Hogwarts letters Re: Choosing sides

[ginnysthe1]

No: HPFGUIDX 119172


Kim wrote:
The point of visiting Muggleland and the main draw for Hermione
would be her loved ones, and she'll have plenty to talk to them about,
and nothing to hide since they know about and accept magic.  And I
don't  suppose the Muggle neighbors would be likely invites to a
semi-annual Granger family gathering, would you?

Del replied:
> That's precisely what I've been trying to explain : the Muggleborns
> might not be cut off from their Muggle *family*, but they do end up
> being cut off from the Muggle *world*. Hermione still sees her
> parents, and we can reasonably assume she'll keep on visiting them
> every now and then when she grows up, but that's about it. No Muggle
> friends, no Muggle activities, no Muggle whatever.

Now Kim responds:
Well, now I really agree with you.  But I guess I was seeing the 
Muggle world (vs. Muggle family) as being so much less important to 
Muggleborns already that being cut off from it wouldn't make a great 
deal of difference to them anyway.  Maybe I should have said Hermione 
will keep one part of her heart (not one foot) firmly planted in the 
Muggle world and the other part in the WW.  And so we probably saw 
eye to eye all along!  Then again, we are supposing that Hermione 
will even *live* to see that day (I'm focusing on H. since she's the 
most prominent Muggleborn in the books; Dean (I mistook his name for 
Seamus in earlier post) is not as important as Hermione, not to me at 
least ;-)) and also supposing that nothing so dreadful will happen to 
make her want to give up on the WW entirely and go back to living 
full-time in the MW (as suggested by either your or other posters' 
earlier posts).  I think that would be her option too, to turn her 
back, so to speak, on the WW.  She could still use her wand with the 
curtains drawn just for fun...   Then again, aren't the two worlds 
still inextricably linked, even if JKR says she will never integrate 
them again?  There's still so much overlap.  Besides, the WW would 
die out without the MW, it seems to me.  Oh, how I wish witches and 
wizards would show themselves again, it's so dull out here without 
them.

Del continued:
> It doesn't have to be that drastic, I agree. Dean still has that
> poster of his favourite Muggle football team, and I suppose many 
adult Muggleborns still have Muggle artefacts in their homes, and 
talk a bit about the Muggle World to their kids. They can even keep 
in contact with their best Muggle friends, and keep going to a Muggle 
church for example. But they are no more *a part* of the Muggle 
World. They've emigrated to the WW, and they've left the MW behind. 
No matter how often they go back there, they are now citizens of the 
WW.

Kim now:
Yes, this is true.  These seem to be a bit (or a lot?) like the 
choices real world immigrants have to make.  And so, not being an 
immigrant myself (though I am the granddaughter of immigrants), I 
would bow to those who know better firsthand what that's like.

Del continued:
> By the way : I'm wondering what happens to them on a legal level in
> the Muggle World? After a while, their abscence from the MW must 
look suspicious, the administration must be starting to be concerned. 
How do they deal with that?

Kim now:
Yikes!  Hopefully they would just fall through the cracks like so 
many folks do out here in the real world, for better or worse.  For 
Muggleborns evading the MW administration, it would be for the 
better, IMO.

P.S.  Thanks to Alla in her post (119123) for quoting where JKR said 
the WW and MW will never reunite.  Of course there's always fanfic 
for that...!  And what about when JKR writes book 8...? ;-)

Kim