[HPforGrownups] Re: obstruction of justice

[Sheryl Garfio]

No: HPFGUIDX 44812

brainattic writes:
> According to the Lexicon, Riddle murdered his father's family during 
> the summer vacation before his seventh year. Why wasn't he caught by 
> the Ministry for violating the Decree for the Restriction of Underage 
> Wizardry?

and bboy_mn replies:
> Since Fred and George are performing magic all the time, I seriously
> doubt that everyone gets that same level of surveillance.

The Weasleys' summer magical exploits are not a violation of the Underage
Wizardry law because they take place in the Burrow, which is not in the Muggle
world (except for Ron's flying car in CoS, which was in violation of the Muggle
artifacts law as well as the Underage Wizardry law, and was quickly detected by
the MoM).  Magic performed by underage wizards in the WW is perfectly legal.

So my question is, do we know for a fact that Tom Riddle spent his childhood in
the Muggle world?  Do all witches/wizards who choose to marry Muggles
necessarily resign themselves to living out their lives (and raising their
children) in the Muggle world, or do some bring their Muggle spouses into the
WW?  We do know that not all of the people in the WW are wizards themselves
(for example, Squibs like Filch).  If Tom Riddle's father were brought by his
witch wife into the WW, then any magic used by young Tom would not have been
considered a violation.  Of course, the actual *type* of magic he used that
summer was illegal for *all* wizards, but apparently the MoM does not have the
capability to detect this?  If not, one wonders why a method for detecting the
use of AK has not been developed, especially since it is such a powerful curse
that it would presumably cause a high degree of disturbance in the "Force", if
you will.

A note about SHIPs in response to Jessica's wonderful, lengthy, and oft-quoted
post:  JKR has an outstanding opportunity here to model appropriate loving
relationships for young people at a critical time in their development.  Love
should be about things like commitment, sacrifice, support, nurturing, and
relying on each other, not about what happens in the back seat of your dad's
car.  I think we can assume from the evidence in Jessica's post that she will
take full advantage of this opportunity in any romances that develop.

Well, so much for my first post.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into
when I signed up for this list, but I'm *ever* so glad that I did.

Sherry


=====
"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers."

      -Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

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