Underage Magic at the Weasley's (and in general)

[Alex]

No: HPFGUIDX 53366

aesob (moi) stupidly wrote:
>and how does Hermione know how to repair Harry's 
>glasses on the train in SS/PS if she hasn't practiced magic ever 
> before, and 
> therefore broken the ban on underage magic?

Juliet wrote:
> Ah, I believe you are getting canon confused with the FTMNBN.  
> Hermione *never* fixed Harry's glasses(atleast, not in that 
way).  
> Harry's glasses were fixed by Mr. Weasly in CoS, after Harry 
had 
> broken them by falling into Derbish and Banges.

> I've often wondered if 
> Harry would have been punished for losing control in PoA.  
That was 
> the kind of magic a Wizard who never knew he was a Wizard 
would do.

Yes, that particular example was a bad one (damn the movie for 
messing me up! j/k), but it still doesn't undermine the point I was 
trying to make, which is that the "Ban on Underage Magic" is a 
plot element that JKR created to prevent Harry from using magic 
on Dudley during summer vacation to keep him miserable and 
as a lead-in to CoS for what Dobby does, and it's otherwise been 
overlooked or abandoned because it's too restrictive to other 
story lines. JKR overlooks it in all the books, and it's really only a 
"Ban on Harry from doing Magic in front of Muggles or he _May_ 
get in Trouble".

My reasons: 
1. The ban is something that is only ever applied to Harry once 
(beginning of CoS), and it was used as a plot element to 
introduce us to how troublesome Dobby could be, as it's 
something Harry's not even guilty for. As Juliet points out above, 
in PoA, Harry is pardoned for blowing up Aunt Marge (when he 
actually is guilty) by none other than Fudge, the Minister of Magic!

2. The ban seems to be ignored in wizarding families and at 
wizarding places (which are still outside of Hogwarts!). As 
harrydraco42 and misstresskathy pointed out in previous posts, 
the Weasley twins must have been using magic to create their 
Canary Creams. The child in GoF blowing up a slug at the 
Quidditch World Cup is scolded by the mother, but no ministry 
official descends on them to squash the behavior. Harry sends 
up red and gold sparks in Ollivander's in SS/PS, and students 
practice magic on the Hogwarts Express (still before school!).

3. The ban is not exercised on the Weasleys twins when they 
feed Dudley the one ton toffee, nor is Harry in trouble when he 
causes Dudley to fall into the snake pit (even though this is 
before he knows he's a wizard, shouldn't there have been some 
ramifications if it's truly a "Ban?")

I'm sure there are other minor incidences, but it's getting late, 
and another reason is that we haven't seen that much 
happening outside of school (as we only see from Harry's POV) .

Maybe I don't have hard proof, but I stand by my idea that the ban 
on underage magic was a quickly conceived plot element that 
was too restrictive, so JKR's gone soft on it. 

Wizards old and young, especially in non-muggle areas rely so 
heavily on magic, the ban is an unfair burden for them, and 
JKR's realized this when she's started exploring new areas such 
as the Weasley's home and the Quidditch World Cup. That's 
why she's gotten lax with it. It's ok...all authors make mistakes, 
JKR admits that she has an outline, but much of it she makes up 
as she goes, and bravo, I wouldn't have it any other way...writing 
is a passion, not a science...anyway, what else would we debate 
if the stories were perfectly conceived?

~~aesob, going to bed to dream we'll get answers in book 
5...and more questions, of course...