clothes (was:Chapter 10 Summary: Mayhem at the Ministry

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 1378

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Denise" <gypsycaine at y...> wrote:
> [Ron's] dress robe.  She's a mom, right?  Isn't there a way, if she
> can use her wand to cook with, she could've "spruced" up the 
> second robe to look better?  (At least anti-lace it so it didn't 
> look so frayed like when Ron did it?)

1) I wondered why Ron had to use a Severing Spell instead of just 
using a scissors.

2) Apparently they can't magic up wizard clothes. They buy their 
Hogwarts robes at Madam Malkin's shop --  where Madam Malkin and her 
shop assistant witches pin up the hems the same way that Muggles do! 
(So how were the robes that Mrs. Weasley bought for the kids hemmed
to the right length?) She should be able to just tap the robe with 
her wand (okay, tap it on a point that is the right length) and make 
it hem itself! I think we saw her measuring with a tape measure: her 
tape measure should measure on its own like Mr. Ollivander's -- 
and automagically shrink or stretch the fabric it measures so that 
the garment fits right without a human having to cut and sew to make 
alterations.

Apparently they can't even 'spruce up' wizard clothes by magic: 
remember Lupin's patched robes, and early in GoF Harry reflects that 
he has never seen the adult Weasleys wearing anything but long robes 
in various states of shabbiness (even while dropping the kids off at 
KIng's Cross?)    

Apparently there are a LOT of things that magic can't do. I was 
thinking on the bus this morning that Hagrid's explanation of wizard 
secrecy <<if they knew we existed, everyone would be bothering us for 
magic solutions to all their problems>> becomes very implausible when 
one sees how the wizard folk are unable to use magic to solve their 
own problems. By 'their own problems', I don't just mean Voldemort -- 
I mean, lots of them are fat, lots of them are homely, some of them 
need eyeglasses. The Weasleys are poor, Neville is a klutz and has a 
terrible memory, Stan Shunpike has godawful acne (and so did Moaning 
Myrtle when she was alive). All of those are problems that SEEM a lot 
easier to fix than changing a desk into a pig or doing the Summoning 
Charm or Apparating.