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

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 142273

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
>
> bboyminn:
> 
> I think you've got a good point there. I suspect that part of the
> secrecy protection of the wizard world says the wizards don't gather
> together around muggles. Also, remember that there are only several
> thousand wizards at best (exact number can't be determine, not even by
> JKR). So, in reality, wizards are a much smaller minority that Chinese
> in the UK. 
> 
> On the other hand, 'birds of a feather flock together'. I can envision
> a magical family moving into a small obscure London neighborhood, and
> mentioning to a friend that a house just went up for sale. So the
> friend buys the house, and the next thing you know wizards dominate
> the neighborhood. If they are preforming even minor protections spells
> on their houses and gardens/yards, then perhaps the neighborhood takes
> on a very /uninteresting/ feel, and eventually more muggle move out.
> Next thing you know, you have an entire neighborhood dominated by
> wizards. Soon, there is a wizard's tea shop, and maybe a wizard's
> convenience store with mild muggle repelling charms on them.
> 
> Of course, I admit, we don't see that in the books. All I am saying is
> that I can envision it. 
> 
> Steve/bboyminn

Sue:

What an interesting thread! I have always seen wizards as a kind of ethnic group, more or 
less (the muggle-born wizards are, perhaps, descended from wizards who "married out"). 
And ethnic groups do tend to congregate in "ghettos", simply because it's convenient. 
Maybe they don't have Diagon Alleys all over the place - they'd just need to do their 
magical shopping there, after all, their food and such could come from local shops - but 
living 
near each other would make things easier. Think about how surprised the Wizengamot 
are, at Harry's trial in OOTP, to learn that Mrs Figg, a member of their community, if a 
Squib, is living in Little Whinging! And throughout the novels, there's the implication that 
most wizards don't have any idea how the muggle world works, whether it's electricity or 
clothes or sending mail. At the same time, wizard children out in the muggle world would 
have to go to school somewhere before Hogwarts - I think JKR mentioned they would just 
attend a normal primary school. They couldn't ALL live in isolation, out in the country, so 
urban wizard ghettos make sense.
>