Cosmetic Surgery in the HP World

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 34644

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "sing2wine" <bonnie.abrams at c...> wrote:
> I pointed out the bones growing back in Harry's arm in CoS. But a 
> simpler example of cosmetic surgery in the HP world is Hermione's 
> teeth in GoF. After she was restored to having human instead of 
> rodent teeth - she had the nurse shorten them slightly to make her 
> more attractive - wouldn't that constitute cosmetic surgery?

This does in fact seem to be similar to Harry's bones being grown 
back (although teeth are made of a different material than bones).  
Teeth are more visible than bones, of course, so one could view this 
as "cosmetic" work, except that it was also required for Hermione to 
be able to function, so if we were talking about whether someone's 
insurance would pay for it, I definitely think it would be deemed 
necessary and not merely "cosmetic."  (If you need rhinoplasty for a 
deviated septum, you can also get your nose "cosmetically improved" 
at the same time, and because the original impetus for the surgery 
was medical, the insurance will pay.)

Since this and the seemingly permanent transfiguration of Barty 
Crouch, Sr.'s corpse into a bone were both possible, perhaps the 
running theme here is that material such as bones and teeth can be 
permanently transfigured, but things like Moody's nose cannot 
(skin/flesh).  And by extension, non-teeth/bone things like clothes 
could also not be transfigured permanently.  (Although you'd think 
temporary transfiguration WOULD be possible, and therefore Ron could 
have done something with his shabby robes that would at least have 
lasted long enough for him to go to the Yule Ball.)  

Still, I think JKR is somewhat inconsistent about this; after all, 
Crouch, Jr. may have stripped his father's body before transfiguring 
it (and it still had the flesh on it, not being a mere skeleton 
yet), but I'm rather doubtful of that, which would mean his dad's 
clothes were transfigured along with the rest of him.

--Barb