No Sex, Please, We're British

[o_caipora]

No: HPFGUIDX 83836

Grannybat84112 wrote:

> (No, I don't think the prefect's bath 
> counts. That room struck me as a unisex facility.)

- - -  
"Harry, sorry, but it's prefects only." Harry could see Ron standing 
by the pool, before Hermione let the door swing shut in his face. 

The door re-opened a crack, just enough for Hermione to thrust a hand 
through. "Harry, be a dear, hold this for me. I'll get it from you 
later." The door shut again.

Harry stared blankly at the door, then brought his hand up. Slowly 
his eyes focused on a mass of blue polka-dot cloth. He shook it out.

Hermione's bathing suit.
- - -

Well, if you say it's unisex, Grannybat, who am I to disagree with 
you? 

Jeff suggested on contraception:
> > Ye old English methods, the lunar cycle, or even a spell. 

Jeff's mention of the "lunar cycle" pushes one to consider the 
situation of the werewolf girl on the rhythm method. If the full moon 
were to fall in the midst of her fertile period, that might serve as 
a reminder to her boyfriend to abstain from relations.

Of course, if the full moon were to fall just prior to her menstrual 
cycle, the lycanthropic transformation might simply pass for mild 
PMS. 

Grannybat also said:
> Regarding the larger question–what's to keep them from 
> employing the Magical form of The Pill? The Weasley Twins
> use "double-ended, color-coded chews" in their Skiving Snackboxes, 

Many primitive tribes are reputed to have effective contraception. 
It's not hard to imagine a traditional "witch" - a rural woman with a 
knowledge of herbs and physiology and a brighter and more observant 
than her neighbors - working out the rhthym method just by keeping 
track of when the bull gets friendly with the cows. 

Real witches would long ago have worked out some simple spell to 
subtly interfere with the process: strengthen the egg wall, befuddle 
the sperm, or something. What after all is more typical of a hedge 
wizard than a "love potion"? If a contraceptive potion is not sister 
to a love potion, it's a least a cousin.

We had best avoid imagining Fred and George testing a new 
contraceptive spell as they tested the Skiving Snackboxes, with first-
years serving as guinea pigs. 

Grannybat continued:

> The Pill is a product of  organic chemistry.  
> Potion making is essentially organic chemistry. 

Muggle technology has advanced so much over the last hundred years 
that it's hard to imagine wizards keeping up. A broomstick would have 
been a marvelous form of transportation a hundred years ago. Now, 
though, if given the option many of us would hesistate because it 
must be even less comfortable than Coach, and we might desist 
altogther after remembering the lack of Frequent Flyer points. 

In medicine and psychiatry it's easier to believe that wizards can 
get results Muggles cannot. Maybe because in an airplane engineers 
can explain the purpose of every part and say how it's made,while no 
doctor can explain just how the body and mind function. There's room 
there for magic.

 - Caipora