[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Why were the Weasleys poor?

[Mrs.) Lee Storm (God is the Healing Force]

[Catlady]:
| I doubt they pay for water (I think it is teleported to them by magic
| rather than pumped to them in pipes) or Muggle taxes (council rates),
| but they do need clothing, and apparently, even tho' Mrs. Weasley
| knits and crochets, she doesn't sew, or whatever the magic version of
| sewing is. (I am very troubled by the scene in Madam Malkin's shop in
| PS/SS, where she pins up the hem of Harry's robe in the Muggle way --
| why can't she just point a wand at it and say Hemmus Pinnus? Better
| yet, Hemmus Sewus!)

[Lee]:
Well, I tend to think that wizards and witches in the Potterverse don't feel
they need to use magic for everything every time.  I allude to Molly's
reprimand to Gred and Forge in HBP that they didn't need to use magic for
every little thing.

Note the many instances where magic is not used...places where it either
could have been or was in another such instance.  Examples:
In COS, Molly slices bread for Harry; in HBP, Arthur sets the knives to
chopping stuff up.

In SS, Snape cleans up spilled potion with a wave of his wand; in POA,
Trelawney hands Neville a broom and dustpan to clean up the broken tea cup
rather than either vanishing it or doing a Repairo.

Again, books are repaired with Spellotape in GOF when it would be just as
easy for someone to do a Repairo.

So, in that wise, it seems that magic is used by different folk in different
ways, sometimes arbitrarily, perhaps.

[Catlady]:
| Floo powder apparently costs money (CoS: "We're running low, Arthur,"
| she sighed. "We'll have to buy some more today...."). I have no idea
| if there is a monthly fee for being connected to the Floo Network.

[Lee]:
Probably there is.  And there's probably a fee for having a vault at
Gringots, too.

[Catlady]:
| We don't know anything about the prices of wizarding health care. 
| 
| Nor whether the mortgage on The Burrow is paid off.

[Lee]:
Right, and we don't know exactly what the tuition to Hogwarts is, either.

[Catlady]:
| I suspect that Ministry salaries are intended to ensure that only
| people with an inheritance to live on take jobs there, based on page
| ix of Fantastic Beasts: "I was then but a lowly Ministry of Magic
| employee ... my pitiful salary of two Sickles a week...."

[Lee]:
Well, I don't know about the inheritance thing, but if you take the model of
how people are paid in the average, workaday world, anyone in a position of
management will be making more than the rest of the "lowly" employees by a
huge margin, often times.  And, as I see it, the Misuse Of Muggle Artifacts
department is only one in a cluster under Magical Law Enforcement.  So, the
head of the Law Enforcement department probably gets the galleons while
those like Arthur get the sickles.

Another thing to consider: How much was lost when Voldemort had been in
power?  Perhaps there had been an inheritance but it is no more.

Now, add up the possible mortgage, Floo Network registration, clothing for
nine which includes school uniforms for as many as 5 at a time (COS and
POA), tuition for up to five at a time (COS and POA), books and supplies for
up to five at a time (COS and POA), other needs like broomsticks (perhaps
the price of a used car???), etc. etc. ... I'm getting poor just thinking
about all that!  Then, feeding nine people with food to spare (I believe
Molly was raised in traditions of hospitality), and the galleons mount up.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling...like I say, I'm getting poor just thinking
about it!

Cheers,

Lee :-)

Do not walk behind me,    | Lee Storm
I may not care to lead;   | N2FGC
Do not walk before me,    | n2fgc at arrl.net (or)
I may not care to follow; | n2fgc at optonline.net
Walk beside me, and be my friend.