Childhood Wizards

[Pam Scruton]

No: HPFGUIDX 1357

I've had a whole flight of fancy along the lines of how muggles deal 
with muggle-born witchlings (and wizardlings? or does one word 
encompass both?).  I imagined Grangers being really worried about 
some of the things that Hermione did as a tiny wee tot and being 
unable to discuss it with anyone because they didn't want their girl 
to be treated like a freak.  I even thought they might get involved 
in tracing their family history to see if there were any other odd 
people in the bloodline.  And, of course, they may have decided not 
to have any more children just in case they had another strange one. 
My children did some amazingly scary things when they were small - 
one of them, at age six, climbed 30ft high scaffolding when his 
father's back was turned for just three minutes.  He climbed down 
very carefully but Hermione might just have jumped! 

I imagine that the Grangers would have felt enormous relief when 
somebody came to visit them to discuss their child's future - perhaps 
encouraging Hermione to demonstrate what she was already capable of. 
I have imagined that it would be an undercover witch working in 
Hermione's primary school - somebody placed there to protect young 
witches and wizards from discovery and to try to help them to control 
their abilities without anyone, including the children, realising 
what was going on.  (I'm pretty sure I know who it is in my 
daughter's primary school!)

Then there would be the invitation to visit the school and an 
interview with Dumbledore and he would make even the most 
recalcitrant parent understand that there really is no choice - 
somebody with magical abilities has to be educated in a particular 
way.  

I understand that JKR has said in an interview that Hogwarts is the 
only magical school in the UK - if that is true, then there must be 
undcover witches and wizards in muggle schools to supervise the 
education of those children who don't get to Hogwarts (I'm sure that 
more than one character has said at some time or another that they 
weren't sure that they were good enough to get into Hogwarts).  

One of the things I've loved from the start of the Harry Potter books 
is that we are presented with a wizarding world that actually works - 
with an economy, and educational system, a transport system etc.  
Speculating on the detail of this society and where it interfaces 
with Muggle society gives me endless amusement.

Pam