Fidelius/Alpha/Karkaroff/Wizards&Muggles&Food/Rickman/InvisiCloak/DARK MAGIC

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 161721

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince 
Winston)" <catlady at ...> wrote:
>> << And (admittedly a silly question) how do wizards/witches do 
their
> grocery shopping? I can't imagine they grow/raise all they need >> 
> 
> Oh, yes, I've wondered that myself. Are there wizard farms (other 
than
> Agatha Timms's eel farm) and wizard greengrocers and wizard millers
> and bakers and wizard butchers and slaughterhouses? There could be
> wizard greengrocers who buy their goods from Muggle farmers or from
> middlemen at the Central Market (is that Covent Garden for 
London?) or
> even from Muggle greengrocers. If the food starts in the Muggle 
world
> and is diverted to the wizarding economy, do the wizards have 
opinions
> about organic food, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, 
genetically
> modified organisms? If wizards farm and if they've ever heard of
> 'organic', they would consider their farms entirely organic, as 
they
> would use magic instead of chemicals or genetic engineering or
> internal-combustion machines. 
> 
> On another tentacle, how much can Transfiguration do? Steve 
bboyminn
> has spoken of Florean Fortescue needing to buy sugar, cocoa, out of
> season fruit, and other ingredients for making his ice cream, but 
I've
> always thought it would be more magical if he can just Transfigure 
a
> pail of cream into a gourmet flavored custard, and then freeze it 
with
> a Charm. Hey, how about a pail of dirt? Do animals need to be 
raised
> and slaughtered for all that meat they eat at Hogwarts, or can 
grain
> be Transfigured into steaks and so on? 
> 
> << and going all the way to Diagon Alley for weekly trips would 
seem
> laborious. I'm not sure there's an answer, just wondering if others
> have wondered about the more mundane aspects of the WW. >>
> 
> It doesn't matter how far the wizard greengrocer's shop is from the
> wizard's home: when you can Apparate, or when you're connected to 
the
> Floo Network, 200 miles and two blocks are the same distance away 
from
> you.
> 
> rapid_white_wolf wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/161600>:
> 
> << Perhaps they have a home shopping service, what would be the 
wizard
> equivalent of the internet ;) >>
> 
> Oh, there were grocery stores that delivered before there was an
> Internet. A customer could phone in an order -- before the 
telephone
> was invented, a customer could send a servant or child with a 
note. A
> customer could come in person to shop and then have her purchases
> delivered later that day. A customer could have a standing order 
every
> week. A wizard customer could send an owl.
> 
> I've wondered if wizarding delivery service would be by broomstick,
> Floo, Apparation, or some other method of travel. By large owl?
> 
> Tinktonks wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/161623>:
> 
Sue here:

Goodness, what a  variety of subjects for a post! :-) 

The problem about grocery shopping is you'd have to get Muggle 
money. This is certainly available, or they wouldn't be able to take 
Muggle taxis, make phone calls or such. In fact, it's indicated 
early on that there's some sort of exchange at Gringott's, where 
Hermione's parents do a swap for galleons and such. But the wizards 
don't seem to have a clue how to use Muggle money and there would be 
a bit of suspicion, surely, when they go to Muggle stores (would 
there be anyone thinking wizard shoppers were spies?)

Not sure about using Transfiguration for everything. We've seen 
Molly cooking, even if she did use her wand to light the stove and 
stir the sauce.The house elves seem to cook, too. Surely using 
transfiguration for everything would be like eating processed food 
all the time? Maybe magic is tiring?

Hey, maybe there ARE wizard farms, where they can at least grow 
things quickly...?