Muggle money

[jenp_97]

No: HPFGUIDX 42945

Here's hoping I get the attributions right...

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "hp_lexicon" <hp_lexicon at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., eloiseherisson at a... wrote:

> > > And who paid for all this? 
> 
> I think the Ministry actually has quite a stash of Muggle money 
> around and it was this that the Weasleys tapped into. I've
travelled 
> quite a bit and every time I'm in a foreign country I find it
tricky 
> to keep a sense of how much the money is worth. I'm sure Molly 
> doesn't think of British pounds as money, really, so paying what we 
> would consider to be a vast sum for a taxi ride with cash that is 
> otherwise basically worthless to her would not be such a big deal. 
> I'm sure Arthur, as he hurried around getting ready to head for 
> Moody's house, had someone at the Ministry "apparate" a five or six 
> hundred pounds to the kitchen table for her to use.
> 
> There is the possibility that Molly simply conjured it up, and that 
> it vanished a couple of hours later, but that's blatant thievery
and 
> it doesn't seem like something Molly would do.
> 

I agree with you about Molly not seeming like the type of 
person to conjure up money (knowing that it would vanish 
later) and then use it to pay for Muggle things (be it taxi 
rides or postage stamps or whatever).  However, I always 
pictured that instead of the ministry having muggle money 
on hand and "apparating" it to the Weasleys' kitchen table, 
Arthur instead took a certain sum out of a discretionary 
account at the Ministry (perhaps the "Funds for getting 
Harry out of a Jam" or "Emergency Muggle Transportation" 
account?), and then changed it into muggle money at 
Gringotts, a la Hermione's parents changing muggle money 
into wizarding loot.

I wonder how easy it would be for Arthur, once arriving at 
the Ministry, to remember that the kids had no way of 
getting to Kings Cross, stick his head in a fireplace and 
request the discretionary funds (making sure to mention 
that Harry was in his group needing the money), have 
someone change it into Muggle money, and then call up Molly 
in the fireplace again, hand her the cash, and kiss her 
goodbye...

JenP, who wonders if this amount of thought about a taxi 
ride means something sinister...