Lockhart - Magical Ability & Wands - Lupin's Suitcase - Mindy's Questions - Snake

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 24272

Lea asked:
> Another thing I've thought about, do you think
> we will ever meet Lockhart again?

I seem to recall that someone asked JKR that in a chat, and she replied
that Lockhart would not be in any condition to leave St. Mungo's until
after many many years of re-learning everything since babyhood. I seem
to recall that I had a problem with that answer, as he was shown still
speaking English and knowing what a Professor is, which are things that
a baby hasn't learned yet.

Kavitha wrote:
> Wouldn't that be dangerous?  An unschooled mage
> who would lose control in moments of extreme emotion,
> possibly with disasterous consequences? 

Apparently Salazar Slytherin thought that was less of a danger than that
Muggle-born witches and wizards might tell Muggles about the wizarding
world -- that is a paraphrase of his stated reason for not wanting to
allow Muggle-born students into Hogwarts, the disagreement that led to
the split among the Founders.  And maybe the other Founders were more
motivated by wanting to avoid that danger you mentioned than by wanting
to be gracious and fair to the Mudblooods.

Kavitha wrote:
> Next question...why do all the wizards/witches/
> warlocks in the Potterverse use wands when, 
>historically, they were not considered neccessary? 

Can you please tell me where it says that wands didn't use to be
considered necessary: I seem to have missed that.

Jesse wrote:
>  It has been stated in many canons that Lupin 
> has found very little paying work over the years
> because of his monthly werewolf stints....  So where 
> was he a professor?  Or did he perhaps make the tag 
> for his bag?

I've read a fanfic in which James gave Remus that case, with its label,
back at their graduation, with the label as a joke on Remus's scholarly
way of speech.

Amanda replying to Mindy:
> > What if Ginny Weasley went to buy a new dress 
> > robe, and couldn't decide which color. She can't
> > owl her mother and wait two days in the store 
> > for an answer!

>Well, if I were Ginny, or was back at college with 
> no phone, I'd either (a) bite the bullet and decide, 
>or (b) ask the lady to hold both until I could get 
> Mom's input, or (c) do without.

She could Apparate home, once she has her Apparation license, perhaps
taking the two robes home with her if the saleslady trusts Weasleys. She
could Floo home or do the Fire Talking thing that we learned about in
GoF: the dress shop might even have a fireplace for that purpose, or
else she would have to go to the nearest public fireplace. 

> > They DO take the train, though -- the Hogwarts 
> > Express. If they walk around dressed up in robes
> > on the street all the time, aren't they immediately
> > visible?

> They don't; see reference to McGonagall's disgusted 
> comment, above.

> > Are they all in Muggle clothing when they go 
> > to the train station?

> Yes. They change on the train. And the Hogwarts
> express is the only train mentioned that is ridden 
> regularly, so far. The rest probably Floo or 
> Apparate to work.

This is something that I've having trouble with: when Harry tells Vernon
of the Weasleys wanting to take him to the Quidditch World Cup, Vernon
snarls that they'd better be dressed 'normally' and Harry reflects that
the young Weasleys wear Muggle clothes on holiday but he'd never seen
the parents in anything but long robes, usually shabby. And I thought:
"What! Did Mr and Mrs Weasley wear their robes when they took the kids
to King's X station?" One pair of parents in robes wouldn't attract
suspicion: they're just foreigners. But if dozens and dozens of parents
showed up in robes, surely there would be calls to call-in shows
complaining about the 'cultists' jamming the train station. 

> > Another question I have, is how they manage to 
> > support themselves with only magical jobs. There 
> > are only so many people who can work for the 
> > Ministry, and only so many people who can have 
> > shops in Hogsmeade.

> And while we haven't been shown a lot of it, there's
> clearly a wizarding economy operating full-steam 
> making things like Bertie Botts beans, Golden Snitches, 
> broomstics, self-threading needles, odd clocks, etc.

I keep trying to figure out the wizarding economy. It keeps not having
enough people for people to be able to actually make a being selling
robes or playing Quidditch or most of the things they do for jobs. The
income from most of their jobs would be more in the range of income from
a hobby. The only way I can make it make sense to me is if all the
wizarding folk, in addition to their inheritances, wages, etc, receive a
subsidy that is probably only enough for bare subsistence. I like to
think that wizarding money DOES grow on trees, very special trees that
are in MoM custody, and the subsidies sent to each wizard each year come
from that year's harvest of those trees.    

Little Alex asked:
>  The wizard won't have the basic paperwork
> to get to the point where he can have a social
> security number.
> And what kind of a job a wizard can do in the
> Muggle world, when he's probably not encouraged
> to use much magic?  (snip)
> Even if he has the skills, how can he prove it?

