The Scar

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 160332

-> 
> Ken:
>  
> > Ok, lets work with those three. How many marriages in the WW do we
> > know *any* detail of? Is it as many as 30? I doubt it is that many 
> but
> > let's say it is 30, that implies that 10% of wizards and witches 
> marry
> > muggles. 
> 
> Magpie:
> Not necessarily.  But regardless, of the three that we hear of two 
> involve deceit--the Muggle doesn't know they're married to a Witch.  
> If you add Dean that's another one where the marriage is a lie.  And 
> there's the woman using her husband as a table.  So out of those 
> Muggle/Magic marriages they're not doing to well in terms of it 
> being the same as marrying a magical person.  

Ken:

There is no getting around the fact that canon implies that
intermarriage is reasonably common, the numbers speak for themselves.
As to how happy and successful those marriages are, I was not
addressing that. We all know muggle/muggle marriages as bad as the
examples you give, some of us may have been in one. The muggleborn and
effectively muggleborn w/w like Hermione and Harry are certainly well
positioned to have successful mixed marriages, if they choose. If
Ginny Weasley is like her mother, well probably not, if she takes
after her father, perhaps so. I suspect that in the real world mixed
marriages fail more often than homogeneous marriages though the
failure rate of the latter is high too. If true, that fact does not
doom individual marriages to failure. The fate of any marriage lies in
the hands of the partners. In any event a suddenly non-magical Harry
would be a unique case and normal rules would not apply.

> 
> Ken:
> > Replying to the thread in general now and not Carol in particular I
> > don't understand the reaction to a Harry without magic. Would not
> > Harry losing his magical power be akin to losing sight, hearing, or
> > limbs in the real world? Do those of you who say Harry without 
> magic
> > would and could have no purpose or place in either world say the 
> same
> > about the blind, deaf, and paraplegic?
> 
> Magpie:
> No, I wouldn't--and I flatly reject trying to put it in those terms 
> because it's not my society I'm imagining Harry adapting to-and also 
> because this is an aspect of Wizarding Society that consistently 
> bothers me. People with different physical limitations have always 
> been part of our society as much as anyone else.  Harry's society is 
> the Wizarding World, defined by those who have magic.  
> 

Ken:

The WW is *defined* by those who do magic but they have defined it to
include others: spouses, siblings, squibs, parents, and the occasional
PM. Harry can fit into that, it is more than speculation on my part.
At the very least he would fit in somewhere between Hagrid and Mrs.
Figg. The WW is not our society yet it is comprised of human beings,
not aliens from another planet. There is no reason to suppose that the
WW would turn its back on a disabled member any more than we do. A
power-less Harry might not find a place he could accept, not everyone
does, but he certainly could find a place in the WW that many would be
happy with. 


> 
> Magpie:
> Yes, of course.  But my point isn't that there's no point in living 
> without magic.  Obviously I do it myself and sometimes am totally 
> annoyed at the way non-magical people are dismissed by characters 
> with magic in the books.  I don't think Muggles are inferior to 
> wizards.  But if we're talking about a character in a book about the 
> real world who loses his sight, even if his sight has been important 
> up until that point, I have some idea of the kind of adaptation and 
> adjustment he needs to make to still live like other people. This 
> does not exist in Rowling's world. Doing magic is central to 
> participating in Harry's world.  Squibs and Muggles barely interact 
> with Wizards, and when they do it's not as equals.  Harry's entire 
> education mostly comes down to learning how to do this spell and 
> that spell.  It's all erased if he no longer can do any magic at 
> all. 

Ken:

I think you are too caught up in one gift of many that Harry has. His
magical education and experience would allow him to edit books at a
magical book publisher, it would allow him to work at the Ministry of
Magic in a variety of capacities, he could help run the twin's budding
business empire, he could be a Quidditch commentator, he could be a
reporter, he could emulate his creator and write books, he could help
Hermione run SPEW ... the possibilities are as endless as the human
imagination. An understanding of magic at the level Harry has mastered
would allow him to perform many tasks that ordinary squibs and muggles
could not. His fame would open many doors for him that would be closed
to us, or Figgy. He would not be left without resources or friends,
just the actual ability to perform magic. If Gilderoy Lockhart could
have the career he had based on the mastery of a single spell then the
boy and former wizard who actually vanquished Lord Voldemort should be
able to do as well without any magic at all. 

No, I don't expect this to be the way the series concludes. I do think
it is a plausible conclusion and I think it could be used to convey
several powerful messages. I expect that Harry will remain a wizard
and I hope that he will survive to old age.

Ken