CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: Chapter One/MuggleWorld, Wizard World

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 82455

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kirstini" <kirst_inn at y...> wrote:
> Some rather sleepy musings from me, I'm afraid.
> 
> Now, this got me thinking. For the suggestion "Wandless magic only 
> works in the Muggle world" to be true, the WW and MW would have to be 
> composed of seperate spheres. Previously, I had always imagined that 
> certain areas of the WW - 9 3/4, Diagon Alley - to be like small 
> pockets - like air pockets under the sea. 
>snip>
>  Is it like a series of 
> small air pockets, or are the gateways - the shop window, the brick 
> wall, the barrier - actually portals to another dimension? 
>  However, either wizards themselves or a highly 
> concentrated wizarding presence has the ability to change the 
> properties of an area, it seems. Together, or in essence divided?
> 
> Kirstini, arch Crypto-bore.

It's not  boring at all.
We all use the phrase 'Wizarding World' freely, but I'm beginning to
wonder if we  all have the same concept of what it is and what it
is composed of.

Until I  read  your post, I'd never thought of it as a physical place at
all. Whenever I've thought 'WW', I've thought in terms of a society,
not  physical islands in  a sea of otherness.

After all (I reasoned to myself), it is highly  unlikely that wizards
built a railway station platform or a department store. Did they build
Hogwarts? Or does it pre-date them? Can anybody enlighten me?
For their physical constructional needs,  buildings, etc. I'd classed
them as glorified Borrowers - "That looks useful, we'll borrow that."

As to  what makes a place  magical, I  reasoned that they do. To be
magical a place needs a certain  concentration of wizards, spells,
magical objects and the like. What critical concentration is needed
to achieve 'lift off' is anyone's guess.

But after reading Kirstini's post I'm interested in hearing what other
posters think the WW is and what it's limits are.

Kneasy