Muggle borns and their Letters

[greg_a126]

No: HPFGUIDX 41522

This post grew out of me reading yet another fan fic somewhere where 
it was either written from Lily or Hermione's POV (doesn't really 
matter which) & they were reflecting back on when they recieved their 
letter& they recalled the owl flying through the window.  Any one of 
the fifty stories that I've read that are exactly like this go the 
same way, where next b/c of a letter Lily/Hermione begs her parents 
to take her to "some place called Diagon Alley in London."  

The only experience we have what so ever w/ that first letter from 
Hogwart is a pureblood being Harry's.  But the major difference 
between Harry & any new Muggle born student is Hagrid & everyone else 
thought that Harry already knew all about Hogwarts.  So a form letter 
is no big deal.  (As a side light, these form letters can be quite 
cruel, when you realize all of the students like Harry & Neville who 
don't have parents anymore & the form specifically mentions having 
your parents sign your Hogsmeade permission form, for example.)

Is there a single parent, anywhere out there, who if they received 
even a hundred letters from someplace calling itself Hogwarts School 
of Witchcraft and Wizardry would let their child go?  Even if you 
knew everything there was to know about Hogwarts it would still be a 
major decision.  Hermione, as an 11 year old, was nearly killed by a 
giant chess set before drinking something that could have been 
poision, as a 12 year old, she & a number of other Muggle borns were 
petrified by a basilisk, certainly something that wouldn't have 
happened if she was attending a normal school, and now as a 15 year 
old, there's a mass murderer out there to kill her.  Had she just 
gone on to whatever secondary school she would've gone to w/o her 
letter, she wouldn't be in mortal peril right now.  

Now does anyone really believe that any parent is just going to go 
diving into this kind of world just based on information they got in 
a letter?  I didn't think so.  So here's what I do think.

I think the reason that Purebloods like Harry get a form letter is 
b/c Dumbledore & McGonagall have 2 months to contact every single new 
Muggle born student.  Nothing short of a woman turning herself into a 
cat in the middle of my living room would get me to even consider 
something like this existed, & then I'd need to get the whole 
information on just how dangerous this world is.

So that's me, how do you people out there think they get their 
letters?

Greg