The Scar - 'All or Nothing' Clarification

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 160277

> bboyminn: (responding in general)

> Back to the main point, what I object to is the idea that
> /IF/ Harry loses his powers, that he will be completely
> cut off from the magical world. I don't think so. He
> will still have his friends, he will still have access to
> their world. Admittedly it will be painful for Harry to
> have to do this, to have been so magically important and
> to now be dependant on others for magic. But being
> dependant on others for magic doesn't mean Harry will
> suddenly be helpless, pointless, or worthless. He is
> still quite capable, as we all are, of boiling a pot
> of water for tea. He is not going to starve. He is not
> going to go around in tattered clothes. He is not going
> to wander the streets alone and homeless. He /is/ still
> perfectly capable of, and certainly will have, a normal
> productive life.

Magpie:
I can't speak for others, but I personally never thought I was
saying anything about Harry being a wreck or homeless (I realize 
you're exaggerating there, though). But I am disagreeing with the 
ease with which you're describing the magical and non-magical 
blending. I think Harry would be a second-class citizen, part of a 
group that's been casually and consistently considered inferior 
throughout the series. (I also actually do think the WW is easily 
short-sighted enough to forget Harry's sacrifice for them, though 
that's not necessarily here nor there. They can respect the idea of 
HP while still considering him to be not what he once was without 
magic.) 

There's just nothing in the series that I see that points towards
this happy productive life in the magical world if you don't have
magic. On the contrary, everything I see seems to indicate the
opposite would be true. Sure Harry could make a cup of tea...err,
if someone lit the fire for him, presumably, or got him a magical
flame. But nothing in the books to me suggests this kind of life
has been set up as an alternative for Harry. I don't see how one
could define him so much through competence, show him growing up by
mastering magical skills and considering magical careers, give non-
magical people the role they have (including the difficulties
presented in all Magical/Muggle marriages hinted at from Merope/Tom
all the way down to the Witch using her Muggle husband for a table-
though at least all of those Muggles had a place in the Muggleworld),
and then end it by taking away Harry's magic as if this is a life
prepared for in the text.  

-m