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

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 142254

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > Then, of course, ... 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. ...
> > <snip>
> > 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.

> >>bboyminn:
> <snip>
> I've always analogized the Wizard World to Chinatown. Many Chinese
> move to London, or San Franscico, or New York, and find themselve 
> in a foreign and unfamiliar culture, so they seek out others of a 
> culture similar to their own, and gravitate to places like        
> Chinatown...
> <snip>
> Now, it's not impossible for them to venture out of Chinatown, but
> they do so with great hesitation.
> <snip>
> In the rare but notable cases where a wizard lives in a muggle
> neighborhood, I believe it is either very urban and impersonal, so 
> you don't have to know your neighbors, or it's remote like the    
> Weasleys. Friendly comfortable safe suburbs don't seem likely for 
> most wizard.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I've always liked this analogy of yours, but in thinking about it, I 
don't think it quite works.  Because Chinatown is known.  It's not a 
hidden place at all.  And the main thing, the guiding principle of 
wizarding life, is to remain so completely hidden your existence is 
seen as a mere myth.  So it's not so much maintaining your culture, 
or staying where things are comfortable and/or safe, it's hiding.

I get the sense (especially after the opening chapter and the stuff 
on the Gaunts in HBP) that wizards generally *don't* live around 
each other.  The Weasleys are isolated.  The Blacks seemed to be the 
only wizards in their neighborhood.  Hogsmeade is described as an 
anomaly.  Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley are both rather small, 
especially if they're compared to a city's Chinatown (or Little 
Italy, or what have you).

During the QWC, Arthur says, "We can't resist showing off when we 
get together." (GoF scholastic hardback p.79) Which leaves the 
impression (at least IMO) that wizards don't tend to gather as a 
group.  And I think it *would* be easier to hide how different you 
are from your neighbors if there's only you, or just your immediate 
family.  One eccentric on the block (or in the neighborhood) is not 
too remarkable.  And entire enclave of them becomes a bit more 
noticable, I would think.

Betsy Hp