on the why of wizard money

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 22439

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Allison" <nosillaps13 at y...> wrote:
> Random question that just popped into my head the other day: Why do 
> wizards even need money?  If you need new robes, why can't you just 
> transfigure old ones?  Can't you just charm food?  (Molly Weasley 
has 
> a book called "1 Minute Feasts: It's Magic!" - the title, to me 
> anyway, suggests little cooking or work or ingredients are 
> involved.)  Can't books you already own be transfigured into books 
> you need to buy for school?

JKR has stated that things conjured by magic, like the sleeping bags 
that Dumbledore creates, do not last. They vanish after a time like 
Leprechaun gold. The food that is eaten at Hogwarts is not conjured, 
but grown (there are cabbage patches and pumpking patches, for 
example, and Hagrid keeps roosters). The House-Elves don't conjure 
food from nothing, they cook it and just transport it through the 
ceiling by magic. Wizard money is required just like Muggle money is 
required. One can assume that when Molly is pouring sauce out of her 
wand that it's coming from some source. Or perhaps, since it's the 
sauce, it's conjured, which means that while the meat is real and 
will fill you up, the sauce will last just long enough to make the 
meat taste wonderful, then diappear before adding any inches your 
hips. The spells to create those sauces would be what's in the 
cookbooks, then. 

What a lovely idea...sure, pour on the Sauce Béarnaise...and I'll 
have that conjured ice cream for desert. No, the whole gallon, that's 
the ticket. Ah...excellent nosh, Molly...

You know, I think it's time I re-did the entire food and drink 
section of the Lexicon...
(http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/w_food.html)

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon