Wizards in a Muggle World (was:Spinner's End as home...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 142246

> >>Carol:
> > I can see an adult who can Apparate and Disapparate hiding in    
> > plain sight. But how is the child Severus supposed to do that?   
> > Did he spend his entire out-of-school life in that dreary       
> > bedroom? I can't imagine him wearing Muggle clothes or going to 
> > school with Muggle children.
 
> >>Potioncat:
> For that matter, how did Sirius and Regulus fit into the          
> neighborhood at 12GP? We could make an argument that the Weasleys 
> managed to keep all their kids close, but they aren't in a city.

Betsy Hp:
I think this is an area where what we see in the books doesn't 
accurately reflect the actual makeup of the Wizarding World.  For 
Harry there is a total seperation of the two worlds.  The Dursleys 
have nothing (nothing!) to do with Wizards; Hogwarts has nothing to 
do with Muggles.  But I don't that's the usual case for the average 
wizard.  

Harry is technically in hiding, so other than Order members, he 
doesn't have magical folks dropping by for a visit.  (Dobby was a 
notable exception that helped prove the rule.)  Hogwarts is in a 
remote location with only the wizarding town of Hogsmeade (only one 
in the UK, IIRC) nearby. 

Then, of course, there are the Weasleys.  I'm not sure if they're 
really that isolated or if playing host to Harry has lead to their 
isolation, but Molly has had to venture into town on a few occasions 
(calling a cab, getting Ron to a phone, buying stamps for the letter 
they mailed to Harry) so obviously the townsfolk know the Weasleys 
exist.  (One or more of them may well be dating a Weasley twin in 
HBP.)

When it's not to do with Harry, JKR seems to suggest that wizards 
walk amongst muggles all the time.  After all, they have to live 
*somewhere* and they can't all fit in Hogsmeade.  When two witches 
are killed, their deaths are noted by the Muggle press (HBP).  So 
Muggles were aware of their existence (or at least, not so unaware 
that there was a question of where they came from).  

And I think that in general, most wizards know a little something of 
the muggle world.  I doubt they travel in it a lot, what with floo 
powder and portkeys and such, but they must venture out. People knew 
Amelia Bones existed.  Even Draco, that purest of pure-bloods, knows 
what a helicopter is.

I have a feeling that any wizard or wizarding family is looked on as 
a strange person or family that keep themselves to themselves in the 
neigborhoods they reside in.  There might a bit of protective magic 
thrown in (notice-me-not or something like that) to keep door-to-
door salesmen away, but I doubt they all live so totally isolated 
that Muggles are completely unaware of them.

Betsy Hp