Thin air grows on trees (was: what bothers us about the HP world)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 56699

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "The Fox" <the_fox01 at h...> wrote:
> From: "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...>
> 
> >That which is conjured is not permanent. It was made from nothing
and in a short (although greatly veriable) period of time it returns
to nothing.



> The Fox:
> 
> How do we know this?  The only thing that I can recall disappearing
after a  period of time is leprechaun gold; we don't really know
anything about conjuring things, do we?  

bboy_mn:

Yes, we do; JKR specifically said it in at least one interview. Things
that are created from nothing (conjured) eventually return to nothing.


> The Fox continues:
> ...edited...surely there's not a mini-kitchen underneath wherever
the boys are when Dumbledore magically presents them with sandwiches
and juice.  How do we know he didn't conjure those?  


bboy_mn:

Well we don't, but it's safe to assume that they didn't feed 'air' to
starving boys. The sandwiches and juice, and the tea and cakes were
transferred or teleported from the kitchens to the location where they
were eaten. This is a much smaller scale and therefore easier magic
than the massive amount of food that the elves have to 'teleport' up
to the dinning hall. 

It isn't documented in the book, but this is what I call a transfer
charm; tranfers or transports objects from one location to another.
Sort of the magical version of UPS.


>The Fox continues:
>
>And on what basis do we therefore conclude that Molly can't conjure 
> an au gratin sauce with her wand?
> 
> Fox


bboy_mn:

We don't conclude that Molly can't conjure an Au Gratin sauce, if fact
we see her do what we've assumed is conjuring a white sauce. And it is
very likely that that's exactly what she did. It isn't specifically
stated, but it seems a reasonable assumption. Although, I must say
that an equally reasonable assumption is that she magically created
the sauce from ingredients on hand. Personally, for something as
heavy, rich, and expensive as a white sauce for a crowd that large,
I'm betting on creating it out of nothing. The potatoes were certainly
real, and I assume the homemade strawberry ice cream was real too.

But then again, we really don't know which items are real and which
are not. I speculate that any good magic cook used a blend of actual
and conjured items when making a meal, especially when making a very
special and/or very big meal.

Stop and think of the beauty of this; all the cake, pie, chocolate,
and yummy Fortescue's ice cream you can eat, and not a single calorie.
I think I'll have seconds.

Of course, that just my opinion.

bboy_mn