probably forgot that she wrote in Book 1 that James was Head Boy? Because from what Harry thought about in Book 5 -- "Dad was not a prefect too!" or something along that line... it seems as if James was never prefect, much less Head Boy...

[Boycey]

I must say when reading the book I did not pick this up, but I do remember reading that james and lily where head boy and girl at there time, so I think you have a very good point here. Personally I think JKR might of forgot this point, but I will say one thing this can easily be fixed, all JKR has to say is that to be head boy is that you do not have to be a prefect to start with, problem solved.

[June]

Maybe it's different in Hogwarts then... since in the British and Singapore school system (which is rather similar), one has to be a prefect before becoming a Head Boy or Girl in the final year...

[Person#11]

In the first film, there's James Potter as seeker on the Gryffindor shield, so was he in Gryffindor and Lupin in Slytherin?

Don't trust that, Rowling says he is Chaser.

In my school, a private American school, you can be Head by without being prefect.

This could also be a sign of how people were exaggerating to Harry in the other books. For example Hagrid say that all the dark wizards ever were in Slytherin and at that time it appears that Sirius is evil, and Sirius appears to have been in Gryfinndor, I don't think this is mistakes as much as a change in atomosphere.

[Lizzy Bennet]

In the first film, there's James Potter as seeker on the Gryffindor shield, so was he in Gryffindor and Lupin in Slytherin?

Don't trust that, Rowling says he is Chaser.

In my school, a private American school, you can be Head by without being prefect.

This could also be a sign of how people were exaggerating to Harry in the other books. For example Hagrid say that all the dark wizards ever were in Slytherin and at that time it appears that Sirius is evil, and Sirius appears to have been in Gryfinndor, I don't think this is mistakes as much as a change in atomosphere.

I didn't realize *any* American schools had prefects and head boys/girls, so I learned something new today. I never really got *why* James' quidditch position was changed for the movies...that seemed like an unnecessary change, and for those who had read the books, a bit jarring. Unless the movie was trying to make some sort of point about how James and Harry are similar, but I still feel it was unncessary.

I bet, like Harry, the sorting hat wanted to put Sirius in Slytherin, and Sirius chose Gryffndor (if he was, in fact, in Gryffndor). I say this because Sirius came from a pure-blood family, and unlike Ron (who comes from a pure-blood family), Sirius was the exception to the rule in his family who believed all pure-bloods were superior...in fact, wasn't Sirius's brother a Death-Eater? I'm getting off-topic--sorry! I guess it makes more sense that James and Sirius were in the same house, and Snape was in Slytherin. I didn't realize you could be a head boy/girl without being a prefect, but I guess it is possible, and it means James changed from who he was at 15. Did Lupin have to leave school before his 7th year? My memory is going blank...if he did, perhaps when he did (which would be after James 'saved' Snape from being harmed by Sirius's prank involving Lupin), James stepped up his maturity and became Head Boy.