I'm actually thinking that this might be a red herring as well...but I'm not sure, JKR always has a way of sneaking things up on us unexpectadly. Do you think that the HBP would be introduced at this time in the Book? Well, we can't actually say if it is too early or late for a character to be introduced because, I mean, we don't even know how long the book is yet!

*hopes it is a very long book and that book 7 is even longer* << hehe! lol