Food and Figg

[Tom Marvolo Riddle]

No: HPFGUIDX 56582

Howdy.  Every so often I feel compelled to post, so here goes.

First, Arabella Figg.  Everybody and their mother seems to think she's been put there to keep an eye on Harry and the Dursley's and I don't buy it.  

My problem is this:  When Hagrid first meets Harry, he's very surprised to learn that Harry has never heard of Hogwarts and has no idea who or what his parents were.  

Hagrid was given the Harry recovery mission specifically by Dumbledore, and I have a hard time believing Dumbledore would've left Hagrid unpreparred for such a scenario, which tells me that Dumbledore didn't know what Harry had and had not been told by the Dursley's.  So if Hagrid didn't know, then Dumbledore didn't know, then Arabella Figg didn't know (or wasn't telling).  Had she been set up as his watchdog, so to speak, it's reasonable to expect that Dumbledore would've expected periodical reprts on Harry's well being.  Such reports probably would've included items like "he thinks his mom dies in a car crash."

Since Dumbledore obviously got no such reports, it's hard to accept that Figg was a spy for him or a protector for Harry in as big of a role as what has been theorized.  She does have a huge role to play in this, I just don't think that protector is that role.   

As for food conjuring, I recently read a book called the Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula leGuin.  Not a bad book, really, and there's a discussion of food conjuring, or indeed, any conjuring that I thought might apply here, even if it's not HP canon.

When a wizard conjures food, he is conjuring a temporary illusion.  It may fool all the senses, but once eaten will still leave the consumer hungry.  If this theory holds true in the HP universe, then magical conjuring is nothing more than an illusion, which is why you can't magic textbooks, food, clothing, etc. out of thin air.  It would all be temporary.  So when Mrs. Weasley, or the house elves, or anybody, is making food appear, they are making it appear from somewhere, not nowhere.

Enough of me, I'll go back to lurking with my 75+ e-mails a day from this group.
Zach