Harry Helping Ron Financially?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 143031

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mercurybluesmng"
<MercuryBlue144 at a...> wrote:
>
> foodiedb:
> > I was wondering why Harry doesn't offer to financially 
> > help Ron and family?  For example, why doesn't he offer to
> > buy Ron a new wand in Chamber, or why doesn't he offer to 
> > buy them a new house,  etc.., etc.

> MercuryBlue:
> Harry at some point (when I forget, I think CoS or PoA) says 
> that he would cheerfully split the entire contents of his 
> Gringotts vault with the Weasleys, but he doesn't actually 
> offer to do so because he knows perfectly well that they'd 
> never take it.
> 
> MercuryBlue

bboyminn:

Let's change perspective here. Imagine that you are married with a
pack of kids of various ages, you live in a functional house -adequate
though a bit small, you have all the basic needs of life- food,
clothing, shelter, and a bit of pocket money, you are an established
family so your house is furnished with life's necessities. 

Keep in mind that the Weasleys aren't 'dirt' poor. They DO have life's
necessities; the eat plenty of food, they are sheltered, and they have
clothes to wear. They get by just fine; no, they are not rich, but
none the less, they get by fine. I would call them 'working class' people.

So, place yourself in that position, then imagine that an 11, 12, 13
year old friend of your son drops by and offers you a pile of money.
Are you really going to take money from a 13 year old boy? I don't
think so. If you wouldn't in the same situation, a proud family like
the Weasleys is certainly not going to do it.

First, a young boy doesn't have the proper perspective on money. Harry
sees his pile of gold as a fortune, but that is from a boy's
perspective. When he becomes an adult and is suddenly paying for food,
housing, clothing, transportation, entertainments, etc... suddenly
that little boy fortune is going to start seeming pretty lean. 

Certainly the Weasleys know and understand this. What is an easily
shared fortune to a little boy, is not going to seem so to a grown
man. Consequently, they could never in good conscience take Harry's
money. 

So, for us as readers, it seems obvious, Harry has money, Ron doesn't;
solution, Harry should give Ron some. But if you look at the details
in  a more realistic way, you'd have to be a pretty greedy and
unscrupulous person to let your family be supported by the underage
friend of your son. 

Further, I suspect there might be legal complications to taking money
from Harry. He IS underage, and therefore not able to make legal
decisions. Certainly any outsider who looked at that circumstance
would see it as the Weasleys taking advantage of a poor innocent boy.

It's a nice sounding idea, but in reality (fictional reality that is)
it is a completely impractice problem frought with complications.

Just one man's opinion.

Steve/bboyminn