The trip to Egypt WAS Re: Ron, Molly and Those Robes

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 59318

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Eric Oppen" <oppen at m...> 
wrote:
<Snip>
> Firstly, the Weasley parents don't seem to have their heads on 
> quite straight as regards money.  When you've got four kids in 
> boarding school, and books to buy for them for five years into the 
> future, spending a windfall on a trip to Egypt strikes me as 
> slightly insane.  Far better IMNSHO to have put that money into 
> a "Weasley Children School Fund" and budgeted it for new robes, 
> books and so on---and _then_ seen if the family finances would    
> stretch as far as a trip to Egypt for all.  <Snip>

I think what we all forget about the Weasley Egypt trip is its 
*timing*. It takes place a couple of weeks after Ginny was nearly 
murdered by Tom Riddle.

The kids were undoubtedly affected by this. 'He [Harry],Ron, Fred 
and George sat in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room, unable to 
say anything to each other. Percy wasn't there. He had gone to send 
an owl to Mr and Mrs Weasley, then shut himself up in his 
dormitory.' [CoS Ch. 16, p.218 UK paperback]. Later, Ron could have 
been killed when he went after Ginny. Mrs Weasley was discovered by 
Harry Ron and Ginny sitting crying in Dumbledore's office [Start of 
Ch.18, CoS].

So, having won a huge amount of money, what do the Weasley parents 
do with it? They take their family on the holiday of a lifetime. 
Bill gets to see his little sister. Instead of sitting round the 
Burrow, the kids get to see lots of exciting things in Egypt. They 
now have interesting and fun things to think about rather than how 
Ginny nearly died. They have happy and exciting memories about that 
year, not just terrifying ones.

Is there any reference to Ginny's near death experience in PoA? 
Obliquely, yes. 'Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one.' [a 
curse ridden tomb - PoA, Ch. 1, p.13 ]. Ron, who just won the 
Special Award for helping rescue Ginny, got a brand new wand. [PoA 
Ch. 4, p.47, UK paperback]. Ginny goes red when she sees 
Harry 'perhaps because he had saved her life during their last term 
at Hogwarts' [PoA Ch.4, p.51]. But the family appear to have put it 
behind them.

So the exciting, out-of-the-ordinary, expensive holiday isn't the 
extravagance it seems. It's a successful attempt at a change of 
scenery for everyone. Rest, relaxation, and being together as a 
family after a traumatic time. An event which is quite naturally 
going to take the topic of conversation away from the end of last 
term.

It sounds like money well spent to me. ;-)

Pip!Squeak