[HPforGrownups] Memory charms

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 57356

LIWY wrote:
>
> There seems to be no real reason to obliviate the (muggle) families of
> Hogwarts students-they are already moderately familiar with the magical
> world.

I suspect that there are different degrees of charms that are used,
depending on who's involved. Although the immediate muggle relatives of
Hogwarts students would have some familiarity with the WW, there would need
to be safeguards that an unscrupulous one wouldn't try to sell their story
to the Sun (am I right that the nearest US equivalent is the National
Enquirer? Something like that, anyway...) for as much ackers as they could
get. Also that more distant relatives don't twig what's going on. It's
probably ok for Hermione's parents to know, but what about  Cousin Emma,
Granny, Granny's hairdresser, and so on.

All of which leaves me thinking that there is some sort of long-lasting
charm applying to the student and parents which means that anything they say
about the WW just goes in one ear and out of the other one, the same way as
I think that wizard houses are charmed so that a muggle would walk past and
just not notice it's there.

Full scale Memory Charms, on the other hand, are for serious breaches of
security, dragons popping up in the middle of Birmingham, terrorist
atrocities by DEs ("yes, of course I shot down the airliner, Dark Lord, it
got in the way of my broomstick"), industrial accidents ("oops, the potions
workshop has blown up and entoaded 150 muggles") and so on.

Cheers

Ffred

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