[HPforGrownups] Re: Mindy: Some possible avenues of thought.

[JenniferABacker at cs.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24357

In a message dated 8/16/01 11:34:33 AM Central Daylight Time, 
A.E.B.Bevan at open.ac.uk writes:

<< 
 Not in Muggle Britain  where it is not compulsory to send your 
 children to school. The law says that parents are obliged to provide 
 their children with a full-time education either by enrolling them in 
 a recognised school 'or otherwise'. The Home Education Movement in 
 Britain is called 'education otherwise...' Basically you can just do 
 it without asking permission. Assume this as the background to 
 Wizarding Britain.
  >>
I'm sorry if this was mentioned already, but I'm a bit behind in my messages 
today. This is my first *real* post, so it may not make complete sense, but 
I'm giving it a try.

Now as Edis said, parents of Muggle-born students could say they are home 
educated. They can also take Uncle Vernon's route and say he goes to a 
different school. Wouldn't the Dursleys be smarter in saying that Harry is 
home educated? He doesn't have to say they teach him, but can't they say he 
has a tutor?

"Just our nephew -- very disturbed -- meeting strangers upsets him, so we 
kept him upstairs" [CoS; Chapter 2] There you go! Good reason as to why he's 
not in the same school as Dudley. 

Now, you may be wondering 'what difference does it make?' Well, it could. The 
irony of life is that unexpected things always happen. Something like this 
could easily happen:

"Say Vernon, doesn't your nephew you live with you? Harry right?" - new 
neighbor

"Uh, yes he does." - Vernon

"Where does he go to school? I didn't see him leaving with Dudley this 
morning when he went to Smeltings." -  neighbor

"St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys." - Vernon

"Really? What a coincidence! So does my nephew. The next time I write him, 
I'll see if he knows him!" -  neighbor


Nice predicament, eh? Now, St. Brutus's *could* be made up too, but it may 
not me. AFAIK, it never says it's *real* or not. I highly doubt no one has 
ever asked Vernon or Petunia where Harry goes off too. (They must have a 
noisy neighbor, or someone to notice it!) They probably stick to the same 
story...otherwise it'd be really stupid. They *could* have told everyone a 
made-up school, but someone may get suspicious. (For example, my mother knows 
all the churches in our area and would get a bit suspicious if someone named 
a church she didn't recognize.) Why can't they just make up a person? Say 
that they go live with Petunia's great-aunt in Switzerland or something.

Anyway, my question is does anyone think I have a point? Is St. Brutys's real 
or what? Like I said, this is my first post and I'm far off from being an 
adult. I *do* hope it makes at least some sense. Tear it apart if you want. I 
don't doubt I've made a mistake or too. I've learned not to take it seriously 
from this group, and I'd love to hear opinions! Oh, and I tried my best to 
use correct grammer. Please forgive me if I didn't.
Forge