James' money (was: James, a paragon of virtue?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 123801


Alla wrote:
> 
> Susan, thanks for typing the quote. I agree that James was rich ( 
> another circumstantial evidence to that effect is his invisibility 
> cloak). I am not sure though why being "rich" should necessarily say 
> something negative about your character. (Susan, I know you did not 
> say that, I thought it was implied upthread) I sure hope that if I 
> ever become rich, my friends won't think that I changed for 
> worse. :o)


Carol responds:
I didn't mean to imply that being rich was somehow bad. (Wish *I* were
rich!) I only meant that it wasn't crucial for James or the
not-yet-disinherited Sirius to do well on their exams because their
parents had a lot of money and they didn't need to worry about earning
a living after they left Hogwarts. Consequently, they weren't terribly
worried about their DADA OWL (or the Transfiguration OWL, which they
really *didn't* need to study for, having spent most of their free
time in earlier years doing just that so they could become animagi).
What evidence we have indicates that Severus and Remus, in contrast,
did not come from wealthy families, which means that they both knew
they would have to work after Hogwarts. If your future hinges on your
OWL scores, you study. And that's exactly what Severus and Remus did,
not because they were less intelligent than James and Sirius, but
because they were motivated by necessity, and in Severus's case, most
likely by ambition (or the heartfelt need to have his talents
acknowledged) as well.

Carol, who wishes *she* had a vault full of galleons, sickles, and
knuts--or better yet, a few hundred thousand dollars in savings