Mrs. Figg as babysitter

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

No: HPFGUIDX 15326

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Florence" <fgcjnk at b...> wrote:
>  
> > My guess is that Mrs. Figg *offered* to take care of Harry in the 
> > beginning -- for free. 
> 
> I think Dumbledore may have offered her services to the Dursleys in 
> the 'letter that explained everything'.  

You really think the Dursleys would have taken any advice from 
Dumbledore?  I suspect that any babysitter recommended by Dumbledore 
would have been shunned like the plague, as far as the Dursleys were 
concerned.  They might even move to a different part of town, or 
another town in equal distance from Mr. Dursley's job, just on 
principle.

> > 2. She had to be able to drop her life and go do this. The poor 
> > witch has spent how many years as a Muggle? 
> 
> I still think she's a squib and had to live like this anyway.

I suspect most, or at least some, squibs would still be living in the 
magical world - they'd been brought up there, and letting them out 
into the muggle world would be troublesome for them, to say the 
least.  Theya re also a certain risk when it comes to letting 
knowledge of the magical world slip out to the muggles.  Available 
jobs would include selling tickets at the Knight-bus and other tasks 
that do not require magical knowledge.

Practise from family to family would vary, of course - I am not 
certain that a squib born into the Malfoy-family should expect a 
lifespan of any reasonable length..

> > And by the way . . . why *couldn't* she let him in on anything? 
> 
> The Dursleys asked her not to?  And only used her once a year just 
> in case.
> 
>  
> > if she was communicating with Dumbledore all this time, why on 
> > Earth didn't Hagrid know that Harry was completely clueless about 
> > his parentage? 
> 
> Dumbledore guessed, but only hinted to Hagrid that there might be 
> trouble - after all the Dursleys may have been waiting until nearer 
> the time to tell him.
> 
> 
> > You'd think that around Harry's ninth birthday or so, Mrs. Figg 
> > might have owled Dumbledore and said something like, "You
> > know . . . the Potter boy really has no idea about what he is. 
> > The invitation from Hogwarts will probably be a bit of a shock. 
> > Do you think I should whip out the *real* photo albums and have a 
> > chat with him next time the Muggles send him over?" 
> 
> I expect she did, but Dumbledore had to respect the Dursleys 
> choices here or they might have refused to contine to look after 
> him.  Of course Mrs Figg may have been going to talk to Harry on 
> Dudleys birthday just before the Hogwarts invite, but couldn't 
> because she broke her leg.  (If she IS a witch why didn't she get 
> this fixed up magically?)

Most likely because somebody saw her breaking the leg - it'd be a bit 
odd if she was sent off to hospital with a broken leg one day, and 
the next day her leg was OK again.  It is not a given that all 
witches and wizards know how to heal themselves, anyway.

Best regards
Christian Stubø