WW Cultural bias re clothes and cupboard?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 123192


> Alla:

> It is an interesting argument, BUT it seems that Dumbledore 
himself  clearly recognised at the end of OOP that Harry WAS 
wronged and  Dumbledore acknowledges that he watched him 
closer than Harry could  ever imagine.
> 
> So, whether all wizards recognise it as mistreatment or not, 
> Dumbledore clearly does.
> 


Pippin:
Harry's years might have been "dark and difficult" with any 
Muggle family. Harry is not just a Cinderella, he is an ugly 
duckling, too, like all Muggleborns. Ever notice that none of them 
have much to say about their life before Hogwarts? 

We don't know what form the watching took -- but clearly 
Dumbledore was not personally watching over Harry before he 
came to Hogwarts, because he didn't develop the personal 
feeling that he has toward the boy until then. 

I am wondering about ghosts--we know that James and Lily are 
not ghosts, but we also don't know what happened to Harry's 
paternal grandparents except that they're dead. They could be 
watching over Privet Drive. It's hinted in the first book that ghosts 
can be invisible, and in the second that they are not all bound to 
one particular place. Wouldn't the Dursleys flip if they knew their 
house was haunted!

I just think it's odd that the Dursleys' mistreatment takes forms 
that the wizard in the street would find hard to recognize. Maybe 
Dumbledore *has* intervened, but only in situations  where he 
could make his fellow wizards understand if he were called on it. 

Wizarding culture also doesn't seem to expect  much from 
parents in the way of emotional support. The Weasleys are an 
exception from what we've seen, and even Molly gets criticized on 
the list for ignoring her childrens' needs.

Pippin