This thing called Harry Potter

So I am re-reading Order of the Pheonix, having just reread Goblet of Fire, in preparation for book 7 which will hopefully someday be published. :-) I feel like a crack addict, I am not alone.

I was reading along last night and Sirius was telling Harry about 12 Grimauld Place and his family including his brother Regulus when a revelation hit me. I've been wracking my brain since book 6 trying to figure out who R.A.B. could possibly be and here it was staring me right in the face. I jumped up and ran into my wife and explained my theory. She nodded absently and said something like "Hmmmph really? Stupid horde.". Which makes a lot of sense if you assume the first part of the response was for me and the second part for the level 60 Shaman who just ganked her on World of Warcraft.

"I'm going to find out if anyone else thought of this!" I said as I brought up Google. "'Regulas Black' Potter" I typed and my screen filled with information. Ok... so I was not the first person to think of this. In fact, the whole world has beaten this thing to death 2 out of 3 falls while I innocently went about my life. JK has even responded that it might be a good guess but won't confirm or deny it.

The entries on Wikipedia about Regulas were by far the most extensive. In fact, as it turns out, right there amongst their definitions for "Super Nova", and "Komodo Dragon" they not only have a whole page on Regulas but they also have cross references to "half blood", "pure blood", "Black family tree", "Lord Voldemort", "DeathEater", etc.

Although I was happy to get the information I was looking for I sat back for a moment completely stunned. Have the boundaries between real life and imagination blurred so much? If aliens were to one day big up this dictionary would they believe that Hogwarts was real? Is Regulas Black (who was mentioned for all of about 10 lines) just as important as Richard Nixon? Granted all Nixon ever did was become a US President who resigned in shame while Regulas became a death eater for the Dark Lord and maybe even turned to fight him in the end.

I turned to Denise and stated flatly, "These people must have no life." She stirred slightly having just killed a warbling murloc and typing furiously to another "guildie" she was questing with, "What? Did you say something honey?".

I let her return to the real world, and I looked up at the clock. I had just spent 2 hours reading Order of the Pheonix and another 1.5 hrs chasing around on the internet reading about Regulas. Maybe "real life" is the thing we do to earn enough money so we can afford to spend our free time in our imaginations.