Ginny & the Platform Scene

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 33095


I wrote:
> >    I must point out that JKR manages to establish that  Bill 
andCharlie exist without dragging them onto the platform at 
King's Cross or giving them a cameo, even though Charlie plays 
a larger part in the first book than Ginny does.

And Penny replied:
> Yes, but Ron doesn't wear Ginny's hand-me-down clothes or 
have expectations to live up to regarding her past performance at 
Hogwarts.  Bill & Charlie are easy enough to introduce 
conversationally.  <<

    It wouldn't have been hard for JKR to leave Ginny  out of the 
platform scene and still convey the needed information. The 
conversation on the train would have been just a little different: 
Ron says "And a sister.  Ginny'll be starting Hogwarts next year. 
Bet *she* gets new robes." 


> > who needs a Childminder?
> 
> Um....well perhaps Molly would feel comfortable leaving her 
9/10 yr old alone at *the Burrow* (small village location in 
England), but I assure you I won't be leaving my daughter 
unattended in Houston TX at the age  of 10.  Although if Molly is 
uncomfortable allowing her 10 yr old daughter to traverse the 
train station without holding tightly to her  hand, I doubt seriously 
that she'd leave her unattended at home either. :--)<<

  I didn't mean to suggest that Ginny would have been left home 
alone either, but it's not out of the question, IMO. I live in an rural 
area, where a kid  is more likely to encounter a rattlesnake than 
a home invader. Most parents here wouldn't mind leaving a ten 
year old on her own for a few hours during the day, provided 
there was an adult she could reach by phone in an emergency. A 
wizard child could use the fire instead.


I said:
> 
>  Are we to suppose that poor Ginny's
> > spent her first 10 years in social isolation out at The Burrow?
> > She couldn't have Floo'd over to visit a friend or one of those
> > hypothetical Weasley cousins? ? I'm sure it would have been
> > much easier on Molly to leave Ginny behind than to try to 
keepvtrack of her in the station.

Penny:
> 
> Molly's behavior is over-protective ... IMO anyway.  I doubt she'd 
leave  Ginny behind.  As for the social isolation, I fall into the 
Weasleys  must have been home-schooled camp.  They have 
little knowledge of muggle life, which indicates they likely didn't 
attend the muggle school in  Ottery St. Catchpole.  The Diggorys 
live near enough, but based on the  Portkey in GoF, we can 
assume there aren't many more wizarding families  in the vicinity 
of the Burrow.  Probably not enough to support a  wizarding 
primary school in any case.  So .... if the Weasleys were 
> home-schooled, then I'd say they might have been relatively 
isolated.<<

  Home schooling doesn't have to mean total isolation with 
parents who ward off visitors with a shotgun and spend their free 
time ranting about the IRS. I don't know what it's like in Houston, 
but the homeschoolers around here are  conscientious about 
giving their kids  lots of opportunities to socialize: playdates, 
Scouts, church, etc. Surely there are wizard equivalents.
   As for how she'd travel, what about floo powder? Nobody says 
it's her first time when Ginny goes to Diagon Alley in CoS, and 
even Molly doesn't seem worried that she'll go astray.  I don't see 
it as more dangerous than crossing a city street or riding the 
bus, and I've been doing that since I was seven. On the other 
hand I wasn't allowed to go Downtown by myself till I was 
sixteen, so I can see Molly being nervous and more protective 
than usual in what amounts to a foreign country.  As for the ever 
vexing "What's the platform" question, I think it's  a family joke, 
like asking "What's for dinner" on Thanksgiving.

I said:
old enough to get away with running on a
> > railway platform (my mother would have screamed for fear I'd
> > slip and fall under the wheels),

Penny:
> Maybe Molly was screaming, but Harry couldn't hear her.  <g>  I 
bet she  was shrieking as a matter of fact.  Having seen some of 
those train  station platforms in England ("mind the gap"), I can 
say that it took  some nerve for me to get myself onto the train 
sometimes, let alone  seeing to one or more children.  
:::shudders::::  So, I bet Molly *was*  screaming.  :--D

Eureka! Penny, you have   unearthed the Holy Grail of H/G 
shippers...the long sought evidence of Ginny's heretofore 
hypothetical independent streak. I salute you :--D

Pippin