Wizard Contraception

[Merriman Vicki]

No: HPFGUIDX 333

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Ebony Elizabeth" <ebonyink at h...> 
wrote:
> 
> I do agree with the talisman idea.  Perhaps the talisman is very 
> expensive.  Or perhaps it is considered a bit of Dark Magic, 
> something that respectable folk shun (didn't someone here recently 
> say this milieu seems semi-medieval in some ways?).  That would 
> explain the Weasley's automatic Quidditch team of silbings.  It 
would > also explain why James and Lily had a child at the worst 
possible > time.

I disagree that it would be expensive/difficult or considered Dark 
Magic.  The Weasley's clearly seem to be an exception in the 
wizarding world, not the typical family.

Given that no sibling has been mentioned, even in passing in the 
books, Seamus and Malfoy have no one for at least 3-4 years on either 
side of them (at Hogwarts), and neither of them came with siblings to 
the world cup.  The Diggorys' may only have one son, since no sibling 
came to watch his or her brother at the Triwizard tournament or came 
to the world cup with Amos and Cedric.  At the world cup Harry saw a 
couple of little girls together with no supervision, so it very 
slightly implies that they didn't have older siblings to keep an eye 
on them.   If James has a brother or sister, JKR hasn't brought it up 
yet, so he has no sibling or he/she died in the voldemort years.  
also, if there was anyone in James' family around, they surely would 
have insisted on raising Harry themselves rather than allowing him to 
be sent off to the muggle world.  All in all, it seems that most 
wizarding families are small, and that the weasleys are the exception.

Now interestingly enough, Colin Creevy's brother started at Hogwarts 
in GoF, and yet Colin is muggle born.  Their muggle parents have 
produced two wizards.  So perhaps there are people who are just shy 
of wizarding folk, and when they happen to get married they have a 
higher tendancy to produce muggle born wizards.

While we're on the subject of families, I loved the line in GoF, 
where Harry is thinking that he didn't tell anyone his wand was 
related to Voldy's, because "he was very fond of his wand, and its 
relationship to Voldemort's was something it couldn't help, rather 
like he couldn't help being related to the Dursleys."  I just thought 
that was really cute.

Vicki