What do wizards do?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 55035

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Fred Waldrop"
<fredwaldrop at y...> wrote:
>  Pat and Jim Gruenke patgruenke at c...> wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> So, things can be conjured out of thin air, but they don't last.
> =====================================================================
> 
> Hello all, Fred Waldrop here
> 
> I have been seing this in post after post, that if something is 
> magicly made, it will not last. 
> Where does everyone get this from? I have not read it in any of the 
> books, or did I just miss it?
> 
> Fred

bboy_mn:

Let's make a distinction between CREATING something magically, and
CONJURING something magically. 

Creating magically mean to create something out of SOMETHING, in which
case it is permanent. The house-elves create cooked food out of raw
ingredients using magic. EIther that food is permanent or all the
students starve to death.

Conjuring something means to create something out of NOTHING. Since it
comes from nothing, it returns to nothing. Using food as an example,
this is the diet where you can eat 90% of your food as conjured
premiun ice cream and chocolate bars, and still loose weight. I could
use about 10 pound of that magic right now.

The precident of conjured objects having no permanence comes from an
interview with JKR where she said that MOST things created from
nothing are in fact, just that, nothing. So they aren't permanent. She
did imply that the degree of permanence was variable, and some
conjured objects could last a significant amount of time, but
generally nothing=nothing. As with many of her interviews, a lot is
implied, but no much is actually said. 

I remember seeing someone cite this interview recently. If I can find
it again I will post it.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn