Hogwarts letters Re: Choosing sides

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 119118


Kim wrote:
"Just put yourself in Hermione's (or Seamus's) shoes.  She obviously
loves her Muggle parents and they know about and accept their
daughter's magical abilities and the WW she inhabits most of the year,
even though they aren't part of it, strictly speaking.  Every summer
Hermione goes home to her parents, not because it's especially "cool"
in the Muggle world (though there may be things that she loves as much
about the MW as she does about the WW), but because she loves her
parents.  And perhaps she even had Muggle friends (before the age of
11?) and may have other Muggle relatives that she would badly miss if
she ended up living almost exclusively in the WW.  Granted we don't
know many details about Hermione's life outside of Hogwarts and we may
never know more than we do now."

Del replies :
In GoF, Hermione cut short her summer holidays with her parents by two
weeks, to attend the QWC. Then she didn't go back home for the
Christmas holidays (Yule Ball). I don't remember about the Easter
holiday, but I don't think she went back home either. Then comes OoP.
Apparently she went to GP very early in July, and remained there all
summer. Then, for the Christmas holidays, she had plans to go skiing
with her parents, but she came straight to GP instead. It doesn't seem
to me that there's anyone or anything she misses really badly in the
MW. And we almost never see her writing to her parents or to any
Muggle friends or family. We never hear her talking about them either.

As for Dean, we know that he hasn't even told his parents about
Cedric's death, and presumably about LV's rebirth either. And he too,
if I remember well, cut his holidays short in GoF to go and see the QWC.

Kim wrote :
"As far as Muggleborns hiding their magic, they only have to lock 
their wands away in a trunk when they visit the Muggle world in order
 to keep themselves from inadvertantly practicing magic in front of 
unsuspecting Muggles who might not understand...."

Del replies :
What about when Muggle people visit them ? How do they hide all the
magical artefacts, the highly suspicious books, the cloaks and robes
and so on ?
And when they visit Muggle people with their children, how do they
prevent those children from talking about magic ? And what do they
discuss with the Muggles (unless they keep tabs on what happens in
both worlds, like DD, but that's a lot of work) ?
I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying it's very complicated.

Kim wrote :
"But, hey, what about all us Muggles out here who would be delighted
to know there was a witch or wizard in our midst... ;-)?"

Del replies :
Forbidden by the Statute of Secrecy if I remember well :-)

Kim wrote :
"I think the Muggleborns actually have an advantage over pureblood
wizard kids (including even nice ones like the Weasleys), as someone
probably already pointed out, since they can adapt to both non-magical
and magical circumstances in life if need be, whereas a wizard kid
would be a total fish out of water outside of the WW."

Del replies :
You have a point there, of course. Just looking at how more at ease
Tonks is in the MW, compared to, say, Molly and Arthur, is a proof of
that.
By the way : do we know that Moody is wizard-born ? Because he seems
quite at ease in the MW too, so I'm wondering if he couldn't be
Muggleborn. Not that it matters anyway, I'm just wondering.

Kim wrote :
"It's kind of like kids in the RW who are bilingual (often due to
their parents being immigrants) -- it's a good thing, it can make them
broader-minded, stronger, even wiser, in my opinion."

Del replies :
Then my son is going to be a fountain of wisdom :-D He's barely 2, and
he's learning 3 languages at once, plus 2 additional ones waiting in line.

Kim wrote :
" It seems to me too that deep down, and it may never show up in the 
books, JKR may want some sort of reconciliation to occur between the 
wizard and muggle worlds."

Del replies :
I seem to remember that she said in an interview that this would never
happen, that the separation between the two worlds was too deep.

Del