Magic must be very useful when it comes to forging identity papers and
diplomas, as magic surely can insert the person's new records into all
the file cabinets and computer databases necessary, and remove the old
records when the person wants to cease to exist in the Muggle world. I
personally believe that there are plenty of wizarding folks 'earning'
their livings by use of magic in the Muggle world, often by using
Persuasion Charms and Confundus Charms for various kinds of scams, but
also by more honest methods, like selling Love Potions and Weight Loss
Potions that smart people like us know are just chicanery and don't buy.

>  Are there any wizarding universities?  Don't
> any of them get Ph.D's?

Jennifer wrote:
> Really, I think the apprentice method would 
> work better (and pretty much appear to be the 
> same thing...several students at most working
>  with one "master" of a craft -- medicine, 
> politics, teaching, etc).

magpie wrote:
> I've always figured that there was some kind of
> apprenticeship program in the Wizarding World.  
> You graduate from Hogwarts, and then are put into
> a basic-level apprentiship (sort of like the old 
> ways of training solicitors and nurses).

JKR has said repeatedly that there are NO wizarding universities. Since
there clearly must be advanced education, I have decided that there are
scholarly guilds (guilds, incidentally, are called 'collegia' in Latin)
as well as professional guilds. Guilds have consistent standards to
certify their members. In a professional guild, the levels are
Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master, and the person has to pass various
tests and so on to be promoted to the next level. I feel sure that there
is a Healers' Guild which is where Pomfrey was trained. I also believe
that a vocational school is not a university and therefore doesn't
contradict JKR -- I have imagined that there is a separate profession of
Physicians, mediwizards who recieved their training in the classrooms of
Paracelsus College or Asclepius College rather than by apprenticeship,
and a rather hostile rivalry between the two types of mediwizard.

It seems to me that in the scholarly guild the levels are Apprentice,
Journeyman, Master, and Doctor -- in the scholarly world, the Master is
qualified to own hiser own business, work without supervision, teach
Apprentices, and certify trained Apprentices as Journeymen, but only
Doctors are qualified to teach Journeymen and Masters to be Masters and
Doctors... Journeymen are qualified to be employed under supervision...
The Master can certifiy hiser own apprentices as journeymen after they
pass comprehensive oral and written exams set by a committee of Doctors.
The journeyman who wishes to become a Master (Magister or Magistra of
Artis Magia) must submit a dissertation and (if the dissertation is
accepted by the committee) defend the dissertation for 24 hours
straight, on the podium of the guildhouse's lecture hall answering
questions from all comers... the sublime and ultimate degree of Doctor
of Artis Magia is awarded based on nomination and vote of the guild
members who are Doctors already.

Heidi wrote:
>  We also know that Gringotts changes Muggle money - 
> they must have some sort of relationship with the Bank
> of England that swaps wizard gold for pounds - then the
> Muggles melt it down & turn it into gold bars or something. 

I have long thought that Gringotts' money changing operation was totally
internal to Gringotts: having started by acquiring a supply of Muggle
cash, perhaps by selling fake gems to Muggles, they sold the Muggle cash
(presumably at a markup, or with an exchange fee) to wizards who wanted
to do business with Muggles, and bought Muggle cash (presumably at a
markdown) from wizards who had been enriching themselves in the Muggle
world. And just the regular turnover of the merchandise (Muggle cash)
saves them from using coins and bills so old that they freak out all the
Muggles.

Robyn wrote:
> I'd love to know the Gringotts exchange rate 
> for Muggle and Wizard currency - I wonder whose
>  economy is stronger?

JKR said that a Galleon is worth five pounds (about seven dollars). I
don't believe it: a look at the prices that Harry pays for things
suggests that the Galleon is worth something from $25 to $40 in modern
money.

Joywitch replying to Mindy:
> >how do they wash their laundry without wash machines? 
> Wave their wands and say Cleanemupus Goodandshinyus?

There's a Heinlein book ("Operation Chaos"??) that glimpses a witch
doing her laundry. I think she waves her wand, but anyway the laundry
lines up to take its turn to jump into the wash tub, swim around, wring
itself out, and so on. My two thoughts when I read that scene (long,
long years ago) were
1) do the women in that universe who aren't witches get to have washing
machines (altho' I haven't had a washing machine since I left my
parental home), and 2) that sounds like a Disney animation.

Bente wrote:
> Remember the boa constrictor in PS/SS? The 
> one who had never been to Brazil and which 
> nipped playfully at Dudley's heels? I thought
> it seemed like a cool dude; think we'll 
> ever see it again? 

I nominated that snake as My Favorite HP animal. IIRC, someone in a chat
asked JKR if that snake would appear again and she said Yes.
 
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