Request/Two General HP-Related Questions...

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 21964

Ebony, I am so jealous.  

> Two quick questions that I've thought of in my first week here:
> 
> 1)  Is the Hogwarts Express the only way that kids get to Hogwarts? 
 
> I'm having a hard time believing it. 

Someone really has to ask Jo this one.  The evidence points both ways. 
 For the yes:  it seems to be how everyone routinely gets there, 
regardless of where they live; surely not all of Harry's roommates, 
Hermione, Draco & cronies, and all the others who have been seen on 
the train live close enough and/or south of London to make it the 
practical choice, but it's the way they go anyway.  For the no:  all 
the reasons you gave.  There could be a magical way everyone gathers 
in London--everyone's flue is hooked up to one meeting point near KC 
for a few hours on Sept. 1--but what's the reason?  So that if the HE 
crashes an entire generation of British wizards and witches die at 
once (sort of the opposite logic to the President and Vice President 
never flying together)?

Sorry, that's more questions than answers.  I know it's been discussed 
here before, but I don't recall a single best answer.
 
> Of course, we do not know conclusively that Hogwarts is in actual 
> Muggle Scotland, do we?  

Depends on whether Muggle Scotland and Wizarding Scotland have the 
exact same boundaries.  According to FB, it's in Scotland (Acromantula 
entry).  Either Harry is writing this comment with his Muggle 
knowledge of geography, in which case Hogwarts is in Muggle Scotland, 
or, since Harry doesn't know where Hogwarts is when he sets off the 
first time (PS/SS 6), he's been told during his time at Hogwarts that 
it's in [wizarding] Scotland.

> 2)  Why does no one have tea in the books?  Heidi has a fascinating 
> theory about this that I buy (she was a history major once upon a 
> time), but why no tea in the wizarding world, yet house-elves wear 
> tea-cozies and tea-towels?  This tea thing is really so much a part 
> of the culture here that I immediately wondered about its absence in 
> the books.  Unless I am forgetting something...

-There is a mention of Christmas tea in GF 23 ("There was no Christmas 
tea today, as the ball included a feast").  

-Hagrid asks Ron and Harry to tea and a tongue-lashing in PA 14--not 
sure if it's a full-fledged tea; it only seems to involve tea and Bath 
buns, but it is at 6.

Those are the only references that come to mind.  Is it usual to have 
tea in boarding schools, I wonder?  Four meals a day?  Add it to the 
list of house-elf grievances.
 
> Speaking of which, it's teatime now.  

Enjoy!

And do report to OT-chatter on this Sunday's gathering, assuming 
you'll be there.

Amy Z