Why buy Ron Maroon /5 sets of Lockhart's book? and WW economy

[Susana da Cunha]

No: HPFGUIDX 113854


Magda wrote:
"I really wonder if she'd remember Ron even exists if he weren't Harry
Potter's best friend."

----------------



Oh, Madga! I agree she's being awful, but that's going a bit too far, don't
you think?

Molly doesn't put extra effort when shopping for her kids because she's been
doing it all their lives; it's her money, not theirs; she's under the
impression she knows them very well; and she thinks she knows what's best
for them better than themselves. It's such a normal mistake parents do, that
it even has a name: generation gap.

Think of her comments about Bill's hair and her autism about F&G choice of a
future. She's *being* awful, but she isn't *awful*. She manages the family
money according to what she thinks is their happiness, their needs. She just
fails to see the teenagers as people with different priorities and - worst
thought - different values than hers.
Now, shopping for Harry is a completely different thing. First, it's his
money. She's not likely to buy second-hand things unless he tells her to.
Second, regarding clothes, it's the first time she's done it - she's likely
to take extra care to buy something that Harry won't find completely
ridiculous. And she has the extra challenge of never having seen Harry in
wizards' clothes except for the school robes. So what does she do? She picks
something very similar to the school robes, but in different colour. And
what colour? Well, Molly-like, the same colour of Harry's first and forth
Christmas sweaters: green to mach his eyes.

The fact Molly managed to pick something Harry felt comfortable with
actually proved to me she doesn't see Harry as an extra son. My mother, who
is very picky about her own clothes, stopped buying clothes for me when I
was 15 because she couldn't get it right and until this day she doesn't
understand what I have against flower patterns. Yet, if my sister's friend
(who's practically family) says she doesn't like flowers, she'll accept and
remember.



Now, this thread(s) are taking a turn into WW economy. I'm sure this was
discussed do death - I've read some posts in the archives - but I'll try to
illustrate what's been written with the current example: Ron's dress robes
and Lockhart's books.

In the WW people have professions just like in ours. Some people will be
writers and singers who live out of their creations. To buy one set of
Lockhart's books and duplicate it is probably as illegal as in MW. It
doesn't mean it can't be done, just that precautions would be taken to make
it difficult and that you don't want to be caught doing it.

As for conjuring a book (with all the writing inside) I'd say is not
possible. To little muggle me, it would seem the conjurer would have to know
the contents very well to do so. The task would be so complex that few (or
none) would be up to it. When tasks are too complex for muggles, we built
machines. Wizards built magical artefacts for the same purpose. And other
professions came up: magical printers manufacturers, magical printers
operators, magical printers maintenance personal, unduplicate spell experts,
load operators (levitosa spell experts), book distribution managers,
distribution vehicles manufacturers (who employ invisibility spell experts,
movement spell experts, more levitosa spell experts), distribution vehicles
operators, book retailers, book shop managers, shop decorators, ...

These people go home after a full time job's day and are not likely to take
the time to learn (research, practice) the "making clothes fold themselves
when packing" spell, less alone the "designer clothes conjuring" spell -
which is bound to be far more complicated and requires good taste and a
fertile imagination. And if someone doesn't think that being a hose wife
with seven children is a full time job, I'd like to see them try (even with
magic)!

It's not for show off that wizards spent 5 to 7 years learning magic (full
time) before entering WW work force. There will be exceptions like we have
in MW: people who became regarded members of society without taking the time
to improve themselves (study). But mainly, people without studies will
become ground keepers or something like that.

So, if Molly decides to have a vanishing closet in her kitchen, she's not
likely to let her family starve to death wile she goes to a library and
research the right spells (bound to be more than one) and sets up an
experience laboratory in the living room to built a pilot-scale vanishing
closet, experiments on it and finely builds the full scale version beneath
her sink. She's likely to pay someone who has done all that, works in the
vanishing closets business since 1936 and will do a better job then she
would in just half an hour.



Hoping this was helpful,

Susana