[HPforGrownups] Re: About Florence

[Sherry Garfio]

No: HPFGUIDX 45448

Melody wrote:
> > She, of course, could be older.  Frank Longbottum is well respected 
> in
> > the auror world and well liked.  As established in the community as
> > they were, I wonder if they are not at least ten years older than
> > Snape.  While it is possible that they established such a reputation
> > quickly, I doubt it is plausible.
> > 
> > So either Mr. and Mrs. Longbottum are little social climbers or they
> > had Neville kind of late in life.

I always thought that the wizarding community is much smaller and more tightly
knit than our own world.  If you think about it, since there is only one
wizarding middle/high school in all of Britain, that means that every witch and
wizard in Britain knows every other witch and wizard in Britain as well as you
and I knew people we went to school with.  Better, in fact - there would be no
moving around and changing schools, so they would go to the same school for all
7 years (barring expulsion), *and* it's a boarding school, so everybody sees
each other at every meal, on weekends, etc.  They would know people 7 years
older and 7 years younger, plus names of kids whose tenure overlapped their
siblings, and even their parents and children.  They would all hear the same
school legends of former students.  It's not like the silly remark people often
make (at least here in the US): "Oh, you're from England?  Do you know Bob?" 
People in the British wizarding community *would* be likely to know each other.

It appears from Malfoy's statements that it is possible for a wizarding family
to send a child to a foreign school.  This would have the effect of having that
child enter the British wizarding community as an adult.  He would be less
well-known among the Hogwarts graduates who form the majority of that society,
although that could be an advantage, since his peers would never have seen the
stupid things he did in school.  Take Fudge, for example.  He doesn't seem like
a distant politician; he seems more like a guy you knew in school - because
most people in the WW *did* go to school with him.

I believe that Lily and James are well known so early in adulthood simply
because everybody goes to the same school.  We know that James played
Quidditch, which only 28 students in any given year have the opportunity to do,
and the sport is wildly popular, so this would automatically have put him in
the spotlight.  As his girlfriend, Lily would also be well-known even if she
never did anything else to get noticed (and I suspect she did).  Frank
Longbottom may have had a spotlight position at Hogwarts as well.  (Do we know
of anything yet?  Prefect?  Class clown?  Know-it-all?  I regretfully don't
have my books with me, and I don't recall any tidbits about his school days.) 
If so, he would have had a social advantage as soon as he and his classmates -
who all knew him - graduated and started contributing to society.

My two knuts

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"

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More
http://faith.yahoo.com