Cursed Jobs, Cursed Locations, and plain ol' bad luck (was RE: Why does Snape...

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 148799

Lupinlore:
> However, things like that DO happen in real life, where curses do 
not 
> exist (or at least I don't think they exist).  I'm thinking 
> particularly of the phenomenon common to every American city, the 
> cursed location.  I'm not talking about haunted houses, although 
> every city has those, of course.  I mean the location where no 
> business ever seems to thrive, despite the fact that it seems to be 
a 
> perfectly good business site and businesses to either side of it 
have 
> been open for decades.  I've lived in many different cities over 
the 
> past twenty years, and in every one I've run across boaded-up 
> buildings located between and/or among well-established 
businesses.  
> Very often a long-term resident of the city says to me "I just 
don't 
> understand it.  It's a perfectly good location, but nothing's been 
in 
> there more than a year or so since "X" closed up, and that was back 
> in '84 or '85."  Sometimes it's been more like '74 or '75 since 
> anything worked in that particular place.  And the comment is 
always 
> something to the effect of "I guess the place must be jinxed."

Ceridwen:
I've noticed that, too.  And I've tried to figure it out.  The 
location seems perfect for a business, but nothing seems to thrive.

But, considering where we are (*looking around at the Hallowed Cyber-
Halls of HPfGU with the sun glinting off the waters of the T-Bay just 
beyond the steeply plunging hillside*), it got me to thinking.  On 
the larger level, could places like St. Mungo's, apparently abandoned 
shops which are in reality WW businesses or service facilities, be 
JKR's way of explaining away the same sorts of places you're talking 
about?  The inexplicably deserted storefront between two thriving 
businesses *could be* an entrance to a secret Wizarding location now, 
to any child who sees it day after week after year.  Another writer 
could explain them away by making them secret criminal headquarters, 
I suppose.

On the topic of the DADA position, it does seem more likely that the 
position has been cursed, since curses do exist in the Potterverse.  
But, it would be pretty funny if the only reason they lose teachers 
there is because they've exhausted the pool of decent teachers and so 
can only get the dregs to fill that slot.

Ceridwen.