Hogwarts letters Re: Choosing sides

[ikhendley]

No: HPFGUIDX 118888



This is not intended to rebut or discuss anything that has thus far 
been noted. All postings on this topic are thoughtful and insightful, 
and all affect the decision to attend a school for witches and 
wizards or not. There are some things, from canon, that I don't 
believe have been mentioned.

We have examples of other Muggle or near-Muggle children in Hogwarts. 
Seamus Finnigan is half Muggle, half witch (SS/PS, ch 7). His mother 
is a witch and so can explain the situation to his father. He is not 
only allowed to attend Hogwarts, but seems happy there. Also, his 
father didn't know that the woman he married was a witch until after 
they were wed. She most likely was living in the Muggle world with no 
problems.

Dean Thomas is Muggle-born. He has a poster of his favorite soccer 
team (West Ham) over his bunk, so presumably he was interested in, 
and possibly even played, soccer. He also tells Harry at one point 
that his name was down for Eton, yet he chose Hogwarts. His parents 
know very little about the WW as evinced by the fact that he doesn't 
tell them about Cedric Diggory's death, even though he has spent 
three years there. "They don't know nothing about no deaths at 
Hogwarts, because I'm not stupid enough to tell them." (OotP, ch 11)

We have some evidence that the WW and the Muggle world are not 
totally separated. In CoS, the MoM tells the Muggle PM that Sirius 
Black has escaped so that the news can be printed and broadcast to a 
Muggle audience. This implies some knowledge about the WW at least on 
the part of the PM. Otherwise, why would he or she accept such 
information and believe it? Also, Petunia, in discussing her parents 
reaction to Lily's invitation to Hogwarts, indicated that they were 
thrilled with the idea of a witch in the family (SS/PS, ch 4).

We don't really know, but I expect that some kind of counseling is 
done with the parents of Muggle-born witches and Wizards before the 
letter is forthcoming. This counseling may even begin as soon as the 
child is identified by the MoM, even if it is years before their 
eleventh birthday. These children are not totally removed from their 
parents. They can communicate any time and of course go home for 
holidays and the summer break. So far as working, either in the WW or 
the Muggle world, this is no different from a normal child growing up 
and working, either close to home or in a different city or country. 
They can still visit home and have a mostly normal relationship with 
their families.

There can be problems with all this, I agree. But the characters 
we're allowed to know so far seem to have worked them out to the 
satisfaction of both the child and the parents.

India