Dursleys and Memory Charms

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89178

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "manawydan" <manawydan at n...> wrote:
> Christy wrote:
> >It would seem that this applies to any person who is brought into the
> >wizard world, so to speak. Hermione's parents must know where their
> >daughter is... they've been to Diagon Alley, in fact. And there are
> >several parents of students who are either muggle-born or half and
> >half. I can't imagine that the MoM goes around and modifies the
> >memories of all those people. I find it more likely that perhaps
> >people who are against the idea (can you see a family like the
> >Dursley's getting a letter from Hogwarts if they didn't have any
> >previous connections to it? They'd probably laugh it out of the house)
> >or really don't need to know (like extended family: aunts, uncles,
> >etc.). Remember Petunia knows all about the WW, because of Lily.
> 
> The one overarching thing which determines the way the WW behaves
towards
> Muggles, is that the _Muggles_ _mustn't_ _find_ _out_.
> 
> Now there are two types of scenario in which a Muggle _might_ find
out about
> the WW. The first one is where there's an isolated or a one-off
occurrence
> (Peter's confrontation with Sirius, or the World Cup, for example).
In those
> circumstances, all that's got to be done is to round up any Muggle
witnesses
> and wipe their memories of the specific event - the spell is put on the
> Muggle and that's that. All memory of those few minutes is gone and
all the
> victim gets is a headache if they try to remember.
> 
> But there's another scenario in which a Muggle has a _constant_
reminder of
> the WW. A relative at Hogwarts would be an example, or possibly a wizard
> family as neighbours. Canon tells us that Hogwarts itself is magically
> protected to look like something different if a Muggle chances by,
and it's
> fair to assume that that sort of "don't notice me" spell is also
built into
> other WW buildings - the Leaky Cauldron, St Mungo's, and the rest
all look
> like somewhere that your eyes just slide across.
> 
> I wonder if there's something similar for _people_. A member of the
WW (like
> a Hogwarts student, but possibly also the MoM officials who are in touch
> with the Muggle PM) also has a spell put on them by the Ministry so
that the
> Muggles around them don't notice the fact that there's anything
remarkable
> going on. A very easy way to hide someone in plain sight.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Ffred


Carol:

IIRC, we're told by several people that Muggles deceive themselves and
come up with all sorts of explanations to deny the existence of magic.
 The first chapter of SS/PS shows this thought process in action as
Mr. Dursley tells himself that cats can't read maps or signs and
decides that the people in cloaks must be collecting for some cause,
and the newscaster and weatherman joke about the owls and fireworks.
Sorry I can't remember who made the remark about the self-deception.
It might have been Mr. Weasley at the World Quidditch Cup.

Carol, who hopes that someone whose memory hasn't been modified will
help her out

Carol