The backwards temporal construction of this story was inspired by Howard Pinter's play Betrayal.
Heartfelt apologies to Bryan Adams for the aspersions cast upon his song, "Please Forgive Me". This author finds it a perfectly lovely piece of contemporary music; it's just that she doesn't think Minerva would care much for it.
The other song is, of course, "Where or When", by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, from their 1937 musical Babes in Arms. The version referred to in this chapter is the one by Peggy Lee and the Benny Goodman trio from 1941.
A few phrases of Gilderoy Lockhart's are lifted verbatim from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 13.