Happy Birthday / Lupin Photos /

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Happy Birthday to Dinah! What did Severus give you for your birthday?

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth C.!

Happy Birthday, Kelley!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Amy wrote:

<< Wait, come back, Ms. Skeeter! What about when Harry asked Lupin 
why he wasn't in any of his parents' wedding photos, and who were 
those other people, anyhow? >>

Are there any photos of Remus anywhere? Maybe werewolves can't be 
photographed: they come out on the image as big gray blotches or, 
worse yet, as wolves standing on hind legs?

Steve bboy_mn wrote:

<< While we are on the topic of magic cities, it would seem that 
Diagon Alley is not a city but a street; the equvalent of High Street 
or Main Street. So would you speculate that Diagon Alley is the heart 
of a tiny magical village, or is there a whole magical city there; 
broom factories, book publishers, cauldron foundaries, import/export 
warehouses, produce distributors, etc...; all the businesses 
necessary to make any city run? 

Pondering that brings up the question of residential areas. Where is 
Malfoy Manor? Is there a posh magic city neighborhood where all the 
rich have their manors and mansions? Are there expanses of houses 
where common working men live? Suburbs? Parks? A red light district? 
>>

The existence of Knockturn Alley is canon evidence that the Diagon 
Alley shopping district is more than one street. I don't have any 
trouble believing that there could be another street or two (maybe 
even named Seezon Alley, as in Heidi's fic. How about Merr Alley?). 
However, I very much doubt that there are any factories or warehouses 
there, or residences except shopkeepers's living quarters over their 
shops. I believe that the factories, like the residences, are 
scattered through the normal (Muggle-oid) areas. Some would be 
disguised as Muggle places, some would be Unplottable, most would be 
isolated in rural or desolate areas, like the Burrow is. People who 
can Apparate don't have to live close to their jobs.

I always wonder about the wizarding economy, and for years I have 
been asking whether there are wizard farmers or do most wizards buy 
produce (and meat and so on) that was originally grown by Muggles? 
If the latter, at what point does it enter the wizarding economy? I 
can't imagine that Molly Weasley regularly shops in a Muggle 
supermarket, but maybe the local greengrocer, the local butcher, 
and the people at the local Farmer's Market (Fridays from 7 am to 
noon) know her as that nice eccentric woman, she must be kind of 
artist or something.

CHRISTIAN's reminder of the spelling of Knockturn Alley reminded me 
that long before I noticed the pun, I saw a reference to Knocking on 
a door and Turning a doorknob ...