[HPforGrownups] Re: Potter money

[Scarah]

No: HPFGUIDX 161960

bboyminn:
As to whether JKR specifically said Harry is wealthy, I
would like to see a quote so we have the exact words. I
did look on her website, but it wasn't there, so it must
have been in an interview. However, even if she used the
word 'wealthy' I think it is in a context, and it is that
context we are trying to determine.
[snip]
Is that the equivalent of 'wealthy', and are we talking
wealthy in general or just wealthy in the eyes of an
11 year old boy?

Sarah:
The only one that I recall is this, from a 2000 chat transcript:
"What did James and Lily Potter do when they were alive?

Well, I can't go into too much detail, because you're going to find
out in future books. But James inherited plenty of money, so he didn't
need a well-paid profession. You'll find out more about both Harry's
parents later."

That's very contextually different from Harry as an eleven-year-old
having money.  His parents as young and talented potentially
upwardly-mobile professionals didn't need to work, at least in a
"well-paid profession."

As a side note, a lot of people think they were Aurors, and
Aurors-in-training could fit the bill of not "well-paid."  I don't
personally enjoy thinking that, because it seems like they barely had
time to complete their three years of training, have a little parental
leave, then die.  It could also mean they worked full-time for the
Order, which doesn't appear to pay well if at all.  I'd prefer to
think that, personally, just because they could have got more done in
the time they had.  It's also a popular speculation that Lily was an
Unspeakable whose work had something to do with the locked room in the
Department of Mysteries. I'd assume those jobs to be higher on the pay
scale.  Though it's true that the quote says not only didn't "need"
(allowing that they could have had one anyway) but "*he* didn't need,"
allowing that Lily could have had a well-paid profession, not James.
Perhaps he was the stay at home father.  :)

Sarah