Muggle-borns in the future and some other responses

[Tom Wall]

No: HPFGUIDX 55911

Darrin wrote:
Colin Creevy and Dean Thomas and Justin Finch-Feeley will also get 
jobs in the magic world.

So, what happens to their Muggle families? Do they continue bouncing 
back and forth, visiting between the worlds? It seems to me that the 
Grangers are very very blase about the whole thing and Mrs. Finch-
Feeley was swayed by one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books, if I recall. 
And the Creevy's have now sent two boys to school.

Or, is it possible that these wizards and witches reenter the Muggle 
world and find "normal" jobs? Or, once you've gone wizard, can you 
never go back?
END QUOTE.

I reply:
Hey Darrin – it's Justin Finch-Fletchley, btw. ;-)

I'd guess that muggle families with wizard-children deal with adult 
employment the same way that they deal with their non-magical 
children that go away to school or move to other places. They 
probably see each other for holidays and special events, and keep in 
contact via mail or whatever while they're apart.

And I bet that there are probably many opportunities for wizards to 
work in direct contact, somehow, with muggle society, but we haven't 
heard of them yet. As we know, Fudge was able to get in contact with 
the muggle Prime Minister when Sirius escaped from Azkaban. I'd 
imagine that getting in touch with the Prime Minister is tough, so 
that must mean something about his contacts with the muggle world. 

As for getting a job in muggle society, I think that Patricia is 
right about needing qualifications, but only with specific regard to 
jobs that require them. For instance, I can't see a wizard having 
difficulty getting *any* job, just difficulty getting a job as a 
machinist or electrician, or in some major accounting or development 
firm or something. But, could a wizard open up a restaurant, pub, or 
a store? Sure. I don't see why not.

As for Patricia's point on keeping the magic a secret, I think that 
that does apply, at least to the present WW. However, I don't think 
that it'll apply through to the end of the series. It's my personal 
belief (or hope) that by the end of the book 7, the lid will be blown 
right off of their little secret world, as much as I like it. Meta-
wise, the status quo cannot remain the same, if we're to have a 
worthwhile series. Things MUST change. Thus, by the end, I bet the 
giants will be part of the WW, and that the dementors will be out of 
Azkaban, and that House elves, at minimum, will be able to choose 
whether or not they want to be enslaved.

On that note, I think that the secrecy of the WW will be one of the 
casualties. And anyways, think of all the benefits that could come 
from a sharing of the magic... from a certain viewpoint, the WW is 
quite selfish - think of what the world could be like if the WW 
wasn't hoarding its powers all to itself. Anyways, not going to rant 
here, but that's just my hope.


Darrin wrote:
We don't know for sure that Lockhart even attended Hogwarts, do we? 
There ARE other wizarding schools and Draco almost going to 
Durmstrang indicates that all British kids don't have to attend 
Hogwarts. Maybe he's a Beauxbaton grad.

If he did go to Hogwarts, I'd say he likely was a Gryffindor. 
Indications are that Pettigrew was, and look how he turned out.
END QUOTE.

I reply:
We don't know that Lockhart went to Hogwarts. I've heard that many 
consider him prime Slytherin material, actually. The whole Memory 
Charm = `using any means to achieve his ends' thing. Given that 
Lockhart is such a wimp, as we see from his fear at the end of CoS, I 
doubt that he'd be Gryffindor material, IMHO.

As for Pettigrew, it's my understanding that we have no canon to 
indicate at all what houses Harry's parents or their friends were in. 
We don't even know for sure that *James* was a Gryffindor, never mind 
Pettigrew. Granted, Sirius seems to know where the Gryffindor Tower 
entrance is in PoA, but technically, that doesn't mean anything. 
After all, Harry and Ron now know where the Slytherin entrance is 
thanks to their Polyjuice adventure in CoS. Those darn kids. ;-)

-Tom