The Locked Room (Re: Great Battles of Book 7)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162306

Bess wrote:
<snip> In one sense,
> Merope's action in finding the orphanage could be interpreted/viewed
as having saved her son, Tom Riddle's life. If she hadn't forced
herself to find that orphanage, he may well have been born and then
died soon after Merope died as there would not have been anyone to
look after a defenceless and helpless baby, regardless of the fact
that he was a wizard.

Carol responds:
True. His father certainly wasn't going to do it, nor would the
Gaunts. So a Muggle orphanage, which would take the child out of
charity, was apparently her only option. (We haven't seen any
Wizarding orphanages.)

Bess wrote:
> Harry asked Dumbledore in HBP why Merope had not used magic to save
her life - I think it is said in the books in relation to Tonks, that
a shock or depression can reduce/remove the powers of a witch/wizard -
perhaps that was the reason why Merope could not use magic.  The shock
of losing her husband and the her experience at the hands of her
belittling father may have meant that she lost what powers she had.

Carol responds:
Yes. Dumbledore makes that very point. But surely he ought to have
mentioned what JKR has pointed out in her interviews: magic has its
limitations and conjured objects don't last. If Wizards could conjure
money, they wouldn't need to work (or sell their possessions) to buy
food. If they could conjure manor houses and fine furniture, the
Weasleys wouldn't have to live at the Burrow. If they could conjure
food, Harry could have lent Sirius Black his wand to conjure a month's
supply, along with the means of keeping it fresh, instead of getting
it from the house-elves. Or he could have conjured a wand for Sirius.
Which makes me wonder if Merope rejected her wand and threw it away
when she rejected or lost her magic. And yet, from what I understand
of the limitations of magic, the wand would not have saved her. She
must have begged or stolen food to stay alive since she didn't sell
her locket (for ten lousy galleons--curse that Caractacus Burke and
his cold heart!) till near the end of her life.

Bess wrote:
 Also, one needs to remember that she was in Muggle London - using
magic especially in her condition may well have been risky in light of
the wizarding laws. 

Carol responds:
Well, yes. But I don't think magic alone could have saved her, even
combined with the will to live. What she needed was money, and I doubt
that she even knew how to apply for a job. And who in that era would
hire a dirty, ugly, wall-eyed, obviously pregnant girl with no skills
to speak of? I suppose she could have gotten a job at, say, the Leaky
Cauldron--unless she had lost or rejected her magical powers.

I think her situation was desperate in every way, and, yes, she kept
her child alive out of love for him or her, and maybe love for the
child's father, but that was as much as she could do, weak as she was
in health, education, mind, and will.

Carol, wishing that the HP books were more consistent in depicting the
limitations of magic and that we didn't have to rely on the interviews
for such information 

So, she did what any new muggle  mother would do, find the best help
possible in the hope of ensuring that her tiny child, when
> born, would have at least a chance of surviving.
> Best wishes,
> Bess. 
>  
> 
> 
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