[HPforGrownups] Why work in the WW?

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 55034

Lindy writes:

>Why do wizards do anything? Magic does the washing up, the knitting, the
>travelling, . . .

Magic seems to me to be a process rather than a creative force. If I'm a
wizard, then although I can't do things like transforming leaves into money,
I can certainly do things which I think would be a lot less toxic than the
way technology does them. Say I'm a wizard miner. I use a spell to locate my
seam or ore (and another one to hide it from muggles). I use another spell
to extract the ore, and another one to extract the mineral from it. And all
without having to wear out my lungs or my limbs with a mandrel underground,
No spoil heaps, no toxic waste, no environmental blight.

>Dumbledore can 'draw up' a chair. No need for chair makers then. Can he
>'draw up' a carpet? A painting?

I didn't read this as being a magical reference. I thought he just "drew the
chair up" to be sat on, not that he created it. I don't think that something
transformed into a chair would be very long lasting anyway.

>The food. Do the house-elves cook it? Or magic it up? The wizzes and
witches
>put no effort in. Farming - why would a wizard plod around after cows or
>sheep? Doesn't he just sit on his rocking chair and wave his wand at the
>poor dawg?

Well, Molly Weasley is able to use magic to peel spuds and to generate a
sauce for cooking, but not to create the potatoes in the first place -
there's no suggestion that she's peeling transformed gnomes (yuck!). So you
would need wizard farmers. But once again, the degree of hard slog wouldn't
be there. You would need a spell to keep the farm hidden from muggles, and
various ones to germinate your seeds, keep the fields free from weeds and
pests while encouraging companion plants and useful insects, grow the crop
to its maximum potential, and harvest it. But once again, potentially a far
less destructive and toxic process than muggle farming.

>Travelling. Its a good job they can't all apparate. All of the realities of
>our world collapse when you get instant travel. You don't have to live near
>your work - just apparate (and no penalties to using magic in JKR's world,
>no magical bounceback as in The Worst Witch or Discworld). Taking the
>kiddies to school? Why send them by antiquated train? Except that it's
>romantic?

Although I agree about the train (why would a child from Lerwick or John
O'Groats have to travel all the way to Kings Cross just to get a train that
travels back again), the way wizards travel is the way the WW is. Although
there _are_ risks - untrained Apparation can be dangerous, Harry ended up in
the wrong fireplace when he used Floo for the first time, I'm sure that the
congestion and carnage on the muggle roads is something which just isn't
there in the WW - Apparation, Portkeys, and brooksticks don't pollute, and
you _don't_ have to live near your work.

>I find the use of magic in Hogwarts an endless puzzle. It can do some
>things, and not others. Such detail, but what about sewers? So: can magic
do

I wonder how many if any wizard communities would be big enough to need
sewers? Hogsmeade perhaps. But others just seem to live as isolated
families. So that a simple earth closet spell to purify and dispose of
sewage, grey water, and the like would be sufficient.

>everything? The jobs that are described are teaching, civil service,
>shopkeeping, and sport. No artists are mentioned (ideal occupation once the
>cleaning is taken care of), though there are musicians.

This has attracted a number of posts in the past - even just going on canon
there are a large number of ancillary jobs mentioned. Think about Hogwarts,
which as well as the Professors has a matron, librarian, janitor, and
groundskeeper (that we know of)

>Sorry - a slightly grumpy ramble. What I am saying is, when magic does so
>much, why bother to go to work, why get up in the morning?

Because once you can use magic to take the drudgery out of work, then
actually it looks to leave room for the skilful and rewarding side. No one
in the WW (well possibly Filch) seems to be miserable at their work.

Cheers

Ffred

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