When worlds collide

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 14282

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More thoughts inspired by the forewords:

The trouble with REALLY bringing together the two worlds, HP and ours, 
is that ours has fictional books about HP in it.  If our world is 
their world, then Dumbledore will soon start reading about this 
fiction phenomenon whose heroes are the people of his very real world. 
 Some fanfictions deal with this explicitly and explain how Muggle JKR 
(or witch JKR) wrote the books pretending, or perhaps believing, that 
they were fiction.  

If Harry really gave permission to reprint his FB in 2001, no 
surprise; he is beyond embarrassment at this point.  We already know 
countless private thoughts of his from Rowling's books, and he knows 
it because, for heaven's sake, half the kids at Dudley's school read 
HP voraciously.  They think it's fiction, but that's little comfort to 
the boy whose secret crush is immortalized in the fastest-selling book 
in history.

An alternative is that the two worlds are exactly the same *except* 
that the Muggle world of the books doesn't have a bestselling author 
named J.K. Rowling in it.  I thought about this when I first saw Star 
Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the one where they come back to 1980's San 
Francisco to find humpback whales.  The San Francisco they return to 
is just like the one we know--except for the very odd fact that it's 
clear that no one in THAT SF has ever seen Star Trek.  In the real San 
Francisco, far from thinking Spock is a weirdo, people would be 
rushing up to shake his hand and examine his ears.  The plot works 
fine if 20th century San Franciscans have never heard of Star Trek--it 
would fall apart if they had.

So maybe when Dumbledore reads the Times it has all the news of the 
day...but no mention of a series of books about a kid named Harry 
Potter?  

Do the forewords mention JKR, or just Comic Relief?  (The former would 
seem to contradict my theory; the latter lets it stand.)

Amy Z

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 "Winky is having trouble adjusting, Harry 
 Potter," squeaked Dobby confidentially.
                 -HP and the Goblet of Fire
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