Flamel Book - Deaths - Wizarding Aristo / Population - More Topics

[Catlady]

No: HPFGUIDX 9907

Dai wrote:
> Hermione finds the reference to Flamel in an "Enormous old book."
> The quote from the book places Nick Flamel at 665 the year before
> the book was written.
Maybe reference books in the wizarding world automatically update their
text.

Penny wrote:
> The first comment in this forum has to do with the Stouffer Lawsuit.
> The person suggests that Stouffer's claim has merit
Maybe the person is Stouffer herself.

Becky Penar wrote:
> keeping with the 'Harry is written as a children's book for children'
theme,
> would JKR really kill off such a major player that children (like us)
have
> become so attached to??

JKR has said in interview after interview after interview that she never
planned HP to be a children's book, but rather was writing the book that
she herself wanted to read.  It is terrible that Penny's carpal tunnel
syndrome is so bad it kept her on ranting on that subject. JKR said in
preview interviews for GoF that it is where 'the deaths begin', a
phraseology that suggests there will be MANY deaths. She said she's
sorry if it's hard on child readers, but a depiction of evil which is
not unpleasant is not accurate. I will not be surprised if Harry dies
heroically at the end or if Ron dies heroically before the end, but I
will be very surprised if Hermione dies. While that is just the
impression I get, I can back it up with the argument that Hermione is
JKR: killing her would be suicide.

Ebony wrote:
> UK and Ireland (which seems to be part of the same magical
jurisdiction,
> judging from Seamus Finnegan and the officiants of the Quidditch World
Cup).

The location where the World Cup Final is held doesn't have to be one of
the competing nations: the Soccer World Cup was held in USA eight(?)
years ago.

I believe that Hogwarts is the only wizarding school for the island of
Britain and its associated Isles including Man and that all wizarding
children from that area attend Hogwarts (around 1000 students) but it is
not the school for the island of Ireland (all 32 counties) and its
associated Isles. I assume that Seamus's parents moved from the island
of Ireland to the island of Britain, the same as I assume that Parvati
and Padma's parents moved from South Asia to the island of Britain, and
Cho's parents moved from Hong Kong to the island of Britain. I do wonder
how the magic quill handles children who were born outside of Britain
but moved there with their families before age 11? I'd prefer if the
quill wrote the names of all members of the entering class in the
preceding January, rather than when they were born. That would also
avoid the problem of children who had magic when born, but died before
age 11.

I can't imagine the wizarding folk changing their national boundaries
every 20 or even every 40 years just to keep up with Muggle wars and
politics (there are people living now in Eastern Europe who have lived
their whole lives in the same village and 4 or 5 different countries,
starting with Austro-Hungarian Empire, then a nation decreed by Treaty
of Versailles, then Nazi German Empire, then a different reconstituted
nation that then fell under Soviet dominion....)

It is much easier for me to imagine that the wizarding folk draw their
national boundaries according to a combination of physical geography and
local language. Thus, there is a school for the Island of Britain and
another for the Island of Ireland, not one for UK (which includes
Northern Ireland) and another for the Republic of Ireland.

1) JKR was right when she said that Hogwarts is the only wizarding
school in Britain. 2) When JKR said she writes letters to American
children who ask how to apply to Hogwarts that only children from 'UK
and Ireland' can attend Hogwarts, she was wrong to say 'UK and Ireland',
wrong even to say 'UK'.

> Also, Hagrid does  make the statement "if we hadn't married Muggles
> we'd have died out".

I feel pretty sure that it was neither Hagrid nor Arthur who made that
statement, but rather Ron.

> However, what of the rest of the world?  Club member Rita Winston
(also
> known as Catlady) has some of the *best* theories about magical
societies
> throughout the world.

Thank you. Your praise just now made me think that maybe I should start
a text-heavy Web Site and post my wizarding schools essays (and my
fanfic) on it. Meantime, they can be retrieved from the egroups archive
of this group and of the other group that was created to house our Yahoo
archive.

> below the poverty line... and I don't mean the Weasleys.  Would such
kids
> in  England get letters from Hogwarts, if they had magical ability?
What
> if they had no home for the letters to be sent to?

We've been told that owls can always find the person to whom a letter is
addressed, even if only the name is written on the envelope. We've seen
that demonstrated by owls bringing mail to Sirius while he is hiding in
a cave. I don't doubt that even homeless wizarding ability children get
their letters.

> What if their  parents could not afford the books/robes/wand?  Are
there
> funds available?  Or is this kid, magical though they might be, just
out of  luck?

Well, I am QUITE certain that since Dumbledore became Headmaster, he has
seen to it that every Hogwarts student gets the books and robes heesh
needs, altho' I don't know whether anything was done before Dumbledore's
reign. It is possible that how he provides for financially distressed
students is by asking all parents & graduates to give the school all
outgrown uniforms and no longer needed textbooks for redistribution, so
that poor students can be recognized by their shabbiness. It is also
possible that he provides for them by kissing up to people like Lucius
Malfoy for donations to a scholarship fund.

I feel fairly certain that, whether by government grants or private
charity, the wizarding world doesn't allow all-wizard families to live
in destitution: "We can't let them live like *Muggles*." If a family is
homeless, neighbors and relatives would rally around to transform the
interior of a tiny shack into a snug cottage, or build the family a hut
like Hagrid's. Having magic would help. People would stop by and dump
clothing and food on them. The occasional rich employer would give the
father or single mother a job, a job consisting of hanging around and
saying frequently how grateful they are for the job.

Steph Widger wrote:

> I wondered how old Hagrid was. I mean, I always pictured him as a
> younger wizard, but if it was before our time and draco says it was 50

> years so it was before his fathers time too so if Hagrid was in school

> then he and was at least 13 then, (it was his third or second year?
can't
> remember) then how old is he?

Hagrid was 13 in CoS's flashback, and CoS's flashback was 50 years
before CoS, so Hagrid was 63 at the time of CoS. CoS was in the 1992-3
school year, and this is the 2000-1 school year, so he's 71 now. He
*could* be the same age as McGonagall, if JKR's answer 'McGonagall is a
sprightly 70' meant when she did that interview this fall, not in the
book. JKR, in that interview, said the wizard folk have longer lifespans
than Muggles, and Dumbledore is 150. That would make him 100 in the CoS
flashback, and he had auburn hair then, so I deduce that the wizarding
folk not only live longer, they age slower. Perhaps witches don't hit
menopause until age 70. Then a couple could have 4 or 5 children and
raise each one of them as an only child.

This relates to attempts to compute number of wizarding children based
on the total wizarding population. The fraction of the population which
is under 18 would be lower for the wizard folk than for us. Because more
(adult) generations of wizard folk are still alive at the same time,
thus increasing the fraction of adults.

Mike  Schubert wrote:

> Now, I had always assumed that the Seeker was prohibited from touching
the Quaffle.

I was wondering about this yesterday. I was having dinner with a friend
and asked him: "What happens if someone other than the Seeker catches
the Snitch?" Is that a violation of the rules or a way for a Chaser who
really wanted to be a Seeker to gain some extra glory?

Belinda Susan Rodrigues wrote:

> But what I'm curious about is the time frame of wizarding life.
> Specifically, if they have such long lifespans, why do they meet their

> spouses as teenagers in Hogwarts? We know James and Lily met in
> school, as did Arthur and Molly Weasley. How come no one meets their
> significant other later in life? After all, they have lots of time to
play the field.

We DON'T KNOW that everyone meets their spouses as teenagers, just
because we know of two or three couples who did. We don't know where
Lucius and Narcissa met, nor where the senior Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott
met the mothers of their children. We do know that both Bill and Charlie
Weasely have finished school, and neither of them has shown signs of
having a spouse or fiancee. Those long lives also allow plenty of time
for second marriages after widowhood, as it would not be unreasonable
for someone 30 or 40 years old to fall for a young, auburn-haired
100-year-old....

<nlpnt at y...> wrote:
> Have you ever seen the "When I Am An Evil Overlord" list?
http://minievil.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Pippin wrote:
> and the appeal of Shakespear is  universal. I've seldom seen such a
> degree of excitement in our classes." William Shakespear (1564-1616)
> was the author of several  plays, including The Tempest, which will be

> presented as a student production at Hogwarts this spring. (snip)
> Another view was presented by Severus Snape, 15, of Slytherin, who
> will be playing the mer/human crossbreed Caliban. Mr. Snape declined
> to comment for for the record, but did threaten to turn this reporter
> into a toad.

I have been wondering lately whether Snape forces a Shakespeare reading
club (and other poetry to get drunk on the words of) on his
Slytherins....

Flourish wrote:
> Remember that Wormtail had to nurse him back to health with snake's
> milk (Does anyone else know what's up with that?!?)

Here in the Muggle world, to 'milk' a snake is to extract its venom into
a beaker, so that it can be used to make antivenin.

--
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