Enchanted Items

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 144377

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bartl at s...> wrote:
>
> ...
> There are a number of items with magic powers which are 
> mentioned. It is implied that they are rare; at the very least, 
> difficult to replace. Yet, they are not treated as if they 
> were rare and valuable. Also, there don't seem to be any 
> classes in artificing, except, perhaps, Potions. 
>
> Fred and George seem to have picked up the skills on their 
> own, yet the skills seem to be in demand. It is very strange.
> 

bboyminn: 

The mysterious skill you are seeking is called Charms. Charms occur in
two forms; the casting of an event related Charm, and the casting of
an object related Charm. Object related Charms retain the magical
propertied imbued in them by the caster. In this case, we are talking
about 'lucky charms' such as amulets and talisman. 

Many of Fred and Georges products are charmed objects like the
invisibility hats and the shield cloaks/hats/etc.... These are objects
that retain their magical ability. 

In your other post elsewhere in this thread, you comment that
"...given what Fred and George have come up with, the creation of
enchanted items does not appear to normally be a highly valued skill..."

Yet it is certainly a highly valued skill, just as engineering is a
highly valued muggle skill. But you don't ask why Joe Blow factory
worker hasn't invented space travel. The point is that some people
have a talent for inventing, others have a talent for using
inventions. One could ask, after the fact, 'why didn't I invent the
lightbulb, it seems pretty obvious and simple?'. Well, of course, it
is alway easier to think of ideas once someone else has presented the
idea to you.

Others may have invented 'Shielded' items in the past, but it never
occured to them to mass market them. Fred and George's saving grace is
their entrepreneurial spirit. That fact that not only do they think of
things, but they actually build them, and try to market them. When
Fred and George started, it never occurred to them that there would be
such a large market in anti-dark arts and defensive object. But they
still made their Shielded and other products available and the market
came to them. In a sense, the market seeks out good ideas.

Let's take a very simple real world example; the pastic storage tub.
Simply enough, a molded plastic container with a molded plastic top.
It's so simple anyone could have thought of it. So my question now is
...er ...why didn't you? 

> Bart:
> Let me give a few examples:
> 
> 1) Harry's Invisibility Cloak: Aurors have trouble getting 
> one (from OOP), a lot of people know that Harry has one, 
> they're pretty easy to hide. Harry kept his pretty much a 
> secret from all but Dumbledore (who, we ASSUME, passed it 
> on to him; certainly he showed no concern that Harry had it).
> Yet, nobody tries to steal it from him, not even Draco 
> Malfoy when he has the opportunity.
> 

bboyminn:

Invisibility Cloaks are made for the hair of an extremely rare and
difficult to catch animal call the Demiguise. In manner of speaking,
you could just as easily be asking why someone doesn't steal the Hope
Diamond. Because once you have it, it's useless. It is so rare and
unique, you could never sell it, and you could never find a jeweler
who would cut it up. 

I think it is much the same with Invisibility Cloaks, if one
disappears and you suddenly have one, it's going to be extremely
suspicious. I suspose Draco could steal the I-Cloak and destroy it,
but even that might leave traces of evidence. Nice as it would be to
have, I think the risk of getting caught outweighs any advantage the
I-Cloak might give. 

> Bart:
> 2) The Weasley clock. From Dumbledore's comments in OOP, it's
> not something that every family has. Why not? ...
> 

bboyminn:

No, not every family has a 'family clock', but not every family has a
big screen TV either. Not every family has a 'food processor'. Not
every family has a new car. It's just normal variation in taste.

It's entirely possible that the clock was a wedding or general gift to
the Weasleys. Who knows for sure how they came by it. 

Further, we don't know that other families don't have 'magic family
clocks', we only know that Molly doesn't know anyone else who has one.
That's far from the same thing.

> Bart:
> 3) Squibs. Considering how little most magical families 
> supposedly know about Muggles, squibs would have a great 
> deal of difficulty getting by in the Muggle world. One 
> would think that someone could make decent money, especially
> if the Ministry kicks in, making magical prothetics/aids/etc.
> Why is this not happening?
> 
> Any theories?
> 
> 	Bart

bboyminn:

I'm not sure what you mean here. 'Someone' making 'magical
aid/prothetics' for Squibs? Something to help them function in the
Wizard World? Or something to help them function in the muggle world?
Or do you mean Squibs making 'aids' for muggles. I'm completely confused.

It seems that Squib are extremely rare. The two we seen seem to have
made their nitch in the wizard world. Filch is caretaker at Hogwarts,
and given his non-magical status, I'm sure he works extremely hard.
Mrs. Figg has carved a nitch in crossbreading cat and Kneasles, and
logically her target market would be magical people. Limited as it is,
they both seem to have found their way in the wizard world. 

There it is, for what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn