Assorted

[katzefan at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24258

1) Somewhere waaaay back there, someone (Mindy?) was 
wondering about Wizards living in the Muggle world, and 
someone else speculated that Hogsmeade was the 'largest 
Wizard village in Britain' (or something like that), suggesting that 
most wizards don't, in fact, live in the Muggle world.

**Pause for breath after unparsable long sentence.**

Manymanymany years ago, I read a short story by American 
writer Harlan Ellison in which a man is staring casually into his 
neighbour's garden -- when he realizes a plant is staring back. It 
has eyes (multiple) and tentacles. Turns out the guy is an alien 
who has moved out to the suburbs (which include Earth) but 
anyone who wishes to do so is briefed intensively on Earth 
customs and practices and MUST abide by them so as to avoid 
drawing unnecessary and unwanted attention. Anyone violating 
these regulations has their 'suburb' pass yanked and ends up 
back in the overcrowded galactic centre. Perhaps the same sort 
of thing applies here: a minority of Wizards do live in the Muggle 
world, but only after careful briefing about how to fit in.
Having said that, my impression of Great Britain (correct me if I'm 
wrong) is that it is the most tolerant country in the world for 
eccentrics, so a Wizard would have to something really, really 
bizarre to be noticed (a live dragon on the front lawn would do it 
... maybe).

2) Lockhart's attraction - Personally, I don't see any, but how 
many of today's superstars have any more depth than he does? I 
agree with those who say Molly is probably intrigued by his 
surface charm. However, I think she's an extremely down-to-
earth woman. If Lockhart was actually around her for any length 
of time, I predict it wouldn't be long before he'd be swept out with 
that day's dust.
As for Hermione, puh-leeze!! She's only - what, 12 years old that 
year? He's superficially good-looking, well-known, (supposedly) 
very brave and adventurous and he's always praising her. It's not 
surprising that she develops a crush on him. She seems to have 
pretty much gone 'off' him by the end of the book; however googly 
she is over him at the beginning, she too is shrewd enough by 
the end to see he's all flash and no substance.

3) After Harry keeps Sirius and Lupin from killing Wormtail, 
Dumbledore tells Harry that when one wizard saves another, it 
creates a bond, and that he has handed Voldemort back a 
servant who is indebted to Voldemort's worst enemy. There was 
certainly no sign in GoF that Wormtail remembered that debt. Any 
speculation on whether he ever will?